Species Imperative

Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind
Reap the Wild Wind

Salmon
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My Think Plank - For the three years I was writing Species Imperative, this giant slab of paper covered my bookcases (note the clever use of clamps. Roger did that.) It was divided vertically into thirds, creatively named "first third" "middle third" "last third," and the post-its and notes are anything at all that occurred to me along the way, stuck approximately where it occurred to me I should. It wasn't an outline as such. It was a snapshot of my hindbrain. There are notes saying cryptic things like: "destroy a planet about here" and "dry pebbles tinkle when they roll down a slope" and "where is 14?" As well as news articles on dam construction and an exhortation to "be sure everyone's in big trouble by now." Such is the process. I will say it was something of a relief to fold it up and pack it away. Made it much easier to find the books behind, it did. (Oh, and the mess on the top isn't there anymore either. Spring cleaning was finally allowed past the Think Plank. Now that's where I display my wonderful Species Imperative gifts.)
Novel Outline
Pen
What if we aren’t alone?

To me, as a biologist, the most interesting speculations from here are the basic ones.

"What will airport bathrooms look like?” “What will be polite?” And, “How might the needs of one species -- its fundamental, biological urgencies -- impact on another’s?”

Because living things don’t just talk. They interact, with consequences. We tend not to notice, because we’re part of an assembly of species who’ve evolved together over the millennia. But when we meet something new ... all bets will be off.

Species Imperative is my look at a future where humans and other intelligent species coexist peacefully across a wide area of space, and the consequences of one species’ innate drive on the rest. It's part mystery, part thriller; all SF. Unrelated to any of my previous stories, much nearer in time to ours, and set, in part, on the northern coast of British Columbia. - Julie