About the Book
The interstellar Terran Imperium is expanding to reclaim what was lost during the Decline—a period when hyperspace variances cleaved off countless human systems. The Clinate Oligarchy ruled Copa System for nearly 1,500 years, with every citizen identified as a contract line item. With the hyperspace route reestablished, the Imperium slowly infects Copan society—vying for control and peaceful transition.
Despite enjoying the opulence as a sub-sept member of Clin-Khotaigra, University student Mondennio Rowenzal seeks higher status in government and society. His ambitions are shattered when he is caught cheating during a critical exam, setting him on a course that could decide the fate of his stellar system.
Can he overcome Bafiktuy Intelligence operative Jonaldy Amonett's efforts to compel him to be an agent for the Imperium while doubting his own government's legitimacy?
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When Friends Take a Turn for the Worse
Have you ever known somebody who turned out to be somebody else? Come to rely on that person, that go-to person, only to find out he had feet of clay? Sometimes that friend was never your friend, they were just setting you up for their advantage. I'm going to talk about a friend who did not betray me, but he let me down because I thought he was better than that. I'll call him Daniel for anonymity. This is his true story.
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A Little About the Imperium Series
It took me a while to regain my momentum, but Scintilla has gone through its revision. Scintilla is a Sci-Fi novel about three cultures in collision. On one hand, you have the mighty Imperium. You also have the backwater world of Copa, with its aristocrats and peasants. Its fundamental question is about freedom.
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Scintilla First Draft Retrospective
Just about every writer's resources says to take time away from your writing project after the first draft. It's like spending an intense amount of time with a loved one, then abstaining for a while to make sure you're objective about the relationship. Or, whatever. How long is open to interpretation, but I figure four to six weeks for myself.
I'll be diving back into the drafting game with Imbroglio, which is Scintilla's predecessor. It's not a prequel. Both novels are in the same setting (Imperium Series). And, the hero in Imbroglio has a minor role in Scintilla. I plan on publishing Imbroglio first, so it's a race.
Instead, I'll be doing a quick retrospective on what happened during my fifty days of drafting.
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Scintilla Draft Complete
This is just a short message as it's been a long day. Scintilla's rough draft just finished about 30 minutes ago. My average daily word count was 1,776, so I was being quite patriotic. As I have a Ruby gem that compiles my Markdown into PDF (via LaTeX), I quickly made a draft copy and a 9"x6" “hardback” copy. Lulu press is my draft printer, so now I have one copy of my draft and two copies of my “first reader” copies. I have two intrepid people who are ready to read one the first draft.
I suppose I shouldn't let them read it, instead going through the first revision and then letting them read the remainder of that. Oh, well. It'll help me find big problems quick. Not that I don't know there are a few. The timelines of the various players do not sync-up well, which I will fix during the first revision.
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Scintilla Cover Art Competition
During NaNoWriMo2010, I asked the NanoArtists to try to come up with a cover for my novel Scintilla. The two examples that resulted were too minimalist for my tastes.
So, I roughed out the graphic portion of my cover. You see part of that on the left. I borrowed a clip art, a cartoon, and I added my own sunrise/set gradient. This is all well and good, but I will need to replace this mockup with a real image. That's why I'm having a contest to replace the blue guy in the background with a real person—maybe even you.