Alrighty gals & guys,
please help me welcome today's Rambling Guest:
Author H.A. Goodman
Author of the Paranormal Novel "Breaking the Devil's Heart"
About H.A. Goodman:
H. A. Goodman is a former
financial adviser and high school history teacher who grew up reading comic
books and playing Dungeons & Dragons. In 2010, he combined his love for
fantasy, science fiction and philosophy to write his debut novel, Logic of
Demons: The Quest for Nadine's Soul. As a follow-up to Logic of Demons, H. A.
created an even more provocative and thought provoking tale entitled Breaking
the Devil's Heart. The latest novel is a whirlwind ride through the afterlife
and a journey within the human psyche. The plot utilizes cultural mythology to
highlight certain peculiarities of human nature tied inextricably to conflict.
The story incorporates world history and a bizarre imagination to create a
uniquely dystopian afterlife that is both amusing and frightening. With rave
reviews popping up daily, Breaking the Devil's Heart is rapidly growing in
popularity throughout the blogosphere. H. A. currently resides in Los Angeles
and no longer plays Dungeons & Dragons, although he still loves comic
books.
Want to learn more about or connect with Mr. Goodman - Go to his Website .
Thanks for stopping by & rambling with us today!
Who
would you be in an alternate reality?
My name is H. A. Goodman,
and my novel Breaking the Devil's Heart, is quite a unique and out of
the ordinary tale. The following is my humble attempt at shedding some light
into why I wrote the novel.
A recent NPR article
describes physicist Robert Greene’s view of an alternate universe in the
following manner:
Our universe might be really, really
big —but finite. Or it might be infinitely big.
Both cases, says physicist Brian
Greene, are possibilities, but if the latter is true, so is another posit:
There are only so many ways matter can arrange itself within that infinite
universe. Eventually, matter has to repeat itself and arrange itself in similar
ways. So if the universe is infinitely large, it is also home to infinite
parallel universes.
So, on some planet millions
of light years away, another you might be doing what you’re doing
now. Or, he or she might be using your character traits, personality, emotional
and physical attributes, and everything that makes you unique in a different manner.
For example, let’s say your
long lost quantum mechanical twin exists in a tumultuous time period. Let’s
assume, for instance, that your facsimile lives in his or her world’s
equivalent of Nazi Germany.
Now, would that carbon copy
of you, a being holding your character traits in all their Earthly grandeur
(with minor exceptions here and there), be consumed by the madness of the time
period? Would you be a part of that world’s Eizengruppen and mow down a group
of orphans with a machine gun?
Or, in that Bizarro World,
would you pass the test of time?
Would you be like Sophie
Scholl in 1943 and distribute anti-Nazi leaflets? If so, like Sophie, you might
also be executed by guillotine.
Would you be like Hugh
Thompson, Larry Colburn, and Glen Andreotta - the three American helicopter
pilots, and heroes, who at My Lai risked their lives to prevent further
massacre and forcefully confront fellow soldiers who had gone mad shooting
civilians?
If fate tested your moral
compass, which way would you turn?
But, enough about us, let’s
move away from ourselves for a moment (what a narcissist I am) and ask the fun
questions:
Would a man like Rupert
Murdoch risk his life to protect others in this parallel world? What kind of
leadership skills would David Cameron or Barack Obama possess in some distant,
troubled universe? Who would your father or mother, your religious leader, or
your significant other be if they existed in another time and place – a time
and place that tested their morals and their personality in some grave manner?
I know it sounds quirky,
but this is all very serious business. Who you’d be in an alternate world isn’t
only an existential dilemma that makes for a good science fiction or fantasy
story. It’s a topic that strips away the bonds of tribalism, ethnic and
cultural allegiances, and national pride.
The answer to this question
also relieves you of the luxury of living in your comfortable time period. For
instance, chances are you might only be a moral soul because you live in 2012
London, or 2012 Los Angeles.
You’re long lost photocopy,
-the man or woman in a galaxy far, far away - might not have that luxury. He or
she might be using your personality, character flaw, and convictions on a daily
basis, and not for what you might think.
Last year I received an
email from a person I know to be a wonderful, kind hearted, and moral human
being. The email read the following, and was a spoof on comic Jeff Foxworthy’s
schtick about rednecks:
1. If you refine heroin for
a living,
But you have a moral objection
to liquor.
You may be a Muslim
2. If you own a Ł3,000 machine gun and Ł5,000 rocket launcher,
But you can't afford shoes.
You may be a Muslim
3. If you have more wives than teeth.
You may be a Muslim
Now, you might look at the
words above and say the email was a vile attempt at humor. I agree. However, I
also look at it and wonder what kind of emails would be circulating during Nazi
Germany if Nazis had the internet. Would I be the butt of a joke? What role
would this failed attempt at comedy have in someone’s fate?
Also, I ask myself who the
person who sent this email might have been in an alternate world. Would he also
send emails about Jews if the political climate were ripe for that sort of
thing? Would he laugh just as hard if the email was aimed at his own ethnic
group, assuming that he belonged to a different one in another world?
Finally, here’s some other
food for thought: This world’s business tycoon might also be another world’s
slave ship captain. This world’s homophobic or Islamophobic preacher might also
be another world’s anti-Semitic tyrant. This world’s naive and harmless
internet spammer might be the silent neighbor who says nothing while his family
friends march off to death camps.
Brian Greene and other
physicists have inadvertently helped me understand humanity in a profound
manner. If you’ve ever asked yourself why genocides, wars, political unrest,
racism, and economic strife continue to exist, just ask who your fellow man and
woman (be they elected officials or even a sibling) would be in an alternate
world. If they possess the character traits that might allow these sorts of
things to take place in another time period, then you have your answer.
So the next time you get
that email disparaging another ethnicity, or listen to that politician espouse
his love for a country he’s never fought for, or that family member who says
“can’t you find a nice ‘so and so’ to get married to,” just think of alternate
realities. You might just find your answer as to why the cycle of violence and
bloodshed continues on planet Earth.
You’ll also find out one of
the themes in my latest novel, Breaking the Devil’s Heart.
H. A. Goodman
