...another monthly update.

Once again, inspired by the human writing dynamo otherwise known as Keith R.A. DeCandido, I offer up an update on the status of my various writing endeavors:

• The Genesis Protocol - Editorial revisions complete. Revised manuscript delivered to editor...just a few minutes ago, actually. .
  
• Summon the Thunder - Currently writing this with Kevin. Manuscript due November 1st.
  
• S.C.E. #64: Distant Early Warning - Received licensor's approval of our proposal on August 19th. Manuscript is due January 15th, 2006.
  
• Original nonSF short story - Sent to anthology editor on July 21st. Waiting to see if it's accepted or rejected.
  
• Original nonSF short story - Completed and waiting for submission period before I send it to the market's editor.
  
• Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II - Proposal still being shopped to publishers.
  
• Trek novel solo project - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
  
• Trek novel project with Kevin - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
  
• Tie-in project with Kevin - Sample chapter completed; working to complete proposal.
  
• Tie-in project with Kevin - Working to complete proposal.
  
• Two articles for Star Trek Communicator magazine with Kevin - Conducting research and performing other prep work.
  
• Non-fiction/non-genre article (or series of articles) for local/regional magazine or newspaper - Researching material for the article(s), researching best markets to place it.
  
• Short Screenplay - submitted to open-call contest on August 26th. Awaiting feedback from the contest judges.
  
• Original short story - Don't really have a market in mind for this, but I want to write it anyway...so there :)
  

I also wrote a dirty note to my wife. It set off the smoke alarm, but only because she ripped it from the ceiling and smacked me over the head with it.

Part 2 of Jackie Bundy's 3-part article about the new Star Trek: Vanguard series, written from information she gathered at this past July's Shore Leave convention, is now available at Sci Fi Pulse.

Enjoy!

The good folks at Star Trek: Diversity Fleet have posted a transcript from the our chat this past weekend. It's available in three Parts:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Unfortunately, I'm told that a portion of the last third or so of the transcript was eaten by the chat room server, and is not recoverable.

Thanks to Diversity Fleet for posting the transcript, and to Defcon for alerting me to their availability.

Since it's the 31st, I'll probably post an "update" on my various writing endeavors later today. I need time to make up some good B.S.

Just a reminder that Kevin and I will be guests at an online chat hosted by Star Trek: Diversity Fleet. We'll be talking about our various writing projects, including possible info-nuggets about The Genesis Protocol and our forthcoming S.C.E. novella as well as our novel for the Star Trek: Vanguard series, Summon the Thunder.

If you're interested in participating, come on over to their chat room. Hope to see you there!

Okay, as "weird/gross/dangerous/potentially fatal" crap your friend(s) can possibly talk you into doing, submitting to a writing contest is pretty tame.

Even if it's something you've never really tried, or thought about trying, before. Good old Kevin found a site for Kansas City-based screenwriters who are currently holding a short screenplay competition for aspiring local screenwriters. Winners receive $250 bucks, and perhaps a chance at being produced.

What the heck does this have to do with me? A few months ago, I wrote a silly little skit with the potentional idea of me and a couple of other writers performing it in some manner at the last Shore Leave convention. Well, that didn't happen, mostly because I'm a big coward when it comes to performing on stage, so into a drawer it went. Kevin decided that the skit was funny enough for me to take a stab at rewriting it to conform to screenwriting format and the contest's guidelines (entries have to be 12 pages or less in standard screenwriting format).

So, I spent my lunch hour getting the script readied, and got it prepped to go out in tomorrow's mail.

Realistically, I figure I'll get my ass kicked by folks who know what they're doing at this sort of thing, but I heard the old adage -- the one I keep offering to hopeful new writers such as those entering the Strange New Worlds contests -- ringing in my ears: "You can't win if you don't try."

Now, what kind of wannabe mentor would I be if I didn't follow my own advice?

I'll keep ya'll posted as I hear back about this. Keep those fingers and toes crossed!

Hey, cool!

Bill Williams over at Trekweb.com has posted his review of Breakdowns, the seventh Star Trek: S.C.E. paperback collection, which of course features Home Fires by Kevin and me.

Sweet.

Thanks to Bill for the review!

Jackie Bundy, she of Trek Today fame, also writes for Sci Fi Pulse, and that's where she's serving up a heapin' helpin' of info on Star Trek: Vanguard, the newest novel-only Trek series from Pocket Books. Based on the panel discussion held at this summer's Shore Leave convention, Jackie has written a three-part article for Sci Fi Pulse about the series, including in-depth information about its creation, the cast of characters, as well as tantalizing bits about the main "meta-story" that will thread through each new book of the series.

You can check out Part 1 of Jackie's article right now. Enjoy!

As of this evening, this is where things stand:


Vanguard: Summon the Thunder Word Count:

31,535 / 60,000 (52.0%)

My hands haven't hurt this much since I was 12 and found my grandfather's Playboy collection.

Given that it looks like the book will come in closer to 120,000 words rather than 100,000, I've gone ahead and adjusted my expected contribution appropriately.

Kevin's also started to send me pages, that I'll now have a chance to read through since I've built myself a bit of a cushion with respect to my monthly "word quota." With that in mind, I'll be sure to post a running count for his half of the book (and therefore, a total manuscript word count) here shortly.

Please, contain your enthusiasm.

In other news, Kevin and I had a blast chatting with members of Kansas Writers, Inc. on Saturday. A very nice group of writers, of all stripes and experience levels from published pros to aspiring students. They tolerated our particular brand of idiocy with grace and style, and even invited us back for a future event. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

....and decided to be evil. With that in mind, I give you the preliminary artwork for the cover of Star Trek: S.C.E. #64, Distant Early Warning.

Ain't I a stinkah?

....I smurched this from KRAD's live journal:


Your word is F**K.

(Edited out of consideration for my younger visitors.)

You like to come across as rude
and rebellious, and often you do. You also are
intelligent and maybe surprisingly sensitive,
though God help anyone who said that in front
of your friends.


Which Swear (Curse) Word Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I know. It's so completely not me. Right?

Got word late last night from Star Trek: S.C.E. editor Keith R.A. DeCandido that Paramount has approved the prosposal for Distant Early Warning, what will be mine and Kevin's ninth collaboration for the monthly e-Book series. As things stand now, it's slated to be #64, due out in May 2006. That is, of course, subject to change.

His KRADness also solicited our interest in some future S.C.E. action. Not being morons, Kevin and I immediately said, "Hell yeah!"

Okay, maybe we're still morons. In fact, I'd put chips down on that.

Anyway....

As for what the aforementioned juicy action might be? I could tell you, but...well, you know.

Also, today is the day Kevin and I travel to picturesque Topeka, Kansas, to meet with members of Kansas Writers, Inc. at the Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library. This promises to be a fun one, if the e-Mails we've received to this point are any indication. If you're a local, feel free to drop by!

The weekend didn't turn out the way I wanted, for various reasons which will just bore the hell out of you. Anyway, today's progress yields:


Vanguard: Summon the Thunder Word Count

24,395 / 50,000 (48.0%)

By the way, once I coax Kevin out of his shell, I'll start throwing his word count out here, too, so you can see the progress of the whole book and not just the parts I'm writing.

Right now, despite my lackluster weekend output, I'm still kickin' his ass.

In addition to that work, I was able to get some of the revisions completed for The Genesis Protocol.

So while I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, it wasn't a complete waste of a weekend.

Yay.

Late last week, John Ordover at Phobos Books sent me new cover art for The Genesis Protocol, which is still slated for a January 2006 publication date. You can see a larger version of the cover on the book's page.

Pretty sweet, eh?

I'm pretty happy with today's progress:


Vanguard: Summon the Thunder wordcount:

20,945 / 50,000 (41.0%)

I also managed to scribble out some plot notes for a short story I'm hoping to write in the next couple of weeks. While not a Trek story in the strict sense, it has a Trek connection....hehehehe.

Lastly, I added a new page to the Strange New Worlds section. Accompanying the page on manuscript formatting guidelines is a new page on writing a cover letter. Key thing to remember: Keep it Simple.

Wow.

All I can say is that I'm sorry it didn't live up to the "Very Special Blog Entry" hype as seen on those WB commericals. Those marketing people are deceptive bastards, eh?

Define IRONY: I receive a spam e-Mail this morning, from a sender calling themselves "SPAMIS (Strategic Partnership Against Microsoft Illegal Spams)," bemoaning spam in general and Microsoft's use of it in particular.

Thanks for doing your part to fix the problem, bonehead.

I've said this elsewhere, but I'll say it again: the world was a better place before every moron with opposable thumbs and free time was able to operate a computer.

I remember those days fondly. Those of us who were able to tame the digital beast were looked upon as gods. Men wanted to be us, and women wrote their phone numbers down on the backs of punch cards or on shards of discarded green-bar printer paper, in the hopes that we might choose them to carry forth our superior genes to the next generation.

(Okay, not really, but it was a Standard Geek Fantasy for a lot of years.)

Knowledge is a good thing, though, and as computers became easier to understand, more people learned to use them. Naturally, even stupid people jumped on the bandwagon, and decided that computers were a great avenue by which to annoy the shit out of the rest of us. Rather than being forced to confine their irritating blatherings to close family and loyal/equally stupid friends, this particular subsection of jerk-offs were given -- in the form of computers and, ultimately, the Internet -- a means to carry their useless message to the masses.

I have to ask: Who decides that a great way to earn a living is to send the same e-Mail to thousands of people, asking if they need cheap drugs, a quick and easy mortage re-financing, or a longer penis?

You think that when you step onto a global stage, you'd have something interesting or at least entertaining to say, right?

Hell no.

Case in point: Look back at what you've just read.

Sent to me by my wife.

---

Remember the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus? Well, here is a true life example from the Phoenix College. An English Professor assigned his students to a joint writing exercise that quickly degraded:

"Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right.

As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on, back and forth.

Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."

The following was actually turned in by two of the English students:


Rebecca (last name deleted), and Gary (last name deleted).

----------------------------------------------------------------

THE STORY:

(First paragraph by Rebecca)

At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(Second paragraph by Gary)

Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17", he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could sign off, a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)

He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder! at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)

Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks that pushed the Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires that were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm ! going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of the sky!"

(Rebecca)

This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semiliterate adolescent.

(Gary)

Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F***ING TEA??? Oh no, I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels."

(Rebecca)

Asshole.

(Gary)

Bitch.

(Rebecca)

Get screwed.

(Gary)

Eat shit.

(Rebecca)

SCREW YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!

(Gary)

GO DRINK SOME TEA - Bitch.


**********************************************

(TEACHER)
A+ - I really liked this one. Only group to get an A.