I’m into my second week at home after the long-term sub gig and I have been rather busy. As I discussed last week, I am writing a Captain America novel. Currently, I am closing in on the completing the first third of the book and might be closer to half-done by the weekend.Just announced this morning, I am also included in eSpec Books’ latest anthology, an original collection of science fiction tales. If We had Known is edited by Mike McPhail and the sales copy reads as follows;Beyond the Cradle of mankind, the universe is vast, unknown, dangerous to the unwary…or those caught in the path of intrepid explorers proceeding without forethought.Thirteen authors explore what it is to pioneer the future with tales fraught with danger and remorse, tempered with hope, luck, and serendipity. We face the monsters. We face the truth. We face ourselves.Whether the frontier is that of science or space, there is no doubt that at some point one must ask …If we had known, would we have followed this course?Contents
The Necessary Enemy by Ian Randall Strock
The Steady Drone of Silence by Danielle Ackley-McPhail
The Last Man on Earth by Jody Lynn Nye
Chasing the Ball by Peter Prellwitz
The Janus Choice by Jeff Young
Between Scylla and Charybdis by Patrick Thomas
The Star Gazers by James Chambers
Giraffe Children by Robert E. Waters
Good Advice by John L. French
Egg by Christopher M. Hiles
Youth by Judi Fleming
Meeting the Other by Nancy Jane Moore
The Third Heaven by Robert Greenberger
Publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail asked me to participate fairly late in the process, after other authors dropped out. I pitched her three quick ideas and she selected one but as I turned a log line into an outline, she decided it wasn’t exactly what she was looking for. We went with idea number two which I quickly expanded into an outline, got the approval and knocked the story out in two days. Mike’s edits were minimal and easy to fix and suddenly, a story has been sold.
My starting point was what happens when a devout Christian astronaut on a year-long voyage is overwhelmed by the vastness of the universe and begins questioning her faith.The book will debut next month at Balticon and when there are sales links, I’ll let you know.Meantime, out this week is book six in the Veil Knights series. We’re still chugging along with almost uniformly positive reviews and comments, which has the dozen authors really pleased. My contribution has yet to see print but its coming and we’ll talk more about that one later.
#Tags: Balticon, Captain America, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, eSpec Books, Ian Randall Strock, If we had Known, James Chambers, Jeff Young, Jody Lynn Nye, slider