Tag: science fiction

“The Fallen” 5/13

Thirteen days to go. Churning out about 1200 words per day (had to deck the damn tree yesterday; humbug). As you can see from the end of this segment, things are about to get very politically dangerous: a mention of the Jap spaceforce – as large as the Rus and imperium, combined (imaging me writing that on Pearl Harbor Day) followed by the elephant in the room; that is, the device behind the waterfall in the cavern. This is rather like the penultimate scene in “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly”: who shoots first?

As I have broken through my 50k word ceiling for this story, it’s a matter of wrapping it up and editing the crap out of it. That should leave me five months to write two more. I think at least one will be another collection but with a novella at its core. I’d like to write about the sorely neglected Habsburg Empire, but will do what I’m told.

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“The Fallen” 5/12

Interesting that, while I once had a character refer to a much younger Empress Faustina as “a tremendous bitch,” it seems that Aurie and Annie are right up there, too. Perhaps it is the years of stress of autocracy which lends to callous behavior? Or, does a person need a callous soul to accept the burden of rule?

I’m excited to see what the years have done with Reina. I’d best write that, now. I bet Allie looks cute with a band-aid over her nose after that fall. In the mean time, I need to look up the name of the Jap emperor; that was two books ago and I’ve forgotten. Sucks to get old.

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“The Fallen” 5/11

Another busy day for our hero, getting a bit more and more unsettled by the culture shock of Old Home, as she calls it. Politics continue to play a role and Aurie hints as something of a trial ahead for Allie. I was surprised that slightly chonky Annie from Part Three of Obligations of Rank has put Reina (and yes, that’s her on the cover) into her place; and more than once. Makes me wonder how many kids she and Pavel have now (recall we met part of her first son, Ivan, back in Part 3 of this MS, Tay being their adopted daughter).

I love road stories; it really makes writing so much simpler. The only thing easier are dinner scenes.

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“The Fallen” 5/10

Going into last weekend at a bit of a loss, I, per normal, went to Mass early to pray and listen. I now think I know the rest of Part 5, so it is just a matter of writing it down.

While an interplanetary war would be kind of interesting to write, it would also mean at least of month of research and I want this MS done now, not in January. So, maybe next time. Allie will be at the center of a political resolution to all of this – barring just blowing the damn shrine up – but does not know that yet. Demi she may be but is still fifteen, and Aurie, Reina, and others have plans and schemes she cannot imagine.

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“The Fallen” 5/9

Another larger segment going into the weekend. Realizing that I’m not finishing in 2-5k words but closer to 10-15k, I need the story breathing down my neck to keep me motivated. Ideally, I’d like to ship this to my copyeditor no later than December 31. That will give me five months to write two more – one of which may be another short story collection; there are loose threads everywhere, and one thing I DO NOT want to is get any further into the future. It’s just too complicated.

Allie finally walks on a new world – for her. Between the cavern, the building, the fish and leaves, and Squiddy, I understand Aurie’s caution: there’s no telling what the Hero might be inadvertently carrying. I suspect that, as I have done before, I’ll skip the speech (for anyone reading along, it would be a boring recapitulation, and we’ve already had one, which is enough) and move directly into first family politics (Aurie’s husband, Jimmy, is 2 yrs older, so a solid 70, but he, too, has been around Henge and, of course, very close to his wife) and then how international politics about the shrine are shaping up. That will act as an outline to me for everything up to the epilogue.

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“The Fallen” 5/8

From where I started in the summer, this story continues to surprise me. I’d planned an intergeneration novel about the colonization of Mars, followed by some catastrophe where one or some of the demi-humans went feral. Obviously, they had other ideas.

This segment was what I was shown Sunday morning, and it, too, came out of left field at me. I thought I would have some scientific convos with Kira and politics with Fussy. I never envisioned Allie leaving her home world, but here we are.

May have to do a little research for what comes next. Writing “hard” science fiction, I cannot ignore Allie’s bones and muscles being weaker from growing up in a shallower gravity well. Heck, I’m not even sure where she lands: a demi of the Hartmann family in a Jap spaceship bearing news of aliens under Rus territory. It’s a mess.

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“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” 5/6

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, and a great time to find out things which can not only shatter your world, but could shatter more than one.

Aqua hid away whatever it was that tossed Fussy and Ed three hundred years into the future. Now a team of Russians are about to start excavating their way to what seems to be another one. Reina is not one to take “no” for an answer, so this could have significant political repercussions. Already rapidly becoming famous for her accidental discovery, I have a suspicion that Allie is about to be up to her neck in international/interplanetary politics.

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“The Fallen” 5/5

Allie tells her story, most of it, to her parents. Their pride in her is obvious, as is her modesty; she is no Fussy or Aurie

Between the Lewis Carroll and Easter references, this is becoming an allegory. I need to review my notes for the rest of Part 5 this weekend. I’ve got a pretty good idea about the Epilogue, but need to get from here to there, first.

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“The Fallen” 5/4

It was pointed out to me I never mention holidays in my stories. As far as I can recall, even as Catholic as so many of these people are, I never even mention Christmas or Easter. The way this segment ends makes me think there should be some kind of “Thanksgiving” holiday for the Martians. But, what date? Colonization was not like the landing of the first ship from a distant star, it’s been going on for more than a generation now. Allie’s amazing discovery? Why give “thanks” for that, as it creates a million new problems and possibilities? And, of course, there are three very distinct cultures, led by two races, on Mars; do the Russians and Japanese have the equivalent to a “Thanksgiving Day” in their current cultures? Perhaps I should just stick to shoehorning the religious one’s in where I can.

Back home into the bosom of her family, Allie makes a surprise announcement – on someone else’s behalf – before learning from her diplomat father the leading edge of the ramifications of her accidental discovery.

Still and all, Allie’s parents have something to give thanks for; Happy Thanksgiving to my FUSA readers!

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