Adam Alexander's Blog, page 2

Serialization of "Archangel": Chapter 9

Have just added chapter nine to the serialization of Archangel. Link to entire series so far is here

Starship 4: The End is Nigh!!!

So, the Starship 4 word count is now in the low 80,000s, which basically means I can see the end. "The end" is always a tricky time for yours truly. On the one hand, I can see it, which means all the planning and writing is going to count for something. On the other hand, now that I can see it, what if the whole thing is total garbage?

One of the big differences between writing a novel and reading one, is that reading is long and straight. You pick up a book, you read until the end (or you toss it 'cause it's crap). But you write a novel in itty bitty chunks, a few hundred (sometimes a few dozen) words at a time. Because of that, I genuinely have no idea if what I've written is any good. The chunks are good (I think!), but is it going to hang together? Is the pacing right? Was it worth the effort? These are questions that can't be answered until the first draft is finished, and I can morph from writer to reader. Usually, I read my first drafts with a sense of relief: that there's a novel in there somewhere. It just needs to be tinkered with and polished (a lot!). But with this one? Who knows? Maybe this is the one that's just so bad it's not worth going on with! Or maybe it's the next great best seller??? Time - as always - will tell!

Serialization of "Archangel": Chapter 8

Have just added chapter eight to the serialization of Archangel. Link to entire series so far is here

Serialization of "Archangel": New Chapter

Have just added a new chapter to the serialization of Archangel. Link to entire series so far is here

Back Page Blurb for The Deep Tunnel

The Deep Tunnel is grinding it's way toward publication. My distributor thinks the first 100 pages are a bit slow so, once I get the comments back, I can tidy that up. After that (I hope!) we are off to the races!

In the meantime, I have finally figured out some back page language for the book. Drafting it has been almost as difficult as writing the novel in the first place! Anyway, here it is. Subject, as always, to me changing my mind....

Having foiled an alien invasion with the help of some very out-of-town friends, Andromeda Brown’s seventh grade future looks set: boredom at school, hi-tech help with her homework, and – hopefully – only modest amounts of detention. The world, however, has other ideas. A grisly death in the Chicago sewers can mean only one thing. The alien Kulrada are back. Even worse, her father has decided she needs a nanny. A human nanny would be bad enough, but no human being would wear so much beige. Andromeda’s nanny is totally a Kulrada robot. Not knowing what she looks like, the nannybot must have been searching for her all summer, and now, somehow, it’s cooking dinner in her kitchen. If Andromeda lays low, her out-of-town friends will be unable to stop alien invasion 2.0. If she tries to do something, her cover will be blown, and the nannybot will tear Andromeda and everyone she knows to pieces. Andromeda’s life has once again become impossibly complicated. And that’s not even counting the sudden rash of earthquakes.

Back Page Blurb for Starship 4

Sooo.... I'm 63,000 words into this novel (it's been slow going) and I'm ready to have a stab at a back page synopsis. Not sure Ravi is quite as nuts as I'm making out, but here it is anyway!

A pinprick of heat and light in the middle of nowhere, Interstellar Vehicle Archimedes has been hurtling through space for more than five generations. Her journey, however, is almost over. For the first time in her history, the aging ship is preparing to decelerate, to fall into the gravity well of Tau Ceti, the Destination Star.

For trainee technician Ravi MacLeod, the world he has known is coming to an end. He will spend the rest of his life unprotected, scrambling for shelter on the outside of some giant rock. As Deceleration Day approaches, he is plagued by bizarre nightmares, and visions of a girl who cannot exist. In their strange way, the nightmares and the girl are telling him the same thing: that the Archimedes is in terrible danger. Unsure of his sanity, Ravi is haunted by a belief that the voices in his head are somehow real. But if they are somehow real, he has no idea if they can be trusted. If he takes them at their word, he will have to betray his home and his shipmates and lay them open to destruction. If he ignores them and reports for treatment, he could leave everything he loves hurtling toward disaster. With the light of the Destination Star growing brighter by the day, time is running out. Ravi must choose, and quickly. Because in space, someone might hear you dream.

Is my character gay? Does it matter?

Cmdr. Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) in Babylon 5

So, I'm working my way through my new novel, Starship 4. FWIW, I'm about 16,000 words in and things are really starting to take shape. One of the things taking shape is the personality of the novel's female lead, Boz. The moniker, by the way, has been shamelessly stolen from Charles Dickens, who used it as a pen name back in the day. But I digress. Boz is the cousin of the the novel's protagonist, Ravi MacLeod. She is outgoing, charming, and utterly reckless. She may also be gay. In my own mind, to be perfectly honest, she is gay. So far as I can tell, Boz's sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with the story I'm trying to tell here. And yet, there it is, firmly planted in my mind every time I write her: "Boz is gay." I'm not gay myself, I have no particular insight into what being gay is like, but I am creating a character that is telling me in no uncertain terms that she's gay.

The question that presents itself is this: what, if anything, am I going to do about it? She is a fifth generation crewman on vessel that's been traveling through interstellar space for 132 years. But the society that's evolved out there wouldn't have any particular concern about sexual orientation - at least I don't think so. Maybe in a different set of circumstances, where test-tube babies were an impossibility, a multi-generation starship might have very strong taboos against homosexuality, but that doesn't seem very likely in the world of Starship 4. So, if her sexual orientation is unremarkable, is there any point in bringing it out? On the other hand, it is something of note in the "real" world. Is there some merit in letting people know? On the third hand (this is sci-fi!), if you go out of your way to let people know, aren't you just pandering?

I recall reading somewhere that JK Rowling believed Albus Dumbledore (of Harry Potter fame) was gay, although it never made it into the books. And Commander Susan Ivanova of the late, great Babylon 5 TV show might have been gay, although it was never fully resolved. Presumably, JK Rowling took the view Dumbledore's backstory didn't advance the plot, while Babylon 5's writers didn't think their viewers and/or network could handle it. As I sit here, I'm confident my beloved readers could handle pretty much anything I throw at them, which just leaves the issue of whether it has any place in the story I'm telling.

You know what? I think I'll let Boz decide for herself. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Crowdfunding for DartFrog

Below is an excerpt from my distributor's crowd funding site. They do a terrific job - and would do even more with your help. Here's the link!

DartFrog is about selecting the best self-published literature in the world, and creating a mainstream market for it. Our team of evaluators selects books that we then distribute to mainstream independent bookstores. But we need your help.

First, we need to design and manufacture an especially engaging DartFrog display that can be placed in bookstores and filled with our top picks. DartFrog is all about helping the truly exceptional independent writers distinguish themselves from the masses of mediocre self-published books/authors, and providing bookstores with a way to highlight these books is an important piece of the plan.

But supporting DartFrog is not only about designing a cool display stand. It's about having a voice in a publishing label committed to shifting power from the publisher to the author. It's about becoming a shareholder in a publishing label that intentionally chooses not to sell on Amazon, in order to provide authors a better royalty and independent bookstores with exclusive content. Supporting DartFrog is about helping to shape the future of publishing by creating mainstream exposure for talented authors whose work may otherwise never be discovered.

If you'd like to help us level the playing field; if you'd like to help us open the world of mainstream bookselling to the truly exceptional independent writers; if you'd like to help us redefine publishing in favor of authors rather than corporations; if you'd like to help us create a new brand that will represent the very best in self-published literature, we'd be most grateful.

Starship 4 is launched

So, I'm about 4,000 words into my new (fourth!) novel, Starship 4, set on a generational starship nearing its destination. Even though I have a fairly detailed outline of the plot, experience tells us that the characters will go in a very different direction from the one I presently have planned. That said, I'm reasonably confident about a few things.

(1) The characters will be ambivalent about the end of the journey. People don't like change, even for the better, so moving from a confined, well-understood world, to the random wilderness of a gigantic planet is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

(2) My whole preparation for this book has been poisoned by the US general election campaign, which, even by our standards, has been peculiarly fact-free. As a result one of the book's sub-plots involves a group of people who simply don't want to deal with the truth about their situation - with potentially tragic consequences.

(3) Finally, I want to play around with artificial intelligence. I'm writing this particular post from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where self-driving ubers are criss-crossing downtown even as I speak. The temptation to write about the impending arrival of AI in our lives has proven irresistible. Not least, the answer to the following question: what happens if artificial intelligence proves to be less intelligent than we presently imagine?

Time to write!

Mars? Like Soon????

Elon Musk presents his Mars colonization concept (Courtesy Dave Mosher/Business Insider)

Have been reading up on Elon Musk's thoughts on how we can start colonizing Mars by 2024. SAY WHAAAAT?????? That's eight years away! I'd still be alive!

Which raises this question: would I go? Even Elon Musk admits that there is a "high chance of death." So I guess a better question is: am I prepared to die for the privilege of standing on another planet?

Well... yes. By 2024 my daughter will be almost out of college (Hopefully. I don't want to be still spending my Mars ticket money on her tuition....) and I'll be getting on a bit anyway. The dogs will no longer be with us and the cat won't care. Which just leaves... the wife. I can't see that conversation going well, can you? Of course, 2024 is still a ways away. By my calculation, that leaves at least 2,922 separate opportunities to leave the toilet seat up. Hmmmmm. If I play my cards right, she might pay me to go to Mars.