Post #9 November 6, 2017

“Current Projects”

My current projects deal mostly with my sf series The Farpool Stories.  Below is a little chart that shows how these stories (published and upcoming) fit together in time:

Earth Time	Title	Seome Time
2115 AD	The Farpool*	764.2 Tk to 769.3 Tk (Epoch of Tek’potu)
1942 AD and 2115-2117 AD	The Farpool: Marauders of Seome*	779.3 Tk to 785.2 Tk (Sigma Albeth B supernova; Seome destroyed
2115 AD	The Farpool: Exodus	1.1 to 1.5 Kv (Epoch of Kel’vishtu)
2130 AD	The Farpool: Convergence	2.5 to 3.2 Kv
2141 AD and 3.2 BYA (billion years ago)	The Farpool: Union	10.5 to 11.5 Kv
2195 AD	The Farpool: Diaspora	47.5Kv

*Published and uploaded to Smashwords.com

Last week’s blog was an excerpt from my current work in progress: The Farpool: Exodus.  The book is going along well and I expect to be able to make this available for download in early spring 2018, probably March or April.  Look for it.

As you can see from the chart, the series follows sequentially in time, with both Earth time and Seome time indicated.  Upcoming stories will continue the sequence as shown, and the stories will take place on Earth and other places.  One of the characteristics of the Farpool itself is that it is a gateway, a wormhole in space and time, so some stories will take advantage of this. 

For Exodus, I’m working off a pretty detailed chapter and scene outline that gives me direction for the sixteen chapters I believe it will take to tell this story.  As of this writing, I’m close to fifty pages in.

There are a number of challenges in writing stories in a series.  One is just keeping track of all the characters and what happens to them.  I found myself not long ago writing about a character who had actually died in a previous story.  I had to do some quick re-writing to get around this.  The best advice I can offer to any writer doing this kind of work is keep all your notes handy—don’t rely on memory alone.  Sometimes, in my current outline, I’ve found it advisable to write page references to earlier work right in the outline so I can readily refer back to something relevant to a scene.

While I’m writing the first draft of Exodus, I’m also working on the story outline (chapter and scene details) of Convergence, which is next in line.   Doing one outline while writing the first draft of the previous story seems to work pretty well, as my head and brain are still in the story and it’s easier to carry over plot points or character details from one to the next. With any luck, The Farpool: Convergence will exist at least in detailed outline by the end of the year and I can anticipate starting the first draft in the early summer of 2018.  Details and ideas for the next stories after Convergence are still too nebulous to mention here.  But the titles should give you some idea of where I’m going.  Remember we’re dealing with three intelligences here: human beings, the Seomish and the Coethi (nanobotic swarm life from sixty thousand light years away).

In fact, here’s an early look at the story outline for The Farpool: Convergence:

Chapter 1

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Conicthyosis Lab

Woods Hole, Massachusetts

September 2, 2130

Angie Gilliam has arrived at the Conicthyosis lab, with Chase Meyer, to undergo the amphib hybridization procedure.  She is nervous.  She also knows that her mother is adamantly opposed to having this procedure done, for when it is done, Angie will be an amphib like Chase, part Seomish, part human, and able to travel in and out of water, just like her boyfriend.

 

The procedure was developed by Dr. Josey Holland, who now runs the lab and is also an amphib herself and somewhat of a global celebrity.  Dr. Holland and an assistant sit down with Chase and Angie and they go over what the procedure entails.  It is a surgical procedure, with some gene therapy and nanobotic intervention.  The actual procedure will take a day.  The recovery and rehab will take several months in total.

 

We follow the procedure, as Angie is placed in a special chamber where she will remain for several days.  The procedure is described.  It goes well.  While he is waiting for her to come out, Chase watches a Solnet report on how many people around the world are also going through the same procedure.  Dr. Holland and her procedure have become extremely popular, almost a fad, and the Solnet reporter Aimee Tolstoy interviews several who are doing this or who have already undergone Conicthyosis. 

 

Tolstoy also interviews U.S. senator Ryan Palette (D-KY) who is opposed to all these procedures and to the way amphibs are everywhere and how modern culture seems to be increasingly dedicated to amphib needs, ways and concerns.  Palette informs the reporter that he is forming a new organization to ‘regain the way of life we used to have in this country’ and be an advocate for normal people.  It is to be called Sons of Adam (SOA).

 

Chase then finally gets to be with the now-modified Angie Gilliam.  He’s proud she’s taken this step.  It’s like becoming a new citizen of a whole new race.  They announce to Dr. Holland and all the techs that Chase has just proposed and they will be getting married in November, 2130.

 

Dr. Holland is less than enthusiastic about this as she always had designs on Chase, from the very beginning.

 

 

That’s Chapter 1 from my outline for the story coming after the one I’m writing now.  I hope it intrigues you.

 

The next post to The Word Shed will come on November 13, post #100.  In this post, I’ll cover some basics and guidelines, some don’s and don’ts, for developing and evolving characters that continue over multiple stories and sequels.  

 

See you then.

 

Phil B.