It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, and I have to say, it feels good to be back.  Between work and editing Wide Horizon, I’ve allowed my writing at large to languish.  Now, as autumn approaches, it’s time to get back to it, and I have plenty to do.

Wide Horizon

Obviously, my primary focus continues to be the ongoing editing of Wide Horizon.  I’ve read that editing is a slow and grueling process, and thus far my editing hasn’t disappointed.  Still, I’ve found the process surprisingly rewarding.  Spend a few years working with an idea, and sooner or later it calcifies; try as you may, you just can’t find a different way to work things.  It all becomes so familiar you just start to accept it.  Now, having had a fresh set of critical eyes look over my work, point out its weaknesses, it almost feels new.  For the first time in years, I find myself thinking up new ways to write pivotal scenes, rethinking characters in a productive manner.  I’m really excited.

There’s a lot to do.  Before content editing begins, I intend to completely rework the lead up to the main romantic story line, and both refine and expand the closing chapters.  We’re not done yet, but it’s coming along nicely.

Pathfinder

The ideas are coming again.  After going nearly a year wandering aimlessly through what I hope will be my finest work, flitting back and forth between related projects, I feel I’m finally starting to find my voice.  There may be further rewriting ahead, but I like where it’s going.

With Wide Horizon occupying the bulk of my attention, for now Pathfinder has been back-burnered out of necessity, but I’ve no intention of just placing it back on the shelf.  For now, I plan to get back to the foundation of the story: my notes.  Hopefully, after refining my character notes and expanding my world-building efforts, I’ll be able to properly channel my vision onto paper, so to speak.

Reclaimer

This is a new one.  As I mentioned in my post earlier, Reclaimer was born, quite unexpectedly, from background notes I’d been working on for a short story, The Panel.  Though I still intend to write The Panel, as I worked out the background the story began taking on a life of its own, and gradually I found myself drawn more strongly to the setting than the story itself.  Thus, I’ve decided to run with it.

Reclaimer could, in many ways, be considered the polar opposite of Pathfinder.  Set in the late 21st century (I’m considering setting the story in 2094, the same year in which Pathfinder takes place), Reclaimer takes place in a world where action to reverse climate change and other growing problems came too little, too late.  As such, by the late 21st century global temperatures have risen considerably.  The polar ice caps have completely melted, and major inland cities have swelled as rising sea levels have claimed much of our current coastline.  Overcrowding is exacerbated by much of Earth’s previously temperate latitudes transforming into arid desert, leading to widespread food shortages.

The story revolves around Elder Malizc, an American marine agrobiologist living in a stilted house off the coast of Estonia, which by this point is a narrow peninsula, with its capital, Tallinn, long surrendered to the encroaching ocean.  Though Elder serves as the main character, the story is named for a scientist known as the Reclaimer: an elderly biologist who has set herself to the task of preserving the genetic record of Earth’s flora and fauna, in hopes of one day repopulating the Earth.

More details to follow.

Short Fiction

Here we go again.  Earlier today, I submitted Presence, this time to Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine.  It was a toss-up between F&SF and Strange Horizons, but while I really like SH, ultimately F&SF won out.  Strange Horizons publishes weekly, and thus responds quickly, but I really liked the detailed feedback I received from the editor of F&SF after my last submission (which, I’ll admit, was far from my finest work).  F&SF typically responds within 5-15 days.  I’d say keep checking back for updates, but rest assured if my story is accepted I’ll be shouting it through a bullhorn to all who would listen.  For now, fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that.

As far as other short fiction works, for now I plan to narrow my focus.  While it’s always fun to explore new ideas, I’m uncomfortable with the backlog of active projects I’ve accumulated (as of today, I have six stories in progress in science fiction alone).  I’d really like to knock one or two of those off, and several are close to completion.  As all of my current manuscripts have been submitted at least once (and I intend to revise several of them), it would be nice to have some fresh ideas to shop around.

Essays

Lastly, I would really like to get back to my essay writing.  Ideally, I’d really like to post an essay at least once a week, and lord knows I have enough ideas to make it happen.  Unfortunately, amidst all of my other ongoing projects, my essays have long been little more than afterthoughts: little bits of my brain I throw out here and there, some of which can sound rambling and haphazard.  I’d really like to change that, focusing my efforts on completing just one essay a week, and doing it right.

To that end, I plan to spend this week working on my latest idea: an essay on the history of space travel illustration.  In the heyday of the Space Age (in the 1960s and ’70s), the conversation on space travel was rife with big ideas, from massive space stations to colonies on the moon and Mars.  Though big ideas are always good, it takes an artistic touch to present them in a manner that really captures the public’s imagination.  In this upcoming essay, I will be looking at the history and significance of the great illustrators of space travel, from the wheeled space stations of Chesley Bonestell to the great, rotating cylinders envisioned by Gerard K. O’Neill, while taking a look at how art might help to bolster support for big space missions today.

In honor of the Cassini space probe’s glorious demise in orbit of Saturn, I may also work on something of an “Ode to Big Space Missions”, but we’ll see how the week goes.

Well, I have an ambitious plan for the coming week, to be sure.  However, at the risk of using a trite saying, if you shoot for the moon, at least you’ll end up among the stars.  Keep reading, and keep dreaming.