The "What if" moment

Your characters need an environment and my big "what if" led to the discovery of Astronaut Stuart Roosa.

In 1971, Roosa went into orbit on Apollo 14. Since he had been a Forest Service smoke jumper, he decided that his personal kit would include hundreds of tree seeds.

Four to five hundred seeds from the Douglas Fir, Sweetgum, Loblolly Pine, Sycamore, and Sweetgum trees were included. He and his seeds stayed in the Kitty Hawk command module as it orbited the moon as other astraonauts stepped on the moon.

During decontamination the containers burst and the seeds were mixed together. Fortunately, nearly all the seeds germinated and the Forest Service had over four hundred trees to plant.

1975 and 1976 saw the trees sent to their future homes. The White House lawn, Brazil, Switzerland and even the Emperor of Japan received trees. Valley Forge, NASA, Koch Girl Scout Camp in Indiana, Goaddard Space Flight Center in Maryland were among states to receive trees.

You can read more about it here: The Moon Trees

Twenty years later, you can not tell a non-orbit tree from one that has orbited the moon, but WHAT IF???

What if those trees were imbued with special powers from their time in orbit and became the home of a world of creatures bent on saving the world?

What's your WHAT IF?

The Moon Trees are a microcosm of cultures

Her name was Ellen Pamela Nichols Parker (d/b: 11/23/1852 in Oklahoma) and she was my Great, Great Grandmother. Family rumor had it that she was related to Quanah Parker, the great Chief of the Comanches. Quanah Parker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Somewhere there is a wonderful black and white photo of her in a canoe. She had stereotypical high cheekbones and darker skin, that show where the rumor came from. That, and the fact that, when her son, my Great Grandfather, was off on a tantrum, my Grandmother used to say to him, "That's your Indian blood." From the other stories I have heard of my Great Grandfather, meanness came naturally to him. He did not need any help from stereotypes.

I traveled to Oklahoma to solve the mystery a long time ago. I was not successful in resolving it, but thought it was nice that mom can still have this romantic notion of a connection to the early inhabitants of this country.

She loves reading books about Native culture and watching every movie with Native American culture, she can find. She especially loves movies like A Man Called Horse and Dances with Wolves, but her heart is with the Native American woman. I envision her imagination sometimes lives in a buckskin dress and gathers berries. There is a very good listing of Native American movies here: Native American Movie Listing

I love to paint faces and find that all faces are beautiful and have so many stories to tell. I have been a professional portrait artist for twenty years and have exhibited at Pow Wow’s and painted many Native American faces. The sign on my booth read, “I paint with respect. Please let me know if you do not want me photographing you. I send copies of photos I have taken if you would like to leave your name and an address.”

I was only asked one time not to take a photograph. I have been honored with a white heart bead necklace by a Native Chief out west and I have been asked to keep watch over a treasured Eagle feather headdress. I have been able to do paintings of many beautiful Native faces and even painted the grandfather, father, son and daughter in one family.

Growing up with a love of all things Native and spending nights, in my van, falling asleep to the drums (believe me, it is the best sleep ever), gave me a great resource for the fantasy novel I am working on.

Native American culture is full of a wonderful Mythology, much of which is a bit adult in nature to use in a Middle Grade novel. I began throwing in other cultural references that enrich the world I have created. My personal opinion, that we are all one on this earth, is reflected in that I have a major character who is Celtic, a teacher from Bengali, an African beneficent faerie, and an Apache Mountain Spirit. Student's genealogy is also diverse: Japan, Africa, Native America, an Arabic young man and Caucasian.

My protagonist is an abused boy who, with his brothers, seeks shelter in a world that believes in taking care of the earth and all its inhabitants. I have enjoyed the research I have done for this book and it falls right in with "write about what you know."