Eric Thomson's Blog, page 11

Interesting Times

I just realized it’s been over three weeks since my last blog post. Like a lot of people, no doubt, I’ve been watching world events unfold with a sort of bizarre fascination. It’s a bit like living in a Michael Crichton or Stephen King novel. Here in the Great White North, we’re practicing physical distancing like there’s no tomorrow. Mrs Thomson is now in week three of working from home, while I venture out once a week to restock on consumables. But in many respects, my life hasn’t changed all that much, since I’ve been working in my home office day in and day out for over four years. Mrs Thomson and I are among the lucky ones these days, since neither of us was laid off (although I tried to get paid vacation from my boss – the bearded dude I see in the mirror every morning. Damned slave driver said no.) But as we’re in the latter part of our fifties, and I’m an ex-smoker, we’re also in a slightly more vulnerable demographic so we take our precautions. So far, so good. I recall having one or two brief bouts with flu symptoms back in January so who knows? Since we can’t go to the gym every morning nowadays, we try to take brisk 45-60 minute walks around our neighborhood, along with plenty of others doing their best to keep a two meter distance. But we seem to be exchanging greetings with strangers far more often than before. Go figure. It all feels a bit surreal, though fortunately, we don’t lack for humor, such as this example, which should amuse any of you who, like me, were trained in bayonet fighting at some point in your military career:

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One of the side effects of watching all this unfold hour by hour is that productivity on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night has suffered, just when my editor finds herself with plenty of spare time. Granted, I noticed only the other day that I had a structural defect in the story that needed correcting before it would work. It’s now fixed and I’m slowly inching up to 90% completion, but I can no longer promise a May publication date. June would probably be more realistic.

Stay safe and healthy wherever you are, fellow humans, and stay away from each other. Peace.

Modeling the Future

The Pan-Am Space Clipper, which briefly appeared in the early scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, has always been my favorite spacecraft.  There is something about its elegant lines that speaks to me. 

Long ago, when I was a teenager, I built a scale model of the Clipper which likely met its end in a garbage can when I packed up my life at seventeen and joined the Armed Forces.  Over the years, I’ve often wondered whether I would ever come across another example.  Then, a few weeks ago, as I was wandering through my local hobby store, there it was — a reissue of the Space Clipper by kit maker Moebius in 1:160 scale, bigger and better made than the original.  I grabbed a box without looking at the price tag.

Last week, I finally began building it but found the decal sheet didn’t include the famous Pan-Am logo, likely for trademark reasons.  And that gave me an idea.  In my latest novel, Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night, a shuttle built on Lyonesse makes a few appearances, and the Pan-Am Clipper was a perfect match for what I had in my imagination.  Since I’m equipped to produce decals, I re-purposed the model as the Republic of Lyonesse Phoenix Clipper “City of Lannion” (tail number DFS-003) built by Hecht Aerospace and operated by the Lyonesse Defense Force.

I’m not entirely happy with the outcome, because I had a few self-inflicted spray-painting issues and then problematic decals, mostly those that came with the kit.  But the resulting model still looks decent enough to fire the imagination.  You be the judge.  I might buy another one and take more precautions.  We’ll see.  It’s not a particularly expensive or hard to build kit.

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As for Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night, I’m 80% done, but with so many distractions right now, progress is far from brilliant, though I still expect a May publication date.

Stay healthy, fellow humans.

Winter’s Not Done Yet

And neither is Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night but both will hopefully be finished at the same time. The weather service is warning that we could get up to half a meter of snow (for you folks still using the imperial system, that’s almost 20 inches) between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, which would make it the biggest dump of this winter. We had one like it last year, and when it was over, I had to put on my snowshoes so I could get to the side of the house and make sure the gas furnace intake and exhaust pipes weren’t buried. Bad things happen when they’re buried, such as the furnace going out and needing a technician from the gas company to restart it. Which, of course, would mean no heat until he shows up. Since this dump is supposed to come over the space of 36-48 hours, I think I’ll go out and check tomorrow afternoon. But the larder and wine cellar are well stocked, so if the roads are crappy, I can admire the fresh white landscape through my office window and wait until Friday. Mind you, the weather service buggers up its prognostications on a regular basis and storms of the decade have turned out to be damp squibs. Hopefully, it’ll be the last one. We can already feel spring’s arrival. The days are getting longer, the sun shines brighter and sits higher in the sky, and we’ve had above freezing temperatures this week. Of course, the idiotic daylight savings time change is coming up in a week and a half as well.

I’ve passed the 60% completion mark on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night. The going has been a little slow in the last week or so because I’ve had to spend a little more time than expected coming up with a ton of details about the Order of the Void. It plays a huge, if not central part in this book, as you might guess from the cover image. But progress is steady, and I’m almost finished with the second of what will be three parts (as opposed to the first two books in the series, which were split into two parts). I’ve named them Part I – Into Darkness, Part II – Moonrise, and Part III – The Hour of the Wolf. They may change by the time the book is finalized for publication.

And now back to work. Peace, fellow humans.

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Winter's Not Done Yet

And neither is Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night but both will hopefully be finished at the same time. The weather service is warning that we could get up to half a meter of snow (for you folks still using the imperial system, that’s almost 20 inches) between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, which would make it the biggest dump of this winter. We had one like it last year, and when it was over, I had to put on my snowshoes so I could get to the side of the house and make sure the gas furnace intake and exhaust pipes weren’t buried. Bad things happen when they’re buried, such as the furnace going out and needing a technician from the gas company to restart it. Which, of course, would mean no heat until he shows up. Since this dump is supposed to come over the space of 36-48 hours, I think I’ll go out and check tomorrow afternoon. But the larder and wine cellar are well stocked, so if the roads are crappy, I can admire the fresh white landscape through my office window and wait until Friday. Mind you, the weather service buggers up its prognostications on a regular basis and storms of the decade have turned out to be damp squibs. Hopefully, it’ll be the last one. We can already feel spring’s arrival. The days are getting longer, the sun shines brighter and sits higher in the sky, and we’ve had above freezing temperatures this week. Of course, the idiotic daylight savings time change is coming up in a week and a half as well.

I’ve passed the 60% completion mark on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night. The going has been a little slow in the last week or so because I’ve had to spend a little more time than expected coming up with a ton of details about the Order of the Void. It plays a huge, if not central part in this book, as you might guess from the cover image. But progress is steady, and I’m almost finished with the second of what will be three parts (as opposed to the first two books in the series, which were split into two parts). I’ve named them Part I – Into Darkness, Part II – Moonrise, and Part III – The Hour of the Wolf. They may change by the time the book is finalized for publication.

And now back to work. Peace, fellow humans.

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Mid-Month, Mid-Book

It’s a windy, cold Saturday in February around here, with plenty of blowing snow, though thankfully not as cold as yesterday, when the house groaned and cracked as if possessed by poltergeists. Even my pickup truck, normally a stalwart machine, coughed a few times before starting. And if you’re wondering whether Mrs Thomson and I did something special for Valentine’s Day, the answer is no. We treat every day as Valentine’s Day. Yes, it sounds corny, but we’re like that.

I passed the 50% mark on “Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night” yesterday, and this morning, I finally added it to the Upcoming Books page on my official website:

https://www.thomsonfiction.ca/upcoming-book

If you want to see what perils are coming at Lyonesse, check it out. Or visit the Ashes of Empire page on this blog and scroll down. I’ve marked it as appearing in May 2020, but that could move up to late April. It’ll be available for pre-order a few weeks earlier on Amazon, Kobo, and Google Play.

I also designed the cover for “Deadly Intent (Ghost Squadron No. 2)” and it’ll appear on the Upcoming Books page eventually. All in all, the last week was productive, though it’s about maintaining momentum. I know where Imperial Night is going. In fact, writing up the summary this morning cleared a few things in my mind, an ‘aha’ moment if you like. I always enjoy ‘aha’ moments, though Mrs Thomson doesn’t necessarily enjoy me going on about them non-stop.

And now to enjoy some time with my hobbies. I promised myself to take weekends off from writing, and so far, it’s been a struggle so I compromised. On Saturdays and Sundays, it’s a burst of model building in the basement, then while glue or paint dries, a burst of writing before going back to the model.

Happy Palindrome Day

Fun fact: today, February 2nd, 2020, aka 02.02.2020, is a palindrome day if you write your dates dd.mm.yyyy (or mm.dd.yyyy, as xromad helpfully pointed out!)  It also means January 2020 went by in a blur.  Where did it go?  At least we get an extra day this month, for all the good it’ll do slowing down the passage of time.  They do say the older you get, the more you perceive the passage of time as accelerating.

January was reasonably productive month.  Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night is one third written.  Some time today, I’ll wrap up Part I and begin Part II.  Funnily enough, current events are mirroring one of the subplots in the book, though I can’t remember whether I stumbled upon the idea first or picked up the initial hints of what was happening on this planet and ran with it.  But it allows me to further develop one of the overarching themes I explore in Ashes of Empire.

And this is the cover:

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Enjoy Palindrome Day, or as I like to call it, another cold, gray, snowy day in the Great White North.

A Year of Writing

Now that we have what is supposedly the saddest day of the year, Blue Monday, behind us, I suppose I can look forward to 2020 with a happier disposition.  I have many things to do over the coming months, including work on our property once winter fades away, and plan on publishing at least three new novels this year.

Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night is coming along, although not as fast as I’d hoped, but that is often the case when I’m writing the first part of a novel.  My pace tends to pick up along with the action.  I’m nearing the 20% completion mark and still hope for a late April or early May release date.

Once that one’s in my editor’s hands, I’ll start on Deadly Intent – Ghost Squadron No. 2 which I’m slowly outlining during my idle moments.  I’m looking at a mid to late summer release date for that one.

What my third book of 2020 will be is still up in the air.  Perhaps the third Ghost Squadron adventure, perhaps another Ashes of Empire, or perhaps I’ll surprise myself by coming up with something completely unexpected.  It happens.  I wasn’t intending to revisit Decker and Talyn after Hard Strike, which ended the Decker’s War series.  Yet they reappeared in Ghost Squadron, the story of the empire’s creation, because I’d already hinted they would be major players in overthrowing the tottering Commonwealth.

And now back to work.  Imperial Night won’t write itself.

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A Happy New Year to All

Mrs Thomson and I just returned from our regular scuba diving trip to an undisclosed location where the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius higher than it is here in our part of the Great White North at the moment.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to the system when we stepped out of the airport.  But we’ve unpacked, our dog is sleeping off two weeks at the boarding kennel beside me, and it’s back to the usual routine.

Tomorrow, I resume work on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night.  The first two chapters were complete, as were the opening paragraphs to chapter three, before we took the great metal bird to more southerly climes.  I’d like to see it in my editor’s hands by the end of March, which isn’t an unreasonable timeline.  Then, it’ll be on with Deadly Intent, the second of the Ghost Squadron adventures.  If you haven’t read We Dare yet, give it a try.  The story is a fast-moving, hard-hitting military scifi story which sets  the scene for the Commonwealth’s impending demise and the rise of empire.

I wish all my readers a Happy New Year.

“Always remember to forget
The troubles that pass away.
But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.”

It’s Here!

We Dare (Ghost Squadron No. 1) is now out in ebook, paperback, and hardcover.

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And since it’s hard for me to stay idle, I’ve just begun writing the opening lines to Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night.

The Day is Coming

We Dare (Ghost Squadron No. 1) is currently undergoing a last round of proofreading, which means it should come out in the next 3-4 days.  Look for it on your favorite retailer’s website by mid week.  Those of you who pre-ordered will get it automatically when it’s released.

In the meantime, I’m making good progress on the detailed outline of Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night.  I expect to start writing in early January, after taking some time off to enjoy life with Mrs Thomson over the holidays.  All things going well, it should hit the shelves in late April or early May.  Then, after that installment in the story of the human interstellar empire’s fall, it’ll be Deadly Intent (Ghost Squadron No. 2) and the ongoing tale of the human interstellar empire’s rise a thousand years earlier.  Simultaneously writing two series which bookend a momentous era in our species’ future history is actually quite amusing.

Watch this space for imminent news of We Dare‘s release.