Virtual Wars: Update

Virtual Wars - Background

Harper Rawls was born on a Thursday — October 29, 2161. Her son, Bodhi, was born on a Thursday also — April 21, 2185. Larken Marche, her brother Oliver, and the twenty-eight other models that made up the “Firsts” were “born” on a Monday — January 31, 2185, the same year but a bit earlier than Bodhi.

Bodhi Rising, the novel that covers Bodhi’s brief rise to power and then the consequences of his decisions along the way, covers a four-year period from when Bodhi nearly dies of his chronic disease, to when Bodhi develops his revolutionary virtual world, which paves the way for Libera, Goddess of Worlds.

One thing you might have noticed when reading Bodhi Rising is that Dr. Alexander “Torrent” Toussaint, core to Models and Citizens, doesn’t have much presence. For a novel in which his one natural son gets a brand new body and invents a new technology, Torrent is largely absent except at the very beginning as the story follows Bodhi and Christine’s toxic relationship. 

What is Torrent doing that entire time that keeps pulling him away from Bodhi? Well, one small explanation in Bodhi Rising has more to do with business commitments. But The First, the novel in my upcoming Virtual Wars series, explains a lot more of about what was happening during that time period. Larken and Oliver are coming of age at the same time that Bodhi is, and when Oliver is accused of a crime — a crime that one of the other Firsts likely committed — he and Larken, along with some friends and a few of the other Firsts collectively referred to as the Fourphans, seek out Torrent for help. As you may well have guessed having read Models and Citizens, Torrent’s ability to help anyone is severely limited by his selfish streak, so though he does try to help, he has trouble being all that helpful. But he tries, as you’ll see at the beginning of Virtual Wars.

There are a lot of holes that have to be filled in. Some of those are handled in Ordell. If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, go sign up for my newsletter. (You could buy it on Amazon, but it isn’t actually intended to be sold, which is why it’s priced pretty high. You can get it for free by joining my mailing list.) Bodhi Rising ends in 2206 with Bodhi being trapped in the nascent Inferiere prison system, and Libera, Goddess of Worlds opens in 2237, years into Aida’s new job, and ends in 2258, after Qadesh emerges and puts the world on alert, kick-starting the Virtual Wars. From the beginning Bodhi Rising to the end of Libera, Goddess of Worlds covers about 52 years. In the Virtual Wars series, the breakdown is as follows (tentative, may grow or shrink — see previous blog posts about this upcoming series):

Book 1 — The Firsts (2201 - 2202) — Larken and Oliver flee from HPM, leaving their boarding school, Brighton, in Portland, Oregon to get help in Seattle from Torrent. Things get dangerous we begin to see the emergence of Vera Reverte, the major protagonist in the Virtual Wars series.

Book 2 — Imaginary Enemies (2202 - 2203) — Vera searches for the enemy that she thinks is coming, only to be wrong more often than right. After Sam is viciously attacked, Vera thinks she has a lead. Due to her help throughout The Firsts, Vera has some alliances already and builds others to help fight what many are beginning to believe is an imaginary enemy. Sam’s attack helps convince others that the enemy she thought she was to defend against is gaining strength.

Book 3 — Better than Dying (2203 - 2208) — Amanda Briggs, mother to Aida Lothian, struggles in the aftermath of Bodhi Rising and Imaginary Enemies. Aida Lothian is a protagonist from Libera, Goddess of Worlds. Meanwhile, Vera is finally gaining traction building her “army”, despite a change in modeling sentiment. Her enemy has grown stronger and become more apparent.

Book 4 — Libera, Goddess of Worlds (2237 - 2258) — takes Aida from her hiring at Paivana Thoughtforms to her contributions to the creation of the entity known as Qadesh. The ending event in Libera, Goddess of Worlds is the event that fuels the rise of her enemy from the fringes to the mainstream.

Book 5 — The Virtual Wars (2258 - 2264) — Vera, Bodhi, Lancaster, Ordell, and Qadesh forge an alliance to fight against Vera’s enemy, who has taken power in many parts of the world. This is a military novel and will be rich with tactics and strategy. Vera must make a critical decision about her future.

Book 6 — Resistance (~2298 - ~2299) — During what will become known as the Quiet Time, conflicts have ended, and when the world has to deal with the consequences of the results of the Virtual Wars.

Book 7 — Escape (~2299 - ~2301) — In the finale of the Virtual Wars series, the last stand happens as the good guys and the bad guys battle for the future. All the stakes are claimed as some old and some new heroes and villains battle across all of the Reality Gradient Universe.

Status Update

Okay so I’ve been giving you all updates, so here goes. I’m through with Book 1 (meaning written, not edited), and about a third through Book 2 (38k words, will be 100k). Book 3 is about 60k words so far, and I’ve got to weave in some plot changes from Books 1 and 2, so it’ll be about 40k words longer by the time I’m done. Once I get those three done, I’m going to reprint Libera with a new Virtual Wars cover and some additional information on how Libera ties in. Then I need to write the 100k Virtual Wars series namesake space-opera. After that, I’ll need to pull things back to the Earth in the Resistance novel (100k), and finally, the last book, Escape, will be another space opera to close the series.

By full count, I’m about 40% done with the series. But… when I get the first three books done, I’ll go ahead and rapid release those. Not to mention I’ve got my Southern Highlands coming out this summer, along with The Witch of the Isles (totally different - historical fantasy). So you won’t run out of reading material! Look for my rapid release at the beginning of 2023.