Taylor Anderson

Answers to Fundamental Questions

With “Into the Storm” and “Crusade” both out, and selling well, I think I can begin addressing some fundamental, general questions about the “other” Earth the Destroyermen find themselves in–without giving away any serious “spoilers.”  Some of this may be news to those who have only read “Into the Storm,” but I don’t think, at this point, I will be “ruining” any surprises for you because you have probably already asked these questions in your minds and, for the most part, the answers come fairly early in “Crusade.”  They shouldn’t have a major bearing on your appreciation of the story, and may even enhance it.

One question I am often asked is why I chose not to “flesh out” the Grik more in volume one.  The answer is simple.  The men and women in the story have been at the mercy of the various situations they have endured literally since the day WWII began.  They were without air cover or any real knowledge of Japanese movements in the first part of the story, and in some ways, they were just as alone and isolated then as they would become after the “Squall.”  After the “Squall,” they are confronted with an enemy just as implacable and even more remorseless.  Americans hated the Japanese after Pearl Harbor, but they never really understood them–particularly later, after the Kamikaze attacks began.  How could they wrap their minds around that?  Today, when I speak to veterans who witnessed those attacks, they often seem just as horrified and mystified by that mind-set now, as they did back then.  A more recent example is the War on Terror.  How can we “wrap” our minds around suicide bombings or a mentality that condones highjacking airplanes full of innocent civilians and crashing them into buildings full of innocent civilians?

To the Destroyermen, the Grik are just as alien.  If they barely understand the Japanese, how can they hope to understand the Grik–particularly when they have so little to go on?  Their ultimate quest in “Into the Storm” is to find out what kind of “storm” they’ve found themselves in.  They know very little about the Grik.  Is it appropriate for readers to know more than the characters themselves?  Only at the end do they–and the readers–begin to get an inkling. 

The Grik most certainly do have “motivation” for their behavior.  It is strange–alien–and it makes sense to THEM, even if it remains difficult for the Destroyermen to understand.  As the storyline makes it appropriate for the characters to learn more about the Grik, readers will too.  In fact, readers will begin to know SLIGHTLY MORE than the characters as time goes by, through the eyes of the Grik themselves.  Some aspects of their behavior remain mysterious however, because with the exception of a very few, the Grik don’t know why they “do it” either. 

I will attempt to answer a few more general questions by means of a highly edited (with Tom’s permission) discussion we recently had.  As time goes by, I will add more of Tom’s interesting and insightful questions.

Tom,
I gotta say, you “got” it again, and put it into words very well. As I’ve always said, regardless of their adventures, this series is about People–mostly on that old ship–regardless of, ultimately, even what species they
 are.  That’s why it is the “Destroyermen” series, not the “Four-Stacker’ series or the ”Weird World” series.

  –Taylor

Tom:  What is your reasoning on the evolution of the Uul, and why some evolve past the mindless warrior stage? 

Taylor:  Who says the Uul have EVOLVED, socially, to be the way they are?  Stay tuned for Book #3!

Tom:  … so the Hij think the Uul are stupid, but they are brighter than given credit for- just governed more by the old animal passions? 

Taylor:  No, I’m not saying that. . . entirely.  Animal passions are key, but what I mean is that maybe the Uul are sometimes capable of more than the Hij allow them to be aware of. . . and sometimes less.  I hate to be so cryptic, but at this stage, I have to be.  It WILL—eventually—make sense.

On Mountain Fish

Tom:  I know of no fish, dinosaur or mammal that even remotely comes in to this size range.  There is absolutely no evolutionary need for it, and what would it eat in sufficient quantity to survive?

Taylor:  They are the “trunk cats” of the sea.  Let me explain.  We once pulled a ’49 Buick out of a lake, and when we got around to opening the trunk, we found a yellow catfish in there that took up the entire space.  (I don’t know if you’ve ever seen how big the trunk of a ’49 Buick is . . .)  The only explanation was that he’d swum in there as a fingerling and grew too big to get out.  Somehow, over the years, he subsisted and grew to his monstrous size relying on the nutrients and smaller organisms that flowed in around him.  Of course, he couldn’t move, and his energy expenditures were limited to breathing, but if you think about it, Blue Whales do much the same, just cruising along, ingesting billions of krill.  Their size alone makes them mostly immune to predation. They can grow roughly 1/4 as long and probably 1/8 as massive as a mountain fish.  Compare a modern Great White to a Megaladon.  In the more voracious seas of the other earth, size–as defense–is even more important.  There are other significant differences between blue whales and mountain fish, however.
 a. Mountain fish don’t have baleen, they have massive jaws–that stay open most of the time.  They ingest creatures as large as small plesiosaurs as they cruise along.
 b. They are solitary, territorial air breathers.  Unlike a pod of whales, they have exclusive “rights” to all the food in a given area, and they develop impressive fat reserves to draw upon when their migratory prey moves on.
c. They don’t have to exert themselves much, but like the “trunk cat,” are capable of impressive feats of strength for a brief period.  (I thought the trunk cat broke my leg with his tail when we wrestled him out.)
d.  There aren’t very many of them, and except during mating times, they keep to themselves.  The young are probably hoovered up along with everything else if they stray into another mountain fish’s territory.  Only if they find an area where the Big Fish has died do they have much of a chance to reach maturity.

Tom:  Okay, I can understand Megalodons since we’ve seen the proof.  A fish this big, though, is just hard to fathom.  And we have catfish like that around here.  You should see how they grow near powerplants in those year-round warm water currents!  Carp, too.  Look like telephone poles laying on the bottom of the riverbeds.

Taylor:  Megaladons are just an example, and remember, I’m not relying only on the fossil record.  There were some really big, scary fish and aquatic reptiles 65 million years ago, and a couple might have served as ancestors for mountain fish.  Shoot, aquatic mammals supposedly stumped around on dry land once upon a time.  Evolution could do some really weird things over 65 million more years.  Maybe mountain fish ARE giant, 500yr-old “trunk cats!”  Let’s wait until one is more specifically described before you hazard a guess on parentage.

Tom:  Must be truly impressive territory size. The energy needs of one of these, even just as a drifter,  whoa!!

Taylor: Well, like I said, they can eat anything, not just little shrimps.

Tom: BTW, what did you do with the car?

Taylor:  It was thrashed.  We were practicing search and rescue stuff and it went to the wrecking yard.  I used to have a ’53 Buick though.  Talk about a sweet, wicked-looking car!  Straight eight ran so smooth, you could stand a nickel on the valve cover!

MORE TO COME!