Apologies if you’ve been getting some ‘test’ messages from me. Sometimes this seems to work, sometimes it doesn’t.
I thought you’d like to see some of the posts from the A to Z Challenge that are relevant to the Viridian series.
The Perihelix, edition 2, is now LIVE!
The Perihelix (second edition) has been live on Amazon.com and Smashwords for a few hours now. It will filter through the systems to other Amazon stores and to iTunes, B&N and Kobo (and others) over the next few days.
In the two years since I took it off sales after lukewarm reviews, I have revised the beginning several times, taken it to a new editor, lost that editor in tragic circumstances, and done my best to deliver the changes she suggested.
As you know, I’ve nearly given up on it several times. I think if I hadn’t already written the second book Curved Space to Corsair, I might have done. But now I’ve published the revised book, and I’m very happy that I’ve done so.
If you downloaded the old version, you should be able to download the second edition from your buying site free of charge. Otherwise it’s now on sale for $2.99.
If you haven’t read it yet, it would be really kind of you to push it to the top of your list and review the new edition on your blog, Goodreads, Amazon or your buying site! Thanks!
The Perihelix is now in beta
The Perihelix has been overhauled and various parts of it rewritten over the last six months, with a big push during Camp NaNoWriMo this month.
The main changes have been
- a revision of the plotline that gets them off on their quest
- consequent amendments to text and dialogue (and I need to update the blurbs around the websites and buying sites, too)
- focus on points of view, i.e. considering exactly who is narrating a scene, and ensuring it is shown from only their perspective. This has been hard, especially when dealing with Pete & the Swede doing something together, or wanting to show what each person present is feeling or thinking.
- consider Voice – how does each character speak, and how does their perspective reflect their unique personality. That sometimes leads into
- show don’t tell. I tend to tell, but need to do more show – I find I tend to use dialogue to avoid telling. I have been working on showing in descriptive parts, too.
So I hope it’s now much better.
It’s ready for my beta readers, so if you’d like a copy in Word, let me know.
Scifi predicting the future
This interesting post was part of a round-up from Scifi and Scary, which is a really interesting blog that I recommend (I skip the scary bits).
The Sci-Fi Zone: Science Fiction to Science Fact
Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. Sometimes the fiction of the past can influence technology of the future. So I’ve gathered up some examples of science fiction and fact. I’m sure at the time these new ideas, creations and technology were thought of as science fiction rather than items that would become the technology of today and commonly used. -Gk
1578 – 1605: Submarines in Fiction to Fact
1578: William Bourne designed one of the first prototype submarines. It was designed as a completely enclosed boat to be submerged by hand and rowed under water. There seemed to be little room for crew in the design.
1605: The first actual submersible built was created by Magnus Pegelius.
1726: Computers
The Engine in Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift was a mechanical information generator. It is generally accepted as the first description of a machine that resembles a computer.
1877: Videophone
An early concept of a videophone and wide-screen television called a ‘telephonoscope’ was conceptualized in popular periodicals of the year.
1881-1888: Time Travel
1881: The Clock That Went Backward by Edward Page Mitchell features a clock that takes people back in time. It is the first use in a story that features a machine for time travel.
1887: El Anacronopete by Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau predates H.G. Wells’ ‘The Chronic Argonauts’ by 1 year in the use of an actual time machine used to purposely move through time, rather than at random.
1888: The Chronic Argonauts – H.G. Wells – An inventor takes a companion in his time machine. The companion narrates the story of their subsequent adventures. The basis for The Time Machine, written when Wells was a student.
1907: Androids/Humanoid Mechanicals
First introduction of a humanoid mechanical man was Tik-Tok in Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Tik-Tok was powered by a trio of clockwork components that controlled his thinking, movement, and speech. None of which he could wind for himself.
1950: Black Holes
One of the first mentions of black holes in fiction occurs in The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett .
1955: Laser-weapons
In his story, Earthlight, Arthur C. Clarke mentions a particle-beam weapon. They functioned by energy which would be delivered by high-velocity beams of matter. One of the first uses of a laser-like weapon in fiction.
1967: Hover Board
The first mention of a hover board ( a levitating board used for personal transportation) was first described by author M.K. Joseph in his story “The Hole in the Zero“.
To see the original post on Scifi and Scary, click here.
News and features during the A to Z Challenge 2017
I’ve been doing the A to Z Challenge for April, hence no progress on the books… or is there?
Rebecca Douglass, author of the Ninja Librarian series, has been featuring her favourite characters. You might like to check these items out, since they pertain to the Viridian series:
- #AtoZChallenge D is for Dolores
- L is for Lars…and Larry #AtoZChallenge
- P is for…Pete and Peggy #AtoZChallenge
- Z is for Zito #AtoZChallenge
and the next one’s from me
and while we’re linking relevant posts, you could check this one from February, too!
New Edition of the Viridian System Sampler out for Read an eBook Week!
Yes, it’s Read an eBook week, and as usual, we have discounts on all our titles.
It’s hard to discount a book that’s free, but the Viridian System Sampler (2017 edition) is now live on Smashwords, and soon on iTunes, B&N and Kobo, etc. If you already have it, you can download the updated version free from your purchase site.
If not, it’ll be free during Read an eBook Week, 5th-11th March 2017, before reverting to 99c for a while.
To see what bargains are to be had on our other books, check the Smashwords publishers pages then link to the titles, or check our publishers listing on ppbooks.co.uk.
Watch out for a new edition of the Sampler
It was always my intention to have the Viridian System Sampler change from time to time.
It has eight short stories in it, and is only available from Smashwords and its distribution partners (basically, everyone except Amazon). I’ve updated it already when The Perihelix came out, mainly to add an offer coupon in the back of it.
The benefit of changing the edition rather than putting out a new book is that people with the current version can upgrade free of charge. It’s my way of giving fans some of the additional stories on their reading devices (although to be fair, they’ll have already been on this website or Jemima’s blog).
So if you want to keep up to date, read the current version you’ve already downloaded – or download the current version in the format of your choice from Smashwords. The new edition will be coming very soon!
At the moment the Sampler is on free sale – but that’s never guaranteed.
Re-imagining the Swede
It’s fair to say that progress on rewriting the Perihelix is slow.
I was troubled by the reactions to the character of the Swede; or maybe not the character but the white anglo-saxon bit. Eight hundred years in the future I didn’t expect to be writing today’s sensibilities, but since it seems to be a problem, it sort of stopped my flow.
Talking to a black author (black is the accepted term in the UK – I checked with her) about this and the problem of writing diversity, she gave me two comments which I treasure: she hates being compared with food (so coffee-coloured is out), and why not make the Swede black? I laughed, because it would certainly be odd, in the way we Brits tend to do things the opposite to the obvious – as do the Aussies, where ‘Blue’ is a common nickname for a redhead. Which is why I called my blue teddy-bear ‘Blue’, because it’s a double use of the absurdity.
And not all people with black skins are African-Americans, as one US President unfortunately realised too late when talking to an African. I don’t have Africans or Americans in 800 years time, although most people have African genes (and North American and Eurasian ones).
I understand that colour is a big issue, though.
Diversity is complicated, even more so with 800 years more genotype mixing and around 20 generations of evolution. Everyone should be a ‘person of colour’ unless they are a throwback.
I finally hit on the answer over the holidays. The Swede is still a blue-eyed blonde with pale skin. So pale, that it’s obvious to most galactic citizens that he’s either from the planet Ourobouros, or from Scania (which is the centre of Scandinavian resettlement), or from the detested race of Imperium overlords.
Unless he’s from Scania, most other citizens will spit on him. Sometimes literally. Even in the rarified relatively safe space of the outer star systems off the galactic plane.
It’s a good thing he made friends with the safe, somewhat dwarfish, stocky and amiable Big Pete when he was at college. Heavy gravity planets tend to develop heavy-set stunted growth. Nobody calls Big Pete stunted.
Well, maybe the Swede does, when they’re joshing.
Back to work.
The Pete & the Swede as My Little Ponies picture was part of a fun thing a couple of years back
Christmas in Spacedock
I am in the process of rewriting the first half of the Perihelix following my editor’s comments. So I’m jumping about a bit for stories for you. For your Christmas treat this year, I thought I’d go back to something with the girls, give them some backstory for a change.
Christmas in spacedock
Dolores slapped another pile of chips on the table in front of the Arcturan. He leered at her cleavage and swept them into his pouch. “Mebbe I spen’ time with ya later,eh?”
She smiled her dealer’s smile at him. “You passing?”
“Nah. Deal!”
Dolores dealt, calculating the odds on another 21 coming up in the next four hands. High. The odds of her getting through this night without getting detailed for overnight ‘escort’ duties were correspondingly low. Arcturans were adept at spotting sleight of hand, so no point in fixing the cards. Maybe she could get the shy Transmutium boy to join in.
“Card.”
So far, so good. The Arcturan bust that hand, and waved to one of her colleagues for a drink.
“Why not get one for your companion?”
“Companion?” The Arcturan looked around at the assorted spacers and hangers-on who were watching the game. “Any o’ ya losers gonna join-in?”
Dolores smiled at the Transmutian and a couple of others. Three sat down, and pushed forward an id for some chips. “Raises the ante,” she commented, flirting with the Arcturan.
He responded by swaggering his shoulders. The action always reminded Dolores of bum-waggling in some companion animals she’d had in her childhood, however much she tried to suppress the memory.
Expecting a 21 in this round, she dealt, face impassive. What would be, would be. It wasn’t exactly work, since that implied some element of choice. As slavery went, it was cushier than some assignments although the requirements were more degrading than some of the physical labour options. Then again, nobody was safe from overseers taking their pleasure. She was clean, fed, and could wear nice clothes. As long as you could keep your own mind, you could survive. For a while longer.
The Banksian turned up the 21.
“Hey! Look guys, I’ve won!” Back-slapping and joshing followed.
The Arcturan scowled. “You fixed!”
Dolores ignored him. “Your deal, sir.” The Banksian had been distracted, and hesitated.
“I’ve never been dealer before.”
“That’s okay, I’ll deal the cards and sort the bets for you if you prefer.”
“Yes, please.”
Manners, that was a change. These guys were on vacation, and it was probably a novelty for them. They were in dress clothes, no insignia, but she suspected they were from one of the Imperium ships currently in spacedock.
The Arcturan pushed in, grabbed her shoulder. “You fixed!”
“No, she didn’t,” one of the Banksian’s friends came to his rescue, since the Arcturan was pushing his face in his pile of chips. Two of them moved either side of the hulking form and pulled him upright.
“What’s your problem, matey?”
“She fixed ma cards!” He took a swing of one of them, but they both held firm and he simply lost his footing in his aborted turn.
“Our friend turned up 21, how does that count as a fix?”
“It was mine!”
“It was his!”
Jed and Vic, two of the master’s bodyguards, appeared on either side of the Arcturan and picked him up bodily. He kicked his feet in frustration, catching one of the Banksian’s friends in the thigh. Dolores admired their restraint as they let the security personnel deal with the problem. Professionals.
She exchanged a glance with the barman, and Sophia arrived with nine glasses of synth-ale. “Compliments of the house,” she said, setting them in front of the card players, and handing the others to the rest of the Banksian’s friends.
That loosened the Banksian’s party up, and they started spending their wages, with small enough bets to win a little, lose a little, until they were the last relatively sober ones left in the joint.
The master came over.
“I hope you’re enjoying yourself, gentlemen.”
“Yeah.”
“Starlike.”
“Fabudozy.”
They were laughing and chatting, and for them the night was young.
“It may be time to move onto other entertainments. Perhaps you’d like to take advantage of a private suite for the rest of the evening?”
“You mean..”
“What, gambling suite or — other things?”
“Whatever your choice. The entertainment of your dreams, or simple home comforts, or anything in between.”
The guys went into a huddle.
“Can you do Christmas dinner with all the trimmings?”
The master smiled. “Of course. Turkey or macadomia?”
“Turkey!” The guys chorused, then added other ideas, building their perfect feast.
The master started to usher them away, listing other treats.
“Can she come too?” The first Banksian looked over his shoulder at Dolores, who stifled her yawn and turned it into a sweet smile.
“Of course. And a few more ladies to entertain you, perhaps?”
“Can we watch them cook?”
“Help with the pudding?”
“Lick the bowl?”
“Of course. There will be something for everyone.”
For Dolores, Marci, Fenestra and Poppy it was a strenuous assignment, cooking in the nude and attending to the boys’ interest in their private parts while at the same time producing a four course traditional Christmas banquet. But considering some of the other options, it was probably the best Christmas dinner any of them had had since their planets had been over-run, whether by the Federation or the Imperium.
As for the seven Imperium space cadets, losing all their money, and their virginity, was a small price to pay for the best Christmas dinner any of them had ever had.
© J M Pett 2016
Perihelix Progress
I’ve completed the edit of my revisions to the Perihelix and sent it to my editor.
I’ve rewritten the first chapter, changing the start substantially (and will mean a lot of edits to book 2 to take out reference/consequences of that), and introducing Dolores, Maggie and Aramintha more thoroughly, although I always intend them to have somewhat mysterious pasts. I’ve also made it slightly clearer (I hope) which direction the travels take them, but working in 3D space means that the reader either needs to imagine it more, or just accept that there’s a long way between places. I must admit, I’ve never been concerned about the relationship of different planetary systems to each other in Star Trek or Star Wars.
Now to see what my new editor makes of it.