David Scott Moyer's Blog, page 3

A boilerplate mystery, for a change.

Blue Screen by Robert B. Parker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Some books are meant to be savored, each word rolled around in your head like fine wine over your palate. Then there are books meant to be devoured whole, like a cold beer on a hot summer afternoon, refreshing, generic, and eminently satisfying.

This was one of the latter. The late author was famous for creating Spenser, of the TV show Spenser for Hire. (people used to say I looked like Robert Urich.) In this book, he writes from the perspective of a female detective, Sunny Randall. It is full of smartass dialogue from Sunny and all the other characters, a not so complicated mystery, and sex between chapters. That means that the leadup to Sunny getting laid is the end of one chapter and the aftermath is the next. I liked that. Less gratuitous than the explicit crap a lot of writers seem to feel they need, but still fun. None of the book was particularly realistic, but it was a fun ride and well constructed.



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80 Words

A while back, I entered Atmosphere in a writing contest. I'll find out in February whether it wins. In the meantime, I'm getting constant invitations to enter other contests. Today it was one asking for an 80 word story. Turns out I have to subscribe for $10 a month to enter, so no thanks. (Entering my novel cost $65)

So here is my 80 word story.

“Thank you,” she said, for what he wasn’t sure.
It wasn’t as if he knew what he was doing, or had some kind of innate ability. In fact, he was quite aware that he was painfully inexperienced and inept.
Yet “thank you,” was what she said.
Many years later, it occurred to him that he had been nothing more than a donor.
“You are welcome,” he whispered, and then laughed, in that dishonest way that terribly sad people often do.

Binti!

The Night Masquerade by Nnedi Okorafor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The first word that comes to mind on completion of this trilogy is "sweet." Because Binti is sweet and innocent. But she is also fierce, powerful, and fearless. How can you not fall in love with that?
This might be categorized as a coming of age story, but I see it as more a coming to being story. I will definitely be exploring Okorafor's other work.



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Nice review of Atmosphere on Amazon

Tight plotting with an unusual thematic approach. Very engaging storytelling. Well developed diverse characters. Lush, rich, other-world flora and fauna depicted to draw the reader into the characters' experience there. Departs nicely from pseudo-technical description of physics and spaceship operations found in many sci-fi novels. I shared it with two young adults who were very enthusiastic about the read.
Looking forward to the next one!

Whew!

The Paradise Factory by Jim Keen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was a fun roller coaster of a book, non-stop action and energy with plenty of surprises. Keen somehow manages to to flesh out the characters and build a tangible, believable world without once letting you or his characters rest. Books 2 and 3, here I come.



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127pp 40K words

Doing a printout of Ocean's first 29 chapters today so I can do some physical editing with a pen.

For those who don't know, I sometimes write in a bound journal with a pen or pencil, and I sometimes write on my computer in a private blog.

I'm not able to put the difference between the two into words, but there is definitely a difference.

When it comes to editing, this book has been in flux from day one. I regularly go back to previous chapters and tweak them.

Printing it out is different. I can make notes in the margins, write whole sections on the blank facing page and decide later whether to add them, leaf back or forwards through the manuscript to find continuity issues, fold corners, all kinds of stuff.

There are surely ways to do all of the above digitally, but my brain works better this way.

Note to self (for all the good it will do)

Be sure of your science before you start writing.

So I have pretty much resolved the aforementioned monster plot hole, but naturally the solution created more issues. Or rather my choice of solutions did.

I could have the second mission leave 10 years after the first and arrive ten years after them as well. I confirmed the relativity by drawing a little chart. That would conveniently make the sister exactly the age she should be for the story.

The problem with that scenario is that I also need Earth to know what happened on the first mission to prepare for the second. This means leaving after the events of the first book, which in turn means they have to travel faster than light. I really hate to use this worn out trope, but I don't see a way around it. The first mission already has wormhole communications, so I guess it is a small step for them to figure out wormhole travel in 30 years.

The quandary this solution leaves me in is that K, who was ten years younger than her sister when the first mission left, would be ten years older than her when she arrives.

I could write around that, but I don't want to. I have written her as brilliant but a bit naive, and I like that. She simply can't be a 46 year old seasoned veteran.

So, current idea: have K be the niece instead of the sister. Then the ages work out.

See why I say to get the science right the first time?

Problem solved, sort of.

I never should have had the issue covered in my last post. It could have derailed the entire second book, which is at least half finished. Fortunately, I discovered the solution right in front of me, nestled comfortably among the pages of my first book. Not going to go into details here to avoid spoilers. You really ought to read Atmosphere if you haven't. Anyway, I think I can get away with a few tweaks and one technological advance that is at least plausible.

Relativity

I just realized I might have messed up the physics of relativity in my sequel. A character in Atmosphere and another in Ocean are sisters (not much of a spoiler, really). I was running on the assumption that since their departure and destination points were the same, the age differential when they met would be as well. I'm no longer sure that is the case. Chara, the destination in both books, is 26 light years away. Assuming an accelleration at .5 G, that would be a trip of about 10.5 years. With no aging for the crew (the "magic" of stasis), they would arrive at the same age as they left, say 28 years old for the one sister. In the meantime, the sister who remained on Earth would be almost 30 years older, say 39. If she then heads to Chara more or less when her sister arrived there, in stasis, she will be 39 when she gets there, but the sister on Chara will have experienced 30 years and will be 58. So the age differential is the same, but the plot of my book is screwed. I had the second mission arriving ten years after the first. For that to be the case, they would have to have left 20 years before the first arrived, Earth time.

I have a couple of problems here. I am wedded to only ten years having passed since the end of the last book. Can't tell you why without spoilers. I also need the sister to be on this second mission. And the second mission has to be aware of the events of the first before they leave Earth. At this point the only solution I can think of is FTL travel.

Book Idea

UFOs are extraterrestrial, but not extrasolar. They come from another environment/alien biosphere in our own solar system, whether it be Titan, the interior of one of the gas giants, or even the sun itself.

Just putting this here. Nobody reads this blog as far as I know, but if someone wants to run with the idea, go for it.