Dominic Flandry

Dominic Flandry, Poul Anderson’s secret agent of the far future Terran Empire, first appeared in 1951 in ‘Planet Stories.’ That puts him before James Bond, but the two arose from the same Cold War era and share many characteristics.

There is undoubtedly something of Flandry in my Jack McFee, protagonist of the three Jack Mack novels. As a teen, I read most of Anderson’s stories (there are quite a few) of him. Sure, there’s a bit of James Bond, too, but Jack is a much glibber and less serious sort than either, and more inclined to shoot off his mouth than his gun. One can find many examples of that type in literature, as well.

I could name, for example, Peter Whimsy or Simon Templar, except I had read neither when I first started with Jack. One might go to other science fiction authors, such as Vance or Zelazny, to find some of my inspirations. One could also look at Tom Jones for Jack’s relationship — or relationships — with women. The opposite sex likes him and he is rather too willing to reciprocate.

Yet remain detached. That is Jack McFee’s big flaw — every decent protagonist has one, you know. Without it, he would be something akin to a ‘Mary Sue,’ the character that is too competent to be true. He seeks that elusive connection to another, even while, perhaps, sabotaging it. At the end of the third Jack Mack novel, ‘Dim Distant Stars,’ he may have finally succeeded — or at least made a step in the proper direction.

I was just rereading that first Flandry story, ‘Tiger by the Tale.’ As most of Anderson’s work, it is written well enough to rise above the mediocrity of the average writer. It is really ‘science fantasy’ in the Burroughs vein. Definitely not ‘hard’ science fiction! Poul Anderson was really better at fantasy than SF, overall, and his best work (in my humble opinion, of course) often combines the two. He is also pretty much to thank (or blame) for creating the Chaos versus Order duality explored later by Moorcock and Zelazny and various lesser lights.

Some of the Dominic Flandry stories are available free from Project Gutenberg, as well as other Poul Anderson work. Maybe you’d like to take a look — but don’t forget my tales too! Available at Arachis Press in print or as free ebooks.

Robots

Inevitably, any science fiction writer who tackles the subject of robots is going to be influenced by Isaac Asimov. I have both respected that fact and attempted to distance myself from his creations in my Jack Mack novels.

No robot of Jack’s worlds has the sort of mental capacity displayed by Asimov’s more advanced versions. This is not to say there are not exceedingly powerful artificial intelligences but they can not be housed in a human-sized machine. Rather, the most capable are often spread out over a network, be it in a space ship or a building. They are also likely to be interconnected with a number of other intelligences of varying capabilities.

It is necessary for sophisticated AI’s to have an identity. Without a sense of who they are, they tend to break down ‘mentally.’ Thus, most reasonably advanced robots are gendered. Top-tier intelligences also tend to bond with a particular human and take on some of their personality traits. Once those are embedded in their psyche (so to speak), they will remain with them after the human has gone. Steward, aka Stewie, who runs things at Summit Up, carries over the personality imprint of Jack’s great-grandfather, with all his fussiness and a bit of a snobbish attitude.

Whether an AI can actually be snobbish is another question. Perhaps Stewie simply imitates the deceased Barry McFee. No one can say, including the AI himself.

Robots are fairly ubiquitous on Jack McFee’s home planet of Scotia. They do not quite constitute a ‘peasantry’ as on some worlds, such as Resnovae, but they do a good bit of the menial work. On other planets, there is less reliance on robots and AI, but they are found pretty much everywhere man has gone. This is one reason people emigrate to the ‘new worlds’ from those like Scotia that have been long settled; there is a dearth of meaningful work for them as machines take over more chores.

Hands-on work, that is, which humans do need. Sitting to manage a fleet of robots is unlikely to be fulfilling. It is to be noted that security still has a strong human component to it. AIs are notoriously bad at replacing police and military, prone to blunders and misunderstandings.

I have chosen not to make robots and artificial intelligence central to any of my stories of Jack McFee, but they are very much a part of the world-building. They also raise questions on the whole concept of consciousness; that is also something I have touched upon from time to time. But, of course, I can’t actually answer those questions. I can only pose them and provide some thoughts.

Frontera

The planet named Frontera is mentioned a total of five times in ‘Dim Distant Stars,’ as the future posting of Father John Barbosa when he finishes his education in planetology. A few details are dropped, mostly that it has an orange sun and has only begun the long process of terraforming. Father John is to play a role in that.

The name is unimportant. I lifted it from a book on Mexico I happened to be reading — it is a city in the north of the country. The choice is of no importance to the plot, except to suggest the culture of its settlers. It may be noted, however, that ‘Frontera’ is the title of a science fiction novel by Lewis Shiner, that was somewhat successful when published several decades ago. I probably knew the book existed but I doubt it had any influence on my choice of a planetary name.

Incidentally, John Barbosa hailed from a world named Juvelo, a word I lifted from Esperanto and meaning jewel or gem. But there’s also a little wordplay there, as it also sounds similar to words for young or juvenile in both Spanish and English (and, of course, John’s native language, Lingo). So maybe a young world. There are a lot of those in Jack’s day, and more being settled all the time.

House

Here's a little excerpt from Dim Distant Stars to whet your appetites for the June First release. House, as those who have read the previous Jack Mack novels will know, is an advanced AI that runs things in Jack McFee's ancestral home.

 

Completed Manuscript

I have a completed and fairly well edited draft of Dim Distant Stars (the third Jack Mack novel), at just under 56,000 words. There was a totally unplanned change near the end that radically changes the ‘ongoing story’ of Jack McFee. I’m good with it. No need to drag things out through sequels as it ties it all up nicely.

This is not to say there won’t be sequels! But they can move in new and interesting directions now. For one thing, no more need to chase after women. Yes, he decided on the one he truly loves. You may guess what you wish about that but I’ll reveal no spoilers. You’ll just have to read DDS when I and Arachis Press release it.

When? Oh, maybe in May? Certainly by June. We’ll see!

Another Scotian Map

I provided a simple physical map of Scotia a few months ago in a post. Here is a slightly more detailed look at Jack McFee's home, with some place names added (but no topography). I've been filling it in a bit in as I work on the WIP. I do expect to announce a release date for that book fairly soon.

 

The Unexpected Protagonist

An interesting fact (interesting maybe only to me) about the Jack Mack novels is that Jack did not exist in the original idea for them. They were to focus on Errol McFee, with his cousin Brendon in something of a sidekick role. Some of those initial ideas found their way into other stories, particularly the Wilk novels (written as Stephen Brooke).

Instead, I found myself unexpectedly writing about young Jack McFee when I started on 'Among the Many Worlds.' That, I think, worked out well.

Why did I drop Errol as my protagonist? Mostly because he was both too competent (in a rather narrow way) and too quirky. He definitely worked better as a mentor to his younger cousin. Jack does grow away from his youthful hero-worship of Errol over the course of the first two novels and has pretty much come into his own in the third, the current work-in-progress (to be titled ‘Dim, Distant Stars’).

Errol does not even show up in this latest story, aside from mentions as being on a long diplomatic mission/honeymoon in the aftermath of the war. Brendon is around but in the process of retiring to country life. Jack stands on his own, now.

As well as in future novels, it is to be hoped. I certainly have ideas for those but it is anyone’s guess when (or maybe even ‘if’) I will get to them. Right now, ‘Dim, Distant Stars’ stands at about 30,000 words. I am not sure how many will be added but I do know I will be jettisoning a good bit of the projected second half to tighten the story up. Jack will have to visit the ruins of Earth in a sequel.

And just maybe settle down with—well, Jack hasn’t quite made up his mind about that, and neither have I.

Mary Sue

Jack McFee, protagonist of the Jack Mack novels, is admittedly a bit of a ‘Mary Sue.’ That is quite intentional—or at least I consciously developed the character in that direction once I started working on the stories. This allows his actual failings and character flaws to stand out the more.

I did have something of a ‘James Bond in space’ concept in mind when I started with Jack. That grew into something more like ‘Tom Jones in space.’ As with Tom, he attracts female attention and also as with Tom, he is a little too prone take advantage of it. Yet—also as with Tom—he remains a bit of a well-meaning innocent. At least at times. Jack is growing out of it as the stories continue.

He is a highly competent person, more able and more intelligent than pretty much anyone around him. He is also likely to be overly-detached, and every bit as happy on long solo missions as he is among friends. Those who consider themselves his friends, that is—Jack is not sure he can feel true friendship, much less love, toward anyone.

So I’m willing to give him Mary Sue-like success in his professional career, but balance it with a somewhat bumpier personal life. That career continues in my current WIP and we shall see where it takes him. After all, Jack is still only twenty years old and has lots of room to grow. An entire universe.

Heritages

It his been mentioned in the Jack Mack books that many of the original Scotian colonists hailed from English-speaking nations on Earth—‘Canadia,’ ‘Oztralia,’ ‘Jamyca.’ To be sure, many also came from other places, both among the early colonists and those who came later. Despite many sharing a language, there was genetic and cultural variety among these settlers.

In other words, they were by no means all of European appearance, nor were their descendants. Populations mixed quite a lot as humans expanded into the universe, and most worlds have a diverse heritage. Ones like Thule, which started with a small genetic pool and was somewhat isolated for a while, are not the norm.

This mixing has increased the further humans have spread out from their home world. Newer colonies tend to draw from all over, whereas the earliest ones were frequently settled—initially—by populations from one region of Earth. Scotia, being one of the older worlds, has retained a little more ethnic identity.

And forged one of their own, being a bit cut off from the inhabited universe by the ‘Wall’ dust cloud and a paucity of other star systems in some directions. Genetically, it is true that European heritage dominates, but not by much. There were plenty of colonists of African or Indian descent, and many who were of mixed heritage.

There is a strong Indian strain, culturally and genetically, in the old Corvan worlds, as there is an Hispanic core to the Aigleans. Both these trade groups expanded to include and connect a wide variety of heritages, aiding in the further melding of populations.

Training

A page (or so) from the first Jack Mack novel, 'Among the Many Worlds.'

 

Terraforming

The term ‘terraforming’ was coined in 1942 in a story by Jack Williamson. He may have also invented ‘genetic engineering’ and ‘psionics.’ (Or at least got them into print earlier than others.) I have mentioned terraforming in the Jack Mack novels, and spoken of how various planets were at different stages of becoming more Earth-like. Jack's own home, Scotia, comes about as close as any to achieving it, having a head start thanks to indigenous microscopic life that has produced oxygen and helped clear the oceans of dissolved metals.

Others are further away but in the process. Yet others are too far from having the necessary conditions to ever be truly terraformed. Too cold, too little gravity, too much radiation, etc. Our own Mars is just such a planet; it might be made suitable for human habitation but it will never be like Earth. Chances are we will visit Mars in the next Jack Mack novel. It serves now as something of a tourist center for those who wish to visit the ruins of Earth.