On alien marriage, sex, and Mind Over Psyche

Recently, I had a reader express some concern because two of my characters in Mind Over Psyche "had sex when they weren't married."  The fact it, that's not actually the case--in fact, the two were more married than any humans can be, just not in our human sense of the world.

In Mind Over Psyche, my main character, Deryl, a psychic from Earth, falls in love with Tasmae, an alien from Kanaan. The Kanaan are a psychic people, and I had a lot of fun exploring what that concept means. This is a world where people don't need to explain--they share their knowing.  Those Kanaan with names (like Tasmae) get them only from other species (like humans) and only use them for others' convenience.  You don't have to explain what a person looks like to identify them; you don't give directions.  You just open your mind to the concept of that person or place and the other can know it as you do--or at least, with as much detail as you want to share.

Falling in love isn't the same process of meet, get to know the person, discover compatibility, take the plunge that humans do and sometimes fail at.  When you meet your potential mate, you simply know.  And once you give into that knowing, marriage is an inevitability.  When you bond with that person, it's not just relationship or physical mating--your minds join as well.

So, the Kanaan would never understand casual sex because they don't separate physical and the mental/emotional.  So when they mate, it's the whole package and it is for life.

Further, when their minds have joined in the mating process, everyone will recognize it.  On a psychic level, your mate is with you all the time.  (Secrets are not easy to keep.)

Finally, the Kanaan have a different relationship with God than we do.  It's more direct and more natural.


So what this means for a Kanaan marriage is there's no need for a ceremony.  They don't have the need for a contract, public display of their promises, or even a sacrament as we understand it.  God has made them to join together for life, and when they have joined, it's mind, body, and soul, and everyone knows.

Deryl is human, but psychic, and wants to be part of Tasmae's people, even without being in love with her.  As a psychic, he feels that same pull to bond completely as well, and, as Tasmae tells him before they join, "You are Kanaan now."  He's gone native.

The entire "sex scene" consists of four words: The Two were One.  It's true on a psychic level.

I explore this a little more in Mind Over All, when Joshua and Sachiko, both human, visit Kanaan to help with a small problem of stopping another planet from crashing into Kanaan without killing everyone on both worlds.  (Heckuva vacation, huh?)  They're engaged and going through some rocky times, and the Kanaan just don't get why they aren't mated already, which is really frustrating to Joshua because if he had his druthers, they would be.

Check out Mind Over Psyche on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Psyche-ebook/dp/B00F5C6NQI

Excerpt form Mind Over Psyche: Inside a Psychic Malestrom

I realized that the excerpts I've shared so far have been kind of ordinary, especially for a book that's about psychics, so today for the Mind Over Psyche tour, I present you a snippet from when Deryl and Tasmae are caught in the stored memories of Guardianju, Tasmae's insane predecessor of 5000 years ago.  Tasmae's being forced by events to experience these memories, and she's not handleing it well.  Deryl has dived in (kind of literally) to help her.

In the waking world, his body lay frozen, his mind shorted out, overloaded by the pandemonium of images assailing his mind. In the world of the Remembrance, he struggled and thrashed and could not stop screaming.

He felt himself being torn apart from the inside. Fire blazed across his back and legs. His blood pooled, threatening to burst his veins and his skin. He tumbled helplessly through a hurricane of pain, in too much torment to notice his fall until he smacked hard against something like water or quicksand—and like water or quicksand, it pulled him under.

Mental anguish replaced the physical torture as the “sea” morphed into a mass of lost psyches. They bumped and swirled against him, tried to press themselves upon him, into him. Snatches of memories, most of them painful, flooded his mind. They pulled him down. He fought them psychically as he fought physically to reach the surface. He’d rather face the agony of the surface than the insanity of the sea.

He was losing. Thoughts tangled around him, too many, too strong. He was going to die there, drowning in a strange sea that was half psyche, buried by the painful experiences of others. His thrashing grew more violent, but he knew he couldn’t fight them.

Then stop fighting, a memory of Joshua called faintly. Defense! Get your shields in close and strong!

Desperately, Deryl tried to imagine his ragged shields pulling in, knitting themselves close and tight, strong as armor. The psyches faded only slightly, but it was enough. The sea became water again.

He broke the surface, gasping and trembling, tread water, and forced his mind to think coherently as he sought his bearings.

The world reflected the turmoil he felt. Above, the sky glowed red shot through with black. Cruel-looking blue lightning arched from cloud to cloud, though he could not hear the thunder over the blaring wind. The sea churned about him, and the rain fell in cold sheets. Two large stars fought to shine through the darkness, yet oddly, the planet between them flared, clearly visible. Barin.

A wave forced water into his mouth and nose. He sputtered, felt the world gray. Pain wracked him.

Where was Tasmae? What was this—a kind of memory? Could Gardianju have really experienced this? No wonder Tasmae—

“Tasmae!” he called, his words immediately ripped away by the wind. His telepathic call fared better; he could almost feel the psyches below him pounce upon it like sharks feeding. Buffeted among them was a dark shape, nearly a psychic null point.

“Taz!” All his fear and pain suddenly vanished in the need to get to her, and he plunged in again to pull her from the depths.

The depths were not so eager to release her, and they had had longer to ensnare her. Tendrils of thought, like seaweed, clung to her body, but unlike seaweed, these thoughts had weight and a kind of intelligence. They dragged her down and him with them. No matter how he struggled, he could not pull her to the surface.

Even if he could, what then? They were trapped. There was no way out of Gardianju’s memories.

No way out but through.

Swallowing his fear, he stopped struggling and allowed himself to be pulled down, and as he did, the memories of Gardianju the Miscria insinuated themselves into him until he could no longer tell the difference between her, Tasmae, or himself.

Purchase links for Mind Over Psyche: 

Epub: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76200/1734

Kindle: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76202/3746

Print: www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Psyche-Karina-Fabian/dp/1897492685

Mind Over Psyche Excerpt: Tasmae Kicks Butt

I was asked by Beth Barany if I had kick-butt heroines in Mind Over Psyche, so I thought I'd share a little about Tasmae, who is the heroine of the trilogy.  Tasmae is immensely powerful, physically and psychically.  She's also way out of her element, half trained in her true Talent and saddled with the responsibility of protecting her entire planet--from another planet.  I don't mean the people; I mean the planet.  How does one woman stop another world from crashing into hers?  Ah, spoilers!  Read the trilogy, lol.  I can tell you she can't do it alone--Deryl, also known as the Ydrel, is going to work with her.  In the meantime, she's also been trained as a warrior, and she's really good at that and a bit vicious, as you can see in this scene.

Tasmae left Joshua and Deryl brooding over the last of their meals. Leinad would not have approved, but he did not know Deryl like she did. She trusted Deryl, as the Miscria had always trusted the Ydrel. Still, it bothered her that Deryl refused to answer her questions until he’d taken care of his friend. In truth, he seemed as confused about his arrival as they were. Perhaps Leinad was right that the answers could only be found in the Remembrance.

She reached out with her senses, determined where Salgoud and Leinad stood conversing, and headed in that direction. The earthquake had stilled under her care, and she thought she had a few days’ respite. If Deryl could advise Salgoud directly on the strategies she had tried to adapt, she could take time to experience the Remembrance. Not that she had a choice, but she would do it on her terms.

She found them, as expected, leaning against a wall in the outer courtyard where many of the warriors busied themselves with sword practice. Salgoud’s eyes were on his troops, taking in flaws of step or swing, noting improvements, but even so, he kept his attention on what Leinad was telling him—about the Ydrel and probably her, no doubt. She did not interrupt. She would know what she needed to know soon enough.

Leinad pinned her with his stare. She felt his urgency, the call of the Remembrance—

And I shall, she agreed. But that is not my only duty now, and I cannot allow it to monopolize me. She shared with him a hint of the obligations pulling on her: the preparations for war, the increased needs of Kanaan, neither of which she could tend to while under the influence of the Remembrance. Add the sudden, mysterious arrival of the Ydrel—

That is why the Remembrance Calls! he protested.

Salgoud, whom they’d included in their conversation, added that Ocapo and his everyn, Spot, understood their roles well enough that they could do without her for much of the training. For whatever reason, the Ydrel is here. Let him teach us directly, Salgoud added.

She projected warmth—how often they thought alike. She told Leinad that she would take time to make the arrangements with Deryl, and then—if Kanaan were still—she would give herself to the memories of Gardianju. She felt his sullen assent, turned to go.

Salgoud pushed her into the middle of a sparring circle. She managed to duck and roll to avoid getting smacked by a practice blade. She came up in a crouch, her short sword out of the scabbard she wore and a dagger from her hairpiece in her other hand. The two sparring warriors hesitated only a moment before turning on her. She ducked below the swing of one, scored on the side of the other, barreled between them, and spun toward Leinad and Salgoud. She swung her sword toward the unarmed Leinad, forcing Salgoud to defend him, while with her other hand, she jabbed her dagger toward the warrior’s gut. He anticipated the move, blocked it, and the two stood, weapons locked, until neither could stand it and both broke into snickers.

Leinad, still flat against the wall, gave them the full brunt of his displeasure.

You know what happens when you bring a Remembrance into a ‘war’ zone; besides, we need to work on your reflexes, she chided lightly as she backed more carefully away from her general and left the practice grounds.

The Ydrel and his friend had had enough privacy, she’d decided. It was time they spoke with her.

Purchase links for Mind Over Psyche: 

Epub: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76200/1734

Kindle: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76202/3746

Print: www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Psyche-Karina-Fabian/dp/1897492685

Exclusive Excerpt of Mind Over Psyche

This month is my Mind Over Psyche book tour.  It came out Sept 13 from DragonMoon.  For the next couple of weeks, I'm sharing some excerpts.

This is from near the beginning of the book.  As you may know from Mind Over Mind, Deryl has psychic abilities that drove him insane years ago, but working with Joshua helped him get them under control.  However, no one but Joshua and Dr. Malachai believe him--and Malachai has had no intention of ever releasing Deryl from the mental institution.  In Mind Over Mind, Deryl, while feverish, thought demons were after him (they were) and used telekinesis to fight them off.  This scene takes place a couple of weeks later, in Dr. Malachai's office:

When Deryl didn’t answer except to glare his challenge, Malachai shrugged.  “Thanks to your…demonstration…while delirious during your appendicitis, I believe it’s safe now to admit you do have some unexplainable talents, and that they may indeed be a factor in your emotional stability.  Quite a breakthrough, if you think about it.”  He leaned his elbows on his desk, hands clasped, and regarded Deryl with a not-quite smug smile.

Deryl seethed inside, but forced himself to mimic the psychiatrist’s posture.  He was getting out of this place, one way or another.  “So?”

Malachai raised a brow, and the fullness of the plan pressed into Deryl’s mind even before he felt the invitation.

Still, Deryl squinted, making a show of concentration.  No way would he let Malachai know the extent of his abilities.  He’d always had a hard time reading the chief psychiatrist—now was his chance to take advantage of Malachai’s openness.  Besides, he needed time to think.

Malachai’s name on respected psychiatric journals.  No more articles in rag-mags like Psychic Living Now!

“You want to study my abilities openly…” Deryl spoke slowly.

Malachai on the podium at international symposiums, presenting his findings to his peers, video of Deryl in an MRI chamber performing tricks while the results of his brain scan played on a separate screen.

Malachai nodded.  “In return, I will arrange for you to have outpatient status.”

Deryl being called to his side, like a faithful dog, and told to perform similar tricks for Malachai’s audience.

Malachai pointed to the EEG machine in the corner.  That surprised Deryl; usually, it remained discreetly behind the cabinet doors until he had Deryl’s cooperation.  “It’s the best we have at the moment, but enough for a start.  We’ll do a simple telekinesis exercise and get some preliminary readings.  Monday, I’ll use that data to arrange for more precise instruments.  This is your chance at a normal life…”

Malachai with his own private institute, combing the country for other psychics.  A team of scientists under Malachai’s direction, drawing blood, administering drugs—playing with Deryl’s body chemistry to determine the cause of his abilities.  Seeking a way to replicate them in others.  

A normal life?  Deryl shivered.  “And if I refuse?”

A barrier clamped down so hard on Malachai’s thoughts that Deryl flinched.  

“I think neither of us wants to investigate that possibility,” he replied, but Deryl felt the threat in his bland words.

Want more?  Here's where you can purchase.

Epub: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76200/1734

Kindle: https://www.getonic.com/EmbedStore/76202/3746

Print: www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Psyche-Karina-Fabian/dp/1897492685