This blog tends to be critically-neglected. Most of my communication is through Facebook, and while I do a lot of writing, most of it is either for 2300AD, or else the novel I'm working on. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of time to devote to something like this. Which is a shame, because some long-form writing, rather than the occasional morsel I manage to post in Facebook, may be a useful way for me to sort some ideas out.
The novel that I'm working on, in close partnership with my wife, Julie, has the working title of "Protector's Hope". It is fairly hard science fiction, with a great deal of speculation on the possibilities of mind-machine interfaces. Within the book, though, these technologies are an accepted, and even normalised, component of society in the colony world where this book is set. I've got it planned as an adventure book, with some underlying threads about free will and the nature of identity.
While the civilazation depicted in the book will seem almost utopian at first, it becomes clear over the course of the book that they are every bit as draconian as the regime back on Earth that they fled from, they are simply more sneaky about it.
On the 2300AD side, Tools for Frontier Living is currently being edited, and will head to layout soon. French Arm Adventures should follow. I'm currently working on the French Arm Sourcebook, andI have started the outline for Chinese Arm Adventure and the Chinese Arm Sourcebook. Somehere in there will be the military sourcebook, covering weapons, equipment, vehicles and some specific information about national militaries,.
In between and around those books will be at least one short adventure, tentatively titled "The Secret Garden", and set on the distant Canadian colony world of Kanata. Also in the works for generic Traveller, and headed for self-publication, are a book on robots, drones, cyborgs and androids, along with another book on gun design. Each should have significant illustrations, even I have to do them myself.
My writing life looks to be very busy for months to come. Of course, I also have the ongoing saga of my home renovations, the need to protect my gardens from marauding deer, kitten rescue, an escape-artist dog, and three very bright kids, and my life is pretty full. I wouldn't have it any other way.
