about

the fiction

The Luminescents started as an idea for a science fiction story, prompted by seeing bioluminescent algae on Dunwich beach one evening. The story involved large jellyfish-like creatures who emerged from the sea to try to prevent the destruction of their way of life by pollution caused by humans. After their initial invasion, they sought to work with humans to restrict their economic activity and environmental damage. The cooperation was aided significantly by a computer scientist who devised a colour-coding program that mimicked one of the communication methods used by the Luminescents. They controlled the glowing colours on their bodies in specific patterns to form a sophisticated language. Hence we were able to, on a very basic level, communicate our needs as they could communicate their expectations.

dunwich beach

the salamanca eagle

a luminescent

the music

I originally was going to write the story as a novel. However, writing music is something I had been doing daily for more than 40 years so I abandoned the novel (for now) and I decided to turn the story into an orchestral suite. Using various computer based sample libraries (Garritan Personal Orchestra and Sam Brass being the main contributors) I wrote and arranged the pieces over 2 years between 2007 and 2009.

The Overture alone reached more than 10,000 downloads in the first year of release.

There were conflicts between people - it was clear many actually started to side with the luminescents. Others amongst us were determined to regain our freedom. By chance I noticed that the Luminescents would never go near the places where bioluminescent algae were present on the beach. So one evening I was with 'sandala' - one of the luminescents who I found to be most agreeable, and picked up some sand and threw it at him. While sandala was one of the least vengeful of the lumiscents (revenge was definetely one of their cultural attributes), I still expected to be killed on the spot by his lethal tentacles. However what happened surprised and shocked me. His glowing lights shone brightly then faded, he began to shrivel like a slug covered in salt. Then he died. The first time I had seen a luminescent die. I now knew we finally had a way of killing a luminescent and, perhaps, a way back to our old lives.

then what happened

The Luminescents continued to manage humankind to prevent us causing further environmental damage. Restricting movement, keeping people trapped in their towns and villages, setting curfews and stopping mixing of groups of people, families meeting, and even separating husbands and wives. Most kinds of economic activity were stopped and many people reverted to simply trying to produce enough food to live.

We explained as best we could that the human spirit, like theirs, was a free one and would not take well to a form of imprisonment. However most people seemed to acquiesce quickly to the new way of life. Some even expressed that things had got better - less traffic noise, cleaner air, less spreading of sicknesses due to isolation. Loss of freedom, they said, was a small price to pay for the new benefits brought by the Luminescents. Even I, a lecturer at UEA in Applied Linguistics, became fascinated by our attempts to communicate with the Luminescents and learn about their way of life, culture, personalities and thoughts about humans.

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Making of 'The Luminescents'