I have a cover reveal for you this week! I also have updates on marauding Real Life Family Events (RLFEs), an exploding world (but in a good way!), and an update on my audiobook efforts. Before we get into any of those, let’s take a look at the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Last Week’s Progress By the Numbers
The KPIs always look terrible when I’m starting a new book!
I ran into two problems trying to plot Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement and Book 2: Lines of Operation. The first was a series of multiple RLFEs. A couple of them cost me just a day or two; the other two (like a multi-hour power outage right in the middle of me trying to write) cut sessions in half and left me with lingering repercussions.
Cutting sessions in half is worse than preventing a session. Interruptions are painful. It was particularly rough because I was documenting the relationships between various colonies around Sirius. The goal was to establish the environment for conflict that will provide the backbone of Owen Payne’s arc. I had started to write down all the ideas my imagination had generated, but it all came crashing down when I got interrupted. That was Saturday.
I tried to pick it back up on Sunday. Another RLFE cut the writing session short. But you know what? It might have been a blessing in disguise. I’m starting to realize Owen’s stakes aren’t high enough if I focus on the colonial aspect. I think I need that to add depth. Since Owen’s conflict is very personal, I need to figure out a better way to demonstrate it.
Cover Reveal for Dreams of Deucalion Book 2: Flanking Maneuver
Here’s the cover for the second book in the Dreams of Deucalion trilogy:
Miblart came through again!
I’m happy with what Miblart came up with. They created the last two covers for Evolution’s Hand, they created all three covers for The Sword of Sirius, and now they’ve created all three for Dreams of Deucalion. I think they achieved something that’s not easy: making the cover look genre-specific on a reasonable budget.
That actually worries me a little bit. Wayland’s Hammer doesn’t fit exactly in a genre, at least as well as either The Sword of Sirius or Dreams of Deucalion. I might have painted myself into a corner there. Though I haven’t finished plotting the second two books. Maybe I can keep the focus on military — hmmm.
Maybe Payne could loose his mind and go pirate? That might be interesting…
Audiobook Versions of My Stuff
If you’re a member of my newsletter (and if you’re not, you can sign up here or using the mini-form on the right), you had a chance to listen to an AI narrated version of the short story The Sword of Sirius Prequel: Fallback Position. The narration technology is from a company named ElevenLabs. The consensus? It’s good enough.
Yes, I have concerns. But the bottom line (literally, in a business sense) is that I am not depriving a human of work. I can’t afford most humans. So, I’m pushing forward with this until I can afford humans. Then I’ll hire them.
Until then, my current plan is to make Dreams of Deucalion available using ElevenLabs AI narration sometime after publication. I don’t have enough credits yet to launch at the same time as the ebooks. Plus, proofing an audiobook takes forever! Not only that, there may be Kindle Unlimited implications.
That said, I have found someone I’ll say is pre-professional to narrate The Sword of Sirius. Her voice is perfect for both Ira Malhotra and Luisa Brunner. I didn’t hire her for Dreams of Deucalion because all three POV characters are male. Within my genre, a female narrator for an all male cast isn’t typical. However, if the majority of POV characters are women, then it’s not uncommon at all to have a woman narrator.
No firm date yet. It’s all an experiment, from recording to editing to proofing. So I expect it’ll take some time so we’re both happy with the result.
The World’s Exploding!
So Many Colonies, So Little Time
I learned something surprising. When I first began plotting Wayland’s Hammer Book 1: Conventional Forces, I had forgotten that I had planned for conflict within the colonies around Sirius. I had created a character named Michael Thompson as the instigator. Born in the Texas Republic, he had a vision to do — something. I didn’t say what when I was just sketching ideas.
Well, now that I need that conflict front and center, I had to flesh it out. So, he’s a previous Executive who went into the Texas Republic’s federal government. Now a member of the government on 107 Piscium’s planet named Sumatra, I had to give hims something to agitate about. So I did.
The colonies fall into four groupings based on their positions in space. There are colonies in and around Ursa Major, at least as seen from Earth. There’s a group clustered in the direction of Orion, another within Pisces, and finally, a group in Eridanus. If you’ve read my books, then you know Moritz Lehner’s people live in the Epsilon Eridani star system, with is practically next door for the colonies in the Eridanus group.
Michael Thompson lives in the 107 Piscium system, which is in the Pisces family of systems. He’s grousing about the Nazi threat. But wait — they’re not “close” to him or the other colonies in the Pisces family. So what’s he upset about? He’s not. Not really. Instead, he says they need to prepare for war. Which means his planet, Sumatra, needs to lay claim to three star systems only now being surveyed in the Pisces region: DX Cancri, Luyten’s Star, and Kapteyn’s Star. He wants them for raw materials — for the “war effort.”
Building worlds is so much fun it’s dangerous!
Power and Influence in a Post Scarcity World
None of those three systems have habitable planets, but they have a fantastic variety of raw materials. Thompson lives in a post scarcity economy, but humans haven’t changed. So Thompson is looking for a way to project his authority, and the authority of his colleagues. He sees that as having “ownership” of raw materials. Basically, he wants to control those resources. Absent currency and the power that comes with it, this is his way of feeling important.
I think there’s a vein of thematic material to mine there. But I came to the realization that I don’t think that’s part of Payne’s story. I think that might actually be something for a future series or two. But for now, I think it’ll play a minor role. Specifically, it’ll tie up starships that could be helping Payne rescue Gerhard Wimmer.
So even though I had to weather a lot of RLFEs this week, maybe they kept me from getting too deep in that aspect of world-building. There’s a real danger I’ll get lost in it (well, more lost!). Now, I realize I need to focus somewhere else!
Maybe I’ll figure out this week how to make life hard for Payne! I still haven’t ruled out incorporating some “writing into the dark” testing this time around. Though that’s more than a little terrifying, truth be told!
Progress against Last Week’s Goals
Here’s how I did against last week’s goals:
- Begin developing the plot for both Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement and Book 3: Lines of Operation at the same time. Ongoing!
- Create the Scrivener directory/stub for Resistance Movement. Done!
- Announce the ElevenLabs version of Flanking Maneuver to my newsletter list. Done!
- Incorporate the alpha/beta feedback into Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed. Ongoing!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2025 Week 21
Here’s what I hope to accomplish this week:
- Continue developing the plot for both Wayland’s Hammer Book 2: Resistance Movement and Book 3: Lines of Operation at the same time.
- Continue incorporating the alpha/beta feedback into Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed.]
- Evaluate the beta feedback for Dreams of Deucalion Book 3: Bait and Bleed.
- Contract the proofreader for Dreams of Deucalion Book 1: Special Recon.
- Prepare for June’s marketing push.
What Do You Think?
How do you know when you’ve done enough worldbuilding? Is there such a thing? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!