Sunday 29 September 2013

Slipstream has more chapters posted



An additional 16 chapters for readers!

I've added an additional sixteen chapters to bring it up to date with what I've written so far. Progress-wise, it's on hold now as we are consumed with getting ready to move the household.

Once we're settled out on the coast, I hope to get back to the writing!

Saturday 7 September 2013

Slipstream

© Copyright by Simon Clive Hughes, All rights reserved.

Prologue

15:20hr, March 17th, 2062


The attack had come with almost no warning, slamming them into the safety webs that instantly extruded around them. Alarms shrilled through the control room as the ship acted to protect its crew.

“It’s some kind of energy weapon,” Crane shouted, “Probably a vortex cannon.” 

Although beam weapons expended much of their energy as they travelled through water, the effect was still akin to that of being hurled into a brick wall. Not that the Erasmus couldn’t handle it, but it was obvious that they were no longer running secretly, and that was a problem.

“Hold fire for now, launch countermeasures,” Bachmann rapped, “Plot me an intercept and standby.”


The Project

You know, I can't remember exactly how the idea was born. I have always been interested in Sci-Fi, both reading and writing it. That, along with a fondness for things submersible, gave me a germ that matured into an overall plot.

As my first attempt at a novel-length story, I find that I am, as I have seen described, a 'seat-of-the-pantser'. Within the overall scheme of things, the direction and action seem, at times, to almost write themselves, and come tumbling out. Other times, it's like someone fed me a spoonful of alum, and all the sphincters (especially creativity) do their little dance and lock firmly shut.

Ah well, onward to the novel...

The story is set in 2062, a world controlled by SuperCorps, and introduces a small group of characters that form the crew of an experimental submersible, the Erasmus. Their mission to examine a deep ocean gravimetric anomaly leads them into one of the sea's greatest depths. When they finally surface again, they find their notions of 'what's possible' firmly challenged.

At this point, for your reading pleasure, and hopefully some constructive criticism, I present the first seven chapters of twenty-three I've written so far. I hope you enjoy!

Well, here we are...



Photo by Simon Hughes
Well, here we are, a blank page, a brand new blog, this one dedicated to my writing projects. Right now, I have one major one on the go, a Sci-Fi novel entitled "Slipstream". More on this to come...

When I first got into writing this novel, I started into it, luckily, using Scrivener on my iMac. I had purchased Scrivener for a previous project and had loved its way of being able to so easily rearrange chapters/sections/whatever. It's a real writers tool. I also wanted to use my iPad to be able to write remotely and then seamlessly sync with Scrivener the iMac.

The app that lets me do this (as I still await an iPad version from Scrivener's author) is one called Notebooks. This app maintains the same independent folder hierarchy and syncs up with Scrivener via Dropbox.

It all works wonderfully well!