Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three

by Michael Brachman

  For my new book, The Milk Run, I have tried to add a few more professional touches to make it stand out. I used the same font (Neuropol) for the title page as the cover:

  For the start of each chapter, I changed the first line to small caps to make it stand out:

  Finally, each page now has the book title and my name at the top except for new chapters:

  Of course all of these improvements only apply to the paperback. E-books lose all this formatting. Oh well. Hopefully, though, if you buy the paperback, it will look a bit more polished than my previous works.

  P.S. Thanks to Michelle Proulx who discussed these tips in this blog article.

  Entry 3-063: February 27, 2015

 

  The real Saberoo

  Bruce has been hard at work creating an actual Ice-saberoo for the cover of the upcoming novel The Milk Run. He graciously conceded to reading the first six chapters of the book so he could see it in context. You will remember my original version looked like an angry mouse:

  Well, Bruce's rendering is vastly superior.

  Bruce got every element right where mine look like a kindergartener's scribbles.

  He got the "old-fashioned can opener" teeth right on. He got its bejeweled optical sensors, not really eyes, right on. He got the posture and attack position right. He even captured the essence of its infra-red sensors on its head and made them look very organic.

  But most of all, he made it look fierce. That's what I want. A 7-foot tall predator, a cross between a saber-toothed tiger and a kangaroo that walks like a T-rex.

  I can't wait until you meet him!

  Entry 3-064: February 28, 2015

 

  Starting with a real bang

  You do understand that life is a journey. You don't want to start at the end, you want to start at the beginning and get to the end. Well, my journey as a writer had to start somewhere. Where it will end, I do not know.

  I made my first book develop very slowly. This was when Rome's Revolution was still in its long form and was called VIRUS 5. There was a prologue which took place on Alpha Centauri. Chapter 1 was when the Vuduri first encountered the Ark II and snagged it. Chapter 2 was when Rei was first resuscitated and didn't know where he was. Chapter 3 was his first encounter with OMCOM. He didn't even meet Rome until Chapter 4!

  Well, I got screamed about that enough that when I smushed the three books down to the modern version, I cut out the Prologue and the rescue and the resurrection and introduced Rome in Chapter 1. Better? A little.

  I recognized the fact that I had to start with a bang and had made it a point in subsequent novels to do just that. This is because you have to write grab your reader's attention right from the outset. So, as I described in my very second post, I explained how I started out The Ark Lords with a bang. Well, a grease fire at least.

  This still didn't have the dramatic effect I was looking for so when it came time to write Rome's Evolution, it literally started with an explosion.

  But there is more. In the modern world, you are supposed to introduce your protagonist and their essential conflict within the first paragraph. This is so the reader can make an informed decision as to whether they want to continue with your book in the first 30 seconds.

  Well, in my upcoming novel, The Milk Run, I have finally achieved that goal. You are introduced to the protagonist, Aason Bierak, and his essential conflict, rescuing his kidnapped sister, in the first sentence! I can't do any better than that. I hope you like it.

  Entry 3-065: March 1, 2015

 

  Bookends

  Yesterday, I explained to you how I pushed very hard in my new novel, The Milk Run, to introduce the protagonist, Aason Bierak, and his essential conflict, rescuing his kidnapped sister, in the very first sentence.

  However, nobody ever told me how to end a book. That might seem obvious, at least to me. The story is the story and it ends when it ends. The original Rome's Revolution actually ended with a little "dessert" that did not move the plot along but was just a sweet treat for you having made it all the way through the book.

  The Ark Lords ended on such a satisfying note that I had to rig an Epilogue just to set up the next novel. Rome's Evolution actually ended with The End so that you knew I would not be continuing with those characters in that world.

  However, I was so proud of how I started this new one that I decided that I wanted to mirror the presentation right at the end. I wanted perfect bookends. So while I won't give away the ending, let me just say that I achieved my goal.

  I did cheat a little. After the end, I realized I needed a way to "reboot" my characters, Rome and Rei, for a novel down the road so there is an Epilogue that takes place 29 years after the story. But it doesn't count because it is just an epilogue.

  Entry 3-066: March 2, 2015

 

  If it worked twice…

  In the very beginning of both the original long-form and the modern version of Rome’s Revolution, Rome and Rei took the “express lane” to falling in love via the Espansor Bands. We found out in The Ark Lords that the very same thing happened to Rome’s parents, Binoda and Fridone.

  In the novel Rome's Evolution, Rome entered Rei’s mind in a similar, intimate way in order to learn how to read minds and as a byproduct, Lupe was conceived during that session.

  Well, if it worked twice, why not a third time? In the upcoming novel The Milk Run, Aason Bierak has an even more intimate encounter with Aroline, the girl who will eventually become his wife. However, owing to his unique abilities, Aason does not even require the Espansors to achieve his goals, that of truly being able not only to read minds but to transmit thoughts as well. He will need this if he is to communicate with the first truly alien race that humans encounter, the living plants called the K'val.

  You may recall that I already mentioned that I set up the next generation of characters in the Epilogue of The Milk Run. While it is not stated, during Aason's training session with Aroline, it is also the night that Rory's older brother Zac is conceived.

  It's hard enough coming up with this stuff so if it worked before, why not again?

  Entry 3-067: March 3, 2015

 

  My crowded stage

  When I am writing books like Rome's Revolution, I try and keep the important characters to a minimum so we can follow their adventures. However, I've noticed that we pick up characters along the way and pretty soon, my stage gets very crowded.

  Consider the scene where Rei first meets the Deucadons. In the blink of an eye, I have Rei, MINIMCOM (inside of Rei's head), Melloy, Steben and Tridin. And they prattle on about their leader Bukky. It's hard to give everybody equal time so I had Tridin stay behind after he got the rest of the group situated.

  Steben makes a guest appearance in the novel Rome's Evolution as a researcher at Wally Stanislaw's dig site. Melloy also makes a guest appearance in the upcoming novel The Milk Run as part of the engineering team gearing up Project Desert Bloom. We don't make a big fuss over it. It's just supposed to amuse fans of the series.

  In The Milk Run, the problem gets even worse as Aason moves along solving the mystery of his disappearance. We start with Aason, Junior and OMCOM's livetar and quickly acquire Aroline. From there, we pick up Aroline's father, Donald and the K'val named Sh'ev. Pretty soon, the creature made only of light known as Molokai is aboard. By the time Aason returns to Tabit, his mother, father and MINIMCOM are waiting there.

  For those of you counting that's ten people (or things) that I have to fit into Junior's cargo bay. It was so crowded, I had to have Junior build the 35th century equivalent of a conference table just so they could all sit down and talk to each other.

  That is one crowded stage!

  Entry 3-068: March 4, 2015

 

  Starting with nothing

  When Rei first encounters the Deucadons in the middle part of Rome's Revolution, he is briefed on their back story. The original Deucadons were passengers aboard the Ark
III whose main target was 82 G. Eridani. Actually, in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, I had their target as Beta Hydrii but I was forced to move them because of the Ark Lords and the "stealth" Ark.

  Anyway, they crash-landed on Deucado and lost the ability to go back up into space and retrieve the cargo section of the Ark. As they were fond of saying, all they had were the clothes on their back. So how long would it take a society to go from nothing to a full-blown, technological civilization?

  I don't know the answer. I figured 500 years was about right. After all, Leonardo da Vinci was at his peak around the year 1500. He invented the telescope, helicopters and a bunch of other things but it took 500 years to bring his ideas to fruition, more or less.

  The only thing the Deucadons had was knowledge that such things could be done. They didn't even have any paper to write stuff down. So the knowledge had to be passed down from generation to generation via memorization until they became sophisticated enough to record it. So much knowledge was lost, it would have taken a long time to recover. Not even 100 years after they landed, every one of the original colonists would have been gone so the only information the remaining tribe retained was that handed down by their forefathers. A lot of it was oral.

  So let's figure the first 100 years were just getting oriented and surviving on a new planet. The next 100 years would be spent getting the level of sophistication to something like the Old West. At some point, the Deucadons make the decision to move underground because of the constant bombardment by meteors, asteroids and the like. That probably set them back a bit. The next 100 years might have been spent getting their level matched but done underground. At that point they would proceed to an industrial age and finally, they'd get back to the Space Age, right around the time the Vuduri showed up.

  That did not go well as the Vuduri slaughtered the Deucadons the few times they encountered them. In any event, by the time Rei caught up with them, much of their technology was on a par and in some cases ahead of that brought from Earth.

  It makes for an interesting mix, that's for sure.

  Entry 3-069: March 5, 2015

 

  Really good ears

  In the middle of the novel Rome's Revolution, Rei is coming up to speed as to how the Deucadons got to where they are, dwelling in caves deep beneath the planet. They explain that living underground presents a lot of problems. Things that normal people take for granted like fresh air, fresh water, waste disposal; all of these were something that they had to build. They became masters of conduit science, the science of getting things from Point A to Point B efficiently.

  One of their crowning achievements was their invisibility cloaks. They used their mastery of conduits to build suits so that the Vuduri could not find them. They were distressed that Rei not only saw them, but came wandering into their camp. Here's how that little discussion went:

  “Yes,” answered Melloy. “When the Vuduri first came here, we approached them and without so much as a word, they slaughtered our people. They came huntin’ for us. We were well hidden but it was nawt from them but it became so. Only one or two times have they found us. Each time there was death. We wear these camouflage suits, which are designed to be invisible to the Vuduri eye.”

  To demonstrate, Steben stood up, pulled a hood over his head and ran his hands along his clothes. About halfway down, he literally disappeared from view.

  “Wow,” Rei said. “How does that work?”

  “The cloth contains light pipes, conduits, which bring images from the back to the front and vice versa,” replied the disembodied voice. “It conducts visible, infrared and ultraviolet as well. We do nawt even have a heat signature.”

  “Wow,” Rei said admiringly. “You guys have mastered invisibility. That is too sleek.”

  “Yes, we have,” answered Steben’s voice. “Which reminds me. I should nawt only be invisible to them. I should be invisible to ya too. There was naw way ya should have seen able to see me. Yet ya did. How is that?”

  Steben winked back into view.

  “Yes, and it was pitch black. So, Mr. Rei, how was it that ya saw Steben?” asked Melloy.

  “I didn’t see him,” Rei said. “I heard him.”

  “Steben is well-trained in the stealth arts. How did ya hear him?”

  “I have really good ears,” Rei said.

  “Ya must have,” said Melloy.

  Well, what Rei did not exactly tell them was that he had sonar-vision which was a gift from OMCOM. It wasn't that he was keeping it secret but more that revealing it would just slow down the process of him getting back to the secret Ibbrassati enclave to the North.

  Entry 3-070: March 6, 2015

 

  Maybe it’s the water

  Ever since I invented the character of MINIMCOM, people have responded quite well to his somewhat quirky sense of humor. In an earlier post, I explained how MINIMCOM and OMCOM swapped roles. This is not a coincidence. In order for MINIMCOM to have enough computing power to get Rome and Rei from Tabit to Deucado, the Vuduri grafted a portion of OMCOM's original computing structure directly into MINIMCOM's infrastructure. Along with that came a portion of OMCOM's personality so MINIMCOM became, essentially, a blend of the two and simultaneously something else.

  Where OMCOM became less and less caring about the fate of humans, culminating with his callous disregard for the safety of Lupe in The Milk Run, MINIMCOM became more so. Here was a brief exchange between Rei and the Deucadons where Rei tries to explain the danger presented by the Stareaters. Check out MINIMCOM's little quip:

  “I understand,” Rei said. “You do know that the mind-deaf, the mandasurte are in the same boat as you?”

  “Naw,” replied Melloy. “What does a boat have to do with anythin’?”

  “It’s a figure of speech,” Rei said. “The mandasurte, the Ibbrassati, they are not allowed access to any kind of technology. The punishment is death for them, too. So they hide among the mountains like you. That’s where my people are right now, with the Ibbrassati.”

  “I don’t care if they are or they aren’t,” said Melloy. “I would nawt trust any of them, mind-deaf or not.”

  “I have no choice right now. I’ve got to get back there,” Rei said. “I have to warn them about the Vuduri and we’ve got to get the planet ready for the Stareaters.”

  “Stop right there,” Melloy said. “Now what are ya talkin’ about?”

  “They are giant machines or creatures. We don’t know what they are. All I know is that they eat stars and they are headed for Earth,” said Rei fervently.

  “That’s crazy,” said Tridin. “Creatures eatin’ stars. How could such a thing be?”

  “I don’t know but I’ve seen them,” said Rei. “They could be headed this way as well. We have an early warning system and a weapon to destroy them but it’s going to take some work to deploy. I have to get back to show them how to use it.”

  “If one of these creatures comes here, it would destroy this world?” Melloy asked.

  “Yes,” said Rei.

  “Then all the Vuduri would die?”

  “Yes,” Rei said, sadly.

  “Maybe that would nawt be such a bad thing,” Melloy said, laughing loudly.

  Rei just sighed. “Another bunch of crazies,” he thought to himself.

  “Maybe it is the water,” quipped MINIMCOM.

  “Maybe,” Rei said, quietly chuckling to himself.

  MINIMCOM is a pretty funny guy (uh, computer) and does issue some doozies down the road.

  Entry 3-071: March 7, 2015

 

  Going down

  Way back when, I originally had three novels as part of the VIRUS 5 series. Book 1 took place on Tabit. Book 2 took place on Deucado. And Book 3 took place on Earth. But, as I have mentioned numerous times, it became necessary to crush the three novels down into one book which became the modern version of Rome's Revolution.

  As I was executing the major surgery required to boil 330,000
words down to a 160,000 word novel, I had to be ruthless when it came time to throwing things away. One of the casualties of this process was discarding the scene where Rei goes down to the Deucadon's underground city to meet with the leader of the Deucadons whose name was Bukky.

  I had constructed a fairly detailed description of the trip down below the surface and the wonders of a people living underground but other than being interesting, it didn't move the plot along in the slightest so bye-bye. I replaced the whole scene with just a phone call from Melloy to Bukky and accomplished the same goal.

  Even though I was cavalier about it, I was sad because I did spend a lot of time building an underground world. The whole 2,000-word plus section was put away.

  Luckily for me, The Ark Lords came along. Once Rome had made her mind up to build her library, she had to go and visit all the peoples of Deucado including the Deucadons. In Chapter 4 of that book, she goes down to the underground city to meet with Bukky to get what amounts to a thumb drive with all the accumulated knowledge of the Deucadons.

  Well, guess where I got the material to describe what Rome saw? Yup, the deleted scene! I recycled it. It certainly saved me from having to figure the whole thing out again!

  Entry 3-072: March 8, 2015