“The Whale Song Translation” by Howard Steven Pines

SAN FRANCISCO - Oct. 8, 2013 - PRLog -- San Francisco, CA - Author and speech scientist, Howard Steven Pines, has taken language research to a whole new realm with his debut science fiction novel, The Whale Song Translation. In the spirit of Carl Sagan’s Contact and Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind,this fast-paced thriller is about sound—the sounds of language, sounds of songs, and the sounds that kill.

When the Navy’s sonar experiments begin killing humpback whales in the Auau Channel near Maui, acoustics professor David Dmitri’s scientific expedition to decode the language of whale songs goes into high gear. His race to detect intelligence in the sounds of the big-brained beings becomes dangerous when others threaten to stop him—whatever the cost. In pursuit of a breakthrough in interspecies communication, Dmitri makes an astonishing discovery.

"The idea for this story was born the first moment I thrilled to a humpback whale rocketing from the sea,” Pines says. "My twenty-five years of engineering led to five patents as I worked on adapting voice technology for communication devices. I’ve been fascinated by the theoretical and physical foundations of speech. Discovering that speech is an evolved process of shape-writing and shape-matching in the brain was a revelation that inspired the interspecies communication in my fiction. I think my readers will also be amazed and excited by the scientific possibilities in this story, which explores the intertwined existential crises of humans and whales."

Part I of Pines’ Torch of Prometheus trilogy, The Whale Song Translation delivers thought-provoking insights about language and interspecies communication. Professor Dmitri is a methodical scientific researcher who is inspired by his mentor’s paradigm-shattering challenge to explore possible sound-symbol intelligence in other large-brained species. Are humans the only sentient beings on earth? As whales begin to die, Dmitri becomes an unlikely hero, pushing his crew into a new realm of science when his studies reveal an incredible link between humans and humpback whales. The communication breakthrough could rally public opinion to stop the Navy’s sonar experiments.

"The excitement of first contact. The recognition of the intelligence, dignity, and wisdom of another species,” says Molly Dwyer, author of the award-winning Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein. “Built on fascinating, believable science, The Whale Song Translation expands our understanding of language and communication. A great read!”

Sound Science in The Whale Song Translation

In addition to the interspecies communication theme, The Whale Song Translation also highlights the adverse impact of underwater noise pollution on marine mammals. The novel graphically describes the documented threat posed by Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFAS) experiments conducted by the Navy. For more information about the science in the novel and these controversial experiments, visit the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) website to watch a brief video narrated by Pierce Brosnan. http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/sonar.asp

Much of the marine biological material relevant to humpback whales is culled from the excellent publication, Humpbacks of Hawaii, The Long Journey Back, written by the co-founders of Maui’s Pacific Whale Foundation. To learn more, visit www.PacificWhale.org.

About the Author

Howard Steven Pines was born in Los Angeles and is a lifelong Californian. He has a love for the Pacific Ocean that is steeped in childhood summers playing in the waves. Entranced by Northern California’s coastline, beaches, and migrating whales, he currently shuttles between the scenic bay and coastal communities of El Cerrito and Mendocino. Maui is a favorite vacation getaway destination, and the setting of his debut novel, The Whale Song Translation, and the forthcoming Part II sequel.

As a child of the post-Sputnik boomer generation, and as someone captivated by the sixties “Race to the Moon,” Howard was drawn to the study of math and science which led to a career in software engineering. In the 70s he was researching alternative energy technology at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and later joined a startup company specializing in digital voice products.

Howard’s writing is informed by his software engineering career that has led to five patents in wireless voice technology. He became fascinated by the theoretical and physical foundations of speech. This is the inspiration for Howard’s fictional trilogy-in-progress, The Torch of Prometheus. The Whale Song Translation is the first installment of the trilogy.

To learn more about the underlying principles common to speech, language, and whale songs visit the author’s website at http://www.HowardStevenPines.com.