Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

ReReadable Books

April 2006

"Neptune: The Decision Factor"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

High Risk by Jane Toombs, Champagne Books, June 2005

Why do we do things? Why do we believe (Neptune) things? Why do we so easily lose the distinction between an opinion and a fact, between a question and a statement of opinion?

Have you ever watched an afternoon talk show? Have you ever served on a panel of experts discussing a subject before an audience knowledgeable in that subject?

In recent years, since Oprah Winfrey’s show became such a benchmark of success, I have found that when panelists ask for questions from the audience, members of the audience respond with a verbal essays (often quite erudite, interesting and on-topic) instead of questions. It is as if audience members don’t know the difference between a question and an opinion.

Against that backdrop, we find court cases and new legislation over issues about what to teach in public schools. Lately there has been a lot of energy focused on teaching "Intelligent Design" and/or "Evolution" in science classes.

It seems to me the entire argument is based on the assumption that we must teach "the truth" in school – that children are sent to school to learn only correct facts. So we must first use the courts of law and legislature to decide what is true, and then use the authority of teachers to make children believe the court’s opinion is actually fact.

I find this alarming indeed, for it suggests that young people come out of High School unable to form opinions. They cherish opinions that actually belong to someone other than themselves and treat those opinions as if they were facts. What a Neptunian fog they are condemned to live in!

As I understand the purpose of education, it is to master the fine art (Neptune) of forming useful (Saturn) opinions that can keep you alive in the world, whether they’re "true" or not.

My father, born in 1908, told me in the 1960’s that nothing he learned in school was true anymore. Sure enough, now very little I learned in 8^th grade is true anymore.

If I hadn’t known I was in school to learn how to figure out what’s true, rather than to memorize a list of true things, I wouldn’t be able to function in today’s world.

Reading sf/f was at that time, and is still today, the most strenuous workout possible for maintaining the ability to form useful opinions, and then reform them continuously, to dance within Neptune’s fog, enjoy it, and still slice right through enchantment (Neptune) to find solid reality (Saturn) that keeps you alive.

This year we’ve been examining possible effects of the transit of Neptune over the USA natal Moon on the USA Group Mind. In January we looked at how Neptune affects "reality." February focused on Neptune’s roll in romance. Last month we discussed Neptune’s influence on prejudice and bigotry – the illusion (Neptune) that what you feel is true really is true.

As demonstrated by the scifi channel non-fiction show, Proof Positive, Evidence of the Paranormal, it is easy to be caught up in one’s own credulousness. On Proof Positive, they show you three dramatized skits, and you have to pick out which ones really happened – and which are fantasy.

I have here five books that can challenge you in a very similar way. You’ll work up a sweat with these for each is a marvelous use of the powers of Neptune.

The first is a mixed-genre Action-Romance tale with Mystery and American Indian Mysticism blended into a spell binding, breath stopping novel.

Jane Toombs is one of the foremost Romance genre writers (well, she likes my Vampire Romance Those Of My Blood, so who am I to say otherwise?) who has also done some werewolf novels I’ve reviewed (June 1993) as well as a number of Romances with occult overtones.

Here she gives us her first e-book, High Risk, available on fictionwise.com, that would be a page-turner if it had pages! Set in the contemporary West USA, this is a read-at-one-sitting novel with such a breathless pace you can’t stop to think. So when all is revealed at the end of the mystery – you kick yourself for not seeing it sooner – but watch carefully for hidden discrepancies.

Next we have two children’s books which would make wonderful gifts for children in schools that try to teach "the truth." A Fortune Teller’s Club Novel, The Ghost of Shady Lane by Dotti Enderle pits the group of children against a house with the reputation of being haunted. And then they discover the source of the reputation. The author plays fair, the facts are all there, but just like Proof Positive, when truth is revealed, you see your prejudices.

Last Dance by Linda Joy Singleton is a children’s novel in The Seer series. It is another ghost novel, but here within the search for a mystical amulet with healing powers, there are psychic abilities, and a ghost dead for fifty-four years, making it truly ancient history for these children. The cause of the ghost’s death turns out to be intricately connected to finding the amulet. This solidly plotted novel will challenge children to sort fact from opinion.

Llewellyn, one of the foremost publishers of occult non-fiction is producing children’s and adult novels of exquisite quality as literature with solid occult principles.

Katie MacAlister’s best selling Aislin Gray Guardian novels have escaped my notice until recently. Fire Me Up is the first one I’ve read, and is not the first in the series chronology. It read smoothly and comprehensively despite that. There is enough mystery to keep your opinions reforming, and enough sex to satisfy the most passionate.

This "reality" is filled with complicated magical beings and Gifted humans. The Guardians, such as the main character, Aisling, have the ability to open and close the gates to the Otherworld. Aisling’s talent is new and very much not under her control yet. She’s seeking a mentor while being pursued by a Dragon in human form who insists she is his mate and has no choice in the matter.

Aisling has her own life, and refuses to bond with her Dragon until (on the astral plane in a dream) he promises to let her live that life. However it is a deal with the devil who will admit only to promising two explicit behaviors, not to the principle behind them.

Aisling believes her own opinion because of that very magical sex – and bonds permanently with this magnificent male. When he attempts to kidnap her to force her to give his agenda precedence over her own, she understands her own complicity in fooling herself.

What she does about her predicament can teach us a lot about how to handle Neptune and its effect on opinion once you discover it. Self-honesty is very harsh.

MacAlister is widely published and versatile, writing in several sub-genres of the Romance field. Hard Day’s Knight is a fabulous romp for any science fiction fan who’s been to a Renaissance Faire. We get a peek behind the scenes at the people in costume who entertain the visitors, especially the stalwart Knights who put on the Jousting Tournament every day.

MacAlister also shows us a serious side to the jousting performance by postulating a serious, high stakes, competition – a very real joust behind the staged and choreographed one of the show.

We meet a geekish woman software engineer named Pepper whose cousin puts her into a revealing bustier and sends her out among the Ren Faire guests as a "wench" promising her that she’ll find the true love of her life that week. And she is immediately rescued from the deadly hooves of a galloping horse by a jouster in Shining Knight’s Armor who accuses her of being afraid of horses.

She’s not. She knows more about horses than he does – they just hate her. Before she switched majors, she was studying to be a Veterinary. But he doesn’t know that and sparks fly.

From there the plot thickens into a murder mystery as Pepper has to unravel the secrets of the relationships among the jousters entering the tournament for money. Her big mouth and high opinion of herself gets her into trouble when she accepts the challenge to learn to joust – there are many other women who joust, why shouldn’t she?

As she practices this sport, Pepper learns the techniques, the dangers, and the reasons why the Knight who rescued her apparently (Neptune) refuses the attraction between them. I hope to read MacAllister’s May 2006 vampire novel – Even Vampires Get The Blues.

For more on the subject of opinions and facts, see this column for June 2000, May 2002, and September 2004 posted on lightworks.com as well as simegen.com.