Articles by Joseph Carrabis

Novella

Joseph Carrabis on himself: "It was as if somewhere in my teens I said to myself, 'Let's see ... I can do well in school, go to college, get a degree and lead a totally mundane, boring, completely unfulfilled life. Or I can become a superhero ...' and I saw that and said, 'Screw that. The rest of the world can go on the straight and narrow,' and I took a left.

On the planet Aguirra, under the sun known as Astarte 217, Gordon Banks and the crew of the Merrimack have discovered strange plants and insects...and people...

After days of observing and being observed by the Goatmen, We -- and They -- have made a breakthrough. At least for Banks there has been a breaking through of his reality...

Banks could not have survived the ascent of the Towers without Gomer's help, and as he recovers, he is learning more about the Goatmen. What he cannot understand about these encounters is the "why"...

An outside observer can collect facts, and propose reasons for the facts. But it is in observing a people as a participant that one learns deeper truths...

Banks observes the Goatmen, and sees the things they do over and over, their rituals. But he knows it is time to learn more, the history, the reason, the transformation that these repetitive actions mean to the people...

Banks has witnessed deaths he doesn't understand, faith that he himself has never had. With no way back to the life he once lived, he has no choice but to immerse himself in the culture he has found...

Conclusion. He met them, lived with them, watched them born and die. Through their acceptance, he became something he never would have expected.