Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Zombies of the Heliopause

Back a few months ago I made a throwaway joke about a "near future military werwolf vampire urban fantasy romance."

So I started plotting one. I've been having so many issues trying to repair the plot for the current novel, I wanted to see if I could actually write a clean plot if I started properly. So every now and then I take a break from the one and jot a few notes into a growing file.

Plus I had some spare parts lying around from an abandoned short story that was a tongue-in-cheek transhumanist take on classic horror tropes.

Given that I've also been watching a lot of videos about writing, including of course Terrible Writing Advice, it seemed obvious to go full Meyer and make it a vampire werewolf love triangle (In Space). So yeah...it's a tranhumanist Twilight meets a bleak and gritty Starship Troopers. (Or Halo meets Abbot and Costello meet Dracula and the Wolfman. Only without Bud and Lou. Take your pick.)

Well, the best comp title I've got for The Enceladus Calyx is "An archaeological Romancing the Stone -- without the romance." Which really underlines the weakness I'm struggling with now; that there are no strong central character relationships, positive or antagonistic.

So why not build a novel around a young idealistic pilot, a gene-spliced super-soldier who fears his animalistic instincts, and a cryogenic rescue turned immortal cyborg infiltrator, in a doomed romance amid a whole bunch of ground-side action in the setting of an apocalyptic Total War?

I'm not saying that's seriously the next novel, but it sure is fun to work on when I need a break.




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