Lexicon Lost and New Projects

Lexicon Lost

Crashed in Paradise           serial part 1
Embarked into Danger      serial part 2
Conflicts in the Capital     serial part 3
Venom and Politics           serial part 4

Available now on Amazon


Coming in 2017

Dappled Leaves and Midnight Sun:
Growing up without a Diagnosis


NaNoWriMo Project 2016

Fixed Flight of the Nightingale

NaNoWriMo Project

Since this novel shares a setting with my Lexicon Lost serial, I will have to choose the new story's place in the timeline carefully.  How long has it been since the Lexicon crashed into Eydan?  Is there direct contact with the planet or only long range scan and speculation.  I want my readers to see a bigger picture of the setting, but I don't want to give spoilers for the serial still in progress.

Fixed Flight of the Nightingale will definitely be a complete novel before I publish.  I hope the quick start with NaNoWriMo will get me well into the process.  I am used to writing in bursts, inspiration usually hitting me a half hour after I lay down or walk away from the computer.  That is why I am asking myself (and anyone who wants to give some input) questions that need to percolate.

NaNoWriMo Project

The Nightingale Station harbors most of the humans living in system, while its ships explore and freight materials from mines.  One of the ships has discovered something extraordinary.  On a massive moon around a gas giant, surveyors find a derelict mining operation, with facilities embedded in frozen rock.  The facilities are ancient, and could not have been built by system indigenes since they were in a steam age when humans arrived.  Who built it?  Where did they go?  Is there something sinister on the galactic horizon?

NaNoWriMo Project

Important locations on station:

the best restaurant - what does their art look like, what music, what food (sight, sound, taste)

the cheapest restaurant - what does the local look like, what music, what food (sight, sound, taste)

the gardens/hydroponics

dock / port facilities

Medical bay / facility

the hall of congress or council

a common apartment - normal on-station living conditions

corridors, lifts, section divisions

NaNoWriMo Project

Things I need to think about:

How does a station sustain itself?  What forms of fuel do they use?  How do they grow food?  Do they have a currency?  What languages are spoken?  How are sections divided and how do people communicate?

How much gravity can a station produce with a spin?  Is gravity different in areas near the center than areas on the outer ring?

What is the (political) power structure?

How much say does Captain Symona have over her own ship?  Who does she deal with directly on station?

NaNo Ideas

Thinking about characters-

I want a ship crew of up to ten.  The ship will make supply runs, survey, maybe runs defense for the station.  The captain will be Andrea Symona. Her first officer and personal partner will be Rasa ... I have to work on a last name.  Some inspiration...

NaNo Ideas

The station commander at Nightingale needs a strong name.  I'm thinking maybe Jordan.  Suggestions?

Inspiration...

My NaNo book title will be Fixed Flight of the Nightingale.

The Nightingale is a space station in the Chordas system, on a wide orbit of the only class-M planet.  Far from Earth, they must fend for themselves.

National Novel Writing Month just around the corner.

I'm joining the National Novel Writing Month for the first time.  Nothing like a deadline to get things moving.  My handle is Skaldiduna if you'd like to buddy up.

                                                                 http://nanowrimo.org/

Lexicon Lost Artistic Statement

          Lexicon Lost started with a map and a name.  I drew a side view of an M-class (Earthlike) world with a major continent centered in the view.  I chose a large section of this continent and created a blow up with detailed roads, rails, cities and mountains.  I named the nation of this continent the Eyan Empire. 

On the northeast coast, just below a black sand desert, I placed a human colony.  I create a blow up of this area and began filling in details.  As I sketched in a crash site, a classmate mentioned a lexicon in the discussion. 

What if the crashed ship had been a lexicon of human knowledge?  The lexicon would be a focus of pride and protection for a society lost from Earth.  The crashed ship became the Lexicon and the project became Lexicon Lost.

            Next came characters and story ideas, which blossomed together in sporadic epiphany moments.  I wanted to create a hero’s journey with a science fiction or steampunk flair.  I needed a hero.  Well, no.  I needed a person who could become a hero, but wasn’t there yet.  Like C. J. Cherryh’s Bren Cameron, I wanted an academic with a love of language and keen senses. (Cherryh, 2004)  I wanted someone the reader could trust to tell them about the world through his experiences.

            I wanted to tell an exciting but meaningful story which questions our preconceptions and social constructions.  In my own experiences, I have found that cultures differ in their social constructions, and this is visible in the language.  Language became a perfect focus to get ideas flowing. 

What happens when two cultures meet, one human and one other?  There are bound to be miscommunications based on the social constructions and idioms on both sides.  Just like here on Earth, an idiom can say something completely different than its literal translation.  That was an attractive idea to play with, and a great way to introduce conflict early in the story.

With the overarching storyline plotted, I developed four minor threads to weave into the whole.  (A) Our POV academic, Dr. Banister must learn to work with both cultures and to act in the best interests of both.  (B) His (almost trusty) sidekick Joe Ryan must grow into a respectable man if he wants to receive the respect he craves.  (C) Their travel guide Suvira Frey must keep these two displaced humans alive and help them reach their goals if she wants to regain her rights and title.  (D)  A specific mystery of the Eyan Language will be revealed by the end of the story, giving Banister one of the tools he needs to reach a compromise.

With these ideas in mind, the story is evolving along a beautiful and exciting path.  I am thrilled when my characters or my world surprises me with something new.  I especially enjoy sharing details with other writers and finding them excited to learn more.

Some back copy ideas:

After the crash of the Lexicon research vessel on the world of MVX-5 in the Chordas System, named Eydan by the indigenous people, humans have been stranded for nearly twenty years.  They found themselves alien visitors on a fertile world with a race and culture they cannot quite understand.  

Lawrence Banister and Joe Ryan must immerse themselves in Eyan culture and travel across a continent to build an observatory and communications station which will allow the stranded colony to contact their own people off-world.  They must convince the nobility of Soza Province to sign a land deal, but this is the same province which took in refugees displaced when humans crashed into their world.  It will be hard to sell a deal to superstitious locals who resent humans for bringing disease and death, still vivid in personal memory.

Lawrence and Joe are joined by Suvira, an Eyan noble woman shamed for her hatred of humans.  She must work with Lawrence and Joe to regain her title, or become a social pariah.  She is horrified to find they hold each other’s lives in their hands.

Across open roads, steel rails and into jagged ancient mountains, their journey will span a continent and unfold intrigue.  They will tumble with steel workers in Frey, spin on the dance floor in the capital of Nodae Eya and skulk through the hidden corridors of Soza Castle.  They will risk life and breath to speak to the stars.

New Map

Here is the new version of the Soza Castle map.  What do you think of the hive-like design?

Creating Worlds

My advanced creative writing class this semester is on creating worlds, and it is an incredible experience.  It is the largest workshop group I have worked with in person, and everyone has different ideas and stories.  The suggestions so far are positive and inspiring.  Thanks to the Creating Worlds team at UAS Juneau.

So hard to find good help

So I am interested in a large project that involves language creation and teaching environmental concepts through science fiction stories, but reactions are mixed.  Hasn't this been part of the genre for decades?  What could we do right and what could we do wrong?  It's been at the heart of science fiction even since the early 1900s.

I have had amazingly positive feedback on analysis of science fiction and its relationship to technological innovation, but little enthusiasm for my genre writing.  How do I move past that and expand my ideas?  Where do I find help with realistic linguistics?  What technologies are on the brink of our imaginations in this advanced information age?