Summer has arrived, which means for us teachers, time to read, write, hike, swim. My writing adventures have begun, and I’m discovering how to juggle working on two novels at one time. The sequel to “Three Wells of the Sea” is moving along. Titled “The Salamander’s Smile,” my alpha reader has finished her flogging of the first draft, so I am diving in for the next iteration. I have a few beta readers waiting for the next draft, but if you are interested in reading a pdf of the coming draft and are willing to offer feedback on what works and what does not, let me know. I can always use a few more beta readers. I hope to have this draft ready by October or November.
My other project is a space opera that will not leave me alone. The main character, Camber Maypole, whispers to me all the time, and, she being a disembodied refugee from a dying Earth, is rather insistent in what she has to tell me. Here’s the opening of the novel as it sits now:
Skin was the organ people missed the most. It was sensitive to the minutest change in pressure, responsive to the gentlest breath blown across the small hairs on the arm or the back of the neck. Gooseflesh raised by a cold dive into a mountain lake, caressed by the sun on a warm summer day, a lover’s kiss. No holographic sensory system yet built could duplicate it. Because to feel, one had to be real.
Camber Maypole strode into the board meeting wearing nothing but the carbon skeleton of her print. She carried a small culture tray bearing the fruit of the past ten year’s labor. She’d practiced this pitch for days and she was ready for battle.
I have read some great books this spring, and would love to share them with you. In terms of novels, the one that grabbed me and didn’t let go was “The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajiniemi. Brilliant, funny, with more twists than the path of a subatomic particle in an atom smasher. The science is high level and there are no training wheels, Hannu just dives right in. Beautifully written. I also thoroughly enjoyed “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. He writes with humor in a very different style that reads quite easily.
Happy reading, sunbathing, and generally soaking up the summer.
My other project is a space opera that will not leave me alone. The main character, Camber Maypole, whispers to me all the time, and, she being a disembodied refugee from a dying Earth, is rather insistent in what she has to tell me. Here’s the opening of the novel as it sits now:
Skin was the organ people missed the most. It was sensitive to the minutest change in pressure, responsive to the gentlest breath blown across the small hairs on the arm or the back of the neck. Gooseflesh raised by a cold dive into a mountain lake, caressed by the sun on a warm summer day, a lover’s kiss. No holographic sensory system yet built could duplicate it. Because to feel, one had to be real.
Camber Maypole strode into the board meeting wearing nothing but the carbon skeleton of her print. She carried a small culture tray bearing the fruit of the past ten year’s labor. She’d practiced this pitch for days and she was ready for battle.
I have read some great books this spring, and would love to share them with you. In terms of novels, the one that grabbed me and didn’t let go was “The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajiniemi. Brilliant, funny, with more twists than the path of a subatomic particle in an atom smasher. The science is high level and there are no training wheels, Hannu just dives right in. Beautifully written. I also thoroughly enjoyed “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. He writes with humor in a very different style that reads quite easily.
Happy reading, sunbathing, and generally soaking up the summer.
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