Mark Shegelski

Remembering the Future is now also available as a Kindle ebook from Amazon.com. Get your copy here.

I had an incredible experience Monday and Tuesday, May 24th and 25th.

I met Robert J. Sawyer for coffee on Monday the 24th! I have been a big fan or Rob’s for quite some time. (Remember: Rob wrote a wonderful endorsement for my book, Remembering the Future, which is a story in itself.) We talked for over an hour. Rob answered many questions, gave me invaluable insights, and signed all my copies of his books. (I have all of Rob’s books and have multiple copies of several; Rob happily signed them all.)

I learned much about Rob, including at what point he knew he would be writing science fiction full time, different ways that he gets ideas for stories, and that, even with all his achievements (there are many; click on the link to his web site), he is one of the nicest people I have ever met.

On Tuesday the 25th, Rob gave a presentation at Books & Company here in Prince George. (This is the excellent bookstore at which I did my signing in September). Rob read part of his latest book, Watch, and answered numerous questions, including some about the television series FlashForward, which is based on his book of the same title.

Then he signed copies of his books. I was happy to wait for my turn. I asked if he would mention our meeting one another. Rob astounded me again by writing a wonderful note for me in my copy of his new book Watch.

Meeting Rob came out of the blue. I heard he would be in Prince George and then asked him by e-mail if there was any chance of seeing him apart from his time at Books & Company. He replied, “Absolutely, Mark,” and it went from there.

For the past few years, my wife Gail and I have gone to Maui in the spring. I work a bit each day first thing, then go out to sit under the Monkey Pod tree, which provides a speckled pattern of sunlight and shadows—the ideal place to sit and read for hours. For some time I was “the man under the tree” but when Gail made friends with others where we stay, people got to know our names.

This year I was stunned and delighted by a Tree Dedication Ceremony, arranged and presented by John and Pat Yessen, Bill and Paula Mclane, Byron Peirce, and my wife Gail. One day Gail and I are under the tree and she tells me that all five are coming out to say hello. I look and, sure enough, the five are walking out. I was thinking that it’s one of those coincidences where they all just happened to hook up and here they are. I had no idea what was to come.

They reach us and there are hellos and handshakes and hugs. OK. Then, John passes out pages to the rest of us. I look and see: “Mark Shegelski Tree Dedication Ceremony.” I blink. Still there. Down the page are things we are going to do. I’m supposed to make a reply at item 6! What will I say? I have no idea what is going on. A poem about a tree is read (you know the one), and we go through the list. When we’re done, the tree is dedicated to me. We finish up by having snacks and beverages.

It was done partly in fun, but it was also something special. Thanks to you all for a great surprise and a cherished memory. I’ll remember that day forever.

Leinaala News May 2010 Tree Dedication Ceremony

This spring, I went to Kihei Charter School in Maui. I read stories from my book and answered students’ questions. A very bright group of students! Great questions, like: “Do you like to write dialogue more than description?” (Jordan Diaz) “Have you written stories that are not science fiction?” (Collon Saphore) The answer to that was: Yes: I’ve written horror stories, but I couldn’t finish them because they bothered me too much. That led to: “Are any of your stories scary?” I remembered that several readers had told me that the story, The Quiet Room, scared them, and I told the students this and also that there are a few stories in my book that are frightening, because they actually could happen! There were also questions about quantum mechanics(!), most of them asked by Adrea Pringle.

Three students asked more than one question: Jordan Diaz, Adrea Pringle, and Collon Saphore. I gave to each the gift of a signed copy of Remembering the Future.

At the end of my presentation, I was given the gift of a Lei, and I was speechless. Luckily, my presentation was over.

I was delighted to hear later that the students read aloud one of my stories, The Quiet Room, in their next class. This story emerged as the selected story for reading following my telling the students about horror stories I have worked on.

Thanks to these three students, and all the students in class, for your intense involvement in my presentation, as well as to Mr. Tom Stevens who let me present my book to his class, and to all others at the school.

We’ve all heard that “matter consists of mostly empty space.” But this is wrong! This popular misconception is likely due to the ubiquitous drawing of an atom with electrons circling the nucleus like planets orbiting the sun. Electrons do not exist in such states! Instead, they are spread out and pervade all of the space in the piece of matter.

A more accurate picture of solid matter is the following. You have the protons and neutrons in nuclei, which occupy a tiny fraction of the volume in the solid, about a millionth of a billionth of the space (ten to the minus 15). Outside the nuclei, which is almost all of the space, is where you’ll find the electrons. There are two types of states for the electrons A good picture for the “bound” electrons is that many are smeared out clouds that are centered on the nuclei and which connect the nuclei indirectly: these electrons form a labyrinth which pervades the space in between the nuclei. The other state is “mobile” electron states. Mobile electrons are spread throughout all of the volume of the solid: they occupy all of the space outside the nuclei. These are the electrons that carry current. In insulators you don’t have very many mobile electrons, but the bound electrons still fill the space. In summary, the nuclei are filled with protons and neutrons, and all the space outside the nuclei is filled with electrons: there is no empty space!

Question: What holds up a metal against gravity? See the next “science snack.”

Being a physicist, professor, and researcher allows me to fold science into my stories in a manner that enhances the crises the characters confront and raises the stakes for critical situations. Here’s an example from the story “The Entangled Man” (don’t read on if you haven’t read the story yet; skip to the next paragraph!). In quantum physics, you can put two particles in a special state such that you may no longer think of them as “two particles.” Instead you must consider them as a single entity. It is a two-particle system, not two single-particle systems. The implications are profound!

Entanglement is the central reason for the bizarre nature of Gerrold as The Entangled Man. Entanglement defines him, forcing him to perceive the world in a manner unlike any other character I know of in all of the stories I have read. He is a unique entity and, quite honestly, it still chills me every time I think of what life must be like for him. I could not have developed this character without knowledge of quantum entanglement.

I will be putting further entries on various science topics here in my blog. Check for updates every now and then!

I had the pleasure of reading parts of my book to the Advanced Placement Grade 12 class at College Heights high school on February 2nd. The students asked me so many excellent questions that I travelled quickly to the future! An hour and a half went by in 20 minutes.

Which authors inspired you?

If you had to choose, which would you pick: to be a professor or to be a writer?

Why didn’t Pender use Jack more directly in the story “The Mind Wipe?”

I want to thank Mrs. Gamble and all the students for a great day. Special thanks to Willow and Landon and Alistair for such challenging questions. I look forward to hearing what you think of “Remembering the Future.”

I recently received a nice e-mail from Trish Holman about my book. Trish writes:

What a good read, you are to be mightily congratulated, entertaining AND thought provoking, a hard double act to pull off. I smiled to myself while reading “Grandfather Paradox” and “Double Click.” I was thinking what I’d do!!!! Most of the time I was not smiling, the thoughts of how scary the possibilities and probabilities of the quantum world are was much too close to home.

Thanks Trish!

Copies of Remembering the Future were flying through the air on Friday, September 11th, 2009, from 4:00 p.m. to 7: p.m., as I had a book launch from Books & Company, here at home in Prince George. It was very special to see so many friends and to meet so many new friends. My thanks to Jim Brinkman and Owen Lubbers of Books & Company, as well as Dee Horne and the English Program at UNBC for arranging this event. Thanks to Gwen Lew for doing a beautiful job with the invitations. Special thanks to all who came to the show. Books & Company is at 1685 3rd Avenue, and there certainly aren’t many other bookstores that are as nice as this one. The variety of books is amazing! Plenty of science fiction titles, including many which are hard to find.

I am now a proud new member of the BC Federation of Writers. My book was launched on page 25 in the Summer 2009 issue of Word Works, the “voice of BC writers.” There is a smashing image of the cover of the book with Robert J. Sawyer’s endorsement appearing in the dark side of the moon. The description of the book closely follows what is written on the back cover. There is also a brief bio. My thanks to my editor, Dee Horne, for having this appear in Work Works.