A Few Birthday Thoughts-and My Birthday Gift to You

So…Today’s my birthday. This isn’t really about that, though by the end you’ll understand a little better. 

In October, 1972 I was at some sort of drum corps function in Santa Clara, CA. with my family. To occupy my time (and keep me from complaining about being bored) my folks bought me a paperback book titled “Star Trek.” I don’t think they understood at the time what they were about to create. Years-and several conventions, a number of books, and some very patient television watching-later, I was a full on Trekkie. (Still am, to an extent.) Over time, I got models, blueprints, books, a Tech manual, tribbles, drinking glasses, posters, patches (and more stuff than I’m admitting to)…and an unwavering belief that there is hope for the human race, despite ourselves. 

“So what?” you’re asking. Be patient-a good story takes time. 

Star Wars came out, and I ate it up. Battlestar Galactica, Message from Space, Quark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind…all of that fueled my younger days. So did Marvel Comics, Anime and Manga, and a little something called Elfquest. Asimov, Heinlein, Harrison (if you haven’t read the Stainless Steel Rat books, you really should!), Ellison, Clarke…and Myers, whose “Frontliners” I read over and over again. If you were to say I lived in the future-or at least in some other world-you’d have been right. 

Time had a way of flying by when you’re not looking. Now all these years later, I have books of my own for sale. I just wrote some 57,755 words of a second volume of the “Stories of Dai Nihon Teikoku” during November for National Novel Writer’s Month (Or NaNoWriMo); that book will see print sometime next year. I might have written more, but an idea got lodged in my head about the crew of a StarCruiser. So I wrote a little bit of it every day for half a month…and over 30,o0o words later I’m still working on it. Below is an excerpt from that work; it’s my birthday gift to you. Enjoy! 

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Location: GSF StarQuarters, GSF Unified Date 2319.02.27, approximately 1000 base time.

Colt Richmond stood there, waiting patiently. He was heading for his new ship, new Captain’s stripes adorning his sleeves. He would likely be traveling with a few of his crew; that was to be expected from this part of space. In the meantime, he was cooling his heels waiting for his transport. He overheard some people getting into a heated exchange; curious, he wandered over to see what the issue was. Standing there was a diminutive woman-she couldn’t have been more than 1.21 Unified meters (roughly four feet tall), pointed ears and wings, holding her own against three larger males. As he approached, he heard what sounded like taunting or teasing  from the officers of equal rank. “What is the issue, everyone?” She looked up at him and spoke. Her voice was like a cross between windchimes and a hummingbird’s wings; he raised an eyebrow and replied in kind. Turning to them, he pleasantly said “The young lady would like her translator pin back. Do one of you happen to know what happened to it?” “Sir! No sir!” He looked at them all again, mildly irritated. “I hope you all aren’t serving on my ship; if you are I will find ways to make your lives miserable. Now…do you happen to know what happened to the young lady’s translator pin?” One of them looked a little embarrassed. “Sir…I think it might be right here.” “Good. Hand it over to me…and get lost.” “Yessir” they replied, and scattered in three different directions. Calmly he turned to her and spoke; she replied rapidly. Nodding, he replaced the translator pin on her collar; it remained on for a moment, then fell off again. Sighing, he spoke to her in her language and explained what the issue was. Nodding she hummed and whistled at him as they walked to the station exchange. Five minutes later, he carefully repinned her translator pin to her collar. “Thank you enough, sir, I cannot. Hard it is to speak Unified. So…where headed are you?” “SC Shizukaze. Her new Captain I am; Colt Richmond my name is.” “Sir! To you I am reporting. Lieutenant Fae G’zlda I am. New Head Nurse of SC Shizukaze I am.” “The pleasure mine is.” “The pleasure mine is. Elvenspeak you well.” “Fae I am not.” “Guess well you have, sir. Fae I am. From Tsh’ree I am. Pointed ears have you. Elvish you have?” “Tsh’reen am I half. Terran am I half.” “Explains about you much. Ship departs when?” “Minutes Unified fifteen. To dock we should proceed.” “Agree with you I do, sir. Late we should not be.” 

On Writing Far Too Much

Boy, I hate it when I discover something I should have known-or at least suspected. 

I’ve had to put a stop-well, sort of-to a lot of my writing, and instead have had to do a boatload of editing. (Dr. Frey, you were right. There is no such thing as good writing, but only good editing.) I’ve been writing the Cosantóirí Chronicles now for the last few years, and I’ve been writing them to average-before editing-roughly 300 pages of single-spaced, 12 point Helvetica font prose. Then I adjust the pitch and font-Georgia, 13 point, space and a half-and each completed book ended up over 400 pages plus. Add to that the glossary in the back, and I thought that was pretty reasonable for a self-published e-book. I mean, I can read about 300 pages in roughly an evening’s time.

Now, in talking with a fellow singer-who’s also writing-he mentioned that his editor wanted him to keep his book to about 100,000 words. So I did some research...and found the same approximate word count for the kind of books I write. On more than one website for writers, prospective writers, and those of us who write for fun. 100,000 words? Really? That didn’t seem like enough to me, but I decided to see what that looked like. 

Fionnachtain-my first book-ran 208,000-plus words. Ón Am Atá Thart-the second in the series-ran some 190,000-plus words. An Cailín Órga-the third book-ran 180,000-plus words. As George Takei would say...."Ohhh, Myyyyy.” 

I've been writing two books at a clip and didn’t even know it! That means, if these numbers hold up, that I don’t have seven books and an eighth almost completed. It means I have closer to fifteen books written, at that seemingly arbitrary word count, and a sixteenth nearly in the can. And the framework for the seventeenth and eighteenth started.

What writing I’m doing now is filling in some blank spots as I figure out how to split the existing works roughly in half. I’m still telling the story I’ve been given as a gift-it’s just that, now it’s going to be a lot more books than I first envisioned. 

The good news is that what is now the first four are once again available. Fionnachtain, Aibíocht, Scéalta Saol, and Ón Am Atá Thart are available. Aibíocht and Scéalta Saol are the volumes that came from what was the excess of the first two volumes. I’ll start editing An Cailín Órga this week in my free time.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!  

UPDATE: The first eight volumes are now available. In addition to the ones listed above, An Cailín Órga, Breithe Clan, Oíche Dáta Deasghnátha agus Cosantóirí Saol, and Scéalta na Breithlá Déag are now available. The Cosantóiri Chronicles website is currently being revised to reflect the changes. 

If you were on the Cosantóiri Chronicles website, you can return by clicking here.