Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three

by Michael Brachman

  Do you see the point? In 1973, I wrote a story called VIRUS 5. It became my Rome's Revolution trilogy. All of these random ideas that pop into my head eventually end up in my novels somewhere. Where do the ideas come from? I claim these stories are true, they just haven't happened yet.

  So why do I write? Answer: I have to. These stories are in me and I have to get them out. I can only hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

  Entry 3-054: February 18, 2015

 

  Why this book? Part 1

  What book? Why, The Milk Run, of course. Here is your first look at the title bar for the cover:

  Does it get your heart racing? It's almost ready. It is getting a final proofing by my faithful cadre of readers.

  So why did I write this book? I actually started it in 2009. That's six years ago, long before the idea of The Ark Lords came to me. I had finished the original long form of Rome's Revolution back when it was still VIRUS 5 and it was time to write a new book. All of the agents I had queried had rejected me because I was a new writer. The unending "agent-go-round" was very depressing. I had to find a new angle.

  The only growth market I saw was Young Adult (YA) novels so I purposefully set out to write a YA novel. But makes a YA book YA? I think it is two things. First, the protagonist has to be younger and has to deal with age appropriate issues. Stories like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner were coming into their own and selling like mad.

  Rei and Rome were already in their later 20s but I had no interest in writing a prequel so that left me with having Rei and Rome's children, Aason and Lupe, grow up, old enough to carry a story but young enough to be the center of a YA novel. I didn't know the new characters at all. I did not know what Aason would be like, all grown up. So, to hedge, I wrote it as two separate novels. The odd chapters were going to be about Aason and Lupe and the even chapters were going to be about Rei and Rome.

  Well, the Aason and Lupe story kept on going but the Rei and Rome story petered out after about four chapters. Have no fear, a condensed version of that abandoned section will reappear as my first "flash-sideways" in The Milk Run. Chapter 16 for those who are keeping score. The first draft of this new novel was long before Junior was born so it had to be about Aason with OMCOM and MINIMCOM.

  It just wasn't happening. I am not a YA writer and Aason was a mystery to me. Tomorrow, how and when I picked up the ball again.

  Entry 3-055: February 19, 2015

 

  Why this book? Part 2

  As I mentioned yesterday, even though I really wanted to write The Milk Run, it just wasn't happening. To repeat: I am not a YA writer and Aason, the 21-year-old hero was a mystery to me. So I finally gave up. To be fair, there were other forces at work. By 2011, it was clear that my original long-form version of VIRUS 5 was never going to sell so I got to work condensing the three books into the single modern volume of Rome's Revolution that you can buy today.

  Then the Ark Lords Effect kicked in and that story, the sequel to the new Rome's Revolution nearly wrote itself. Right on its heels came Rome's Evolution even as I was getting Tales of the Vuduri: Year One ready for publication. I was plenty busy.

  Eventually, two years had passed. It was 2013 and I was looking down the long road of what to do next. I decided to take another crack at The Milk Run. Luckily, by now, I had a better feel of the entire 35th century world of the Vuduri and many of the blanks the haunted me when I first set out to write the book were no longer blanks. By now I had the Null Fold star-drive, the Suduri, the conquest of the Onsiras. I had seen Aason in action when he was nearly 5 years old. I could see he would grow up to be a hero, a kind of White Knight. We had Junior, Aason's cousin and best friend and personal starship.

  Also, at the end of Rome's Evolution, Lupe had been conceived and so it was time to let her be born. I constructed an outline of the book and quickly discovered that it was going to follow a biblical format. I was ready. I knew the plot. I knew the characters. I knew the pickles they would be in. There was nothing left to do but roll my sleeves up (metaphorically since I always wear short sleeves) and get going.

  Based upon my previous experience, I figured it would take me no more than six months to knock the book out. I was so optimistic that I even put in at the end of Rome's Evolution a little epilogue, boldly stating that The Milk Run would be out in 2014 AD. Oops. Close.

  Anyway, I assure you. It's coming. Get ready.

  Entry 3-056: February 20, 2015

 

  Why this subject? Part 1

  Over the last few days, I have given you a bit of the background leading up to constructing The Milk Run. I had looked back over story ideas that I had been jotting down for years. These were the ones that I folded in:

  -Life Force theory (1998): the unified theory of all things scary. Tying together things like souls, ghosts even vampires.

  -Brain Slice Theory (1998): how any given part of the brain can be responsible for multiple parts of behavior and reaction.

  -Origin of the Big Bang (2001): I had been thinking a lot of what came before the beginning and what happens after the end. I had some ideas...

  -Goddiving (2001): a pretty bizarre idea about a higher dimension, a universe of universes. A pool of liquid gold. As I said, I wrote this in 2001 and had no idea what it meant. Until now.

  -Lightworld (2003): a short story about some astronauts who find a "gray hole" - a precursor to my PPT tunnels and find a world on the other side populated by creatures made only of light.

  -(No title)(2003): This story was the first time I ever wrote about the Cavaliers. Jack Henry's father was The Last Cavalier. I always missed him and thought that he died too young. I wanted to see him one more time.

  -The Trees Have Shaped Us (2004): How any given tree might not have much intelligence but as a mass consciousness, they might be able to squeeze desirable behavior from us. It gave me the idea for intelligent plants, aka the K'val.

  -Acceleration (2004): This is the story of a man who accelerates to the speed of light. It became the core narrative of Chapter 18 where Aason reaches escape velocity of our reality.

  -The White Knight (2004): This was where I wrote down the characteristics of what we think of as a White Knight. I was determined to fit Aason into that mold and he mostly does but I let him have some happiness at the end.

  So how did I weave all of these disparate elements into a single novel? More tomorrow!

  Entry 3-057: February 21, 2015

 

  Why this subject? Part 2

  Yesterday, I gave you a brief list of some of the story ideas I recycled as I was writing The Milk Run. Maybe recycle is the wrong word. I was just always jotting down ideas. I don't know where they came from. Maybe they were always meant to be folded into this story.

  Anyway, the basic idea is that Aason Bierak, a true hero (The White Knight), is jetting off with his sister, Lupe, when she is kidnapped by creatures made only of light (Lightworld). He travels to a frigid world called Hades. He is attacked and must rewire his brain (Brain Slice Theory) to survive. From there, he heads on to a planet filled with living, walking-talking plants (The Trees Have Shaped Us).

  To rescue Lupe, he must travel faster than any human being has ever gone (Acceleration). He finds himself in a pool with other souls (Goddiving) and from there it is on to Purgatory (Last Cavalier).

  Eventually, he finds out that we are all interconnected through our souls (Life Force Theory) and this knowledge enables him to return to our universe.

  In the Epilogue, Rome explains to OMCOM the nature of the universe (Origin of the Big Bang) and then something miraculous happens. Can you say reboot?

  Monday, the "blurb" is revealed for the first time.

  Entry 3-058: February 22, 2015

 

  Grandmea, grandson

  It is no secret that in the world of Rome's Revolution, I have based some of the characters upon people I really know. Other
times, I just "borrow" an element or name and the character is their own person. Well, when it came to the children and grandchildren, I screwed up.

  Aason Bierak, Rome and Rei's first born, was named after my son Aaron with the name slightly altered. I also borrowed a few characteristics from my son but not others. For example, Aason is over six feet tall, my son is not. Aason has brown hair like my son but his eyes are blue. Aaron's eyes are darker, a little hazel, a little brown.

  Likewise, I based the name of Rome and Rei's daughter Lupe after my daughter Paula's Spanish name. As with Aason, some of the characteristics of Lupe are based upon my daughter, like hair color and height but others are not. Lupe is described from day one as a brat. I assure you my daughter is not a brat. I even took Aason's soon-to-be girlfriend named Aroline (which was a play on my son's wife Caroline) as his SO. I gave her blonde hair whereas Caroline's hair is a little darker.

  Well, I had already planned out the next installment of The Vuduri Knights series starring Aason's son, Rory and his starship friend Trei. This is even mentioned in passing in the Epilogue of the upcoming novel The Milk Run. Here is that little quote:

  “Lupe dedicated herself to the Academy. She teaches First Contact skills. Several years ago, she and my grandson Rory played a large role in ending a Shell War with one of the alien Unions we came across. Right now, she’s out in deep space overseeing a field exercise for the latest graduating class from the Academy.”

  Well, my son and his lovely bride went ahead and had a kid. His name is Isaac. He is my grandson. But what do I do? I already have Rory integrated into the current book and he and his plant friend, B'shev, a member of the K'val, have their adventure planned out. It's too late to change the character's name. Plus I don't know how I'd change Isaac into something futuristic. I guess I'll let the Vuduri translator take care of that.

  My only saving grace is that Rome did tell OMCOM that Aason eventually married Aroline and they had two beautiful children of their own. Rome proclaimed that she is a great-Grandmea. This means that Rory doesn't necessarily have to be the first born. He could be the second. I could take Isaac and figure out how to make him the first born. Maybe he could get his own adventure?

  Hmmm... Interesting. Real-life has a way of injecting verisimilitude into my stories. Making Rory the younger brother might be a nice little twist. I'll have to think about it.

  Tomorrow, your first chance to read the official "blurb" about The Milk Run. I hope you enjoy it.

  Entry 3-059: February 23, 2015

 

  The Milk Run blurb

  I don't know what the formal title is for the little "elevator pitch" you give people when they are deciding if they want to buy your book or not. I always called it the blurb.

  My blurb for Rome's Revolution will always be my finest. My claim is it has sold more books than anything else. When I was selling books this year at Philcon, as soon as people picked up the book, flipped it over and read the blurb on the back, I knew I had them hooked.

  Well, the blurb for The Milk Run is ready. I certainly hope it will be among my best. Let me know what you think:

  It was supposed to be easy!

  Aason Bierak is a not-so-ordinary 21-year-old man living in the 35th century. He and his 16-year-old sister Lupe take a quick trip to the home of Planet OMCOM, a computer the size of Earth, to upgrade a crucial piece of equipment. The trip was supposed to be easy, so easy Aason’s father dubbed it a milk run. After Aason and Lupe complete the upgrade, Planet OMCOM convinces them to test his latest invention, the Null Fold X-drive. This new star-drive could be the key to unlocking the galaxy.

  During their first excursion into Null Space, disaster strikes. Strange beings, made solely of light, pluck Lupe right out of their spaceship. Aason’s only clue to her whereabouts is the last three words Lupe spoke to him before she disappeared. Embarking on a desperate search, Aason travels 68 light years to the Nu2 Lupi star system where he is assaulted by man-eating creatures, hostile colonists, walking-talking plant people and a bodiless entity named Molokai that thinks it is a god. Aason discovers his only hope of rescuing his sister is to climb aboard the largest starship ever assembled and travel at unthinkable velocities to a dimension beyond comprehension, a place where his very soul could be in jeopardy.

  Set in the same universe as the Rome’s Revolution trilogy, The Milk Run is cinematic in scope and offers an adventure filled with intrigue and meticulously researched hard science. It even has little green men! Will Aason find his long-lost sister? Will he lose his soul along the way? Find out in the action-packed science fiction novel The Milk Run.

  The full-length novel will be over 87,000 words. I hope you are ready!

  Entry 3-060: February 24, 2015

 

  Why this universe?

  The 35th century world of Rome's Revolution took me some 40 years to develop. It is based upon carefully researched physics, astro-geology, archeology, sociology and so much more. Once you have completed world-building, only then can you tell a cogent story about the characters that live there.

  This has always been the hardest part of telling an origin story. You have the added burden of introducing the reader to a totally novel world while simultaneously trying to engage them with your characters and their travails.

  Many times an origin story can be crushed under its own weight. But, if it somehow survives critical review, it opens up the way for a sequel. As I wrote earlier, sequels should always be better than the origin story. The reader has already done all of the work learning about the new reality and now you just pump up the action and adventure.

  So, in summary, I am lazy. I (and hopefully you) have already learned all about the Vuduri and PPT tunnels and MASAL and OMCOM so it is time for you to enjoy the fruits of your hard work. By placing The Milk Run in the same universe as Rome's Revolution, I can dispense with pretty much all the heavy duty science and just get on with it.

  By putting it in the same universe, it also allows me to bring in characters from the past just to sweeten up the pot. Rome and Rei, while not the primary focus of the novel, make a significant contribution. Edgar Rice Burroughs did that with the John Carter of Mars series. While many of the books were about John Carter, some of them were not with John Carter only making a guest appearance.

  And finally, believe it or not, I still had some loose ends to tie up. The biggest one was: what the hell has OMCOM been doing out there for the last 25 years?

  Finally, you will find out.

  Entry 3-061: February 25, 2015

 

  Old faces and new

  In the upcoming novel The Milk Run, we will meet some new characters (or creatures) plus touch base with a lot of characters (and computers) from the past few novels, especially Rome's Revolution:

  New Faces:

  - Aason Bierak: 21-year-old son of Rome and Rei. We met him as a baby and later as a little boy but not as an adult.

  - Lupe Bierak: 16-year-old daughter of Rome and Rei. She was conceived at the end of Rome's Evolution and Rome told us she was going to be a brat but that's all we know.

  - Junior: MINIMCOM's son. He is all grown up now, a super-fast starship in his own right and Aason's cousin and best friend.

  - Aroline: a really sweet girl, about a year older than Aason, blonde hair, a native of Hades, who has a vested interest in seeing Aason succeed in his mission.

  - Donald: Aroline's father. We never do find out his last name.

  - Sh'ev B'oush: I've introduced you to Sh'ev before. He is a member of the K'val which are intelligent, ambulatory plants.

  - Oush B'trev: Sh'ev's father who has entered into the third stage of the K'val's existence which is essentially an intelligent tree.

  - Molokai: his real name is unpronounceable. He is made only of light and is actually the composite of a billion souls that have moved on.

  - HIRDINDALAFANT, a Stareater and HIRDINHARSAWAY's son.

  - FORMPACKWILAR, another young Stareater.
>
  - Starship OMCOM: Enough said.

  Old faces:

  - Rome and Rei play an important role both with the story and especially during the Epilogue.

  - OMCOM is back. We finally find out what he's been doing out there all these years.

  - MINIMCOM makes a guest appearance but does not have a significant role in the story other than as a loving father.

  - Commander Ursay. After "Rome's Revolution" has transformed the Earth, he has become essentially the President of the planet.

  - MASAL. Yep, he's back. And you thought he was dead. Well, he is.

  - Reema, Sussen and Estar also make a guest appearance.

  - Skodla, Rome's cat. Due to the fact that I had to crush down three novels into one, Skodla got edited out. Well, I bring him back for one tiny, tender moment.

  - Jack Henry. Yes, that Jack Henry. He plays a significant role in Aason achieving his goals.

  Is that enough of a teaser? I'm hoping you get to read the whole thing in just a matter of a few weeks.

  Entry 3-062: February 26, 2015

 

  Fonts and professional formatting

  In all of my previous books including Rome's Revolution, I have not spent any time formatting the book the way a typesetter would except for full justification of the text. For example, here is the title page for Rome's Revolution in plain old Times New Roman: