Sometimes it's easier to start with a clean sheet #amwriting

 I've always found editing easier than writing from fresh but sometimes, picking up an old MS and recrafting it into something not quite the same isn't easy. Although I started work on the WIP with an apparent 12,000 word head-start, progress hasn't been spectacular. Some of the words just didn't suit, so hundreds of them were simply deleted. Others had to be re-purposed to fit a slightly altered scenario. And in some places, a bit more excitement was required – not just for the plot, but for the circumstances. As I wrote, the Inner Editor said things like, 'But she wouldn't have known that- you took that bit out' and 'You've got to justify this. Why is it happening?' Hey ho. That's how I write – a pantser with an editor sitting on my shoulder.

As I've been working, I'm beginning to understand why this little series, which seemed to hold so much promise, stalled in a heap. The original premise – four women, exciting adventures, then one drops out and is replaced – was sound enough. Until I really, really thought about it. I wanted to have four, each from a different Manesai class (Mirka, Vesha, Hasta, and Shuba) but it was too many, and difficult to manage. Besides, I'd have to lose at least one of the main characters each book. Much better to have a core of three women, with other characters coming in as needed, a bit like Charlie's Angels, with Morgan Selwood as kind of equivalent to Charlie. And although my books will always have a romance arc, these will be more about "sistas doin' it for themselves". That was always an issue, even in Kuralon Rescue, where there's one strong romance thread (one male) and four women. (Nothing wrong with that, mind – but it's not what I write 😊 )

Having made those decisions, the vista is much clearer. My usual cover designer had made a logo for the series, showing four female silhouettes. That was now incorrect, so (with her permission) I used her basic idea and modified it for the new situation. Hence the image at top left.

Then I moved on to the cover. Although the design of the current cover was great, it no longer reflected what I wanted to convey. Also, the tag line (follow your heart you never know where it might lead you) wasn't a great fit, either. So I had some fun with Photoshop. I'm not a graphic designer, but I have some PS skills and I must say I'm very, very happy with my work. The print cover for Kuralon Rescue is below.

It shows just one of the women, gun in hand, gazing into space. The tag line reads "Follow your dreams. You never know where they might take you."

The following image will be for the current WIP. It's not quite finished – and the name of the book is likely to change. Shar Burk space station is a den of iniquity, and there are pirates involved, but I hesitate to add 'pirates' to the title for fear of readers being disappointed when there are no bare-chested men ravishing willing maidens. I don't like the word 'Operation' but it will do as a place holder for now.

Speaking of 'for now', I'd better get on with writing. Meanwhile, any ideas for titles will be gratefully received.

Boldly Going Fourth: An Unexpected Winner #SFRGalaxyAward #scifirom

Unexpected

A Scifi Romance Novella

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So Unexpected has lived up to its name yet again. Much to my amazement, it won a SFR Galaxy Award last week (my fourth now since the awards began), for one of the best and most interesting aliens. Of course I love my two MCs, but it's always great to learn someone else did too, and enough that they chose it as one of their standout SFR titles of the year. It's restored my faith that maybe my particular brand of SFR has an audience, albeit a small one. You can see judge Jo Jones' other selections HERE, and check out the rest of the winners and info on the awards themselves HERE.

Huge congrats also to fellow crew mate Greta on her first SFR Galaxy Award (and long overdue!), and my thanks to the judges for their time and consideration, and to the creators and organizers for their efforts. May the awards long continue!

Status Update
Brace yourselves but...I have actually finished the edits on Reunion! A shock, right? At least, I've done the sections my editor highlighted. I still need to do another full read through to be sure I'm happy (ha!), but the supposedly difficult bit is done.

Chook Update
We are about to embark on the Great Chicken Run Build this week! It's going to mean disruption for my girls, and rather cramped accommodation for them for a while, but hopefully by the end they'll appreciate it all. I know my back will be grateful at not having to crawl around to clean and restock their current run.
Kala and Phasma now seem fully settled though ranking bottom of the pile. Phasma is still very antisocial, while Kala is quite happy to get up close and investigate. Hopefully next week I'll have plenty of pics of them enjoying their new luxury run!

BLACK LIGHTNING: A REMINDER OF WHY WE NEED SUPERHEROES

The new CW network show Black Lightning displays all the usual trappings of a superhero television show: the self-doubting hero-with-superpowers who is torn between his duty and his loved ones; the over-the-top Evil Villain who rules the dark underworld of crime in an unnamed city; the older, super-smart Albert-type who makes cool tech stuff for the hero (and picks up the pieces when the hero occasionally hits the Epic Fail wall. Oh, and, of course, the corrupt police department that just gets in the way of justice.

But Black Lightning is different in at least one way. Like its upcoming big screen big brother BLACK PANTHER, this show’s hero—and almost all of its cast—is black. 

And before you shrug, I want you to think about that statement. Many of us are old enough to remember when the presence of Nichelle Nichols in the cast of Star Trek was a big deal. It was just a couple of years ago when #OscarsSoWhite made the rounds. Although efforts have been made to be inclusive, it’s still rare to find people of color in leading dramatic roles, much less dominating entire shows. Shows like Underground (about the Underground Railroad), Ava Duvernay’s Queen Sugar (about a black family in modern-day Louisiana), or Atlanta (an Emmy Award-winning dramedy starring Donald Glover) are critically acclaimed celebrated, but still have to work to find their audiences.

So, when the science fiction world recognizes that diversity is a good thing with a show like Black Lightning, I’m all for it. (Not to mention how excited I am about the movie BLACK PANTHER, which looks absolutely fantastic!) The show has its faults. The acting is so-so; the characterization and plotting is pretty cliched; and I’m not sure what to say about the fact that the tech expert is an old white guy. But watching first few episodes of BL I was reminded why we all fell in love with superheroes in the first place.

The setting for the show is a town in the grip of a crime gang called The 100, a gang against which the police appear to be powerless. Young men are dying, drugs are rife, businesses are forced to pay protection and no one is safe on the streets. Hope is scarce among the families of this town, whose children are frequently lost to the gang’s violence or drugs. The only oasis is the school whose principal was once secretly Black Lightning. 

The superhero is called back into service when the streets get so bad his school and his family are threatened, and when marches and appeals to the corrupt mayor and the police don’t help. In effect, the superhero must act when all other hope is lost.

Way back when two kids from Brooklyn, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, first came up with the character of Superman, the world was similarly in need of a hero. It was 1938, the depths of the Great Depression. Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany and poised to take over Europe. Japan was menacing Asia. Things looked bad for Our Side. Superman was a True American Hero—Faster than a Speeding Bullet! Able to Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound! And, not incidentally, standing for Truth, Justice and the American Way.

Americans needed hope in that moment, and something to believe in. Before the country went to war with the Nazis and the Japanese, we Americans didn’t know if we could succeed. After all, the French, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Chinese had all failed. The British and the Russians were barely hanging on against what appeared to be superhuman villains. It really seemed we needed superpowers to defeat them. 

Turned out we had those superpowers in ourselves—in the courage of the soldiers fighting in the field, in the sacrifices of the people rationing and working in factories and collecting rubber and metal at home. But maybe we found some inspiration in that fella in the cape, too—at least the kids reading the comics under the covers at night did. 

I don’t think it’s any surprise that we seek out superheroes on big screens and small these days, either. Things are dark and not so hopeful out there right now, and maybe we need a few Supermen and Wonder Women and Black Lightnings to lend us courage for the fight ahead, whatever it might be. Just until we find our own superpowers. And if those heroes look like us—if they happen to be female, or black, for example—that’s even better.

CONGRATULATIONS, GRETA AND PIPPA!

Spacefreighters blog partners Greta Van der Rol and Pippa Jay were among the winners of the 2017 SFR Galaxy Awards announced this week!  Woo hoo! Huge congratulations to both these authors for their well-deserved honors. Check out all the details on their awards here.

Cheers, Donna

I'm totally, jaw-droppingly flabbergasted

I've won an SFR Galaxy award! Or maybe I should say Puss won a Galaxy award. Hey, I'm not complaining. I'm one of Puss's greatest fans. And if I ever had any qualms about writing a follow-up to her first adventure, that's gone by the wayside.

Hearty congratulations also to my fellow Spacefreighters blogger, Pippa Jay, for winning yet another Galaxy award for her latest release Unexpected. (You'll find it on the right sidebar).

On behalf of Puss I'd like to thank the organisers and judges for the SFR Galaxy awards. She's as pleased as I am with the recognition (but between you and me, she's totally unsurprised).

For those who haven't met Puss she's an alien feline with a few smarts. But she's still an awful lot like the Earth cats at your place.

You can read about her in For the Greater Good.

A Human settlement is destroyed and all signs point to an Yrmak raid as Imperial agents Tian Axmar and Brent Walker scour the site for clues. One thing they never expected to find was a survivor, a rare alien feline with unusual talents.

As tensions between Humans and Yrmaks ratchet to the point of no return, Tian and Brent must bring all their cyborg skills to bear as they follow a dangerous trail of deception and misdirection.

The feline, now dubbed Puss and strongly bonded to Tian, holds the key to many of the questions driving the investigation. Unfortunately, that bond drives a wedge between Brent and Tian’s working relationship, leaving Brent with second thoughts about his decision to become a cyborg.

As the evidence unfolds, it becomes clear that a devious plot to incite an interspecies war will strike at the very heart of the Empire. With lives at risk, there’s no time to waste. Racing against the clock, Brent, Tian, and Puss must stop the planned carnage, and this time for Brent and Tian… it’s personal.

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