Description
By David B. Kingman
ISBN: 978-1-84747-962-4
Published: 2009
Pages: 201
Key Themes: fiction, mental health, psychosis, PTSD
Description
The main character of “Ral, Space Colonizer” mirrors my own life of loneliness, fear, depression and suicidal ideations and it was only after I began writing the book that I observed this to be true. Ral, a galactic space traveler, preferred to live, isolated aboard his starship, the Tri-Star, rather than face the stringent laws, which were enslaving his fellow citizens on Ceylon, the planet of his birth. Ral would also spend his entire life, hovering in his spacecraft, high above the blue heavens of a Ceylonian colonization, which his father gave to him as a gift, naming it the Feramas, because it was wild and untamed. Ral watched over the affairs of the Feramas, protecting its citizens against any challenges that could be of hindrance to their social evolution and to the natural development of the planet. Ral for some strange reason, felt bonded to, not only a righteous sect on the Feramas, “The Children of Chaldoc” but in particular, to a citizen that was called the Prophet, who was instrumental in changing his heart and the way he looked at his world around him.
Ral questioned life, and sought after its complex answers. Imagine growing up in a world that is virtually void of love, where the citizens walk around, cold and calloused, speaking to each other, only when necessary; where sex is forbidden by the government, and children are born under the guidelines of the government, not by the parents, but by donated seed from the most aristocratic citizens, e.g., politicians and military leaders.
Ral, like me, is an emotional cripple, a daydreamer lacking the necessary skills to succeed in life. He visualized himself as a strong leader, whereas, his basic nature reveals that he was lacking in courage. Because of his deep-laden inner conflicts, eventually his mental illness led him to commit idolatry, murder and rape. Yes, Ral spent most of his life seeking the answers to his existence, when all the while a loving God was intervening in his life, leading him toward the path of salvation. It indeed is tragic when God’s children continually reject Him, and then late in life, find that he was there all the time, this happened to myself and to Ral, Space Colonizer.
While reading this book, you will find that there are indeed, space travelers in remote star systems that are pretty much the same as you and I. They gaze, as we, in wonder at the moon and stars that hover above their lush planets, they also bathe in the refreshing waters that provide for their cosmic existence. And because we are fellow travelers in this cosmological journey through time and space, we all share one thing in common, the love of an intergalactic God. He may be called Jehovah, Yahweh, Buddha, the Unni, Rhadda, or a host of other identities, but he is always the same God. The one God, with unlimited diversities of personality.
If you can read through this book without shedding a few tears, I can’t judge, but if you are looking for the love of God in your life; freedom from the bondage of sin that keep you shackled to your fears and guilt, and the love that should exist between your mate, children, relatives and your friends, then this book is a must. If my book leads one soul to Christ, then my twenty years of writing Ral, Space Colonizer will be justified.
About the Author
David Kingman was born in Morehead, Kentucky in
1942. He graduated from Miami Jacob’s Business College with an
extended two years of study through Urbana College. He has
performed traditional country music on TV & Radio and has played
in taverns, motels, and fairs for more than thirty years. For the past
twenty years he changed his musical interest to gospel music. He
served as vice-president of the Dayton Musician’s Club in early
1961, and he also worked in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a studio
photographer. In 1984, he served as a member of Dayton’s S/E
Priority Board, a community based organization. David served in
Vietnam as a Photographer & Photo Lab Technician. After 23 years
working in the Sales Division of a local cemetery, his biographical
book, “The Shrines of Woodland”, was published by the historic
cemetery in Dayton, Ohio in 2008.
When David wrote “Ral, Space Colonizer” he realized that
in effort to write a successful book he would need to write about
familiar subjects, so mental health would be a given. He had lived
with his demons and they needed to be tempered in the book with
religious and philosophic thought in which David was well versed.
It is David’s sincere desire that his science fiction book will
not only inspire young and old to come to a personal relationship
with their God, but also demonstrate to those that suffer with their
own demons, they can also proudly walk this life with heads held
high far above their mental health afflictions.
Book Extract
Old Ceylon, a distant and ancient planet, located deep within the star system of the Seventh Quadrant was in ancient times populated by space colonizers. In the early development of the planet a belief system was formed, wherein the citizens worshiped the Unni, an awesome god. The colonies flourished, and love for god and country became their anthem. After a few thousand years, a new government, in its effort to develop higher learning and scientific advancements, prohibited the worship of the Unni, causing the colonies to fall into a state of decadence, wherein decency and morality became lost in the distant past.
Yes, old Ceylon had enjoyed an uninterrupted and successful history; long recognized as the greatest military power throughout its star system. But the destiny of this great planet was not to be destroyed by an enemy encounter, but by one of the natural forces of its universe, a run away asteroid.
General Dreeska, military operations officer, recognized the imminent danger of the approaching asteroid far enough in advance that he had sufficient time to evacuate the colonies to a safe haven on one of the recreational planets. When a new planet was discovered suitable for habitation, Dreeska was proclaimed governor, and hailed down through the ages as savior of his people. Dreeska was adamant that the belief in the old Ceylonian god, (Unni) should never be resurrected, and laid down harsh sentences to any that would dare speak the name of the banished deity.
Thousands of years after the death of Governor Dreeska, the Unni began to call out a citizen that was born in New Ceylon, by the name of Atar, it would be Atar’s descendents that would eventually reestablish the religious belief system that was rejected in old Ceylon. The citizens of New Ceylon, because of their indifference to religion, walked around with attitudes that were cold and calloused, but Atar was different, he actually showed love toward his family and fellow citizens. He quickly moved up in the ranks of the military, eventually filling the empty seat of Governor Dreeska that had been vacated, by his death, those many long years ago.
Atar desired that his son, Ral, would one day rise to the same high position of power to which he had attained, and the Governor had no inhibition, when it came to moving his son up the ladder of success. This nepotism was not appreciated by those who had been passed over with more military experience, including Ragan, Ral’s academy friend.
The Ceylonians as well as their predecessor, old Ceylon, were known for their ability to discover new planets for future colonization, and Atar gave his son the gift of a fruitful planet that he named the Feramas; this would be Ral’s first colonization assignment. But nothing is ever perfect, and Ragan, whom Ral had appointed regent over the land, rebelled, seeking to appropriate all power and wealth for his own.
Ral, in spite of Ragan’s rebellion, continued to intervene in the affairs of the Feramas citizens, providing for their needs, while hovering in his starship, high above the Feramas heavens. When Ragan caused the citizens to revolt, Ral in a moment of rage was ready to destroy Ragan and the entire planet, but Medoa, his starship advisor, explained that Ragan was necessary and needed by the Unni (God) on the Feramas, to bring about the proper balance of positive and negative forces of energy.
Ral, because of his Ceylonian upbringing, found it hard to believe in the god of old Ceylon, even though, time after time, the Unni (God) tried to reveal his presence, but Ral, even with spiritual beings serving aboard his starship, continued his defiance. Because of Ral’s transgression against the Unni, the blessing that would have been his was passed to his two sons, Kiah and Jedar; they would be honored to witness the Unni’s ultimate destruction of all cosmological life. The book is filled with love of family, religious fervor, exciting battles, and a smidgen of sexual interplay between Commander Ral and his ensign, Dreara.
Just after I began writing the book, I realized that I had written into Ral’s character, my own scarred personality, along with my assorted Mental Health demons, such as depression, fear, anxiety neurosis, panic attacks and suicidal ideations. Even Dottie my dear wife is recognizable in the book as Dreara, Ral’s skeptical Ceylonian wife. The book is an expose of Biblical concepts, depicting how God is intricately involved in the affairs man, offering them unlimited forgiveness and leading them into the path of Salvation.
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