Jan 08 2018

Happy 2018

Published by at 10:29 pm under T-Space,Writing

Well, now that the chaotic blur of releasing The Eridani Convergence is done, the crazy schedule of the holidays is over, and the kids are back (or about to be) at school, I can get to writing again.

Next up will be Alpha Centauri: Kakuloa. It’s not really the fourth book in the trilogy (Douglas Adams thoroughly mined out that joke years ago with his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series), because the focus and time scale are different. Yes, some of the characters from the earlier books will be appearing, especially in the first part, which follows the ships Victoria and Vostok to their landing on Kakuloa, where the crews will research the intriguing properties of squidberries and generally further explore and start to settle the planet. The later parts of the book follow the cycles of settlement and economic boom and bust on the planet, against the larger background of exploring further out into what becomes known as T-Space. It covers a span of about forty years, in four parts. (That’s the current outline, anyway. It could change.)

Also in progress is The Pavonis Surprise (that title may also change), the sequel to the The Eridani Convergence in the Carson & Roberts series. There are actually two stories that need to follow the latter, and I haven’t decided yet whether it makes more sense to combine them into a single volume or split them out. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve noticed that my Alpha Centauri series seems much more popular than the Carson & Roberts books. I suspect part of that is due to the timing of the releases of each. The first three Alpha Centauris were released over the course of a single year, but the first Carson & Roberts, The Chara Talisman, came out six years ago. And while they’re both set in T-Space, they’re some fifty years apart in the timeline. I’m curious as to how you see these two different-but-related series, and why (if you do) you prefer one over the other. Let me know what you think.

And, Happy New Year!

6 comments so far

6 Responses to “Happy 2018”

  1. Ken Dregeron 01 Mar 2018 at 7:11 pm

    I just finished ec. Typo in it says homeland security instead of home world security.

  2. adminon 01 Mar 2018 at 9:14 pm

    Whoops! I can’t imagine how that happened (grin).

    Thanks for the heads up; I’ll get it fixed.

    -Alastair

  3. Evan Evanson 13 Mar 2018 at 8:44 pm

    Carson & Roberts. More please. Went thru all three in five days. The possibilities are legion and exciting. Looking forward to their denouement.

  4. adminon 04 Apr 2018 at 9:12 pm

    Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed them.

    The next Carson & Roberts is in progress, it should be out sometime this summer. Kakuloa (the next Alpha Centauri novel) will probably be out first (“probably” because the timing depends on possible contractual conflicts with a short story sale), but it will have some back-story on Roberts.

  5. Nick Fox-Giegon 06 May 2018 at 7:56 am

    Hi, couldn’t find any other contact info so I hope this reaches you–I’m working with InterAccess in Toronto on making a browser decoder for
    NAPLPS files for the 40th anniversary of the format. Found your Java
    project from ’99 searching the Internet Archive; would love to get in touch.

    https://n1ckfg.github.io/Telidon/

    Thanks!
    Nick

  6. adminon 23 May 2018 at 7:53 pm

    Nick: Wow, NAPLPS was a long time ago. You’re welcome to use any of that code. I’ll try to contact you directly.

    – Alastair