I’ve been thinking
about how I've ignored this blog for a while. So after much contemplation, I think I’ll start an overview of each book.
So let’s start at the
top…
With Eyes Open…, the
first epublished book, is comprised of two stories, “With Eyes Open…” and its
unintended sequel, “A Voice in the Darkness”.
“With Eyes Open…” has
the honor of being the first story every published back in 2005, in a now
defunct ezine named Deep Magic. It all started as a writing exercise.
I had read somewhere
that if you’re stuck, turn on the television, go to any channel, write down the
first thing you hear and build a story from that. I did this, writing down the
sentence, “Isn’t there anything you want to tell me about your marriage?” (Don’t ask me the program. I’ve forgotten it.)
So I started writing about a break up. Problem was, I was still having trouble.
So I stopped for a little while.
Then something else
happened.
Answer me this: Have you ever been alone in a room yet see
movement out of the corner of your eye?
You know it’s just your mind playing tricks on you, or maybe (as is my
case), it’s your cat. But I started thinking…what if there was a race of beings
here on Earth with us, completely unnoticed, completely intangible and
invisible. In order to remain here, they need a single human to anchor them. I
called them the Adityas, named by the ancient Hindu they were first anchored to
two thousand years ago.
Could I turn the
aborted break-up story into something about these creatures?
Of course I could, and
it’s one of my favorite stories.
So the story that began
as Mira Frayne breaking up with a man led to Mira making a discovery about the
world and being tied to these creatures.
I was trying for a
Twilight Zone feel to the story, something that started out one way and led you
down an entirely different path. It’s something I aim for with every story,
ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. When I finished the
story, I knew I would be visiting Mira again though I didn’t know when.
Sometimes sequels are
planned, sometimes they happen accidentally. That was the case with “A Voice in
the Darkness.”
“A Voice in the
Darkness” had a strange path to completion. As I said, it didn’t start out as a
sequel to “With Eyes Open…” But that’s
how it goes with my writing. A story will start out heading one way then take a
hard right turn into weirdness. Sometimes without my even knowing it.
By the late
twenty-second, early twenty-third century, there are a whole series of
permanent space stations orbiting Earth. There are four major stations,
Topside, Overhead, Scoperta (Italian for Discovery) and Mir (named after the
Russian space station). There are also a number of smaller facilities, some
serving as habitats, some as dry docks for vehicle assembly, some as research
facilities.
I had the thought that
something had gone wrong on one of the smaller stations, a research project
gone bad. I didn’t know exactly what but I knew it had something to do with a
government organization known as MilSci, short for Military Science. (MilSci,
as the name implies, is responsible for development of starships, weaponry and
defense systems, working with civilian contractors throughout the system. They’re
also responsible for conducting contact and evaluation missions with
non-terrestrial races, as a prelude to the signing of treaties.) I knew my main
character used to work for them but left a few years earlier, after divorcing
her husband, who was a researcher with MilSci. Of course, her ex-husband had to
be involved.
I started writing the story without a thought
of “With Eyes Open…” I had my main
character, Mandalay Jones, dragged out of bed by her former MilSci employers,
stuck on a small shuttle and sent off to Bowen Station, a small satellite facility
of Topside Station. No hint that Mira
and the Adityas were involved. Then they showed up. I knew the Adityas were
behind what had happened but still didn’t know why or how. So I put it aside to
try and figure out what happened.
Cue the passage of at
least a few years.
In early 2012, I started
making a push to complete the numerous unfinished stories that had accumulated over
the years. I decided to start with “A Voice in the Darkness”. I reread what I
had written, figured out the rest of the story and finished it within a few
months. (Nothing strange about this. With me, it happens quite frequently. Just
wait until we get to The Fault Lies Not… and Rae.)
And by the way…the
story of Mira Frayne, the Adityas and Mandalay Jones are not finished…
With Eyes Open… is
currently available on Smashwords, Kindle, iTunes and NOOK. Find the links on
my website, Wordboy’s Words –
http://wordboy1.wix.com/wordboyswords#!books/cnec
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