I'm ready.
At least, near as dammit. On Monday, I
start work on the second book in the Battlecruiser Alamo series, 'Not
One Step Back'. (The story of how this was originally the first –
and the three radically different drafts written under that title –
I will leave for another day.) I'll be writing this book whilst I am
revising the first, and my current plan is to put 'Price of
Admiralty' a few days after I finish the draft of 'Step'. I had
originally planned to alternate books, the first idea to get my
sword-and-sorcery 'Hyperborea' series out of the starting gate, but
somehow, when I got around halfway through 'Admiralty', that idea
rather went by the wayside. I was starting to really like these
characters, starting to really like the setting, and the last five
days – which I forced myself to take as a break while I did other
things – have been very strange. I want to be working in this
universe again – especially as the feedback has been pretty good so
far. (Very nice experience, and one that has settled an awful lot of
nerves.) I think this is probably a pretty good thing!
My planned reading has a little gone by
the board this week. Right now I'm going through 'Bernice
Summerfield: The Inside Story', which could be described in many was
as a closet history of the 'New Adventures' series of Doctor Who
novels. None of which I have ever read. I'm reading it more for the
evolution of setting and character concepts, the ongoing plot arcs
and threads, and the like; this is all good stuff, and I'm finding it
extremely useful when considering the potential future of what I am
calling the 'Triplanetary' setting...for I don't necessarily intend
that there will be only one series in that setting ultimately. Being
on the threshold of the second book is probably a bit early to
consider spin-offs...but if it takes off, it might well be a sensible
idea, especially as characters start to get more and more lives of
their own.
I think that loosely, I could describe
the four books I have in mind now as an 'introduction'. All
self-contained stories, of course, but with themes and arcs running
through them that I hope to last for a long time, though one of them
will be brought to something of a conclusion in the fourth book.
(Something of a conclusion; I still hope to leave room for future
extension of that particular plot line, and I don't want to go too
deep into details.) The idea is to evolve the setting someone, to lay
out characters, arcs and stories – to build a solid foundation for
future works. That the theme of colonization, in one form or another,
seems to be taking hold as a major part of all four of them is
something of an accident, it wasn't really intended that way, but it
seems to be moving in that direction. I won't know for sure until
after book 4, of course, but calling this the 'Colonization' Arc is
probably not a bad idea. (And the second arc will definitely be
'Exploration'. Lots of those stories to tell!)
Going to be hitting the early 19th
century pretty heavily next month, and during the writing of 'Step'
in particular, as it is still the source of an awful lot of my
inspiration. And that darn dissertation has certainly scratched an
itch that I want to satisfy, not a small thing by any stretch of the
imagination! I think there are about a dozen books to get through (I
will try and review them – I have rather failed at that so far, but
as this blog gets into its second month, that's something I intend to
remedy.) Getting close to my first 'State of the Writer' monthly post
as well, on May 31st...that's something to think about as
well. It would be nice to have managed more than a hundred thousand
words in the month...a nice milestone to aim for, I think.
(Currently, I intend to write two chapters and revise two of the
previous chapters in a day – should be attainable. Then do the
final proof-read...and get the darn thing up on Amazon!)
Career History, Lieutenant-Captain
Daniel Marshall
Service History
1/2153: Attends Prometheus City
Military Academy, Flight Training Specialist
2/2154: Assigned as Fighter Pilot,
Tenth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Wright
6/2154: Assigned as Acting Flight
Leader, Tenth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Wright
1/2155: Assigned as Flight Leader,
Tenth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Osiris
9/2155: Assigned as Acting Squadron
Leader, Tenth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Osiris
4/2156: Assigned as Squadron Leader,
Tenth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Curtiss
9/2156: Assigned as Acting Wing
Commander, Third Interceptor Wing, Phobos Station
1/2157: Assigned as Squadron Leader,
Seventh Interceptor Squadron, MSS Yeager
4/2157: Assigned as Officer-In-Charge,
Prospero Orbital Depot
7/2157: Attends Test Pilot School,
Carter City, Callisto
4/2158: Assigned as Test Pilot,
Fifteenth Experimental Squadron, Deimos Station
7/2158: Assigned as Deputy Project
Pilot, XP-15 Crossbow
1/2160: Attends Prometheus City
Military Academy, Staff College
7/2160: Assigned as Flight Leader,
Ninth Patrol Squadron, MSS Wright
9/2161: Assigned as Deputy Operations
Officer, MSS Wright
7/2162: Assigned Prometheus City
Military Academy, Instructor in Small Ship Tactics
1/2164: Assigned as Squadron Leader,
Twelfth Interceptor Squadron, MSS Curtiss
4/2165: Transfers to Triplanetary Fleet
5/2165: Assigned as Commanding Officer,
TSS Alamo
Dates of Rank
1/2153: Third Lieutenant, Martian Space
Service
1/2154: Second Lieutenant, Martian
Space Service (Wartime)
5/2154: Second Lieutenant, Martian
Space Service
6/2154: First Lieutenant, Martian Space
Service (Wartime)
9/2155: Captain, Martian Space Service
(Wartime)
9/2156: Major, Martian Space Service
(Wartime)
4/2157: First Lieutenant, Martian Space
Service
7/2160: Captain, Martian Space Service
1/2165: Major, Martian Space Service
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