Inspirations and Influences

Earth & Sky: Megan Crewe on Inspirations & Influences (& Giveaway)

“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their Inspirations and Influences. In this feature, we invite writers to talk about their new books, older titles, and their writing overall.

Today we are hosting Megan Crewe, as part of the Earth & Sky Trilogy Blog Tour!

For centuries they’ve been studying us like lab rats.
Experimenting with our past.
Rewriting our present.
Our future is in their hands.
How far would you go to stop them?

Megan Crewe Earth and Sky final

Please give it up for Megan Crewe, everyone!

Since I’ve already talked about the most immediate inspirations for EARTH & SKY elsewhere, I thought I’d share some of the science fiction books, movies, and TV shows from my childhood and teens that bits and pieces of the story–along with my general love for all things science fiction-y–can be traced back to.

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Going way back to the beginning, the biggest influence on my perspective on science fiction is probably Star Trek. My parents were huge fans, and The Next Generation was one of our “family shows” as I was growing up: a show they, my brother, and I watched together every week. The storylines involving Q, who enjoyed adjusting reality for his own amusement, have a little in common with my alien scientists and their time manipulating experiments, and I can also see hints of the Borg’s rigid collectivism in Kemyate society. Possibly the clearest parallel, though, is between EARTH & SKY and the sixth Star Trek movie, The Undiscovered Country, which I saw in theaters when it first came out. The Undiscovered Country is essentially the story of how one alien race (the Klingons) went from being long-time enemies of Earth to forming an alliance. The dynamics of making peace with people you’ve harmed in the past, the prejudices that must be dealt with, and the variety of reactions to the shifting politics are all elements that echo throughout the Earth & Sky trilogy.

bttf bttf2

And of course there were the Back to the Future movies, especially the second, which is the one I really got into (I was a little too young for the first when it came out). I assume these need no introduction? Both the first and the second movies tackle concerns about accidental or purposeful changes in the past having negative effects on the present day, a worry also very much on the mind of EARTH & SKY‘s protagonist. These films were also the first model of open-ended time travel (as opposed to closed loop, where any “changes” made are really just part of the static timeline) that I saw, and no doubt played a role in my development of my own time travel rules.

martianchronicles canticle

When I was in my teens, my parents passed on to me a big stack of classic science fiction books that they’d had for years. Among those was Ray Bradbury’s THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, featuring many tales of how similar yet alien peoples encountering one another can get caught up in misunderstandings and hostility–much like my Earthlings and Kemyates. And then there was one that’s still a favorite of mine, Walter M. Miller’s A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ, which contains no aliens or time travel and only a brief mention of spaceflight, but its theme about the cyclical nature of history and people’s tendency to repeat destructive actions no matter how many chances they have to learn from their mistakes I can see ringing through my entire trilogy.

The funny thing is, I wasn’t thinking about any of these stories when I was planning or writing the Earth & Sky books. It’s only looking back and considering what I was absorbing as a kid that I noticed how many stories may have influenced the trilogy without my even being aware of it.

Like many authors, Megan Crewe finds writing about herself much more difficult than making things up. A few definite facts: she lives with her husband, son, and three cats in Toronto, Canada (and does on occasion say “eh”), she tutors children and teens with special needs, and she can’t look at the night sky without speculating about who else might be out there.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

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As part of the blog tour, Megan Crewe is hosting a giveaway. You can enter the giveaway here, using the form below or in any of the other blogs participating in the tour. The giveaway is open internationally and the winners will be announced by the author at the end of the tour.

One grand prize winner will receive a Kindle Paperwhite with custom EARTH & SKY cover and preloaded with the ebook, and nine others will receive a signed paperback copy of the book. All winners will also receive an EARTH & SKY swag pack including star candies in Win’s favorite Earth flavors, signed bookmark, magnet, and sticker. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

17 Comments

  • Kyla @ Carmel & Kyla
    November 13, 2014 at 4:36 am

    Ever since I was a kid until now, I’ve always believed in aliens. I mean, the universe is so big, it’s impossible that we’re the only species living in this universe, right? I love books that involves time traveling, too! If I could travel back, I’d love to visit the Victorian Era because it sounds fancy. Thanks for the giveaway! <3

  • Suz_Glo
    November 13, 2014 at 8:19 am

    My interest in science fiction – and belief in life beyond Earth – was definitely influenced by my love of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And I love the idea of time travel!!

  • Katie
    November 13, 2014 at 9:19 am

    Time travel isn’t really my favorite, but I do love a good alien story! As a kid I grew up watching The X Files, and I think that has definitely influenced some of my reading material.

  • Gerd D.
    November 13, 2014 at 10:41 am

    Star Trek, same here, a true family show – but we were a original series family.
    Both “The Martian Chronicles” and “A Canticle for Leibowitz” are on my books-I-want-to-read-someday list, for neither that someday has come yet.

  • Jen K
    November 13, 2014 at 11:53 am

    Time travelling has always interested me. I’ve read some great books and seen some great movies and shows that make me wish I could find a way to travel through time. Doctor Who is one of my favourites, many adventures and great times. I can’t wait to read Megan’s book. If anyone can pull this off, it’s her! Thanks for the giveaway!

  • Artemis
    November 13, 2014 at 11:53 am

    Love the post! Star Trek is the reason I love science fiction and the Back to the Future movies was my favorites as a kid. I like the idea of time traveling and we need more books about aliens. I don’t believe there are many good so far!

  • Danielle Fulton
    November 13, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    I love all the things mentioned in this post. I also grew up in a Star Trek loving family. My dad used to make me come home from school and record (on vhs) the two hours of NG, DS9 and voyager that would play every afternoon. We had literally hundreds of recorded vhs tapes in our house.

  • hapax
    November 13, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    I’ve always had trouble with time travel stories — too many logical and physical paradoxes. Except for the kind of time travel all of us do (into the past via memory, into the future by just living).

    Still, meddlesome aliens are hard to resist!

  • Denise B
    November 13, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    Great post! I was never a big Star Trek fan, but Back to the Future, now that is going way back, making me feel old.

  • Ashfa Anwer
    November 14, 2014 at 4:47 am

    I’m not a huge fan of Sci-Fi or time travel but love the sound of this book!!! And the cover is just fantastic!

  • Sabrina
    November 14, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    Heh, I just listened to a story on This American Life about public perceptions of time travel. I doubt it’ll ever happen, but I’d mostly want to go back in time as a sort of ghost – able to see and watch things but not change anything. Because otherwise, the thought of the possible ripples hurts my brain.

  • Joseline Herrera
    November 14, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    I love aliens especially Daemon Black from the Lux series by J. l Armenntrout! I love the whole that she created 🙂

  • Hebe
    November 14, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    I do think time travel narratives are really fascinating, although I find it more difficult to read them than to, for example, watch them – without visual clues, I find it tricky to sort out all the different timelines. Still, Earth and Sky looks interesting – thanks for the giveaway.

  • Kimberly B.
    November 16, 2014 at 12:37 am

    My interest in science fiction was stoked by the bookmobile librarian, who also lived 3 houses down. She was always trying to get me to read science fiction as a kid, but I didn’t really get into it until I was a teenager. A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels were the gateway drugs, followed by Anne McCaffrey and Mary Stewart’s Merlin series (for the fantasy side). Thanks for the great giveaway!

  • Bube
    November 16, 2014 at 7:31 am

    I love time travel!
    Thanks for the great post 🙂

  • Maliha
    November 16, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    Greatly enjoy the time travel paradox! Star Trek has been a firm favourite for decades… truly groundbreaking and inspirational. Loved how they had a multiracial cast way back…

  • Amalia
    November 17, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    I’ve always loved science fiction, especially the time travel aspects of it. When I was a kid my dad told me I was going to watch Star Trek and by golly I was going to do it properly, so we started with the very first episode.

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