Darrell Keifer
About the Author
A retired fishery biologist, Darrell Keifer, built a cabin on the Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula and spends the summers fishing. He winters in Arizona where he writes, hikes, and plays pickleball. Darrell enjoys writing near-future science fiction grounded in hard science and narrative anthropology.
About the story:
The idea for the apocalypse part of the story came from a friend of mine, Conni Bruse, who worked in Alaska for the Fish and Wildlife Service. She participated in my writing group where we often brought ideas in and discussed their potential for a screenplay or novel. She talked of the Lake Nyos disaster and wanted to write a screenplay about it. Unfortunately, she became ill with cancer, and after several years of chemotherapy and struggle she passed away. I feel I inherited the idea, and I’ve finally put into a story.
The Lake Nyos Disaster
In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon, Africa, suddenly released volcanic gases that had built up in the lower layer of the lake. The anoxic gases, mostly carbon dioxide, filled a valley, suffocating 1,700 people, 3,500 head of cattle, and most of the wildlife—birds, dogs, and fish.
Tragedy aside, any hard science-fiction aficionado would look at the data and begin hypothesizing: If a small volcanic lake can store and suddenly release such volumes of gas, what could the Pacific Ring of Fire, combined with the oceans’ vast stores of clathrates (methane and carbon dioxide) do on a planet-wide scale? Though estimates of the oceans’ gas volumes vary by orders of magnitude, the volcanic and marine sources together could provide enough mass for a carbon gun, a theoretical worldwide Nyos event.
My Brand:
As indicated above, I like near-future science fiction grounded in hard science and realism. I avoid magic or supernatural elements in my stories unless the supernatural features are metaphorical like the fairies in Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." (Here, Shakespeare uses fairies to represent basic human drives and desires that we are often blind to.)
I also like realism. Well, sort of. When we (readers) are invited to a story, we come with a willing suspension-of-disbelief, and I have as strong a suspension-of-disbelief as anyone—what if dinosaurs could be grown from ancient DNA?, or what if an asteroid struck the earth?, but the ground rules of what-ifs should be laid out and not include a sweeping suspension of the laws of physics, nature, and common sense. So, no hundred and ten pound woman, with toothpick arms and dressed in cleavage revealing spandex, beating up twelve burly guys.
On the other hand, low probability events are just fine. "Miracle on Ice" told the story of the 1980 U.S. amateur hockey players that beat the Russian professionals—a low probability event. So, I can accept an American ex-patriot, managing a bar in Casablanca, accidentally running into an old flame, or an old west Sheriff taking on four vengeful killers arriving on the high-noon train.
Lastly, I like the term narrative anthropology—anthropology being the study of humans, human behavior, and societies in the past and present. Revealing those science-based observations, theories, and principles through narrative is fun, moving, and meaningful.
One of the best known anthropological studies used in many modern novels and movies is Joseph Campbell’s "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." It lays out the step by step elements of a hero’s journey common in most myths and stories. George Lucus’s "Star Wars" is a good example because it closely followed Campbell’s work.
There are many anthropologic studies that provide overarching theories of human behavior and culture. One body of work, I like and am familiar with, is Rene Girard’s mimetic theory and his work on scapegoating ("I see Satan Fall like Lightning"). "The Hunger Games" is classic Girardian. (I’ll post more on mimetic theory later.)
So, following these precepts I hope to write stories that snatch meaning from the dragon’s jaws, tickle imaginations, quicken hearts, and nourish souls. Good reading!
