State of the Union

Posted 12/04/12 12:07 am by Greg

Ever since I moved to Florida and started my Space Systems graduate program, I've had little time for writing. I love learning about the realities of spaceflight. The knowledge I've gained after only one semester has skyrocketed my ability to write more accurate science-based fiction. Nevertheless, between school, work, and writing, something had to give, at least temporarily. In the next month, between the fall and spring semester, I hope to get some significant editing and writing done.

The following is a list of projects underway with status updates:

Beyond Cloud Nine. I finished draft 3 in early July and started querying agents, all of which either ignored me or told me that the project wasn't right for them. About the same time, a friend whose opinion I trust read it and a new critique group reviewed the first few chapters. Based on their feedback, I concluded that additional edits were necessary, enough to warrant a draft 4. I've posted another blog entry regarding those specific changes, which are in progress.

Destalis. Based on feedback received way back in 2009, I knew Destalis needed more significant changes, so much so that I have begun a "re-imagining" of the story. See the related blog post for details.

Goodbye, Mars. I submitted GBM to almost every major sci-fi magazine only to see every last publication reject it. The best I did was to re-query The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The assistant editor there allowed me to resubmit GBM after I made yet more edits, but he still wasn't interested. Similar to the situation with BC9, a new critique group provided some good insights on the novelette. While the beginning was exciting, it didn't establish the context of what was going on well enough, and therefore didn't hook the reader as well as it should have done. The first chapter of BC9 has the same issue. I discuss the specific edits for GBM in another post.

Beyond the Horizon. In the rare moments I have time, I continue to outline BTH, the sequel to BC9. While I have yet to solidify the full story, I've managed to write chapter 1 and get a start on chapter 2.

Bears in Space. Similar to BTH, I continue to outline this series of sci-fi/comedy short stories.

[Unnamed Sci-Fi/Fantasy]. In the last few months, I've begun thinking about a brand new novel that will be very Final Fantasy-like. The story will be set on a planet that is a patchwork of multiple planets from across the galaxy, caused by a high-tech war in the distant past that broke local space-time. The world has regressed to a medieval state, although elements of technology remain. This as-yet-unnamed story will finally feature a male protagonist and will be my attempt to do magic that is based in science and technology rather than the supernatural.