Welcome to my blog tour for Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon, or as he is calling it the Zenn Blog-Tour-a-Palooza! For my stop I was really interested in hearing about some of the research behind Zenn Scarlett and the exoveternary aspect of the book. Thank you to Christian for humouring me :D
About the research on the exoveterinary aspect of the book
When it came to researching the medical/biological aspects of my
novel about a young, exoveterinary trainee, I was fortunate in a number of
ways.
First, I’ve been a science/medical science/biological science geek
my whole life. I’ve always been fascinated and mildly shocked by the astounding
way in which bodies, human or otherwise, function. Not to mention how they’re
built in the first place. Not to mention how they evolved to the level of sophistication
they’re currently at. Not to mention… all sorts of other mind-boggling stuff
that, as soon as you get into the cellular/evolutionary/anatomical details you
are left standing open-mouthed, head-shaking before the mighty blood-pumping,
food-metabolizing, light-ray-registering, neuron-sparking,
movie-playing-inside-my-skull-right-now wonder of it all. So, yes… life.
Fabulous. Well done, universe.
Then, I’ve had the good fortune lately to be able to hang out with
a number of veterinarians, from the kind that spay and neuter cute little
companion animals to the kind that know how much sedation you need to knock out
a full-grown black bear or a pissed-off mountain lion. My research in this case
was to lean over their shoulders as they did things, then ask a stream of
annoying questions that, for the most part, these vets patiently answered.
And, of course, I spent a fair amount of time online tracking down
little skiffy details, like is there sufficient air pressure in the lowest part
of the Martian canyon system of the Valles Marinaris to keep water from boiling
away? Yes. Yes there is.
So, I’d say that overall the research portion of writing the book
was minimal. And a big part of the reason for this, in addition to the above,
is that…hey, I’m just makin’ stuff up here. If I wanted to have Zenn work on an
80-foot marine predator that was huge and beautiful and beastly and dangerous,
I just made a whalehound, fabricated an ecological niche for him to inhabit,
determined that he liked to eat dried flakes of another creature known as a
black-smoke lurker and, presto, new creature. All right, yes, I would layer in
other details to make my whalehound as credible as I could, but most of these
bits could be drawn from extrapolating (OK, extrapolating wildly) on my own experiences
or the data-banks laid down since the time I cracked my first book about
animals and their habits. Then, it was just rinse-and-repeat for another two
dozen or so alien animals and: a book happened.
So, thanks for letting me drop by and ramble on a little about “where
swamp sloos come from.” I appreciate the opportunity and, of course, hope you
and your readers will come meet Zenn and her mildly-researched menagerie of
critters for yourselves. Cheers!
You're welcome, Christian! And thanks for stopping by :)
If you want to know more about Christian, Zenn Scarlett, and where you can find the book keep on reading below:
About the book:
When you're studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school... is a different kind of animal.
Best-selling
author Mike Mullin (Ashfall) calls Zenn Scarlett "...delightful,
bizarre, and occasionally terrifying." Melissa West (Gravity) says it’s
“Utterly imaginative… sci-fi at its best... I couldn’t put it down!”
And Temple Grandin (Animals in Translation) says "All future vets will
want to read Zenn Scarlett and her adventures with veterinary medicine
on alien animals."
The Story
Zenn Scarlett is a
resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through
her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care
for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and
profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the
Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she's feeling
confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal
escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself
being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her
absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker,
a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and,
strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of
the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless,
she can't deny what she's feeling.
Now, with the help of Liam and
Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic,
Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who,
if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually
sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her
mind. All without failing her novice year.
About the author:
Born
in the American Midwest, Christian started his writing career in
earnest as an in-house writer at the Walt Disney Company in Burbank,
California. He then became a freelance writer working for various film,
home video and animation studios in Los Angeles. After moving from LA to
a farmstead in Iowa several years ago, he continues to freelance and
also now helps re-hab wildlife and foster abused/neglected horses. He acquired his amateur-vet knowledge, and much of his inspiration for the Zenn Scarlett series of novels, as he learned about - and received an education from - these remarkable animals.
