Cranking things up

Update

With recent life upheavals, it has become clear to me that I need to pay a little more attention to my life dream to become a writer. So, I have decided to migrate some of my ramblings into online environments.

I hear that is done these days through web logs (Blogs for the uninitiated).

So, my plan is to get something into these at least once a week, but please do not hold me to that. :)

I have a writing engine. I have built this writing engine over years using systems engineering techniques and document control systems to maintain records of all my writing. It contains material for the last decade. Some of it is very mature (but I just don't like it) and other stuff is idea-level.

Out of this mass of more than 1Gb of writing, mindmaps, spreadsheets, reference material, images and schematics, I found a set of 'those most likely' to get my foot into the book publishing caper. 

Battle of Korunai

A miltary science fiction novel set in a period with solar sails and ships of the line. The mad Estillian emperor has broken a truce and launched a massive assault on the Tayvan empirial defences. Admiral Dax has been blockading small squadrons of Estillian and their Listiccan allies ships, but one manages to slip past him under Admiral Leonap. Dax pursues Leonap to stop him from joining with other fleet elements, but loses him and must return home in failure.

Meanwhile, the combined Estillian-Listiccan fleet integrate further fleet elements to become one of the most destructive forces ever assembled. After an engagement with another blockade team, the Tayvan Admiralty is informed and Dax is again dispatched to ensure the enemy fleet was not a threat.

Finally, the two space fleets come together in a clash of cold space and hot steel. Should I be telling you the ending here? These two great armada wrestle to command the space-lanes. The battle is decisive and the victory sound, but a hero of a civilisation will die in its defence.

Untitled 1 (working title only)

A cyberpunk novel set in Brisbane in 2040 with a rising health and drug epidemic, massive corruption of police enforcement, licensing, gambling, prostitution and welfare have caused 'corporate states' to provide services to geographical zones within council boundaries. Shinobi City Group (SCG) is an asian enclave in Fortitude Valley providing food, accommodation, security, and employment for all who are within its zone.

Washi and our hero (not happy with their name just yet) are employed by SCG as security for the zone but find themselves caught up in the downfall of the organised crime in Brisbane, including police and government. SCG uses the corruption as terrain in their plans to annexe more control of the region. Guns, martial arts, gang warfare and political intrigue combine as our hero and sidekick fight and negotiate their way to a new corporate golden age in Brisbane filling the power vacuum as the corruption network, police and government falls.

Incursio One

A cyberpunk/space opera concept that spans from 1900s through to the 2100s; this series is expansive and has many novel opportunities. It has taken me years to get the universe sorted in my head to start plucking the relevant sections and characters to tell the story that needs to be told. This novel is about the first campaign waged to rid the Earth of the alien incursion. It weaves conspiracy theory around various activities to create a rich tapestry of material to draw from.

It starts roughly in World War 1 with the abduction of several soldiers and the foo fighter legacy. These fighters lead a fifth column aboard the ships and on the alien colonies while alien activity increases to a point where access to space is destroyed around 2020 and the alien sympathiser wars tear the UN apart.

From the breaking of the UN comes a new planetary defence council that attempts to unite the planet and drive the invaders off it. The main characters are from Australia, as Australia is the only nation capable of quickly reconstructing launch capability to respond to alien threats. They are also the first nation to secure their borders from further incursion.

The first novel describes the actions from WW1 to the formal declaration by the Space Defence Directorate (SDD) of air superiority over Earth once more. But in so doing, it becomes clear the alien infestation is both still rooted in bases on the Earth, Moon, and beyond and that they intend to cause humanity grief, if not extermination.

Conclusion

So that, as they say, is that. This is my focus at the moment in terms of novels and I have some other writing projects on the side... like this blog. :)