Cosmic Fiction
By Rhonda Parks Manville
SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

When Santa Barbara writer and producer John Teton thinks of the sky and the stars, his imagination ventures far beyond the twinkling lights and vast expanses of darkness.

He imagines stories. Fantastic stories.

In his new novel, Appearing Live at the Final Test, a black newsstand operator, his wife and several friends are launched into a cosmic journey into the unknown following a harrowing nuclear threat on the East Coast. The Hollywood-style drama melds the mysteries of the cosmos, the universe and consciousness with real-life concerns about modernday terrorism.

In the book Mr. Teton gives fictionalized treatment to "cosmic evolution," a complex and controversial theory which holds that evolution affects not just life on Earth, but extends back to the birth of the universe and continues to include changes in human civilization, culture, technology and beyond.

The theory of cosmic evolution might be a bit thick for most folks - and it involves far more than can be explained simply here - but Mr. Teton's story benefits from a grounding in everyday human fears and troubles, along with mind-blowing scenes which venture into questions about creation and the role of human beings in it…

Although "Appearing Live" is a work of fiction, and Mr. Teton has aspirations for its adaptation to the big screen, the story delves into eclectic realms of philosophy, religion, astronomy, cosmology, science, social issues and science fiction. As a genre, it defies typecasting…(and) Mr. Teton defies typecasting, too. As the founder of Earthlight Pictures, he has produced an eclectic array of films, two of which deal with cosmic evolution: the international awardwinning short film B'raesheet,and the cosmology film program Visions at T Minus Zero …a grounding in everyday human fears and troubles, along with mind-blowing scenes which venture into questions about creation and the role of human beings in it…

He is also the director of an international campaign to end world hunger through the International Food Security Treaty, which would outlaw the use of hunger as a political tool.…The novel is chock-full of information about stars and the planets, and yet he clearly knows a thing or two Appearing Live at the Final Test is an intense hybrid of contemporary real-world drama and mythical science fiction about a black newsstand operator, his wife, and three neighbors in a Brooklyn-like neighborhood, whose lives take a cosmic punch from a nuclear bomb threat that launches them on an eerie and spellbinding journey about teenagers, old folks, sailing, marine biology, marriage, love, pop culture, terrorism, religious extremists and the media, all of which figure in the story.

While Appearing Live at the Final Test venture into the nightmare of a nuclear attack by terrorists, an upcoming sequel/companion book, Upsurge, deals with a missing teen and science fiction-style time travel as well as world hunger.

A theme running through both novels is wonder at the universe and the potential for human beings to influence the world for good...

Excerpted from the
Santa Barbara News-Press