Closet Spaceship Part 3

I know it's been a while since I posted some fiction, so here you go.

(Okay, I'll admit it: I'm too busy to have much news right now. It's amazing how busy December can be, isn't it? I don't do all that much for Christmas but I still seem to be swamped. How did that happen? There is good news, though: I'm nearing the end of double-checking the proof copy of Another Shot. I have a few more corrections to make and then I'll resubmit it to CreateSpace. Then we'll see what happens!)

As promised, here’s my account of what happened when I was first spotted aboard Outsider.

Mac dropped me off right in the main corridor. I’d seen it before, of course, so I knew where I was: somewhere between the conference room and the dining room. I didn’t have my watch (it doesn’t work well when I’m traveling) so I had no idea what time it was there.

I didn’t see anyone at first, so I thought I’d check the clock in the dining room. As I turned to walk that way, though, a man appeared in the corridor. He’d just come from the dock area. I recognized him as Reggie Hawkins, the ship’s mechanic.

I resisted my impulse to say, “Hi, Reg!” I’m sure that would have really freaked him out. As it was, a stunned expression crossed his face when he saw me. Then his instincts kicked in: he drew his pistol and pointed it at me while yelling, “Hey, we’ve got an intruder here!”

Before I knew it, there were at least five guns pointed in my direction. It certainly wasn’t the reception I’d hoped to get. I raised my hands while I identified the gun wielders, who’d sprung from the dining room: Martinez, O’Connor, Blaine and Thompson, as well as Hawkins.

“Um, hi,” I said. Yeah, I’m a writer and I’m supposed to command the English language, but it kind of got away from me for a while there.

Hawkins pulled a radio from his belt and spoke calmly. “Intruder aboard. What do you want us to do?”

I heard a male voice say, “Wait a moment.”

Oh, boy, I thought. I get to meet the captain!

Sure enough, a minute or so later, I heard that same voice behind me say, “Who are you and how did you get aboard my ship?”

He had one of those voices that doesn’t need to be raised to make an impression. It sounded calm, confident and controlled. Forgive me the alliteration, but that’s how it sounded.

I turned around slowly and wasn’t surprised to see that he wasn’t holding any weapons. Of course he’d trust his crew to take care of that, and besides, he probably wanted to be courteous until he learned my motives.

Captain Lamont was tall, a little taller than me, with a nice face and blue eyes. He was in his late thirties, but he had silver-white hair. His expression was neutral, although I’m sure he must have been baffled about how I’d been able to get aboard.

 

Then I realized I had a problem: I wasn’t at all sure how to explain that.

Little-Known Facts about Outsider Part 2

Various parts of the United States can really tell it's winter, can't they? I hope you're staying warm and safe this weekend and throughout the month.

Here are a few more bits of trivia about Outsider:
The original working title was "Whatever," because I really didn't know if it would go anywhere when I started it.
Sean's last name used to be Collins (for "colony"), but I had too many C names then.
Mark's last name was originally Cooper, but I had too many C names then.
Jack's last name used to be Shaw, but that didn't work when he interacted with Sean.
Ben's first name comes from a character in a United Airlines commercial.
Bartucci comes from Brat (I stole that from Bart Simpson). You'll get to know Nick better in Another Shot.
Hawkins comes from hawk-eyed because he can read people so well. (You already know where the name Reggie came from.)
Dr. Graham's name comes from a character in the movie Field of Dreams (also a doctor).
The bad guys' colony is Beta-Ten ... B-Ten. Get it? (Sad, I know.)

That's all I can think of right now. I had a small setback in proofreading when I had to work all day yesterday (my job involves ... you guessed it, proofing). I'm giving my eyes a short break, but I promise to keep up with it this week. (CreateSpace keeps sending me e-mail reminders that I need to approve my novel. I guess they can keep sending them a little longer. Sorry, CS.)

Please keep spreading the word about Outsider! Now you can fascinate people with stupid facts about it that they don't want or need to know!  Ha, ha.

Have a great week.

Little-Known Facts about Outsider Part 1

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a great time with my family in Nebraska, but it's a little puzzling to me how one day I'm coming home from Thanksgiving and the next day I'm out on a teetering ladder to put up Christmas lights. (The lights are up and I'm still in one piece, so that's an accomplishment!)

Unfortunately, the Thanksgiving holiday put me behind in proofreading Another Shot. Somehow it was easier to chat and watch college football than it was to proofread, so I'll try to get back into that right away.

Meanwhile, I can regale you with little-known facts about Outsider. I'm sure these will show up in a trivia quiz someday, so you'll be prepared for that!

I started Outsider in May of 1990, about a month after my husband and I bought our first computer, a Macintosh SE. I was so impressed with the little machine that I decided I'd better use it for something, so I started throwing words at it ... and some of them stuck. That first version of the novel was very different than the one that's now published (parts of it were downright awful), but I worked and worked at it until I thought I had something.

Several character names changed throughout the process but the one that never changed is Reggie Hawkins. He's the only character to come from a real person. The original is a man named Kevin. I met him when I worked in the data entry department for a mail-order company in Nebraska. When orders slowed down, I sometimes filled in for the clerk in the maintenance department, where there were two or three men named Mike and one Kevin. Kevin was a lot like Reg: a mechanic, big but not fat, quiet and reserved but always polite to me. One day he offered to let me ride in one of the cherry-picker type of machines that were used to let employees pick items from the colossal shelves in the warehouse. This was many years ago, but I still remember the exhilarating ride that followed: the machine shot forward and the platform rose quickly into the air before descending. I thought it was a lot of fun and told him so. As I recall, he smiled. (I feel that I passed some kind of test by not screaming.) I tried to come up with another name starting with K, but I never found it so I went with the vowels instead: if you look closely, you'll see the similar vowels in Kevin and Reggie. Thanks, Kevin.

More trivia next time!

Thanksgiving

As we approach Thanksgiving in the United States, I have a lot to be thankful for:
a wonderful husband, a loving family, good friends, a steady job, a published novel.
I wish you the best for the holiday and I hope your list is as long as mine, or longer.

The author reception at the library went well, although it seemed there were more authors than non-authors attending. It was fun to swap notes with some of the other authors and realize how different our experiences with publishing have been. One author has sold over 1,500 copies! I have a way to go before I get to that point, but it was fun to talk to someone who's been successful. It was a good way to spend an evening ... and I got free snacks!

Author Reception at Pittsburg Public Library, November 2013





I wish all of you a wonderful holiday ... and I'm thankful for your support.

Proof Copy

The proof copy of Another Shot has arrived! I can't tell you how exciting it is to hold the physical book in my hands and know that soon other readers will be holding their own copies!

This means I need to do another round of proofing because I want those readers to be happy, not hung up on errors. I already see something on the back cover that I'd like to change. This means we're in for another wait while I read through it again, make the necessary changes and go through the submission process again.

For those of you in the vicinity of Pittsburg, Kansas, I will be making an appearance at the public library (308 N Walnut) on Monday, November 18, at 6:00 p.m. They're having a reception for local authors, who will be selling and autographing copies of their books. I hope you'll stop by to say "Hi" and support our local authors. This is your first chance to get a look at the cover of Another Shot! Don't miss it!

World Premiere of Another Shot Description

I think the title sounds a little pretentious, but it's true! I'm about to share with you a description of the sequel, Another Shot.

First, though, let me give you some good news: I'm in the process of getting the book published. I've uploaded both the interior pages and the cover to CreateSpace.
(You should see the cover! It's awesome!) Now I have to wait 24 hours to see if CS will accept the files. After that, I'll order a proof copy so I can double-check everything.
As you might expect, that could take a week or so, but I'm certainly much closer to publication. It's exciting to be involved in this process again.

So here it is, as promised:
   In Volume 2 of the Penumbra series, Outsider has crashed to Earth and the crew is in disarray.
   And that's only the beginning: a fugitive from Captain Lamont's past has returned to seek vengeance, vowing to destroy everything the captain holds dear.
   Sean Foster rejoins the crew as they try to stop an elusive killer before it's too late.

Please keep spreading the word. I rely on you to help me introduce the series to new potential readers. Together we can make Another Shot a success!

Progress

Great news! I've registered Another Shot at CreateSpace.com and it has its own ISBN! (I had to look it up: ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number.)
How exciting is that?

This past week, I met with the artist and we finalized a few details about the cover art. She's working on her artist profile for About the Artist, which she apparently finds just as hard to write as I did. (I simply modified the one I had for Outsider, so it was a little easier for me this time.) I think she's going to get both of them to me by next week. Things are rolling!

Once I have About the Artist, I'll add that to the final page and then I'm ready to submit the interior. That means all of the pages you see between the covers, which I had to format correctly. We'll see if CreateSpace accepts it or if I have to make some changes. (Fingers crossed.)

Please remember to keep spreading the word about Outsider. Tell your friends, your acquaintances, people you encounter on the street or online! Let's build up interest so Another Shot can do as well as Outsider ... or even better. Thanks for your support!