Of the plans I listed in January
- website revamped – tick
- gift fairs attended – tick, although I dropped Chichester and did several two-day events at Lyndhurst. I also had a successful day at Salisbury. Since I’ve had to order more Viridian stock, I’ve definitely sold quite a few!
There are some website pages that will be updated or changed as soon as the Smashwords—Draft2Digital transfer is complete. New links, universal ones, and maybe new blurbs.
Viridian series news
I recently read all three books again (over a long weekend). I’m happy to say I really enjoyed them! And I think The Perihelix is a perfectly good book, now. I’ve had a bit of inferiority complex about it after its dodgy beginning and subsequent revision. Now I can promote it with confidence! I’ve always loved the others.
The main reason for reading them was to check what I’d forgotten about Big Pete and the Swede’s pasts…. Because I’ve been writing their backstory!
It starts with Pete on the Doris Jury hearing he’s got into college. Then he meets Lars, and they go through their college years together. After that there’s about twelve years to cover before they get to the Viridian system, including time mining on Excelsior and Kappa Venturi (a reference I’d forgotten until a second reread of the Perihelix), and about the same again before the Perihelix begins. And I’ve realised that I’ve done something I thought was in place before book one starts, and I’ll have to reread the other two again to see if that ever happened.
There’s no plot, as such, and it tends to be Pete’s point of view. It includes a few stories I’ve done in the past as flash fiction, like The Appeal of Alpha Kenworthy. In the course of doing this (with a lot of mining in it, as well as a lot of girls) I had more thoughts on asteroid mining, and things that might be physically impossible, but then again might not. I might write a feature on asteroid mining sometime.
I’m still not sure whether to publish it, but then again, it revisits their youth, it’s a fun read (and sexy, as you’d expect from these two), and I like it.
Gift fairs in 2025
I’ve already booked fair dates for 2025, starting with two days in Lyndhurst at Easter, and ending in Romsey in December. New for this year is Winchester Guildhall, which I’m doing on three dates, first Sunday of the month. I’ll also be doing Lymington and Salisbury as before.
Check my blog for actual dates: there’s a scrolling ‘next appearance’ on the front page.
Tasks for 25?
- revamp the tour of the Viridian System on here. I know a lot more about it now
- develop plans for this backstory project, provisionally called Before Viridium, although a goodly part is set in the system
- update as needed when I eventually shift onto Draft2Digital
Seasons Greetings
I hope your year has gone well on the whole. Enjoy your holiday season, and very best wishes for 2025.