Rainforest on Another Planet

While dreaming up the plot of Stellar Drift, my visit to Daintree in Australia inspired my choice for the setting. When I later expanded the story for solo release, my visit to Ecuador inspired more details, including the rainforest and cloud forest regions. I combined them to create the story’s environment of a rainforest on another planet.

Rainforests Are Challenging

Maps Don’t Always Help

Rainforests teem with life and wonders, but they’re challenging. First, it’s easy to get turned around and thoroughly lost. Unless you’re really experienced with the terrain, like former pilot Sairy Madoz is in the story, the trees and boulders all start to look the same. It’s hard to figure out where you are, how you got there, and which way to go. Trails and routes that look doable from a map or satellite view may well be impassible on the ground.

Wilderness is Wild (Even on Another Planet)

Intentional wilderness is still wild. The continent-sized Makaan Nature Reserve is monitored by rangers such as Houyen Albasrey, a main character in Stellar Drift. Houyen and his coworkers are overworked and underpaid for the size of the area they’re supposed to protect. They get help from permitted residents who prefer a close-to-the-land lifestyle and are considered “cooperators” who help monitor the ecosystems.

In my far-future universe, the Central Galactic Concordance (CGC) has set aside thousands of wilderness areas across the 500+ settled planets. The CGC created them after the previous government, the deeply corrupt Central League, nearly destroyed the terraform business.

Nature reserves are meant to encourage biodiversity in a semi-controlled, wilderness environment. By contrast, nature preserves, like the one in An Entanglement of Griffins, are intended to preserve and nurture critical habitats and keystone species. They regularly trade flora and fauna with other preserves to promote genetic diversity.

Deadly Rainforest Denizens

Lastly, the flora and fauna can kill you if you aren’t careful. Intense competition breeds offense and defense. These include plants, such as strangler figs, leaves with a bazillion tiny spines that cause nerve pain, and poisonous fruits that can paralyze you.

Here on Earth, animals, such as the prehistoric-looking cassowary bird in Australia or the stealthy jaguar in Ecuador, can be significant threats. And don’t forget ravenous insects that feed on humans and carry diseases (yellow fever, for example).

 Visit the Rainforest in Stellar Drift

A guilt-ridden ex-pilot and a disrespected forest ranger discover that the source of a deadly fever links them both to a galaxy-level conspiracy. Can their fragile alliance withstand the explosive secrets they find? Buy Stellar Drift from your favorite bookseller.