Day of the Women
The God Antenna
Publisher: Zinovii Art Studio
Author: Niko Zinovii
Publication Date: November 20, 2015
Genre: Science Fiction
Language: English
Format: Trade Paperback, ebook
Size: 5.5 inches x 8.5 inches
Length: 274 pages
Illustrations: none
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-9860685-0-8
ebook (ePub, mobi)
ISBN: 978-0-9860685-1-5
ISBN: 978-0-9860685-2-2
LCCN: 2015917252
Day of the Women
Twelve imaginative tales of nonstandard speculative fiction are contained within the book Day of the Women, written by Niko Zinovii from July 2013 to August 2015. The stories address::
Can man ever escape life’s quality of the unforeseen?
How should one best prepare to secure a chance for life after death?
Is the universe far stranger than we can imagine?
How transferable is identity?
To what heights can sorrow and a need for purpose lift a man?
Will utopia necessarily be recognized when it is encountered?
Is it possible for a young man to develop the wisdom necessary to face an extraterrestrial perception of evil?
Can loneliness and love serve as the catalyst for the birth of something miraculous?
When is a handicap of the mind an advantage?
What happens to a man after his faith is removed by science?
Is mankind fated to eventually return to the sea?
Can a dying man save the world?
Reader review
"Just finished reading "Day of the Women" which the book is named after. Absolutely loved it! Great mix of rich characters, science, futuristic possibilities, and alien life! The suspense and twists and turns were amazing! and....great ending…..”—Sandra Subach
Reader review
"One of the first stories I chose to read from this collection, "The Mind of Juda" astonished me with its great level of philosophical depth. The central narrative of Juda's transformation - and the consequences - were quite interesting to consider. Juda's story forces you to ask yourself: What is it that makes us human?"
—David Hura
The Stories
Synopsis, first page preview, author commentary
What if belief in God is centered in a spot in one’s brain? And what if a pill could erase that belief, while boosting one’s intelligence?
Little Miracle
"Little Miracle" is the prologue of this authors 2012 novel The God Antenna transformed into a stand alone vignette.
To see how the pill Little Miracle changed the world, in this author's imagination., this author refers readers to The God Antenna:
Just Add Water
A tale of an old man who makes an important choice regarding his future, in a time when people have themselves frozen after they die in hopes of being reawakened at some later point in time.
"Just Add Water" was written one quiet, sunny afternoon in Hotchkiss Park, Santa Monica, California, where this author, pen and paper in hand, shared an old park bench, for an hour or so, with this handsome, friendly, and inquisitive squirrel:
“Just Add Water” features an original song written by the author's father titled: "I Sure do Miss You" © 1979.
The audio link below is a recording of the author's father singing the song while playing his guitar, at the age of 80.
The Transfer Mechanism
A tale that addresses the scientific mindset and the idea that the universe we live in may be far stranger than we can hope to imagine.
"Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."
—J.B.S. Haldane
In crafting “The Transfer Mechanism,” this author desired to write a story that would feature both elements of the scientific manner of thinking and the supernatural.
With this in mind, this author set out to address reincarnation, the scientific mindset, and the idea expressed by J. B. S. Haldane that the universe we live in may be far stranger than we can hope to imagine:
“The Transfer Mechanism” features an original song written by the author's father titled: "Waco" © 2001.
The audio link below is a recording of the author's father singing "Waco" while playing his guitar, at the age of 80.
The Mind of Juda
A tale that touches upon the philosophical question of identity, and how this question may deepen in a future of sufficiently advanced technology.
The story of the little bird of Svithjod, featured in "The Mind of Juda," is from the opening of The Story of Mankind, a 1921 book on the prehistory and history of Western civilization, by Hendrik Willem van Loon.
“High up in the north, in the land called Svithjod, there stands a rock.
It is a hundred miles high and a hundred miles wide.
Once every thousand years, a little bird comes to this rock to sharpen its beak.
When the rock has thus been worn away, then a single day of eternity will have gone by.”
Wonderland
A tale about a man, a dolphin, mermaids, and how humankind might become harmfully addicted to certain future technology…
Early in the story "Wonderland," it is described how the protagonist of the tale swam Thira’s sea flooded caldera, and descended the 300 steps leading from the town of Oia down to the shore.
In the photos below the author retraced the steps of his protagonist, swimming in the sea-drowned caldera, walking the hundreds of steps from sea to clifftop.
Box of the Supermen
A utopian tale about a man who is in need of a new cause to pursue and is unexpectedly offered one, only to find that he is unsure if he should accept.
When writing "Box of the Supermen," the author had considered several South Pacific islands for the setting, before deciding on the Ha'apai islands of the Kingdom of Tonga. Samoa also plays a role in the tale.
The below photos are of the author carrying out additional research on Tonga and Samoa.
Day of the Women
A tale of a young man who receives an unexpected opportunity that surprisingly leads him on an interstellar voyage to a far distant planet, and toward intellectual maturity.
“Day of the Women” is a story that takes its protagonist, a young man named Yoshi, from a beach in Okinawa, to Vatican City, and then off into the depths of outer space. This author appreciated the depth of history and art contained behind the high walls of Vatican city, when he visited the microstate.
In this tale, it is in the Vatican’s central repository, the Vatican Secret Archives, where Yoshi is presented with an extraterrestrial script that the church came into possession of back in the eighth century—a script that he is then asked to decipher.
Painting Penelope
A tale of a lonely artist who spends his time imagining an ideal love… and what happens when the unexpected enters his life.
The author (below) appreciating the architecture and history of the Dodecanese island of Rodos (Rhodes), which lies east of the lovely island of Karpathos, the isle where this author’s short sci-fi story of idealized love, “Painting Penelope,” is set. In legend the titan Prometheus was born on Karpathos. In “Painting Penelope” the story’s protagonist feels a love burning within him as brightly as the torch Prometheus had stolen from the sun.
Great and Mighty Things
A tale of a man who is looking for a cure to a rare disease that he suffers from, one which makes him incapable of feeling fear… His search leads him to seek out a most unusual former world chess champion and reputed big-game hunter, and to experience the extraordinary.
“Great and Mighty Things” is a science fiction tale that begins in Rome, Italy and ends in Namibia, in Africa, with a UFO encounter. This author had walked out upon the partially reconstructed arena floor of the Roman Colosseum one day when the amphitheater was surprisingly devoid of visitors, when in Rome some years ago:
"As I stood there alone, in silence, I attempted to sense if any of the long ago barbarity had somehow lingered on, echoing itself into the present. But I only felt the warm sunlight, a soft summer breeze… I only heard the occasional chirping of birds, the lazy sound of late afternoon traffic passing on Via Celio Vibenna, and tourists talking at a distance… Time had washed away the bloodshed of ancient Rome. The multitude of men and wild beasts that had died here, it seemed, had been completely swallowed by the past."—Niko Zinovii
In the story “Great and Mighty Things,” it is in the Roman Colosseum, at night, where the protagonist of the tale has a pivotal life encounter with a unique man: Massimo
Garden Metamorphosis
A tale of a priest who decides to take the ultimate test of faith in the form of a pill known as Little Miracle, which cures temporal-lobe epilepsy, boosts memory, and increases intelligence. The pill, however, also eliminates religiosity and the predisposition to believe in God...
The character of Walter Maynard in this story is the same Walter Maynard from this author’s 2012 novel The God Antenna and from this author’s 2015 short story “Painting Penelope.”
Chronologically, “Garden Metamorphosis” takes place before the events depicted in both The God Antenna and “Painting Penelope.” To learn why Walter is en route to Greece, to pursue study in archeology, this author refers readers to The God Antenna:
Fragile in the Sun
A tale of an undersea diver who falls into dangerous and unexpected circumstances while seeking a time out from life in order to better come to terms with the death of his mentor, a prophetic luminary of marine science.
"Fragile in the Sun" features an undersea diver who encounters the unexpected.
In the below photo the author is researching diving off Santa Catalina Island, one of California’s Channel Islands.
Undersea explorer and scientist Jacques Cousteau and science/sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke were two significant influences on the author's appreciation of the sea and the sense of wonder that it can instills. Others were marine biologists Rachel Carson and N. J. Berrill.
Winged Men of the Lost Planet
A utopian tale featuring a heroic man who declares that he will change the world, only to learn something totally unexpected that may prevent him from attempting to do so.
The below photo is of this author appreciating sculptor Oskar J. W. Hansen's "The Winged Figures of the Republic," sculptures at the Hoover Dam (between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona) that inspired the novelette "Winged Men of the Lost Planet," a utopian sci-fi tale that is presented in this book "Day of the Women."
Back / Front cover spread
