I just finished the first draft of "Clean and Floss" (70K). It feels good. I laughed and cried in several places. I swore when I started that this one would be a total departure with no romance, dragons, babies, or priests. A little romance snuck in anyway, but it wasn't conventional. Renee is almost done with the cover, too! I'll post it when I have a reveal.
While waiting for my first reader (Tammy) to give her esteemed opinion this weekend, I have started the long-awaited book 3 to the Jezebel High-Tech Sci-Fi series. Chapter 1 will be introducing the point-of-view character in her interview for the team--Mercy Smith. This will introduce new readers to the concept of pages and alien tech. Then she'll give us her take on the last chapter of Sirius where they land on the alien vessel. Minutes later, they are threatened by nuclear missile launches from earth and have to move the alien ship out of range. Because of corners cut in book 2, they don't have the talents or experience to use the ship as it was designed. Moon base helps to cover them the best they can. The goal is to arrive at the planet selected by NASA as the most earth-like and nearest, heralding a new age of colonization and expansion. The
execution has a few problems.
To prepare for this new book, I reread Sirius to hold the cast and plateau fresh in my mind. For those reading both, the flow should be fairly seamless. Here are my notes on the crew of
Ascension One for the new book's front matter:
Command
Crew (3):
Commander
Zeiss – Conrad Zeiss, alias Taz.
Navigator. Quantum computing, Rubber sheet theory, and multi-species Collective
Unconscious.
Lou – Captain Llewellyn, a handsome Welsh pilot.
Strange Attractors and Ideal Planets.
Red – Miracle Redemption Hollis Zeiss. A US
math prodigy and heir to the Fortune Aerospace billions, copilot. Married to
Zeiss. Index, Pattern Simplification, Collective Unconscious, Empathy, and
Quantum Computing talents.
Medical
(3):
Auckland – a Maori physician who likes sports. Genetic design and Anomaly
Detection.
Toby – a South African botanist and organic chemist.
Once dated Yvette. Protein folding and nano-medicine synthesis.
Yvette – a French nurse-practitioner and psychologist
who specializes in high-risk pregnancies. Ethics and Empathy talents.
Security
(3):
Herk – Rafael Herkemer. A Polish bomb technician for
the UN and inventor. Trained in underwater rescue and firefighting. Body
Override talent.
Sojiro – Japanese manga artist, computer programmer,
and alien interfaces expert. Mind-machine interface and red giant locator
talent.
Oleander
– experienced Swedish space
hand, once rescued Red’s aunt and uncle. Safety officer and super-goo
specialist. Out of Body scout.
Life
Support (2):
New male 1: ex-marine cook. food synthesis
New female 1: water purification, sustainability,
air purification
Ship
Support (4):
Mercy – oldest daughter of PJ Smith, US
gravity generator expert. Icarus field talent.
Park – Korean propulsion specialist, gravity and Calabi-Yau
chamber modeling.
Risa – Sonrisa Belinda De Gama Herkemer. Panamanian
expert in solar power, Herk’s wife and Red’s former roommate. Alien structural
engineering: Ice-9 and algae acrylics.
New female 2:
plasma physics and power expert, formerly from the Kaguya team.
Buckey-ball batteries and zero-point energy theory.
Technicians
(3):
Pratibha
– a female NASA specialist in
economic flow models and space colonies who graduated before Red’s team. Dating
Auckland.
Female technician from Mori electronics, a spy
for the Mori family. Grav sensors.
New male 2: bio fuel, atmospheric engine mechanic
plus, of course Elias Fortune’s ashes. In fact, my first exercise in character development will be to list what each crew member brings as their few kilos of personal weight allowance. I've also be reading up on the latest NASA toys like liquid smoke--ultralight, ultra-strong glass.
