I’ve made a lot of progress on Altered Seasons over the past month. I’ve finished Year 3 and given a lot of shape to the remaining sections of the novel. I’ve also wiped Anchorage and Pyongyang off the map. I’ll put them right back, I swear. But now it’s time to temporarily part company with Isabel Bradshaw, Carolyn Camberg, Jerome Ross, Holbrooke Morgan, Sandra Symcox, Walter Yuschak, Henry Pratt, Jae-oh Ahn, Muhammad al-Harrak and the rest of the inhabitants of that troubled near future. For the month of November, I’m going to be trying to bring Locksmith’s War 50,000 words closer to completion. I didn’t quite succeed last year, but I got enough done on Locksmith’s Journeys that I was ab
"Generally in science fiction, you have one impossible thing, and then you surround it with believability in the hopes that it will allow the audience to accept the impossible thing too." - Chuck Sonnenberg, reviewing Torchwood: Miracle Day One character I’ve written a number of stories about is Irene J. Harris, a.k.a. “Big Reenie” or “Reenie the Giant.” Reenie is an intelligent, good-natured and athletic woman — and she needs to be athletic just to stand and walk. She makes her own clothes — and, again, she needs to. Because Reenie is 7’9,” and while she doesn’t talk about her weight, she never lets it get above 400 pounds and it’s usually a little less. If she actually existed, she’d be
My goal with Altered Seasons in October is to get 1,000 words a day written. So far I’m on track. Part of the problem with writing near-future but not quite Next-Sunday-AD science fiction is having to invent not only your own tech, but your own slang. Here’s a glossary of some terms, technical and otherwise, that will be coming up in Altered Seasons. I hope they don’t sound too silly. armphone: A smartphone that goes on your arm, leaving you with one hand free. bag of hair: A useless and unpleasant person, especially one who makes empty promises or threats. bargain produce: A section of the supermarket dedicated to wholesome but physically unattractive fruits and vegetables. Also, a sexua
