Still have no time to wite what I want to write, but I still try and read. On that subject I came across this short story: Manna
I won't spoil it except to say that I think the author goes a little far and I hope I am more restrained but I thought he had some interesting ideas
11 January, 2012
22 December, 2011
[SFAP] Concluding thoughts
I was going to write this tomorrow but I won't be at work so I won't be able to post so I decided to post this now.
So that’s the end of Sonnets From A Proton. There’s a few things I’d like to say. My last post of the year being my last day when I can post and being the afterword of the novel seems perfect.
Character wise I know it’s not strong on this, I need to develop it more and hopefully the first story in the series Orchestral Plutonium should be better in this respect, I just needed to get this damn story out of my head. I think I’d like to expand on some of the things here and probably will as time goes on but there’s the outline for 4 other books already well fleshed out just in need of writing. Polishing this one can wait. There were certainly a lot of story sub plots planned that still are in in skeleton form waiting to be fleshed out but i just never got around to it. However I am pleased with how the experiment worked out.
Thinking back to the overall structure, when I first crafted this it was intended that there be three universes in my novels. This would give me the chance to tell three different types of story. The first was this one, pure science fiction that while it may embrace a few bits of science I made up it at least included nothing that was downright impossible; like magic or FTL or heaven forbid time travel. This then gave me my two other worlds that included those concepts and so would be where i told those stories. However having fleshed those worlds out in more detail since then I realised it is possible to shoehorn them all into one world. The question is, is this desirable? I’m reminded of Azimov’s later books where it turned out that the world of robots was the same as the one of Foundation and I didn’t like it. Certainly Nemesis and The Gods Themselves should be kept as separate worlds. Yet here I am considering doing the same thing. Why?
More important I have to make the decision soon which way to go. Plutonium is safe from this problem but The Tyranny of Convenience currently has two endings, one where the worlds combine and one where they don’t. I need to pick one.
The problem is that without FTL it’s hard for humans to be a source of conflict and even harder to hold an empire together. Which is a fun story to tell, I think the route I will have to take is to stick to my principles. No FTL in this world, everyone else does it so I must not. That is surely a better story, how do you build an empire without FTL? In fact all the better if you don’t build an empire at all. Besides i don't really have any good stories to tell that actually require FTL as such yet, magic however is another matter, I've got one story at the moment that is just proving damn fun to write. The thing is it requires FTL, Time Travel and Magic all combined together.
See it was a matter of principle, everyone else resorts to an unrealistic thing to tell stories and thast's fine, but I wanted to rise above that. I wanted to tell a future that I believed could happen. That requires no magic, no time travel and no FTL.
However my solution to the FTL problem is I think quite fun, very Stephen Baxter like in one of it's problems so I think I might just run with it and see what happens as the way it is implemented should give me most of the advantages of no FTL and the plus points of a free story world. We'll see.
I also had an idea the other day on finally what is going on is going on in the other half of the Habitat that has been mentioned but not gone into in depth. This has been intentional that I wanted it there as a potential pandora’s box; and now I know what evils that place contains. Now to make good use of it.
So what now? Well I’m going to have to put this blog on hiatus until I can actually write Orchestral Plutonium. As I have said before it is well fleshed out, the problem is the outlines make up about ten thousand words whereas a novel is hundreds of thousands of words. Now this is not a problem because as soon as I can get time to sit down and write the words just flow; but time to sit down is the problem. People talk about writers block and I don’t think I get it, now that may be a quality problem, but at least I have things I want to say.
Anyway on that subject of verbal diarrhea I’ll sign off for now. Every word written here is one less in OP.
So that’s the end of Sonnets From A Proton. There’s a few things I’d like to say. My last post of the year being my last day when I can post and being the afterword of the novel seems perfect.
Character wise I know it’s not strong on this, I need to develop it more and hopefully the first story in the series Orchestral Plutonium should be better in this respect, I just needed to get this damn story out of my head. I think I’d like to expand on some of the things here and probably will as time goes on but there’s the outline for 4 other books already well fleshed out just in need of writing. Polishing this one can wait. There were certainly a lot of story sub plots planned that still are in in skeleton form waiting to be fleshed out but i just never got around to it. However I am pleased with how the experiment worked out.
Thinking back to the overall structure, when I first crafted this it was intended that there be three universes in my novels. This would give me the chance to tell three different types of story. The first was this one, pure science fiction that while it may embrace a few bits of science I made up it at least included nothing that was downright impossible; like magic or FTL or heaven forbid time travel. This then gave me my two other worlds that included those concepts and so would be where i told those stories. However having fleshed those worlds out in more detail since then I realised it is possible to shoehorn them all into one world. The question is, is this desirable? I’m reminded of Azimov’s later books where it turned out that the world of robots was the same as the one of Foundation and I didn’t like it. Certainly Nemesis and The Gods Themselves should be kept as separate worlds. Yet here I am considering doing the same thing. Why?
More important I have to make the decision soon which way to go. Plutonium is safe from this problem but The Tyranny of Convenience currently has two endings, one where the worlds combine and one where they don’t. I need to pick one.
The problem is that without FTL it’s hard for humans to be a source of conflict and even harder to hold an empire together. Which is a fun story to tell, I think the route I will have to take is to stick to my principles. No FTL in this world, everyone else does it so I must not. That is surely a better story, how do you build an empire without FTL? In fact all the better if you don’t build an empire at all. Besides i don't really have any good stories to tell that actually require FTL as such yet, magic however is another matter, I've got one story at the moment that is just proving damn fun to write. The thing is it requires FTL, Time Travel and Magic all combined together.
See it was a matter of principle, everyone else resorts to an unrealistic thing to tell stories and thast's fine, but I wanted to rise above that. I wanted to tell a future that I believed could happen. That requires no magic, no time travel and no FTL.
However my solution to the FTL problem is I think quite fun, very Stephen Baxter like in one of it's problems so I think I might just run with it and see what happens as the way it is implemented should give me most of the advantages of no FTL and the plus points of a free story world. We'll see.
I also had an idea the other day on finally what is going on is going on in the other half of the Habitat that has been mentioned but not gone into in depth. This has been intentional that I wanted it there as a potential pandora’s box; and now I know what evils that place contains. Now to make good use of it.
So what now? Well I’m going to have to put this blog on hiatus until I can actually write Orchestral Plutonium. As I have said before it is well fleshed out, the problem is the outlines make up about ten thousand words whereas a novel is hundreds of thousands of words. Now this is not a problem because as soon as I can get time to sit down and write the words just flow; but time to sit down is the problem. People talk about writers block and I don’t think I get it, now that may be a quality problem, but at least I have things I want to say.
Anyway on that subject of verbal diarrhea I’ll sign off for now. Every word written here is one less in OP.
[SFAP] Chapter 15:9
This is the last section of the last chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
Those on the surface of the plate who saw the hub explosion took a moment to register what had happened, a new bright star had appeared.
Then the world fell.
The story continues in The Tyranny Of Convenience - which I have yet to write.
The next story to be published will be the forerunner of SFAP, Orchestral Plutonium - which I have also yet to write.
More commentary tomorrow.
21 December, 2011
[SFAP] Chapter 15:8
This is the eighth section of the fifteenth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.
Martin looked again, no that was no coincidence, space is legendary for its size, there was no way that ship was heading anywhere else this was far too close. Martin set off at a run towards Iz and the Habitat’s centre but spiralled out of control; in his panic he had forgotten he was in freefall in the hub and spun around wildly trying to regain control.
The next section is here.
Martin looked again, no that was no coincidence, space is legendary for its size, there was no way that ship was heading anywhere else this was far too close. Martin set off at a run towards Iz and the Habitat’s centre but spiralled out of control; in his panic he had forgotten he was in freefall in the hub and spun around wildly trying to regain control.
20 December, 2011
[SFAP] Chapter 15:7
This is the seventh section of the fifteenth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it” remarked Tom “Just gives you a sense of wonder”
“It’s too close for comfort is what it is” replied Laurence
“I think the captain is giving us a treat, a majestic swing by.”
“It’s a waste of propellant and dangerous is what it is.”
“I’m sure he knows what he is doing.”
The next section is here.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it” remarked Tom “Just gives you a sense of wonder”
“It’s too close for comfort is what it is” replied Laurence
“I think the captain is giving us a treat, a majestic swing by.”
“It’s a waste of propellant and dangerous is what it is.”
“I’m sure he knows what he is doing.”
19 December, 2011
[SFAP] Chapter 15:6
This is the sixth section of the fifteenth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.
No thought Martin the plume is facing in the wrong direction the ship wasn’t decelerating preparing to dock, it was accelerating towards the Habitat. It must be just coming close to head off somewhere else. it was just coincidence that brought it near here.
The next section is here.
No thought Martin the plume is facing in the wrong direction the ship wasn’t decelerating preparing to dock, it was accelerating towards the Habitat. It must be just coming close to head off somewhere else. it was just coincidence that brought it near here.
16 December, 2011
[SFAP] Chapter 15:5
This is the fifth section of the fifteenth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.
This close to the Habitat it really was quite quite beautiful, you could see more than a dumbell swinging through the sky. You could see what it would one day be; a huge hoop in the sky spinning once a day to create a daily cycle of night and day and a comfortable one G gravity held together by the spokes to the hub that were the pylons. When they first found the Habitat it looked like just a big dumb object and in this state as it was now a fraction complete it still was clearly big, but some of the elegance of the simplicity of the design made it clear that it was more than dumb, it was simple elegant and totally beyond anything that humans could build. It was scary, it was powerful, it was humanity’s salvation or their damnation.
Laurence cursed it as he saw this and saw the end of humanity or it’s release. Like the zoo keeper coming with the shotgun, is the future bright or staring down a pair of barrels.
The next section is here.
This close to the Habitat it really was quite quite beautiful, you could see more than a dumbell swinging through the sky. You could see what it would one day be; a huge hoop in the sky spinning once a day to create a daily cycle of night and day and a comfortable one G gravity held together by the spokes to the hub that were the pylons. When they first found the Habitat it looked like just a big dumb object and in this state as it was now a fraction complete it still was clearly big, but some of the elegance of the simplicity of the design made it clear that it was more than dumb, it was simple elegant and totally beyond anything that humans could build. It was scary, it was powerful, it was humanity’s salvation or their damnation.
Laurence cursed it as he saw this and saw the end of humanity or it’s release. Like the zoo keeper coming with the shotgun, is the future bright or staring down a pair of barrels.
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