You know I just watched Avatar. It was the first time I have seen it since it came out. I wasn’t really shocked when I saw the evening scene where Jake was led into the forest by Neytiri, the female Na’vi, who rescues him from forest predators. The plants lit up the night with their phosphorescent glow.

It was as if I were looking at areas of Planet Postmoderna. On our project world, the crystalline minerals of the planet draw energy by day and project some of it by night in the form of light. Every living thing on the planet has some presence of the mineral within it, especially the plants.

At first, I thought, shoot (I actually used a different adjective but here, I am PG), another great idea for the project used up by someone with deeper pockets and more resources (a lot more resources). Similar hurt was already seething because I also watched Firefly for the first time. I had wanted to watch the original series when team members shared that there were components of Postmoderna’s sci-fi “old west” storyline that resembled Firefly and Serenity. Avatar just drove the emotional knife in deeper.

Then, I stopped and I realized something I have said many times and read many more. In sci-fi and fantasy fiction, there are no new ideas and stories, just new ways to tell them. I may have been bouncing around ideas for Postmoderna ever since I conceived of the story, The Advent, back in 1982, where the story was about advanced beings who came back to Earth in huge ships and machines filled with living crystal to continue the work of Quetzalcoatl whom had promised to return. They came from faraway planets where gateways opened to and from planets like Earth when networks of stars are aligned. Sound familiar? Can someone say “Stargate?” Well, the story has indeed evolved over the years and is now starting to take on a life of its own as we build this project. As much as it resembles other stories, well, other stories resemble others as well to some degree.

I think for an instant and just pray that my mind may catch up to where it needs to be so I can create before anyone else does it before me. I close my eyes and am reassured. I know that I am on my way. But, truth be told, I don’t need to worry much. I am surrounded by a team of creative people and, again, there are no new ideas and stories, just great new ways to tell them.