ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF DARKNESS OF DAWN
Ann Kresny is a former high school and college teacher of English, theater, and communications. She has a graduate degree in Childrens Theater and has received national recognition for her work in this field. Ann has volunteered her time at public elementary schools teaching creative dramatics to underprivileged children in an attempt to help these children to think, use their imaginations and understand themselves and others. Ann, together with her husband, has been a small business owner, where both observed the everyday lives of employees and customers, contributing to the well rounded characters found in Darkness of Dawn.

Hans Kresny is a former engineering manager and consultant. He has studied both architecture and law, and has been a professional ski instructor, furniture refinisher, building contractor and architectural designer. His background and education contributed significantly to Darkness of Dawn's content and storyline.

The Kresnys make their home in Albuquerque. New Mexico.

SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS

Question: Why did you write this novel?

We began thinking about some of the trends in our society and were disturbed by their implications. One of these, our accelerating dependence on technology in our everyday lives, gave us pause for thought. There's nothing wrong with developing and using our technological tools, as long as we don't abrogate our own abilities to function as human beings. But if we give over to machines those things that make us human — our abilities to think, to interact with each other, to compute, to make art and music — then what do we become? We become automatons. In so doing. we will not be able to solve moral and ethical challenges that continually bedevil our society. We wanted to share these thoughts with others in an exciting yet enlightening novel.

Question: Can you give us an example?

Sure. Our entertainments, and what our children are exposed to, leave a lot to be desired. Some experts say that the reason our children are less sensitive to the feelings and rights of others are the examples they are exposed to constantly. Another trend that may come back to bite us is the over-reliance on technology in our daily living. When a checkout person—a recent high school graduate—needs a calculator to figure out a four cent refund, then our kids are not being taught to think. When machines replace most of what should be human pursuits, our minds atrophy and the joy of living is diminished.

Question : Hans is an engineer, yet you both seem concerned about the use of technology. Why is that?

The technologies we have today, and those being developed, are marvels of human ingenuity. Because of our electrical and mechanical advantages, we live longer, have easier lives, and we should have more leisure time. We can take advantage of the ease our tools give us by looking ahead, thinking great thoughts, doing great deeds, and appreciating everything that we have been given—the arts. the sciences, and above all the wonderful, mysterious thing we call life. If instead we use our tools to do those things that we are easily capable of doing as human beings, and if we squander the extra time these tools give us by working ever harder to earn that second car or a television set for the kid's room, then we will eventually fall into a deep pit of mediocrity.

Question: Are you suggesting that we return to the days of the scrub board to wash our clothes and ten fingers to add up the grocery bill?

Not at all. What we hope is that society will once again understand the importance of pride—the pride of knowing we can do for ourselves. We have seen with wonder the gleam in a child's eye when it learns something new and uses that new-found knowledge. We have seen the self-satisfaction when a child or grown-up draws or paints a picture that delights themselves and onlookers. We have listened to glorious music that stimulates our emotions. Our delight at figuring out something mathematical by ourselves, almost as though it were a game, gives us a confidence we would not otherwise have. These are important things for human beings to do, because they are contributors to what we call self. If most of us stop doing or appreciating these things, due to lack of education or simply loss of interest, where will our sense of self come from? Will it be from our ability to make or operate our tools, or from those that would condition us like Pavlov's dogs? There must be a reason why humans have trillions of neurons forming their brains. To relegate what that wonderful thinking machine is capable of to the exclusive use of our inventions would be tragic. We aren't there yet, and trends often veer or reverse course. But if we stay on the track we're on now, our minds will become as fallow as the deserts of Mars. That would be a shame! As the character Joshua says in Darkness of Dawn, "I guess what I'm saying is that we should relegate what belongs to the machines to the machine, and leave what is human for the human."