Monthly Archives: November 2010

I have completed now 35,000 words, and am only about a third of the way done with my plot, if that… it looks as if this one might even end up being longer than TLOC. And I likely, then, won’t finish the entire rough draft before November. But dammit, I’m going to try! And a short excerpt!

*-*-*

Kailash Beldron just stared at me for a few moments more – she had been doing that quite a bit. “Then what is it you suggest, ambassador?” I caught only a hint of contempt and sarcasm in her tone that time; perhaps she was warming up to me.

“Let us take our own shuttle in. We will follow.”

The Terran captain raised an eyebrow. “How is that any safer? Our orbital defenses could still take you out in a second.”

“Thanks for the warning,” I said drily. “We’ll keep that in mind.”

She didn’t express any amusement. “Again, how is that safer? What logic could possibly compel you to want that?”

“We have a very talented pilot,” I replied, referring, of course, to Terethos. “It also would give us more independence, and allow us to leave Earth if things got bad… and to prevent us from being taken as hostages.”

Kailash exhaled in disbelief. “You’re a paranoid little… human being, aren’t you?”

I grinned brightly at her. “That’s right! And look how far that’s gotten me.”

She half-smiled and dipped her head in my direction, conceding my point.

“So I request, then, that we be allowed to use our own shuttle to follow your ship to earth.”

“How long-range is your shuttle? Can it function in deep space and last for that long?”

I turned to Majias, who in turn went into the proper pilot’s room and asked the pilot. He came out a moment later and nodded.

“Yes. We have one that can. So if that is acceptable to you, we should opt to do that.”

She sighed. “The Home Rule won’t be happy.”

I shrugged back. “The Juxtani Congregation won’t be happy if we all die. And frankly, I’m more afraid of death and the ire of the Juxtani Congregation that that will bring than the unhappiness of the Terran Home Rule.”

Kailash smiled crookedly and crossed her arms. “Whose side are you on, ambassador Servidos?”

Sighing, I responded with the answer I had given her before. “No need to view this as a conflict already – that’s a bad way to open negotiations. I am on everyone’s side.” But if it did come to a conflict, which side would I choose? Would I even choose either of them?

She made that cynical half-smile expression that she seemed so fond of and sighed. “Very well. Your shuttle shall follow us – but no weapons. Is that understood?”

I nodded. “Perfectly, captain.”

“Good. You have an hour. The shuttle is to leave your ship then and go to Roland’s vessel to pick him up.”

“Is he bringing anyone with him?” I asked suspiciously.

She shook her head no. “He comes alone.”

Good, I thought. Not too many funny tricks with him, then.

“And then you follow. It’ll be about an hour and a half until we reach local earth space. Once there, a shuttle will detach from our vessel. You are to follow this shuttle into Earth orbit and then through the atmosphere to the Terran Grand Palace. Land next to this shuttle, and wait then for further instructions. Remain as inconspicuous as possible – if your shuttle looks anything like your larger vessel, it will stick out like a sore thumb. If you deviate from this plan you will be blasted into oblivion. Any questions?”

I shook my head. “No, captain.”

“Good. I shall see you soon – in person.”

I need sleep desperately so this shall be short, but I’ve hit 19,000 words, and am ending today at 19,143! I just started Chapter Eight, where the exciting things finally start to take place! Hopefully writing will be easier now – writing about diplomacy is hard. Hope to (but probably won’t) reach the halfway point this weekend! Toodleloo!

At 9,330 words, I have finished the Prologue and Chapters One through Three! There still isn’t much action – other than the opening scene – and the text so far is mostly me attempting to show an example of a diplomatic discussion. I did right a really fun piece of dialogue, as is seen below:

*-*-*

“And what exactly are these products, ambassador Kikkilak?”

“The toria’s excrement is Space’s most efficient fertilizer! Or will be, once we have certified it. Its fur – which also happens to be self shedding, and will all fall off at once in an easily collectible pile – is a superb insulator and stronger than a stil-voran alloy when woven into a simple item of clothing. The korfalil’s feather shimmer and change color in recognizable patterns and even faces, and will continue to do so for at least a dateyn after they fall off the thing, guaranteed! And the gorinya itself is the product – the most adorable thing you’ll ever set your eyes on, completely obedient, with training coded into its genome, and recycles its own waste!” I didn’t even know that that was possible, and didn’t think too hard about it. The Cijadi sounded like a floundering businessman; quite a different impression than I had received from his acting the diplomat.

“Do you have a picture of this… gorinya?” I asked. I didn’t believe it was the cutest thing in all of Space.

Kikkilak clicked awkwardly. “I am afraid that I do not – the information is classified at the current moment, so as to avoid too many spies from being able to best us or steal our design.”

Of course. I was slightly disappointed. “Have you seen the designs or the creature yourself?”

More awkward clicks. “Well… not exactly.”

“Not exactly?” Meaning no, if I knew anything.

“No. The files are very confidential.” Apparently. Cuteness is very serious business.

“Then how can you tell me how adorable it is?”

*-*-*

Cuteness is very serious business.

Chapter four is now underway, and is describing generally what happened in the meetings on Juxia and during the first two weeks of spaceflight. I have been away too long… back to the book!

Well, NaNoWriMo has begun, and as soon as the clock struck midnight, I began to write frantically! I have currently finished the Prologue and Chapter One of The Libel of Blood, and currently am at 4,033 words – over twice as many as I need for day one! I’m doing well so far, but don’t want to get overconfident!

This books starts differently from the other two – it begins with a completely unexplained scene that actually takes place in the middle of the book, and then the first half of the book will be  flashback working up to that point. I’ve never tried doing this before, so we’ll see how this turns out – and how much I’ll have to change the introduction!

The Prologue is, unsurprisingly, a recap of The Loneliness of Stars and The Light of Civilization, and Chapter One consists of said unexplained action scene (ending in Jak’s apparent death!), and then the first part of the lengthy flashback, on board the flagship Lightbringer, heading back to Human space. It is mostly descriptive, and describes the setting of the first two or three chapters – hopefully more action (and by ‘action’ I mean politics and diplomacy) will occur in Chapter Two!

And because I have classes tomorrow, I am signing off and sleeping now! Adios!

I regret to inform you all that  I failed to finish “The Man in Amber” – I wanted to give it a good ending, rather than rush through the entire second half of it. I will finish it first thing in December, though, even before editing TLOC!

I am now sitting here watching the countdown clock and waiting for NaNoWriMo to start… I will give you all another update when I’m done for the night! Wish me luck!