Work in Progress: Angry City

Sensing the writing bug has bitten, I've gone back to working on a Wraeththu Mythos story -- a novel -- that computer file dates show I started 11 years ago. Good grief, it's been that long?

Anyway, Angry City is, I hope, going to be a new addition to the Wraeththu Mythos, a standalone novel with nothing but original characters and also going away from a lot of what I've written before. It's certainly nothing like Breeding Discontent, which came out in 2003 and, now, looking back, doesn't seem anything like me or what I'd want to be doing these days. Too sentimental? Treacly even. With cuteness. Don't get me wrong, I still like it, and proud of what Bridgette and I were able to achieve, but I really feel ready to put something out there that is closer to what I now feel like is me in style and in my conception of Wraeththu.

Right now I'm in the middle of Chapter 6, after last night reviewing the five chapters I did a couple of years ago when I decided to do a complete rewrite. It was a good rewrite, and only needed a few fixes before tonight, when I put the whole thing in proper manuscript format and started up again. Just wrote a couple of scenes that played out just as I wanted. The characters talked, and I just wrote down what they said.

Meanwhile, while I won't be giving away any plot spoilers, I'd like to leave off with a quote from what I think is the earliest full draft of the story. These lines don't exist in the current version, but I think they're a good teaser for what I'm up to!

While most of the bands were ecstatic about the club's new generator, to Angry City it was merely a convenience. After all, the voice of Furious Screech could be heard half way around the world without amplification, or so he claimed. This was naturally an exaggeration, for he was only har, but it is true that Furious had a voice so loud it shattered eardrums.

More updates on this as I proceed.