Kenneth Wisman

Eden: the Novel Kenneth Wisman

EDENis two stories: one fictional, one fact. The fiction: CalifDe'Alsace, a man devoted to the dissemination of life across the galaxy, hastaken a group of one hundred artists and scientists to a sterile world named Edenfor the purpose of bioengineering living works of art. Calif,an Ankh idealist, has decreed that no weapons be brought and that the groupcreate a 'paradise of peace where beauty...not the law of tooth andclaw...reigns.' Unknown to the Edengroup, Calif was forced by a powerfulman to include an artist, Iamoendi, who has secretly been using drugs toenhance his imaging abilities. Iamoendi, who is descended from Fundamentalistfactions that fought in the Religionist Wars, slowly goes insane. Believinghimself an instrument of god, Iamoendi turns against Project Eden. He obtainsthe genome libraries (programmed instructions for bioengineering plants andanimals) for insects and arachnids. Subsequently, he creates an army of hugeinsect warriors, and launches a secret attack against Project Eden. Thirteen survive Iamoendi's attack. Weaponless, they are forced to createliving weapons in defense. With the battle lines drawn, the war begins. Thesurvivors create a surprise defense of giganticized ant lions, trapdoorspiders, and carnivorous plants. They defeat Iamoendi's army, but Iamoendiescapes. Two more battles ensue in which Iamoendi's attacking monstrositiesbecome increasingly bizarre and surreal. More and more survivors die with eachbattle leading to an ending both poignant and transcendent. The fact: In thespirit of Coleridge and Poe who used an opiate to enhance their poetic imagery,in the spirit of Huxley whose use of peyote awakened his awareness to thecreative use of mind-altering substances, I have set down my own experienceswith altered states as they relate to my creation of EDEN. My intent is to share my insights into the creative process as well as thesource and derivation of both the philosophy underlying EDENand the hallucinatory visions used in the tell