Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 164

Three little words

Three little words: "Women were taken" made all the difference in the world when I added them to Rome's Revolution.

In yesterday's post, I discussed the evolution of the Chara mission. It went from being an Ark full of criminals to the main hope of the Darwin Project for re-conquering the Earth for America. Instead of bad people, it was chock full of the best soldiers we had to offer. This set up the entire plot line behind the historical novel interleaved in The Ark Lords.

Once I knew about the change, I thought about such a mission and how it would alter the dynamics and distribution of personnel. The leaders of the Darwin Project had to balance the military needs against likely scenarios. One possible scenario was that the Earth was devoid of all humans. So they had to send a goodly number of women along, about 100, to ensure that there were enough mating pairs to repopulate the Earth, just in case.

Another scenario was that the Earth was fully repopulated and the soldiers were going to have to conquer untold thousands or millions of people. They had to put more men (not women) on the ship, about 400. The feeling was that if humans survived, there would be fertile women who could be captured and used as breeders. I realize that this is completely sexist and not politically correct but these decisions were made by the mission planners. Such a fate befell Helen Henry as depicted in The Ark Lords.

To make this strategy clear, I added the three little words 'Women were taken' to one part of Rome's Revolution. It was during one of OMCOM's long expositions on the past (our future) to explain to Rei why the Essessoni are so despised by the Vuduri. Just adding that sentence made it all click in. Who would have thought that three simple words could make such a big difference?

The evolution of the Chara mission

When I first started the modern long-form version of Rome's Revolution, I had always planned for five Arks but their destinations and crew makeup were different. Ark I was always intended to go to Alpha Centauri. The short story I wrote about Silas Hiram was supposed to be the prologue to the original book. It was removed when I had to compress the first three books into an omnibus. It is still one of my most favorite stories (and I think best written) and will appear in The Vuduri Companion which will be out early next year. The Ark II, Rei's Ark, was always intended to go to Tau Ceti. After all, that is the whole basis of our story. Ark III was originally supposed to go to Beta Hydrii. Ark IV was going to go to 82 G. Eridani and Ark V was going to go to Nu2 Lupi.

I had even created the demographic makeup of each of the Arks and I filled Ark IV with murders, rapists and generally the scum of the Earth. The theory was that nobody knew what kind of people it would take to survive on an alien world. So they tried putting a bunch of criminals in Ark IV thinking that might be the toughness they need. Originally, that was the Ark that returned to Earth and brought the Erklirte, the Ark Lords.

But when I came up with the idea for the novel for The Ark Lords, I had to switch everything up. I left the Deucadons traveling in Ark III but made their target 82 G. Eridani instead. I moved up Ark IV and made it go to Nu2 Lupi. That was now supposed to be the last Ark. You'll find out what happened to those people in the upcoming novel, The Milk Run.

Now I was able to redirect Ark V to Chara. It was called "The Stealth Ark" because it wasn't on the books. It was no longer filled with criminals but rather the toughest of the tough soldiers who had but one mission: to return to Earth and reclaim it for America. They were the fail-safe alternative to the inoculation program for Virus Strain 4 and whether or not any Darwin Project members ever returned from the habitable planets.

The Kepler Mission has given us loads of information about exo-planets. 136 have been confirmed as of today. So I just figured by 2067 AD, we'd have a pretty good idea of which stars had suitable worlds. That was why Rei was so surprised that an extra Ark was sent to Chara. If there was to be a fifth Ark, he would have guessed it would be sent to Beta Hydrii.

That's the cool thing about being able to upload new versions and print new versions of a book. If you have to go back and modify them (slightly, please!), you can do so. The version of Rome's Revolution that is out now is consistent with the revised future history.

Feet, meters and miles

In a previous post, I discussed the fact that in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, the Vuduri kept what is called metric time. I left in a few references (like OMCOM says one of your months) but mostly it has all been excised to squash the size of the book.

But what about distances? It would appear as if I am completely inconsistent in whether I measure distances in feet, meters, kilometers or miles.

The fact is, I am very consistent, but I need to explain my writing rules. The books are told from the perspective of Rei Bierak. My assumption is by the year 2067 AD, even the US caves into the metric system. So you will never see Rei mention anything other than meters, kilometers, kilograms, etc. I just presumed the Vuduri would continue using this system of measurement (why not?) so you will never see Rome or OMCOM or MINIMCOM refer to anything other than kilometers, kilograms, etc.

However, as an average American, I still cling to my inches, feet, yards and miles. And ounces and pounds. So as the writer, when I am addressing some point to you, the reader, I use English units. In Rome's Revolution, I said the diameter of the crater at Kilauea was 1/2 mile. In The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution, when I gave you heights or distances for reference, I used miles.

So there it is, when the characters speak, they use meters and kilometers. When I "speak" I use feet, inches and miles.

P.S. I got interviewed on KWOD Internet radio. You can click here to listen.

World-building

A little known secret about the world of Rome's Revolution is just how did the whole 35th century, mind-connected Vuduri element come about? The answer is lengthy but at its core, the truth is, I just wanted to have a dramatic scene where my 21st century hero Rei (pronounced Ray, not rye) was all alone on the surface of a moon, in a spacesuit with no radio. But who the hell would build a spacesuit without a radio? Why, people who were mind-connected, of course. They wouldn't need radios. With that simple realization, I was off to the races.

I had to postulate a 24th chromosome which imbued my people of the future, the Vuduri, with such an ability. I further realized that if everybody could read everybody else's mind, there was no privacy, not even of thought. This would cause people to suppress their natural creativity to point of being deadly dull. When Rei first meets my heroine, Rome, she has almost no personality. It wasn't until she is isolated from the Overmind, the group consciousness that was a byproduct of the Vuduri mind connections, that her soul was revealed. Even though they were born centuries apart, they could not help but fall in love.

With regard to the rest of the Vuduri culture and technology, I wanted to "reboot" mankind so I introduced The Great Dying in the year 2081 AD. Over nine billion people died causing mankind to become nearly extinct. Who was behind this terrible tragedy is at the core of the sequel to Rome's Revolution entitled The Ark Lords. The remaining handful of humans were knocked back to the Dark Ages so by the time Rei is thawed in the 35th century, the Vuduri have finally created a world which was just past our level of technology but having taken a complete left turn.

Much of the Vuduri creed was to not do things the way people did them in the past so as to avoid the catastrophe that hit the Earth just after Rei left on his Ark. Their power sources are infinite and sustainable. They have an FTL star-drive based on principles known today. They have a healthy fear of sentient computers. And crucial to the central conflict in the novel, they hold us, the people of the 21st century, responsible for the devastation of The Great Dying. They regard us with such disdain that Rome is ejected from the mass-mind (a process called Cesdiud in Vuduri), just for consorting with Rei.

After the initial shock wears off, it takes Rome a little while to learn to think for herself. Eventually she realizes how crucial this is to the survival of mankind and ends up transforming her society into something which is a hybrid of the two cultures. And that is why the trilogy is entitled Rome's Revolution.

For more details on what it takes to build an entire universe, see my blog entitled Tales of the Vuduri. It is 250 articles to date and I'm just getting started! If you like hard science fiction, there is lots of juicy stuff waiting for you.

No windshields

Bruce was busy designing the air cars for an upcoming trailer for Rome's Evolution and his designs had windshields. I told him there were no windshields on their vehicles. He said what about bugs? As I explained in a previous post, there are no insects on Deucado.

He countered with what about dirt and so forth. I told him the air cars didn't fly fast enough to whip up dirt. He insists there have to be windshields so I relented and said go ahead because, after all, he is doing all the work.

I did offer up an alternate possibility: that the air cars had a little tray of sunglasses or goggles that people put on upon stepping in but he shot that down too. In my mind, I always thought of the air cars as the just the modern version of the Flinstone's car (minus the feet):



See, no windshield!

My "brand" as a writer

I was reading a blogger's notes the other day about what it takes to successfully promote yourself. One thing that they seemed to think was important was creating a brand for yourself. What is a writer's brand? It is a short catch-phrase that describes your writing style or voice such that one person can communicate to another why they should buy your books, in a very succinct way. You're supposed to be able to tell your friend, hey, did you read the new book by so-and-so? Who is that? the friend asks. Oh, he writes syrupy zombie apocalypse novels from a vampire's point of view. That way the friend knows instantly what to expect. It will somehow distinguish you from the torrent of new writers appearing every day. Some have gone so far as to state that you cannot have success without a personal brand. Developing a personal brand will help your readers to somehow trust you more. It will somehow capture you a larget segment of a vapor-thin audience. It will allow you to connect to the ever-growing hordes of followers. It will somehow magically motivate potential customers into buying your books. It allows you to build your Author Platform!

Do you believe this? I don't but who am I to say. So what is my brand? I have to list the things I write about then tie them all together so that I cement my identity. I love to write. That's not a brand. I want my stories to entertain and educate. That's something. I like to write action and adventure as well as thoroughly research the science behind the science fiction. I don't write fantasy, you'll see no YA vampire novels from me. My style of science fiction is often called hard science fiction because the technology and physics must be (and pardon me for making up this word): "extrapolatable" from today's known universe. That doesn't mean I can't make up stuff from other universes but whatever can be fact-checked must check out. So my brand has to start out as hard science fiction. I want that in there so people know I don't write steampunk, alternative realities or speculative fiction. I like to entertain with plot-driven novels but so does everybody so I think I'll skip that part. I like action and adventure so I think I'll include that as well. What's left? I want people to know that everything is not bleak, that I include a little bit of humor. Alliteration works so make that a hint of humor. I also like to create realistic characters who grow and react to the world around them in a realistic way. The plots have to be believable or at least not forced.

So let's summarize: I like to write hard science fiction, featuring action and adventure with a hint of humor and three-dimensional characters that are believable. How to boil that down? What do you think of this?

Hard science fiction action and adventure with a hint of humor

Too wordy? Not enough? Your opinion is welcome.

The Last Cavalier, Part 3

This is the conclusion of the partially (ha) written novel about the survivors of the Great Dying and their first encounter with The Ark Lords. There is a lot stronger reference to long-lasting effects of global warming. It isn't much but it's all I've got.

     Chapter 3
     Mom was tough. She steeled herself and put her arm around me as we watched Dad ride off. Mostly Dad was gone for six months. Sometimes a little less. Recently, a little more. Dad wouldn’t tell us but the last time he came back, I watched him as he unpacked his arrows. He only had thirty left. I wondered what he did with the other twenty. Maybe he shot a rabbit or squirrel. Maybe something bigger. Mom always packed him enough jerky for the whole trip so I figured maybe he did it for variety. For fresh meat. But he never brought any back.
     He usually left in late November, just as the heat was easing up a bit. He did it for Tige who was in his twenties. The trip would have been too much for the old horse in the summer, what with the temperature in the hundreds. Walter, my horse, could have done it. But he was just a colt. We still had some practicing to do.
     Mom told me that there used to be four seasons, not two. She told me that summer only lasted until September then they had a season called the Fall. She said a long time ago, there used to be trees that grew their leaves and they’d fall off in September. That doesn’t happen any more. The only trees that live around here are evergreens and they don’t even have any leaves to fall off. In late November, there is a break in the weather and it gets tolerable for a few months. That’s when we plant our crops. We call it winter but Mom said that winter used to be cold. That there used to be white powder that fell from the sky called snow and it covered the ground. I can’t imagine. It doesn’t seem possible. What I wouldn’t give to be cold.
     So we planted our crops. Walter helped. He pulled the plow but he wasn’t very happy about it. We had to water every seed by hand. Sometimes it rained. Sometimes it poured. But every few years, there’d be no rain at all. I guess we were lucky. Our well never ran dry so the soybeans always had enough.

To tell you the truth, I don't think the story was dramatic enough to sustain an entire trilogy so I think the version I have now is good enough to give you a sense of the era, the Cavaliers and the rebellion against the Ark Lords. Even though this whole episode is a mainstay of the future history of Rome's Revolution, this is about as much detail as you are even going to get.

The Last Cavalier, Part 2c

Yesterday and the day before, I covered the first two portions of Chapter 2 of The Last Cavalier. Here is the final part:

     Chapter 2 (continued)
     “Yep,” Dad said. “You got it.” He put the arrow in the quiver which told me he really was happy, even though he didn’t look it. There were three arrows left.
     “You do the last few, Jakey,” he said. “I have to go pack.”
     “OK,” I said. I watched him go in the bedroom. His saddlebag was on the bed. I could hear Mom crying quietly. Dad ignored her. He put a few shirts in the bag and some other stuff then took off his work shirt and put on the white one, his Sunday Best.
     “Why, Jim?” she asked him. “Why not the black one?”
     “I have to Helen,” he said. “Everybody sees the black and runs. I have to show them that I’m different. That I’m true to the cause. The white will tell them something.”
     “They’re going to hate you no matter what color you wear,” she said. “They have all forgotten. They don’t want you to remind them. They want to pretend it never happened and never will again.”
     “It’s my job,” Dad said somberly. “It’s the job my father entrusted to me and the one that Jake will take over some day. It’s up to us. Father to son. It’s the only way. The Earth needs me.”
     “What about us?” Mom asked. “We need you too.”
     “Helen,” Dad said. “You knew I was a Cavalier when you married me. That was why you fell in love with me. Nothing has changed.”
     “Everything has changed,” she said. “Your precious Cavaliers are nothing but bullies and thieves. They don’t obey the rules themselves. Why should anybody else do it.”
     She stood up and put her arms around Dad’s neck. “Jim, stay here,” she said. “We don’t make a difference any more. Just be with us and some day, somebody else will figure it out.”
     Dad reached up and pulled her arms off his neck. “Can’t,” he said. And that was the end of it. “I leave tomorrow,” he said.

You can see where I stole the Sunday Best white shirt to fold into The Ark Lords. Tomorrow, the last little remnants of Chapter 3. After that, more on the world of Rome's Revolution.

The Last Cavalier, Part 2b

Yesterday, I covered the first part of Chapter 2 of The Last Cavalier. None of this ever appeared in Rome's Revolution but it had been planned as part of the back story. Here is the second part:

     Chapter 2 (continued)
     Dad slid the sharper stone along the table. I looked down at it. It was well worn having seen its share of arrows.
     “Dip the arrow head in the water,” he said. He moved the bowl toward me. “Then draw the arrow along the stone, first one way, then the other,” he said.
     I shrugged and did as he said. As soon as I pulled my first line, he said, “Stop!”
     “What?” I asked him.
     “You have to tilt the blade,” he said. “The way you were doing it, you were just dulling the blade. You are really trying to get the edge thin. You just grid away one side then the other until the edge is as thin as can be.”
     “How do I know?” I asked him.
     “When you can’t even feel the tip against the stone. Then there is nothing more to grind,” he said. “You have to understand everything about the world,” he said, his eyes blazing. “Your skin is made up of layers. The outer layer is really dead. Underneath the outer layer is the live skin and the blood. You push the arrow, just a little. If you feel it slide through the outer layer, it’s sharp enough. You don’t need to push hard. If you have to push at all, then it needs more sharpening. You’ll learn.”
     I nodded like I understood but all I know is that the arrow cut me. But if I was going to be a Cavalier, I had to learn.
     “Can I try again?” I asked him.
     “Sure,” he said, handing me another arrow.
     I sharpened the arrow like before. I could tell when it was right. But this time, when it came time to test it, I closed my eyes and tried to put my brain right on my other thumb. I let the arrow rest on it and applied just the tiniest amount of pressure. I could feel it sliding through the calloused part, just like Dad said. I stopped it before it cut me.

You can see where I stole the sharpening stone to fold into The Ark Lords. Tomorrow, the final part of Chapter 2 and the day after, the last little remnants of Chapter 3.

The Last Cavalier, Part 2a

This is the only full chapter I wrote for The Last Cavalier. None of the events here were mentioned in Rome's Revolution and I stole some of the detail to put in the historical part of The Ark Lords. I'll give you the next part tomorrow.

     Chapter 2
     It all started last year. Dad was getting ready to go out on his Long Ride. I knew it was getting close. It was always the same. Dad got quieter. We did our chores and sometimes we wouldn’t talk the whole day. And our meals. Mom always tried to make conversation but Dad would have none of it. Dad wouldn’t let Mom start a fire and she had to cook the food using the solar heater or the slow cook from the compost heat. It was hard but my mom knew she couldn’t break the rules. Not if Dad was going to go out and enforce them on other people. Dad kept a strict count of how many fires and how long and how many trees we planted.
     At night, I could hear Mom crying, yelling. Dad would never answer her back. I knew what it was about and I knew there was no answer. Dad was a Cavalier. He had to take the Long Ride. There was nobody else. The fact that everyone hated him and the other Cavaliers didn’t matter. It was our family’s birthright and our duty. Dad never shirked from it. He didn’t expect any thanks. The fact that he was protecting the Earth and all of Mankind, that was where he got his reward.
     Dad was sitting at the table, sharpening the tips of his cross-bow arrows. I counted nearly 50.
     “Why so many?” I asked him.
     “You never know what you’re going to run in to,” he said. He had his sharper stone on the table and dipped each arrow in water then ran it along the blade. Back and forth he drew it. Once in a while, he would touch the edge. When he was satisfied, he put the arrow in the quiver and started on the next one. When he was nearly done, he stopped.
     “Here,” he said, handing me an arrow. “You try it.”
     “Why?” I asked him.
     “Because you have to learn how some day,” he said. “It may as well be today.”

This is when I was still enforcing the "Rules of Green" and they weren't allowed to have open fires. I gave that up pretty fast as impractical. More tomorrow.