I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe Sir Terry Pratchett may have had an excellent point when he surmised that OUR species of Hominid survived, while all the others didn’t, because we were Story Telling Apes, or at least better at telling, and learning through, stories!

I’m not the only one who thinks so, “Our brains are structured to make sense of the world in the form of narratives – stories. Not only that, we are primed to believe the stories we hear.” see the re-blogged post last Thursday HERE!

I concede that there are probably other factors involved as well, but storytelling was (and hopefully still IS) a significant part of our species survival strategy.

If we cease to tell and learn from stories, then we too may become extinct because without them we will have created our very own ELE (Extinction Level Event).

“But how would the telling and listening to stories possibly result in such a catastrophic event?” I hear you ask.

It’s quite simple really.

If we cease to listen and learn from the different scenarios given to us by storytellers, we may set ourselves up for mistakes, some of them possibly fatal.

“That’s crazy!” I hear you declare.

REALLY?

Ever heard of the phrase ‘History repeating itself?

It’s often used as a warning to us, but do we listen and learn?

I don’t think so, otherwise, why do we see and hear the same excuses being used time after time as reasons for war, hatred, discrimination, bigotry and all the other negative aspects of our ‘Human’ natures and even as the reason for natural disasters like flooding, famine, etc?

No EXCUSE becomes a REASON if it’s repeated often enough!

SO – back to the WHY I am trying to help promote authors.

I am always hopeful that enough someones, somewhere, WILL learn a valuable lesson from a story they’ve heard, or read, that resonates enough to persuade them to turn away from the path we are currently taking as a species.

That story may already be written and just needs to be discovered, or, maybe it is still to be written, I don’t know.

Either way, I try to promote authors on the off chance that it is one of their stories that is the key to our survival.

“Yeah. Right. A Romance or Children’s story is going to change the world and avert destruction of an otherwise ‘intelligent’ race of beings, ha ha.”

MAYBE!

Look at the profound effect the Harry Potter Series had on the reading habits and imaginations of children, it actually encouraged them to read and play pretend (you’re a wizard / muggle) games in an age of electronic miracles and games!

Look at the effect reading Science Fiction stories had on Scientists, Doctors and NASA Engineers who have been given ideas from the stories they read as children and young adults and then went on to make those ideas REALITY!

So there you have it my fellow primates.

My secret hope is out.

If you share it, then support all the authors you can.

HOW?

Buy their books.

Read their books.

Leave Reviews for their books.

Invite those authors whose books you enjoyed to be Guests on Your Blog.

Reblog and Share authors articles you like from this and other blogs.

Spread the word to your friends and online connections / groups about their Books, Promotions, etc., and encourage them to read and leave reviews.

Don’t forget. If stories cease to exist, we may lose one of the reasons WE still exist!