Putting Sci Fi on hold, doing some Fantasy work.

 Hitting a dead end with the concept, taking an extended break to work on it in the back of my mind. Switching to a grim and gritty low fantasy setting.

Interesting Backstories and changes.

 I find too many characters starting with the letter "K".

Kars Vandor will not change.

Kannika Nair becomes Tannika.

Now I am coordinating backstories, giving these characters reasons to cooperate and work together.

Everything dies

 Looks like it is coming down to America, or the Trump Administration.

Though I am a lifelong Republican, I can see the need for a completely new Administration, despite the protestations of the Russian Troll farms supporting Trump.

Over 200,000 Americans will be dead by Election day. I am hoping he can lose by a landslide.

In writing news, I am plowing forward, writing every day, these past two days, developing the backstories of the Terran Empire, the Orion Republic, and alien races: the Morra, Ix, Draveeni, Ree, and Felis.

Plotting, ever more

 Today working on the backstories of the main characters of the series.  Fixing dates of birth and death, planets of origin, and cities and towns on those worlds.

So many things are in flux, but I need to make sure there is a coherent theme running throughout.

Lots of work to do.

Holiday Drafting while strolling.

 Spending a Government Holiday with the family today in the mountains of Northern Thailand.

The people didn't get to do the annual coming-of-the-Monsoon Water Festival of Songkran because of COVID-19.

Now that COVID is under control in Thailand, the government is giving the government workers 4 days for a holiday.

Got up early this morning, made some instant coffee, fed the cat, and packed my laptop, along with my voluminous "Aurin Cluster" setting notebooks into three backpack bags.  I put them in the car's trunk and left at dawn for the 40km freeway drive to the mountains.

The scenery is epic jungle trees decorating the lowlands while deciduous trees climb the slopes of the nearby mountain range that forms the valley of Chiang Mai, as we head further south we can catch sight of the highest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, and the landform they call Tiger Mountain (shaped like the face of a tiger.)  An emerald-green carpet of jungle trees covers the slopes of the mountain.

Arriving at the family compound, waiting for us on the ceramic tile porch is a Thai breakfast of mushrooms and basil, along with mushrooms and bamboo and Spicy Thai Northern sausage, surrounded by plastic bags with rice from the morning market.

Breakfast is done, and after pleasant chats with relatives in my limited Thai, my tongue is aflame with spicy food aftertaste. 

Now with Samsung J6 smartphone in hand, I'm walking along a narrow blacktop road in this Lanna (Northern Thai tribe) mountain town of 5,000 people.

Motorcycles with Thai people young and old are filling the streets. Local people pack in (with masks) to the local rice shops made of wooden tree trunks and corrugated tin for a roof. 

The older people wear cowboy hats or straw hats to keep the sun off.

No one notices a near-tragedy when a three-legged dog limping down the middle of the road with his tongue lolling out is almost crushed by a passing pickup truck. The truck passes, farmworkers and their sharp tools packed into the rear truck bed.

At the last second the dog dashes to safety, to stop, panting while standing in the sand that lines both sides of the road.

I keep walking toward my favorite 3-in-1 coffee source.

 The warm sun makes it 31 degrees centigrade, diffused through a passing cloud, and I'm sweating as I walk.

Now crossing a little one-lane chicane road bridge where there is room for one car or two motorcycles to pass.

The bridge crosses a local drainage stream. The stream beneath the bridge has dried brown and yellow bushes and weeds on either side but in the center is swirls of thick green algae mixed with the local trash.

None of this is dramatic.

Yet it's very pleasant. A quiet day. No politics, nor 10 lies a day from a self-serving corrupt administration.

I wonder how would I describe this scene if it existed in one of my novels.

A day in a Market town in Thailand, walking to 7-Eleven to get coffee.

Smooth Sailing among the Stars

 Today it is a mixed bag. With much dismay at the events in America, amid the ongoing chaos fueled by the President, I am writing.

Last night, I mapped out the outlines for the next half-dozen books of the series.

I discovered, as usual, that I need to make more reference maps, and create more backstories for the supporting characters. 

Fueled by coffee, and a McDonald's Big Breakfast, I will take a lunch break to wash the car, Our Nissan is dirty from the monsoon rains and the dusty roads of rural Thailand turned to yellow-brown mud, everywhere.

Quiet Sunday

 Up early after a decent 6.5 hours of rest.  Got breakfast, at McDonald's.  Brought back food for the family. Nice, warm day, not too hot.

Detailing Planet Obarwinko's population and settlements.

I found a good print shop, I will do some nice maps of the world later this week.

Planetary modeling via software helps the story.

I have been working with planetary maps for years.

Making a map fixes the planet and relevant locations in my mind.

I am using cool software tools to make maps of multiple worlds for each solar system, naming the outposts, settlements, and bases, and assigning them to the massive list of political factions.

It is a painstaking job to organize all of this, but the details are what I love most about creating these fictional worlds.

The house is quiet.

The house is quiet. My little daughter went to her first day of pre-school.
No more demands on my personal time, or need for attention, until 5 PM today.

I will get a good six hours of writing done, after a two-month break (my son was born, needed lots of care).

So with two months of fresh ideas, and reworking the entire storyline with notes, I embark on finishing this series.

Two months of tossing ideas and concepts around in my head, it is now a much richer story.

What do you write with?

I just got this question on Quora:

What are the best pens for everyday writing?

I use a Parker Duofold Classic Black Rollerball Pen with a 0.7MM (gold?) medium nib point. Engraved with the Corporation name of my Space Opera Series: TransStellar.

This pen cost me a bit.
These are relatively expensive pens.
Not the most expensive, but known to be “Upper Class”

It is heavy. Writes smooth. I expect it will last for decades.

I will teach my kids to value it. “This is the pen that started every story. This is the pen that paid for your college.”

It makes me feel like a Billionaire when I write longhand (which is what I use it for) or to sign financial documents.

For years, I wrote with SAKURA Pigma Micron 03 Black ink art pens.

 I liked them because they were quick-drying. I am left-handed, so as a kid in school, 40 years ago, BIC pens would stain the right side of my left palm a light blue.


My family often looks at me, and says, “Poor James! Always writing, writing, you work too hard.”

“No. Not poor James. Rich James.”

I feel like it, with this spiffy pen. Every day.

Using Dramatica StoryEngine Today

I've laid out the Characters and their dynamic relationships.

I've blocked out scenes. The plot is very clear now.

Very busy today, multiple cups of coffee, and typing.

The news from America is depressing.

Nothing like a Stimulus check, yet.

Hoping it might arrive on 13 May. A Veteran's website said they might go out in two days. 

It would be very helpful.

Cleaned up the Online Journal / Moxxu Concept finished.

I cleaned up every post here of my Online Journal.  A bit of a job.

This Journal is not perfect. It is Not SEO-optimized. Oh, that guy.

* * *

Still hoping to see a Stimulus check.

They say veterans will get it, but nobody I know has, except my non-veteran mom, and her non-veteran husband.

I have some sort of localized skin infection on the right side of my mouth, a thumbnail-sized subcutaneous lump, that I thought was an abscess in one of the many cavities I need to fix.

But I went to the local Town Hospital. I amazed five dental staff there, that for a foreigner, I speak Thai pretty well.

They kept commenting. it was a fun, happy time. 

They took X-rays. Two dentists confirmed. "This is not an abscess in your tooth. It is not an emergency. We are only actively treating emergencies because of Covid-19. Sorry"

I understood that, and all I wanted was anti-biotics, anyway.  Once I realized that it was just some weird infection.

They sent me back to the regular intake, and they gave me a week's supply of antibiotics and paracetamol.

My son is due any day now.   The back jacket Blurb for Kars Vandor, Merchant of Vision is done.

I got a polish/rewrite for what I wrote myself from an Australian editor named Jessie Cunniffe from Fiverr.

https://www.fiverr.com/jessiecunniffe?up_rollout=true

I was so happy with it.  I drove to McDonald's to treat myself to a double hamburger, and fries. On arrival at "The Arches", I was scanned for forehead temperature, passed with no problem, and had to jot my name, and phone number down in a contact log.

What the hell is that about? The staff did not speak enough English to explain. But it tasted okay.

* * *

I am in daily contact with Dmitry Veseliy on Fiverr about sketches for Moxxu.

He just finished.

Dmitry is a true professional.  The backstory on this:

I had looked for days to find an artist execute my vision of a character.

Initially, we conversed in English, but since I speak Russian, we quickly started conversing in Russian. At that point, he was super-enthusiastic for my project.

I gave him details of the race, homeworld, politics, maps, etc. He is now my go-to guy for Art, as the lead illustrator of the series. I told him to take his time with my concept. Really think it out.

He gave me a series of sketches, daily contacts through chat, and I gave him some feedback, brief notes, small diagrams. He captured the flavor of my Moxxu Felinoid Alien, as a young Taxxu Naval officer, perfectly. 




I have the story, now it is just using "Dragon Naturally Speaking" to crank out 90,000 words, over the next two weeks, for the Draft.

I feel intense pressure to make it.  73,000 Dead in America.   What the hell is next year going to be like?

The news said aides in the White House have Covid-19.

War with China is in the offing, as the White House tries to blame everyone else, and shirk accountability, and responsibility for inaction, and corrupt leadership killing more Americans in 4 months in 2020 than the Viet Cong did over 10 years.

An uncertain time.  At least I know the work ahead of me. I am focussed on that, on getting it done.

The Series Illustrator is from Ukraine.

The Series Illustrator is from Ukraine. We'll get to that.

First, I want to vent about "You get what you pay for on Fiverr.com"

I have been stuck on the Moxxu Character look.

Cat with Rabbit ears?  Lion-like?  Manga style? Cartoon style? Cute? Aggressive?

Oh, damn, I need help with this.

I hate to need help. Sailors are tough. They handle it. 

Yeah, I have been stuck on this for a month. it has been affecting my work.  I am thinking I am losing my focus, here.

Why is it, that I cannot decide on a look for this Catlike alien, Named  "Moxxu"?

Stress?  I saw that I did not understand the look, because I am not an artist concept guy.
I am a Writer, and a Screenwriter, and a Bit Actor, and a Production Assistant, and a Set Decorator, Cartographer, and Space Artist. Yeah, and I used to fix Torpedoes, and Design Tabletop Wargames decades ago.

When you see a movie, there is a complete damn TEAM of people that do a movie.

But people think or expect, (or at least I thought), the Self-Published Author is a Caped Superhero, that does all of this themselves. Okay, maybe you hire a cover artist. But many people do that.

But the lack of money (my father used to call it "Mafunzalow Disease", being broke.)

On top of everything else going on (related to money): 

• Visa about to expire in two weeks, (But I have what I need, I think / pretty sure / hope.)
• My son, Phet (Thai: Diamond)  will be born any day now, literally. 
  The estimated time is in two weeks, but this is the launch window for little Diamond for his mission to Earth, which is now until 1 June 2020.
• Stimulus? What is that?  Don't get me started.  Bah, too late. 

My Mom in Pittsburgh got it.
Her Husband got it.
People in Thailand, other ex-pats, got it. 
People on Twitter got it.

I didn't get it.  More malfeasance by the current administration. Not that I need it, I mean, I can make do.  But it would be a nice parachute during the Covid-19 Re-entry into the world after Quarantine lockdown in Thailand.

TASTY food would be nice.  I got Canned Tuna; I got kilo-bags of rice.  I got boxes of crackers. I got Liters of water. In that way, I know I am lucky.  I am not bitching like "woe is me."

But if Homey-J, the Man in the Oval want to brag his shit, and be like, "Damn, we so winning." Show Me the Mon-ay.  

Rainy season started today.

I've got a new computer that I have not had time to set up.

A spiffy laptop, an ASUS-TUF-GAMING, Intel Core i7, 2.2 GHz, 16 GB Ram.

It's finally nice and cool, at night, at least for a few days. 23C at night. But in the day, 37C, felt like 43C with the humidity.  The cat needs ice cubes rubbed on her in the middle of the day.

With the rainy season in Thailand, plants are going green again and growing.

I'm looking forward to getting back to working on everything again today, after I set up my new laptop.

41 Worlds for the Varala Drift

I have finally finished encoding the data for the many worlds and systems of the Aurin Cluster.

The Varala Drift Subsector has 41 worlds.

By the year 5440, The Orion Republic has grown, and TransStellar LLC is expanding operations.

Yet the Vestige Worlds of the old Terran Empire are holding out, clinging to the old Imperial Worlds.

As of 5440, the Auoran Subsector has finally been colonized, all the way to Rimward.

I have established the world of Arriago Jax, the Seat of House Jax in the Ree Expanse.

I have identified many key High Population Worlds, for the entire cluster.

Lots of work.

Pushing 2 Gees steady

Today I worked out the Alien homeworlds of the setting.

It turns out there are a handful of races more advanced than Humans, with much more advanced technology.  Each subsector has a few worlds that have interstellar travel, or at least native life, that is intelligent, even if they do not have starships.

The most advanced races have access to synthetic longevity drugs, as do some human worlds.

The sheer amount of data I am generating is staggering, but I am getting through it. I am diligently recording all of this data in my notebooks, while I continue to move forward with the actual writing of the books of the series.

Post -Valentine's Day Work

Thai Sticky Rice, Old Skool

Taking the Sunday off today. Went to visit the Thai family in Chom Thong.  I watched as they made Thai Sticky rice, Old Skool.

I've been working steadily for weeks on the maps of the Aurin Cluster.

Creating new polities and micro-managing world details.  Arranging everything to make it a very interesting setting that will support at least 10 books of the TransStellar Saga series.

My fans have been clamoring for non-map content.

To that end I will push to finish my TransStellar Saga short story Anthology "A Pale Blue Sun", by April. Difficult.  My focus is really off.

I hope to post short stories or characters or something here.

Getting there with new maps, new energy, Despite Covid-19

 I am really starting to narrow down the details of the Varala Drift setting.
Happy with my progress. I finally have all the systems in the entire sector mapped. Yeah, I have written that before.

It has been difficult to focus.

Covid-19 is in Thailand. We stocked up on masks, and soap.

We bought food, rice, bottled water.

We are Untethered

I spent the better part of 6 months building a following on Quora, to this day.

Now it is 2020, and we are all living in the former future. Who knows what happens from here, in this timeline?

Nobody predicted the events of the last three years.

My option now is one goal, get this series out, and design it to be sustainable over a decade.

I am not going to just crank out stories to "feed the machine", but I want to push for four book releases a year, or more, even though I know that will be a punishing schedule.

Still working on the Aurin Cluster Setting design.

I have covers for the next two years, for that book series, associated backstory tie-in books, a collection of short stories from the Aurin Cluster Sector. 

I am also planning other books across multiple genres.

Some cover ideas, here.

New Year, New Direction

It's a new year, now 2020.   Fall was one of the most depressing times of my life.

We are now living in the almost, but-not-quite cyberpunk future that I envisioned as a child.

I'm back at it after taking many intellectual side-trips sinceAugust, 2019.

I have reinstalled Scrivener and my mapping software (Cosmographer by Profantasy) and have organized my workroom.

I have invested a few hundred dollars in self-published science fiction themed covers of novels for the future series.

I fear, with the impeachment failure, that America is on a dangerous path with no guardrail.

I'll catch up with the details of the setting very soon.