BRUTE

As I hear and read about recent events in the news, (and for those reading this later on, I’m referring to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the back – seven times, followed by riots and looting, following by a lone militia shooting 3 more innocent people who were protesting) writing Brute seems more and more relevant. Now I totally understand if that seems far-off or out of left field but understand, you cannot write about an entire galactic civilization, with well thought-out interstellar races, without taking how all those races are going to interact in mind.

Does racism (or in this case speciesism) exist in the ‘Bruteverse’? Of course it does. There will always be someone who thinks because they are more privileged, or more advanced, or more intelligent, or more physically, politically, financially, or socially powerful, or more pious that they are therefore superior to others. Now Brute the series is not a political statement or social commentary, but I couldn’t be true to the nature of these races, and individual characters if these issues did not, at some level, come into play.

If there is to be an intergalactic society, a core fundamental tenant of that society must be to accept and acknowledge every other intergalactic species rights to exist and live life in a manner that seems best to them (as long as it’s not infringing or endangering others) no matter how foreign, strange or even unacceptable that might be to our standards. They are aliens after all and will behave in very alien ways. But despite the differences everyone is part of the whole. They all make up one galactic body.

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. ~ 1 cor 14-26

So in Brute, as in almost all space operas, humans seeks to not only be accepted by, but to be a leader in, intergalactic affairs. But if we cannot see the value of those that are 99.8% identical to ourselves, how can we, as a race, ever hope to co-exist with others that are 99.8% different? We have a long, long, loooong way to go.

Yet as I hear the news, I have hope. Because while we hear the tales of horror and hatred, that is not what is in the hearts of the majority of people. Most of us just want to get along. Most of us want to love our neighbors. But as Brute will learn, we cannot sit idly by waiting for others, like politicians or leaders, to do the right thing. WE must be the change. WE must take a stand, do the uncomfortable things and DEMAND better. WE can do it. But like the who’s in Whoville (The Grinch), every voice must be heard, very voice must be counted, every single one of us has to stand hand-in-hand with our neighbors, even those we may not like, and demand the loving, tolerant world our forefathers fought for us to have, and not let the few take it from our grasp.

In other Brute news:

We’re now on Amazon! Amazon.com / Amazon.ca
Plus available in .pdf format from our store.

We are in talks with a colorist – more on this as it progresses.
And lastly, Issue #1 is progressing well. Another sneak peak: