Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse - Posts Tagged "teslaverse"

Any post in a storm, hm? Yeah, this one's a day late, but so it goes. I got wrapped up in writing and lost track of time.

Which is appropriate, because I think Fridays are the day that I'll normally spend to tell you about my books.

Dire:Born released in November, and it's the origin story of Doctor Dire, supervillain and supergenius. It's a story that's more about people than it is about powers. So far the reception's been much better than anticipated, and I'm enjoying seeing my work read by so many people!

My current project is the sequel to Dire:Born, tentatively named Dire:Seed. The first draft is 23% complete as I write this. It should hit late spring to mid-summer, if things stay on schedule.

If Dire:Born's theme was about letting go of the past to deal with the present, Dire:Seed is about our protagonist (NEVER USE THE WORD HERO FOR HER! SO COMMANDS DIRE!) learning to work within the present, and build toward the future.

Can't go into more detail than that right now, but it's promising to be one heck of a ride...

The theme of my last post was worldbuilding, and there's a reason for that.

I posted it because that's pretty much what I'm doing with my writing, at this very minute. Instead of writing book by book, I've built an entire superpowered world to explore. Every book I release in the "Tales from the Teslaverse" series is going to feature characters and locations that can pop up again in other books. There's continuity here, and someone who gets namedropped in one book has every chance of getting their own short story, novella, or even novel in the future.

It's basically applying a top-down approach to writing, after applying a bottom-up approach to worldbuilding. I kicked around the Teslaverse for years before I finally settled down to write about it.

Dire? She's one of the characters I know best, and one of the most well-received, so I'm opening with her. She'll get a good trilogy, but there will be other fiction along the way, and eventually, more Dire books after the trilogy's done, and various spin-offs and crossovers and a glorious smorgasborg of modern superhero goodness with a dash of magic.

So settle in, folks, it's gonna be a heck of a ride if I can pull it off.

Oh, and for those curious, the Dire sequel is currently at 28% draft completion. It'll take a few months, but it's coming, it's coming...

Good afternoon. My name is Andrew Seiple. If you're reading this blog for the first time, and seeing this now, it's likely that you either met me at the January 2016 book signing, or followed the link in the back of my e-book. However the circumstances, thank you and welcome!

This is an informal blog, where I put my thoughts on literary matters, my projects, and occasionally roleplaying games. I post about twice a week, and tend to ramble.

My current project is called "Tales from the Teslaverse." It's my attempt at building a superheroic universe book by book. I've spent a good amount of time mapping out characters, tropes, and setting, and now I'm revealing it bit by bit like the horrible tease I am.

I'm going to bounce around between protagonist and antagonist viewpoints for much of it. It'll take multiple series and standalone books to fully map out, and if I do my job right they should all be entertaining. You may already be acquainted with Doctor Dire from her novel Dire:Born, or a few other places around the internet. She's got a sequel coming, and another after that to make her first trilogy. After that you'll start seeing the stories of more heroes and villains, and a few types who are solid shades of gray.

The next Dire book, (working title Dire:Seed) is currently 46% written. Expect to see it in a few months, and if you've signed up for my nifty mailing list, you'll be among the first to know when it's available. :D

Aside from the Teslaverse Tales, I'm also working on a gritty fantasy book that may turn into a series if the muse permits, and writing stories for some small freelance RPG projects. One of them should get a Gencon Release this year, if all goes well!

At any rate, I hope that you enjoy my work, and feel free to visit this blog anytime. I aim to keep this place friendly and informal, so do as you will so long as you're cool to others. If you have questions or issues just comment here or message me through Goodreads, and I'll respond as I can. Thank you and good night.

Did you know that there are some authors and companies out there that make superhero roleplaying games?

I'm a fan of Mutants and Masterminds myself, but a few weeks ago I picked up one called "Wild Talents" when it turned up on sale in my local game store. It was written by Dennis Detwiller, Kenneth Hite, Shane Ivy, and Greg Stolze. It's kind of an expanded idea of their original "Godlike" game. Most of the book's dedicated to the rules and setting of course, typical RPG fare... but part of it is an amazing chapter on superhero worldbuilding.

They introduce four concepts that act as good measurements of how far from our own universe a superhero universe has strayed.

Red is how much our main timeline matches another timeline. In a Red 1 world, the Soviet Union fell, World War II ended in the 40s, the US lost Vietnam, we don't have any moonbases circa 2016, and for the most part, history's untouched despite the introduction of superpowers. In a Red 2 world, one or two major events were different as a result of powers. In a Red 5 world, the timeline's totally different, to the point that practically no major events past the introduction of powers are the same.

Blue is a measure of the fantastic... It's how much weirdness is possible for the setting. In a Blue 1 world, there is no such thing as magic, humanity is alone in the Universe, radiation is usually bad, and there are no other dimensions. There are superpowers, but that's all. In a Blue 2 world, there's typically one fantastic thing besides superpowers, and it's either hidden or muted. In a Blue 5 world, Jetpack gorillas can live on the moon so long as they fight off the Atlantean nazis who park their aetherpanzers up there on weekends.

Black is a measure of morality, and overall darkness. Black 1 worlds are gritty, shades of grey where only we judge ourselves, there is no karma, and no one's all good or bad. Nothing's entirely good or evil. In a Black 2 world, some things are clearly good and some are clearly bad, but most of it's still on us to judge. In a Black 5 world there is good and there is evil, and heroes don't do drugs stay in school kids!

Gold determines the capability of a protagonist or antagonist to seriously change the setting. In a Gold 1 setting it doesn't matter that Superman can help with space exploration or that Reed Richards can cure cancer, because they don't. In a Gold 2 setting, there's some limited help, a few tech advancements or societal changes but they're fairly minor and gradual. In a Gold 5 setting we all live in the sky thanks to Awesomeman's levitation stones, and we have flying cars! Or we all live in the blasted remnants because Ragequit burned the world, and now we have to Mad Max it up for scavenged granola bars and gasoline.

This is a seriously useful and well-thought-out scale.

It would have been useful to have it around when I was designing the Teslaverse, because it would have saved me a lot of time, helped me articulate things more clearly. But hey, I can do that now.


RED: I'd put the Teslaverse at Red 3. Most of written history matches up with our own timeline, up until World War I. But the further you go, the more drift happens. Some major events are altered or resolve differently, even if you can still recognize Earth's history if you squint and turn your head a little. Much of the Teslaverse looks like Red 2 at first glance... but then secrets are revealed, and the true disparity of the setting is brought into relief.

If you dropped a person from our world into most nations of the Teslaverse, and took away their television and internet, they wouldn't notice for a day or so, probably. But eventually they'd start wondering why the architecture was different and what all those antennae and pylons on the buildings were about.

BLUE: Blue 3, with no regrets. Magic's a thing, even if it's mostly hidden. Various types of radiation can make mutants instead of cancer, and there ARE jetpack gorillas, but they certainly don't live on the moon, thank you very much. They're doing very well in their superscience-warded plateau in the Congo, thank you very much. It's all due to an agreement with the Atlanteans, who dwell deep within the waves and are said to worship unspeakable elder gods... so yeah. Lots of weirdness, but it's not shoved in people's faces all the time, and for the most part society toodles along, trying to ignore the fact that weird stuff is out there and there's not much the average human can do about it.

Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse and they'd think they were having a hallucinogenic episode the first time a naiad manifests in the office water cooler and demands wine sacrifices. Or as the MRB calls it, a code 7731.

BLACK: Black 3, with shades of 2 mostly because Dire. The Teslaverse is a world where killing is a horrible thing to do, and you should only do it in self-defense. Karma always has a way of coming back on people, and good folks are generally more successful and rewarded, while bad folks eventually suffer. There are exceptions... Doctor Dire seems to get away with more malice, but that's usually due to the fact it's done for righteous reasons and never lightly. She STILL has horrible luck, and has to work hard for every pyrrhic victory she wrests from the jaws of cruel fate.

Drop an average human from our world into the Teslaverse, and they'd eventually find themselves tested or pulled into being a good or bad person. It's possible to stay neutral and just be an average sort, but it takes work and dedication and either cowardice or prudence depending upon your viewpoint.

GOLD: Gold 2. Tesla changed the world, but he didn't complete what he started... his technology replaced our power grid, our internet, our electronics, and advanced the general tech level of the world by a decade or two. But other areas are much the same. Superscience is useful but, well... stability, safety, cost, functionality... pick two. Then that goes down to one, when villains figure out how to mess it up. Magic is NOT safe, even for skilled practitioners, so you certainly don't want it in the hands of the mainstream populace. And sure, some supervillains could transmute continents into gold... but the banking conspiracies would pick up a phone and have them dead within minutes if they did.

It IS possible to change the world, but there are so many counterbalances and both heroes and villains who like it as it is, that you have to overcome a ton of challenges before you get anywhere close to making such changes lasting.

Drop an average human being from our world into the Teslaverse, and... well. Any human can change the world, really, given luck and skill.

Funny how often we forget that. Fortunately, we have our stories to remind us.

And on that note, I'll sign off. Peace, out!

After much work, many late nights, and an A++ performance by my cover artist, the second book of Dire's saga is done and available in the Amazon store!

Next up: Formatting the print copy, and getting that rolling. Createspace, here I come!

Much to do, much to do! I've chosen a path that means my idle time must be parceled out carefully. No summer break here!

Well, except for Origins. And Gencon. But hell, I've got legitimate career-type business in both of those. At Origins I want to try to talk to the people running the author's alley and see how I can get in next year, and maybe some following years. At Gencon I'm gonna help launch the RPG that I had some small hand in, and support my friends. Maybe even run a few sessions, which means I'll need to digest the rules...

...all while writing DIRE:TIME which is about thirty percent done, but is still going to tie up most of my June evenings. Also off-and-on July and August evenings as betas and editors help me make it awesome and refine it properly.

On the plus side, the cover art is coming along nicely. I should have a rough to show you all in a few weeks or less.

In other news, the book sale went well. However, I didn't get the mailing list signup rush that I expected, so part 2 of "In the Fast Lane" is on the backburner until I get to a solid stopping point with DIRE:TIME.

The trick with maintaining this pace is simple, for me: Work hard/play hard. When I'm not working, I'm playing around with video games, tabletop RPG sessions with friends, playing with my daughter, hanging out with my wife, and various amusements. This is necessary to stay sane. It also lets me tolerate and do my day job... I've tried doing nothing but work. Good lord is it rough, and quality suffers on all sides.

Eventually the day job won't be an issue. Gods willing, by then the income from writing will be enough that I can make the Teslaverse and various minor projects my main job, and be much happier for it. Not sure how many years it'll take to get to that point, but until then, I'll always be busy. All the time.

I can live with this. Happy summer, folks! See you next week.

First draft of the third Dire book is roughly 90% complete. I just have a few more chapters to go...

Unfortunately, this does mean that we won't see a July release for this one. Even feeding it to my editor piecemeal, chapter by chapter, it's still going to take time for her to work her magic.

And that's not even counting the beta readers... no, this is going to be an August release, and probably not before Gencon.

Sorry guys, I was trying to get it to you as early as possible, but real life's a pain at times. Hang in there, and we'll wrap up Dire's first trilogy with a bang!

In other news, it looks like I won't be stuck working the booth all the time I'm at Gencon. But if you'd like to know when I'm around, feel free to stop by the Mindworm Games booth and ask for me by name. The owner will be happy to tell you when I'm available, and happier to tell you all about Exiles, the RPG...

After much hard work, many revisions, and a thorough vetting by my A-team of awesome beta readers and editors... Dire:Time is out, and ready for your perusal.

Hope you like golden-age supervillain action, because this one is all about fighting the good fight against the Third Reich!

Well, "good" is a relative term, really, when Dire's involved. Still, I hope you enjoy her struggles against Nazi superscience, the twisted sorcery of the Society of Thule, and some seriously major secrets that will reveal the truth of Dire's past...

Without going into details... Dire:Time has some hard scenes in it. Rough things happen, and not everyone gets a happy ending.

This is as it should be.

It was as hard to write as it is to read, guys. But you have to tell the story as it is, even when it gets tragic. Especially then.

But I'm not done, and there are many more stories ahead. This one got heavy, but now... now we can move on to the next arc. A few side projects to clear my head. Fun stuff. No heaviness for a little while. Pinky swear.

And after that? Phase Two of the Teslaverse is a go!

One book completed, and now work starts on the next. This is how it goes in the self-publishing industry, and honestly, I don't mind one bit. The more I write, the better I get. It's like any skill, practice makes perfect.

So what's on the release schedule? I'm glad you asked that, hypothetical reader!

Things will be quiet for a while. Expect a mailing list story at some point, probably the second part of Freeway's origin. After that, in November, I'm going to release an ebook boxed bundle deal of Dire's first three novels, for new readers.

Somewhere around Christmas or January, there may or may not be a new MG Fantasy book set in a new, original world. Working title is "Final Frost", and it's about kid dragons fighting evil and saving their friends.

If the muse is kind, also around that timeframe will be another Fantasy book, this one for more grown-up readers. Think Game of Thrones meets Terry Pratchett's Discworld. But no promises on this one! It might take a few more months to get it juuuuuuust right. We'll see.

And the next Dire book, tentative title "Dire:Wars" should drop around March or April. There will be two more Dire books after that in 2017, and maybe another Teslaverse book if I have time to get it done properly.

So. Yeah.

Gonna be busy for a while.

Y'know what?

I'm looking forward to it!