INFALL (a Science Fiction Novel) by Herbert Hughes

Book Details:

​Book Title:  INFALL (A Science Fiction Novel) by Herb Hughes
Category:  Adult Fiction (18 +),  365 pages
Genre: Science Fiction 
Publisher:  Books From The Pond
Release date:  January 2023
Content Rating: PG. There is some mild language and sex. The sex is stated, but not explicitly detailed. There is also some mild sexual innuendo and sexual jokes. One of the lesser characters is a noted ladies man.

Book Description:

What would you do if a naked alien materialized in front of you amid a ball of swirling winds and colored lights? Would you freeze, run away, scream, hit it, or try to communicate?

And what would you think if you discovered these aliens not only come from a different universe but are also far more intelligent than humans and vastly superior technologically?

Martin O’Brien leaves his native Ireland to chase the dream of love, but things go awry. Before he can return home, he becomes involved with the sudden appearance of aliens. This strange anomaly begins with a few “lightshows,” as the press dubs them, but quickly becomes a flood of millions.

The aliens call themselves Embrians. Human reactions range from murdering them for sport to using them for slave labor to worshipping them as gods.

Martin meets Jennifer Daniels, a pregnant young lady struggling to deal with her alcoholism. Together, they treat, harbor, and befriend a wounded alien named Vanya, but their kindness puts them at risk of being arrested.

Not all Embrians are docile and cooperative. Their leader, Vahlion, threatens to conquer America if his demands are not met. Because Embrians are so advanced, the threat is more than real. It is a certainty!

Martin, Jennifer, and Vanya are on a mission to save Earth, but how do you fight against aliens who have mastered entire fields of science that humans did not even know existed?

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Author Interview – Herb Hughes

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

I was the kid always looking out the window or staring at the walls when the teacher called my name. It’s hard to answer when you have no idea what the question was because you were watching a video of one of your stories in your mind’s eye. Making up stories has always been a part of me.

It didn’t change when I entered the working world in adult life. In business meetings, I would often be on the other side of the galaxy when someone wanted me to respond to an issue. Over time, I learned a variety of diversionary tactics, such as saying: “I didn’t quite catch all that. Can you speak a little louder?” Or “I’d like to hear what [name of someone in the room] thinks about it first.”

I’ve heard some writers say they talk to their characters. Do you?

Oh, yes. Much of my waking day. And they are not shy about talking back and voicing their opinions. They even invade my dreams sometimes.

We occasionally argue with each other. I’ll play the video of a scene in my head, and if one of my characters doesn’t like the scene or something in it, they have no problem speaking up and registering their protest. They pester me during story development, before I type the first word, and continue throughout the dozens of drafts in the actual writing process. Since, at any given time, I have several novels floating around in my head, that’s a lot of pestering.

The good news is when the novel is complete, the characters in that novel immediately leave me alone.

The bad news is I usually think of two new novels while writing that one, so I’ve got two new sets of characters to create havoc with my thoughts.

 

It has been said many times that a writer should write every day. Do you?

This may sound like heresy, but my answer is a firm “No.” If you’ve ever worked in a JIT factory, you know that a bad component that gets by control can create a lot of worthless product in a hurry. It’s the same with writing. Some days you don’t have what it takes to create quality material. Since authors often have trouble cutting a manuscript, they can become “married” to something that is not worthwhile.

We’re all different, so the way we write is different. Personally, when the video starts rolling in my head, I’ll write. But sometimes the video player doesn’t turn on. When that happens, instead of trying to force it, I’ll clear my head by getting away from the project.

Other writers go about it differently. There is no “one size fits all” in creating a manuscript. But there is one thing that ALL writers should be doing. It is the single most important thing an author can do: Read. 

Read the good and the bad. And don’t forget the ugly. Read it all. Learn what to do from the good. Learn what to avoid from the bad. But read everything you get your hands on, fiction and nonfiction. Don’t just pigeonhole yourself in your genre of interest. Branch out. It WILL make you a better writer.

How did you do research for your book?

Before the internet, research meant going to the library to spend hours in the reference room or agonizing time going through the card catalog trying to find books to check out, books that may or may not help once you’ve lugged them home. The several hundred dollar set of encyclopedias at home was never enough.

Now we’ve got the web, a miraculous tool for writers. You simply open a browser window next to your manuscript to find synonyms or search the pertinent subject or keywords. If you need to read an entire book, you can order and download then start reading immediately without ever leaving your chair.

While research is critical for genres such as historical fiction, it is also important for other genres. Science fiction, even though it is primarily speculative, is no exception. For instance, while writing Infall, I researched technical facts, geographical facts (often going into street view to see the settings), and details such as local slang for Australia and Ireland. I love Ireland. I’ve been to the Emerald Isle several times, but I still needed research to help me use the local slang accurately.

The internet’s convenience is amazing, but there is a drawback: There is much misinformation on the web. Almost anything and everything is out there, whether there is any basis in fact or not. So verifying your research by checking multiple sites is always a good idea. After all, you don’t want to be the one spreading misinformation.

Infall has a unique idea for the evolution of universes, the pulsing of new universes from a single point every million trillion years. Is this a current theory? If not, where did it come from?

I am not aware of pulsing universes being postulated as a scientific theory, but so many ideas have been presented over the centuries that it may well have been theorized before I wrote Infall.

The idea just made sense to me. Think of throwing a rock in a pond on a windless day. The ripples start from the point where the rock enters the water and expand in all directions in concentric circles. Then the water becomes calm again. There are no more ripples until you throw another rock.

Now imagine that our pond is three-dimensional. The ripples that go out are concentric spheres.

The big bang theory states that the universe is expanding from a single point, the big bang. While they used to think that the universe would begin to contract at some point in the future, current theory suggests that the universe will continue to expand indefinitely, until entropy has reduced everything to an even distribution of atomic particles.

It’s not too hard a leap to think that another big bang will happen. Perhaps they happen on a regular basis, like the pulsing of a heart, but on a massive time frame, such as my arbitrary million trillion years. The universes would be so far apart that light from either the next younger or next older universe would not be detectible.

I am not saying that this is, indeed, how universal evolution works. But I’m not saying it isn’t, either. I am saying it works well for Infall.

If you could put yourself as a character in your book, who would it be?

In his 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language, Samuel Johnson defined “Lexicographer” as: “a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge…”

Seeing something of myself in that definition, I developed a relationship with the term Harmless Drudge. (It’s my ESPN username, for instance.) So I consciously try to keep myself out of my characters for fear they might become too boring for my readers.

While I’ve modeled a few characters from fascinating people I’ve known over the years, most of my characters are created from imagination, with occasional bits and pieces of real people added.

And, of course, a little of me manages to sneak in there every once in a while. In which characters? I’ll never tell.

Meet the Author:

Author Herb Hughes worked in the computer industry for over two decades and then built a successful private business before retiring to write novels.

“I write in the present, but my stories are about the past and the future: historical fiction and science fiction. I find both fascinating.”

connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ goodreads

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