SFU post-doc publishes science fiction novel

An SFU scientist is turning science into fiction by publishing a novel that tells that tale of the first contact between humans and extraterrestrials.

The Rosetta Man is a novel which tells the story of the first contact between humans and aliens from outer space. It is the the first published novel for Dr. Claire McCague, who studied at SFU for her BsC in Chemistry and Archaeology and is now a post-doctoral fellow at the School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering, based at SFU’s Surrey campus.

McCague shared that she has always been a creative individual; she wrote her first novel while she was a teenager and she has written multiple plays performed in cities like Toronto and New York.

The main character in The Rosetta Man is Estlin Hume, a resident of Twin Butte, Alberta, who has been burdened with a unique problem throughout his life: he is followed by a large group of squirrels who follow him wherever he goes. McCague explained that this “really only means he’s been evicted from everywhere he’s ever lived, expelled from multiple universities, and chronically unemployed.”

This is, until he is discovered by an alien species who come to Earth and approach him to be a translator for their first contact with humans. However, if the films Independence Day and War of the Worlds are any indication, first contact between humans and extraterrestrials is often rocky.

Said McCague, “You’ve got the various military forces converging around threatening to kill the messenger.” Furthermore, one of the threads in the story is about an electromagnetic pulse emitted from space which a physicist believes will unlock the secret to interstellar transport; this is where The Rosetta Man gets its cryptic title.

Many aspects of the novel deviate from the archetypal human-alien contact story. For example, the aliens land in Wellington, New Zealand, as opposed to a major western metropolis. Said McCague, “[This] just puts you in an interesting playing scheme in terms of how the international politics swing into it and the question of why they landed in the South Pacific.”

In addition, the novel’s protagonist is not your typical human warrior fighting an alien invasion. His character is drawn as having an empathetic nature and communicating well with other species. McCague went on to say, “That was the angle — to go into the story with one of the main perspectives being the guy who’s the translator.”

Many aspects of the novel deviate from the archetypal human-alien contact story. For example, the aliens land in Wellington, New Zealand, as opposed to a major western metropolis. Said McCague, “[This] just puts you in an interesting playing scheme in terms of how the international politics swing into it and the question of why they landed in the South Pacific.”

In addition, the novel’s protagonist is not your typical human warrior fighting an alien invasion. His character is drawn as having an empathetic nature and communicating well with other species. McCague continued, “That was the angle — to go into the story with one of the main perspectives being the guy who’s the translator.”

The novel is the product of a three-day novel writing competition during which McCague created what was to become a first draft of The Rosetta Man, albeit shorter in length and set in the future as opposed to the present day.

She left this draft for several years and became stuck on how to work on it further. “There was this moment where I realized that the story had to be in the present day, and then suddenly things got infinitely more interesting.” McCague said, adding the practical benefits of writing in the present day: “I didn’t need to invent a political landscape because I could work off the existing one.”

Currently, McCague is travelling to scientific conventions around North America to promote her novel. “Now it’s a question of trying to build readership,” she remarked. Her travels have taken her to the World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, in Spokane, Washington, the largest science fiction convention in the world.

In addition to doing readings from her book, she is also speaking on science fiction panels: “I get to bring out the other side of my life, which is my day job as a research scientist.” She mentioned one of her favourite panels, which looked at the tipping point between a “real scientist” and “mad scientist.”

The novel was first published in Kindle format about a month and a half ago, and in December it will be released in ePub and PDF format. McCague spoke to the changes in the publishing industry over time. She noted that ebooks are becoming increasingly popular for smaller publishers such as The Rosetta Man’s publisher, Edge Fiction.

McCague said that she could potentially see a sequel in the future: “Do I have notes of the next story? Yes. Is it going to be the next thing I write? I’m not sure yet. But there’s potential there.”