Notes from the Author about My Wild Pet

Dear Readers,

If you’d rather leave the story as it is, feel free to skip these notes. But if you’re curious about how My Wild Pet took shape, I’d love to share some background and sources of inspiration.

While working on this book, I watched countless pet shows on YouTube and delved into psychology, religion, and historical forms of social control—real events, all too often revealing humanity’s capacity for cruelty. It was sobering research, but essential for creating the world you’ve just explored.

I also want to emphasize that this story was inspired by the current events of the last year. Like many others these days, I’m constantly reflecting on the idea of freedom: whether we have it at all, or whether we’re just going through life on display—like show pets ourselves.

Finally, I’ll wrap up these notes with my thoughts on the possibility of real aliens and the significance of the Golden Records.

Now, let’s explore the decisions behind the scenes and themes in My Wild Pet.

Why Don’t Imperials See Humans as Sentient beings?

This is one of the main themes throughout all of my books, drawing from real-world parallels: when a technologically advanced society encounters one that is less advanced, the outcome is almost always tragic for the latter.

There are many examples of this throughout history, but these are the first that come to my mind. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire which led to massive cultural and population losses through warfare, disease, and forced labor. The colonization of the Americas more broadly—especially North America—brought similar tragedies upon various Indigenous peoples, including forced relocation, assimilation efforts, and the near-eradication of entire cultures. In Australia, British colonization caused violent displacement and cultural destruction upon Aboriginal peoples. The Scramble for Africa—epitomized by King Leopold II’s brutal exploitation of the Congo Free State—also stands out as a stark example of domination and dehumanization. These historical events demonstrate how disparities in technology and power often breed tragic outcomes for less advanced societies.

If you want to read a biographical account of one such relationship, please check out my blog about Ota Benga and Samuel Vernon—their story served as a major inspiration for My Human Pet.

My Inspiration for My Human Pet

Psychological Control and Human Pet Training 

In the Whispers from the Imperial Cage universe, Imperials have long treated humans as lesser beings—"adorable pets.” Their belief system about humans has evolved around a few core misconceptions:

Fear of “Primitive Languages”

Imperials insist human languages might cause “brain damage” if spoken frequently, which may sound outrageous. But in their eyes, human languages are archaic, error-prone, and too “limited” to express the more advanced concepts in the Imperial lexicon.

In My Wild Pet, the doctor warns Aefre of trainers who begin listening to their pets. In our own world, the same is said of biologists working with gorillas. Not that Imperials ever think that humans are as far down the evolutionary line as gorillas, but I couldn’t help but think about Planet of the Apes when I wrote this and then the case of Koko a western lowland gorilla famous for learning some signs adapted from American Sign Language. Although Koko clearly used many signs to communicate wants and needs, her actual abilities remained a point of debate. The scientific consensus is that she did not demonstrate true grammar or syntax, leading many researchers to conclude that her trainer, Francine Patterson, overinterpreted Koko’s signs. Some argued that Patterson’s approach blurred the lines between scientific rigor and personal affection—resulting in exaggerated claims about Koko’s language skills, as well as broader ethical concerns about Koko’s living conditions.

And so when Aefre questions whether or not Gabriel is sentient he always comes back to, “Ember is mirroring me.” And when Gabriel shows understanding beyond what humans should be capable of Aefre wonders if he is anthropomorphizing Gabriel because he likes him so much. Exactly what Patterson was accused of.

If you’re interested in reading what Patterson wrote about Koko, I can recommend the paper, Language acquisition by a lowland gorilla: Koko's first ten years of vocabulary development. FGP Patterson. 1990. Cited by 105 — (1990). WORD: Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 97-143. There are also videos on YouTube of Koko. One in particular is especially moving, ‘Koko the last talking gorilla… Her dying words.”

Denial of a Human Soul

Imperials assume that only advanced species (with high level of technology and a mastery of the Imperial language) possess a “spirit” worthy of continuing after death. The latter is important because Aefre struggles with Ember and wonders if he might be sentient because he speaks Imperial almost perfectly.

Dismissing humanity’s claim to a soul helps the Imperials feel less guilty about enslaving and trading humans as “pets.” However, other alien trainers question Aefre about this at the Grand Championships as the other trainers do not believe in the Imperial religion and do believe humans are sentient. Their stance is humans are less technologically advanced and therefore can be taken advantage of. It is not morally correct but it is a scientific assessment. Aefre, on the other hand, doubles down that humans are not sentient despite the logic placed before him.

The most famous example of this I can think of would be the holocaust. If you’re interested in reading about the dehumanization of the Jewish people by a group of average middle-aged German police, not eligible for military service and mostly not Nazis, who were sent to Poland and ordered to kill tens of thousands of Jews, I can recommend the book, Ordinary Men by Christopher R. Browning.

Why Language and Religion Matter in My Wild Pet

Telling someone, “Your language harms you,” or “You have no soul,” sows deep self-doubt. It’s a potent form of control—far more subtle than physical chains. There were signs that Gabriel might believe he has no soul. We know from Briar’s encounter with Rebecca that she is unsure whether God exists to begin with. Rebecca is a believer and fears for her human soul from the get-go which is why she commits suicide. Which probably saved her months of agony because Aefre would have heavily utilized psychological tactics on Rebecca to force her into submission that probably would have driven her insane.

By exploring these Imperial beliefs, I wanted to highlight how prejudice and pseudo-scientific myths can sustain oppressive structures.

These nonsensical beliefs mirror our own past, where seemingly absurd rationalizations have often been used to justify cruelty and inequality.

One well-known example is the pseudo-scientific belief that heavily contributed to the oppression of Western women which was “female hysteria.” Originating in ancient Greece and persisting well into the 19th century, “hysteria” was often explained by the concept of the “wandering womb” (the belief that a woman’s uterus could literally roam around her body, causing erratic emotions and behaviors [it’s insane to think that women’s organs would move and men’s would not]). Medical and social authorities promoted this idea to portray women as inherently prone to irrationality, anxiety, or even insanity. Basically, any behavior that deviated from expected norms—be it sexual desire, outspoken opinions, serious academic study, or simple stress—could be labeled “hysteria,” bolstering the notion that women were biologically ill-equipped for independence. It was something that men touted for centuries as a reason women couldn’t be seen as equal human beings.

Which leads me off topic from the dehumanization of the Imperial pets to discuss the implications of a matriarchal world regarding medical technology.

Imperials and Menstrual blood

Although my story features only Imperial males, the broader society and galaxy are matriarchal—shaped by women for women. As a result, women's health is paramount, and men, consciously or not, uphold that priority.

One striking example of this is the use of menstrual blood. In a matriarchal society, its rich stem cell potential would have been likely discovered and utilized far sooner than in a patriarchy.

In our own world, scientists have only recently begun exploring menstrual stem cells, in large part because a patriarchal perspective historically treated women’s bodies as “inferior men,” and believed menstrual blood to be, “unclean.” My narrative flips that viewpoint, here, it’s the women of the Empire who view men as “inadequate women.”

If you want to read more about these advances, I can recommend. The multi-functional roles of menstrual blood-derived stem cells in regenerative medicine, Lijun Chen, Jingjing Qu , Charlie Xiang. National Library of Medicine, 2019 Jan 3;10(1):1

Why the Imperials Give Them New Names

From a writing point of view, having two sets of names used by different characters wasn’t an easy thing for me to do and I tried writing the book without changing their names. But unlike Ensley in My Human Pet, Briar and Gabriel were show pets and would be treated a lot differently by a professional trainer so in my mind, there was no doubt they would be given ridiculous pet names (just as we do with our pets today). And renaming them accomplished two goals:

Enforcing Ownership

Much like historical examples of renaming enslaved people, the Imperials strip away a human’s given name to sever any lingering tie to their past, culture, or family. By assigning new names—they reinforce the notion that humans are “property” rather than individuals with their own identities.

In ancient Rome, slaves were given names by their owner. When they were freed, they often kept that slave name and took their former owner's name as their first and family name. For example, a man named Publius Larcius freed a slave named Nicia, who then became known as Publius Larcius Nicia. However, there are also many other examples from ancient Rome where owners just made up ridiculous names for their slaves so that people would always know they had been a slave.

Undermining Identity

A name is part of a person’s sense of self. Forcing someone to answer to a different name disorients them, making it easier for captors to control them psychologically. If you’re no longer “Briar” but “Ash,” you become more likely to see yourself as part of their system rather than your own.

Gabriel wouldn’t give up his name even though we know he’d let go of so much else of his humanity while in captivity. I purposely wanted to make this his last stand. If Aefre would have been able to break him of his human name, he would have completely owned Gabriel.

There are many examples of this in history, countless really. Most notably, as an American, I think of the Native American US government-run boarding schools where children were forced to speak English and were given new Christian names.  Another example comes from nuns in the Catholic Church. They are given new names as a way of giving up their own lives and becoming the wife of Christ (not all of them did this voluntarily). Or some might even say the history of women changing their names when they get married, but that is much more nuanced in the modern age.

How Can Imperials Deny Human Sentience Yet Still Have Sex with Humans?

In the Whispers from the Imperial Cage universe, the Imperials maintain a deeply contradictory view of humanity. They claim humans lack full intelligence or spiritual worth, yet they’re willing to engage in intimate acts and even exploit genetic similarities for breeding. This paradox mirrors uncomfortable truths from Earth’s own history. Many oppressive societies have rationalized slavery by labeling certain groups “less evolved” or “mentally inferior,” yet exploited them for forced labor or sexual gratification.

Psychological Self-Deception

The Imperials compartmentalize, they tell themselves humans aren’t truly “sentient,” but still value humans’ physical and genetic qualities. And by calling humans “soulless,” the Imperials avoid facing moral guilt for using them—even if they know that humanity shares their biology.

Power Dynamics & Objectification

Viewing humans purely as property or a source of pleasure strips away empathy, letting the Imperials mask their hypocrisy under the guise of “pet ownership.”

Reflecting Real-World History

This contradictory mindset—treating people as mentally or spiritually “less” while still abusing them—is not new. My intent was to show how supposedly “advanced” civilizations can prop up oppressive systems with warped beliefs, no matter how illogical they seem. There are countless examples from every corner of the globe, throughout human history, I will use an example from US history.

“Children of the plantation” is a term sometimes used to describe individuals whose ancestry traces back to enslaved African women—who were impregnated by non-black men (typically the slave owner, his relatives, or the overseer) in the context of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Under laws like partus sequitur ventrem, these children inherited the enslaved status of their mothers and had no legal recognition as the legitimate children of their fathers.

  While some fathers provided limited opportunities—such as education, careers, or eventual manumission—others cruelly sold their own multiracial children as property. Thomas Jefferson’s children by Sally Hemings, are examples of those who received comparatively better treatment, while Alexander Scott Withers infamously sold two of his own children to slave traders.

  If you’re interested in reading more about this, I can recommend the books, Alex Haley’s Queen: The Story of an American Family (1993) and Edward Ball’s Slaves in the Family (1998).

Freedom in My Wild Pet: A Reflection

Throughout My Wild Pet, the human characters are bought, sold, and forced to perform in an alien arena. So is it ever possible for them to be free even when they are physically free? This question goes beyond literal chains, touching on the deeper layers of psychological, emotional, and societal constraints. And it's up to the reader to decide if Briar and Gabriel are really free in Haven.

This dynamic mirrors real-world histories (and even present-day situations) where “freedom” might exist in name only, as social, economic, or cultural forces maintain a grip that’s just as limiting. If you want to read more about modern “freedom” I can highly recommend Noam Chomsky’s book For Reasons of State, New York: Pantheon Books, 1973. Specifically, the chapter, 'Psychology and Ideology.'

Briar and Gabriel Redefine Freedom

 True freedom in My Wild Pet emerges from choice. And I believe this is true in our own world as well. The ability to choose makes us free.

Briar and Gabriel reclaim pieces of themselves through loyalty and love. So while they might never escape every chain from the trauma they endured, they find moments of liberation by seizing autonomy where they can and refusing to let fear of being abducted again and their past trauma define them. That to me is freedom. Is it freedom for you too?

What Does this Have to Do with Aliens?

Imagine if aliens were to capture us, would they treat humanity with any semblance of respect? It seems unlikely. After all, we have barely managed to reach the Moon, and in a more advanced civilization’s view, we might appear primitive. History itself shows how readily humans mistreated others deemed “lesser,” even among our own species.

Yet humankind has already broadcast its location across the galaxy. According to Time magazine, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes—launched in 1977—carry Golden Records full of Earthly music, as well as messages from former President Jimmy Carter and over a hundred analog-encoded items revealing who and where we are. The hubris behind such an act is striking. Those responsible clearly never considered the possibility that truly advanced beings could see us as mere curiosities—or worse. They likely never envisioned themselves in scenarios reminiscent of My Human Pet or Whispers from the Imperial Cage.

If we fail to imagine ourselves as lesser beings in the eyes of an alien race—and if we don’t address the dire threats we pose to our own survival, whether through war, unchecked AI, or environmental destruction—our downfall may be inevitable. At best, an encounter with extraterrestrial life could mirror the grim fates of my fictional characters; at worst, it could mean our total annihilation.

 Thank you for reading these notes and for diving into My Wild Pet.  

Best wishes,

Olympia

x

2025

PS. My next book, The Receptionist Position, unfolds during the same timeline as My Wild Pet. You may recall Gabriel mentioning a human employed at the Celestial Spire—this is her story.

Eve is handpicked from a top-secret, ultra-exclusive hotel on Earth to work at an even more prestigious property— one that turns out to be located in space. There, she’s tasked with representing humans before galactic authorities, IGC, only to discover the hotel hosts human pet shows. As she grapples with her conscience, she finds herself drawn to its enigmatic alien twin brothers who own the hotel, torn between her moral convictions and love.

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