The human body. The solar system. The science and math discoveries of ancient cultures. The power of taking care of neighbors and making everyone our neighbor. All amazing, all inspiring, so I write stories about them. Stories are what entertain us. Stories are what teach us. Stories can be misused to mislead us. Most importantly, the good stories, the right stories, can prompt us to grow. Expand. Empathize. Heal. I could use some of that. You too. Let’s read.
I wrote...
Space Boots
By
Derick William Dalton
What is my book about?
Leo Jones wants nothing more than to become a surgeon, but a misplaced terrorist bomb destroys his chance. His plan B finds him cleaning a Navy starship, saving for school, and running out of patience. Hophnia Zimmerman wields her willpower with even more skill than her violin bow. As a new Navy officer, she's disappointed her first battle is not against an invader, but Leo's traitorous captain. She vows to bring him down, but agonizes over the collateral lives.
In the confusion, Leo creates more problems for Hophnia than a misplaced bomb did for him. As they struggle to save the ship and limp back to Earth, they find the battle isn't over. There are vindictive traitors who are not biding their time.
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The Books I Picked & Why
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
By
Douglas Adams
Why this book?
I’m convinced Douglas Adams peered across the Atlantic and into my soul before typing out this radio drama and subsequent novel, because his story resonated to perfection. I first saw the round green cover guy, thumbs in ears and tongue protruding in mockery, on my grandmother’s kitchen table. Her taste in literature helped me learn the foreign and delicious flavor of British comedy. Wry humor about physics made a connection I’d never had before. Douglas Adams showed me I wasn’t alone in the universe.
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The Time Traveler's Wife
By
Audrey Niffenegger
Why this book?
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was a good movie first and superhero flick second, which made it my favorite action film at the time. Similarly, Audrey Niffenegger’s debut novel nudged time travel from the main focus to a clever plot device used to explore a romantic relationship. More interested in the sci-fi at first, I was soon fascinated by how she wove it into the story with such subtlety and skill. Much the way Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh featured a blended family in Phineas and Ferb without making a big deal out of it. Niffenegger’s story also reframed my own view of chronology and of my relationships. Such world-building! So much character depth! So real to me it felt more biography than anything else.
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Jurassic Park
By
Michael Crichton
Why this book?
Michael Crichton taught me more about biology than all my previous teachers combined. Genetic manipulation? Dinosaurs? My high school brain ate it all up. Mr. Crichton is a big reason I developed an interest in medicine. That led to a high school internship with a radiology technician at a hospital, and eventually grad school to become a physician assistant. I later learned Crichton was a Harvard-trained medical doctor who chose writing over treating patients. After the COVID-19 pandemic, I can see the appeal.
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Out of the Silent Planet
By
C.S. Lewis
Why this book?
C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite people. He was of the British generation who endured Nazi air raids and was the first-ever to halt the advance of Hitler’s army. Narnia! Inklings! Noted by Tolkien as a critical supporter of Middle-Earth’s creation!
Out of the Silent Planet fascinated me as a work of history as much as sci-fi. Through Lewis’ eyes, we get a glimpse of humanity’s circa 1930s grasp of interplanetary physics, cosmic radiation, and aerospace medicine. At the risk of exposing my chronocentric arrogance, it was much more detailed and accurate than I expected. At times, it seems one of the antagonists is meant to represent scientific endeavors as a whole. If so, Lewis has contributed to a culture that has made my past and present jobs as a biology teacher and physician assistant much more difficult. However, do I detect a well-placed jab at Britain’s history of imperialistic colonialism? All is forgiven!
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Almost Super
By
Marion Jensen
Why this book?
Rafter, Benny, and Juanita protagonate (yep, that’s a word) in a bizarre amalgamated world that could have been dreamed up by Stan Lee, the Andy Griffith Show writers, and Beverly Cleary. Dreamed up as a joke. Abandoned with a good comeraderific laugh (also a word). Then picked up, dusted off, and polished by Marion Jensen. But that’s not what happened. Jensen created the whole adventurous, hilarious, uplifting, good-buddy superhero story with his own solitary brain. My kids and I have laughed at his story many times.
