Michael Brachman's Blog: Tales of the Vuduri, page 4

Interview with Rome I - Part 7 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 7 of 17.
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Perry: You must have been very sad.
Rome: I was but by this point, I was so good at burying my emotions that I didn’t show much of anything. My mother was distraught and held onto me the whole time. I held her back but I pushed away my feelings. I think that hurt my mother even more but she never chastised me about it. My mother never truly really recovered. It was like a part of her was gone. I didn’t really understand what she was going through until I met Rei. Since that time, I’ve experienced that sense of loss several times. I try not to feel guilty about it but sometimes I can’t help it. I should have been there for her more but the world I lived in didn’t permit it.
Perry: I understand when you were growing up, and before that, most children were not raised by their parents. Didn’t that allow you some leeway?
Rome: You’re correct. A standard issue “good” Vuduri is chosen by the Overmind to procreate. The mother is selected and made to ovulate. The father, really sperm donor, is selected and inseminates her. Roughly 280 days later, the baby is born. As soon as it is able, it’s transported to a creche and raised with the other children. Those children never even know their parents. The fact that my parents raised me was very unusual but then my whole situation was unusual.
Perry: Continue
Rome: When it was time to specialize, as I said, I was assigned to data archiving and also trained as a computer lutteur. To be completely frank, I was very, very good at it. Easily the best in my class. But once again, being a mosdurece reared its ugly head. I was passed over time and again for various assignments. My duties back then, well, they were boring. I knew my talents were being wasted but I had long since relinquished a way to protest.
Perry: But you were selected for the mission to Tabit.
Rome: Yes. Commander Ursay was put in charge of staffing the mission. He was not burdened by the same prejudice as others. I remember the day he walked into, I suppose you would call it our place of employment, and simply pointed to me. I knew exactly what it was about. I collected my things and walked out and never looked back. I could tell my peers were jealous but a Vuduri would never admit such a thing. In Iomas, in 1374, we boarded the Algol and took off for Tabit. I was 24 at the time. A little old for my first assignment but this was very, very important.
Perry: How long did it take you to get out there? To Tabit?
Rome: 104 days, or at least that is what our timepieces told us.
Perry: I understand the distance back then, with just the PPT drive, was formidable. What did you do during that time?
Rome: During the entire trip, first and foremost, we exercised. Obviously, we ate and slept. The remainder of the time was more of mental exercise. We worked on integration and development of our Overmind. It was actually fairly intense.
Perry: You said what your timepieces told you. From what I know, they were off somehow?
(Rome nods)

Tomorrow, part 8

Interview with Rome I - Part 6 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 6 of 17.
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Perry: So what was it like growing up? With your Second Sight?
Rome: As a mosdurece, a half-blood, I was always looked down upon by my peers. However, even though I agreed to Second Sight, it controlled my emotions and memories but not my eye-hand coordination. So I was very skilled at certain athletic endeavors, like dadar-fo and that’s why I was eventually selected to become a data archivist. A person using Second Sight and only Second Sight would miss out on a lot of detail.
Perry: Were there any parts to your childhood that were happy?
Rome: Some. I loved my parents but wasn’t allowed to show it. I loved my Skodla and the sensation of holding him. He was funny. He would always follow me everywhere. When I went to school, he would follow me there and when I came out, he was still there, waiting and followed me home. He came when I called. He loved to sit on my lap. As I understand it, he wasn’t very cat-like. Most of his behaviors were more like those ascribed to dogs. But he was mine and no matter how my peers made fun of me, they couldn’t take that part away. Those two parts of my life, my parents and my cat, they made me happy. (Rome takes a halting breath) I just wish I could have expressed it more.
(Rome wipes a tear from her left eye)
Perry: What was your school like?
Rome: For a Vuduri, being hooked into the Overmind, you have access to more or less the entire accumulated knowledge of mankind. So there really wasn’t much in terms of learning facts, like we do here. It was more geared toward physical prowess. And like I said, I had exceptional eye-hand coordination. As part of our training, we had dadar-fo matches to measure our progress. My team almost always won. But as a mosdurece, there came a point where I was excluded, not because of my abilities but because of my background.
Perry: That’s terrible.
(Rome shrugs)
Rome: I suppose, from your perspective, I can see why. But for me, it was how life was. I had no choice but to accept it.
Perry: I can see that. (Looks down at his tablet) I know about the incident with your father. If it’s not too uncomfortable, can you discuss that for a bit?
(Rome sighs)
Rome: When I was 16, during our spring visit to Havei, my father went out on his mission and never came back.
Perry: But he is here today…
Rome: Yes. We found out much later that the Onsiras were in full-blown cleansing mode. They had every mandasurte ranked and my father ranked highly. They kidnapped him and his entire crew right off of their ship and whisked them away to here, Deucado, which was being run at a prison planet back then. But we didn’t know this at the time. They found the ship, empty. They searched at sea for 10 days but never found a single body. My father’s relatives had a memorial service for him, we couldn’t have a funeral. And that was that. My mother and I returned to I-cimaci and I never went back, well, at least for another 10 years.

Tomorrow, part 7

Interview with Rome I - Part 5 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 5 of 17.
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Rome: This is a harsh word but I was tortured. My mother was strong enough to push the Overmind away. She had a very loving relationship with my father. And they both loved me. I knew I was not supposed to have feelings but I did. The Overmind took advantage of me and broke me when I was only six.
Perry: What do you mean broke you?
Rome: When I was six, I found a tiny kitten huddled up against the wall, mewling. I picked it up and it was shivering.
Perry: How did it get there?
Rome: I don’t know. Maybe the Overmind had it put there? I don’t know but I just knew when I picked it up, it stopped its shivering right away and just started purring so loud. It was soft and warm. I stroked it. My mother was alerted and my parents came outside. My mother was against me keeping it. The Overmind, it used Second Sight to show me that my parents were arguing about it. They weren’t. My father said I could keep it if I promised to feed it and take care of it. I promised I would. The Overmind told me it didn’t matter. It would have the kitten removed. I begged it to let me keep it. It agreed but only if I would submit to Second Sight for the rest of my life.
Perry: You keep mentioning that. What is Second Sight?
Rome: It’s where the Overmind supplies the actual sensory input for you instead trusting your own eyes and ears. That way it could control your very perception of the world.
Perry: That sounds horrible. What happened? Did you agree?
(Rome holds out her hands)
Rome: What was I supposed to do? I was only six years old. All I knew was that the kitten was mine and the sensations were mine and nobody could take those away. So yes, I agreed. I kept the kitten and named him Skodla and he was with me for over 21 years.
Perry: And that was it? Second Sight for you?
(Rome bows her head)
Rome: Yes. For the most part. But what a terrible price to pay. It just goes to show you that the Overmind isn’t human and had not a clue what it means to be human. What it took away from me. I can still feel the pain today if I try.
(Rome looks over her shoulder)
Rome: Not the Overmind here, though. I’m talking about the Overmind of Earth. The Overmind here was young enough and flexible enough that after we had days of discussion, it learned the meaning of having joy and was willing to relax its grip on the Vuduri here. This eventually spread to Earth but it took a long time.
Perry: Rome’s Revolution
(Rome gives a half-smile)

Tomorrow, part 6

Interview with Rome I - Part 4 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 4 of 178.
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Rome: OK, let’s say that the soul exists. And if it does, then it’s a part of the continuum of being self-aware. To that degree, my mother and father became Asborodi Cimponeti, in English, companion spirits or perhaps soul mates. And that was that. They never left each other’s side again, so to speak. I was born not even a year later.
Perry: What did the Overmind think of this?
Rome: From what my mother told me; it was furious. It wanted me back in I-cimaci for training. Really bait when you think about it. But my mother is a very strong woman. After I was born, the Overmind finally struck a deal with my mother after months of pleading. My father really only needed to be in Havei four times a year for about a week at a time. The rest of the time was charting and analysis which he could do from anywhere. So the deal they struck was that my parents would move back to I-cimaci and my father given all the resources he needed to do his work. Twice a year, he would go by himself back to Havei. The other two times a year, my mother and I would accompany him and spend the week with my relatives on my father’s side. One trip was always right around my birthday and I enjoyed that.
Perry: Well, that sounds nice.
Rome: You would think. But at that point in my life, I was a quote good Vuduri. And good Vuduri don’t enjoy anything. I was not allowed to show it on the outside. My cousins always made fun of me and called me grumpy. But I had these feelings and I had to bury them down so deep that nobody, not the Overmind, not other Vuduri, ever knew they were there. I was barely aware of them myself.
Perry: So what changed?
Rome: When we were on Tabit, when I first met Rei, the Overmind there wanted me to use my Espansor bands with him to ferret out the truth. To find out if Rei and his group were really Erklirte, Ark Lords. But the Overmind there was very prissy. It didn’t want to be “soiled” by contact with an Essessoni mind so it had me use a T-suppressor along with my band. Since I already had a genetic predisposition toward what my mother experienced, I suppose it was inevitable given the right circumstances. I mean, Rei is a wonderful man but if he was not the right one, it wouldn’t have happened. Ask yourself what are the chances that I would meet him 26 light years from Earth and 14 centuries after he was born? The odds are so infinitesimal, the only way it could happen would have been if he and I were meant to be Asborodi Cimpaneti as well.
Perry: And that changed you?
Rome: My goodness, yes. For one thing, I was ejected from the Overmind more or less instantaneously. It’s called Cesdiud in Vuduri. In a very real way, I was reborn on that day and like all newborns, I wasn’t very happy to be thrust into the world. I screamed and I cried. It took me a while to calm down.
Perry: I’ve only known you this way, it seems like this is really you.
Rome: Yes. This is the real me. And this should have been the real me all along. It took Rei and that happy accident to liberate me and leave me to start thinking for myself. As a side benefit, all the memories that I had suppressed for all those years came flooding back and it was like my childhood had been restored.
Perry: What was your childhood like?

Tomorrow, part 5

Interview with Rome I - Part 3 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 3 of 17.
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Perry: How did that work? Were they aware they were being used?
Rome: Yes. They knew. My mother was selected by the Overmind and trained and sent to seduce my father. (Rome breathes a quick burst) It was a success but not in the way the Overmind planned.
Perry: How so?
Rome: My father is a wonderful man. Within the first few minutes after they met, my mother had a series of rapid and unfortunate events occur. She was injured and ill. That put her at a disadvantage. My father was so kind and caring that it melted my mother’s heart. She confessed to him the plan and even used Espansor bands to prove to him that she was telling the truth.
Perry: Espansor bands. I’ve heard of those. I’ve never actually seen them. There aren’t that many lying around. How did the bands fit into this picture?
Rome: Well, the bands are supposed to work a certain way. They essentially turn a mandasurte into a mind-connected Vuduri, at least temporarily. You’ve never been mind-connected so it’s hard to explain in terms you’d understand.
Perry: I’ll take your word for it.
Rome: Anyway, the connection is only supposed go so deep. Again, there can be no lies if someone is inside your head. As I said, she wanted to prove to my father that she was telling the truth. But the bands didn’t operate as designed…
Perry: I apologize but I have to ask you a quick question.
Rome: Of course.
Perry: I was born on Deucado. I have spent a lot of time with all the races here. Including the Vuduri. When they speak to me, they’re kind enough to speak in English but they are very formal in their tense and syntax. You speak like a native-born Essessoni. How did that happen?
(Rome laughs)
Rome: Too much time with my husband, I suppose. When I first learned English, I didn’t know about contractions, colloquialisms… I didn’t even understand humor. But I’ve been speaking English for so long that it all comes naturally to me. When I was younger, even after I thought I had a mastery of it, under times of great stress, my speech patterns still reverted to the more formal version of English but that hasn’t happened in a long time.
Perry: Thank you for that. So back to your parents?
Rome: Yes. You could say that the bands malfunctioned. My mother’s and father’s consciousness intertwined. Let me ask you: do you believe that the soul exists?
Perry: I only know of it second-hand. Your son was said to have gone to Heaven. If that’s true, then I suppose I have no choice but to believe.

Tomorrow, part 4

Interview with Rome I - Part 2 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 2 of 17.
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Perry: And I am honored because it. But getting back to you. I-cimaci is halfway around the world from Havei. How did your parents meet?
(Rome looks off into the distance)
Perry: Rome, I am familiar with your background. I’m not asking these questions to pry but to memorialize every element of your life so that future generations can know you as well as I do. And the people of Deucado do now. But that won’t always be the case.
Rome: I understand. But…
Perry: Please.
Rome: Very well. My father was a mandasurte scientist named Fridone.
Perry: Is he still alive? You said the word was.
(Rome nods)
Rome: I‘m happy to report that both of my parents are still alive. They are getting on in years but we will still have some time together. That’s one of the reasons why I decided it was time to step down. So I could be with them, to take care of them.
Perry: I understand. You were saying, he was a scientist.
Rome: Yes, he was a very good one. He was one of the architects of the worldwide fishing fleet here on Deucado. I’m very proud of him for that.
Perry: I knew that. But what did he do on Earth?
Rome: On Earth he studied migration patterns of many species of fish over the years. Sustainability was of paramount importance.
Perry: And your mother?
Rome: My mother was in the animal husbandry sector. As you know, Vuduri don’t normally speak and my mother was born with a strong voice so that was her lot in life. When she came here, she helped establish the imported bison herd on the central threadgrass plains. I’m equally as proud of her as I am of my father.
Perry: Of course. But back on Earth, how did they meet?
(Rome takes a breath)
Rome: The Vuduri and therefore the Overmind, cannot lie because there are no barriers to their thoughts. However, they’re very good at keeping secrets simply by burying the information within their minds. Back then, the Overmind had reason to believe that MASAL might still be alive, almost two centuries after he supposedly was destroyed. And even if MASAL was truly gone, the 24th chromosome was beginning to produce the two phenotypes of the Onsiras. The Overmind decided to create a eugenics program to test whether this trend could be reversed. The Overmind also deduced that if the program was a success, it would flush out either MASAL or the agents of MASAL and the Vuduri would be able to end the threat forever. The Overmind called the program Slayer, meaning the end result should have been the final and true destruction of MASAL and his plans. I am a product of that program. The Overmind put my parents together.

Tomorrow, part 3

Interview with Rome I - Part 1 of 17

As Steve Fisch and I get the scripts ready to sell Rome's Revolution as a streaming series, he asked me for a lot of background information that I did not have. So I took some time out to interview Rome and Rei. Rome was very talkative so I had to break up the interview into two parts. Rei was a bit more concise. So here is the first Rome interview, part 1 of 17.
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Interview with Rome on the day of her retirement as Provost of the University of Deucado and Director of the Library of Life outside of New Ark City. Upon her retirement, the positions were split into two separate posts. The new Provost of the University is a Deucadon named Libby. She is the daughter of Bukky and Helana. Bukky was the leader of the Deucadons when they first emerged from their underground city. The new Director of the Library is Perry Chung, son of Paul and April Chung, two of the original colonists from the Ark II. We met him briefly in the book Rome’s Evolution. Perry is the one conducting the interview.
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Perry: Thank you so much for sitting down with me and making this recording.
Rome: I’m still not sure why we’re doing this. I’ve already contributed everything I have to the Library and the University.
Perry: You certainly have but I was thinking more about you, to record your personal story. For future generations. After all, you and your husband are the two most important people to have ever come to Deucado, let alone what you did for Earth and all mankind.
(Rome blushes)
Rome: I’m not sure about that but it’s OK. We can do this.
Perry: Thank you. (Perry turns aside) You are recording this, right?
Library OMCOM: Affirmative
Perry: OK. Let’s start. (He looks down at his tablet). I don’t think this has ever been noted. When and where were you born?
Rome: I was born on Tiosemi, the second day of the second week of Tiomas, the second month of the year in 1349 PR, 3430 AD on the Essessoni calendar.
Perry: 2-2-2. That’s considered a lucky birthday, isn’t it?
Rome: The mandasurte believe so. The Vuduri, of course, don’t believe in luck.
Perry: And where were you born?
Rome: I was born on Earth, in place called Wailea, on the island of Mowei, Havei. Your parents would have called it Maui, a part of Hawaii.
Perry: That is where your parents were from?
Rome: My father, yes. He is a native. My mother was from I-cimaci. Are you familiar with Earth’s geography?
Perry: Of course. I have spent a lot of time here absorbing the materials you’ve collected.
(Rome nods)
Rome: Yes, I know. That was just one of the many reasons that you were selected for this post.

Tomorrow, part 2

My Logline

In our current Twitter-fueled, Instagram-driven market, it is crucial that you have a catchy logline. A logline is an instantly appealing and memorable sentence, far briefer than an elevator pitch, summarizing your work. Your logline should capture the imagination of the person who is receiving your pitch. You also owe it to your creative work that the logline correctly encapsulates the main idea of your book or movie. So here is my logline:

A man from the past and a woman from the future unite to fight forces dedicated to the destruction of mankind.

Let's parse this out:

First, my hero Rei is from the past and that is a critical aspect of his character. It means his personality and worldview are formed in a time different from the universe in which he is awakened. Rei is basically us.

Second, my heroine Rome is from the future, well at least from our future, and again it means her personality and worldview are of her time.

The next section, "unite", is meant to let you know that the two hook up. Rome's Revolution is supposed to be a love story but it is not a story about romantic pursuit. The two main characters join forces very early in the story and the series is actually about the Rei/Rome system that take on the outside forces. While they love each other, getting to that point is not the main element of the story.

The next section, "fight forces", is meant to capture the broad range of villains and dangers Rome and Rei encounter. The forces include OMCOM, the VIRUS units, the Stareaters, the Onsiras, the Overmind of Deucado, the Darwin group, MASAL and MASAL's Sipre among others. I had to boil all of those down to one word!

The final portion, "dedicated to the destruction of mankind", is a little misleading. Not all of the dangers threaten the human species. Certainly unchecked VIRUS units would, the Stareaters for sure and that was MASAL's whole plan. So while not 100% accurate, it is close enough.

I am most proud of the construction of the logline itself. I tried to use rhyming and alliteration to make the sentence punchy. "From the future", alliteration. "Unite to fight", rhyme. "Fight forces", alliteration. "Dedicated to the destruction", alliteration.

I worked on this sentence for two weeks! What do you think?

Clearing up the confusion

I got a note today from a reader who was confused about my new series entitled The Rome's Revolution Saga. To clear up the confusion, a little background is in order. Your first book should be your best book and my original version of Rome's Revolution definitely was not my best writing. I'd like to think I've improved over the last eight years. I decided to completely rewrite the first third of Rome's Revolution, heavily edit the second portion and edit the final portion.

To accomplish this, I took Rome's Revolution and broke it up into three smaller books. Rebirth: Book 1 of The Rome's Revolution Saga, Rebellion: Book 2 of The Rome's Revolution Saga and Redemption: Book 3 of The Rome's Revolution Saga. Here are the three covers:



If you bought all three of the smaller books, you would not need to buy Rome's Revolution. If you bought Rome's Revolution, you wouldn't need to buy the three smaller books.

I had to do it this way so that I could record Rebirth as an audiobook which is now available on Audible.com. I hope to record the second part, Rebellion, this winter and the third part next year. At that point, all I would need to do to create the audiobook version of Rome's Revolution is change the chapter numbers.

So here are your two "tracks" which ultimately are exactly the same content:

Track 1: Rome's Revolution, The Ark Lords, Rome's Evolution, The Milk Run and The Vuduri Companion.

or

Track 2: Rebirth, Rebellion, Redemption, The Ark Lords, Rome's Evolution, The Milk Run and The Vuduri Companion.

All the buy links for the new three-part version are available at the Rome's Revolution web site along with samples of Rebirth, Rebellion and Redemption.

Clear? Clear as mud?

Goodbye for now

Well, this is it. My last blog post. I have been writing this blog for five years now and it is a very taxing venture. Including this entry, it is 1839 posts and well over 725,000 words. It sure feels like it's enough for a while.

I've learned an awful lot about the world of science and technology. I've explored the motivations of my characters and discovered hidden depths that I didn't even realize were there. I've practiced the craft of writing enough that it is time to harness all that and get back to cranking out novels.

As I've mentioned before, I have decided to go back and rewrite Rome's Revolution. I am going to split it up into three, shorter, 60,000-word novels and publish them separately under the title of The Rome's Revolution Saga. I also want to record each of these new versions as audiobooks. The combination of new, more digestible novels coupled with audiobooks should gain me a new audience. Plus as a bonus, I'll be able to combine the three separate novels back into the Second Edition of Rome's Revolution which will become a 180,000 word epic.

But that isn't all. As soon as the whole Saga venture is complete, then I want to go after the really big prize. I want to find an agent who will get me in the door of Netflix or another streaming service. I have a good six years worth of series for them. And they are always looking for fresh, original material and the 35th century world of the Vuduri could supply that. Right?

I can't do all the above and continue to devote my time to this blog so I decided to hit the pause button for the foreseeable future. I am not abandoning it completely. I won't delete it. I may come back to this blog at a future time to write about some idea or something happening in the world of science but certainly not every day.

I hope you have enjoyed this series. I know I have enjoyed writing it but all good things must come to an end at some point. As far as the future, I hope to see you on Netflix!