Dalene's Book Reviews: VBT - Operation Earth by Maria Hammarblad with Guest Post

Thursday, September 26, 2013

VBT - Operation Earth by Maria Hammarblad with Guest Post

My computer speaks Klingon

The other night my husband left a comment on my Facebook profile. It was completely incomprehensible and he grinned when I asked what it was. The gibberish was clearly meant to be a challenge, and if I wanted to read the message, I'd have to put on my thinking hat.

Turns out Bing now translates to and from Klingon.

QaparHa'qu' allegedly means, “I love you.” Isn't that sweet?

I don't imagine Klingons being big on tenderness, for all I know their concept of loving someone might be to kick the person in the guts, but the sentiment is still sweet.

I sometimes toy with Google translating sentences back and forth between Swedish and English. It does pretty well with simple stuff, but as soon as the text becomes a bit more complex or one word could be ambiguous in any way, the results turn into nonsense. Entertaining nonsense.

Good thing Klingon isn't a real intergalactic language, or we'd probably be screwed.

“Hello, we come in peace” might very well turn into, “Blue Pelican on the crosswalk silver chair,” or why not “Shoot to kill!”

Anyway, I admire the people who made Klingon up. I googled, and ended up on Wikipedia. Check this out: “Described in the 1984 book The Klingon Dictionary by Marc Okrand and deliberately designed to sound "alien", Klingon has a number of typologically uncommon features. The language's basic sound, along with a few words, was first devised by actor James Doohan ("Scotty") for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That film marked the first time the language had been heard on screen. In all previous appearances, Klingons spoke in English. Klingon was subsequently developed by Okrand into a full-fledged language.”

From time to time I need a few lines in an alien language, and I just need to make something up that looks like words. Without exceptions, the task stumps me. To me, my imaginary languages look like a cat walked on the keyboard.

Marc Okrand invented an entire language and I can't make up a few sentences. Sheesh, what kind of writer am I?

There are a few lines of “alien” language in Operation Earth. Confession time: I cheated. I contacted a friend on Facebook who kindly translated my English to Turkish. I don't need to go to space to be unable to understand a word.

If aliens really were to invade the Earth, I hope they speak English.

roj yI'el maH. bach Hoch!!
(According to Bing, that means, “We come in peace. Shoot to kill!”)

Operation Earth by Maria Hammarblad

Genre: SciFi

Release date: August 11, 2013

Seven billion people on Earth go about their daily lives, and no one is prepared when a global EMP slows the world to a crawl. With all our technology incapacitated, everything changes. Within days alien soldiers line the streets, and life will never be the same. Rachael struggles to adapt to the new order, doing her best to keep herself and her cat alive.

On a ship far above the planet surface, Peter just got his new Earth name, and can’t even remember his identity from the last world he visited. It’s another day on the job, one more world on a never-ending list. That is, until Rachael bumps into him, dropping exotic objects all around his feet. His culture taught him females should be obeyed and protected, but he never had an urge to leave himself at a woman’s mercy until now.

Rachael’s neighbor Ryan hounds her to join a brewing resistance movement and make a stand against the newcomers. She still befriends Peter, enthralled by his enigmatic personality and hypnotic golden eyes. Would falling in love with an alien be treason against humanity? When the rebellion gains momentum and open conflict with the newcomers is a fact, Rachael’s personal insurrection might be her doom, or bring salvation to us all.

Author Bio:

Born in Sweden in the early 1970's, Maria showed a large interest for books at an early age. Even before she was able to read or write, she made her mom staple papers together into booklets she filled with drawings of suns and planets. She proudly declared them, "The Sun Book." They were all about the sun. She also claimed, to her mother's horror, that her being on Earth was a big mistake and that her alien family would come and bring her home at any moment. This never happened, but both the interest in space and the passion for bookmaking stayed with her.

As an adult Maria's creativity got an outlet through playing bass in a number of rock bands, and through writing technical manuals and making web pages for various companies and organizations. She did write drafts for a few novels, but the storytelling muse was mostly satisfied through role playing online on Myspace. It was here, while writing stories together with people from around the globe, she stumbled onto Mike. They started talking out of character, and she moved over to Florida to him late 2008. Today the two are married and live in the Tampa Bay area with three rescue dogs.

Besides writing and playing bass, Maria enjoys driving off-road, archery, and Tameshigiri.

Upcoming releases

Borealis XII, to be released by Desert Breeze Publishing November 2013

Fun Facts

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite food: Chicken with cashew nuts

Doesn't eat: Mammals

Favorite TV Show: Star Trek TNG and Leverage

Favorite animal: Border Collie

Quotes: "Full Speed Ahead" and "Caffeine is good for you"

Find Maria on the web

Website