Hello, all!
So, it’s been a fairly quiet month, for the most part, but not an entirely idle one, I’m glad to say. Prep work is almost done on this year’s NaNoWriMo draft, Lux Ascending (working title), the third novel in my sequel “Pangaea” AH/fantasy series; while I don’t anticipate finishing the work this year, even with the usual extension into December, the expected 50K+ word count ought to bring me to somewhere between the one-third and halfway mark. I’ve also made good headway on the outline for my draft There Goes The Neighborhood (also working title, given how the plot and characters are shaking out as less darkly comedic than straight-out horror/supernatural); this should be finished by Sunday or Monday at the latest. As with fantasy, world-building for horror has proven much different from my usual AH/scifi work, in certain respects: more traits and elements to keep track of/weave together; different description styles for supernatural events/figures; and, it seems, more focus on the mental/emotional sides of characters, compared to how I’ve crafted such when writing AH or scifi. With NNWM so close, I obviously won’t get to the draft stage yet on this project, but it’ll be ready and waiting for such when next Halloween rolls around, for certain.
Outlining isn’t all that’s happened, however. Per a challenge from Sea Lion Press, I’ve also started work on a pair of short AH stories, revolving around the theme of “alternate elections.” One, centered on Eleanor Roosevelt and a very different 1952 U.S. presidential election, is already in completed rough draft form; working titles are “Another Trip to Washington” and “Tomorrow is Now.” Another’s been started, but probably won’t be finished until sometime just before the challenge’s March 2024 deadline: “Ballots and Barricades”, dealing with a snap election in France during a much different, far tenser May ’68. Given the expected plethora of U.S. or U.K.-themed stories, the latter work may have a better shot at being included in the final anthology, yet that won’t stop me completing either one 🙂 . For any who need an AH fix in the meantime, my novella Dillinger in Charleston, and its sequel novel Dixie Curtain, are once again on sale thru Kindle; check out and pass along the links below!
Well, I must once again face the demands of the Outside World. Have a happy Halloween, and I’ll see you next month!
Mark Anthony Ciccone 