Sanguinary

I'm moving ahead again on the novel. The one thing that has definitely gotten faster is the cycle between thinking it is shit and thinking it makes a decent read.

I came this close to buying a reference book on Greek ceramic art but wrote the scene without it. This is the museum chapter I've been intending since basically page one. One more section to go but I had to pause to think about Schliemann.

Well, not so much what I know about Schliemann. Although I refreshed and I had forgotten some interesting tidbits. Such as we possibly have him to blame for the current symbolism of the swastika. No, the question I'm on right now is whether my protagonist knows the full story of Schliemann or whether this is a good place to give her a little lecture on how Indiana Jones is a bad model for archaeology.

On the way bumped into another wonderfully Croftian setting. A "labyrinth" (that was the history show, not me) network of caves under Crete, parts of it used by the Germans to store munitions, closed up until a few years ago...and when they opened it, first thing they saw is the Germans didn't take all their bombs with them. There's some archaeology there too but this particular show is a bit lugubrious and they haven't gotten to that yet.

Oh, and all that got me dropping a few more notes on the adventure with the working title The Aurelius Dupondius.

I have nothing like a plot yet. Just the likely elements; Romans, London, coin collectors, violence. And a sort-of-theme; "Reality ensues." This is the one where pretending always goes wrong. This idea started for me as a running gag; brits always seem so capable in spotting attempts to fake an accent. It even shows up as a gag (multiple times) in Doctor Who, so it is a trait they are aware of themselves. So this is the one in which every attempt to run a bluff or a Chinese Fire Drill fails, every physical stunt ends the way they usually do on YouTube...all the way out to violence having real implications and lingering effects.

But that's probably not the next book. I think it just might be Badgers. That's the name of the work file...in the back of my head is a better working title; Full Metal Werewolf. Because it is basically transhumanist milSF with a horror twist. And the more you think about it, the closer those three really are already.

(Although Full Metal Jackal -- although it doesn't hint the horror genre tropes aspect -- is a very useful thought towards developing the background of "Dave." If you really wanted to gene-tinker soldiers around pack hunters, is wolf really the best template? What about hyenas?)

(And yes, whatever I do is going to be both for relatively sensible reasons and still deconstructed to hell and gone. No vet thinks highly of the super-soldier myth, and anyone who has actually studied military history and tactics is going to be going "why would I want a better Rambo if I could have a soldier that better integrated with an effective combined arms approach?")

Oh, yeah, and something snapped and I was finally able to get out of bed and get some work done. Which included getting to the doctor and I'm on another new drug. I am hopeful but not sanguine. And will be getting a lot more blood drawn either way.

Lost a lot of work hours, though, so money is going to be tight for a while.



"Apocalypse Howl" is also amusing...but makes me think of Alan Ginsberg, not Urban Fantasy.