It’s time for Science Fiction and Fantasy Saturday. To find other great authors posting snippets from their work (no more that ten sentences each) click on the logo above.
Jarn’s Journal is the journal of a human-like alien, Jarn, who was stranded on Earth roughly 125,000 years ago. He has contacted a group of our ancestors, and at this point he has been in Africa for almost five years. A longer version of this post is on my main blog; the entire Journal to date is on my author site. And if you’d like a summary of why Jarn is an important part of the back story of my science fiction, have a look at this posting from the World Building Blogfest. Warning: major spoilers!
Year 5 Day 50
How do I get myself into these things? At least Rain Cloud agreed to stand with me!
I vouched that WildDog is Songbird’s child. (And Giraffe’s, though I am determined not to say anything that will puff him up any more than does being guardian to such a fine boy.) But Songbird still regards Rain Cloud as her shaman, and herself as a part of Rain Cloud’s group. So Rain Cloud accepted WildDog as a part of his clan, and I vouched that he was born into that group. And we both held him aloft between us for the recognition by the whole group. I hope that as he grows older he will not be treated differently because I took a part in his Naming.
I counted fifteen other children being Named, rarely more than one to a group. Rain Cloud’s group counted two including WildDog, and one other group also had two.
Could I ask for reviews from anyone who has read any of my books, especially Horse Power? My Amazon and Barnes and Noble pages look awfully bare.
Jarnian Confederation 
It’s so sweet that he’s concerned his part in the Naming may have a negative influence.
The R’il’nai (Jarn’s species) literally feel the emotions of others. and to some extent, via conditional precognition, can foresee the results of their choices.
I’m with Chantal. Like being named with a really silly name, or being born to someone with a bad reputation. Love it.
Or being expected to live up to having a god for a–uh–godfather?
I had to chart out the family tree / dynamic on that one. The culture clash between Jarn and these groups is entertaining, as always. Great Snippet.
The People have not figured out the relationship between sex and childbearing, and Jarn’s not about to tell them.
I really like the fact that Jarn remains humble throughout his experiences with the natives.
I’m not sure humility is the right word. He’s well aware he’s not the same species as the People, and recognizes that they know things his species has forgotten.
Jarn comes off as such a caring individual in this snippet. Very nice.
🙂 Heidi
Again, he’s being trapped by his empathy.
I agree with the comments above. He comes across as being just as human as the people he is supposedly studying. He may well be getting far too involved…
No question he’s getting involved, but he has no hope of ever seeing anyone of his own species again.
I really like Jarn. He’s very concerned about the humans he’s been traveling with. It’s been interesting to walk this journey with him.
Part of Jarn’s alien-ness is his ability (which he can’t turn off) to literally feel the emotions of others.
There is that fear that WildDog will be treated differently because of Jarn’s/a God’s involvement. But would the treatment be positive or negative, that’s the question.
At this point, I think Jarn is focused on the difference, not whether it will be positive or negative (or both.)