Holy crap, this year’s screaming by.
September was a “slow and steady wins the race” kind of month. A few different things going on, but nothing too crazy. Various projects are proceeding apace and starting to come together. We’ve settled into a “work/school week” routine now that the girls go to different schools (one in Kindergarten, the other still in preschool, but wanting very badly to go to Kindergarten like her big sister) and when considering after-school activities.
Where are we now that September has waved good-bye?
Untitled Star Trek novel: This is the novel project I started on August 1st, and naturally most of my writing time was devoted to it. As of today, I’m right where I want to be, progress-wise, currently sitting at the 42k+ mark and counting. Contracts have been signed and my copy returned to me, so I’m hoping I can start talking about this soon. For now, I can continue to tease that this has been a pet project of mine for several years. The manuscript’s not due until January 7th, but I plan to keep busy between now and then.
In Tempest’s Wake – An e-book novella, this is something of a “coda” for the Star Trek: Vanguard novel series. The series finale did indeed take place back in the spring with David Mack‘s rousing last novel in the series, Storming Heaven. The best way to describe this story is that it’s intended as a “bonus” for series readers. It’s scheduled for e-publication on Tuesday, October 2nd. HEY! THAT’S TOMORROW!
“My Kid, the Writer?” – My latest monthly column for the Novel Spaces blog, which was posted on September 17th. This month, I talk about how my oldest daughter has been indicating through word and deed that she’d one day like to be a writer and tell stories like her daddy. More competition. Great.
Guest blog for Forgotten Flix – I was approached by my friends there to provide a post for a series of guest blogs they’re putting together, to run starting in November. My topic? I get to ramble on about what I think are the ten best science fiction films of the 1980s. Galaxy of Terror and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone for the win, baby! I should have this written sometime later in the month.
Halloween story! As I’ve done for the past couple of years, I’m working on another Halloween story. Whether I “live Tweet” the thing on Twitter remains to be seen. I actually have the thing kinda sorta plotted out, believe it or not, and even scribbled a few notes for it during the weekend. A tease? Roller Derby Girls vs. Zombies.
Other stuff in the pipeline:
Essay for Bob Greenberger’s Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History – Last year, friend Bob asked me to contribute a piece highlighting Star Trek fans who, due to one reason or another, have found a way to contribute professionally to some aspect of the franchise. How could I say no? The piece will be one of many sidebars Bob is including in the book, which is scheduled for publication on November 5th.
Tie-in novel – For late 2013 or early 2014. I was approached about this project back at the end of May. At this point, I have very little to say about it, as I’ve not even really figured what the story will be. I had a discussion with my editor about this book on July 27th, and I’ll be developing an outline as we wind down 2012 (said outline’s not due until after the first of the year), even as I work on the “novel in progress.” As of now, I expect to be delivering the manuscript for this one early next summer. I even have contracts for it, and everything! Talk about lookin’ ahead….
Tie-in novel – For mid-late 2014. And as if that’s not enough, my editor has contacted me regarding yet another project for even farther down the line. We talked about it last week, to figure out possible scheduling and manuscript due dates. Right now, it’s nothing more than my name in a slot on my editor’s schedule, so we’re a long ways off from being able to say anything meaningful about it, but it’s nice to know I’ll be at least somewhat busy for the next year or so.
“The Enterprise Job” – This actually was a topic of conversation back during the Starfest convention in April, between me and a friend who’s also runs a small-press publishing venture. He asked to see the manuscript, so I sent it to him a couple of months ago. Various life and work issues have prevented him from getting back to me about this, and right now I’m weighing the notion of continuing to wait on him, or exploring other avenues. If all goes to my master plan, this would be available in all of the popular e-Book venues as well as print-on-demand hardcopy editions. This has taken a back seat to other stuff on my schedule for the moment.
Steampunk short story – I missed the window for the anthology for which this originally was intended, but the editor has already asked me to submit it for the next anthology in the series. I plan to get back to this one and finish a draft for this over the few weeks or so, and back-burner it until I make some good headway on the current novel project. That’s the plan, anyway. It’s a new genre for me, so it’s proving a bit of a challenge, but I really like the idea I’ve come up with. I’m even thinking I can expand the general premise–if not this particular tale–to novel length, and really go crazy. I guess we’ll see.
Short story for charity anthology – When fellow writer and blogger H.E. Ellis put out an all-call for short story submissions to support a worthwhile charity endeavor, I decided that the anthology’s theme was delightfully twisted enough that I wanted to play. The basic idea is to re-imagine a classic fairy tale, which, as H.E. puts it, “can be as funny, sick, twisted, erotic or vanilla as you wish.” I opted to take a crack at “updating” Peter Pan (a riff on A Clockwork Orange came to mind). Or, I may have a go at re-inventing Pinocchio as a cyborg assassin. Haven’t decided yet. At this time, all of the fairy tales in her original list have been nabbed, but if this sounds like something you want to try and you have a fairy tale that wasn’t on the list, add a comment to the blog entry I linked, and she’ll consider adding it and you to her list. The intent is to have all of the stories in by spring 2013 so that they can be compiled into anthology format. A few folks already have turned in their stories, and H.E. is posting a couple of them (or excerpts) to her blog.
Also, I’ve continued to answer the call of friends Nick Minecci and Terry Lynn Shull, they of the weekly Sunday G&T Show, responding to queries submitted to them via their show’s “Ask Dayton” feature. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.
Possible future projects:
Kid’s story book – The idea behind this is to create one of those illustrated books for very young kids (like, say…my 6 and 4-year old). I have an artist in mind, particularly since it was work he did for similar books which inspired me to do this in the first place. I have a completed manuscript, and at the moment we’re waiting on him to get some time in his schedule so we can talk about it. There also are a few other obstacles to navigate before I can approach the appropriate parties about possible publication. For now, this remains a “passion project.”
Shared-world story – I was approached earlier in February about perhaps contributing something to an author-created “shared-world” series. At this point, our discussions have been very, very preliminary, as at the time I still was wrapping my head around the series concept and the possibilities it presents. I already have a notion for a story, but it naturally needs refinement to fit the series’ framework. I’m not even sure yet whether we’re talking novel-length, or something shorter. Now that contracted work has heated up again, this has been back-burnered for a while.
For now? Howdy, October.
