METANOIA [1]: Introduction

A bit about this novel

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When I first decided to name this tale Metanoia, I will admit that I only found the word through a mix of thesaurus diving and translating things into different languages. Yet, lo’ and behold the meaning of the word not only fit the core theme of the story then but has also proven more and more relevant to my own life.

The word is Ancient Greek for a fundamental change in one’s thinking. It is often used in the context of referring to a spiritual conversion—particularly in Eastern Christian writing, to my knowledge. As someone born and raised in the Faith, who never has and never will leave it, I never really thought it would apply to me in that sense. I certainly have had many deep changes in my philosophical and political outlooks of life, but I felt my relationship with the divine was fairly static—in a good way, I thought.

I was, however, foolishly underestimating the depths of God’s Truth, and I realize now that Metanoia is something that anyone seeking to truly grow closer to God will experience several times in life. After all, if even the lower challenges of our present life—changing careers, getting married, moving to new places—if even that brings us constant change and development, how much more must our pursuit of higher truth change us?

For this story, that idea of “fundamental” change has many implications for the characters and the world itself. Wittingly or not, everyone is seeking that kind of change. Stagnation smells of death. This is a truth our instincts teach us. And so, anyone in love with life rightly flees it. But where should they run to? And is it possible to run too fast?

As a “sci-fi” I will admit it won’t always seem like one on the surface. There are clear futuristic elements, but you will find that the paranormal and timelessly human elements take the focus more often than speculation on the future of technology and our technical understanding of the world. However, as we’ve all heard, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And if you look at the history of science and math, many of our most mundane and fundamental concepts in math and science can be traced all the way back to real sorcerers and magi.

There’s much that could be said to that by a more learned scholar in a proper paper somewhere, someday (and likely already has), but I bring this up to explain the thought process behind the “speculative” part of this work of “speculative fiction.” This is not fantasy, but atypical to sci-fi, metaphysics are taken just as seriously as the natural sciences.

This is a story about the discovery of a technology beyond technology. It’s about a phenomenon that can be understood, but its mysteries run deep and through places that man can’t control with “systems” and “methods.” Like electricity and nuclear power, it is as unforgiving in its dangers as it is bountiful in its blessings, and many great and awe-inspiring things can come of it. But just as when Tsar Bomba was detonated, this phenomenon brings with it the revelation that there are certain futures that should never be pursued. Certain questions that ought not to be answered.

Finally—and most importantly—I hope you have fun with this story. It is often quiet—and sometimes tragic—yet, for whatever seriousness and attention to detail I tried to put into it, at the end of the day I wrote whatever wild ideas I thought were cool and interesting to me. I don’t see any point in putting all my effort into crafting a tale if my friends and family (any myself) are bored by its stale pretentiousness. So, think hard but not too hard and enjoy!

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METANOIA [01.00]

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