Did the MCU get the repercussions of "the snap" wrong?

I just binged The Falcon and the Winter Soldier after watching Wandavision (and watching Hawkeye as it comes out), and I have to say I'm disappointed by how the Disney+ Marvel shows have been handling "the snap." 

(SPOILER ALERT) If you haven't seen Infinity War or Endgame and don't want spoilers, stop here. Otherwise, if you like to talk about sci-fi "what ifs" like I do, read on.

If "the snap" were real and half of all people (and probably half of all animal life) disappeared and then reappeared five years later what do you think would happen?

Imagine half of all drivers, pilots, doctors, mothers, fathers, children, teachers, employers, employees, customers, consumers, politicians, home owners, business owners, guards, homeless people, billionaires and so on disappearing in an instant but leaving all their stuff and half of all other people behind. 

Imagine situations where there's only one of the person who disappears (single-parent households, for example). Imagine situations where there are two. In a quarter of cases both would disappear, in a quarter of cases none would disappear, and in half of all cases one would disappear. 

Now imagine the initial implications, and how society develops over time until all the people snapped away return five years later. 

Let's start with one example: pilots. When half of all single-pilot planes lose a pilot, that plane crashes killing or injuring all left onboard, as well as possibly people on the ground. Any car traveling at speed will behave like a plane with a single pilot. A pilot and a co-pilot means that 75% of those planes should land--provided they don't collide with a falling or already crashed plane, the pilot doesn't panic, and there are still enough people handling air-traffic control and not panicking themselves. If it's possible to rescue people on the ground, half of all the firefighters, ambulance drivers, EMTs, doctors and nurses will have been snapped away, and because of all the out of control cars and abandoned cars on the roads, it probably wouldn't even be possible for a rescuer to get to the victims or get the victims to the hospital on time. 

How many would permanently die or suffer permanent injuries just from the missing drivers and pilots alone? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Each of those deaths and injuries will have long-term repercussions. They can't be snapped back. And that's just drivers and pilots.

Now imagine the affect on families with young children. (I'm going to assume that pregnant women and their babies are treated as one person by the snap, because anything else is unthinkable.) 3/4 of all remaining children would have lost one parent, and at least 1/4 would be completely orphaned. What would be the affect of having 1/4 of the world's children orphaned? And if they were passengers in cars or buses when the driver was snapped away, how many would not only be orphaned but injured? And imagine all the parents returning after the snap to discover what had happened to their kids. Some would have grown up and be relatively okay, some would have died, some would have been permanently traumatized, some would have been injured, some, particularly those under ten, wouldn't even remember their own parents, some would return to find their kids with new parents, their spouses with new spouses...

I don't think the Disney+ Marvel shows got the implications of "the snap" right? Do you?

Leave a comment with your thoughts. I want to know what you think.

Writing Words for Nerds #AtoZChallenge--M is for Magic (Is it real?)

Picture a scene. Harry Potter is playing Quidditch with his friends as the sun begins to set. The young wizards zoom and loop through the sky, chasing the winged golden snitch that remains ever out of grasp.

As night falls, a figure appears in silhouette on the horizon, her long hair flowing in the wind. She’s holding a staff and wearing a long cloak. An extreme close-up reveals the cloak is made of colorful patches. The young woman, still in silhouette, runs her fingers through her hair and raises her hand. There’s a sound, like a woman talking, but the words spoken aren’t of this world.

The young woman glows, and we can see her for the first time. Her hair is dark, her skin pale, and her clothes are colorful.

The dramatic music rises as we once again see Harry trying to catch the snitch. The camera shifts to the snitch itself and follows it zooming straight toward something. The music rises and suddenly ends as the snitch flies into the young woman’s outstretched hand.

“The time for games is over,” she says.

The screen fades to black. Enchanting music starts. The words “This time the magic is real . . .” appear on the screen and then fade. The last screen shows the words “Toren the Teller’s Tale” as the music comes to an end.

Sometimes I think of parts of my books as scenes in a film. This is the trailer that I like to imagine for the film version of Toren the Teller’s Tale. Sure, it will probably never exist in real life. But anything can be real in my imagination.

Toren the Teller’s Tale is about real magic. It’s about the magic of stories: the magic that lets you see and hear and touch and taste and smell a story, the magic that transports you to different worlds that could only exist in your imagination, the magic that lets you experience what it’s like to be a boy wizard or a hobbit or a young girl who loves telling stories and is about to discover the magic they hold. Toren the Teller’s Tale is about a kind of magic you know is real. You’ve felt it every time you’ve found yourself swept away by a story.

Those who aren’t very familiar with fantasy and science fiction often think there’s a clear divide between the two genres. Fantasy involves wizards and magic spells and magical creatures, like dragons. Science fiction involves the future and space ships and alien planets and things that could scientifically exist one day.

But there’s more overlap than most people realize. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books, for example, have dragons, but they’re science fiction.  Most people would say that Star Wars is a science fiction series, but never say that to a science-fiction purist. Sure, it has aliens, androids and spaceships, but it also has a form of magic called “the force” as well as Jedis, who are basically wizards that live on other planets, have robot companions, and fly spaceships. Star Wars regularly breaks the rules of science, which is fine as long as you don’t call it science fiction.

There are some who have pointed out that the Many Worlds theory of quantum mechanics basically means that all fantasy is actually science fiction, which is true.

That’s a topic that comes up in a conversation between Gilbert Garfinkle and Dungeon Master Dave in Why My Love Life Sucks, the first book in the Gilbert the Fixer series. Gilbert, the young aspiring mad scientist, can’t accept that he’s been turned into a vampire. His life is supposed to be a science-fiction novel. How is it possible that it now contains an urban fantasy trope? In his mind, that’s not scientifically possible.  It makes no sense. Dungeon Master Dave points out that the Many Worlds theory says otherwise. Because if an infinite number of worlds exist, some of those worlds must have vampires, as well as Gilberts that don’t believe in their existence.

The first book in the series shows Gilbert mostly grappling with his strange, new, unscientific predicament. By the second book (Why It Still Mega Bites, which should be out later this year), he’s come to accept that “magic is just science we don’t yet understand.”

Of course, he wasn’t talking about Quidditch.

My Top Ten Sci-Fi Movies

There are two problems when it comes to compiling a list of my 10 favorite sci-fi movies: first, not everyone would agree that every movie on my list qualifies as science fiction; and second, how do I limit it to just 10?

Well, I agree that some of these movies aren’t really science fiction. I mean, that whole nonsense about being able to erase yourself from existence if you upset the “space-time continuum” in Back to the Future? Yeah, that’s great for the plot, but it has no scientific basis. It’s what Doctor Who would call, “Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.” But it’s still a great movie franchise with a pseudo scientific basis, so it stays. The Avengers, on the other hand, is one of my favorite movies of all time, but it didn't make the list because, well, I just don't think superhero movies qualify as science fiction, particularly when they involve Norse gods.   

And there were about 10 other movies I put on and took off the list, because there really are so many great sci-fi movies. I could play with this list forever, but I had to settle on a top 10, so this is it. Some are classics, while others are just personal favorites. Maybe some are your personal favorites too.

1. Serenity

The movie that followed Joss Whedon’s Firefly: a TV series about Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) and his motley crew of outlaw space cowboys. Like anything done by Joss Whedon, it has the perfect combination of excitement, comedy, strong characters, awesome heroes, and even more awesome heroines. Netflix has both the series and the movie available for streaming, so if you can, watch the series first and then the movie. Prepare to laugh and cry. A lot. Shiny.

2. E.T.

A young boy named Elliot tries to help a friend from another planet get back to his spaceship. I’ve seen E.T. so many times, and I’ve cried every single time. E.T. will always hold a place in my heart.

3. Inception

A dream in a dream in a dream, and audiences argue which is reality. That’s kind of missing the point, though. This is really a movie about movies and how they affect us. That’s what’s real. Everything on the screen is a dream, and yet those dreams have the power to change our perceptions and our lives.

.

4. Star Trek

J.J. Abram’s reboot of the original Star Trek series is nothing short of brilliant. Star Trek Into Darkness is brilliant too. The only question is--where does the series go from here?

5. Blade Runner

What makes someone human? That question isn’t so black-and-white in this movie about a man who hunts down and kills renegade robots that have been programmed to think they’re just as human as the rest of us. This movie does what the best science-fiction does: it entertains while making you think.

6. Back to the Future

Marty McFly endangers his very existence when he travels to the past and accidentally stops the event that led to his mother falling in love with his father in the 1950s. Can he fix the past, save himself, and get back to the present? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense, but it is so much fun.  

7. Men in Black

The Men in Black help good and harmless aliens on Earth, while saving the planet from otherworldly threats. So silly and so funny.

8. Star Wars: Episode IV--A New Hope

The Star Wars movie that started them all. I know it’s probably just me, but this has always reminded me of a game of Dungeons & Dragons played in space. And I like that. Some things are better when they’re produced on a shoestring budget. The Star Wars series proves it.

9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Ordinary people are joined together on a quest after an encounter with aliens, in this early Steven Spielberg film. Just thinking of the scene with the car headlights, or the one with the mashed potatoes, puts a smile on my face. Da, da, da..DA, DA.

10. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay for the movie based on his hysterically funny science-fiction novel--my all-time favorite in any genre. Arthur Dent is rescued from planet Earth just before it’s demolished to make room for an inter-galactic highway. This isn’t for everyone, but if you love Douglas Adams as much as I do, you should definitely give it a try. Don’t panic, and don’t forget your towel. It’s not as good as the book, but that’s like saying a Hershey bar isn’t as good as Max Brenner truffles. It’s still chocolate, and that means it’s still wonderful.

Another Geeking Awesome Review for Why My Love Life Sucks!

"Great ball of fun with vampires wrapped up very nicely with a great cover and catching title. It is worth checking out, trust me." Thank you, Jenn Renee Read, for your review of Why My Love Life Sucks. 

You are geeking awesome, you know that, right? 

I'm so super psyched right now I could just scream... 

YayYYY!

You can read the rest of the review by clicking here.

Why My Love Life Sucks Goes on an Xpresso Book Tour at the End of April!

I'm so excited. My latest novel,Why My Love Life Sucks,  is a funny story about geeks, gadgets, girls, vampires, and the most unlikely of friendships--and it will be going on an all-reviews tour at the end of April thanks to Xpresso Book Tours! 

Here are the blogs that have signed up and the dates they will be posting reviews: 

April 29th

-Jennreneereas  

-Dizneeee's World of Books

April 30th

-Coffee & A Book Anytime 

-Words Create Scenes 

May 1st

-Little Lovely Books

-wordpaintingsunlimited 

May 2nd
-The Next Chapter
-Spiced Latte Reads  

May 3rd
-Krystal's Enchanting Reads
-As Palavras Fugiram   

May 4th
-Teen Blurb

If you're one of the book bloggers who has agreed to review my latest novel, thank you! Give yourself a round of applause, because you are geeking awesome. 

If you're not, would you like to join the fun?  If this book sounds like something you might like, email me at shevia at hotmail dot com with your preferred digital format (for Kindle, Nook, Apple device, or other) before April 29th, and I will be happy to send you a free digital copy in exchange for an honest Amazon review. 

Geeking out from all this awesomeness, 

Shevi

Blog? Get a free reviewer's copy of Why My Love Life Sucks

If you blog, and you'd like a free digital reviewer's copy of my funny, teen, sci-fi novel--Why My Love Life Sucks---sign up at Xpresso Book Tours by clicking here.

This will be an all-reviews book blog tour for Why My Love Life Sucks for one week starting April 9th. Places are limited, so the sooner you sign up, the better your chances of being included. Since blogs will be linking to each other (and I'll be proudly showing off my favorite reviews here and on Facebook and tweeting excitedly about them), this could also be a chance to help you promote your own blog.

Each book blogger chosen will get a free digital copy of Why My Love Life Sucks to to review AND another digital copy to give away to one of your followers. In addition, one paperback copy and a $25 gift certificate to one of my favorite online stores, ThinkGeek, will be given out to a lucky winner during the tour! You can get a cute D&D, Princess Bride, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, science geek, computer geek, gamer geek, comic-book geek, or all-round geek tee with that gift certificate, so what are you waiting for?

I'm so excited! (But I guess you can tell.) Sign up today, so you don't miss out, and good luck!