Interview With Debut Sci-Fi Fantasy Author Who Explores Diversity In A World That Has None

Look ‘N Up Invasion is not your typical science-fiction story, but this coming-of-age debut novel does create a fresh look at celebrating diversity by imagining a world without it. It is a world with “no other” – no other race or religion, no other ideas, no choice, no new DNA, and no escape.  

“I know of no other work that has explored this idea so thoroughly, especially in contrast to our nation’s move to embrace diversity,” says author Janice Carr Smith.  

Smith, a child of a liberal 1960s household, uses her book to debate issues such as democracy vs. theocracy and science vs religion, tackling many contemporary issues, including human rights, women’s place in society, diversity, friendship, family, loyalty, and war. The reader is transported to a different world, where only your survival instincts can save you. Here, every creature is determined to have an uncanny survival instinct.

Here is an interview with the author:

 

1.      Janice, what is your debut novel about? On the surface, it’s about a primitive, green-skinned race who worship their holy Akash without question. Science and technology are forbidden. The women are “tethers” devoted only to caring for their man and their children. Every three years, the men fight with sticks and slings against a symbiotic pair of ravenous circadian predators. When the Akash and his family try an ancient weapon they found in the Holy Cave, they accidentally open a space portal that sends them to a farm in present-day  California, where they are hired as farm workers by a particularly empathetic family with a genetic facial deformity.  Underneath, it’s about the friendships that evolve, forever changing the thoughts and beliefs of both families as they explore their profound differences and grow to love each other in spite of them.

 

2.      What inspired you to write it? I don’t know where it came from. It never really felt like it was coming from me. I heard the two boys talking. Various scenes came to mind, from different parts of the book. I didn’t even start writing it all down at first. But it persisted, more and more scenes came. Looking at the moon, hearing the line of a song, any random experience could trigger a scene. They felt like old memories or forgotten dreams. I started writing, and it just poured out. It wasn’t even in order at first, but soon I could see a path and a pattern, and the book started to take shape. I will never know where it all came from.

 

3.      In your book, what kind of battle is taking place? There is no villain in the classical sense, but the battle is on several fronts. It starts and ends with the green people battling the ravenous, flying predators that decimate their tiny population every three years. But throughout, underneath, it is a coming-of-age struggle within Baput as the heir to the Akashic throne comes to realize everything he has ever known, everything he has been trained to preach, is false, at least in this very strange new world.  The other people struggle, too, both green and white, as they all try to adjust to a new reality. All of their points of view are represented. All characters have developmental arcs, with their thoughts and feelings on display throughout, so the reader can experience each of their interior battles.

4.      Your story shows Earth is under attack. By whom? Why? The name of the first book in the Look ‘N Up Series is “Invasion”, but the invasion is unintentional. The green people had no idea Earth, or any other place, even existed until they found themselves here. Midway through, we find that the predators arrived on Earth, too, as accidentally as the green folks have. Three years after their arrival they emerge to attack Earth, purely by instinct, just as they would at home.  But, if the green people return home, the ideas they bring from Earth to Nauve will be more of an invasion than anything the small group of predators or green people can do to affect Earth. The question becomes, who is invading whom? 

 

5.      What are some of the themes shared in your story? The central theme throughout is the value of diversity, and how we treat people who are different. Whether it’s green skin, a strange religion, ideas that disagree with ours, or an eye in the wrong place, Look ‘N Up Invasion illustrates our typical human reactions to those who differ from us. It proposes a different approach; the Look ‘N Up Way of unconditional empathy, developed by the Musiks out of their experience with deformity and their ancestral background as penniless migrant farm workers. Further, the book celebrates diversity by imagining a world without it. It seeks to demonstrate how the new ideas we resist are the stuff that feeds our culture, keeping it alive and vibrant, just as fresh, different genes keep our species physically viable.

 

6.      What values or lessons are conveyed in your book? No matter how strange or different a person is, they have a background, a story, a life that has made them that way. Instead of judging, empathize. Try to imagine yourself in that context and you will see why they are the way they are. You still might not agree with them, but you can understand them better, and at least respect them as another person, every bit as entitled to their beliefs as you are.

 

7.      Part of your story pits religion vs. science and theocracy vs. democracy. Why?

Religion can be as divisive as race. Perhaps even more so, because religion is a choice. Once a religion is accepted, it is not questioned. There is no further choice to be made. One’s belief system is set, there is no more searching for truth, unlike science, where new ideas are proposed as theories and constantly questioned.  In a world with only one religion; where a single person’s disbelief can stop the sun from shining, the holy man, the Akash, becomes a supreme and unquestioned authority on all things. There is no debate, no dissent. The culture stagnates. This, again, shows the value of diversity, the healthy exchange of ideas, and democracy, the sharing of power.

 

8.      What do you mean when you say the book reveals “shocking psychological effects of living in a world with no otherwhere”? The book celebrates diversity by imagining a world without it. No other race, religion or culture. No new ideas, no choice, no escape, nowhere to run. No new genes. I immersed myself in that idea, tried to thoroughly explore what it would be like. I found a dreary, stagnated, castigated society. The Nauvians have no choice in how they live, what they do for a living, or who they marry.  When they arrive on Earth and meet the Musiks, all their rigid, long-held beliefs are called into question.  Exercising their empathy, the Musiks realize that the lack of an “otherwhere” explains why the Nauvians obey their Akash unquestioningly and accept the strict limitations imposed on their lives. They also wonder about their gene pool, and how they can be saved from the doom they don’t even realize.

 

9.      Your book is a bit unique and off-beat. How does it deal with many current issues, from racism and religious freedom to immigration and deformed people? The aliens were the premier family on their home world. Now they’re powerless, penniless, undocumented alien farm workers of a strange race and religion.  The Musiks are well aware of how people react to different-looking people, because some of their members have a misplaced eye socket. Although I bear no such deformity, I used my experiences and my empathy to imagine what it would be like to grow up with such a difference. With the current effort to increase representation of marginalized people, you still don’t see people with visible deformities in movies, anchoring the news, doing commercials or running for office. By showing how they might feel, I hope when my readers see someone like that they will see a whole, feeling person instead of turning away.

 

10.  You had a rough childhood, losing both parents to cancer by the time you were just 14. How did this shape who you would become or influence your writing? After they died, I left my native Boston area and moved to Florida to live with my guardians. My uncle was retired military, a republican and evangelist. My aunt quietly shared my mom’s philosophy, but went along with her husband. In hindsight, this was a valuable and informative experience that definitely influenced my book, because I learned to live with, understand and love people whose views differed from the cherished values my parents had taught me. I didn’t appreciate the opportunity at the time. When they moved to a farm, making me change high schools for a second time, I returned to Boston to spend my senior year at my old high school, living with friends of my parents who aligned more closely with their views.

When the author was 12, cancer struck, first her mom, then her dad. By age 14, she was orphaned and living in Florida with relatives who had a very different world view. When they decided to move farther into their rural world, Janice rebelled and returned home to finish high school, living with a dear family friend to whom her first book, Look ‘N Up Invasion, is lovingly dedicated.

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on Twitter @theprexpert. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.3 million pageviews. With 4,400+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum.