The Covery and Then

Dear Mr. Mopin, I am writing at Ambassador Stapleton's request regarding your novel, The Covery and Then, it was truly exceptional. The book really did show a unique perspective on the Earth and more importantly on humanity as a whole. The book itself was very interesting. I especially liked how you turned the tables and made women in control of the Empire.

The book reminded me a lot of the famous movie in the United States entitled, Star Wars, however it clearly provided a better perspective of how an alien race might see the Earth. Each character develops tremendously throughout the book, and it is really fascinating to see how The First builds this Empire literally from the ground up. A culture in which religion, marriage, and values that we hold dear today are against the norms, and I believe that this book is truly spectacular.

Thank you again for your submission and your book is truly a one-of-a-kind, I wish you nothing but the best of luck with future writing.

I deal with democracy not as a concept, but as what it is : a farce. I remember a French Minister saying very clearly on television, about a law that was going to pass : "I think it is a good law. It is indisputably a great step forward. But I will vote against it, because it was proposed by the other side". I do not doubt for one second that every politician, member of a party, reacts that way. But actually stating it in public with no shame is absolutely outrageous. Of course, nobody commented it. It was so obvious that it is the way of the world that people took this for granted.

Indirect democracy means you give power to a man to make decisions for you for a given time. If that time is too long, you allow him to decide for you when you or he have changed mind. And you may agree with him on some subjects and disagree on others. Yet he has the power to choose for you. Now if the time is too short, representatives have no option but to woo the electorate and vote whatever short-term measure will please the opinion. Either way, it does not work.

Direct democracy is impossible in a group of more than one person. If I was asked to, I could give my opinion and pass laws on subjects with which I am not familiar. If for instance I am given bad information, I may authorize an unnecessary war... with consequences I will not take responsibility for.

So I imagined a political structure where the decision-makers actually work for others in my book , The Covery and Then. In our current world, I know this could not happen. It is only a way of pointing out our faults at an attempt to correct them.

I am an atheist myself (which is not so bad in France). And I am fed up with the cliché that ties religion inextricably to morality. There are countless examples of religious people who do objectionable things. Fanatics of every religion have perpetrated terrorist acts, which are not limited to Muslims. For example, in France when The Last Temptation of Christ was released, Christian extremists set fire to the theatres that played it. Too often, the argument of such people is : I don't agree with you, so you must die.

On the other hand, I do hold ideals of non-violence, tolerance and respect similar to many religious beliefs. And I embrace them much more than most Christian people I know. The very word "Christian" is often used as a synonym for "moral", "decent", "civilized", while many actions conducted by Christians can hardly be described by those terms.

As a writer I can create my own little world. And of course create characters like me...

As for the approach to sex and nudity, as you may expect from an immoral, devious atheist, I chose a society that has no taboo and no prejudices. Nudity is only considered offensive because the Church made it so. And sex is a threat to God's so-called servants, because it leads away from spiritualism and meditation. I do not subscribe to this point of view. I believe people who lead a happy sex life are bound to be more tolerant, open-minded and serene.

As we often follow the morals of today's society, these concepts may seem unacceptable. But my characters do not live in today's society. They live in a world where the Church never imposed its ideas and ways. Bisexuality is considered more than acceptable : desirable. Jealousy is not a part of their life, because they feel secure and self-confident. However, though there are hints of eroticism here and there, this is not an erotic book. It is a work meant to show readers a different way to live, a potential way to live.

The most telling topic might be marriage. Once again the problem is not marriage in the philosophical sense, but marriage as it is in the modern day. It is a contract that demands you to love and care for someone. You are forced to love because the law requires it forever. Forever? How long does marriage last? Mind you, often it ends because of adultery. This union of souls holds by a thread if something as trivial as sex can end it. Therefore it is not a union, but a mutual and binding agreement to prevent each-other from enjoying certain freedoms.

Men are easily threatened by sex : their genetic heritage is at stake. A woman always knows she is the mother. The father can only suppose. So I think marriage was invented by men. Since my universe is ruled by women and has never been ruled by men, I assumed it would turn out to be much more open and deprived of don'ts and guilt.

Finally, many characters swear. This was a big problem for my editor. Because "the American public is not ready for it". Apparently, the American public does not go to the movies. Anyway, I refused to let go of swear words. I understand why Americans would not want them, but it is one more reason for my characters to use them. So she (my editor) came up with what I think is a smashing idea : instead of using English swear-words, I made up Imperial ones. I have not invented their language (yet), but it already has swear words...

The origin of four-letter words is interesting. They come from popular mockery of Puritanism and the Church under Cromwell. So their etymology refers mostly to religion and popular culture. Inventing such words for my characters made me elaborate on their beliefs and values, and consider what were their "equivalents" for Christ, Mary, a bishop, a priest... The reason why I crafted these words does not please me, but the result adds substance and meaning to the work. This proves that from bad things may come good things. Maybe this politically incorrect novel will have some value...

The story in The Covery and Then was completed years ago in my head (as well as five more novels yet to be written). Therefore I feel safe saying the story has been waiting for twenty years to be released. However, I was unable to actually phrase it and make it fit into words. I have written other novels in French that were successfully published. But I just could not make it happen for this story. Then one day I was working on a distinct project: a fantasy story I had in mind, which to me is very visual. I intended to write the script and have an illustrator draw it for me. It seemed to me that, short of a movie, a comic book was the best way to tell this story. The illustrator I found, however, did not speak French. So, I set out writing a synopsis for her in English. It was not much at first, but soon I realised my synopsis developed into something much more elaborate. I found details that could not be made explicit in images, and finally this project completely changed. Then I wanted to write a long novel and have a few illustrations here and there. The scope of the whole thing escaped me and what was a one-comic project is now meant to become a series of four 500-or-so pages-long novels.

At the same time, I was struggling with another attempt at writing The Covery in French. Then, it struck me that the other project turned out the way it did because of the genre. You see, most of the fantasy and the science-fiction I read are written in English. Somehow, my brain associates the genres with the language they are written in.

Out of curiosity, I decided to see what would happen if I tried writing The Covery in English. And it practically wrote itself. Three weeks later, the manuscript was completed. It had taken me twenty years and three weeks. Then, I started looking for a publisher in the US. And when you're French, without an agent, and trying to sell this kind of story, it is a very long road...

During the time it took to find a publisher and edit the text, a French publisher showed an interest in one of my other French books, and he liked my work so much that he asked me to translate the Covery for publication in France. Translating was a nightmare. It took me eight and a half months, and I'm still not happy with the result. But it made me understand why this story could only be written in English. It is not only the genre. There are two elements that hinder its rendering in French.

First, at the core of the book is the idea that matriarchy would fare better than our current patriarchal societies. And as you may or may not know, words in French are either masculine or feminine. In English, I only had to tamper with things like mankind/humankind. In French, every word is a problem. Because not only is my language "sexed", it is clearly dominated by the masculine. And my idea could not be stated easily with the prerequisites of a man's language. That is also why I think the translation is not up to the original. Which does not matter really, because the publisher who commissioned it is no longer in business...

Second, I wanted to challenge the clichés that you find in science-fiction, where the USA saves the world every time, or civilizations that are clearly modelled on that of the USA. I am a huge Star Wars fan, for instance, but I couldn't help notice how similar the government of those movies was to America's. Many of the values that are at the core of American identity are unconsciously conveyed in science-fiction. And since I am challenging this state of things, the only language that can do is English.

I also found it fun to write in English ; I really enjoy it because writing, to some extent, is playing with words and upsetting the language. I teach English as it should be spoken in real life. It is much more exhilarating to write it as I want it to be... I know "my" English must be exotic in some way; it is neither rooted in American nor in French. It adds credibility to the world that I created.

This blog is dedicated to my book, The Covery and Then. It is a science fiction novel. You can read more on my site (jean-francois-mopin.com), but this blog will contain every new article about this book.