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When I’m not writing or playing games, I like to draw.  This is what I’m working on right now.  This is the Essex Class UNV Ticonderga, the second ship of her class, in active service as of 2164.  This is the hero-ship that will be featured in the military sci-fi story I’m currently working on.  The idea was to create something that might actually exist, which is why you see modules, solar panels, shuttles docked to extended docking collars, and radiation shields both forward and aft, in a time when the United Nations is at war with an Alliance of Corporations.  There are no aliens, no FTL, and I try to stick as close to scientifically plausible as possible.  Rules bend, but I try not to break them.

*Fair warning, the pic is rather large.  This is also a work in progress.

Solar System Guide: New Haven

This is my first attempt to create a Solar System Map, depicting the various locations and positions of the four inner planets, along with the Lagrangian points for Sun-Earth, Sun-Mars, and Earth-Mars and a handful of important military bases.

Orbital Dynamics (around which gravitational body you’re orbiting, your place in orbit around that body, and the time/power/fuel/energy/ needed to travel along an orbit of that body to achieve a better position to deploy your weapons) will play a vital role in the depiction of combat in New Haven. Almost all space oriented combat occurring during the series, takes place with both sides in orbit of a large gravitational force, whether it be a planet, moon, or Lagrangian point.

For right now, this is a simple guide designed to provide a very basic sense of where things are in the solar system in April of 2164. It could stand to be a fair bit more precise and definitely needs some work in that regard. For now though, it’s just a simple graphical aid for story planning.

Anyway, I thought I’d share it in case anyone else is interested.
This is a work in progress and by no means perfect, or finished.

Stuff…

I need to work on posting more here.  It’s not much of a blog, otherwise.

I’ve nearly finished the first draft of Orbital Decay.  It’s taken longer than I would have liked, but the story ended up being longer than I had planned.  It’s also taken me longer to write the battles sequences than I thought it would.  I’ve written fight scenes before and thought they wouldn’t pose any difficulties, but as the space battles in this really through me for a loop.  Needless to say, while the bulk of the story is there, the overall piece is still going to need some work.  I can’t say for certain now when Orbital Decay will be released.  My hope is to have it done and ready to go by the end of the year, but if I’ve learned anything about myself through my writing, it’s that I’m terrible at predicting when something will be done and/or setting any type of deadline for myself.

So it’s best in this case and any future endeavors to simply say it will be done, when it’s done.

 

In other news, my other book, Method of Life is still sitting on my hard drive, relatively untouched.  So what I’m planning now, it to work on getting Method ready for publishment once Orbital Decay is through the first draft stage.  Taking a break from New Haven to focus on Method, will do me some good.  This way I can get one book out there for sale and then refocus my attention on New Haven with a fresh set of eyes…so to speak.

Between the two, there might also be some other things released.  It just depends on how much I can get done.

That’s about it for now.  I’m getting ready to head out for the evening and need to finish getting ready.  My hair isn’t going to fix itself.

News…

Here are a couple concepts I’ve posted on dA, but haven’t posted here yet.
This is the first WIP for a UN Mission patch.
http://fav.me/d5231j7

This is a concept for a Commercial Orbital Transport, basically a passenger liner that can reach orbit.
http://fav.me/d52tp8i

Also, here’s an update for the Earth Map.  It sill needs some work in many areas but is closer to being done.
http://fav.me/d527kxz

In other news, I’ve been working on the first episode, Orbital Decay, at a fairly regular pace.  Detailing the space combat has proven to be far more difficult than I originally imagined.  Trying to make it appear as realistic as possible, within the confines of the New Haven Universe, has proved to be quite a challenge, more so then any other sort of action scene I’ve ever written.  Nevertheless, I’m still on schedule to have the first draft done by the end of this month and if editing and revisions go well, then it should be ready to purchase through Amazon by August at the earliest.

Additionally, from now on, all stories that I release will be released exclusively through Amazon’s kindle marketplace. The short stories that have already been released, along with the timeline, will be revised and will be available for free since many have already seen them online, though they’re no longer available here or elsewhere.  It didn’t seem right to charge people for a story they’ve already read.

This is the pricing plan I intend to start out with, which may be adjusted depending on a number of variables.
Short stories will be .99 cents.
Novella’s such as Orbital Decay will be $3.99.
Full length novels will be $4.99.

I’ll likely wait until Orbital Decay is ready to be published, to re-release the old shorts along with a few new ones.

Time Line: Part Two…

Better late then never as they always say.

The New Haven Chronicles – Timeline Part Two

Note, once the timeline is complete, or rather once I have a complete working draft, I’ll combine all three parts into one single document for your reading pleasure.  Until next Friday, hopefully, when Part Three will be ready.

Timeline Update….

Aside from part two of the timeline, which will be done later today and posted Friday, I’m hoping to get to a few revisions I need to tackle in part one.  Nothing major, just some editing and clarifying a few details.  Part Two is shaping up nicely and is filled with all kinds of details regarding how the Corporations rose to power and how the new United Nations was formed.  The formation of the new UN….it’s a probably a bit different then what you’re expecting.  I tried to take a different approach and while I think it’s certainly unique, I’m not sure if it’s entirely believable.  I like it though so it may be one of those rare instances where I make the call to keep some details or backstory in place, whether it’s realistic or not.  As the creator, I get to make such calls. lol

Part Two also outlines the beginning of the rift that will eventually lead to the conflict this series is actually about.  It’s not as slow and gradual as I would have liked, at least not yet, or maybe not as detailed….there are parts of the timeline where I feel like I cover things that don’t really matter but are important to me.  For example, there are numerous mentions of advancements in organ transplant technology.  This will likely never come up in the series, though it’s important to me because I’m an organ transplant recipient….liver in case you were wondering.

I guess its a balancing act somewhat, picking what to include versus what can be left out.  And I can always go back and fill in the gaps later.  I suppose ultimately as long as the audience is able to follow along and remains interested, then that’s all that matters to some degree.

And because of that, I’d better get back to work.  See you Friday.