82 Eridani: Journey is going to be the first book in a seven book series.  I was kind of inspired by Game of Thrones (which I have not read, but have watched).  I thought “I need to write a story like Game of Thrones.”  One filled with sex, violence, and violent sex; one based loosely on historical events; and one that plays out over a vast setting and over a multiple book series.  Of course, there is already a Game of Thrones– so I’m not going to write it again.  Besides, I want to tell my own stories, so instead of writing a fantasy story, I thought I would write a space/sci-fi series.

The first book, Journey, as the name implies, is all about the journey to the new solar system.  There is a plot in the story of course, but it is also about introducing characters and themes that are continued throughout the series.  Here are a few hints of what is included so far: genetic manipulation, robotics gone wild, adultery, serial murder, spying, and lots and lots of space sex (which is just sex, but in space).

I’ve had the basic outline for what is becomming 82 Eridani for about 10 years.  The basic premise is a starship from Earth arriving in a distant solar system.  The overall plot is based on events occuring during the exploration of America in the sixteenth century.

Originally I had planned my alien solar system to be Vega.  I have read several great sci-fi stories that use Vega as their setting.  But as I began thinking of the various things I wanted my setting to do, I thought that the one I had picked might not be quite right.  I spent a few weeks reading about the stars in our Earth’s neighborhood, finally settling on 82 Eridani as my best choice.

Tomorrow, a little bit more about this story.

I read chapter four of 82 Eridani: Journey to my writers’ group last night and received generally favorable feedback.  Writers’ groups are a great resource for any writer and mine “The Shared Word Writers’ Group,” despite being quite small, has been a great help to me.

I’ve shared the first four chapters, but I’ve written six so far.  These are fairly long chapters and this will be one of my longer books– 4,000 word chapters x 30 chapters = 120,000 words.  Of course, that’s just how I’ve plotted it.  My books usually tend to end up shorter than originally planned.  For instance, The Voyage of the Minotaur, The Drache Girl, and The Two Dragons were all plotted out at 125,000 words and they ended up being 110,000, 105,000, and 106,000 respectivley.

Stay tuned tomorrow, for a little background about the book.