Second Encounter Spoilers

Notes

Julie Stollack

While the revelations concerning the nature of Julie as a Star Spawn were significant in the other novels, they were nothing compared to what was revealed here. To find that she was the second-born of all creation, had to be restrained from stopping the sacrifice of Jesus (her brother), and that she looks like her her mother (an "Eve" in her own right) -- these were all things I hadn't planned, but they just "came out."

I had needed something to set her apart from the rest of mortality and while what she did with the Zurth house responsible for the deaths on Eclipse was predictable, it wasn't enough. I needed something as drastic as her losing a limb (which made the second story work), but something I (personally) would have trouble over.

So, how do you work with and around deity? If you are a student of the Bible, Christ did it (after his resurrection) by appearing as a man. In some cases, such as his appearance to his diciples (and also Thomas), he appeared as they knew him. Later, he didn't, but they suspected something.

And so after what happened on Dor with Julie, everyone was in shock. Here was a true Goddess, with a capital G. Recognized far beyond that revealed in Cleric's World, and to the watching Alliance, she became a power they could no longer ignore. From there on out, no one knows what to do with her, except maybe Matt, Kristi, and B'Ann.

James Matthews

And if it wasn't enough, to find out that Matt was not only an Admiral in his own right, but the Admiral over Allied Defense and Security and second only to the Council President was something else. No wonder he was always in control, no matter the situation.

In this story, he dies once, almost, and then for real the second time. Here we learn things not previously revealed - that he and Kristi will become a King and Queen in their own right, and that he will play an important part in the future. So, he can't die, even though he had.

Julie must bring him back and restore his destroyed body. And, it turns out that she has a really wicked sense of humor, something her brother knows about.

Matt and Julie

It turns out that our little Julie, our young Star Spawn, has a crush on Matt. And, she can't have him, though she wants him almost more than anything else in the entire universe. And with her powers, she can take him with her, away from Kristi.

The moral delimma presented to this Star Spawn is a strong one and helps make her more mortal and someone with whom we can still relate.

But what is more ironic is when I wrote this, I had no idea where I was going to take Matt when they return to Cleric One. Julie tells Matt that he has a power over her and that he has power beyond any mortal man she has ever known. What little I knew and that's where this whole thing gets just a little weird on me. I wrote what Stollack said to Matt and then it turns out that he is the most powerful mortal that anyone has ever known.

Eclipse

If 16 lights isn't fast enough, the big ship has a few surprises of its own. It turns out that as it travels faster and faster, the nature of the universe does something unexpected and it slips into a no-man's land of sorts. There, it is unreachable by everything in the normal physical universe, and travels at an unheard of 96 lights. That translates into 5,000 times the speed of light!

Human Nature of Deity

One of the things I feel has happened down through the centuries is the alienation of us to God (and this is true of many of the major religions). In the early parts of the Old Testament, we find God visiting man from time to time and appearing as a man. Whether these are metaphorical or real accounts are buried in the annals of time and we really cannot determine it from what has been left.

The accounts of Jesus make him into a man, even after the resurrection. The limited account given of his forty days shows us for him to have a tangible body, one which can consume food and commune as one person to another. Only through the interpretations of men has the nature of this god changed into one more mystical (and mythical).

What I have done in this fictional story is to make deity more "human." That is, they are much like you and I, only having immortal bodies. Life after death is nothing more than a continuation of what we have here, but without all the failings that go along with mortality and not neccessarily at this place (yes, at)

Page created April 30, 2007
Updated: February 09, 2008