Where did the idea of Kelvoo's Testimonial originate?

Over the course of most of my career as a software developer, I have worked off and on for indigenous communities, known as “First Nations” here in Canada and “Native American Tribes” in the U.S. For several years I had thought about writing a science fiction story that could parallel some of the experiences of indigenous people when dealing with the arrival of the Europeans. I thought that the humans would represent the innocent indigenous people and alien visitors would represent the early explorers and settlers. I naïvely thought that such a story might foster a better understanding of the struggles of indigenous people. In the end, this is not how Kelvoo’s Testimonial ended up, for several good reasons! Please see my blog post, “Is Kelvoo’s Testimonial intended to reflect the experiences of native people in the Americas?” for the explanation.

As I write this, the world is in the grip of a fourth wave of a pandemic on top of several years of geopolitical upheaval, deep philosophical divisions, rising anger, and rejection of facts. In this context, how could I write a story in which humans represent goodness and innocence? At the same time, I have great hope for the future of humanity.

With my planned novel being set in the future, I wanted to portray the humans as much improved and well-intentioned, but still tragically flawed. At about the same time I thought about having the humans as the visitors and an extraterrestrial species as the recipients of the benefits and consequences of human interaction. This led to the idea that my novel could be an autobiographical account, written from the perspective of an extraterrestrial.

That’s how the idea Kelvoo’s Testimonial came to be.

Excerpt:
Chapter 50: Pachelbel’s Canon
“It scares me that our people are starting to become more emotional and more like the humans, but human history and our experiences can serve as a cautionary tale for us. I am hopeful that we can embrace creativity and individuality while avoiding the more irrational human traits.”

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