Category: science fiction

PGI, 18

It’s called “hiding in plain sight” and it usually works. Pai is correct in that most hourly workers will not go out of their way to make trouble, such as asking their manager, “Why is there a UFO on the roof?”

Was able to write ahead a little, so there will be another update on Thursday and hopefully a teaser for Friday. From what they find in downtown SD, it appears Ildi is a star there, too. I’m tempted to have a quick trip up to Redding where the imperium (idolizing Aurie) polices the DMZ between the Russians (idolizing Reina) and Mexico (starting to idolize Ildi). That, historically, is a recipe for war.

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PGI, 17

I was stuck for a few days. Probably still tired from DayJob. Not wanting this to turn into a long road show, I finally came up with their likely final investigative destination before returning to Aurie. When I realized it would be San Diego, it was one of those “I’m so stupid” moments. This allows me to link this MS to my romance/horror novel, Cursed Hearts (and it’s for 18+). Like many of my stories, it ended very quickly, so what has happened over the last 150+ years of the handful who survived Maya’s rampage?

That city was quickly stabilized under the Mexican Army, commanded by Anton Alvarez’s great-to-the-fourth grandfather. There should still be a stable of characters – heck, there was a proto-Thinking Machine in that book – I can draw on for this next scouting mission.

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PGI, 16

Hard morning at DayJob. twice-per-year physical inventory. Started at 0730 and suddenly it was noon. Anyway, we learn a little bit more about Fusions and what they are capable of. Pai gives a short version of what she saw in Buenos Aires, followed by finally learning why Ildi and Doe were in the area.

A part of that is the old saw, “if you don’t believe in something, you’ll believe in anything.” In Chile, it appears their society is stable – tossing commies out of helicopters will do that for you – and so veneration of Ildi never took root there. The part about the Nazca Lines perhaps being a coded message was gifted to me late yesterday, just before I made dinner for some guests. With Graf being mostly back to health, but probably weak from lack of food, I need to ponder where they will be off to, next.

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PGI, 15

Thanksgiving week here in FUSA, so things got busy. Thus, here’s a larger segment going into the weekend. I realized I had to begin to explain this new race of modified humans, and, as many of you know, I hate walls of text. So, let’s have young (I wonder her age; she must be a teen, I guess) Doe start to bring Graf up to speed.

I’ve already dropped two hints – well, I was told to drop those hints – that there is more to Graf than we think. Fret not: I’ve no idea, either. But one of them is he seems to have an unconscious ability to charm the pants off girls. No, he doesn’t here. But, I wonder if, in the Change, he has some latent psi power to play with others’ minds? The world wonders.

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PGI, 14 (resumption)

I’m comfortable enough with where the anthology is to get back to work. This, for all contented porpoises, will be Part Three of the novel. I not only introduce the character everyone has been talking about, but here and the next few segments get off into weeds about what is a new race and what might be some of the implications of that. Very interesting.

Kinda funny that it opens with Graf recovering from his flu. Last week I was sick for four days, with the third giving me a very high fever, chills, and shakes so bad my wife had to help me to the bathroom. All one week after my flu shot. Gotta love Big Pharma. I’m sending Elon a precis for a startup making crosses; there are going to be a lot of people hanging from them shortly.

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PGA, 13 (and pause)

A rare Saturday update, but for a reason. At the post title indicates, I’m taking a break from this manuscript. I mean, 31k words and the plot has barely shown up? I need to let them talk to me, possibly for a few months. In the meantime, as I have mentioned, an informal writers’ group, birthed at Imaginarium, has entrusted me with putting together an anthology that I plan to have out by the end of the year. That is a lot of reading and editing or others’ works, which is not something I have done before. However, I shan’t let them down. So, this potentially emerging religious war goes on the shelf for a bit.

Until then, as you see in the selection below, it occurred to me that nobody ever really has gotten sick in my books, barring Lem’s brief neurological disorder (which incidentally led to the modified angelic body of Ildi). Blown up, sure, but not even the sniffles, that I recall. I’ve been sick twice over the summer and thought, why not? Interesting in that it is entirely possible Pai has never been around a sick human before; a no-brainer for Aurie’s dad and brother, both doctors, but why would a Thinking Machine have cause to visit a sick ward? I know both Earth and Mars take strong precautions to prevent cross-contaminations and outbreaks, but this seems very new to her.

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PGA, 11

Smaller segment for going into a weekend. Things get a little odd their next morning and I am still trying to work through the details. Beyond that, I also need to do some research about South America. For ten years and nineteen books, I do not think I mentioned the place once. Mexico gets a little mention in Cursed Hearts and Martian Wonderland, but points south of that? I really have no idea. With the US dead and gone for over a hunderd years, and trade with Western Europe a zero, I suppose I’ll have to extrapolate what places like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile have done to survive.

Saying all that is to imply that updates might be sparce awhile. Plus, I’ll need to focus on the initial editing of our Lemurverse anthology.

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PGA, 10

Pai gets mistaken for a boy. That’s freakin’ hilarious. But, we see that, yes, there is some kind of religious sentiment about Ildi in this unregulated northern town. Unregulated towns and new religions, well, names such as Medina and Mecca spring to mind. Not something that either the imperium or other spokes of the Polar Alliance would appreciate.

Mark XXs. Might be a story there.

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PGA, 9

After a few scenes from Pai’s POV, we’re back to Graf. I’m not entirely happy with the timing and pace of this segment and will likely revise the heck out of it prior to sending to my copyeditor. Still, raws are raws, to get something down “on paper” to keep the story moving.

I take this time to educate a potential reader about Ildi, for anyone who has not read about here in my two short story collections. She sure takes after her mother when it comes to fecundity. I suppose I’ll have to know more about her family before all of this is over; I cannot really imagine her kids liking the idea of their mom being worshiped as a goddess.

Graf has never heard of a strip club. That’s hilarious.

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PGA, 8

After pushing the kids just a little too far, Pai apologizes. Once that is behind them, the questions start, which allows her to tell a true story with some propaganda for seasoning. She comes from a dangerous and devious family, after all.

You can make the arguement that invading her husband’s dream is unethical, but this is a different time and she is not at all like us. As we will see, next week. Oh, I was gifted the word jinky before Mass last Sunday. Church is the best place to let stories come.

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