There are many hidden mysteries and dilemmas in the book, some obvious, many not obvious. Here’s a list to get you thinking. You need to read the entire book to solve most of them. E-mail me with your discoveries: brian@briantissot.com
Author Archives: Dr Abalone
Origins of Thalassa’s Cetaceans
As a marine biologist I am always spellbound watching whales on the open sea. Witnessing their majestic movements, they are the most marine of all creatures, but I never fully appreciated their origins until I researched the topic before writing SOT. I focused on the ancestors of cetaceans because they are super-cool and are a great hook to get people to read my book. They also use sonar and sing songs and thus are perfect to play a major part of the “songs” of Thalassa (but they are not the only ones).
Life on Thalassa
Although we have discovered thousands of exoplanets in the last decade we know of only one planet with life: Earth. So, as a marine biologist I based life on Thalassa using the scientific foundations and evolutionary history of what we know about primitive life on Earth, with some added twists of course. Since we don’t know what life might look like on another planet, it is possible some alien life it will be similar to earth’s life in overall appearance and form due to the constraints of an organism’s functional anatomy, physiology, and the cellular and genetic foundations
Waves of Thalassa
So, you might ask, can we really surf on a planet like Thalassa? What does the science say? Believe it or not, this question has been studied and the answer is yes!. But as a surfer a better question is what kind of waves would we find? In SOT I based the waves at the “Slab” and “Colossus” on the science on Mars’ oceans since this is the only extraterrestrial ocean that has been studied.
Geology of Thalassa
The geology of Thalassa was created based on real-world examples of planetary dynamics on Earth and other planets, especially Mars. Here I present the research concepts I used to create the geology, geography, and oceanography of the planet. To begin, let’s travel back in time about 100 million years ago to the planet Thalassa… AtContinue reading “Geology of Thalassa”
Maps of Thalassa
Included below are more detailed maps of Thalassa indicating major locations in the book. Spoiler Alert: the names of some locations may provide unwanted information about the plot and are best viewed after the book is completed.
Sage: Heroine’s Journey
Sage’s story, like many in modern fiction, was modeled after Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey but adapted for a woman to the Heroine’s journey. To develop her story I used several books to guide me as well as feedback from female reviewers. These include Campbell’s book (1949), The Heroine’s Journey: Woman’s Quest for Wholeness byContinue reading “Sage: Heroine’s Journey”
Music of Thalassa
Earth is teeming with life, all literally bursting with sound. On land we hear these sounds every day and most people are familiar with the noises of the forest: the hooting, chirping, moaning, howling, tweeting, clucking, whistling, squawking and hooting that creates a complex sonic melody. The sound of nature is everywhere but we don’tContinue reading “Music of Thalassa”
Mythology & Beliefs
A large part of SOT involves Sage’s cultural upbringing and her embracing of Hawaiian culture, and eventually a new worldview. Here I explore aspects of Hawaiian mythology and culture including in the book in more detail. I also explore the concept of Pantheism. “Hanau ka poThe night gave birth Hanau Kumulipo i ka po, heContinue reading “Mythology & Beliefs”
The Fermi Paradox
The Fermi Paradox is a great way to think about the possibility of life, in this case technologically advanced civilizations in the universe. Below is the text from an early draft of SOT that was deleted from the book. This is a conversation the crew had in space on the way to Thalassa and isContinue reading “The Fermi Paradox”