MOON – Parallel Lives

From the back cover of the novel

The ambitious experiment of the eccentric scientist is the beginning of a revolutionary invention that will become an unexpected hope able to radically change the future of humankind on the planet. The answer to the dilemma over the disclosure or concealment of the invention on the part of the scientific community concerns the Moon and Doppler Crater, where the scientist discovers the century-old secret hidden inside of it. An advanced intelligent form he will come across is to become the yardstick against which to measure human foibles that, either deliberately or spontaneously, lead the planet to an untimely end.

The novel MOON—Parallel Lives is a tour de force straddling the divide between fiction and reality. It is an attempt to understand the nature of consciousness and the limits of human reason. At the same time, it is a journey that examines the possibility of man’s possible contact with an intelligent form of some kind, which is likely to have taken place in the past, and seems likely to happen in the future. Above all, though, it is a desperate attempt to free humans from the prison of obscurantism, superstition, immorality, and indifference.

ORIGINAL PUBLICATION INFO:

Title:	MOON – Parallel Lives
Writer:	Yiannis Christodoulou
Language:	English
Pages:	Paperback: 352 pages
Dimensions:	5.5 x 0.88 x 8.5 inches
Publisher:	Pigi Publication, Thessaloniki – Athens, Greece (September 11, 2020)
ISBN:	ISBN-10 : 9606263096 ISBN-13 : 978-9606263095
Publications director:	Valantis Nagoloudis
Publish coordination:	Minas Papageorgiou
Translation:	Dr Dimitris Thanasoulas
Atelier:	Antonis Karanaftis, Yiannis Ermidis, Lydia Chatzimarkou, Marianthi Chalkidou
Promotion coordination:	Chaido Skandyla
Literary editor (Greek text):	Hrissa Vassiliou
First edition:	1st edition September 2020
Info:	www.pigi.gr \| 2311 27 28 03 \| info@pigi.gr Member of the Culture Group Pigi The artistic editing of the work was done by the atelier of iWrite.gr

PUBLISHERS PIGI

THESSALONIKI – ATHENS

www.pigi.gr | (+30) 2311 27 28 03 | info@pigi.gr
Member of the culture group association Pigi

The artistic direction of the project has made by the iWrite.gr studios

BOOK TRAILER

Greek version of the trailer click here

THEY WROTE FOR THE MOON:

THE PROLOGUES OF THE NOVEL:

“Queen of the stars, all-wise Diana, hail! Deck’d with a graceful robe and ample veil. Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, Come, moony-lamp, with chaste and splendid light, Shine on these sacred rites with prosp’rous rays, And pleas’d accept thy suppliants’ mystic praise…”
(Orphic Hymn to the Moon)

EVAGGELOS SFIKAS – Philologist

When the night of despair envelops the Earth, gifted Yiannis Christodoulou raises his eyes to the sky, and agonisingly seeks the moonlight to shine upon his darkness, his thought, and what he fears the most.

The writer loves humankind with passion. It’s people he cannot stand, the ones made of soil who keep sinking into the mud of unfaithfulness, absurdity, and inhumanity; those who managed to subdue nature, and work wonders, but are incapable of understanding the spirit of compassion, even when they are slowly dying…

The moon up there signals to him, its light beckoning to him. Thus, he leaves behind the wretchedness of Earth, and departs, guided by imagination…He reaches the Moon. Then, Her light illuminates his mind. Her light washes away his soul, filling it with tranquillity and joy. His sorrowful gaze, where you could clearly see grief and disillusion, now starts to shine. He finds in the moon a loyal friend and a worthy teacher. He travels to unprecedented magic worlds…He’s lost in countless beautiful things…He sees people the likes of whom he has never seen before…He hears words he hasn’t heard before…And his mind broadens, his soul gets its fill and rejoices…At the same time, though, his worry grows about Earth and its inhabitants.

His journey is a magic one! Not at the far end of the Universe, but on the Moon, which is so familiar to us humans. And he travels there to show people that the bliss they so passionately seek is not far away; it’s right next to them. Mr. Christodoulou also wants to shout to humanity from up there that it is everybody’s duty to seek love, and pull down any obstacle we have built in our soul to defend against it, and that our supreme destination is neither knowledge nor technological and scientific breakthroughs, but something infinitely higher, more sacred, and desperate: the pursuit of HUMANS.

What an incredible ascent this is from the soil to the firmament! What a beautiful full moon your book is, my friend Yiannis!

Evangelos Sfikas
Philologist

Yannis Sakaridis – Director

I have known Yiannis Christodoulou for as long as I can remember. For me, Yiannis has always stood for the future. He was always a child with a wild imagination, with boundless powers of energy for exploration, with an inclination towards Natural Science, Astronomy, and music, but he was never a ‘nerd’, losing touch with reality.
Later on, in London, when I took my first steps in the cinema, with late London Filmmakers’ Coop, Giannis wrote a script for—and, of course, starred in—my first black-and-white 16mm film, entitled ‘PARIS’. That was in 1991.

In MOON—Parallel Lives, Christodoulou prefers directing the text, as in a well staged modern cinema production, rather than obsessing over poetic expressions and prose writing techniques.

MOON—Parallel Lives, albeit seemingly addressing sci-fi enthusiasts, is a humanitarian manifesto essentially grappling with the human foibles that stem from ego, individual interest, and the need to dominate on Earth. Those who people the book are indifferent to the common weal, the joint course towards the evolution of their species, and the salvation of the planet, which seems to decline. Does this ring a bell?

The scientific theories underpinning the novel seem plausible. The plot reminds one of a whodunit with a twist ending, since Christodoulou rejoices in ‘surprises’ and the illusions the written word can deliberately cause to the reader. Climax and ‘catharsis’ tally with the humanistic disposition suffusing the novel.

I’m not a sci-fi enthusiast myself, but even the aliens in the story are actually a yardstick against which to assess human intelligence and mentality since, as the author says through his main character: “I was born among people who don’t know their nature as they have never had the chance to compare it to a similar one.”

The novel is divided into two parts: The first is the first-person narrative of the main character, through his memoirs. In the second part, the second character takes the floor, so to speak, in a third-person narrative. He is closely related to the protagonist. Christodoulou is inspired by Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, and unravels a truth that, without a yardstick, cannot easily be understood.

Human relationships are rife in the novel, revealing a sick mentality that the current indifference of the time makes it look normal. Man hasn’t learnt to see and envisage the future of the entire world and the planet, beyond his ephemeral temporary interest.

MOON—Parallel Lives straddles the gap between the real and imaginary, mainly the feasible, which may also be a future possibility, not in the distant future.

The plot gradually escalates, its fast pace and sophisticated language make it an easy read, the descriptions are vivid, and it’s action-packed. According to Christodoulou, the secret to the evolution of humanity lies in the combination of science and morality or ethos. According to the author’s own lights, intelligence concerns the complexity of the brain, and music is a token of this intelligence. Superstitions were and always will be a blight on human progress and society.

The conspiracy theory also found in the noel becomes yet another ‘weapon’ in its staggering development. Although it could have multiple different endings, the writer prefers to turn it into a modern cinema tour de force, while keeping intact the ideals he wants to impart in its last scenes.

Yannis Sakaridis
Director

Magnitote pueri, sic itur ad astra…
Take heart, children. That is how you reach the stars…

IOANNIS SPILIOPOULOS – Lawyer

What can be considered ‘science fiction’? Science is valid knowledge and proven rules. Conversely, imagination is a realm of situations and images of logic, speculation, and desirable truth, which exists as a notion and can exist—and may be valid—as a reality, but first it must be proven. Scientific imagination is exactly this intermediate stage between established science (that is valid knowledge with proven rules) and imagination that awaits scientific evidence in order to be rendered science as well, that is knowledge.

Were Jules Verne’s novels deemed to be ‘scientific imagination’ at their time, that is in the mid-19th century, when they were published? They definitely were, since they mentioned unheard-of ideas, like submarines in the depths of the oceans, and a water-fuelled voyage to the Moon. A couple of generations later, though, his works were supposed to be ‘classic’ novels whose content was no longer jarring, since what is described in them proved to be real and they are now considered to be a mainstay of science.

In light of all this, it is probably not prudent to jump to conclusions, and a priori underestimate science fiction literature as many a time their content can prove original and subversive in terms of a spiritual quest, while at the same time being the object of future scientific inquiry and implementation.

As the author of the present novel, Yiannis Christodoulou, believes (and I throw in my lot with him): “This is the ‘fateful’ as well as beautiful thing about science. The need to cancel itself out, so as to evolve. If it didn’t have this ability, it would simply be a religion or a doctrine impervious to time. There would be no development, and humanity would be limited to prayers, in hopes that it would enjoy the help of a ‘deus ex machina’. To my mind, this is what the evolution of our species hinges upon: questioning, imagination, and logic.”

The mention alone in the first pages of the text of ‘hosohedra and hosohedral universes’ and that ‘there is no time at any point in the future’ is ample to inflame the reader’s imagination as to what is to come next. Apart from its adventurous—and often unpredictable—plot, what is also intriguing are the author’s theoretical conceptions of the theory of Tele-matter and effigies as well as the energetic quasi-independence of the experimental spaceship TELEMAT.

However, since there is life besides science and the various scientific references, one can trace in MOON—Parallel Lives some particular approaches and outlooks on life. For instance, the main character’s predicaments and doubts regarding whether he should share his discoveries and knowledge, or his wish to complete his mission to save the Earth, risking life and limb, ignoring multiple indications and warnings (one wonders, how many people would really put their lives on the line for the sake of their fellowmen as well as their planet?).

Or even the torturous and, at the same time, reasonable questions with regard to extraterrestrials: “Why should this knowledge be kept secret from humanity if aliens’ intentions didn’t pose any threat to humans and their planet? Why do aliens want to go unnoticed if they had the kind of virtue and morality that would urge them to collaborate only with a bunch of humans, and not all of them? What stopped them from doing this? What were they afraid of?”

The final discoveries are staggering—not because the protagonist is infallible (we are really fed up with ‘infallible’ protagonists), but because, despite his wrong choices, the results of these choices can be reversed by the power of his earthly spirit and human soul.

In conclusion, reading MOON is just as incredible and pleasurable as actually setting off on a space travel without knowing the final destination. There is no fixed route, since the rules and principles of this journey have not been defined yet, while the end (in its double meaning of ‘purpose’ and ‘termination’) remains indeterminate through to the…end.
After all, who can tell with absolute certainty and scientific knowledge nowadays that what the writer mentions and describes in his work is wrong and/or there are no aliens who interact with our society?

Therefore, the readers-trackers are in for a most glorious surprise; those who, equipped with science (knowledge, that is) as well as their fecund imagination, are called on to revel in reading MOON. After all, with the exception of unmanned spaceships, man as an entity reached only as far as the Moon (although chances are he may not even have landed there either, according to some conspiracy theories…)

If they want to take one step beyond the Moon, the daring ones must adopt and espouse as a firm belief the frontispiece of this foreword: “Take heart, children. That is how you reach the stars…”

Ioannis Spiliopoulos
Lawyer

Place your order for the novel (directly from Amazon) worldwide. eBook (Kindle) and Paperback edition available.

BUY NOW

YIANNIS CHRISTODOULOU

Yiannis Christodoulou was born in Salonica (Greece), in 1967, and at the age of seven he made his first steps in music and the piano. He commenced his studies on Natural Science, at first in France, and later on at a Greek university. Still, his passion for music led him to a professional music career and, more specifically, his great love, jazz. He made his first professional steps in this field in London in the late-eighties. However, his interests were closely linked with science and the theoretical aspects of scientific innovations. As of 1992, when he came back from London, he has permanently lived in Rhodes island with his wife and two children. He works as a pianist at various luxury hotels on the island.