Darwin’s Paradox

I met Nina briefly in Paris and we got her book, Darwin’s Paradox, into the hottest bookstore there: Shakespeare and Company. This bookstore, which offers shelves of books from a variety of genres and topics–and all in English–is situated in the Latin Quarter, which for centuries has been the centre of bohemian Parisian creativity and intelligentsia.

For over fifty years, the bookshop has housed numerous writers and hosted readings by published and unpublished authors. Run by Sylvia Whitman, daughter of the legendary George Whitman, the bookstore looks like something in a Harry Potter movie, with stacks upon stacks of all sorts of literature. Upon entering, you’ll find yourself in a place Henry Miller described as “A wonderland of books”.

Shakespeare and Company is open evey day from 10:00 to 23:00. If you’re touring Paris go check it out. The selection of English books is impeccable, with many by local writers.

If you’re a young traveling writer looking for a place to crash, Sylvia might put you up too!
While I was there, we briefly toured the city, including the impressive Tuillerie Gardens on the Right Bank.

Nina took me to her “outdoor” office, located in Place Saint-Michel on the Left Bank with a great view of Notre Dame Cathedral. I asked her how she liked Paris over a pastis (anise-based liqueur) and cafe creme.

“I love Paris,” she said. “I love everything about it, the food, the people, the architecture, the streets…The street performers who sing with feeling…the couples kissing on every street corner…that quiet reserve that just melts once they recognize that you are lost… their reverence for art and literature… Parisians know how to live. They have no problem waiting at length in line for fresh croissants at their favorite patisserie or will linger over lunch at a cafe to discuss the finer points of life over an espresso or cheese and wine. They are so civilized.”

I asked her how her research was going.

“I confess that I have done some of my best work here… that pastis can be very inspirational!” Nina confided to me with that typical impish smile of hers.

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Nina recently appeared on HiSciFi, the Friday night radio show that calls itself the “Ultimate Geek radio Show”, broadcast every week on CJSF (90.1 FM) from Simon Fraser University near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada .
Its two charismic hosts, Irma Arkus and Jevon Ryan, interviewed Nina about “Darwin’s Paradox” and they asked some revealing questions, according to Nina. “We had a great time and laughed a lot…possibly at my expense,” Nina confided to me, wearing her typical grin. “The time just zoomed by.” She also told me that they had such a good time, Irma and Jevon want Nina back again. She will join these intrepid hosts sometime in May and this time they’ll discuss the environment. Catch the podcast of the recent show here.

HiSciFi has hosted some of Canada’s best known science fiction authors such as Robert J. Sawyer and Cory Doctorow. 

Kym Taborn of Whoosh! Editorials says this about the show: “The presentation of the show is rather simple but it works. Music is played, usually independent, and sometimes with a genre theme (I was introduced by the wonderfully entertaining music of Jonathan Coulton (http://www.jonathancoulton.com/)) between discussions between the hosts. And what do they discuss? Anything and everything geeky and Canadian! Literature, film, conventions, awards, television, modern trends, and even science news (it is SCIENCE fiction, after all). Their reporte is infectious and it is 60 minutes of pure pleasure to share time with them. The show is professional (they must be studying radio at college because they are just too good - in fact I am in dread of when they graduate and stop the show). I cannot recommend this show enough. A week without Hi-Sci-Fi is a week without sunshine. I warn you, they sometimes take their time in getting the podcast out to the public but it is well worth the wait, even though it can be exasperating.”

This show is netcast live on Fridays at 5 to 6pm PST at http://cjsf.ca/
You can usually listen to the most recent program on demand on the home page at http://www.hiscifi.com/
You can subscribe to the podcast (best value!) at the RSS Podcast-Feed link on the home page at http://www.hiscifi.com/

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Almost two weeks ago, and with great coverage by the local press (the Surrey Leader), I fulfilled a fantasy by appearing at the Strawberry Hill Chapters store in Surrey, British Columbia, to sign my book, Darwin’s Paradox. Once or twice a month I used to meet three other friends who’d formed a writer’s group we’d called Critical Ms. Starbucks coffee in hand, I used to meet them in the small alcove with comfortable chairs to trade industry stories, critique each other’s work, and dream of having my book on the shelf behind us (it was the science fiction section of the store). Last week I realized that dream and more! What’s really cool is that one of the other Critical Ms writers, Lois J. Peterson, is also launching her book this fall. It’s a YA novel called, Meeting Miss 405 by Orca Press. I even had a surprise visit from Brian Hades of Edge Publishing, the parent company of Dragon Moon Press—he was just passing through town… Sure! Brian had found these cool see-into-the-future glasses at a strange Vancouver antique shop and thought of me… funny that…But don’t I look intelligent in them?…

My signing at the Granville & Broadway Chapters store in Vancouver the following week was yet another adventure. As always, I met very interesting patrons, including two Romanian ladies (Silvia Boiceanu and Maria Moise) who, after introducing themselves, decided to linger and watch me “in action” and occasionally waved at me, smiling. I also met Twyla Anderson, a budding novelist and practiced my French with Agnes Lacombe, an elegant lady from France. Hildegard Zander engaged me in a long philosophical conversation that ranged from the transcending songs of French singer Gilbert Becaud to the environmental basis of cultures.

Then Stephen Saint Laurent, Prince George videographer, stopped by and gave me an impromptu interview. I also had the unexpected pleasure of meeting a long-time friend who I hadn’t seen in a while. She’d spotted Chapter’s billboard advertisement outside the store and had noted the time. Barb Meier is a talented artist and craftsman who makes books from scratch (paper, cover and binding!). That’s Barb pointing at my display. My sister, Doina Maria (and my partner in imagination from when we were kids) is standing beside her. She’d come to lure me away with promises of calamari and red wine.

My book signing at the Granville store experienced some added excitement as a student rally of over 500 protesters passed the store in a flourish of banner waving and boisterous shouting. The patrons of the store, myself included, emerged to watch as police-escorted demonstrators waving “Free Tibet from China” signs and shouting slogans, marched past us. Tibetan supporters from Vernon to Victoria were rallying against the violence in the tumultuous Chinese-controlled region; they marched from the art gallery to the Chinese consulate, where they chanted, burned Chinese flags and acted out scenes of violence.

I will finalize my local book tour with a signing at Blackbond Books in Richmond and a Chapters store in Burnaby (Metrotown). Then I’ll be flying to Paris, France where… I think Darwin will take a holiday with me. Truthfully, I am travelling there (and possibly to Berlin) to research my next book, a historical fantasy about a young girl in medieval Prussia who discovers that she can alter history.

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I recently managed to snag Nina for a phone interview about her success with Darwin’s Paradox and here it is:
 

Karen: You’re pretty busy these days with your ongoing book tour, radio interview appearances and other marketing endeavors. You also work as an environmental consultant and mother of an active family. How and when do you get a chance to write?

Nina: (she erupts into wild laughter) You mean fiction writing? What’s that?… Well, I’m actually marketing a science fiction space adventure trilogy that I recently finished. My current novel, which is a historical fantasy—about a girl in medieval Prussia who discovers that she can alter history—is three-quarters done and awaits a trip to Paris to confirm setting and other accurate portrayals in the book, like the taste of wine and cheese. So, I’ve already written quite a bit. But, that is not to say that I am not writing now… I still actively blog (see the Alien Next Door, her blog on science, movies, books and pop culture), write short articles for magazines and newspapers and, of course, I also write full time in my job as a scientist.

Karen: So, when do you do your non-science writing?

Nina: (grinning) When I should be sleeping!

Karen: How long did it take you to write Darwin’s Paradox?

Nina: (laughs) I’ve been writing Darwin’s Paradox all my life, I think. No, really…(now with a crazy smile)…I started writing stories when I was ten years old, amusing my older sister with tales of outer space and aliens. Darwin was actually my first book—not counting the two manuscripts in my dresser drawer—even though it was published after I published my two e-books (Collision with Paradise and The Cypol) and it took the longest to write. My subsequent books have taken me on average a year to write, which includes research.

Karen: What inspired you to write Darwin’s Paradox?

Nina: Darwin actually evolved literally from a concept and a story I wrote when I was seventeen (which I never did publish). It’s only taken a few decades for Darwin to evolve into the form it is now! I was always fascinated by nature’s ability to “perceive” and align herself to changes imposed upon her. Lovelock’s concept of Gaia and how we humans relate to our ”intelligent” planet was always something I wanted to write about. When a classmate in university ecology half-seriously told me that his ambition was “to make algae sing” I laughed. But then something actually resonated with me. I started seeing evidence for Nature’s Intelligence everywhere. In chaos theory, fractals, synchronicity, co-evolution and endosymbiosis … I also saw how we separate ourselves from and abuse nature. But, even when humans build a better mousetrap, nature always seems to build a better mouse. That we are evolving is inevitable and irrevocable. How and into what and through what means…that’s the open question for all of us. You’ll have to read the book to find out how I answer it. 

Karen: You mentioned research. Can you tell us how important research is in your writing?

Nina: I find it indispensible. I prefer to both read and write a book that has substance, something that grounds me, and, as a reader, has something to learn. So, my books invariably explore real questions and issues that require attentive research. Darwin had many such concepts: chaos theory, artificial intelligence, viruses, biotechnology, autopoiesis, and co-evolution to name just a few. Of course, I am skilled at doing research from the work I do as a scientist, so I find it both facile and very enjoyable to do. It is difficult not to get too enamored with all the neat things you find and throw them all into the novel. I know of at least one very well regarded Canadian science fiction writer who falls in this trap time and again. It’s hard not to do. It’s exciting stuff. But, it doesn’t fit into a story, particularly a fast paced one. Less is more.

Karen: What do you think the role of science fiction is in our lives?

Nina: Well, SF provides an excellent metaphoric platform for social commentary within the context of an entertaining story. The best form of education is also entertaining.  Look at the best comedians.  I think education is the responsibility of storytellers in any genre. To illuminate, to provoke, and to inspire all lie within the purview of the writer as artist. To quote Susan Sontag: real art makes us nervous. 

Karen: Having lived on both sides of the fence—fiction writer and educator of science—which side of you wants to dominate the other or keeps on popping up in your mind?

Nina: That’s a good question!—oops, usually when someone says that, they don’t have a clue, but, I’ll try…I’d say that being a scientist and a science educator has given me the objectivity and discipline to study and research topics and premises I use in my stories. As for dominating and popping up in my mind, I’d have to say that the fictional side, the story-telling side, always wins. I get some of my best ideas from my science workplace and my scientific research. But the thematic elements of stories (the relationships and characters) take over and rule my imagination. To put it simply, I suppose I would say that I’m an artist who uses science, rather than a scientist who uses art—but don’t tell my boss!

Karen: Has your fiction helped your non-fiction?

Nina: Yes, it has! Thanks, Karen, you’ve exonerated me. Any form of writing is still “storytelling”; journalists would be the first to agree with me. Even a good science dissertation tells a story, of some sorts. I found that, as I crafted my fiction writing, my non-fiction writing—mostly my technical and science writing—became more readable, more palatable to a wider audience. Many of my clients are not scientists, so communicating complex science to them is often a challenge. Most scientists fail miserably at this. My fiction writing has helped enormously with my communication skills. And, yes, I do tell them a story, one they enjoy reading, because they understand it.

Karen: In fact, I’ve noticed several reactions on your science blog, The Alien Next Door, that have said that very thing. You have a talent for taking real and often difficult science topics and making them accessible and interesting to the non-scientist. How do you think that came about?

Nina: (laughing) Thanks for saying that, Karen. Anyway, it’s probably because I needed to understand it first! I’m not really a very complicated person when it comes to science…

Karen: Name some of your favorite books and why.:

Nina: Oh, I have so many, Karen. Check out my virtual library at www.librarything.com and you’ll find my fifty favorite SF books. My all-time favorite books, however, include classics, literary fiction and even non-fiction. I have an eclectic taste and like to read many different things. Here are just a few: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy; Maximum Ice by Kay Kenyon; The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles; The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman; Lord of the Flies by William Golding; Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy; The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje; Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Night Country by Lorne Eisely; and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. Why these, you ask…because each one is a masterful story, even the non-fiction ones. Because they make me think and cry and laugh and feel so alive.

Karen: Thanks, Nina.

Nina: Thanks, Karen! A pleasure!

Check out Nina’s very popular blog, The Alien Next Door, for more of her unique and insightful thoughts on science, books, movies and pop culture. 

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Nina recently made signing appearances at two Indigo bookstores on the North Shore of Vancouver, British Columbia. She met many interesting people and signed lots of books.

“I really enjoy meeting my readers and having stimulating discussions with people on topics of evolution, chaos theory, endosymbiosis and the like,” said Munteanu in a recent interview in a downtown bistro over a glass of red wine. “I find the readers at Chapters to be generally very intelligent with a diversity of backgrounds and interests. It doesn’t matter whether they buy the book or not; they always have something interesting to say about these topics. For instance, I met Tove Peterson, a scientologist who writes poetry and belongs to the Northshore Writers Club. There’s Stephen who’s favorite author is Wilbur Smith. There’s Martin, a physicist who builds solar power projects; then there’s Joanna Schilling, a keen evolution student at Langara College; and Phil who went to Ryerson with Robert J. Sawyer. As Forrest Gump said, ‘you just never know what you’re gonna get’.”

Nina continues her local booktour with signings in March at the Langley Chapters (Langely Centre on March 9th), the Surrey Chapters (Strawberry Hill on March 15th), the Vancouver Chapters (Broadway & Granville on March 22nd), and the Burnaby Chapters (at Metrotown Centre on March 29th). She then takes her booktour abroad to Europe and finally ends in Eastern Canada (Ottawa) in April.

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