Monday, January 28, 2013

Minimal humans


Wow, it's finally over. Some time ago, I read one of Alejandro Jodorowsky's tweets regarding his new film. "I am about to give birth to it, I'm already feeling the pain of the process."

I just gave birth to my story.

Minimal humans was fully developed during my initial PhD years. I study Genetics and Molecular Biology, and I was angry at the world by then. Too many things to do, too little time to make them. I felt like a slave, only working working working and not really enjoying life. But the worst part is that nothing seemed to work at all.

Whatever... such is life. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don't. However, I didn't use to think that way back then.

What if I could make a story which combined all of the problems that I faced as a scientist-to-be? What if I could combine and twist biology the way I wanted?

That's how Minimal humans was born.




It is a story of the most ambitious biotech company, Integral Genomics, guided by the perverse mind of S.V. (i.e., my alter-ego). I made it be sort of lesbian too as I am fond of girls and wanted some nice action in the plot. Also, Constanza Valencia exemplifies my "good" alter-ego. As you can see, it's all about a battle between hope and hate. I couldn't have complained all the time or this story would have become a nuisance to follow and write :P

Right now I think that it doesn't make any sense to make it public, as it explains a lot of genetic concepts which I don't know if people would like to know or even try to understand. However, I made my best to put everything in plain words and understandable by everyone.

Minimal humans is like a purgative I took to expel all that which made me suffer so much. So I don't really mind if people read it or not.

If you happen to read it, I hope you enjoy it!!

Available on Amazon Kindle (free for Premium users)

Minimal humans on Kindle, click here!!!

You can also see my books in Amazon Kindle here!!!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

A Past Which Cannot Be Forgotten



Finally!!!

This is my very first English short tale now published in the Amazon Kindle store. It is a dream came true after so much struggling, but it was well worth it.

Please share with friends, this is my very first attempt to get into the English market, and I hope to count with your blessings :)

 A Past Which Cannot be Forgotten

Thanks!!

Who is Sakti Phoenix


Hello people,

It's been a while since I last updated my blog.

Something important that I forgot to mention way back was who I am, and what is it that I write which maybe interest you one day for reading.

General info:

Sakti Phoenix

Made of: meat.
Resident planet: Earth, but her mind has been spotted in the Moon several times.
Dream: to become a successful writer scientist.
Hobbies: Writing, Painting
Blood type: Otaku + (O+)

Sakti Phoenix has been always enlightened by the mysterious reasons of life. From mythology to science fiction, she has developed a style that is quite different from many of the authors you have read before. Definitely she will tell you: my books are a product of my imagination, I do not pretend to become the new Marquez!!!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Mahucutah I, La Leyenda de Coyolxauhqui publicada!!




Finalmente he publicado mi primer libro en linea, Mahucutah I - la Leyenda de Coyolxauhqui, en el sitio de Smashwords.com, y estoy en espera de su aceptacion en el catalogo premium. 

Pueden encontrar el libro aqui: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/143010 

El libro esta escrito en espanol y tiene un costo de 99 centavos de dolar. He pensado mucho en su traduccion al ingles pero esto no sucedera hasta que o me gane la loteria o de plano tenga mucho tiempo para traducirlo yo misma. 
Mientras tanto espero que los hispanoparlantes le den una mirada y me hagan saber sus comentarios al respecto. 

Con la publicacion de este libro siento que he liberado muchisimo karma y un enorme peso de encima. Estoy muy feliz, orgullosa, y ansiosa por conocer sus opiniones. 

Algo muy importante que me gustaria que supieran es que este libro nacio de mis propios conceptos de la vida, los dioses, la historia natural del mundo y insondables sus misterios. Es una forma en que en mi adolescencia canalice todas esas preguntas y energias. Este fue el resultado de tal empresa. 

Muchas gracias por leerme, y espero sus comentarios!!! 

Sakti 

*** Visiten mi DA en http://saktiphoenix.deviantart.com/ 
*** Y followeenme en twitter: https://twitter.com/SaktiPhoenix

Mahucutah I, La Leyenda de Coyolxauhqui published!

Finally I have submitted my book Mahucutah I, La Leyenda de Coyolxauhqui, to Smashword.com and I'm awaiting for review to enter into the premium catalogue.

However, I am free to publish the link here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/143010 

The book is written in Spanish and has a cost of 0.99dlls. I am planning on translating it to English and hopefully publishing the English version by the end of this year. Meanwhile I do hope Spanish speakers have a look and let me know what they think.

This is a personal project and literally I feel a ton of karma and weight going down after this first publication. I am happy, proud, and eager to know more of your opinions.

Thanks for reading!!!

Sakti 

This is the final book cover:




Friday, March 16, 2012

Mahucutah: Habemus cover

Hello friends,

This is just an update in my latest (and first) publication effort. Months ago I searched for various illustrators to make me a nice cover for my long loved fantasy story, Mahucutah, the Legend of Coyolxauhqui, which I intend to self-publish hopefully this weekend at Smashwords.com.

After various discussions and arrangements, I ended up working with my dear friend Jose Cerpa, with whom I took a digital illustration course last year. Jose's realistic illustrations made me think of him immediately for the work, and so I decided to make some sketches of tentative cover designs for Mahucutah.

After long and frustrating hours of anatomical mistakes (I'm not a pro painter, yet!!!) the final design can be found in my deviantart gallery at:

http://saktiphoenix.deviantart.com/#/d4rgnj1

After two weeks of coming back and forth, today I am proud to announce that Jose has finally finished the illustration, and it is magnificent. You can find the final cover here:

http://suryadasa.deviantart.com/art/Coyolxauhqui-290540488


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cosmic biodiversity

Imagine a universe where species from faraway planets turn biological evolution upside down, and make entire galaxies prolific fields of their research. What would their discoveries look like?

This is what Cosmic biodiversity, my new set of science fiction tales, tries to sketch out. Born out of an evolution course that I took, I hope these writings may lighten up the imagination of young students regarding evolution and biology in general.

Enjoy a sampler! I'll post more later on.

----
Kepler-22b.

Since kindergarten, Steve Cloud felt the unanimous call that all Paleontologists feel during their childhood: the intrinsic attachment to his dinosaur collection and the unfathomable question of why they had gone extinct.

As Steve grew older, his curious mind didn’t forget his infantile connection to the eras of the past, and during high school he researched thoroughly the origin of life, discovered the works of Darwin, and read in its entirety the “Origin of Species.”

Based on his careful analysis of the tree of life, and finding the similitude of physical characteristics between organisms of very different species, Steve sustained hot debates with his professors who, at the time, had to teach both the evolutionary and creationist theories. To him, the evolutionary route to biodiversity was clear as water, but he failed to deliver his message due to the lack of experience in the biological field.

So he went ahead and grasped the content he was so desperately looking for.
He betrayed his old-grown Paleontologist passion, seduced by a much more beautiful lover: DNA. This molecule was to him the definitive answer to show the world the truthfulness of evolution, and so he joined Berkeley’s Graduate Program in Evolutionary Biology after completing his undergrad studies.

He loved it: he had found a niche for his ideas, and surrounded himself with the profoundly analytical knowledge he needed to convince the world of the veracity of his arguments. Soon enough he nicknamed himself “Stevo,” as the convergence between “Steve & evolution,” and was an active member in organizations countering creationism at schools in the USA.

Why did he do so?

Simply because Stevo had discovered long ago that creationism and intelligent design are not scientific theories, as they are not supported by facts and evidence. There was then no reason to be taught in Science lessons at school. Moreover, the discredit that these ideologies give to established scientific facts promoted a society in which pastors and priests were assuming the roles of pseudoscientists. For Stevo, faith wasn’t going to give an answer to the origins of our life, but Science would.

Before graduating, Stevo and his class organized a seminar to explain to the public the solidness of Evolutionary theory as a means to discovering the origin of our species other than spiritual beliefs. He sat down among the audience on a Monday morning, and allowed himself to enjoy the talk of Dr. Blanski, one of the most prestigious Palentologists in the world.

“The fossil record is a window to our past. Continuous analysis if this record is vital to our understanding of how life started in the primitive atmosphere of the Earth, and how by small and big changes this life has expanded itself all over the globe, displaying the richness of the variation that we can now see.”

By the end of the seminar, a single girl raised her left hand to ask a question. Her deadly serious face made Stevo uncomfortable for a second. She was most likely one of those hyper-religious fanatics.

“How can you explain the sudden burst of animal diversity during the Cambrian period, followed by a meager abundance of variation afterwards?”

Stevo was surprised. At least someone inside the room was carefully analyzing the presented data, dwelling into the implications of that sacred knowledge. He drew a smile of satisfaction on his face.

“It is one of the biggest questions in the field,” Dr. Blanski replied, “but I have to admit we still have a poor understanding of the mechanisms that lead to such amazing phenotypical variation. But to give you some insight, we think that the genomes of the organisms at the time were still not ‘consolidated,’ meaning that they could explore the mutational landscape without much compromise at that moment. It is afterwards that the genomes would be shaped by forces of adaptation and drift. ”

“Or God,” the girl replied. “I find it quite interesting that despite you do not want to believe in Creationism and Intelligent Design, you are eager to defend theories for which data is incomplete, such as the fossil record.” The girl stood up from her seat and headed towards the exit. “God is much more intelligent than what you think, gentlemen, and He will surely leave you in the darkness for trying to explain that which He only knows.” She opened the door and left the room, buried in sepulchral silence.

The remaining public stared at Dr. Blanski, who cheerfully ended his talk. “We, of course, cannot convince you to abandon your faith, but we only want to show you the other side of reality.”

Stevo returned home, hopeless. Long years of work in the Biological field were nothing compared to the centuries of cultural slavery imposed into mankind by religion. That single girl had made him loose a big part of his motivation, and most certainly it’d take him a while to recover. The deeply imprinted ignorance inside the brain of society was too much for a single person to delete.

He turned on the TV, sat in his couch, and started to daydream what would be the definitive answer to convince people of the occurrence of Evolution. He fell asleep. He time-travelled to the origin of Earth, to the bottom of the endless ocean, the enormous cauldron of chemicals were life had started to shine 3.5 billion years ago. He dissolved himself in the cauldron, and cautiously watched his cells spread towards the horizon, transforming themselves into little plants and animals, grouping into bigger bodies, living to the compass of the fluctuations in heat, light, and even sound. He watched the passage from trilobites to dinosaurs, to reptiles, to birds, to mammals, to primates and humans. He was a living witness of what he had learned during his studies: the wondrous chain of the evolution of life.

He woke up in tears, and for a brief moment his mind expanded towards the universe to receive the greatest of the ideas ever conceived. He dialed a number on his cell phone, and waited patiently to get a response.

“Dr. Blanski, it’s Stevo, sorry for the late call, but I have a great idea in mind. Do you still collaborate with Dr. Sorella at NASA? Yes? Great. This will sound crazy, but it’ll prove once and for all our point: let’s start the synthetic evolution of a microorganism on Kepler-22b.”

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sobre Mahucutah, y mis otros proyectos en puerta

(Texto sin acentos)

Hola amigos,

Este post comienza una era diferente para mi vida. Estoy a punto de publicar en linea una de las novelas en las cuales he invertido gran parte de mi vida: Mahucutah.

He aqui una pequena sinopsis de la historia:

Mahucutah I

Genero: Fantasia, Mitologia, Accion, Drama
Sinopsis: Coyolxauhqui, la Diosa de la Luna, es la primera princesa guerrera del pueblo azteca cuyo sentido de justicia y honor estaba por sobre todas las virtudes de los dioses. Un dia, mientras Coyolxauhqui y sus hermanos los Centzon Huitznahua acampaban en tierras lejanas, su madre Coatlicue, la Diosa de la Tierra, quedo embarazada al recoger una esfera de plumas verdes y azules que cayo del cielo. Coyolxauhqui y sus hermanos se encolerizan ante el acto dado que no saben quien es el padre, y deciden sacrificar a su madre como castigo. Cuando la Diosa de la Luna esta a punto de matar a su madre para limpiar la afrenta, Coatlicue da a luz a Huitzilopochtli, Dios de la Guerra, quien despedaza a su hermana con la serpiente de fuego Xihucoatl. El Dios de la Guerra lanza al cielo la cabeza de su hermana y esta es convertida en la luna, y acto seguido asesina a todos los hermanos de Coyolxauhqui.

La historia que sigue a este acto es como Coyolxauhqui, una vez muerta y su alma enviada al Reino del Xibalba, une sus fuerzas con el Dios de los Muertos, Kisin, quien le propone venganza en contra de su hermano a cambio de liberarlo de la prision del Xibalba. Coyolxauhqui acepta el trato y ambos espiritus salen del inframundo compartiendo el cuerpo de la diosa, el cual habia sido aprisionado en la luna. Coyolxauhqui pronto comienza a confundir sus recuerdos con los del Rey de los
Muertos, descubriendo asi un pasado que entrelaza no solo a Kisin, sino a su hermano Huitzilopochtli, los demas dioses del mundo, y ella misma.

Cruentas batallas en contra de los reinos de Asgard, Egipto, Hindu, Maya, e inclusive la Atlantida acontecen tras su salida, que marcara el inicio de una nueva era para la Tierra y sus dioses.


~~~~~~

Estoy en proceso de diseno de portada (o mejor dicho, estoy buscando un buen disenador grafico que me haga el trabajo!!), dado que ya he re-editado el escrito principal como 50,000 veces.

Espero pronto subirlo al sitio de Smashwords, les estare informando!!!!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Towards a unified human nature

What is that which makes humans behave like tamed animals? Is it fear, is it love, is it the sensation that they don't want to be alone?

As someone who has seen madness face to face, I can say that sanity is a virtual concept. It is a concept, and ideal, because no one is sane at all, but not insane entirely. We are all crazy, but there are people who can control it better than others.

Genetically, we are determined to be gregarious animals, rather than solitary units. Our own survival and evolution depended in our ability to socialize and be part of a group. What is happening now that we no longer have that need?

Well, we still have groups, but we have more and more individuals who analyze their lives and try to carry out a detailed introspection into what their existence means. I respect these men and women, for their great resilience to the general moral and ethical rules.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The light

There is a light inside my chest, I have seen it before.
But this light is elusive, and I like it.
It's warm, and cheerful,
quite a loving thing.

And I want to see it, once again,
I want to share it, once again.
Once again.

I want to redo my life,
I want this to be the first day,
I want to survive as a delicate flower,
No matter what, no matter when.