A Look At Christopher Gray & 'Dark Nights' ~ @GoddessFish #SciFi

Today we have author Christopher Gray visiting. Welcome!

What would you like to tell readers about yourself?

* Christopher A. Gray is a professional freelance writer living in Toronto. He has been a sales agent, project manager, actor, filmmaker, comedy writer & performer and world traveler.

What are you going to tell us about today?
* My story Dark Nights and its background.
* Dark Nights grew out of what was originally going to be a shorter novella about the ramifications of another planet suddenly appearing in opposite orbit to us on the other side of the sun. I might have kept the first novella as a stand-alone, but I quickly realized that there was a much bigger story here. In other words, the story couldn’t end with meeting the people from the other planet. I had to explore the political and scientific ramifications introduced by such a major event. The full-length finished book is divided into three main chapters, each titled according to the shorter planned novellas: Mercy, Revenge, and Sacrifice.
* The two scientific theories that have always fascinated me the most in my lifetime are the multiverse theory, and the concept of artificial intelligence. The idea that there may be an infinite number of universes in existence, some similar or even identical to our own, has always remained an unprovable theory. Recently there has been more and more evidence to strongly suggest that the multiverse does indeed exist.
* The other concept, artificial intelligence, is closer than ever to becoming reality. Historically, the prediction of when we might construct a true AI has always stated it as been about twenty years off, whether the question was asked fifty years ago or ten years ago. Thus, it has always remained just out of reach. Although Dark Nights takes place in the present day, in reality the most recent advancements in quantum mechanics and quantum computing may finally give the traditional prediction of “twenty years off” a schedule we can stick to.
* For the book cover I worked closely with my designer Tom Edwards to produce a cover that gave a hint of Dark Nights' key plot point of the multiverse, while at the same time remaining mysterious. Two similar planets in close proximity, with a halo that implies that one just arrived.

A look into the story

~ Blurb ~ * The machine believed it knew best how to save humanity... even if doing so meant destroying half the population.
* Astrophysicist Doug Lockwood's unusual discovery during his observation of the sun kicks off a chain of events that nobody could have foreseen. The powerful political and military influences that compete to deal with his discovery set Lockwood on a course which will carry him across worlds, and into the grasp of a formidable new intelligence bent on accomplishing its goal at any cost. With Earth itself at stake and time running out, Lockwood and his team must find a way to counter this unprecedented threat before the powerful new enemy completes its plan. Two civilizations are pitted against each other in a desperate struggle for survival. ~ Excerpt ~ * Meyer shut the door after the last person left and sat down in the nearest chair, directly across from Doug, rather than his usual spot at the head of the table. Doug waited for him to speak.
* “It’s a planet,” Meyer said finally. “And it’s in an orbit directly opposite ours, at a distance of approximately one AU.”
* Doug didn’t reply. The implications were massive, as were the questions. After a few seconds, Meyer rose from his seat and walked to the window, looking outside at the sloping volcanic Hawaiian landscape as he talked.
* “Nobody knows where it came from, but it’s there, verified by NASA.”
* “Using their STEREO satellites?”
* “Yes, a few hours ago. But you and Foley at Atacama saw it first. STEREO was trained on another star when you logged the object. It took some time to reposition STEREO’s lenses. Because of their orbital distance ahead and behind us, together they will be able to keep tabs on the object at all times. We’re expecting some images soon, which will be free of the sun’s coronal interference.”
* “So we’ll have a better view and can determine if its orbit is stable.”
* “Correct.”
* “But that doesn’t explain how it got there.”
* “Correct again. But thanks to your discovery, and your reputation, you’ve been invited to an emergency conference in Washington. You’ll be meeting your plane at Pearl Harbor in two hours. Don’t bother to pack, there’s a helicopter on its way here, courtesy of the White House Chief Science Advisor.”

Buy Dark Nights here...
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Thank you for joining us here today, Christopher Gray! It was a pleasure getting to know you and your story.

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