Archive for April, 2020

Apr 28 2020

Still healthy, still writing

Published by under T-Space,Writing

Just a short update in these interesting times. So far I’m staying healthy, but then I’ve hardly been out in nearly two months. That’s more or less normal for me anyway these days, except for convention season. Although, I’m probably spending more time on Facebook than I should. 😉

I have several writing projects on the go. Isaac Asimov reportedly kept four different typewriters, each with a different book, story or article in progress. To take a break from one project, he’d move to another. I’m not quite that dedicated, and files on a computer are easier to manage than multiple typewriters. But it does help to have different books at different stages.

As to specifics, my next book, Kakuloa: The Downhill Slide is over halfway to a completed first draft. After the events of A Rising Tide, the Kakuloa economy is booming. Parry Cohen’s resort is a success, the Bimini Bay mines are in operation, and the tree squids are staying out of the squidberry farms. There’s also an orbital shipyard under construction. But of course, there’s trouble in paradise, including a mysterious murder, problems at the mine, and hints of something odd on the other side of the planet from Krechet’s Landing. Administrator Blake has his hands full, and James Watson, a former Detective-Inspector from Scotland Yard, is experiencing culture shock as he adapts to life on a frontier planet while trying to solve the murder. I hope to have ready for release this summer.

The other big project (there are others, you’ll hear about those when there’s more to report) is a new trilogy similar to Alpha Centauri but focusing on Delta Pavonis. (This is set decades before The Pavonis Insurgence.) In the first volume, Delta Pavonis: Discovery, Paul Fabron, the college-aged son of a high-tech billionaire, acquires the mothballed ship Jules Verne, built (but not used) for the first Alpha Centauri expedition. He refits it, and he and his crew set out to investigate the mysterious green planet orbiting Delta Pavonis, ignored until then because, from ten light years away, it didn’t look terraformed. Even if it is (no surprise if you’ve read any of the Carson & Roberts stories), getting there is half the fun. And there are still surprises. The follow-on volumes are Delta Pavonis: Exploration and Delta Pavonis: Settlement (all are working titles, they may change). I want to do a rapid release of all the volumes in the trilogy, so look for them in the fall.


Oh, and speaking of Delta Pavonis, the trade paperback version of The Pavonis Insurgence is now available from Amazon (as is the ebook), and through other outlets soon.

So, how are you all doing in these times? Post a comment below, or visit me on Facebook.

2 responses so far