Jump to content

Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by BenedictineMalediction (talk | contribs) at 23:09, 9 January 2015 (→Overview: Removed redundant sentence). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel
Book cover, paperback edition Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel, by Vanna Bonta, 1996.
AuthorVanna Bonta
Cover artistCorey Wolfe
LanguageEnglish
Genrequantum fiction, magical realism, Paranormal romance, Urban fantasy, Conspiracy fiction, Adventure
PublisherMeridian House
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Audiobook
Pages397
ISBN[[Special:BookSources/978-0912339108+%28hardcover%29+%3Cbr+%2F%3E978-0912339177+%28paperback%29 |978-0912339108 (hardcover)
978-0912339177 (paperback)]] Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
813/.54
Preceded by"Rewards of Passion (Sheer Poetry)" (1981)
"Shades of the World. Dora Books" (1985)
"Degrees" (1989) 

Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel is a novel by American writer Vanna Bonta.

First published in 1995, this novel is about a writer who notices the fiction he is writing appears in reality around him. It is set at the end of the 20th century going into the 21st century where Earth is at the height of a consumerist materialistic culture and about to enter the information age.

The main plot follows Mendle J. Orion, a science fiction writer who is consumed with angst about the false values and corruption he sees in society. Orion questions the nature of reality and everything in it. In despair and yearning for love, Orion finds solace from a superficial culture and shallow relationships by immersing himself in his creative work. A secondary plot is the novel he is writing about an inter-dimensional traveling space heroine named Aira Flight.[1][2][3]

Setting

Overview

The novel takes place at the end of the 20th century and spans into the beginning of the 21st century. It utilizes an array of literary devices to highlight the illusory aspect of reality. The story is set primarily in Los Angeles, California, where Mendle Orion lives and works as a writer. Other cities are mentioned, such as San Diego, where Mendle attends the World Science Fiction Convention. The action ends on a farm in rural Kentucky.

Multiverse

A secondary plot takes place in other-world parallels to the main plot. This subplot presents as a novel-in-progress being written by the character Mendle Orion. The story's action is a multiverse.

Z Zone

A fictional universe called Z Zone (the "Sleep Zone") where individuals commit self-betrayal to escape being awake and functioning creatively is an allegory for the perils of mind control.

Main characters

  • Mendle Orion - Mendle is a solitary writer who questions everything. He is disenchanted with loveless biological sex. He feels caged and trapped by what he perceives as a cold and solid world. His rebelliousness against Newtonian physics that define a locked and set reality worries his friends who fear he is bordering on delusional. Mendle Orion finds solace for his loneliness in his latest creation, a novel that stars an interdimensional traveler named Aira Flight, whom he endows with virtues and qualities that his superficial and manipulative girlfriend lacks.
  • Aira Flight – (pronounced AIR'-ah) Aira is the heroine of Mendle Orion's latest book. She is an intrepid interdimensional being who brings knowledge and aesthetics to various star systems. She can shape shift and assume forms, or not, at will. She is kind but fiercely courageous. She possesses the ability to love unconditionally, so life thrives around her. 'Aira Flight' is also the name Mendle Orion gives a young woman he discovers in his hotel bathroom after it becomes obvious she eerily has no memory of any past. He believes she is a light being but she appears completely human, until the discovery that she has no navel heightens the mystery of the young woman's origin.
  • Onx - Onx is a miniature dragon that travels with Aira Flight in the novel Mendle is writing. Mendle also assigns the name Onx to a stray white Samoyed dog he finds the night he meets the mysterious stranger he believes is Aira Flight come to life.
  • Jorian - A light being character in the novel Mendle is writing who is Aira Flight's true love. As light beings, they can take on different forms, human and nonhuman, to love each other and interact. In the beginning of Mednle's novel, Aira is searching for him after his strange disappearance.
  • Sandra Wilford - Mendle's former girlfriend. She is a journalist dedicated to grooming her already impeccable body. She is consumed by getting back with and saving Mendle, whom she believes is on the brink of losing his connection to reality.
  • Dr. Alfred Kaufkiff - the psychoanalyst who offers services to sort out how people live their lives.
  • Paul Toor | Loptoor - Toor is a government employee who bears an uncanny resemblance and name similarity to a cowardly, somnambulist character (Loptoor) in Mendle's novel.
  • Lauryad - Aira Flight's shuttle spacecraft that travels by manipulating space fabric. The spaceship is a transport of art and communication missions to free planetary populations enslaved by ignorance and somnambulism.

Central themes

  • Human power to create/fiction-to-reality. Awareness is more desirable than avoiding reality.
  • Individual creativity and being awake (courage to observe, feel and evolve consciously) liberate "life beings" whereas Z Zone (the Sleep Zone) is deceptive self-betrayal.
  • Wake up calls to the insidious death by mind control and brainwashing.
  • Love
  • Superhuman abilities such as impacting coincidences across spacetime or affecting molecular reality are correlated with animating power of the quantum observer functioning in a material world.

Plot summary

"A writer seeking the meaning of existence finds himself entangled in a love story of multiverse dimensions as the fiction he writes shows up as reality in his life."[4]

A lonely science fiction writer, Mendle J. Orion, is disillusioned in the dystopic world of current event headlines. One stormy night, his life is forever changed when he finds a mysterious young woman with intense blue eyes in his hotel bathroom at a science fiction convention. The soulful stranger has no memory of any past before the moment of their meeting.

It's love at first sight as the writer notices the young woman's resemblance to the heroine in his new novel. He euphorically introduces her to his friends as "Aira Flight," the name of the dimension-traveling super heroine of his latest novel.

His friends are shocked and question Mendle's weird conviction and already dubious sanity. They become suspicious of the strange young woman who behaves as though she has no past. Orion's former girlfriend, the impeccably gorgeous Sandra Wilford, is especially concerned. Fueled by the desire to get Mendle back and save him from himself, she starts to investigate the disheveled woman's identity.

Mendle Orion transfers the love for the character in his novel, Aira Flight, to the blonde, wide-eyed stranger he takes home. The companionship he once found only in worlds of his creation are now his daily life. Orion is protective as Aira discovers urban life with the innocence of a newborn. Crime, war, and poverty appear unfamiliar to her. She experiences love, Nature, music, food, fashion with childlike wonder, as if seeing it all for the first time. Despite her mundane penchant for playing video games, Mendle's conviction about the young woman's unearthliness is sealed the day they go swimming with dolphins and, as she pulls off damp clothing, he discovers the mysterious stranger has no navel.

Even when sober, Orion notices the uncanny resemblance between the stranger and his descriptions of the superheroine in his book-in-progress. As he writes the chapters, particulars eerily coincide with real events throughout his day. Mendle becomes obsessed with synchronicity and the peculiar interplays of his fictional creations with reality.

Sandra Wilford's obsession with determining the real identity of "Aira Flight" escalates. She contacts an associate in the government, Paul Toor, and entices him with claims she knows an extraterrestrial. The two are finally successful in uncovering leads about Aira Flight's real identity. Sandra Wilford vindictively presents Mendle evidence that his “Dream Lover” is a mere mundane mortal: A driver's license identifying his mystical Aira Flight as a woman from Illinois. Sandra takes perverse pleasure in shattering the fantasy that was Mendle's solace.

Mendle insists it doesn't matter to him what the girl's real name or past is. He insists he knows her soul, and that he is in love. Just as Mendle begins to accept that the girl he named Aira Flight is probably a missing person somewhere, and in need of help, her memory begins to return in flashes — and when it does, the pieces are oddly straight out of the novel Mendle is writing.

Sandra places doubt in Mendle's mind that the girl may have read the work and could be a fan just playing into his fantasies, pretending to be Aira Flight. Aira swears to Mendle she has not read his notes or the novel-in-progress. She has no idea why and how the flashes of her past are straight out of the book Mendle Orion is writing.

As Mendle reviews his work for clues, the similarities between Paul Toor, Sandra’s government friend, and Lop Toor, a character in his novel who is Aira Flight's, strike him.

As the characters seek reasons to explain the spooky synchronicities, Sandra uncovers that the evidence Paul Toor produced about the "real identity" of the girl named Aira Flight is a fabricated phony ID. When Sandra sets out to find out why, she uncovers more than she ever imagined possible. As her cool composure unravels, the misfit Mendle Orion by contrast suddenly seems to have a handle on reality.

The novel Orion has been writing, which in the beginning appeared as some far-fetched fantasy of an interdimensional being who materializes in his universe, overlaps and overtakes the main plot. What was once mere fiction begins to add up as possible and plausible reality. Pieces of the puzzling mystery finally fit together to reveal the truth behind identities and events. Love prevails and a portal to the world of ultimate superheroes and possibility is unveiled, where fairy tale (fiction) and the real world (physics) meet.

Predictions of future

Literary Devices

First edition hardcover Flight, 1995
  • The book is a third person narrative that contains a plot, a secondary plot of a novel that the main character is writing, and also has a referential by one of the characters to the author of novel, Vanna Bonta.
  • The novel begins with a question: '"Which came first -- the Observer or the particle?"' Bonta alludes to the Observer as quantum physics defines anyone of anything measuring spacetime, assigning the observer (consciousness or mechanical registration) the special role as being necessary to the creation or perception of reality.[10] The question sets the premise of reality itself as a form of fiction.

As the character Mendle Orion writes his novel, he experiences uncanny similar events in his daily life. He grapples with cause and effect between fiction and physics, illusion and reality, and who and what he is. It is a clue through which readers unravel the reality or illusion behind character identities, including the real identity of Aira Flight, the girl with amnesia who is both a main character and also a mere character in the protagonist's novel.

  • The fundamental device of the expository essay is used by presenting opposing arguments to farfetched views of possibilities through cynical characters.[11]
  • Sincerity of character dialogue is demonstrated by a device invented by Bonta that parallels words the characters are speaking with an italicized sentence showing what they are thinking as they speak. In some characters the two match; in others there is a disparity and; in some, it is complete opposite.
  • A mid-century love song Dream Lover recurs in the novel as something that plays when a character turns on the radio, a device that raises the question of whether the plot is character-driven or mere random events.
  • A state of mind is written as a location in time and space, such as shared reality (Newtonian physics) and individual reality (unique off-world homes). The mental condition of denial and a wish to escape from perception is a multiverse called Z Zone (the "Sleep Zone").
  • A character's abuse of alcohol to numb his pain is used as a red herring device to complicate the illusion of reality and cast doubt on what it is he really perceives as external reality as he tries to unravel clues to what is happening in his life and why.

This device of chemical influence to perception diverts solving the mystery and heightens surprise revelations in the novel's denouement.

  • The novel's first line is "Once Before Time...". This frames the entire story in potentiality outside of spacetime reality and, in the ending, works to strengthen the preface and premise of the observer (i.e., the real identity of each character) in an "observer-driven" reality within the fiction.

Quantum mechanics as literary device

In Flight, Vanna Bonta creates the ultimate metaphor for the quantum mechanics idealism that 'the world is all in your mind.'[12]

Mendle J. Orion posits that the synchronicity between the novel he is writing and coincident events in his life are not supernatural or paranormal, but in fact physics of subatomic behavior of reality as entanglement.

Orion's friends doubt his sanity and think he is succumbing to delusion that he can affect reality. The coherent aspect of reality is depicted by this solid agreement, against which Orion, a rebel and a misfit, becomes decoherent. The character believes his reality depends on his consciousness, as an observer (to collapse wavelengths into reality).

The cause and effect of which came first — what Mendle Orion is writing or events that unfold in his real life — are written as mystery fiction. The theme posits that, based on the quantum theory requiring participation of the observer to collapse potentials into reality, that all reality as a form of fiction.

The books is an allegory of the component parts of reality, using physics as a parallel material vs. spiritual. Newtonian vs. Quantum view of reality are played out by characters who relate only with limited senses vs. others who are aware of possibility and invisible realms of reality behaving as quanta (particle and wavelength), i.e., neither solid or spiritual, but both—depending on who is observing.

The character Sandra Wilford personifies Newtonian reality as a body-obsessed journalist. The character of Aira flight is a pure light being who finds herself in Newtonian reality for the first time. Mendle Orion is both, driven by his physical attractions and addictions and vaguely aware there is more to him and life than his solid identity.

The novel that a fictional character is writing within the novel is used to heighten mystery and illustrate the complex nature of reality.

One of the fictional characters refers to the novel's author as a personal friend, tying in a parallel universe. Parallel universes are also echoed in the structure of the novel-within-the-novel as what Orion is writing begins to appear in his real life.[13][14][15]

Structure as literary device

The novel begins before Time. ("Once Before Time...")[16]

In manner that E.E. Cummings used placement of words on a page as a literary device, Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel contains several layout elements that work as devices in the novel.

The plot of the novel is treated as time itself. There are 60 chapters, paralleling the increments used to measure time (60 seconds and 60 minutes).

Graphic images of a clock enumerate each Chapter. Chapter 1 is a clock pointing to numeral one; Chapter 2 points to the 2 and so on.

The novel imitates the same way the human mind perceives time as moving fast or slow: Chapter 10 consists of only one word; some of the chapters (38. 39. 40) are combined under one clock graphic; Chapter 37 is only one sentence; chapters 49- 60 play out to the final page of the book where clocks countdown the last 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 2 to a synchronized event.

The novel-within-the-novel that is being written by character Mendle Orion is printed on a graphic computer screen.

The icon graphic of the novel's title is designed as both the entire word "Flight" and a secondary words "Light" is illuminated within the title in keeping with the adventure within the speed of light.

Coined words

The novel has a glossary that contains invented words such as thought-reach, and sensor-mate (comparable to a task fulfilled by dogs.)

Publishing History

The novel was initially represented by ICM in New York, which flew a representative to Los Angeles to sign Bonta. Senior editors at four major publishers, including Simon and Schuster and Macmillan, chose the book for acquisition. Arbor House senior editor John Dodd sought to acquire the novel three times. The attempts to acquire the book were vetoed at respective marketing levels, which cited they did not know in which genre category to sell the novel or how to market the book because it was neither science fiction, mystery, romance, paranormal or adventure. Marketing executives overruled senior editors who sought to acquire the book at four major publishing houses.[citation needed] Bonta provided the genre category, which was part of the title of the novel, "quantum fiction".[17][18]

After turning down an opportunity to rewrite for paperback release through Simon and Schuster,[citation needed] Bonta eventually accepted an offer for partnership in a boutique publishing agency[who?] staffed by a former Doubleday editor and film investor.[who?] Flight: a quantum fiction novel was published in hardcover in 1995.

In 2008, Bonta recorded an audiobook version of the novel, featuring herself as the narrator.[19]

Reception

Literary criticism

Initial reviews were promising. Publishers Weekly wrote "Whatever 'quantum fiction' is, we need more of it."[20] The American Library Association reviewed it as "auspicious" and "genre-bending."[21] On publication, the novel attracted attention from newspapers and readers, a popular television talk show and radio shows in the USA.[22][23][24][25][26][27] In 1996, the novel was presented by the commune of Florence, Italy's Camerata dei Poeti. Among the panel of presenters was Gabriella Fiori, Italian biographer of Simone Weil. Fiori, a professor of Arts and Philosophy at the University of Padua, described Flight as "genius," "revolutionary," and "a masterpiece."[28]

Soon after the novel's release, controversy grew between fans and critics. According to Bonta's supporters, a Usenet community rallied members to write emotionally-charged negative commentary and ridicule as strong criticism.[29] However, according to members of the community, "some people (who may be aliases for the author or her publicist) who had not otherwise participated in this newsgroup came in, posted at great length about how wonderful the book was, and precipitated quite a bit of flamage."[30] As a result of the controversy, some science fiction communities forbade mention of quantum fiction or Vanna Bonta.

Some readers became obsessed fans that the novel was not a work of fiction but a revelation about persons from other dimensions being present on Earth.[citation needed] Author Bonta was invited to The Ricki Lake Show[31] to discuss the novel and extraterrestrial life, addressing theories of readers who believed the novel was nonfiction, rather about a real ET on Earth, or that Bonta herself was an extraterrestrial. Among rumors that circulated, some claimed Bonta, like the novel's protagonist, did not have a navel.[32]

Cultural impacts

  • Fans of the novel began enacting an event that happens at the end of the story on April 3. From 1996, number of participants grew in increasing numbers resulting in World Party Day, a case of life imitating both art and the premise of 'quantum fiction' that people participate in the creation of reality.
  • Other writers began categorizing their works as quantum fiction, which became a genre introduced into literary and academic discussion and creativity.

Further reading

Quotations related to Vanna Bonta at Wikiquote

References

  1. ^ Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel Pulist Books
  2. ^ Booklist | American Library Association Flight, by Vanna Bonta; June 1995
  3. ^ Library of Congress Catalog Record - Flight: a quantum fiction novel - LC control no. 94093844
  4. ^ Vanna Bonta Books and Novels Velocity Books - Flight, a quantum fiction novel| Summary & reviews
  5. ^ Google Is Launching A Company That Hopes To Cure Death, by Jay Yarow; Business Insider, September 18, 2013
  6. ^ Google's CEO Announces Calico, a project to cure death KTVU news; September 19, 2013
  7. ^ Google vs. Death, by Harry McCracken; Lev Grossman; TIME, September 30, 2013
  8. ^ Quasars powered by black holes Astronomy magazine; January 9, 2007
  9. ^ Flight: a quantum fiction novel, by Vanna Bonta, p. 360-361; Meridian House, 1995
  10. ^ Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, p. 137
  11. ^ "Vanna Bonta Talks About Quantum fiction", author Interview by Laurel van der Linde, 2007 (transcript at gather.com, audio at IMDB.com)
  12. ^ How quantum mechanics fits in with idealism (aka 'the world is all in your mind') - The End of Belief: beyond our Axial Age traditions; April 8, 2013
  13. ^ Vanna Bonta Talks About Quantum Fiction Author Interview (Unabridged); December 2007
  14. ^ An Interview With Author, Vanna Bonta Regarding Flight, A Quantum Fiction Novel Transcript of November 2007 recorded interview with Laurel van der Linde
  15. ^ Vanna Bonta, una scrittrice dell’ ”altro mondo”, by Francesca Ceci, Minerva magazine; May 18, 2012
  16. ^ "Vanna Bonta Talks About Quantum fiction", author Interview by Laurel van der Linde, 2007 (transcript at gather.com, audio at IMDB.com)
  17. ^ An Interview With Author, Vanna Bonta Regarding Flight, A Quantum Fiction Novel November, 2007; "I told them, It's quantum fiction."
  18. ^ WTRV "At Issue" with Frank Hudak and guest Vanna Bonta, November 10, 1996; Radio show Transcript - WTRV AM FM
  19. ^ AudioFile Audiobook reviews AudioFile (magazine), June 2008
  20. ^ Publishers Weekly - Book review Flight: a quantum fiction novel, by Vanna Bonta; "Whatever 'quantum fiction' is, we need more of it." January 2, 1995
  21. ^ Flight, by Vanna Bonta American Library Association (ALA)| Booklist; June 1995. 400p. Meridian House, hardcover, $23.95 (0-912339-10-1)
  22. ^ Flight: a quantum fiction novel, by Vanna Bonta; book reviews
  23. ^ Flight, by Vanna Bonta Blog Critics; May 6, 2008
  24. ^ Novel melds reality, fantasy by Kyle Z. Bell, 1996
  25. ^ Quantum Fiction quando la quantistica detta le leggi della scrittura, by Maria Zuppello; Panorama Mondadori, January 16, 2008
  26. ^ Flight quantum fiction and alternate realities A Gaggle of Book Reviews; January 28, 2008
  27. ^ Harriet Klausner Reviews - February 1998; "Vanna Bonta's novel is the best look at the quantum physics universe since the Professor Q books of Trevor Hoyle."
  28. ^ Poetry Society (Florentine Camerata), Prof. Gabriella Fiori, Otello Pagliai, Italian Minister of Culture present the works of poet and writer Vanna Bonta. September 1996 Audio recording; Conferenze - Camerata dei Poeti
  29. ^ "The Wikipedia Knowledge Dump (WikiDumper.org): Quantum Fiction". Wikidumper.blogspot.com. October 21, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  30. ^ "33. What is Vnn Bnt, why shouldn't I talk about her, and why are there those funny stars in her name?". Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  31. ^ The Ricki Lake Show 1992 - 2004
  32. ^ Does Vanna Bonta Have a Navel?, Waleg Celebrities; August 15, 2006[better source needed]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flight:_A_Quantum_Fiction_Novel&oldid=641796465"