A close follow-on to yesterday. I knew where it was going, but wanted to take great care to get the conversation right.
The Russians have a saying: any meeting that does not start with a drink* is inherently hostile.
*Of course alcohol. What about Russians didn’t you understand?
Now that the plot is finally here, it’s time to introduce our antagonist. The Fourth Law didn’t really have one. Echoes and Cursed Hearts had one’s that were also sympathetic. Friend & Ally’s was more off camera than on. This time, it’s going to be different. Yet another new way for me to write!
Anything set by firelight is amazingly atavistic. We are the descendants of all those that stayed close to their family and the fire to listen to wondrous stories. Think of it as evolution in action.
Not much… but in the captain’s comment in the end: a glimmering of plot.
Hey, it’s American adoption of the DoI Day… I need to add some kind of military engagement!
Because I needed to put the third and final piece (eavesdropping and Mackenzie) into place, first. Now the rest of Part One can begin to unfold. Things are going to be fine.
In Part One.
God was kind enough to give me two pieces of the puzzle to part 1 of my next book. Just now I saw the third piece*… right when I have to make dinner** for the family… arrgh!
*Nichole, as hybrid student/teacher in V. Bishop’s coding class, has a discussion after class with Vicki about improvements to the gain of the remote sensors used by the agriculturalists up the Columbia. If Nichole backtracks on Mackenzie, that yields her:
1. A personal agent in the dictator’s household;
2. An agent with access to financial records;
3. A means of audio eavesdropping.
YES!
**Pork medallions in mustard-cream sauce, flambed with apple brandy.
Still messing about with my characters, but, plot-wise, there’s no there-there.
Time, alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine will fix. Please bear with me.
Formerly an exclusive on Gab.ai, where you can speak freely, below the fold is the cover of the my next novel. Monica is wrapping up her copyediting, so I hope to have a proof copy in my hands in no more than a week. A week beyond that should see it released to the wild. So honestly, call it two to three.
I really need to get back to writing Part Two!
This did not end where I expected. I knew Teresa would look into what’s going on out east. A play for the throne? Wow. I am now reacting to, not writing, this story. I must make haste slowly.
Chose the winning design for the cover of my next novel: The Saga of Nichole 5: Part 1 – Friend & Ally. It still needs a little tweaking, so I shan’t roll it out quite yet.
In other news, I’m also getting back into the habit of writing. I have to: if I am about to publish a book called ‘Part 1’ I tanjed well better have a ‘Part 2’ lined up on deck and ready for launch. Of course, I don’t. Quite.
I hand-wrote about two pages of notes yesterday. That’s something for a pantser such as myself. Still, with all the RealWorld things I had to do about the house today, at least I was able to lay down a few words for Act I.
machciv 