Category: writing

“The Fallen” 5/7

This is the next shoe to drop: Anton, as a soldier and diplomat of a minor power, sees what will come next: the shrine, the device behind the waterfall. Unlike the one Aqua hid, this will be in Russian hands in less than a month, with the potential to destabilize everything generations of humans, demi-humans, and Machines have worked so hard for.

The latter half of this segment did not exist until Sunday morning: Mass, again. This story is about to go off in a direction I never anticipated.

I would also like to formally thank Kalogeros Stilitis of Gab for his help with the Greek. I taught myself some koine Greek when I was 25 years old, but that was a lifetime ago and I recall almost nothing.

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“The Fallen” 4/21

Allie now knows that Kira and those on the surface are aware of her predicament. It is a comfort to her, to know that, sooner or later, she shall be rescued. When? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, she goes to take a look about.

I mentioned to some other writers I am dangerously close to writing myself into the kind of cavern Allie finds herself in. My stories are driven by interaction. Alone in a cave negates that. So, I’m working on a way out for myself as hard as Kira is for Allie.

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“The Fallen” 1/1

From the image all the way at the bottom, I had an idea. My demi-humans are known for their bioluminescent eyes. Was this young woman just taking a walk from her tent to cup a mouthful of water? About to dive in for a swim? Or maybe…

All things break down. Including civilizations. Including genetics. I began to wonder, what would a tribe of demi-humans be like in a non-technological world? They fact they think fast with quick reflexes would still be a positive survival factor; their ability to see into the Void would be useless. What would they keep; what is discarded? They can talk to one another by touch… do they lose vocal language?

And where did the image happen? Earth? Terraformed Mars? Some other world so far in the future I cannot grasp?

So, just like all the other times, I sat down and started writing. After my nearly ready to release “Ice Inundation Intelligence,” which I knew was a novel from the get-go, this is just me playing with ideas. Could be a short story; a series of them. I, honestly, had wanted to temporally backtrack, that is, fill in some of the gaps of people and event going all the way by to “Echoes of Family Lost,” but this opens six freakin’ years after “I I I.” Fine. Let’s see where it leads, frens.

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Book 17. Epilogue. 2/2

This should have been broken into four parts, but the first part of the epilogue was a block, so this one is, too. Enjoy. There are a few places where I couldn’t be bothered to scroll back 200 pages for names, so I used placeholders. That’s what editing is for.

I started this manuscript just over a year ago, with Konev and his scout team at point of the Russian occupation of central Canada. Thus, it is fitting that it end with him, too. But what and end: being debriefed about what happened at the CSIS prison I expected. Writing my way further in, I realized that because of what Reina had learned from rooting around Bob’s mind – and then about the future of Mars – she would want to know everything Konev knew.

And they Ivan speaks up to claim him. I didn’t see and write that until about an hour ago. They always surprise me. It’s a gift, really: “The Adventures of Sergei & Ivan” would make a great novella; it would make a great graphic novel. That boy is made of mischief and I look forward to what trouble they get in (first idea: they travel to Mars and steal that ancient device).

Now comes the hard, sober, part: editing. A multistep process: a complete read thru, shuffling material around, chapter breaks, Grammarly. Then and only then I pass it off to my copyeditor. It’s about 65,000 words, or about 245 pages in a 6″ x 9″ book. A book with no name, still. At least I can reach out to my cover designer in a day or two with the basics of what I’ll want to see. The front will be Konev and Bob, with Eloise between them, all in uniform. What else? Reactionless ships, something evocative of Canada (a can of Molson’s?), Mars. And Cartaphilus.

I’d say I need a break, but we all know I’d be lying. I’ll be writing again within weeks once I get this to my copyeditor. Thanks, everyone, for putting up with this raw MS. Please buy and review the final version once it comes out in a month or two.

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Book 17. Epilogue. 1/2

Part one of two of the story’s end. This wraps up Bob’s side of things. I’m edging out of “hard SF” here, but that’s okay. Their world is Changed and we know a helluva lot less about ours than we think we do.

Off to Imaginarium in an hour. Four to six hour drive, depending on weather and traffic. Nothing on the schedule tonight, so I’ll see what I can do for Konev’s wrap up. Obviously, Reina will be there. She’s always there.

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Book 17. Part Four. 9 End

The last part of Part Four. And, yes, it’s a little weird. These are raws and I’ll clean it up in one of my editing passes before I give it to my copyeditor; otherwise, he’d likely delete it and email “what the f*ck was that!?”

It’s a matter of Chekov’s Gun: you mention the rifle over the mantlepiece in Act One, it damn well better go off later. Konev and his team came across Joseph, so here he is again.

I’m half done with the Epilogue. That half is about Bob, El, others, and yes, “Joseph” gets an explanation. The second half, hopefully later today – BTW, it’s 0500 right now – will be about Konev. Then, for all contented porpoises, I’ll be finished and able to begin my three editing passes.

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Book 17. Part Four. 8

The penultimate scene from Part Four. We’re back to Bob and his team tomorrow. I’m about finished with the Epilogue, but that may have to wait until after the conference. Or, if I’ve a moment, I may post it from there.

It’s taken a year, but I am pleased as to where everything seems to be going. I wonder what my next project will be? I’m thinking of taking it easy and writing a few short stories for the rest of summer.

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Book 17. Part Four. 7

Back to Bob’s rescue mission. It starts well…

I’m already into the epilogue and may finish the raw MS before Imaginarium after all. I could copy it to a flash drive and hand it to my copyeditor, I suppose.

Would a highly trained soldier really steal a look at a girl in the middle of a rescue mission? Sorry, ladies, men are pigs.

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Book 17. Part Four. 5

These next few will be shorter as I’ll only be posting the immediate change of POV. In this case to Bob.

The C4 is an addition I thought of later: not all doors in a prison will be connected to an electrical system, certainly not one connected to the Net. More direct action will be needed.

Had to watch some old “Bob and Doug” on Youtube to get the accent right.

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Book 17. Part Four. 4

Taking the advice of a fellow writer, I am just going to bull ahead with this and worry about head-hopping and formatting later. I had fretted myself into a standstill and that’s worse than writing dreck.

So, this is very, very raw. Raw-er than usual. One of the things I do not like as how I shoehorned the demon’s cart into this installment. I know he crops up in about three or four installments, but I needed the foreshadowing. I’ll fix it later.

With Imaginarium coming up in less than a week, I’ll be busy packing, buying food and booze, completing my very rough outline for the panel I’m hosting (I noted several assistant panelists have been added; I hope one hour is enough time), so I’ve doubts about completing the MS. But, you never know… this Part is going to be moving very fast.

And, yes: I just made up “the Three R’s.” I’m proud of that.

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