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Before the Academy Awards spouts and blows, let’s credit a Muse that surely influenced director/writer Jim Cameron, the self-proclaimed King of the World and master of movies. The name of the Muse is C.J. Cherryh and she’s one of the best American science fiction writers ever. Back in 1981 she published Down Below Station.

That’s the same year Jim Cameron directed his first movie, Piranha Part II: The Spawning. Ever see that one? You can rent it on Netflix or buy it on Amazon.com for less than four dollars. That doesn’t suggest a lot of demand. But Down Below Station won the Hugo Award, is an all-time classic, and never out of print.

In the thirty years since Down Below Station, C.J. has written many wonderful and popular books. Cameron as directed several good movies and written one good screenplay (The Terminator 1984). In private, many in Hollywood say Avatar is, “movie 3D, screenplay 1D”. So where did the inspiration come from for the beautiful and gentle creatures who inhabit Avatar?

Down Below Station is set on a permanent space station hovering over a distant planet we are trying to exploit for its natural resources. But many among us see the beautiful and gentle creatures who inhabit this world as threatened by out intrusion. Some go down to the planet on a mission to save these creatures and protect their primitive, naturalistic way of life. Some actually “go native” and begin living among the alien creatures. Sound familiar?

Movies don’t know the word plagiarism, and that is as it should be. Ideas are the soul of creativity, and they can come from anywhere and everywhere. But it would be nice if the King of The World could stand on one of those stages while receiving one of those awards and say, “years ago I read a book by a gifted woman who was, at that time, teaching school in Oklahoma City each day, and writing at home every night. Her imagination and her characters inspired me to think up Avatar, and I would like to thank C.J. Cherryh for being my main Muse.”

Of course, if James Cameron every even thought those words, the 20th/Fox lawyers would cut out his tongue. But they don’t need to worry. His ego long ago erased everyone from his creative universe save himself. Some say he even believes he sunk the real Titanic. When the Academy Awards and Avatar have come and gone; curl up with a copy of Down Below Station or Cyteen or Hellburner or any of the other books in her Alliance-Union series. You don’t need to put on 3-D glasses either.