Writing the Details

The Big Internet Move

2011-08-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

All right. After several weeks of fighting with Blogger to get my stuff up here, I decided to move to a wordpress blog. You can find me over here now ... Wordpress Blog.

I'm sorry to have to do it. I've been on Blogger since 2008. But with the limitations on my time, I just can't have it go down as often as it was. I'm pretty sure it was just a matter of them updating, but they were updating during the ONLY time of the week I could get to networking.

So, this is my last entry over here. Nellis V and all of my mayhem will be over there on wordpress.

Quick Hello

2011-07-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note to say that Blogger was down for the count when I tried to post on Friday. After two full hours of researching for the Nellis Project, I couldn't put my fun facts up here on the site. But I'll try to remedy that tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, Sedition has a sweet "Look Inside the Book" thing on the Amazon page. You can read through to about halfway through the fourth chapter. I totally love it. Amazon equals pure awesome.

It's the Latte Lounge Date!

2011-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Chances are HUGE that you might win something at this Latte Lounge today. You can see at the header just how many prizes are being given away tonight. I'll be giving away one copy of Sedition and one copy of Witch-Born. Come comment on something, we're having a great deal of fun.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=1764

Latte Lounge!

2011-07-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'll be up at the Coffee Time Romance Latte Lounge with a whole slew of other authors. I had the great experience of talking with Tracy Jane Jackson, an Indie Author who writes historical romance centered around the Civil War Era. She's a joy and I'll probably double post our conversation over here for anyone who misses it tomorrow. She was just too much fun!

There will be lots of free content, lots of giveaways and tons of fun!

Anthologies and stuff ...

2011-07-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

So! Because I was a guest Blogger, someone noticed my work and decided to ask me to join a whole slew of other authors in a dark romance/ paranormal anthology book. This delightful person asked me if I had anything appropriate along the short story lines that would fit into the book and ... I actually do. Understand that I do not normally write short fiction. There's something wrong with my brain and I just feel cheated with a 2 thousand word story where I know if I just dig a little deeper I can come up with something 100 thousand words strong. But in this case, I managed to do it.

It's called "The Man Who Loved Medusa" and I'll be taking the weekend and half of next week to make certain it looks right before I send it in. If this anthology is published before the end of the year, that will make (technically) three publications in one year. THREE! No one should live at this speed. My heart might fail. Or my brain might melt. Possibly both.

All joking aside, I actually liked the short format for "Medusa" and will try to make some more. It was a challenge, I'll admit, because I can get a little verbose from time to time.

In any case, I'll most certainly keep everyone posted on the matter of "Medusa" and the anthology.

To other news! I will be joining several other authors at the Coffeetime Romance Latte Lounge on July 14th for a day of fun, contests, promotion, interviews, chats and more. I'm excited and clueless at the same time. I've been trying to think of fun contests and things to do for the last two weeks.

Life in the Fast Lane ...

2011-06-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

Goodness, gracious, great balls of fire! It's been a hectic week. The Goodreads Giveaway ended today and I have a list of five wonderful people who will be getting a free copy of Sedition in the mail. (One of them lives in Kalamazoo, which I find intensely gratifying. It's just fun to say the name, you know?) For those who notice these sorts of things, I'm writing on a Thursday evening instead of a Friday morning and there's a very simple reason for this ... I'm heading into the wonderful 4 day weekend for the 4th of July. Which means, I will be unavailable for the entire weekend as I run up and down mountainsides, visit pot-lucks, and watch my son coo at the fireworks.

A couple of things about this week, though! I posted on some other spots but couldn't get to my Blog in order to announce my Guest Blogs at two different sites.

A.J. Walker let me run rampant in his Blog today (A.J. Walker Blog) and I talked in depth -- probably too much depth -- about the experience of researching Steampunk for the newly released novel Witch-Born. (That's the pretty link off to the right of this Blog.) My huge thanks to him for giving me the chance to invade his Blogsphere for a moment.

Also ... Working Stiffs let me have a moment on their Blog as well. In this one, I got to talk about a particular corpse haunting my every move during the writing of Saboteur.

Both were a ton of fun and I give my sincere gratitude to them for letting me in.

For those of you who are wondering about the Nellis Project, fear not, for I am working on it. I already updated it (I even put a pretty picture up there) and am excited to delve into animal life next month. (aka -- I get to make up a bunch of alien species, from monsters to antenna-ridden-bunnies.)

Congratulations to the Giveaway winners! The books will go out in the mail tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Witches And Things ...

2011-06-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

With Witch-Born out for sale, I feel the need to explain a few things. First and foremost, anyone who picks up the book will know immediately that I did not write a story about the traditional "witch". This is a fantasy novel and is based in a fictional world altogether. True, I got the idea from our own history, but it was mostly just the word and nothing like the Wicca craft seen today. As I said before, I was tired of hearing about women getting staked or drowned or whatever done to them just because they were a little different.

I chose to make a society where the magic users, called Witch-Born, were in power. They weren't Merlin's standing beside the King, subtly affecting the politics around them, they were the one's making society what it was. But there had to be a reason why the people trusted them. We have a basic breakdown in the society between the Talented (Witch-Born nobility) and the Untalented (common-folk). And, of course, commoners outnumber the Witch-Born, so there had to be a reason why they put so much faith in their Nobles ...

Enter the Wild.

I don't want to give the whole book away, but I'll give a basic layout. Magnellum has borders of Warding Pillars that keep the Wild at bay. These pillars are powered by the House Witches and keep the general populace safe from creatures that would otherwise try to cause them harm. The Untalented would prefer not to be eaten by a King Kong-like creature, so they adhere to the Witch-Born driven society.

Thus, we have a book titled "Witch-Born" about magic-wielding dandies and steampunk technology, with nothing that looks remotely like a traditional "witch" in its pages. And, to be honest, I had a great deal of fun writing it.

Paperback Edition of Witch-Born!

2011-06-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes ... you really CAN buy Witch-Born as a paperback now. Double Dragon uses LuLu and I've posted the link. (I did have a mild heart attack on the cost of said book, but for all you digital people out there, the eBook option is always available.) For those of you who must, must, must have the dead-tree version, here is your link --

Witch-Born Paperback Edition

... And since I'm one of those who must, must, must have a dead-tree version, I'll be purchasing one myself. It'll look proudly different when sitting next to my copy of Sedition. Because, you know, it is proudly different from Sedition.

The Giveaway Update ...

2011-06-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

All right! In addition to the excitement of having Witch-Born out for sale now (You can click on the picture just beside this blog entry for purchase links and excerpts and such), the GoodReads Giveaway is still going strong! There's about a week left before the winners will be picked and I'll be sending out 5 free copies of Sedition to the lucky readers. If you haven't entered, just click on the gadget below and you'll see all the details. It's FREE and painless, I promise.

Well, haven't seen my work up here before ...

2011-06-20T08:34:00.001-07:00

All Romance Books Link

Witch-Born is For Sale Now!

2011-06-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Purchase Link!

Witch-Born

2011-06-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

Surprise! Next week, Witch-Born will be out for sale from Double Dragon Publishing. This came as a surprise even to me, so I promise I wasn't holding out on you. Cover Art is almost done -- I got a sneak peek at it and it does look pretty great -- but I can't post it up for all of you to see yet. YET. As soon as I can, I'll flaunt it around the internet. Also, I'll post all the necessary links for purchasing this work.

Sedition fans ... this is a totally different book written in a totally different world with steampunk flavor; trains, dirigibles, steam-generated stuff. It's still my writing, I promise, it's just different from Sedition and I wouldn't want you walking into it without a warning.

Witch-Born was written for National Novel Writing Month in 2008. (I'll post links to them, too. NaNoWriMo is just too great not to promote.) It was the first time I actually won NaNoWriMo, too. But the book is something like 104 thousand words, so I didn't finish writing it until somewhere in mid-January 2009. And then I spent a year editing it. (If you take a chapter a week, that's really not as epic in length as it might sound.)

I had a lot of fun writing Witch-Born, so I'm going to go ahead and explain a little. My original concept for the book was that I was going to try writing a straight romance novel. I figured that if I could manage to crack a romance novel out every six months, I'd be sitting pretty in a fancy apartment somewhere, complaining about missing my weekly Spa Day. I'd get buddy-buddy with Jennifer Crusie and Nora Roberts or something ...

BUT ...

I cannot write a straight romance. It bored the life out of me. I sat in front of the computer, loathe to turn it on, whimpering because the subject matter made my head go numb. (That's not to say I don't like romance novels. On the contrary, I love them. I can generally read one in a day. I just can't write one.)

Enter what I like to call the "Witch-Factor". Hello, Magic and Mayhem! But I didn't want to write a novel about what is traditionally considered a "witch". I'm really kind of tired of hearing how women who had an inkling of knowledge about how to make a headache go away were burned at stakes and persecuted. So I reversed things. Instead of Witches being persecuted, I made them nobility. And then I set about trying to define what that sort of society would look like.

Well, it all got out of hand from there. I ended up loving the concept, loving the characters, and blazing through 30 days of literary abandon in the NaNoWriMo competition without batting an eye. I'm very excited to see it coming out in print, equally excited about the cover art that none of you can see yet, and hope everyone enjoys Elsie and Saldorian's story as much as I did.

The Giveaway!

2011-06-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

The GoodReads Giveaway for Sedition started today. There's a fun little widget below that you can click on to sign up and perhaps win a free copy of the book. It's a little funny because last night I was telling myself how it was unlikely that all 5 copies would actually be needed. I'm just getting started in this business, after all. Plus, it's my first published work and even I can see some of the problems with the writing style. ((I'm not being falsely modest here, every writer grows with each book they write and looking back on it, I can see a lot that could be improved.)) So with all those things in mind, I really didn't think that all 5 copies were going to be won. . . . Boy, was I wrong.

When I woke up this morning, 42 people had already requested it. It's sitting at 124 now. So ... Yes, all 5 copies will be needed. And several people have added it to their "To-Read" shelf on their GoodReads accounts, which makes me blushy and happy all at once. I know not everyone will like the book (( I do live in reality half the time)) but I'm hoping some of them will.

So! If a wild boar made off with your copy or if you just loved it so much you want another, click on the widget below and enter the contest.

Switching Gears

2011-06-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

With Saboteur away and to the Alpha Readers ((thank you, my lovely, lovely Alpha's)) I am now switching gears and picking up the things I dropped in the mad dash to see "The End". Most importantly, the final nit-pick at Deviation. I was already mostly done with this task before I stopped to try and get Saboteur completed, so I only have perhaps a week of work left on it, which if everyone remembers is still two weeks advanced of my July 1st deadline. Query letters, synopsis, research, research, research ... I almost miss the grind of focused writing ... but it's part of the job. At the urging of my coworker (and my Father, actually) I've sent out initial query letters for Deviation to a select number of agents. I know how long it takes for this process to work, so the manuscript will be in nice, polished shape by the time I hear back from any of them.

So what about Nellis?

Well, I'm certainly pleased that you asked. Did you think I'd stopped researching or building my planet? If you did, you'd be right and wrong. I was researching it straight up until about two weeks ago, when the end of Saboteur came so close to view. Then I stopped everything to pursue the ending of this year-long project, which included setting Nellis aside. However, you'd be wrong because until then, I really was working on Nellis, I was just doing it at this archaic building I like to call a Library. ((Insert gasps here)) Yes, they do still exist. Yes, even with the Internet, they are invaluable.

That said, I've got a ton of research sitting on my desk at home ((yes, I'm still using the internet at a Moxie Java and likely will continue to do so until late next month)). Said research is in a severe state of incompletion. I have highlighters, interesting tidbits I want to use, and absolutely no coherency to it all. But with Saboteur done, I will start picking that up again next week and post something substantial and educational and fun on the Nellis V Project page on Friday.

I promise.

Saboteur Complete!

2011-06-08T06:42:00.000-07:00

Last night, around 11PM, I wrote those wonderful, bittersweet words -- The End -- at the bottom of the manuscript for Saboteur. Granted, I was supposed to be done last Friday, but the end took a turn that surprised me, which is probably a good thing. If I can still be surprised by the ending then (hopefully) readers will be too. The delay in finishing will put my Alpha Readers off for just one day. I've promised them all that they will have their copies in their prospective inboxes/mailboxes come Friday evening. This weekend, I'm going to the zoo, visiting with my Grandparents (they're coming up from California to visit all the family in this area) and climbing a mountain. That's my personal celebration.

For the wider spread celebration, the Good Reads Giveaway will begin on time -- the 15th of this very month -- which is a mere seven days away. Five lucky winners will get a copy of Sedition directly from me. I might be coerced to sign them, but let's face it, I'm really not all that famous so they'd have to ask for that.

Also, on the 28th of this month I'll be guest blogging at the Working Stiffs Blog. They're a murder/mayhem/mystery sort of blog, but they've been kind enough to let me through their virtual doors for a day. I'll be sure to put up all the information when it's closer to time.

Explanations!

2011-06-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

If you take a peek at the bottom of this screen you'll find a Good Reads Giveaway gadget. You'll also see that the giveaway doesn't start for eleven more days, and that is because ((drum roll here)) I'm anticipating that the rough draft of Saboteur will be finished by tomorrow night, if not tonight. By Friday of next week, my Alpha Readers will have the draft in their hot little hands. They have a deadline of one month to get all their comments in to me, and then I have a month of editing to do, and then ... Then, people, it gets sent in to Wings ePress. As part of my contract with Wings, they get first dibs on any sequels to Sedition, and if you've been paying attention to this blog, then you know that Saboteur is the sequel and there is a third book already in the works called Usurper. ((I just love that title ... Usurper ... it's so angsty, you know?))

But in celebration of my year-long wrestle with Saboteur, I'm giving away 5 copies of Sedition. Now, these are actual paperback copies of the book and they are completely FREE. As in, you don't even pay shipping and handling. I take care of that. So if you know someone who you think needs a copy of the book, or if you only bought the ebook version and want a dead-tree version to hold on to, or if you accidentally dropped your copy in the lake whilst ice fishing this winter and need a new one ... for whatever reason, if you want one then all you have to do is click to enter through Good Reads. That's it. They'll handle the rest and give me the names of the winners after the giveaway ends.

It's actually a pretty sweet deal. Five people get a free book, I get my name smattered around Good Reads for a little bit, and my lucky Alpha Readers get to know how the second book turns out. Triple win.

Oh, and just to be a brat about it, I got a glimpse of the very ending of the very last book in the Sedition series today. It's epic and beautiful, I just hope I write it down correctly.

History Influencing Magic in Fiction?

2011-06-01T14:02:00.001-07:00

If you like fantasy or science fiction, come join the discussion over at the table ... http://fitfulred.blogspot.com/

Guest Blogger is Theresa Crater, author of Beneath the Hallowed Hill and Under the Stone Paw.

Where did May go?

2011-05-25T12:05:00.001-07:00

Holy Guacamole! It’s been three weeks since I gave an update! Not to worry, though, because I am obviously fixing that problem right now.

This month I was sucked into the world of Dyngannon, where my book Saboteur is grounded. (A reminder, Saboteur is the sequel to Sedition, which is out for sale right now through Amazon, Fictionwise, Wings ePress and various other spots I am unaware of.) I am sitting right at the last chapter. Right – at –the – last – chapter!

But … before I can proceed, I’m having to go back through the whole book (read-through) in an effort to make sure I haven’t missed any important plotlines and details. I started this read-through at the beginning of the week and hope to be finished by Friday, which leaves me with the weekend for writing that final, epic chapter.

Yes, this is why I’ve not been updating anything online. I’ve got my concentration hat on and need my focus to get this done.

If it works out right (and it should), then you’ll hear back from me at the beginning of June and all normal online activities will resume.

Discussion on Magic Systems

2011-05-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

We've started a discussion on magic systems in fiction here . A.J. Walker, authors of Roots Run Deep, had some interesting input on which magic systems he remembers the most in fiction. I'm looking forward to hearing what other readers look for when they delve into fantasy.

Taking Ownership of Your Craft

2011-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

The mystery has been solved. The bad guy is behind bars or lying six feet under and your hero is riding off into the sunset, victorious and (hopefully) a different man than when you first wrote him onto the pages of your work. With a sigh of satisfaction and possibly a whoop of joy, you’ve written those fateful words; “The End.” Computers off, pens down, it’s time for that celebratory pint of ice cream and a wiggle-dance that makes your cat look at you like you need serious psychological help. And he’s probably right because with the rough draft finished, you’ve entered into the grueling, arduous, agonizing task of editing, you just haven’t realized it yet because you’re still in the euphoria of reaching the end.

Before I go any further I have to say this; editing is not about torturing authors, no matter how much we might think it is. Semicolons, exclamation marks, sentence fragments, passive voice versus active voice, character arcs, graphic detail and taglines; all of these things are tools of the trade. How effectively we use them is what sets us apart from the casual writer. Let’s go ahead and make a clear boundary; there are writers and then there are authors. The difference is that an author has taken ownership of their craft.

CRAFT : Noun : An occupation or skill requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.

Yes, vocabulary is a tool in the craft of writing. So is grammar, much to my chagrin. Personally, I hate when Word gives me the green squiggly line under a sentence because I think the line was superb and got my point across nicely, but I know the program is yelling; “Foul! Out of Bounds! Consider revising.” And really, who cares if it’s a sentence fragment? What if I want it to be a fragment? What if I was looking to make the prose feel disjointed and off-kilter?

Well, that would be part of the craft, too. Because breaking the rules is as much a matter of skill as using them. The trick is training yourself to know when you’re using personal style and when you’re just being a lazy writer. The real kicker here is the only way to train is to edit. Edit your stuff, edit other people’s stuff, edit published books if you want to, but KEEP EDITING. There are a dozen great websites out there for writers that can help with this; Forward Motion for Writers and Scribophile are just the first two that come to my head.

When you’ve finished a rough draft, set that baby aside for a little bit and concentrate on something else. It’s like cooking Uncle Ben’s rice; you’ve dumped the rice into the water but now it needs to soak. After a month or three, take the manuscript and have it printed off somehow (I like Staples because they bind it for me, which means less work for me and no chances that I’ll lose a page between the store and home) and get to work. Highlight, strike, jot notes in the margins and play with your manuscript, make sure Character A sounds like Character A every time they speak. Did you miss the part where I said “play”?

Taking ownership of your craft means that you grab hold of that rough draft and use every trick you know to make it the best work you’ve ever created. It means you’ve pilfered through the tools of the trade and know how to use them. You know when you’ve sat down in a quality-made chair, the legs don’t wobble or creak and you don’t get a splinter someplace unpleasant when you sit down. It’s the same with writing, Readers know when they’re in the hands of an artisan; the plot makes sense, the grammar is right, the characters feel alive and the ending lingers in that profound way that says they’ve been confronted by some sort of truth.

Ready, Set, Back to work!

2011-04-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

The best thing about my new apartment is the sunlight that comes through the windows. The second best thing is the proximity of the park. My son decided last night that he wanted to play with his bicycle in the park. I checked the windows to make sure there was sunshine and obliged, expecting to have a nice brisk walk through the massive park just next door. An hour and a half later of jogging -- yes, jogging, because somewhere in the middle of the last four months my son has gained speed and expertise on his little trike -- and my knees decided it was time to go home.

My son was not convinced. At least not at first. But then I tried to get his attention so he could look at the river under the bridge and he -- being my son and therefore prone to clutz-syndrome -- ran smack into the concrete barrier on the other side. This was unfortunate because he got a big purple bump on his forehead and wailed for five minutes, but advantageous because I was able to lure him back to the apartment with promises of brownies and ice.

That being said, I am mostly settled in the new place and happily plunging back into the world of Magnellum and the second pass at editing. Now, Edit-Mode is very different from Write-Mode. Edit-Mode, at least in my experience, is a completely different part of my brain. When accessed, this Pettifogger (my pet name for my internal editor), does not stick to just one work in progress. Pettifogger likes to prod at other works as well and point out the things that I have missed so far.

For example, while I am still focused on Witch-Born, Pettifogger pointed out to me that the major (and I mean huge, blaring, monstrous) mistake in Saboteur is the lack of one particular point of view character. As luck should have it, I can add this character (Brock, if you're wondering) into the rough draft with little fuss. I'll still have that rough draft done by June, with the added scenes from Brock's point of view.

The Big Move ...

2011-04-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

The day is almost here! This weekend I get to move into a brand new apartment but my life should settle into a sort of normalcy at some point next week. Don't worry, though! I did the first pass at editing Witch-Born this week and will plunge into the second pass next week. The second pass is the hardest because it's the one where I actually start making changes to the manuscript so it'll take a bit more time. I'll probably whine about it. A lot. But in the end, the book is always better for my efforts.

Having just finished the first pass, however, I can sit back and tell you that Witch-Born is a decent book. It's quirky (like me) and has a fun story behind it. I wrote it for National Novel Writing Month back in November of 2008. My cousin was stationed overseas during that time and I zapped her bits and pieces of the work as I was rushing to make it to 50,000 words before November 30th. In retrospect, this might have been a bad idea. Rough drafts are bad. Especially rough drafts that I've written entirely on the computer. (This is why I have resigned myself to writing rough drafts on paper with pen from now on.)

When I first set out to write Witch-Born I intended to do a pure romance novel. I figured I could hit gold if I could just write those flimsy, bare-plot-kiss-me-hot scenes ... But midway through the outlining process I got bored. Really, really bored. I give my utmost respects to anyone who can actually write a romance novel because quite frankly, I don't have the patience for them. Before I knew it, I had thrown magic and witches into the world and viola! Magnellum was born, riddled with warlocks, witches, vampiristic snake-creatures and steampunk technology. It's a fun book. We'll see how it looks after the second pass but for right now, I do like it.

Holy Snafu, Batman

2011-03-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

I got an email today from an author I pay attention to. (Holly Lisle, for those who are curious.) It was about an exploding writer who behaved in possibly the worst manner ever over a review. I'm sure it's viral now, there were several "flame" messages underneath the poor Reviewer's site, but I had to sit back after reading the whole thing (It was a very long thread by the time I got to it) and was rather surprised at what I saw there. Let me give a brief breakdown of the situation -- Lady wrote a book. Dude took time out of his life to read and review said book. Dude was rather nice in his summation of said book but was honest about not liking several grammatical errors he found in the work. Lady returned with a curt response about how he must have read the wrong file.

And ... things got sorta haywire after that. There was lots of authors and such piping in to tell the Lady that she was acting unprofessional. Which she was, let's not make any bones there. It was utterly unprofessional to do anything more than say; "Thank you for the time it took to read my book and thank you doubly for writing a review."

Lots of people continued to write in and I thought for sure that it would have to stop soon but then ... Then Lady Tactless opted to defend herself some more, going so far as to say that her writing was fine (despite several examples that had been posted to prove the grammatical errors the Reviewer had taken issue with). She went on to curse at everyone who was posting their opinions of the situation on the page.

I sort of stopped reading the responses. Most of them were along the same lines of saying she should just pause and walk away. Personally, I walked away with an affirmation of my own. My main beef with this situation was that she said her writing was fine. In fact, she insisted that it was. (Which, clearly there were problems by the examples that were given.) And I couldn't help shaking my head.

Writing is a craft. It's something you grow. You work on it. You labor with it. You love it and hate it and get sick of red marks amid black and white pages but you always push to be better. Your writing, in short, is never "fine". If you're writing is just "fine" then you've lost something important. There's a reason why a novel goes through four or five drafts (or sometimes seven to eight drafts) before it's considered ready, because it's growing just as your knowledge of the craft grows.

There. That's my two cents on the situation. And since they are my two cents then they're sticking over here on my personal space. I'm glad the Reviewer stuck with his assessment in spite of the Lady's ranting. I'm sorry things got so horribly out of control over there but, hey, the Reviewer just earned himself a new Reader. (Or several new readers, I'm sure.)

Blocking Out April

2011-03-25T14:19:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of next month I should have the edits back for Witch-Born. Since this is a different publisher and different editor, I'm not sure of the time frame they're going to give me to get edits done in. To be safe, I've blocked out the whole month of April so that I can be prepared. Plus, there's the whole moving thing and birthday thing to contend with, so any new writing I get done during the month of April is going to be considered a bonus.

With that said, I'm happy to say that I've been getting about 1,500 words done a day on Saboteur and have reached Chapter 2 in Usurper. (No, I'm still not going to post any snippets of Usurper because it will give away the ending of Saboteur. Which is sad because I'm aching to share some of it with you.) Even with April blocked out for editing I should have Saboteur done by early June. That's the rough draft, of course. It still has another 2 drafts to go before I throw it out there for publication. ((Which, by the way, I am bound in contract to Wings ePress that any sequels to Sedition be given to them for first picks.))

Also in April -- I should get my first royalty check for Sedition right about time for my birthday. I intend to get myself one victory treat (likely an iPod since I ran mine over on accident) and then the rest of the payment is going to be pushed into advertising. Yes, advertising. Because I haven't done a darn thing on my end to promote the book save talking about it here on the blog and pushing a Facebook page and tweeting and ... pretty much doing all the things I do on a normal basis to keep up my "publishing platform".

As stated in my previous post, I am undergoing a relocation, which makes internet access a coffee shop away rather than right in my home. So! I'm updating the Nellis V page today. If you're interested in watching the formation of a whole planet (or in the case of this month, a small solar system) then take a peek. It's really just for my own records and entertainment so if I ramble and bore you then ... well ... Pfft! How can building a planet be boring?

Moving and Life in General

2011-03-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

For those who have been wondering, I am in the process of moving into a new apartment. This great relocation has resulted in a lack of private internet access, which is why I haven't updated anything on any of my websites in the last two weeks. Currently I am sitting in a Moxie Java with a yummy cherry Italian soda for company and, yes, am quite nostalgic about the whole thing. I wrote a good portion of Sedition while in this very same Moxie Java several years ago.

I think it's fitting that I'm here to announce the progress on the sequel to Sedition; Saboteur. Just this week I started work on the final 12 scenes for the book, which puts me so far ahead of schedule that it's almost laughable. I projected that I would be done with Saboteur by the end of this year (December 2011) and now it looks like I'll be done by June. The final few scenes are action packed and full of wonderful character conflicts, the unveiling of the man who is ultimately the "saboteur" of the peace process between the Eldur race and the Humans, a birth (finally) and several deaths. I am very excited.

For those who weren't aware, I've also already started work on the third and final book of the trilogy; Usurper. (( If anyone was curious, I've decided on the spelling of Evaliana for that character whose name I could only pronounce and couldn't actually write. )) Usurper promises to be an excellent book, though the cast of characters has grown to a near-uncontrollable amount. The rule of thumb is to try to keep the POV (Point Of View) characters down to four. I'm thinking I can manage this book with only five but there are a grand total of seven (possibly eight) who want to have their voices on the page. But, since I am still just laying the ground work for this novel, I can play with all of them until I settle on who is going to tell the story and who is just going to be involved.

What of Nellis V?

I'm so glad you asked. My assignment for Nellis V this month was just to take a look at the solar system around the planet. Which I have done. There are only 4 other planets in Nellis's solar system, three of them gas giants and one little rock too close to the sun. I haven't named them all yet, I've been a little busy with the move and with the current works in progress, but I promise to have them named before April 1st.

Speaking of April (which is the month of my birthday), the editor for Witch-Born (under contract with Double Dragon Publishing) has informed me that I will have the edits for the novel at the first of the month. I still don't have an actual publication date for the book but I think we can assume it will come out during the third or fourth quarter of the year. So! All writing assignments and works in progress will take a back seat to Witch-Born when those edits get here.

And since it has been so long since I posted, I thought I'd give you a snippet of Saboteur.

---

And now he was a horse thief. Given the two murders to his name and the various items Brodis had stolen in his lifetime, he really didn’t think that stealing a horse was so bad. People thought differently, though. He’d always found it curious, the way people reacted to a horse thief. If a murderer was on the stand, the crowd would go quiet and shudder a little, watch the convict with varying degrees of horror. Almost like the ugliness of the crime was a disease they could accidentally catch.

Put a horse thief on the stand and the ugliness switched sides. Rather than horror, the people would be incensed with rage, calling out for the thief’s death without ever learning the poor soul’s name.

Brodis spurred the horse forward, leaning deep into the saddle as they rushed down the road. Sleet and snow beat down on him, made his fingers ache with the cold, but he couldn’t stop; wouldn’t stop. His pursuers would pause when the storm came on full force. He couldn’t hear them anymore but he wasn’t certain if that was because they had stopped or just because the wind was howling and covering their sounds. Either way didn’t matter.

General Lana Silvanus was alive.

Alive and, by all accounts, slowly winning the Border Lords to her side.

Brodis glared into the rain and pushed for the horse to go faster.

Sedition is on Fictionwise Now.

2011-03-02T18:02:00.001-08:00

That's right. It's been up at Amazon and Wings for the last two months but now you can find it on Fictionwise as well. (For cheaper, if you're wondering.) Here's the link!

Sedition on Fictionwise

Updates on Nellis V Project.

2011-02-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

For those unaware, I've been working on building a planet. I started in January and this month was focused on the atmosphere. Next month I'll be diving into the solar system surrounding the planet, though I think I've already done that work. In any case, I did update the project but it's small. Just a snippet of what Jorry can see when she gets to the planet's surface. I've been really involved in Saboteur and might actually take a break from Nellis next week in order to map out the end sequences for Saboteur.

The snippet is on the Nellis Project page so if you're wanting to see something then you'll have to click on the tab up there ... It's really easy, I promise. Just point and click and you'll see the introduction, scroll past the pretty picture I posted up there for you, and then there's the update.

Progress and Nearing the Climax

2011-02-25T17:46:00.000-08:00

Well, last night I managed to finish up Trenna's testimony to the Border Lords. She'd been waiting, you see, because she wanted all evidence to be brought against her before she spoke. This seemed like a good plan because it gave Nelek time for whatever he was planning and all that. Story-wise I am now standing on the cusp of the climax. I get to walk a fine line between writing from the ending and working my way back and writing from this point forward and at some point I'll meet in the middle. Woo-hoo! The train is chugging along.

In other news, I purchased a new notebook today for Usurper. I'd been using the back pages of the Saboteur notebook and didn't like that (I'm somewhat obsessive compulsive about which stories go in what notebook and how thick the paper has to be and ... Yeah. It's weird but it works for me so I'll keep doing it.) I can't tell you everything that I'm working on for Usurper because it'd give away the ending of Saboteur, which is promising to be intense, but I can say that I have a new character with a strange name that I have NO IDEA how to spell yet. This is a new problem for me. Normally names just plop onto the page and I'm good to go but this one flew out of my mouth and now I have to figure out how to write it.

I'm open to suggestions but this is how it is pronounced -- E-vah-lee-ah-nah -- Evaliana? Evalleana? Bah!

Neon Rain and Squeaky Voices

2011-02-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

Remaining faithful to my research and planet building project, I updated the Nellis V Project. If you'd like to see how an author gets from initial idea to full-blown planet/world before they write the actual story, then have a glance through the Nellis Archive. It's getting kind of long but let's keep in mind that it's just going to get bigger between now and the end of the year.

Today I decided I wanted the planet to have neon rain and set out to make that sort of a development believable. It was actually an easy fix and I'm quite pleased. It does have an unexpected side-effect, though. Because I had to add helium to the atmosphere in order to make the neon rain, then the voices of the characters are going to get a little silly when they reach higher altitudes.

Beyond Nellis, I've been working on Saboteur and Usurper side by side. I have a beginning sequence written for Usurper but I'm not sure if I like it or not. It'll probably change between now and the finished product so I'm not worried. However, I am still going to avoid writing any snippets on Usurper ... even though I'm dying to show some of it. But it would really spoil the second book if I did that so ... Yeah. I'll just share a little of Nellis for you.

---------

Relo was accustomed to traveling alone, surrounded only by the natural sounds of the planet. The groan of trees nestled in their rocky pockets of ground, the screech of night birds hunting or the gurgle of water passing through the craggy terrain were his normal companions. Comforting, pleasant sounds and yet, Jorry's voice was quickly becoming a comfort as well. His brethren always chastised him for his lonely treks but Relo preferred the quiet.

And there was something quiet about Johanna Rorry. It was a stillness that echoed through her form, tinging her voice with a sultry note of self-awareness. As alien as she as to Nellis, to him, she felt as natural as the breeze on his face. It was a perplexing issue that knotted something foreign in his chest; a primal and subconscious yearning that seemed to intensify whenever she spoke.

When Real Life Meets Fiction

2011-02-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

I decided that I could start writing Nellis in bits and pieces while I am still world building. I got the first part of the book outlined and will continue working on it for the next month or so. I don't want to rush the outline because then the story will feel rushed to me and I won't like it and ... you guessed it, I won't end up writing it. But I do believe I've found my open. I'm going to give a snippet of the first two paragraphs since it deals with my title for this post -- When Real Life Meets Fiction -- Because you see, my adventure with the car door inspired the opening for the Nellis book. ((Understand that I am horrible with finding the opening of a book. It will likely change four times between now and the finished product, but for now this is what I'm going to use to get into the book.))

"No, no, no, no!" Jorry growled and whimpered and let her forehead rest against the driver's side window of her little red car. Frigid January air -- morning air, no less -- breezed around her, flicking dry snowflakes everywhere and making her groan again. She was cold, she was late for her dentist appointment, and she was locked out of her car. Somehow, the door key had worked its way off her keyring and was sitting right in the middle of the drivers seat.

"Son of a monkey twit." She glared at the key. "They're going to charge me for the missed appointment. Again. I hate you. I'm going to Home Depot and you're as good as replaced you ... you ... inanimate bastard."

Adventures in Motherhood

2011-02-18T16:40:00.000-08:00

This morning I was blessed with a feeling of empowerment. Nothing could stand in my way. I had a list of things I needed to get done and nothing, but nothing, was going to stop me. First on the list was getting my son his booster shot. Not a pleasant way to begin, I know, but with that bad stuff out of the way I figured conquering the rest of the day would be cake ....

Until I locked myself out of the truck.

And here's the real kicker ... I was locked out the truck and my toddler was locked INSIDE. (I know, I just fell out of the running for best mother of the year.) Now, at least this was wintertime and he was warm while I was cold and I had my cell phone so there was no reason to panic. I called the locksmith and waited in the cold, making goofy faces at my son to keep him occupied.

Fifty-five dollars and twenty minutes later and my son was free, my feeling of empowerment was replaced with abashed entertainment. In my defense, I would like to say that this was not my fault. I had my keys in my hand when I got out of the truck. I was fishing through them as I came around to unlock Hazen's door. But the individual key that unlocked the car door had somehow worked its way off the keyring and was sitting smack dab in the middle of the drivers seat. Not my fault, but my bank account is still fifty-five dollars less than it should be.

It just goes to prove that these things really do happen, they're not just in fiction. So when a character is staring balefully at their car, trying to decide between coughing up fifty bucks or shoving some sort of hanger through the cracks in their door frame, remember that it could happen to you. It really, really could.

New Content and Annoying Body Problems

2011-02-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I spent half my night limping through my local grocery store. While I generally have to go to the store every two weeks, I'm not always limping through it. ((Brief History -- I was in the Army and was medically discharged with a naughty hip that decided to injure itself. Yes, it injured itself, I was just sorta watching from the sidelines, I swear.)) Anyway, there I was walking down the produce isle, since that's the FIRST isle in the store and I grabbed some bananas and apparently the bananas were a code or something for my hip because suddenly pop! ... my hip went out. Which is painful and annoying. And as much as I wanted to just ignore the rest of my shopping trip I knew I had to get food in my pantry lest my toddler have nothing to eat, so I glared at the traitorous bananas, shoved them in my cart and continued to shop.

It's always fun when you limp places because you get to see the level of upbringing for the people around you. Polite people generally don't look at you, they just keep to their business and you know that they're clandestinely checking for a cast or some reason for the unnatural stagger but they're not going to mention it. Impolite people stare. Really impolite people laugh. (Yes, I had that happen once when the injury was fresh.)

That aside, I managed to get through the shopping trip and get home and ... HAHA! I wrote ... a whole 529 words. But at least they were new words that got onto the page. Any day that words get put on the page is a good day, regardless of the count. Here ... have a peek ...

Noffi spit a copious amount of blood on the floor at their feet. Mavon made a startled sound in the back of the room. They all heard Ronan’s quiet voice as the mage moved to take Nelek’s free hand.

“Blood Magic requires bleeding,” Ronan said. “It is why our mages are so fierce in battle. The more Eldur Blood on the ground, the more magic they have at their disposal.”

“That is incredibly disturbing,” Mavon said.

Maps, Weather and Oceans

2011-02-12T06:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to be honest and say that I have only ever drawn one map for a book before. It was for Witch-Born and I lost it somewhere during the first draft so I suppose that proves how helpful it was during the writing process. However, I found that I literally had to draw a map for Nellis. An entire world map, even. Because I needed to know the oceans in order to understand the weather patterns on the planet. Because I want to have fun with it, I've paused the map drawing process for right now. I think it's going to slowly build itself as I go along with the book because, frankly, I need to fully understand the culture of the people who live there before I can go naming things.

So, the map process will be built alongside the history of the planet and people. Which is very, very involved. It's not going to get done in a day, in fact. I'm going to have to make a tangent-trip in my research to wrap my head around the culture. And I hate to be so vague but it's vague in my head right now so I don't have much choice. Most of the time I learn about a culture in my works of fiction by sitting down and starting the rough draft. The characters discover what's going on for me and it reveals itself in the fiction. Which, now that I think about it, might be the only way I'll get this planet done.

But to counter the fact that I had so little to show for my work today, I wrote a snippet and posted it on the Nellis Project page. You can see the Archive if you want to see where we've been and all of that.

Rubber Duckies and Plot Bunnies

2011-02-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

I was staring at my son's rubber ducky, enjoying a rare bubble bath and some quiet time when I was attacked by a plot bunny. ((Plot Bunny :: The sometimes elusive and always welcome moment when plot ideas, story lines, characters and other forms of inspiration come hopping into the author's view. Oftentimes, they require a significant amount of attention and other times they just sort of ... leap into your hair ... even if you happen to be soaked with bubbles from your RARE moment alone and in the quiet ... You get it.)) But this little plot bunny was for none other than a THIRD book based around Dyngannon and select surviving characters from Sedition. ((Shameless plug here, Sedition is my first novel and is for sale right now ... RIGHT NOW, Peeps! And you can get it from Amazon.com or snag the ISBN numbers and smack your local bookstore around with them. Or you can purchase it directly from the publisher at Wings ePress ))

Needless to say, this is a huge development since I am still smack dab in the middle of the sequel to Sedition. Which, by the way, is coming along quite nicely. If I continue at this rate I should have the full rough draft by June, a third draft three months later and then the fourth and final draft by the end of the year ... just as I projected. (If you're one of those picky people and noticed that I cut out the second draft, it's because I hand write everything first, making the first and second drafts get done almost simultaneously.)

This third book will deal with surviving members of the second book Saboteur -- and I don't know who all survives yet because ... you know ... I'm not done writing it. But I know three people from Sedition are already accounted for.

Plot bunnies come at the strangest moments, seriously. If anyone was wondering, the character of Trenna Croften showed up one day when I picked up a sword. It was a thin, ceremonial Templar blade with a bulbous and ivory grip that was pleasant to hold onto. I remember it acutely because suddenly the name of Trenna popped into my head and I decided to pursue her via pen and paper that night. And then, of course, the whole book came out and now here we are.

By the way! I am now sporting four 5-Star reviews on Amazon.com for Sedition. You can see them right there on my Amazon page if you click on the book and things. This makes me quite happy. My ego is soaring. I know it'll plummet when I inevitably receive a negative review from someone who a) has no sense of humor, b) doesn't like fantasy and shouldn't have tried reading the thing anyway, c) reads too much fantasy and finds everything in the genre boring now or d) is one of those people who likes to find the negative in everything around them. I'll just try to keep those four factors in mind when I read about how they hated the thing and want nothing more to do with the world in general.

Oh, snap!

2011-02-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

So there I was, hunting for my name online because I wanted to show my friend my head shot pictures because I adore them ((Thank you again, Jared)) and what should I find instead? A forum called "Books to Read in the Caribbean" where, you guessed it, a member pushed my book up there. I'm not even kidding. Here ... I'll post the whole thing, because I'm even flattered to be considered by a reader who reads Jennifer Crusie ...

"Agnes and the Hitman" and "Don't Look Down" by Jennifer Crusie and John Mayer - great books, especially Agnes. They're adventure/romance/mystery with a strong vein of hilarity running through them. Great reads!

Also a brand new book by a brand new author - "Sedition" by A J Maguire. It's a fantasy/romance. Very entertaining - she has a great way with words. I used to read fantasy years ago but not for some time. This one has me looking for more.

If bad words don't bother you, try "A Dirty Job" by Michael Moore. We did take it on a cruise and had people looking at us because it's shockingly laugh-out-loud funny.

This was listed by MDCruiserz "Cool Cruiser" and is on the second page of this particular forum. Woot!

Playing with the Atmosphere

2011-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

I know you were all just waiting ... eagerly waiting ... for me to say I had updated the Nellis Project. Well, fear no more! It's done. It's February so I've moved from the Core of the planet and straight to the atmosphere. I spared you all the math that I did but if I could, I'd copy my pretty graph that shows the distances between the mantle of the planet through to the Ionosphere. I'm weird, I know, because none of that will really be helpful in writing the book but it was still fun to do. And the first rule of this whole planet building nonsense was to have fun with it so ... Yeah.

For other writing news, I killed a character in Saboteur and shot a General in the side. He's got a fever now and the humans are going to have to decide whether or not they trust the Eldur enough to let a Blood Mage save his life. Super fun conflicts there. And ... Ashton's exploring the Alturas manor, uncertain of his own luck for having acquired such a kick-butt job while a thief is lurking in the shadows, about to steal the infamous dragon-heart eating object that took me so frigging long to make up.

And I spent half the day with my kid, running around the park and letting him ride his "motorcycle" ... aka, his bicycle. He was pleased. I was pleased. Combined with getting Nellis V research done today, I'm allowed some form of reward ... like chocolate. I bid you all adieu as I raid my cabinet.

Holy Headshot, Batman!

2011-02-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

My uber talented friend Jared Desjarlais took some professional head shots for me for all of the websites and future book covers and things like that and I just got them today. They're excellent, especially when taking into consideration that half the time we were all laughing and I swear I must have blinked in over a dozen of the shots he took. I put one up on my website and a different one up on Amazon and I'll shove another one up on Facebook and ... (cliche drum roll here) ...

Ta-Da! Sweet Holy Hannah! Is that really what I look like?

Wrapping up the Core

2011-01-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yet again I have updated the Nellis V project. This week I tore into the Dimensional Divide since it is so closely tied to the Core of the planet. This is my last week on the Core, so next week I get to play with the atmosphere of the planet. I'm excited about this because the atmosphere will define what the planet looks like when standing on it.

I did have the plague the last couple of days, so I fell a little behind on my work. Still, I managed to kill off a character in Saboteur (I promise, they had it coming), write a snippet of Aliens on Parade, and finish reading my own book Sedition. I know, I know, I wrote it so why on earth did I read it? ...

Well, if I can't read it then why would I ask anyone else to? Granted, I saw a lot that I would change now that I've several more years of writing under my belt, but it was decent and I love Trenna's character enough that she carried the story for me.

Also, you'll notice a ton of weird clickable stuff on the right side of this page. The Authors Den and Goodreads in particular. I'm an author on both and can be researched and reviewed there. And I have a handy little Amazon Author's page as well, which links to this page, which I think is utterly awesome.

Aliens on Parade

2011-01-27T17:52:00.000-08:00

I wrote a scene today about aliens on parade. I'm not going to share it because, frankly, it wouldn't make much sense out of context of the story. To explain, however, I have been playing with the idea of aliens on parade since January 1st, after watching the Rose Bowl Parade. (It's not something I normally watch, but I happened to be spending the first of the year with my best friend Jan, and she loves it so we watched it.) While listening to the announcers talking about each of the floats and watching the pretty decorations go by, I was bombarded with the idea of having an alien parade.

Literally bombarded. I mean, what would that even look like? Our parades show us what we hold as important. They show off generations of tradition with the marching bands and proud horses and many banners flying by, so a parade on an alien planet would be familiar and bizarre all at once. And, if I do it right, would show off the culture of the alien race in a spectacular way. I'm still working on it and I hope everything pans out the way I want it to.

As a side note -- I totally blame Scott Sigler for this. Well, mostly blame him. If this were a Sigler Alien Parade then someone would have to eat someone else and much gore and death would ensue.

Oh, all right. I'll share a little ...

Jorry thought for a moment that an alien parade should have sounded more bizarre than it did to her. Aliens on parade, marching to a timing and music that felt awkward to her -- too slow. What she remembered of high school music class lent her a small understanding to what she was hearing and witnessing in the street below. This parade was done at a slow canter, leisure and almost lazy. There was no spirit. No joy. Those on display for the crowd looked opulent and utterly bored, waving in that tell-tale priggish manner that said they believed the world owed them something more.

She glared through the window. Having just come from Nellis V and seeing the poor circumstances of the Nellissians who lived there, she had no sympathy for the citizens of Nellis I.

Especially Mukwana Hagonoth Chissillian, the instigator of her abduction.

Still Building a Planet

2011-01-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I made some updates on the Nellis Project again. This time I've discovered that the core of the planet directly affects the religion of its people. Which is interesting and fun. And I met my hero of the story. Other than Jorry. I like Jorry but I have to have someone she's interacting with the most, and I'd like that person to be an alien (otherwise what's the point of putting her on another planet?). Thus, I have Relo Bomani. Who is some sort of acolyte. I don't know yet. I'll define the religion later this year. I just know that it's correlated with the general make-up of the planet.

So! I will give another little snippet.

"Why are you helping me?" Jorry hissed as his hands found a tender spot on her calf.

He met her gaze for a moment, his pale green eyes remote and brooding and curious all at once. "Your breath called to me and I answered."

"My ... breath." She fought the urge to breathe into her palm and check to see if it smelled. Given the fact that she'd been abducted by aliens, chase through a dimensional divide and nearly eaten by some gargantuan creature she had no name for, Jorry really didn't think she could be blamed for having bad breath. It wasn't as if she'd had the chance to pack a bag and toothbrush after all.

One dark eyebrow lifted and the corner of his wide mouth twitched. "Your breath." He returned to the inventory of her injuries. "You breathe, therefore you live. You take in the air around you, it becomes part of you, but it cannot remain. With in you, it changes. Alters. Becomes yours. Your breath."

"Inhale oxygen. Exhale carbon monoxide." Jorry tried to keep from flinching as his fingers trailed over her ankle. "That ... really hurts."

"Mn." He frowned at her ankle. "You have a very clinical way of viewing things, Little Bird."

How to Eat a Dragon's Heart

2011-01-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

I got quite a bit done today. Managed to write 2,555 words on Saboteur (the sequel to Sedition) and I'll include a snippet at the end of this posting just because I want to and I can. But after I was done with that I switched gears and started to work on Primal again. Only I'm stuck because I don't know how to eat a dragon's heart. Primal is about dragons, obviously, and one of them (Marzden, not a big secret I'm giving away so don't worry, you know from the first page that he's the antagonist) has figured out how to become more powerful.

Primal is so named because each dragon has a "birthing" stone which they call their Primal Stone -- basically, the gem that called them into existence as dragons. I promise, it makes more sense in the actual book. And anyway, Marzden figured out that if you eat another dragon's heart by using OBJECT A to cut it out of the poor creatures chest, you get to absorb their power from their Primal Stone. Now then ... here's the problem ... I have no frigging idea what OBJECT A is.

And I need to know right now before I can continue writing the story.

I know it's pretty because I know that at present, Pru (main character) owns it. She has it in display in her home and, since she's a dragon, it has to be pretty.

In my desperation I went and looked online for fantasy pictures and medieval weaponry and things that have generally existed for long periods of time since OBJECT A has to be ancient. And now I'm sitting here with the basic question of how you would actually eat a dragon's heart in the first place. Should I make it so that the poor would-be dinner has to be in full-out dragon form in order for the transference of power to occur? That would make things considerably more difficult for Marzden at least.

In any case, I give up for the night. I'll wander through my local Antique Mall and take a peek at some objects to see if some inspiration hits me tomorrow. Anyway! Here's the promised snippet --

--

Willmont stared hard at the fire. It curled and twisted and licked heat into the private solar, subdued only by the stone casement built into his southern wall. There were sudden pops and soft hisses as the rage of flames consumed the logs therein. He watched it with growing unease. It was wild and unpredictable, untamed. A spark could leap past the stone and catch onto the fur rug spanning under Willmont’s feet.

There was no real way to control fire.

He could start one and he understood the basics of the element but in the end, he knew he had no real command over it.

Humans were very similar. Primal beasts, all of them, Willmont included. Wild and as untamed as the fire before him. Only their pops and hisses were more clearly defined than those coming from his hearth. He could hear them still, so many of them calling to say that they had testimony to bring against General Lana Silvanus. Shouting above each other to insist that they, too, had grievance against the woman.

And just like the fire, Willmont had no real command over them, only the perceived restrictions of stone and mortar to cage them in. They listened, for now, growling amongst each other, smoldering ignorance and hatred fueling them forward.

Science, Math and Fun

2011-01-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

I updated the Nellis Project page today. And, of course, I had a lot of fun doing it. If I knew how to photocopy/scan/whatever my paper notebook I'd share all of my nerdiness with you all but I don't, so I can't. Suffice to say that there are diagrams and lots of math and different colored notes everywhere. It's organized chaos. But I made some real headway on what I needed to know about the planet and even (gasp) the plot itself. I explained it all over there, so if you wanna know how planet-building helped me discover why our hero was abducted by aliens then go take a peek.

That being said, I also wrote a snippet in Jorry's perspective, looking at the alien world. I'm going to share it because I haven't put a snippet up in a long time.

---

Jorry took a slow, deep breath and opened her eyes. The lingering sense of having been disembodied made every little hair she had stand stiff. While she tried to shove those thoughts aside she became increasingly aware of the alien terrain surrounding her. Everything was blue-gray and silver, cold colors that roved across an impossibly vast stretch of low-tumbled rocks. Small croppings of coniferous trees peppered the landscape, looking an ominous black fringed with silver.

There were no mountains, just a light swelling of land here and there, as though a gentle curve of hillock that promised more and then utterly failed. She was, without doubt, on another planet.

Organization and Moving Forward

2011-01-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

Deviation is completed. My 4th run through on the manuscript is done and my Alpha Readers have the last few Chapters and now I just get to wait to see what they thought needs improvement. I'm thinking I might not attempt the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award this year, mostly because I don't think they really deal in the fiction that I write. All of the winners thus far have been modern day literary fiction and ... yeah. I don't write that.

But, with that particular book's completion I have reorganized my computer and my files, putting other books to the forefront for the year. Sabateur and Primal are the two main for 2011, with the world/planet building for Nellis V coming up right behind them. I feel prepped and ready to dive into work ... as soon as this flu goes away. I've been sick since Saturday and the darned stuffy-nose, clogged-head, nastiness that comes with the common flu bug is being stubborn.

With the flu bug, however, I have managed to read a bit. I got An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon on Friday and am a little over halfway through it. And loving it, as per usual. There's just something about Jamie and Ian and Claire and Fergus that I love.

Research, Editing and Birthdays

2011-01-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

An update on the researching of Nellis V -- You can see on the Project Nellis page that I have not only started research on the planet I am creating, but I've plowed into it. I did a whole lot of math, a whole lot of research and had a marvelous time while I was at it.

I have only 2 more chapters to edit for Deviation before I pass them along to my alpha readers. I sort of left them at a horrible place just before Christmas and feel really bad about it. It's still the shortest book I've ever written but, eh, it was also my first attempt at Science Fiction and I know that I probably did everything wrong anyway.

This week I managed to figure out that Trenna's sequel (the sequel to Sedition, which just came out for sale and I thank everyone who has already bought a copy! You're all beautiful, wonderful people and I could kiss you all if you were in arms reach.) has three parts to it. It's been a long time since I've written a book in parts instead of just start to finish but if this the only way to get my creative muse working then I guess that's what I've got to do. Part I is titled - Mobs and Part II is titled - The Trial of General Lana Silvanus.

And last but not least, my son's 3rd birthday was yesterday. It was wonderful, if a little heartbreaking. He really shouldn't be this old already.

Sedition is Out for Sale!

2011-01-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

For right now, the best place to find Sedition is through the publisher at http://www.wings-press.com/

You can see my name A.J. Maguire and my neat little cover, which has been on display on this Blog since I got it back in June or so. Here are the ISBN numbers in case anyone just wants to go out and order it from their local bookstore ::

ISBN 978-1-59705-610-6 (( This one is for the paperback. ))

ISBN 978-1-59705-228-3 (( This one is for the eBook lovers out there. ))

Welcome to 2011!

Building a Planet

2010-12-31T07:06:00.000-08:00

All right! So, I did make the resolution that I was going to build this planet from the core out in 2011. And I sat down and made a schedule of what I was going to work on during each month. I'll make a page connected to this one where anyone who's interested can watch the planet of Nellis V grow.

January : The Core
February : The Atmosphere
March : Star System
April : Oceans
May : Land Masses
June : Plant Life
July : Animal Life
August : The Divide (( Tiers I - V ))
September : Political Spectrum
October : Technology
November : The Games ( Rules & Regulations)
December : Traditions, Religions & Famous Figures

I'm really kinda excited. I loved researching our own planets and such, so building one for a Science Fiction novel just makes sense. I can take all the stuff I learned and somehow apply it/tweak it to fit what I want it to. And because I'm quirky, I'll probably have pretty pictures to help me along the way.

Avoiding the Dreaded Writers Block

2010-12-29T06:37:00.000-08:00

I started to get twitchy working on Deviation so I've stopped. I'm going to give myself a few days before I work on the last few chapters in order to avoid shoddy editing and the dreaded writers block. Thus! I worked on something else last night. And I'll work on something else today too.

Primal has a lot of problems (NaNo novels usually do, comes with the territory of writing 50 thousand words in only 30 days) so I sat down last night and tried, yet again, to get an outline down. Most of my novels are outlined, it's just the only way I can keep my head on track. But every time I tried with Pru's story I got stuck after the third chapter. I discovered last night that the reason I was having trouble is that I was trying to be too in-depth. Last night I managed to get the whole Outline done for Primal and it fits on one page. Looks kinda like this --

Dragon Court
Ashton gets a job with Pru.
Something is stolen from Pru. (Item helps with the eating of dragon hearts.)
Pru and Ashton track thief. (Dude be dead when they find him.)
Pru and Ashton talk to Lellun. (Lellun explains the dragon heart diet.)
Pru and Ashton go to Washing Woman in Ireland. (Corset problems here.)
Attacked.

And it goes on like that for 22 lines. It is, by far, the strangest outline I have ever made. But at least it's down and I know where I need to go and how I need to piece it together.

Back to Work

2010-12-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful Christmas it is time to push back into work mode. I've made it to Chapter 22 in Deviation for the 4th draft thing. Which is great since that means I have 6 chapters left and will be very ready for the ABNA contest January 24th.

I hope.

Given that this is the last week of the last month of 2010 I imagine it's time for me to start making my resolutions for next year. And since I did kick 2010's butt by way of productivity I am looking forward to another year full of adventure, even if half of it is still Science Fiction. So! Here's what I want to accomplish in the coming year.

1) Build a Planet. ~ Specifically, I am going to build Nellis V, which is the new world for the new Science Fiction novel that hit me the other day. But this goal comes with a year long plan, which I will start to map out this week. Basically, I want to literally build this planet from the core out. I'm having a hard time with the Outline for the book so I figure if I get to know my setting intimately I'll understand what in blazes is going on. ((Plus, you know, it'll be a fun learning experience. Sort of like running through the Planets and learning about them month by month back in 2008-2009.)) I'll even have a page on either the website or this Blog where you can follow what I've chosen to do and what I've learned along the way. If you like that sort of thing, of course.

2) Enter Deviation into the ABNA contest.

3) While Deviation is in the contest, research 3 Agents and 2 Editors appropriate for this particular novel. Because when I lose ~ this happens a lot since they tend to look for a specific genre even though they allow us all to participate and I highly doubt, based on the winners of the previous years, that they'll really pay my Science Fiction any mind. But, eh, worst they can say is no, right?

4) Complete the rough draft of Trenna's sequel.

5) Re-vamp the world building for Primal and Warded. ((This is really a side project to keep from getting writers block. I know Primal needs some work because I haven't defined everything for my Urban Fantasy and I know that Warded is different from Witch-Born because it ... ((Ha! Thought I was going to give away the ending of the first book, didn't you?))

6) Climb 3 mountains.

7) Learn how to play the piano. (Or keyboard. I have one, which my son bangs on a lot, but it's there and I should learn how to play.)

8) Attend at least one Convention.

That should do it. If I get even half of that done, I'll kick 2011's butt too.

2010

2010-12-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

With Christmas done and New Years looming I'm taking a page from my good friend Lisa Cohen again. Every year she looks back on what she got accomplished before she looks forward to what she wants to do next year. Being an author, most of this has to do with writing and thus ... here is 2010 in a nutshell.

1) Signed contracts for Sedition with Wings ePress. It was supposed to be out November 1st but there were complications with the editors and it will now be released January 1, 2011 - which isn't such a bad way to start the new year.

2) Completed Deviation. This was my first Science Fiction and my work with Lazette Gifford's Two Year Novel course. I adored the course and highly suggest it to everyone I know who wants to write a book.

3) Signed contracts for Witch-Born with Double Dragon Publishing. It will be out sometime in 2011, I'll know more after the first of the year and things start rolling.

4) Won National Novel Writing Month with Primal. That book isn't finished yet but it's been great fun so far. But then, anything with dragons is fun.

5) Got to Chapter 11 in Trenna's sequel. Which, considering the convoluted plot and irritatingly complex characters is a feat in itself. Right now I've got a doped up General Mavon, an unaccounted for Blood Mage, a Prince about to be blamed for the drugged General and an entourage come to tell Trenna and Nelek that peace talks have been accepted in Cadabyr Court. Which would be great if Nelek wasn't still recovering from the poison Trenna's mother inflicted him with.

6) Wrote the synopsis and foundation for a query letter for Deviation.

7) Started world building on yet another Science Fiction novel -- which still irritates me since I would like to get back to Fantasy writing, dangit. But this one has quite a bit of promise, if I can wrap my head around the technology of an alien race.

8) Wrote two articles for different guest spots on different blogs. One about writing Science Fiction and one about Dialog and Digital Voice Recorders.

9) Wrote my first book review, which, given to do again I would likely have found better ways to express my disappointment in certain elements of the storyline. (( Though I still find it hard to believe that a woman would accept an engagement ring that had been accidentally dropped in front of her would-be fiancee's dead ex-girlfriend.))

10) Started ground work on the sequel to Witch-Born.

Busy year. I'd say it was a success, too.

Toddlers

2010-12-26T07:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I look at my son and I ache for when he was brand new, restfully nestled into my shoulder as I held him and held him and held him. I'm told this ache never fully goes away, but it's a sweet sort of pain so I think I don't mind so much. Especially when I look at how big he is today and watch him laugh, playing with the race track that "Santa" brought him and begging me to come play with him. ((Yes, I cave a lot. He'll only be this size once and I'm treasuring every second I get.))

Or when he starts singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and misses half the words but has the tune down right and my heart swells with adoration. Or like just now, when he looked at me and said; "I love you, Mama."

First time he's said it.

I just might cry a little.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

My Christmas Eve was spent crushing snow with my son in the park, running up and down the jungle gym and hearing him squeal with laughter as he "pulled" me into the tube-encased slide. Some neighborhood kids came out to play basketball and gave me funny looks but I figured I could beat the three of their primary-school butts if they made any untoward remarks. ((Please note, this is a joke. I do not go about beating up primary school kids as a hobby.))

The child is now snuggled in bed in his new jammies, compliments of Grandma and Grandpa. I sort of cheated when I told him he was allowed to open only one present tonight and made sure it was the one with the pajamas in it. Though now that I think back on it I'm pretty sure I learned that from my Mom. Anyway, the point is that he's in bed and I just got done with the whole setting up Christmas thing and I am wiggling with excitement.

My son adores the Disney Cars movie. He has 5 different "Lightening McQueen" cars and several other characters from the movie. And this year he is getting a race car track with the Disney Cars theme on it. And it's motorized!

Yes, yes. He's about to be 3. Don't worry, I checked the age appropriate grade on the side of the box and he is just barely old enough to have it.

He's going to go crazy.

Absolutely crazy.

And I'm going to grin my face off while he does it.

Technology!

2010-12-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

A lot of professionals have been saying how I needed to have some free samples of my writing up for people to see. It's taken me a while to decide on what to do and I finally made a Free Chapter of Deviation on this blog. You can see it right upstairs on that handy little bar.

After Sedition has been out for a month I'll put a free chapter of it up there as well. I'm just uncertain of how much I'm allowed to post without breaking the rules of my contract. Same thing goes with Witch-Born.

I thought about putting the sequels up for both of the two novels about to be published but then, that just seemed silly. I mean, if you read those as free chapters then I give away the ending of the two books that haven't even come out for sale yet. So! You probably won't get any postings of Saboteur (Sedition's sequel) or Warded (Witch-Born's sequel) until both have been out for a while. And to be honest, Warded is still undergoing the whole world-building stage.

But I've also been thinking of using either Residual Hauntings or this newest science fiction idea Nellis V (working title, subject to change at any time) as a free book put up here as I create it. We'll see. Right now I'm busy trying to get the last quarter of Deviation completed in its 4th draft so that I can start soliciting publishers and agents and such. Editing slows down when I reach the end of a book, mainly because it's the part of the book that is newest and needs the most work.

I hope you all enjoy the free first chapter of Deviation!

Science Fiction

2010-12-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

As I am coming toward the ending of Deviation, which you all know to be my first attempt at Science Fiction, I can't help but feel dwarfed by the task I undertook here. Science Fiction, to me, was far too intelligent. Out of my league. I barely scraped by in school with an average grade in all my science classes. Generally speaking, my head goes numb when science enters a conversation because I literally cannot keep up. And I'm pretty sure that every scientist in the world would shred this manuscript to pieces, at which point I will have to point at the "Fiction" part of the title.

When I started this project a good friend told me that Science Fiction wasn't about what could and would work. It was about answering the question -- "What if this *did* work?"

I might have leaned too heavily on that idea but, when push came to shove the story is still completed. Completed and decent. The science might be shady, I might gloss over the "how's" of certain things -- like the terraformation of Mars -- but in the end, the story wasn't about the science. It was about redemption and survival and two very different women as they fought to get home.

And I like it, which is a plus. It's quirky and weird and is probably not marketable in any traditional sense, but the story is meaty and the characters are colorful and the ending was sufficiently ambiguous and satisfying all at once.

Plot Bunnies!

2010-12-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

For those unaware, a plot bunny is just a random idea for a book that sort of sneak-attacks you when you're not looking. Like the one I got last night while I was rocking my son to sleep. It's fairly vague right now and, strangely enough, it's another Science Fiction. I just spent the last 45 minutes writing down the highlights and I might go ahead and take tomorrow to write down the actual Outline for my records and start world building.

But, you know, who doesn't like an alien abduction story?

Especially when said aliens throw our little abducted character right in the middle of War Games that are clearly not "games" but more a drag-down-teeth-gnashing-hair-pulling-dirty fight.

I even know why they do it.

And have a name for the Planet, though it will likely change at some point. Right now I'm calling it Nelliss V. ((Yes, yes. I like Roman Numerals.))

Christmas Parties.

2010-12-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

I told myself this year I wasn't going to go. I didn't go last year, so this year should be easy. But everyone from work insisted. "It's a restaurant this year." "Bring your son, there will be other kids there." "This is the company's way of thanking you for all the work you do, you need to be there." "Just show for an hour and go home. They're providing shuttles."

And I caved.

I shouldn't have, but I caved.

And had the unique but predictable experience of having the only child as I walked into the bar conveniently housed on the floor level. After about two hours of sitting and waiting for the restaurant portion of the establishment to open, my toddler and I made our way upstairs uninvited and found a couch. Whereupon we played trains and cars (( thank every God in existence that I remembered to bring them)) for another hour. And every attempt I made to go home was thwarted by people saying; "Oh! The food is going to be served in just a minute."

8:55PM the food was delivered.

For those of you who do not have children, that is 55 minutes past time for toddlers to be in bed. Which, as you can imagine, brings about a rather cranky side of my child. Right around 8:30PM you can actually watch the transformation from funny little boy to outright demon. I am torn between gratification and utter embarrassment that all of those who work with me were able to view this transformation as it occurred. Though, given that they are the reason I succumbed to peer pressure and showed up in the first place, I am leaning more heavily on "gratified."

The food was good but not so good that I would return to said establishment. My child ate nothing -- remember that at this point he has already morphed into Satan spawn -- and I finally thought I was able to leave. I asked for the shuttle times so I could get home.

And I got a purely Army response. Which is weird since I'm pretty sure I've been out of the Army for seven years or so. But as the man said it, alarm bells rang hard and fast in my head. "Oh, let me get with Matt. He was in charge of that." Which translates roughly into -- "Not my duty."

Another 30 minutes goes by.

I called a cab.

The pot roast I intended to eat for dinner tonight has been stored in the fridge. My cranky demon is in bed and will wake again at 5:30AM in a little better mood. Not much but a little. Though at 5:30AM it's hard for me to be chipper too so I won't be surprised.

And this is me, getting ready to shut this computer off and go to sleep too. Because 4.5 hours in a bar/restaurant with a toddler, surrounded by people who I know to be morally debased while sober, watching as they imbibe copious amounts of alcohol, listening to music that should probably have stayed in the 80's as it's blared through loud speakers has left me with a headache.

And now that I think about it, Obi-Wan Kenobi was was talking to me just prior to going to this party tonight. He was saying; "Use the Force, Aimee. Let it flow through you. Feel, don't think." Which, translated from Geek Speak means -- "Your instincts are right, you idiot. Don't go."

Ah, poor Kenobi. If I were Luke then the Death Star just won.

Shopping, Shopping and More Shopping

2010-12-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

Well! At Thanksgiving I bought a turkey that was too small. I had absolutely no leftovers, which was tragic since all Holidays should be stapled with copious amounts of leftovers crowding the fridge. Thus ... for Christmas I have purchased a massive turkey that barely fits in my freezer. I'll probably have to set it out to thaw sometime Sunday just so that it's ready by Christmas.

Point is, there *will* be leftovers from Christmas. Lots of them.

Among the other things I bought last night was a copy of the book I've been trying to get for the last year and a half. I wanted it last year for my birthday but life showed up and for one reason or another I didn't get it. This year, I got it for myself for Christmas -- Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone. But it won't be here in time for the actual day.

But that's just fine. If it showed up in time for Christmas I might forget to cook the turkey.

Early Christmas Present

2010-12-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

I have a new computer. Well, new used. But it has Windows 7 on it and Word 2007 and after a night full of pulling my documents together and getting them put onto this wonderful little computer I am one happy camper. Honestly, and as weird as it may sound, I'm mostly writing this blog entry so I can try out the sleek keyboard. Which is working perfectly and feels really nice under my fingers.

Like I said, I am one happy camper.

However, it is now almost 10PM and I haven't gotten my two chapters edited for Deviation.

Well, I'm entering the weekend so I should be able to make up for lost time tomorrow.

Weird Moments in Website Land

2010-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

I'm really not sure what is going on with my website. They added some feature where there are in-line advertisements to the blog and I really didn't like that so I've decided to switch back to this blog, delete the other one, and just stick over here. I've copied all of the stuff I had written in there for my personal reference. If it continues to be so awkward I might just move everything over here, hire a website designer like I know I probably should have before, and all of that. I'm generally a "do-it-yourself" sort of person so I like things that I can handle on my own but ... with Webs doing what they're doing I might just have to face the facts.

That being said, Sedition will be out January 1st from Wings ePress. I've been through the Galleys and sent them in for their first run. I'll get the Galleys one more time and I am ordering my advanced reader copy for reviewers to take a glance at.

And I don't know why it always happens this way but I always forget about the Amazon Competition in January right up until December. Deviation is close enough to being finished that I've opted to make a goal of having the book done by January 23rd so that on the 24th I can submit it to the competition.

Fun things!

Research on the Fly ...

2010-11-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Well, National Novel Writing Month has begun and for the first two nights ... I have done a crap-ton of research on the go. I came up with a Dragon Council that includes 5 different Dragons ... which meant I had to snag some more mineral/gems to work with. I've got Gregory as Jade (he's the oldest), Lellun as Diamonds (poor, complicated, gay dragon), Elara as Emerald (apparently she's rude and uppity, I'll see where she goes in the story), and Marzden as Sapphire ... and our Sapphire Dragon is our antagonist.

But the other stuff I had to research was ... well ... what the heck would Dragons be meeting for and what do they do?

And I decided that they would likely talk a lot about the different mines on Earth and how many resources are being taken. Very "tree-hugger" of me, I know, but I'll do my best to make sure this doesn't turn into Fern Gully / Avatar.

But anyway ... I applaud Google Maps for all their help. There are so many mines on Earth that my head almost exploded last night.

It still might explode, too.

We'll see.

Black Opal

2010-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

All right.

So we have Pru with the birthing stone of Ruby. And I've decided that Ashton's birthing stone is going to be the Black Opal.

Opals are really, really neat. They contain somewhere between 2-6% of water in them. You're supposed to wear them often to keep the humidity around them so that they keep their color. Otherwise they go pale. In any case ... Black Opal is for Ashton. And the whole water thing is going to be his specialty. So while Pru can get hit a lot, Ashton cannot. However, he has more stamina and agility so he just gets the heck out of the way.

Also, Opals are known for healing. So if he does manage to get hit, I'll let him have this ability too. Since he's new to the whole dragon business I imagine he'll get hit a lot.

And this was just too adorable ... If you wear opals it is supposed to help you find true and real love.

Hurray for Paranormal Romance!

Welcome to October!

2010-10-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I said I was done with Mars and I meant it. And in preparation for November and National Novel Writing Month, it's time I started researching things for my Urban Fantasy Romance with Miss Percy Pruessus Alturas and Ashton Bainbridge.

Miss Pru is a dragon and as I have decided to define my dragons, she is reliant on minerals for magic. They are born via gemstones, perfect gemstones, which embed themselves into their bodies and become their defining qualities. Yes, that's all the wonderful fiction that I have created. You're probably wondering what sort of research I need to do for something so fantastical.

Well, every fantasy has some sort of grounding in reality. Such as the minerals that I'm going to use for the magic system here. As such, I'm going to start with Pru's birth stone. Which is the Ruby.

A ruby is from the mineral corundum, which is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide. It's one of the transparent materials, which is what makes it a gem. If it's red then it's a ruby and if it's any other color it is called a sapphire. So ... sapphires and rubies are sort of sisters. With Sapphires being the more common and rubies being harder to snag. (( Yes, it's probably cliche of me to make Pru's birthstone a ruby but Percy Pru is just plain hard to please. ))

Now then, corundum is known for being hard and dense. So! I'm going to dive into fiction and say that because of Pru's inherent relation with the Ruby, one of her "powers" is that of protection. Basically, it's hard to hurt this chick. It'll take something substantial to break her skin. When she does call on the mineral and change form into the Dragon, her scales will be thicker, denser, and tinged red for the ruby.

And I'll stop there for today. Because I have only a month to really prepare for NaNoWriMo I'm going to come back on Sunday and define a little bit more. I'll need to understand Pru and Ashton's birthstones before I sit down to write the story.

Self-Sterilizing Planet

2010-09-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Back to the research.

This may or may not be my final Mars entry. I have two more planets to research in order to complete my trek through the known planets in our solar system and then I'm going to get into some other technical details or some other sort of research. I am about to start an Urban fantasy that deals heavily with minerals so after we finish up with Mercury I'll probably dive straight into that. This is, after all, my blog about researching things with the intention of using said information for a work of fiction.

Or at least that's what it has grown into.

So ...

I'm going to approach this final Martian Discussion with a more in-depth look at how to put life on that silly planet.

Biologists believe that the reason there is no current life on Mars is a combination of ultraviolet radiation that's saturating the surface, the extreme dry nature of the planet's soil and the oxidizing nature of the soil chemistry is what keeps life at bay. In other words, we need radiation protection, moisture and some way to combat the iron oxide long enough for plant life to grow.

To avoid the radiation we need an atmosphere. We've already discussed the whole lack of atmosphere (several times over) so let's say we go ahead and bomb the crap out of the core of Mars. And lets say that instead of just crumbling to pieces, the planet does what we hope it will do and gets a partially molten core, all those lovely tectonic plates and viola, Atmosphere.

But we're in a relative hurry. So let's go ahead and make a huge, planet-encompassing green house just around the atmosphere, floating like our satellites do around Earth. Understand, of course, that Mars is the target of several meteors. You can see the evidence of this if you Google Mars and take a peek at what the surface looks like. (I spent an hour on there today, plotting where I was going to place certain structures in my fiction.) And this means that our green house structure will have to be highly mechanized.

The upside, there's some employment automatically created since engineers - Space Engineers, even - would need to replace several of the green house plates floating around the planet when they inevitably get smashed by some rogue meteor. Also, they would have to control the shifting of the these glass plates to allow for entry to the planet.

With an atmosphere and a green house in place ... It's time to seed bomb the planet.

Which I love, by the way. I don't know why, but the idea of compost, seeds, chemicals, soil and all sorts of other goodies all packed together into one honking mass of a bomb really appeals to me. It's like a useful manure bomb.

Now then, several things would have happened with the gaining of an atmosphere and the placement of a green house. First of which, there's a lot of ice on Mars. Granted, this is carbon dioxide ice for the most part, not the water ice that we're used to. Anyway, this ice - and all other ice on the planet - would likely start to melt. And carbon dioxide ice is also known as dry ice so ... yeah ... it would look really cool for a while. I imagine we would have to wait for the dry ice to settle before we could start seed bombing the planet, though.

But to get into the nitty gritty here, plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Which is sort of important. They take in the carbon dioxide and give out the oxygen and all of Earth is happy for it.

And my imagination is running with this idea so I'm seeing the seed bombing working very, very well. Actually, too well. But first, we have to combat the iron oxide that is so prominent in the planet.

I'm going to go ahead and admit to being a little clueless here. I think that probably we would need to maybe "soil bomb" the place first and just sort of try to mix better soil with the iron oxide soil before we seed bomb it.

Probably, maybe, uncertainly ... Meaning, I have no idea.

Luckily, however, I don't have to ACTUALLY solve the idea of terraforming Mars. I just have to have it within the believable threshold. And I think I've probably done a bit more research here than I actually had to.

So ... that's the end of Mars research.

A tangent ....

2010-09-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

My novel Witch-Born has a home! I just got the contracts today and will be sending them off tomorrow morning. If you want to know more about this particular work ... look here ::

http://ajmaguire.webs.com/completedworks.htm

I tried to get that done as a link but for some reason it kept disappearing when I posted. So ... I just have to assume anyone who likes me enough will take a peek via copy-paste.

Anyway .... Hurray!

Atmosphere ...

2010-09-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

All right ... another obstacle for living on Mars is the atmosphere. There are six major chemicals in the Martian atmosphere and they are as follows ::

Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 95.32%
Nitrogen (N2): 2.7%
Argon (Ar): 1.6%
Oxygen (O2): 0.13%
Water (H2O): 0.03%
Neon (Ne): 0.00025 %

Oh! And there is about 1/1000 water in the air on Mars. But apparently that's still enough to give the sky clouds and frost the ground in the winter. I've already discussed the lack of sufficient atmosphere being linked to the lack of tectonic plates shifting and the thin magnetic field and all of that, but these specifics bring up the problem of carbon dioxide.

I'm thinking that I'll need to go ahead and melt the core of Mars, thus creating tectonic plates, thus making magnetics, thus bringing the greenhouse effects needed to sustain life. But I'm still going to "seed bomb" the planet since that's what we do here on Earth and it makes a lot of sense. And through those "seed bombs" I'll be able to make the planet purple.

There are problems with this, of course. I mean, any scientists will be able to point out that the results of bombing and attempting to melt Mars' core are unpredictable. It might be that creating such an atmosphere in Mars could alter its entire rotation around the sun, thereby throwing it into the path of one of the other planets. Or, trying to melt the Core could just make the whole planet shatter.

Wouldn't that be fun?

"Oh, yes, we tried to populate Mars but it exploded instead. Parts of it crashed into Venus and now it's broken too."

That, my friends, would be called an epic failure.

At the Core ....

2010-09-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Scientists believe that Mars has a solid core made of iron, nickel and sulfur.

Why is this important to me the writer?

Well, because the solid core is what scientists are blaming the lack of a magnetic field on. (You know, the motion within Earth's partially molten core makes it a magnetic object, which creates the magnetic field around the planet. Because Mars has such a little-bitty magnetic field, Scientists believe it has a solid core.) But wait! That's not all!

So we sent little robots and surveyor's over to Mars and they found some rocks that look like they must have been formed in a strong magnetic field which means that ... Once upon a time ... Mars had a stronger magnetic field, which means the core wasn't always solid.

But ... yes ... why is this solid core important to me, the writer?

Well, it says that I might have to somehow melt the core of Mars to get a stronger magnetic field, to allow me to Terra-Form the planet, to allow me to have the Cloacina Temple located on Mount Olympus, to allow me to have Kate even step foot on the planet outside of a heavy-duty space suit.

Though I do have her in a space suit anyway. It's just not heavy-duty.

Brief Re-Cap ...

2010-08-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

This re-cap is mostly for me. I'll probably do another post on Sunday or so with some new information on Mars but I really need to take a minute and review the things I've discovered so far about the planet. Things that I may or may not use in the 3rd draft of Deviation.

Right!

On we go ...

1) Everything is 62% lighter on Mars. (Point of fact, this tidbit of information has already been used in the rough draft.)

2) Mars is significantly colder than Earth. So even with the green house effect I've made on the planet I am going to have to alter things and make a more coniferous sort of playing field as opposed to the jungle in the rough draft.

3) Martian year is 687 Earth Days and a Day on Mars is 24 hours, 39 minutes and some change. This is mildly important given how long Kate is stuck on the planet. I may or may not use this.

4) Massive canyons! If I don't put the Cloacina temple on Mount Olympus (also on Mars) then I am going to put it in a canyon. I'm not sure yet. I think the mountain is best and then let the ship crash into one of the canyons.

5) Mount Olympus! She'd at least see the mountain range while flying down.

6) Something I discovered earlier and was waiting to put it on here ... There's a moon called Phobos that is slowly descending into Mars' orbit. Scientists predict that it's going to disintegrate on its way down. . . Which is cool. I already put it in the rough draft.

7) There's a toxin called perchlorate on Mars which I can use to explain a chemical reaction in the seed bombs thrown onto the planet during Terra-forming.

And that's the end of the recap.

More later this weekend!

Believably Purple!

2010-08-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

As I was writing the first draft of Deviation I sort of flew by the seat of my pants. I was doing some research on the side - mostly in regards to how the heck I was going to explain space travel and what have you. I do have some space ship theories and such but most of it is very, very, very reliant on the fact that I am a FICTION author and not a scientist. (( I chose to use a lot of magnets since scientists know how they work but not why they work. ))

During the Outlining process of the book I learned some interesting things about the futuristic world I was going to thrust my two main characters into. I knew there had been genetic tampering on women because a disease nearly killed them all. Or, in a sense, really did kill them all because those who managed to live long enough were altered as well, making the female race something altogether different. I knew that these genetic alterations had deformed all women, resulting in cybernetic replacements for various body parts.

Walking into that first draft, however, I knew nothing about what Mars looked like. Not until my pen hit the paper and Kate promptly told me that she was staring at a huge, checkerboard of a green house thing constantly shifting in the planet's atmosphere. I still don't know if that's really feasible but it's on my list of things to research and ask a real scientist about. But the other thing that Kate told me was that the entire planet was purple.

Yup.

A purple Mars.

I spent an entire afternoon brainstorming this idea with a friend of mine and you know what, there's a believable explanation for having Mars turn purple. I think the original discussion in the book had a really lame; "Scientists added a chemical and the byproduct was purple plants." I knew when I wrote it that I would have to research more and take some extra time so I have no hard feelings that this part of the book needs to be fixed.

Anyway! Many thanks to my friend, who will remain nameless since I didn't get his permission to share his name on this Blog, for all of his really, really, really good help. He managed to find scientific reasons for the Purple Planet and somehow brought it into layman's terms so that I could understand it.

So here it goes ...

First Definition :: Perchlorate - a toxin that has been found on Mars. (This is normally a man-made toxin so there's lots of fun debate going on around that arena but let's just keep this brief for the sake of making Mars purple, shall we?)

Well, this toxin isn't great and likes to take out thyroids. And we would want to deal with it. And so enter the scientists ...

And enter SEED BOMBS! Yes, seed bombs, and thank you very much How Stuff Works Podcast for telling me all about these. I mean, let's say we really do build an artificial atmosphere around Mars. Let's say it's a big checkerboard-like monstrosity hanging out in orbit and helps to, number one, maintain some heat on the very cold planet, and number two, get us ready for some frigging plant-life. What do you do now?

Well, what do we do on Earth when we want to grow stuff in arid regions where we've pretty much screwed the local wildlife?

We shoot out some seed bombs, of course.

And these are exactly what they sound like. These are literally Atomic Bombs of Seeds and Soil and nutrients and all the good stuff to help some plant life take root. Some of them work, some of them don't and you bet your butt that if we tried to terraform Mars we could conceivably do this same exact thing.

Only the nutrients would be altered a bit, I'm sure. But the main issue is ... you toss that Seed Bomb and you sit back and you just pray. And let's say that these scientists did exactly that. And somewhere in the middle of the seed bombs churning together, making little pockets of plant life, these plants have to deal with the perchlorate already native to Mars. And in dealing with that toxin, the plants have to mutate around the problem. Chemicals mix. Resilient life gets an anchor into Martian soil.

And we have purple plants.

Volcanoes ....

2010-08-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

If you thought I'd forgotten about this Blog you're wrong. I simply got stuck in fiction and was on a roll so I didn't stop working to do any research until now. That and I read a book for two days that I described on my website already. You can reach my website on the Fitful Red link just to the right of this Blog.

Oh!

And you probably noticed the pretty cover for Sedition that's over there on the right as well. Just under the picture of Mars. That book comes out November 1st 2010 and it is Fantasy Romance ... so none of this research is in there. But it's my work and this is my Blog so I'm allowed to advertise.

Onward to Mars!

Mount Olympus is on Mars, did you know? It's called Olympus Mons and it rises 17 miles above the surrounding plains. It's 370 miles in diameter. It's about the size of Arizona and is three times taller than Mount Everest. It is a shield volcano ~ which means it has shallow-sloping sides. Scientists believe it is so tall because Mars doesn't have any tectonic plates, so the lava just kept piling and piling and growing and growing until it got to the size it is.

But Olympus Mons is not the only volcano on Mars. There are three others all located in the Tharsis region (a huge swelling in the Martian landscape) and these are known as the Tharsis Montes. They are Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons and Ascraeus Mons.

What does this tell me the writer?

Well, among other things, it says that I can have Kate see these massive Mountains from the air as she's descending into the Martian atmosphere. She might not recognize them for what they are supposed to be, given that she's not a scientist and has been shoved into the situation per force, but someone around her might know and mention something.

Though at that point it's unlikely. As much as it's neat to add these sorts of details, it would feel disjointed and weird if I tried to force a conversation about the volcanic features of Mars into the writing. Kate can notice them, possibly even see some lava, but unless the conversation feels natural I won't put it in there.

It also means that I can have an eruption if I wanted one. Since we're working on the basis that Mars has been terraformed by the time we enter the story, the lava might actually be helpful in heating the surrounding environment, making things more habitable. So it's possible that scientists (in my fiction) have found a way to utilize lava in some manner.

Or I might just want to blow something up. Volcanoes are good for that.

Extremes ...

2010-07-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mars has some canyons that are deeper than our Grand Canyon and mountain ranges that are higher than Everest. It is a dramatic planet, an extreme planet, a planet that takes no prisoners! A year on Mars is about 687 Earth Days ... That's nearly twice as long as our year. But a Martian Day is 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35 seconds, so that's not quite as extreme a difference as our compared years.

What does this tell me, the writer?

That I can have a longer day on Mars and that the seasons (and yes, Mars has Seasons too) will be longer than on Earth.

Granted, Kate is only on Mars for about three days, possibly four, so the season thing won't really come into play. Except, of course, that I mention what season it happens to be in when Kate is sitting in the Martian trees, attempting to avoid the Mars Beast I have been working on for the last year and a half.

Some fun facts ... the canyon system on Mars is known as the Valles Marineris and run east to west for about 2500 miles, which is close to the width of Australia. Which is something I will definitely be adding to the texture of Kate's Martian experience. I mean, how could I miss a 5-6 mile deep canyon on the surface of the planet? She absolutely has to run into it.

All Right NASA ...

2010-07-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

Good lord is there a lot of information on this planet. We've got canyons and volcanoes and valleys and ice in the cracks and as I am researching I am getting an overload. So I am going to pause and breathe and ask myself - What is important to my writing?

Because really, I need to know what I can do with the planet in my work. What people will sit back and go - Huh, ok. I can see that. Or what people will grimace at and throw my book across the room in disgust because I obviously didn't do my research before putting pen to paper. (Or, if you're like me as a writer, researching whist writing because otherwise I wouldn't get any work done.)

First thing I notice is that my second draft for Deviation is going to have to alter the planet substantially. I have it explained that the terraforming event took place with a global Green House ... which is a series of plexi-glass plates circling the entire planet. These plates are mechanized and move to allow entry into the atmosphere of the planet and also shifting in regards to the natural rotation. Meteors and space dust often collide with one or more of these plates, making it a nuisance because they are constantly having to be repaired and replaced.

But, hey, you win some you lose some. For the cost of replacing a few windows you get life on Mars.

At least in my Fiction you do. (I stress Fiction. Because this is Fiction. I am certain three million scientists will pale at this idea and cram all the reasons why a floating Green House in Martian Orbit wouldn't work down my throat.)

Anyway.

Rough Drafts are easy. I can do what I want with it and I did. I made Green House Mars turn purple when the iron oxide prominent on the planet was mixed with high amounts of water. Sometimes you can explain things that happen, sometimes you can't. I just sat down and thought ... well ... if we were to do this and we actually grew a plant on Mars, what would it look like? And since the soil is arid and full of iron and looks orange from here and we can't really predict to 100% what would happen ... viola, I made it purple. Likely there would be mutation processes just for the plant to survive over there, adapting to its environment, you know?

But that's not the big part that has to change.

The big part that has to change is the temperature. I made Mars tropical and oppressively humid, basing the idea off the whole Green House in Orbit thing. Because you know how sticky you feel any time you enter a Green House or one of those Butterfly Exhibits at a Zoo.

Well ...

Mars is significantly colder than Earth. At its poles it can get to -195 degrees. At the equator you can get 70 degrees at midday but the average temperature according to NASA is -80 degrees.

And I doubt any size Green House will be able to counter those temperatures enough to make it tropical.

So ... Second Draft will alter all of that. Or maybe the third draft.

Or maybe I'll sit back and go - "Well, who says we can't just heat the planet internally somehow and explain it that way?"

And look at that ...

2010-06-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am back.

But I've decided I'm going to do things a little differently for Mars. Since I am still mid-writing of the whole Mars scenario in my science fiction, I am going to give a couple of snippets from the actual work so that I do not get so side-tracked with research that I forget to be creative.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and is about 4.6 billion years old. (Just like our entire solar system, according to NASA.) When it comes into play in my particular Science Fiction it will be something like 5.2 billion years old since my work plays out between present time and the futuristic cyberpunk world I've created. It is also smaller than Earth and less dense than Earth and has some trippy cool things that happens in its gravity because of that. This difference in size and dense gives it a force of gravity that would make you feel 62% lighter while standing on its surface than you would feel standing on Earth.

And get this ... you drop a rock on Mars and it'll take extra time to find the ground.

Everyone loves Mars because, lets face it, if we ever relocate planets or attempt terraforming anything it'll be Mars. So for the sake of my Science Fiction I had to sit back and ask myself exactly how we would manage such a thing. Please note that at this point we are delving purely into fiction. Below is a snippet in the Point of View of Kate, who is on board a ship that is docking into a space elevator that will take them down onto Mars. (You can look up space elevators, they're an honest-to-God option that scientists have considered to get us in and out of atmosphere without burning up so much fuel.)

“What is that?” Kate half-whispered as she stared through the pilot window.

A blue-tinted planet made its slow twirl through space, poised near enough to the sun that she knew it should be Mars. As they drew nearer to the planet the blue color became more explainable. Circling the entire planet were checkered plates of some form of clear plastic or hardened glass, like the curve of a windshield with faded tinting. She wished she’d paid more attention to Reesa’s writing. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she remembered that the glass was a cultivation project.

There was something about the lack of life on Mars and the planets inability to maintain water, if she was remembering correctly. The panels allowed for the sunlight to enter with less intensity and because they were made of the same material as the Lothogy I, they were capable of regulating gravity. She’d always hated astronomy. Reesa was the only reason she knew anything remotely scientific and all of that was fiction.

Kate gripped the back of Myron’s pilot chair and watched as three of the checkered plates opened and the real planet came into full view. But instead of the rusted orange that Kate had been expecting there was a smattering of colors that took her breath away. Great curls of indigo veined across the planet’s surface, surrounded by vivid purple and shadowy brown.

Hedric must have sensed her reaction because he began to explain, “When the cultivation project began it was determined that we should let the planet grow as it pleased. Animals had to be mutated in order to live here, true, but plants and water seemed capable of adapting on their own.” He paused to point at a large, dark pool to the left of the planet. “When the water integrated with the iron oxide it turned colors, which seemed to leak into the surrounding fauna until the planet itself appeared purple.”

And that's Mars for today. I'm going to go ahead and push Mars through the next couple of months as I head into the Second Draft of Deviation.

Explanations are in order ...

2010-04-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

I am coming back to study Mars.

But I am also thigh-deep into my Science Fiction Novel Deviation.

I paused with Mars because I'm going to have the planet very prominent in the book. Which means I naturally need to go into more depth with my research on this planet.

Next Month -

2010-03-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'll be starting up again with Mars. I'll likely stay on Mars for quite some time given its complexities. I mean, let's face it, Mars is the first planet we'll populate. And we know a crap ton about it. So this is going to be fun. Also, my book Deviation lands on Mars quite a bit so I'll be able to map out some things there as well.

So Steve will pilot his massive, fuel-toting-frigate-like-ship to Mars starting around the first of April.

February Off

2010-02-13T10:13:00.001-08:00

I've decided to take the month of February off. I'll get back to the planets in March. This is my aquarium month - meaning I get to revamp my whole aquarium so all of my spare time is going into that.

Dodge Ball

2010-01-31T08:51:00.000-08:00

Aside from sunspots and various areas of our lovely sun, Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field in our solar system. This would be why he has so many satellites and why so many meteors crash into the planet. So our bubble dome would need to be semi-mobile and have some really good radar to detect anything coming our way. We’d be playing a really hazardous game of dodge ball with meteors and what have you.

If we’re lucky the meteors might just crash into one of Jupiter’s 16 satellites. The resulting crash into a moon around Jupiter would kick up dust and add to its ring system that circles the equator. The largest moons surrounding Jupiter are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto and they were discovered by Galileo in 1610 so they’re called the Galilean satellite system.

We’re going to go into a couple of these satellites because we need an escape route should something catastrophic happen with Jupiter itself. Plus, you know, in all likelihood we’d be living on one of the moons instead of Jupiter itself. We’re just diving into science fiction out of a need to learn about the planet.

Let’s avoid Io. It has a lot of active volcanoes and no one wants to get melted.

Callisto is peppered with craters from several meteor impacts. Here’s a link to a really humbling picture of the moon. I’d say by first glance that we’d want to avoid that moon on account that the meteors seem to like it a lot.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/103963main_jupiter3.jpg

Ganymede also has some impact craters and it is the largest of the moons. We could try that moon but we’d want to keep things mobile again, just in case.

Europa would be my choice and I’ll tell you why. First of all, it’s the smallest of the Galilean system so I’m thinking – smaller target, harder to hit. That’s not to say it won’t get hit, just that it’s bigger sisters would be more prone to catching the meteors coming Jupiter’s way. This moon has a smooth, cracked, icy surface according to NASA. It would be cold but better than melting on Io or exploding with an impact on one of the other satellites.

Before we leave Jupiter there’s one more thing Steve – our truck-driverish fuel pilot – has to contend with. I didn’t spot this when we were discussing coming to the planet so … yeah … my bad. Apparently the magnetic field surrounding Jupiter traps electrons and protons and other electrically charged particles in radiation belts around the planet. These particles are so powerful that they can damage instruments on board a space craft. Which would mean Steve would need to avoid the belts on leaving the planet.

My respect for Steve has gone up some. Not only would he need some serious mathematics behind him but he’d need to have a sort of fighter-pilot sense to get past the obstacles surrounding space travel.

Neon Rain

2010-01-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

I missed last weeks post but I think that can be forgiven. I was working hard on reaching my deadline for Sedition - which I finished Friday morning at 10AM, thank you very much. That being said, let's dive into Jupiter again.

Steve has landed on our bubble dome on Jupiter, is probably rigged up with some sort of breathing apparatus as well as a weight regulator of some kind to try and combat the pressure. For some reason I'm picturing Battle Tech Warriors of some kind but, you know, if we were smart enough to build the bubble dome in the first place then we probably found a way to connect weight regulation into that as well.

Assuming that we can see out of dome we could possibly have neon rain. Lemme explain that one real quick. Jupiter has a rocky core that is overlaid by dense metallic hydrogen. This layer takes up about 78% of the radius of the planet and gradually melds with the gassy and liquid hydrogen making up the upper portions of the atmosphere. So we'd get helium and neon rain. Which, you know, would be interesting to see up close. Though this bubble dome is probably metallic, likely comprised of a lot of spinning layers to keep it floating/flying/pressurized but it would be neat to think that our technology could advance enough to make our dome plastic.

There have been flashes of lightening seen on Jupiter as well so we cold have a neon storm. However, these fits of lightening can be up to a thousand times greater than the ones we get here on Earth. Suddenly I don't want our bubble dome to be made of metal. All it would take is one strike of lightening to fry the whole bubble dome society.

Now then, I'm sure someone would smack me if I didn't mention that Jupiter made the news recently. In July of 2009 a big hubbub came about because an amateur astronomer discovered something had crashed into the giant planet. Given the fact that Jupiter has the largest magnetic field of any in our solar system, it's not surprising that the planet attracted some asteroid and sucked it right in. (Here's a fun picture of Jovian Magnetics :: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/magfield.gif )

God King

2010-01-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

Steve calculates his way into Jupiter’s orbit, comes screaming through the atmosphere in his mega-ton space ship full of fuel, and lands on our very science fiction bubble dome of doom. Let’s explain why it’s a bubble dome for a moment, and not just a flying open city. Jupiter’s atmosphere is composed of mostly hydrogen (NASA says’s 86% hydrogen, 14% helium and a few trace amounts of other elements). And, well, hydrogen isn’t what we need to breathe and function, so the bubble dome is for us to sustain life in an oxygen rich environment.

On his way down, Steve would have passed through the highest layer of clouds, which scientists say are made of frozen crystals of ammonia. There are some blue clouds at the lowest level that we can see and scientists thought there might be some water there, but as of yet they haven’t found anything. Smacking back into science fiction, let’s say that there are some trace mounts of water there and that we’ve placed our bubble dome right in the nest of blue clouds.

Heat regulation? Well, that depends on how low we go into the planet. If we get down to where the atmospheric pressure is ten times greater than what we experience on Earth (as in, heavy icky pressure that we would likely need to regulate as well) then the temperature reaches 70 degrees F. Which is like a nice spring day here on Earth. It’s at this level that any speculated life would exist on Jupiter, though that life would have to be airborne since it has no where to sit on the gas planet. Except, of course, our science fiction bubble dome of doom.

So Steve has landed on our bubble dome of doom, waved at the great dark spot since he isn’t crazy enough to fly through it, and is now coping with the heavy pressure and filtered air systems that keep us alive on the planet. Remember, if Steve is 100lbs on Earth, he’s 240lbs here on Jupiter. I imagine the locals of Jupiter would be heavy set, strong bones, strong muscles, big, big people that have adapted to the larger amount of pressure.

So, yeah, Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and it would host some of the largest men as well. I think they might have been right when they named it after the Roman god king.

Welcome to Jupiter

2010-01-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest here. Jupiter is a gas giant and aside from another floating bubble dome of doom, we're not going to actually live on the planet. We could, however, live on one of its moons. For the sake of learning about Jupiter, however, we will delve into science fiction again and build our bubble dome again. Let's steal Steve the truck-driverish-gas-toting-pilot as well.

First thing's first, when Steve enters the orbit around Jupiter he'd see just how massive this planet is. Jupiter is the largest of all the planets, with a diameter more than 11 times bigger than Earth. Its surface consists mainly of dense clouds, colored red, brown, yellow or white. The lighter colored clouds have been named zones and the darker colored clouds are called belts.

Now then, Steve has several obstacles to face before entering the planet's atmosphere. First of all, he has to calculate his trajectory and since the planet rotates on its axis faster than any other, he'll have to be really good with his math. One day on Jupiter is 9 hours and 56 minutes long. Workaholics would sob to live there.

The second obstacle is the force of gravity on Jupiter. If Steve weighs 100lbs (yeah, right, no truck driver type could weight only 100lbs, but we're gonna stick with that number since it's easy) then he would weigh 240lbs on Jupiter. And since he's in a big space ship carrying a load of fuel he's got a lot to calculate.

And, of course, he's going to want to avoid flying through the Great Red Spot that is trademark to Jupiter. This gassy hurricane whirls at a speed of 225 miles per hour and rarely disappears entirely. Not only will Steve be flying around the massive thing - sometimes it's diameter is three times as wide as Earths - but our bubble dome of doom would need to be positioned out of its flight path.

Welcome to Jupiter, the planet of the month.

Bring Your Thermal Underwear

2009-12-27T11:35:00.001-08:00

Aside from space being cold, the top of Saturn’s clouds get to -285 degrees F. So our friend Steve would want to have his thermals on. He probably already had them on, though, given the vacuum of space around whatever craft he’s piloting. But this also means that our Bubble Dome Cloud City would need to have some serious heating going on.

Last week we explored how to fuel the bubble dome using Steve the space pilot and several space stations between Earth and Saturn in order for fuel to arrive. Now Steve has made it to Saturn and – excuse the geek in me – has pulled up the view screen to have a peek.

Saturn is among the more amazing planets to look at. The rings around it have fascinated scientists for years. The yellowish-brown planet just outside of Steve’s view screen would be surrounded by its 31 official satellites – there are more little satellites than that surrounding the planet. In fact, the more likely option to live in the Saturn system would be to populate one of its moons, probably Titan. This moon is the largest in the Saturn system, bigger than the planet Mercury. But for the sake of science fiction and what have you we’ll put a station on Titan, a sort of last stop before going down into Saturn to drop off our fuel.

Now let’s get ready to visit Saturn itself.

First things first, you’ll weigh more on Saturn. If Steve is a hundred pounds – and given his truck-driverish status I highly doubt that but I stink at math so let’s stick with a nice round number anyway – then he’ll weight 107 pounds on Saturn. So then we get to pass the rings, which are made of millions of particles of ice, and sort of wave to them because I doubt we’ll want to fly through them, and then we get to Cloud City.

Considering the cloud cover I doubt we would be able to see much while actually on the bubble dome city. The really spectacular stuff would be on the flight in to the planet. All things considered, we probably would just live on Titan and smile as we orbit the planet. You’d still need your thermals on Titan, though. Temperatures reach -290 degrees on the planet-like moon.

Who knows. Maybe we would live on Titan in order to collect some of the hydrogen and helium prominent in Saturn’s atmosphere.

Just, you know, remember this is science fiction. And pack your thermals.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

An oddity and probably my last chance to be awake before my son on this Holiday. I keep listening at his door to hear if he's stirring yet but he's zonked. So here I am, wasting time, trying hard not to just wake him up and drag him out to the tree.

Fuel

2009-12-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Where did we leave off?

Oh, yes. Saturn. Cloud City.

So we know we’d need to live on an airborne platform/bubble-dome somewhere just above or below the equator to avoid the high winds. We’d need fuel to keep ourselves airborne, so we’d need regular shipments – hello employment opportunities. The writer in me is imagining a pilot who has to make these rounds. Kinda gruff, truck-driverish, and everything went very “cyberpunk” in my vision, but it’s always the spicy characters in books that catch our attention anyway.

How long would it take our truck-driver-pilot-person to get to Saturn with a shipment? (Let’s call the pilot “Steve”, it’s easy and it’s familiar.)

Well, that depends on the rotation of both our planets. Hello, physics. The average distance between Saturn and Earth is approximately 1,277,000,000km. That’s just the average. It gets further away from us and sometimes we have the added issue of the Sun standing between the two planets. I say this is an issue because obviously Steve would need to go around the Sun, adding more miles.

Problem solving time.

That’s a long, long way away. Voyager 1 managed to get there in three years and two months. Voyager 2 made it just over 4 years. If we figure out a way to travel at the speed of light it would go quite a bit faster, but from what I understand, you would have to constantly accelerate your engine for something like a year just to get up to the speed of light, which eats up more fuel and, let’s face it, we can’t be just throwing fuel away. I personally like the idea of a wormhole shoving us from place to place but scientists run into the problem that a wormhole just plain collapses anytime you put something in it.

They’ll figure it out someday.

Back to Steve. For the sake of time, let’s assume that if we can build an airborne bubble dome on Saturn, we can build other things as well. We already know we can build space stations, so let’s work with that. Maybe Steve isn’t on Earth when the fuel reaches him. Maybe Steve is on a space station somewhere in between. It is possible that we could have a sort of “relay race” fuel system where many pilots take different legs of the journey. That makes it so that one person doesn’t have to fly for 4 years just to get to Saturn.

Huzzah, we have fueled our airborne bubble dome on Saturn.

Next week, let’s see what it looks like when we get there.

Unfortunate Turn of Events

2009-12-13T13:17:00.001-08:00

I'm having to take the day off. I had an anxiety attack on Thursday and the medicine they put me on is rather trippy. Anything I put on this site would far more fictitious with learning involved. That and I'm having to retype every word twice.

I'll post in a couple of days.

A Tangent

2009-12-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

Being a writer I have been encouraged several times over to keep on my "research". The great thing about being a writer is that this "research" does not always include a trip to the library. In fact, more often it means I get out of the house and explore life. Everything from rock climbing to Judo to going to the movies and reading a book counts as my research. And every once in a while I come in contact with a story that smacks my creativity into overdrive.

SyFy's Alice did that for me this week. It was probably a combination of things - great setting, great acting, great storyline - it was creative and open and beautiful all at once. And it had a love story that might have been cliche` if it had been played wrong but in the end it worked perfectly.

Bravo. Seriously.

Loved it.

I know this is about traveling through the planets and what it would take to live on Saturn and what have you but, well, this is my blog and I get to do what I want with it.

"Cloud City"

2009-12-06T08:56:00.001-08:00

Alright! This is the first Sunday of December and it’s time for me to journey on through the planets. We left off with Saturn so that I could have November off for writing other things and I discovered in October that the really fun learning comes when I ask the basic question :: What would it take to live on this planet?

So!

What would it take to live on Saturn?

Well, our first problem is that Saturn is the only planet less dense than water. It’s unlikely that there’s an ocean in it so we can’t build a floating bubble dome of doom. But maybe – suspending disbelief for a moment and diving into pure science fiction – we could have an airborne bubble dome. And we’d want the bubble dome again given the helium and methane in the atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere is made primarily of hydrogen but the helium and methane are traceable there as well.

Just for the sake of science fiction, let’s imagine the airborne bubble dome would need to be supplied by fuel to keep it zooming around the planet. It would need to be someplace higher than the equator since the equator has the highest winds on the planet. These winds can reach up to 1100 miles per hour, which is another reason we’d want to be in an airborne bubble dome. If we could plant the dome on some sort of surface the winds would just relocate it for us.

But we wouldn’t want to go too high or low from the equator since the north and south poles are fairly flattened. This is because the planet has such a fast rotation on its axis. One day on Saturn is 10 hours and 39 minutes long. Which would suck, all things considered. Imagine trying to catch up with that time schedule?

According to NASA, there’s a dense layer of clouds surrounding Saturn. Which means – and here comes the geek in me – that our airborne bubble dome would be like a “cloud city” from a particular series of movies.

The Week of Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

While I am only at 10K in the whole NaNoWriMo scheme of things, I have been working on other projects this month as well. Seditious - Fantasy Novel #1 - sits at 139K and I'm editing it. Scraping out two POV characters shoved the word count down to 100K and since I've been informed that the genre has a word cap of 120K, that leaves me with approximately 19K to work with. Which is all right since the rewrite calls for 13 scenes to be changed/altered/written, and some of those scenes can be as little as 800 words. The revamping alone of that novel took two weeks and I am experimenting with some writer software to see if it helps much.

So far the answer is no. It seems when it comes to writing and outlines and what have you, simple pen and paper do best for me.

The Science Fiction novel is sitting at 13K, though I have only been writing 500 words a day on it. I deviated from the outline by a fraction and am in uncharted territory, happily immersing myself in the life of Matthew Borden, my antagonist. This has been a most revealing tangent and while I know a good portion of it might be edited out later, at least I understand who he is now. And I have a face to go with the name. For some reason he looks a smidgen like James Caviezel. Which is weird since I don't general pluck characters from the media but, eh, there it is. The actor just did The Prisoner and I spotted it on AMC and there was just a calm sort of movement to him that caught my attention. That same sort of quiet competence seems to fit Borden.

So now we enter the week of Thanksgiving and the journey continues.

6687 words

2009-11-09T08:19:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd do a small update on how National Novel Writing Month is going for me. 6687 words and we're sitting on the second Monday of the month. That's really not doing very well in the competition scheme but I'm hand writing everything first and, quite frankly, I've always been of a mind that if it's worth writing, it's worth taking your time on. That's why I've been unofficial this year in my participation. That and I'm revising another novel at the same time, which is madness in itself.

The revisions are going fine, though I sort of hate them because I liked the way the story was the first time. I know this is a problem and people will notice a difference in the writing but I'm hoping something happens midway through the process that clicks it all together and makes me love it again.

It's one of those moments where I'm just closing my eyes and gritting my teeth to get through, you know?

Meh.

But the new novel is full of promise. So is the 2YN science fiction I'm working on as well. I work on those two when the revisions make me loathe writing altogether and I need to remember why I'm putting myself through this.

A month off ...

2009-11-03T06:18:00.001-08:00

The month of November has hit us. Thanksgiving, leaves falling, the cold settling in, and for those of us who are blessed(cursed) with the compulsion to write it means NaNoWriMo has reached us again. National Novel Writing Month, the oh-so-insane race to reach 50,000 written words in 30 short days. I did at first say that I was not going to officially participate, that I would spend the month working on the synopsis for Witch-Born - the novel I wrote last year around this time - but I managed to get that done a bit earlier than expected so I'm diving into the fray of writers.

This means that for the month of November I will not be visiting Saturn as originally promised. We'll just hover in orbit there and pick it up again in December.

Fishy

2009-10-26T08:55:00.001-07:00

Alright then! We’ve reached the final post for Uranus. I think I’ll continue with the idea of visiting the planets and learning the obstacles that face us in trying to live there. With that in mind I’m going to pose a series of questions to answer as I keep moving through the planets. Since this is for my amusement (and possibly the amusement of a coworker or family member who decides to stop by) I get to do whatever I want with the blog space. I haven’t come up with the questions I want to investigate yet but I thought I’d run through some of my “author” questions that are basic to creating setting and world building.

The main question I asked about Uranus was what it would be like to try and live there. To recap, we would have to live in a bubble-dome of doom that keeps oxygen and floats in the ocean that scientists believe hides under the thick gasses of the planet’s atmosphere. To expand on that I’ll add that it would need to be pretty sturdy because some scientists say that there would be ice floating around as well. We wouldn’t want our bubble dome to go down like the Titanic, especially in an ammonia-smelling ocean of frigid temperatures.

For food and water supplies while living on the planet I would have to imagine we would ship food in. Since I like space elevators I’m going to use those. It’s a planet of gas and ocean, after all. We could position several space stations around the equator (which runs up and down on Uranus and not side to side) and have the cables attached to them. So wherever our floating dome of doom is positioned on the equator we could call upstairs, have the elevator lowered and go get some sustenance.

We’d have to be clear when we called, though. They picked up some radio waves coming off the planet. They were weak but they were there and we wouldn’t want them mistaking us for E.T. (And as a reminder they’re pretty sure E.T. wouldn’t live there. Unless they’re a fishy-type race like from a Star Wars film.)

Next week we’re flying off to Saturn! So in conclusion let’s take a look at some of the details of the planet. To leave Uranus’ atmosphere we’d have to take off at 21.3km/s, push through all that gassy atmosphere and veer toward Saturn (wherever it might be at the moment. I tried looking at this website that showed the current position of the planets in real time but they were designated by symbols that look Greek to me). Uranus is 2.744 billion miles away from Saturn so it’s going to take us some time to get there. I thought I’d be smart and see if I could find out how long it would take us in light years to get there but the formula it gave me to calculate it made my head explode.

So! Off to Saturn we go!

Waxing Poetic in a Voice like a Chipmunk

2009-10-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Because the question interests me and really puts a better spin on all of this learning I’m doing, I’m going to continue with the idea of what it would be like if we tried to build a floating home on Uranus. This is, of course, suspending disbelief on several accounts. One, we’re assuming we have the technology to get there without aging several years. Two, we’re assuming we have some sort of bubble-dome of doom to live on when we get there. And finally, we’re assuming the scientists are right and that there really is an ocean of quasi-water-ammonia lying beneath the mass of gasses.

Let’s also assume, for the sake of fun, that while on the planet and floating in our dome-of-doom, that we can actually see the night sky. What would we see?

Well, the first thing we’d notice – beyond the gasses that I’m fairly certain would be blocking most of our view – is that it has 27 satellites. That’s a lot of moonlight. And how is this for a kicker! All of those moons have been named after characters from Shakespeare. Hurray!

And since I adore Shakespeare I’ll name a few of them; Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Mab (technically a character snagged from ancient religion but she does make a brief appearance in Romeo and Juliet, if you were paying attention), Belinda, Perdita, Puck … the list goes on but we’ll end with Puck because, well, everyone who’s ever been on the stage has dreamt of playing that part.

There are some names in there from the works of Alexander Pope but, yeah, the Shakespeare was really got me perked this week.

Onward!

The other thing you’d see if we were sitting on a floating palace of dome-covered-ventilated solitude on Uranus is that it has 11 rings circling it. So on top of the several satellites we have these lanes of fine dust and particles swirling, churning, turning, in perpetual motion above.

I should make a disclaimer. Considering the distance of Uranus from the Sun, and the fact that moons and satellites in orbit tend to just reflect sunlight onto the planet below them, there might not be all that much moonlight after all. We’d have to go through and see the amount of light being reflected off of each moon to know just how much light there would be at night. That and, well, each moon is sporadically placed in the atmosphere so it’s not like they’d all be shining at once.

And another fun tidbit – there’s 15% Helium in the atmosphere. So on top of being really smelly, there’s the distinct chance that our voices will turn all mousey on us. Which would make waxing poetic really difficult so, alas, I doubt we’d be performing Shakespeare on the planet, satellites or no.

Planet Cat Pee

2009-10-10T21:45:00.000-07:00

A conundrum hit me as I was re-reading the post for last week. First of all I asked myself how you can have “dissolved ammonia” since, you know, the definition of dissolved is “to cause to disperse or disappear”. So Uranus somehow manages to have traces of ammonia in the water – which I’m sure the scientists discovered using that spectrometry method I mentioned before. (If I’m wrong feel free to correct me. Spectrometry just seems to be the answer for all of the estimations out there.) But after I accepted the fact that they found traces of ammonia and assume that it is within this hidden ocean beneath the heavy gases of the planet’s atmosphere, my creative mind went to work.

So let’s say we wanted to build a floating city on Uranus. We’ll bypass how this would be possible and assume we have some sort of bubble technology that gives us breathable air. And we’d want the bubble since the ammonia would be unpleasant to begin with. We’d also have to figure a way around the extreme cold of Uranus. While Pluto is known as an icy planet, Uranus is known as the coldest planet in our solar system. The poor gassy planet just isn’t radiating any heat. Remember how Neptune is continually radiating heat and scientists think this is because it’s still cooling down from its “birth”? Well, Uranus gives off less heat than it takes in.

Scientists believe this might be because of a collision. They think Uranus was doing its normal thing, rotating on its axis and maintaining it’s 17.24 hour day, keeping up with its snail-paced orbit of 84 Earth Years around the Sun, when something as big as the Earth smashed into it.

Crash.

Bang.

Boom.

Imagine if you will that Uranus is a bowling pin teetering, trying hard not to fall, but then it tilts over onto its side. (Insert the terrible joke here :: “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”) Thus we have the odd axis of planet “ammonia-smelling” Uranus. Scientists think the lack of heat coming out of the planet’s core is because of this oddity. However, there is a curiosity here. First of all, they’re still fighting to figure out which polar cap is North. So don’t bother bringing a compass out there. Unless you’re weird and find glee in watching mechanical objects fail.

The second curiosity is that the equator is still, well, the equator. It’s still the warmest portion of the planet even though the thing has tilted onto its side. So! To recap :: if we wanted to build a bubble-dome of doom on smelly ammonia planet Uranus we would want to place it somewhere on the equator – which if you were paying attention you know runs up and down instead of side to side – and we would want to bundle up since the winters would rival Pluto. But hey, the gravity difference between Earth and Uranus is such that you would actually weight ten pounds less over there, so you can afford to throw on all the scarves you want.

That’s it for this week!

Uranus

2009-10-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Back in 1781 a man named Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus – the third largest planet in our solar system. This British astronomer managed to catalog about 800 double stars and 2,500 nebulae, so the discovery of a planet wasn’t the only thing he was known for. Unlike Neptune and Pluto you can see Uranus without the use of a telescope. In fact, this is the furthest planet from Earth that can be seen without a telescope.

According to NASA Uranus is approximately 1,784,860,000 miles (2,872,460,000 kilometers) from the Sun. It takes light about 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel that far so if we had “light speed” like in the movies you’d have just enough time for an in-flight movie and some peanuts before you got there. Using spectrometry again scientists have decided that Uranus is another gas giant comprised of water, ammonia and methane. Just like Neptune, Uranus looks blue because that methane absorbs the red light.

Voyager 2 got a nice, close up view of Uranus back in 1986. That’s where we get some nice pictures of the blue-green cloud cover in its atmosphere. Apparently the clouds are made up of little methane crystals that have frozen outside of the planet’s atmosphere. Underneath those clouds we have estimations that there are more clouds of thick water and crystals of ammonia ice. Way down deep, underneath the clouds that we can’t see, scientists think there might be an ocean of water and dissolved ammonia. And underneath the ocean of fizzled ammonia might be a rocky core the size of the Earth.

Any life?

Doubtful.

At least not any life that we can comprehend. But that’s the writer in me coming out to play. As you can see, Uranus is the planet of the Month for October. I think I’ve given it a nice entrance so we can get more in-depth next weekend.

The Final Neptune Post

2009-09-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Stressful events hit my family life this last weekend and I could not get to the computer to write this weekend. So, because this is the final day of September, I have to make this final installment. Neptune’s many moons!

It seems to be hard to get people to agree here. Some sites say Neptune has 8 moons, NASA’s site says Neptune has 11 satellites (moons) and then another site says it has 13 moons. Since the telescopes are bringing in new information and astronomers are discovering more and more every day, it’s probably 13 and counting. However, only 8 of them have names.

I mentioned Triton last month because of its relationship with Pluto. This month I get to say that Triton is the largest of Neptune’s moons. The really cool thing about Triton is that scientists discovered volcanoes, some of them still active. These volcanoes don’t purge magma onto the surface like ours do, they spew nitrogen ice almost 6 miles high. They believe that some of the dormant volcanoes may have emitted a “slushy mixture of water and ammonia” because they see traces of it frozen on Triton’s surface.

Four moons are so close to Neptune that we can’t get a really good look at them. These ones are Naiad, Thalassa, Despina and Galatea and they orbit inside the thin, arch-like rings around Neptune. The next one in orbit is Larissa, who was first thought to just be part of the rings but Voyager 2 proved that wrong.

Next we have Proteus, Neptune’s second largest moon. It’s so close to Neptune that our telescopes can’t pick it up. Nereid, the eight moon and the last one we’ve named so far, is that moon that doesn’t like to play with all the others. It has a highly elliptical orbit that swings it way out and away from Neptune before bringing it back in close.

And that’s it for Neptune. I’m not sure which planet I’ll be visiting next but I promise to be on time this coming weekend.

700 - 1200 Miles Per Hour

2009-09-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

700 mile an hour winds zip through Neptune’s surface, shuffle boarding two separate types of clouds through the air. The air farthest away from Neptune’s surface is made of mostly Methane – which I mentioned last week was the reason the planet appears blue through a telescope. Now the clouds that are underneath the methane, closer to the surface, scientists believe are comprised of hydrogen sulfide.

If you were to try and land on Neptune you’d have a serious surprise waiting for you. There’s a reason why it’s called a Gas Giant, after all. It has no solid surface like Earth does, however, Neptune does have some silicates in its makeup. (Silicates = minerals like the ones that make up Earth’s crust). So what is Neptune made out of?

According to scientists Neptune is made of water, helium, hydrogen and the silicates mentioned above. Inside Neptune you have a region of heavily compressed gases and as you travel further, these gases meld themselves into a liquid layer that surrounds the planet’s icy-rocky core. I mentioned the core last week because it was blamed for the strange tilt of the axis and the odd heat ratio.

There is a theory running around now that Neptune, Uranus and Earth might all contain some solid ice in the core. Because I’m currently writing a book where I’m about to send some unfortunate characters careening through the Earth’s interior I decided to investigate this theory some more. Apparently they used first-principle molecular dynamics simulations to come to their conclusion. (Layman’s terms – heavy science theory testing dealing with quantum mechanics that I have no hope of understanding in this lifetime.)

If I’m understanding this correctly then they were testing the way ice melts under different pressures that were made to mimic atmospheres. Apparently there’s a melting curve that happens and when they got to pressures above 450,000 atmospheres, there was a sharp increase in the slope of the melting curve. And that was evidence that there was water as a solid (meaning ice) in the core of Neptune, Uranus and Earth.

The greatest winds on any planet were measured on Neptune, near the Great Dark Spot. These winds got up to 1200 miles per hour. Which would easily relocate your house for you. Given that the average temperature on Neptune is somewhere around -162 degrees Celsius, I’d hate to try to calculate what the wind chill would be.

41 Years of Winter

2009-09-13T09:44:00.000-07:00

Neptune – named after the Roman god of the sea – is the outermost gas giant of our solar system. It takes 164 Earth Years for Neptune to make its orbit around the sun but Neptune’s single day is only 16 hours long. In the southern hemisphere Neptune has a storm called the Great Dark Spot, which, well, looks like a great dark spot. When you’re looking through a telescope at the planet it looks greenish-blue. This is because all the methane in the atmosphere swallows up the red light and makes it look blue. (Uranus shares this trait.)

Neptune’s magnetic field does not pass through its center. It’s inclined 47 degrees to its rotation axis and is off center by about half the radius toward the south pole. We’re not certain what is generating this magnetic field but we do have a theory. The theory deals with the proposed core of the planet, which is thought to be made of mostly icy rock. What they believe is happening is that the elements making up the icy core are ionized under the pressure and become magnetic conductors.

Another thing being blamed on the icy core of the gas giant is its heat ratio. The heat ratio is the ratio of heat being emitted from the planet in comparison to the amount of solar heat it receives from the Sun. Neptune gives off about twice as much heat as it takes in from the Sun. The theory here is that Neptune is still radiating heat left over from the time of its formation. It’s been cooling down bit by bit because that icy rocky core is so large in proportion to the planets total mass.

The seasons on Neptune are similar to Earth because our rotation axes are similar. However, one season on Neptune lasts 41 years instead of three months because its orbit takes so long to go around the Sun. It boggles the mind! A 41 year winter? Ugh. There's only so much snowboarding/sledding/skiing/snowman making a girl can take.

Neptune

2009-09-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

My child was sick all weekend long so this post is a day late. I thought of waiting until next week but let’s be honest, if I procrastinate long enough I’ll just stop posting altogether. So! Onward to Neptune, who is the 8th planet from the Sun.

Hurray for Physics and Astronomers! Neptune was predicted J.C. Adams and J. Le Verrier way back in 1845. Get this, Neptune was found in 1846 by J. Galle within 1 degree of its predicted position. Adams and Verrier had their calculations spot on! I understand a fraction of the math they had to use to figure out what was causing Uranus to move in its deviated pattern so the fact that they were able to pinpoint where Neptune was supposed to be is awesome. (And I mean ‘awesome’ in the original sense of the word, not the Surfer-Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtle definition.)

Neptune is huge. It can fit nearly 60 Earths inside it’s mass. The mass is such a big number that we have to use a calculation here instead of an actual number. It is 1,023.5x1023kg and has an equatorial radius of 24,764km. That’s a radius 15354 miles.

We’re going to call that good for this first installment on Neptune. The child is still sick so he needs me today. More will be posted, probably starting with Neptune’s 8 moons, next weekend.

Retrograde

2009-08-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

I started this session trying to comprehend sidereal periods and synodic periods. This truly made my eye twitch because everyone defines it in such a way that it is full of astronomical terms and somewhat hard to understand. And Brittanica Online teased me with 20 seconds of viewing the answer before it asked me to make a free trial account. This irritated me enough to turn me away from the site. I just don’t like to be taunted. Anyway, I’m going to make an attempt at explaining what these terms mean without going bonkers.

This is where astronomy gets chest deep into physics. Everything is compared to calculated against other objects in the sky, so they say the word “relative” a lot because their calculations are dependent on the interaction of different objects in the sky. For instance, the sidereal period is where we find the orbit of two objects around each other – like Pluto and the Sun – while using a background star as reference. This is how we discover that Pluto takes 248 Earth Years to orbit the Sun. In essence, the sidereal period is the length of the ‘year’ for that particular planet or object.

Thus, Pluto’s sidereal period is 247.7 Earth Years.

I know I said it was 249. Several other sites put 249 on there. This one seems more precise and comes from the MIRA site.

The synodic period also uses relativity to define objects. Only this time, they’re making it relative to the Earth instead of stars. Everyone makes a nice example of the moon with the synodic period. The synodic period of the moon is 29.5 days long – a lunar month. It’s a little easier to understand.

Pluto’s synodic period is 366.73 days.

Pluto has something in common with Uranus. Both have an axis of rotation that is tilted and points almost directly at the Sun. So both dwarf planet and planet share a similar set of seasons. Also, both of them are in retrograde, meaning they’re going the opposite direction from the other planets. Venus also likes to go the opposite direction of the other planets, but her axis isn’t like Pluto’s.

We have reached the end of the month! While there is still a lot to learn about Pluto, it is time for me to move to the next planet. After much discussion with my coworkers and my longsuffering husband – he’s had the joy of listening to me talk about Pluto for the last 30 days – I’ve decided to learn about Neptune next. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump from Pluto anyway.

An update on my telescope – I did not get it on the 15th like I’d been planning. It looks like I might have to rent a reliable vehicle and drive down to get it. Which is fine by me.

It seems appropriate to add this last little tidbit about Pluto. If we were standing on Pluto today and were going to take off, we would have to know the escape velocity. The escape velocity is the minimum amount of velocity (speed, power, thrust, energy) that we would have to reach in order to permanently escape from a planet. So before we say goodbye to frosty little dwarf planet Pluto, we would have to go 1.27km/s (1.27 kilometers per second). That’s 0.789 miles a second. I know it seems fast, but it’s nothing compared to the 11.2km/s it takes to get out of Earth’s atmosphere.

Frosty

2009-08-23T10:16:00.001-07:00

New Astronomical Terms for this week :: perihelion and aphelion. Layman’s terms, perihelion is when a planet or object's orbit is closest to the sun. Aphelion is when a planet or object’s orbit is further away from the sun. Since I’m not huge into making diagrams and posting them onto the computer (meaning I have no idea how to do that so I’m not going to embarrass myself) I’ll direct you to yet another site. This one is active, it will actually show you the orbit as it moves.

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/physical_science/physics/mechanics/orbit/perihelion_aphelion.html&edu=high

This site also goes into more detail on the eccentricity of Pluto and Mercury, which I mentioned last week.

Now the extreme difference between Pluto’s perihelion and aphelion do some fun things to the little dwarf planet. Pluto’s thin, nitrogenous atmosphere comes into play here. Because of Pluto’s eccentricity the intensity of sunlight reaching Pluto varies by a factor of three between perihelion and aphelion. What does this mean?

Well, it means that if Pluto is in aphelion orbit then the atmosphere actually freezes out. Hurray for frost bite to the extreme!

Now when Pluto comes back to perihelion the atmosphere can reform. But remember, it takes 249 Earth Years for Pluto to make one rotation around the sun. And with the oval-shaped orbit it spends most of that time out there in aphelion. Which kind of reminds me of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where the improbability drive flings a whale into existence way up in the atmosphere of a planet. The book goes into detail of the whale coming to terms with life and discovering itself for the whole 120 seconds it has before it plunges headlong into terra firma. So it is with the atmosphere on Pluto. It comes alive in perihelion and is just trying to define itself when it’s snuffed out by sunless cold.

Pluto is the second most contrasty body in the solar system. “Contrasty” isn’t exactly an astronomical term. It just means that when we’re looking at it through telescopes and spectrometry and pictures we see a lot of highlights and shadows. Some of these contrasts might be topographic features like craters or mountains or canyons but most of it is a complex distribution of frosts. The frosts migrate across Pluto’s surface during its orbital and seasonal cycles, they’re byproducts of the nitrogen-methane atmosphere.

Bottom line – Pluto’s frigging cold. I think when my son is old enough to build snowmen in the Winter and he cries about “Frosty” melting I’ll just tell him that “Frosty” needed to go home to Pluto.

The Eccentric Dwarf Planet

2009-08-16T09:18:00.001-07:00

Because Pluto is so far away from us that we can’t see it with any clarity, all of the following statistics are estimates brought about with spectrometry and high-powered telescopes. According to World Book Online Reference Center 2004, Pluto is about 39 times as far away from the sun as we are. It has an average distance from the sun of about 3,647,240,000 miles or 5,869,660,000 Kilometers. Or, since we’re doing Astronomy here, 39 AU (Astronomical Units).

What is an Astronomical Unit?

Glad you asked. I did too. An Astronomical Unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is 149,597,870km – or roughly 93 million miles.

It takes Pluto six Earth days to spin on its axis.

Apparently, Pluto is mostly brown in color. Given that Astronomers believe Pluto to be mainly icy in nature due to large amounts of frozen methane gas in its atmosphere, one might wonder why its color is brown instead of white or blue. What we believe is going on is that the methane gases are metamorphosing under “faint but energetic sunlight”.

Here’s a great site to go look at the real colors of Pluto. In it, you will see why all of the statistics are estimates. That’s about as close as we can get visually for Pluto.

http://space.about.com/od/solarsystem/ig/Pluto-Pictures-Gallery/Pluto-in-True-Color.htm

My head nearly exploded when I started studying axis’ and such. If you want your head to explode I’ll send you to that site too. It has all sorts of fun, mind-boggling pictures that take my creative brain and twist it into a pretzel.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Eclip.html

What I did manage to glean from this site was the explanation of the Ecliptic Plane. I remember this one because they talk about it in Astronomy Cast – hurray for podcasts!

Basically, the Ecliptic Plane is where most of the planets hang out. For the most part, we all like to rotate around the Sun in the same direction while on this plane. There are a few exemptions – like Pluto, who has the largest eccentricity of any planet. Yes! I said Pluto was eccentric. And it’s an astronomical term, too. The Eccentricity is the departure of an ecliptic orbit from a circle. This is what gives Pluto’s orbit the oval shape rather than the nice round circle all the other planets like to take. Pluto’s eccentricity is 0.248

Just because everyone else likes to point it out – Pluto is also the name of the Roman god of the Underworld. All of my research has ground this fact into my head so I’m spouting it out now. It’s satellite Charon (ch –pronounced like chaos) was named after the Greek ferryman who brought souls across to Hades. Very cheerful, I know. And it makes you look at Mickey Mouse’s fun loving yellow dog a little differently.

Pluto Versus Neptune

2009-08-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a great forum called Bad Astronomy and Universe Today, I have an answer as to what effects Pluto might be having on Neptune while in orbit around the gas planet. The answer is nothing. Nada. Zilch. Apparently even though it stays in Neptune's orbit for such a time, the size difference between Neptune and Pluto is so vast that Neptune doesn't even notice Pluto.

Just a quick update. This is not the post for the week.

Binary Systems and Spectrometry

2009-08-09T21:20:00.001-07:00

All right then! Onward to Pluto’s orbiting patterns. While Pluto does a strange oblong-shaped orbit around our Sun, it is also co-orbiting a central point between itself and Charon – more popularly thought of as one of Pluto’s moons. Pluto has two other mini-moons known as Nix and Hydra. Theory has it that there was a huge collision in space, which flung Pluto and Charon into their Binary System. This collision may or may not have included one of Neptune’s moons – Triton. There are some distinct similarities between Pluto and Triton that have brought about this theory.

They both have irregular orbits – Triton goes backward around Neptune – and they have similar bulk properties.

The temperature on Pluto drops between -235 and -210 C.

As I was studying I found that we believe the surface of Pluto is made of rock and water ice. Which made me wonder how we would know something like that about a planet that we can’t even get a good look at through a telescope. And thanks to Google I found out about Spectrometry, the study of light. Because of spectrometry we are able to estimate what a planet surface is made out of based on the light coming off it. There was a lot of technical detail about the nature of light moving in waves and things like that but in the end you’d be surprised how much we use spectrometry.

Apparently they can detect steroids in athletes with spectrometry. And they can monitor the breath of patients under anesthesia during surgery. Two interesting facts not related to Pluto, I know, but I thought I’d throw them out there anyway.

It takes 249 years for Pluto to orbit the sun and he likes to spend 20 of those years inside Neptune’s orbit. I’ve posed the question as to what Pluto’s presence might be doing in Neptune’s orbit since I couldn’t find an answer anywhere. I know that the moon does wonky things with Earth’s tide when it gets closer and what have you so I’m interested to know if there is something similar that happens out there on Neptune. Hopefully I’ll have a reply by next week.

Bonus! Next week I will have my shiny telescope and be able to take a peek upstairs and see if I can’t locate Pluto. I know this all depends on the time of year and time of night and things so it may or may not be possible. Mostly I’ll just be stoked at being able to look up there. Exciting day for me, you know? Thirty years old and I never owned a telescope before.