Ether Second Quarter 2010 Update: Coming Into Focus

The rough draft is coming along nicely, with the final sequential scene finished. However, it's not done yet, as I still have a gap or two to fill, scenes to rewrite, edit or beef-up and a few minor, minor details to put into place. But the entirety of the book is set: beginning, almost all the middle and the ending. The toughest part is putting on my editor's cap and reading with a jaded eye, cutting out the bits that don't quite work or just go nowhere.

Having a complete rough draft is exciting and the next best thing to actually holding the finished product in my hands. I think creating a book must be akin to filming a movie; write a screenplay, film the scenes, edit the best bits in and throw out the chaff.

At the end of a long road, it's good to see the destination coming up over the next hill.

Look Who's Seen The Light

I will admit upfront about being a Russo- and Persiaphile; their histories and cultures are so profoundly different than the Classical Western tradition one can't be helped but be intrigued by every cryptic move either one makes. So it's a bit of a surprise to these eyes to see that President Medvedev, in decidedly non-cryptic terms, spelled out that the Iranian regime of Khatami and his puppet Ahmedinejad are moving closer to possessing a nuclear device.

I suppose the questions are, how much does Russia fear Iran, and what does this mean for US and Russia relations? The Bond-style spy swap last week wasn't exactly a warm handshake, and the typical eastern mode of saving face seems to be more of a pie in the face for Russia after the incident. Does Russia want to invite the Western nations to its corner to show that they'll behave from now on? Maybe a little "Look at us, we're nice guys now?"

One thing's for sure, being a Russia and Iran watcher just became much more interesting.

Further Reading:
'Iran nearing nuclear bombs' Russia warns

The 'unraveling relationship' between Russia and Iran 

A Decade Ago (This Past May)...

I began the first draft of Jaunt. Extrapolating from the (sadly, misplaced or lost) handwritten teleplay "Temporal Retrieve" I scrawled out in 1995, I recreated the first dozen pages of the half-baked idea, fleshing them out into what would become Chapters 1 through 5 of Jaunt. Mixing in dashes of The X-Files for inspiration, I chucked out all the Trek fanfic tendencies I'd picked up and unlocked a new avenue for my writing. Not technically the first novel I've written (I have one and-a-half complete Trek trunk novels hanging around here), it was the first wholly original long-form work of mine. I owe it all to the Pocket Books' Star Trek editors' FAQ, which, in paraphrase, said, "Don't bother submitting a first-time work."

And what would become my own playground, JauntWorld, was born.

Now, an Ether update. Two months later, and I'm nearly done with the first draft. My biggest obstacle is just pulling all the strands together to make the story end right. Ether certainly isn't as unwieldy as Jaunt's first draft, which tipped the scales at 160,000 words, and I think it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 70,000 to 80,000. But I'm still under the hood tinkering with the mechanics.

I'm definitely eager to get this book in the bag!

1928-2010

Ether First Quarter 2010 Update

Work on the first draft of Ether has been coming along slowly as of late, as I'm delving into the preliminary stages of a potential project (one of many, of course!) I have in mind for the next five years. Mid-to-late 2011 is the publishing date I'm shooting for for Ether, so I have no time to be idle. The last few chapters are coming into focus, so I must plunge ahead regardless.

Ether will have a much wider canvas than Jaunt, encompassing more corners of the world and characters than ever before. The difficulties with that are, I have more to keep track of! Jaunt, despite its many plotlines, was fairly linear, requiring fewer research resources than I have had up to this point with Ether. Half the fun of writing fiction is the research, and Ether's bibliography and sources are a long list, much longer than Jaunt's.

I admit I've struggled to include here various bits of research and inspiration for Jaunt, as the research I did was just so long ago (more on that in my next post!) that nothing of my notes remains. Ether, once the pipeline towards publication picks up, will have a veritable flood of sources and links to put up on this blog. I can't wait, really, as I believe Ether is my best work of writing yet.

Oh, okay, here's a little blurb:

"The explosive next chapter of the JauntWorld series begins now! Special Agent Greg Mason must probe the clandestine mystery that is Project Ether, a dark energy superweapons program rooted in the forbidden research of a rogue Iranian physicist, seemingly in the employ of the Russian-led Confederation of Independent States.

But all is not as it appears. With Mason and his team of IIA agents tracking the clues of Project Ether’s origins—from the remnants of North Korea, the deserts of Iran, the decks of a fast-attack submarine to the wastelands of Antarctica—a shocking disaster leads them to the inescapable truth: the Confederation is already armed with this superweapon, and the countdown to war has begun…."

Jaunt Origin Story, Part II

Way back in Dec '07, I posted Origin Story, AKA How I Conceived Jaunt. Well, not only did I have the goofy story about two guys in spacesuits duking it out through time, I also drew a rough sketch while daydreaming in high school one day. This portrait ultimately became Special Agent James Gilmour, complete in his hazard suit that protected him from being "fried" while jaunting through spacetime (not that I knew it at the time). Well, here's the scanned sketch, all cleaned up from its humble beginnings as a class schedule.

 That was a long time ago. And I hope I'm a better artist now, as well!

New Year (One Month Late)

2010 kicks off with two new ebooks available through www.bn.com. First, the much-anticipated distribution of the Jaunt ebook! With the partnership of Smashwords and Barnes & Noble, Jaunt gets into the ebook format, capable of being read on a wide variety of ereaders, particularly the new iPad and nook! Not to be left out, 2 Shorts (+1) follows suit, both starting at bn.com at $4.95!

This is an exciting time to be a creator and reader, with new avenues to books opening up seemingly by the day.

By the way, that barcode to the right is a semacode. For those unaware, it is a two-dimensional barcode that one takes a picture of with their cell or mobile device, and with the appropriate mobile software, directs one to any website of one's choosing. This semacode leads to the Jaunt Amazon.com page, but expect more for ebook formats soon.