Salutations, friends. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written, so let me briefly share with you what I’ve been up to in the War Room (ie, what a fellow author and I dubbed the place we write).
Personal Update
First off, myoclonus has had my lunch most days than not. While still shaking like a chihuahua and doing involuntary gymnastics, my family as a whole has had a rough go of it recently. My wife’s grandfather died, and we miss him very much. He was a great man. My dad just had surgery and came out okay! And now it seems like everyone is getting sick…oh boy… My daughter is poised to turn a whole one year old in just over a week, and is walking all over the house. She’s Esther the Explorer and daddy’s girl…which she goes around talking about me half the time. No, seriously! She does. “Dadadadadaddy,” she says. Truly. Aweseome!
Projects
Meanwhile, my wife and I have been furiously editing Weaving and Musings of Essencers. It’s more of tightening up the writing, getting rid of extraneous words here and there.
When I’m not doing that or reading Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings with Alon Shalev’s Walls of Galbrieth and Robert Jordan’s Lord of Chaos waiting in the bullpen, I’ve been researching for my next novel, tentatively called Thorns of Salvation.
All I can share now is that it is interconnected with Aelathia, but takes place on Earth in a pre-, during, and post-apocalyptic setting with some significant twists. For the research, I’ve consulted with someone in the archeologist/anthropologist field, have been reading all sorts of fantastic things about the brain, psychology, and biospheres, including Biosphere 2…what worked and what didn’t and how to fix it. If that wasn’t enough–it’s not–I’ve consulted a great genre: post-apocalyptic dystopian futures.
This has included watching more Romero zombie movies than I ever anticipated I would, getting hooked on The Walking Dead (why, Carol, why?), and watching other zombie movies including the creative low-budget State of Emergency. Other movies I’ve watched include World War Z, I Am Legend, Omega Man, The Andromeda Strain, the fascinating Japanese origin Virus, and others. (Some incredibly disappointing like 40 Days and Nights.) Getting the idea where this is going? Don’t be surprised if I take it in a completely different direction, I’m just examining what’s out there. Brandon Sanderson’s Steelheart and (back to my roots as a young reader) Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer have also been influential.
Girls in Capes have an excellent article by Lorraine Franqui about dystopian apocalyptic futures in YA literature over at http://girlsincapes.com/2013/07/15/america-ya-part1/ .
Not quite the cities in Thorns of Salvation, but close enough…
http://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=169052
What’s developing behind the scenes for Thorns of Salvation is a sort of interim book between Weaving and Musings of Essencers and its sequel, A Rose By Any Other Thorn. Though loosely connected to the Aelathia Chronicles, Thorns of Salvation brings a complex story that I’m determined to make scientifically sound, as much as possible. When I think of what’s coming, it’s chilling. This sci-fi fantasy thriller keeps me up at night thinking, “Oh, man, I’m going to write this. I am writing this.”
Now if only I could be finished with editing Weaving to get this show on the road! I’ll blame the essencers.
Enjoy your day, and happy Harvest!
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Any advice on what I should read or research next? Any movies you think I should watch? Shoot me an email at
aelathiajpsmith@gmail.com
or post a comment!
Musings of Aelathia 