Sometimes the world we live in just gets to be too much – traffic, the day job, the construction AT the day job, children, cooking, commuting – whatever it may be that exceeds your tolerance threshold for the moment! Wouldn’t it be nice to slip away into some other universe and spend time as a character there?
One of the reasons I started writing as a kid was that I wanted so much to be on Mongo with Flash Gordon and Dale Arden, fighting Ming the Merciless and maybe meeting a good looking Prince. Sure sounded better than third grade and cursive writing with Mrs. Pierce! (Who I now realize was a nice person but at the time she terrified me and she didn’t appreciate my left handedness). So I’d write my little stories, which had an amazing resemblance to Flash’s epic adventures at times. It was always nice to lose myself in science fiction for a few hours.
Nowadays I write much more grownup stuff (Priestess of the Nile, paranormal romance set in 1500BC Ancient Egypt, coming out January 23rd – small plug there. I’d know what to do with the handsome Prince if I met him. (My third grade self had a pretty vague, G-rated vision of carriage rides, sweeping ball gowns and maybe a chaste kiss.)
I used to think if I could slide from this world into another fully realized one, I’d go to Pern, home of the weyrs and dragon riders created by the late, wonderful Anne McCaffrey. Only a gold dragon for me, thank you very much! If given two choices, I’d stroll through the dimensions to Middle Earth and seek out Eomer, who was left enticingly single at the end of Lord of the Rings movies, if you’ll recall. I love the whole setting and culture of Rohan. Just keep the orcs under control for me, okay?
Third choice? Hmmm. Probably Nalini Singh’s world of Psy Wars. I could DEFINITELY go for one of her sexy shifters. Deciding between wolf and cat would be the biggest challenge! And then I’d do my part to be a stalwart Pack member.
And of course I get to visit my version of Ancient Egypt all the time when writing or editing...
So what alternate reality world do you escape to when this one is just a bit overwhelming?
