Recently Anne and I enjoyed our third cruise in the Caribbean Sea. It was especially enjoyable this year because we left behind the worst winter to hit our area in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario in about twenty years. As we left Buffalo the mercury registered -15 C. When we landed in overcast Fort Lauderdale it was a balmy +22 C – that took some getting used to! Cruising in the Caribbean aboard Royal Caribean’s Oasis of the Seas, took us into hot humid environs where the humidex registered in the mid to high 90s F.
Ah… winter in the Caribbean! As we toured Labadee, Haiti; the northern coast of Jamaica; and Cozumel, Mexico I began to think about the fictional planet which is the focus of my science fiction series launching this coming fall. The planet is called Genesis, which became home to a UN selection of survivors from Earth. After their departure in the mid twenty-first century to find a new world, humanity on Earth succumbed to a sentient biological weapon. The UN mission took two centuries to reach Genesis.
Genesis had a tropical climate with rainforests that teemed with life. However, the humans found no other forms of life as advanced as humanity upon their arrival. Imagine, no native life forms to battle for supremacy. Genesis was theirs for the taking! Untamed natural beauty and bounty to sustain their lives easily was here at hand. It was a Garden of Eden, and they didn’t have to fight bloody wars to win it or to keep it. Eureka!
As I baked in the scorching sun and retreated to the shade when I had enough, I thought about what living on a virgin tropical world might mean. What an opportunity! Humanity could learn from the mistakes of the past and create a far more perfect society where everyone had a chance to prosper in peace. To live in harmony in the midst of unparalleled natural grandeur was a goal within the grasp of these human survivors.
Unfortunately, the newly settled planet of Genesis did not evolve into any kind of utopia. Without the unifying factor of a common enemy or a deadly hostile environment, humanity turned against each other. What about learning from the mistakes of history on Earth? Hmm… good question.
This is the universe created by Kenneth Tam in his Equations novels. With his blessing I am fleshing out part of the story of the struggle of humanity on Genesis as they strive for a better society. Unfortunately, after almost seven centuries on Genesis, the various leaders didn’t share the same vision of what a “better society” entailed.
Their struggles on a beautiful tropical world will be found in my series entitled, The Genesis Saga.
John Fioravanti / February, 2014
Fiora Books by John Fioravanti 