Action, action, action!

When I first set about writing the modern version of Rome's Revolution, I really wanted to put my idea of consensus future history to work to build a kind of "you are there" story.

It started out with a beautiful little story about Silas Hiram and the first time he saw Earth from Alpha Centauri. This little vignette also introduced the idea of stars disappearing.

The next scene, the first to take place in the 35th century, was how the Vuduri discovered and rescued Rei's Ark. I think it was well written, evocative, cinematic and gave you a hint that you were in a new world.

The next chapter was Rei's awakening where you were as disoriented as he was and couldn't make much sense of what you were seeing. It introduced the concept of Rei's back pain and a hint of Vuduri technology.

It wasn't until Chapter 3 that we first meet OMCOM and start to learn about the new universe and the Vuduri language, the Overmind, etc.

Well, I made the mistake of showing those first few chapters to a professional writer and a professional science fiction writing coach. They both said chop this scene out, chop that scene out. Action, action, action!

In looking back, I regret that. I think the book is the book and people who have since read those deleted scenes said they were among some of the best written in Part 1. Well, after I am all done with Rome's Evolution and conclude the series with The Milk Run, I am going to go back and resurrect those scenes, along with others and put them all together in a book tentatively called The Vuduri Companion. Stay tuned.