And so it begins…
Greetings Picklesversians,
The Ides of June are upon us!
This month I bring you:
– a behind the scenes update about the first three weeks of my sabbatical and how Artificial Selection is progressing
– a quick guide to my books and the order they’ll be released in
– a cool bit of science news
– and a book recommendation.
But first, I wanted to say another massive thank-you to those of you who expressed an interest in joining the ArkTech Advance Reader Copy team.
Alright, on to my first bit of news, in which I inadvertently re-enacted a science fiction classic.
Time Enough At Last
As I mentioned in last month’s email, I’ve just started a four-month sabbatical from my day job to focus on writing. I thought I’d share a few fun facts and figures about what I’ve been up to.
Week 1, Day 1
Did you see that classic episode of the Twilight Zone called Time Enough At Last? Its ending is iconic.
It first aired in 1959 so I probably don’t have to feel too bad about giving away spoilers, but if you haven’t seen it and you’d prefer to watch it before I continue, here’s a link to the last three minutes of the episode. I’ll go and grab a cup of coffee.
Welcome back! So now we’re all on the same page (pun intended), I can reveal that I spent Week 1, Day 1 of my sabbatical accidentally re-enacting the ending of Time Enough At Last.
I made the questionable decision to get a new pair of reading glasses and although they didn’t shatter into pieces at the very moment I needed them most, they did make me feel extremely nauseous, which made it difficult to write.
‘That’s not fair,’ I cried, in the manner of Henry Bemis. ‘THAT’S NOT FAIR!’
But luckily, unlike poor old Henry, my optician hadn’t just been incinerated in a fiery explosion, so they sorted it out for me the next day. (It turned out that the nausea was due to the glasses being fitted to sit too far away from my eyes – whodathunk?)
Week 1, Day 2 to present
Since then, it’s all been going swimmingly… perhaps even in the literal sense considering how much rain we’ve had. The image above is an AI-generated photograph of me writing in my garden. Everything is spot on, even down to the unamused expression on my face.
But the bad weather hasn’t bothered me too much as I’ve been happily typing away. And…
š„ <drumroll> š„
Artificial Selection is finished! š„³š„³š„³
I mean… sort of. A story might only have one beginning and one ending, butĀ theĀ process of writing a book involves several. (Wasn’t itĀ theĀ great Roman thinker Seneca who said “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end“?Ā š) Anyway,Ā Artificial SelectionĀ can now be read from cover to cover.Ā TheĀ story’s all there with no missing sections.Ā
Now it’s time for me to do several rounds of editing before I hand it over to my editor. I can’t wait for you to read it when it’s ready. In the meantime, please enjoy these statistics about my first three weeks on sabbatical:
Time spent writing: 100 hours (I didn’t expect such a round number… it was actually 100 hours, 1 minute and 8 seconds according to my app.)
Time spent thinking through aspects of the story: 7 gazillion hours (OK, I made that one up.)
Days the weather let me write outside in the sun: 6 out of 21
Length of current draft: 84,364 words
Number of dark chocolate buttons eaten: not enough
ArkTech series: a quick guide
Most people when writing a series probably start by writing book one. Not me, though. Apparently, I’ve got to be different.
In fairness, when I wrote Time Hack I did think it was going to be book one. However, as it’s turned out, I started by writing book two, then the first half of book three, followed by book zero, and finally book one. šµ At least, I can release them in the right order. Here’s a quick guide to what to expect:
Book 0: Beware the Ides of April – a short story introducing the characters and the world of the ArkTech series. Out now.
Book 1: Artificial Selection – a novel in which Charlotte and Ben work together to save the territory from an unlikely threat. Coming soon.
Book 2: Time Hack – the award-winning novel in which Charlotte uncovers the existence of a bootleg technology that lets people add more hours to their days. Coming soonish.
Book 3: Title to be announced – To have a future, Charlotte must confront her past. Coming later.
To borrow terminologyĀ fromĀ theĀ Marvel Cinematic Universe, books zero to three ofĀ theĀ ArkTech SeriesĀ will completeĀ theĀ first “phase” ofĀ theĀ story. (This isĀ theĀ Picklesverse, after all and we verses have to stick together… but only untilĀ theĀ end ofĀ theĀ MCU’sĀ phase three, after which that franchise’sĀ ceaseless decline in quality causes all other universes to speed away fromĀ theĀ MCU, blaming their hasty retreat onĀ Hubble’s Law. But I digress…)
For science!
I spotted thisĀ interesting article this month about advancements inĀ theĀ clean, large-scale production of graphene.Ā
Graphene is made of a single layer of carbon atoms and it has the potential to revolutionise all kinds of technology from computer chips to batteries.
In the world of my books, ArkTech used graphene to create “Solar Shards” which are high-density batteries that enable the storage of renewable energy on a grand scale.
Fingers crossed we’ll get to enjoy the benefits of graphene in real life before 2074. š¤
A gripping yarn…
I finished reading Wool by Hugh Howey this month. It’s the first book in a trilogy. The Apple TV series Silo, starring Rebecca Ferguson, is based on the first half of book one. I’d recommend both the show and the book.
It’s about a post-apocalyptic world in which people live in silos underground. I won’t say too much more to avoid spoiling anything, but it’s got action, suspense, and some interesting ideas about what could happen in the future.
I certainly hope it’s a vision of the future that doesn’t come true…
(The image above was an AI’s take on the word “wool” with a synthwave filter. I don’t know what the fluffy plant thingies are, and I don’t think I want to find out. I feel like they might have very pointy teeth.)
Anyway, if you’re stuck for something dystopian to read (and news about the upcoming general election in the UK isn’t enough to tide you over) check out Wool if you haven’t already.
That’s all from me for this month. Hope all’s well in your own personal universes.
Until the Ides,
Marianne
P.S. I snuck a Babylon 5 reference into this email somewhere. If you spotted it, then you’ve just unlocked the Vorlon Vigilance trophy: š Congrats! If you didn’t spot it, I’d recommend (re?)watching the show. That’s never a bad plan.
P.P.S. Any partial or oblique reference to Portal was a lie. No cake will be provided. š