When Looking for Inspiration to Capture the Imagination

It’s Summer and I went to disneyWorld for some inspiration and an a long overdue vacation.

I’d never been on Rise of the Resistance, which was fantastic. And, I’d never been to Animal Kingdom’s Na’vi section—where I got a real taste for the World of Avatar, particularly Avatar-Passage of Flight (which literary took my breath away as I felt as if I were flying) and the Na’vi River Journey (a slow ride, but with the feel of being immersed in the world of Pandora), which were also amazing.

Also, I’d never gotten a picture with Darth Vader. Yes, I’m a geek. I also know the photo I got with Darth Vader wasn’t him. It’s DisneyWorld, after all, and, well, many years ago James Earl Jones walked past me after a charity event he was at on Broadway—which when I realized how tall Darth Vader must be. And, well, how short in comparison I am… Yeah, I know, James Earl Jones was only the voice of Darth Vader. But—use your imagination—Darth Vader can’t beany shorter than he is… He couldn’t be. Right? But now I’ve my photo showing me I’m not as short as I think—or I’ve grown a lot taller since I was like in my 30s. So, being imaginative, Disney's magic may make even me taller than I normally am... Or not. But it's fun to think it might.

Back to inspiration and imagination… I had been to the Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run ride in Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios before—on a previous trip (a much briefer one) last year. That time, the ride went by rather fast for me and I didn’t get the entire experience. I’d focused on pressing the flashing buttons. I must have been a gunner on that first ride. I was an engineer on my first Falcon ride this time and focused more on the experience, watching the roller coaster-like simulation, and the jostling about making it feel all the more realistic. I must have done the Falcon ride four times this trip. Twice as gunner and twice as engineer. I hadn’t believed pressing the buttons mattered, but when I fired, I could see the laser fire in reaction.

Our alien narrator claimed accuracy counted, but I thought that was just patter. It was on my last ride of the Falcon that my crew scored higher than I ever had before and gunnery had about a thirty-two percent accuracy rate.

On all my other Falcon experiences, we’d snagged one of the prize hyperdrive fuel canisters, and also owed the smuggler money due to “damage” that was needed to make repaires to the Millenium Falcon. Not on my last trip, though, we’d made a profit snagging two prizes.

The changed score and the sound of surprise that we’d made a profit, albeit, a small one, in the smuggler’s voice left me with a whole other level of respect for the Disney Imagineers.

While on the trip, I did a bit of story editing and used the experiences at Epcot. I took the Behind the Seeds Tour, a sort of backstage tour of Disney's hydroponics and aquafishery lab and the boat ride I’ve been on a number of time, Living the Land (below Soaring). It helped me rethink my description of hydroponics and growing food on another world. It will also change how I write about biology and life support in other ways. For example, I am going to look more into growing bamboo, which takes in carbon dioxide at a higher rate as it rapidly grows--and consider the importance of coconuts. Yes, coconuts. The thick shells make a good growth medium, in lieu of soil, one of a couple being used by the Disney biologists experimenting at the lab to grow plants in different ways.

In other news, the revised edition of Knight of the Broken Table is available on Kindle and now free on Kobo, Smashworld, Nook, and on the iStore. I’m still watching for Kindle to price match, but with Kobo now featuring it for free apparently the Amazon bots should be taking notice.

So, interested in free stories this month? My novella, Dragon’s Curse, set in my world of Highmage’s Plight is available in this promo filled with free fantasy and sci fi stories, Summer Fantasy & Sci Fi Freebies. My novel, Terran Catalyst, Book 1 is free on Kindle and also available free in all epub formats.

Dare to Believe!

D.H.