LOTSA WATER, for sure

    

 Several weeks ago I received a wonderful email from a reader who had purchased from Amazon Kindle the first two books in my SETI series, "SETI" and "SETI, The Journey." The reader was almost begging me to finish the final book in the series, Book III. I decided then and there that if only for that one reader, I hope and pray that's not the case, I would write the final story. The title of that story, of that final installment, is "SETI, Conception" and the cover can be found on my author home page at www.frederickfichman.com. Links directly to Amazon and Barnes&Noble can also be found on my website.

     A key story element for "SETI, Conception" is a geographic fact I discovered that I want to share with you in today's blog and maybe give you a few thoughts to consider as well.

     First, salt water oceans cover 70.8% of the earth's surface, land covers 29.2%. Of that 29.2% of land, 3% is inhabited by humans and 40% is used for agriculture. Ergo, humans actually live on a very very small percentage of the land on the planet Earth.

     Dogs have somewhat figured it out...Never Poop Where You Eat. We make quite a mess on our 3% of the 29.2% of land on the planet don't we? We should consider our canine friends' wisdom.

     But for purposes of my story, "SETI, Conception," that fact how we have despoiled so much of our small plot of land is just a minor factor. The more important factor for story telling purposes is that our footprint on this planet is so small. And our footprint on our oceans is truly negligible. I remember once taking a cruise and standing on the top deck watching a land mass disappearing over the horizon. It was a bit unsettling to see all that water with no land in sight. I can only imagine that if an ant could posses the same visual acuity a human possessed and looked across a road or even a sidewalk, a feeling of great isolation and emptiness would surely fill his soul.

     To see how this all plays out in "SETI, Conception" I guess you'll just have to read Book III in the SETI Trilogy when it is finally published. Stay tuned, I hope that will be soon. I will let you know. Thanks for joining me for my weekly blog. I love writing them, please let me know what you think.

Frederick Fichman