The paperback version of my novel Star Liner came out a month ago and this
allowed a number of my friends (who won’t read ebooks) a chance to read and
comment on it. One of them said something to me the other day that struck home.
The novel is a science fiction space opera that is part murder mystery and part
action/adventure. But she said it seemed to her that there was an underlying
theme to the novel. It is about art. Even though I was not consciously trying
to make a statement about art, it is there. I can see what she means.
In some ways even though the story of
Star Liner takes place centuries into
the future, in some ways it is similar to our own. Jan, my main character, is
an artist. I am using artist in a broad sense to encompass any form of artistic
endeavor. Jan himself is a singer and actor, but it would not matter if he were
a painter, composer, sculptor, or a poet. The same problem faces artists of his
century that face artists in our own time: it is really hard to make a living
through your art. Once in a while lightning strikes, and an artist finds
him/herself capturing the public’s attention and jobs and opportunities flow to
them. But 99.99% of the time, artists languish in anonymity. They may have to relegate
their art to a hobby (or give up on it altogether). There are new opportunities
for artist in the world we live in. Social media, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
etc. have allowed an exposure to artists that was hardly dreamed of before such
things existed. But the flipside of that is that the public expects to be
entertained for free now. It is hard to make a living if you are giving away
your art.
Another aspect about the art is the
reason that Jan is the main character in the first place. Bad things happen on
the star liner. There are murders and even worse crises that befall the
passengers and crew of the ship. Through it all, Jan looks for ways to help. He
comes up with novel suggestions. I like to think that the reason he comes up
with these ideas is that he is an artist. He looks at the world differently; he
thinks outside the box. Those who run the ship are very good at their jobs, but
when things occur outside their training and experience, they have a very limited
set of responses. I guess subconsciously I made Jan the hero because he is an artist.
Another thing I did was to
shamelessly promote the play Doc Holiday
and the Angel of Mercy, written by Vaughn Marlow. Now this I did fully
consciously. I have Jan perform the play on the ship. I knew Vaughn Marlow who
has sadly passed on now. The play is a wonderful work that touches the soul as
well as entertains. It deserves to be performed and seen. My including it was
my small way of getting it out into the public consciousness. You see, whether
you “make it” in the world as an artist does not necessarily have to do with
how talented you are. There are fantastically talented people (like Vaughn) who
the world will never know simply because they were never in the right time or
place, or knew the right people.
The roll of art is pretty important in
our lives. We are all touched by art. We are not all touched by the same art
because we are all different. We all like different types of music, different
types of movies, and different types of books etc. Show me a person who does
not like any kind of art. You can’t. Without art in our lives, living would
just be existing. Art encourages the better angels of our nature.
The late radio commentator Paul
Harvey once broadcast a radio essay called “The Power of Art over Argument.” I
didn’t always agree with Paul Harvey, but in this case he was spot on. He
demonstrated with various examples how a piece of art changed opinions
(sometimes changed history) more dramatically than had been attained by any
other form of persuasion. There is a piece of art referred to in Star Liner (in this case a photograph)
that has a profound impact on how the rest of the world views Jan. We never get
to see the photo. That is the limitation of the written word. Another friend
told me that he wished there were video with this book because he really wanted
to see Tanya’s dance. Ah well . . . That is what imagination is for.
Science and art are the two things
that elevate us above the level of the beasts. Of the two, art is the more
universal. So, whatever your favorite art form is, support it. That means
actually support it with your money. And don’t begrudge the pitiful amount of
funding that goes into things like the National Endowment for the Arts. It is
small enough as it is. It is only a drop
in the bucket of what is needed, and you can’t calculate the value of art on a
balance sheet. You can put a price on a particular piece of art, but you can’t put
a price tag on the value of art to a society, any more than you can ask what is
the value of religion, or your mother. Free stuff is great, but if nobody ever
pays for anything, eventually, no one will have anything.
Star Liner
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