Books in Progress
This page describes the projects I have in progress and their status.
Escape From the Abyss – Hopeless
Hopeless will be the sixth book in this series. I am planning to complete this series with seven books in total.
Notes
The theme has a few similarities to Battlestar Galactica, but I deviated way off the beaten path. For starters, they are not trying to find Earth. They are lost and must find their way back to the colonies. They have a bible called The Tome of Revelations. Most people don’t give their primary religion the time of day, but others are devout and follow the book. The Tome tells of ancient colonies that were invaded by an alien race thousands of years ago. An exodus of people escaped from the ancient colonies and traveled for a generation until they escaped from the Archons and settled new worlds. Of course, nobody really believes that nonsense because nobody has seen an alien in thousands of years. When a group of ships are lost in space due to a technical glitch in the transport rings they use to go between solar systems, they suddenly realize that everything in the Tome is real. Aliens, ancient worlds, the exodus of their people… To top it all off, their arrival awakens the Arcons to the fact that humans have formed new colonies and have modern technology. Now, it’s up to Captain Alastor to safely get their ships back to the colonies to warn their people of the arrival of aliens with the technology to wipe them out. The Tome contains hints of how the people from the Exodus traveled to the new colonies they formed. Inside the Tome are temples built along the way on planets that must be found. To top it off, ominous warnings were recorded in the Tome about things that will happen to them. Not that anybody believes that crazy stuff… or do they?
Status: planning.
Escape From the Abyss – Final Match
The cover for this book is not set in stone, but the title is final. This will be the final book of the series. There is a lot of prequel and after-series material that could be used for a future set of books. Currently, I have no plans to write any more books from this series, but that could change. For now, this book will cap the series as it is.
Status: planning.
Other Books
Once The Abyss series has been completed, I have other ideas in progress. I have a few stand-alone stories that I’d like to write.
I have a story that will lean heavily into a future realm with sophisticated androids and robots. This will be formatted as a crime/mystery/detective type of story. I wrote the opening scene and didn’t like it, then re-wrote it and loved it. I have to get back to that story and noodle on how it will fit together. Mysteries take an extra level of planning to make sure it’s twisted enough to keep people from guessing who is committing the crimes, but leave a few breadcrumbs so people can figure it out if they really think about it.
For one story in particular, I have put together a rough idea of how I want the story to go. It’s an Epic-sized story, so I’ll complete that book as a large book, or I could possibly break it into a trilogy, which I’d write all at one time. I have this book tentatively named “Rim Worlds.”
I’m also noodling on a chronicle. I’d like to design some characters with interesting flaws (Like Miller from The Expanse) and then put together a theme. Then I’ll write one book and see how people like it. This will be different from the Daphne series. I plan to go gritty with the feel of the stories. I have a Word document where I started throwing things at the wall and have a few ideas already (actually, I have a lot of ideas. Almost three pages worth). If something really grabs my fancy, I’ll put together one book and see how it goes. The great thing about a chronicle is that the set can be read in any order. That means that one bad book won’t break the chain of reading.
I’d also like to put together some thought-provoking short stories to submit to Asimov’s magazine. Those stories are hard-core, but I’m up to the challenge. I already have a dozen crazy story ideas. I just need to write them with attitude.
Of course, at this time, none of these story ideas have any real effort in them. I can’t afford to be distracted from the current WIP. I have deadlines that I self-imposed, and I intend to stick to them. If I let myself go, I would just be that ADHD kid who never gets anything done, which would be bad.