ELIAS STARR Update

10,346 / 50,000 (19.0%)

The blue bar is how many words I wrote since my last update.

ELIAS STARR AND THE PROMETHEUS ENGINE

Today I got cracking on my next novel, Elias Starr and the Prometheus Engine. This is a pretty different book from Fallen and Chasing The Dragon. Although those were pretty different as well, they both dealt heavily with the supernatural and were really dark.

Elias Starr and the Prometheus Engine is nothing like that. It's more of a sci-fi/action book. Today I did some work on it after spending most of last week planning things out and I wrote the first four chapters today.

Here's a look at the progress:

7,941 / 50,000 (15.9%)

Not a lot so far, but not bad for the first day's effort. I may even write some more tonight. Here's a little background info on the book.

Until June of this year, I worked as a substitute teacher in the Chicago area. Substitute teaching isn't exactly a strenuous job. You give the students their assignment or test or put on the movie they have to watch and then you just basically make sure they're not killing anyone (although depending on which part of Chicago you're in, that could be harder than you might think). So this job gave me plenty of time to work on my freelance comic book jobs as well as to do some writing.

One day, I was having a bit of a brainstorm session, jotting down random notes, and I was suddenly hit with this name I absolutely loved--Elias Starr. Doesn't that sound like a great name? The kind of thing that's tailor-made for pulpish sci-fi. I started jotting down some random notes and came up with some rough ideas.

Not too long after that, I met Drew Swift. Drew's an artist from Chicago (and an amazing one at that) and we met on Digital Webbing. We started brainstorming and as luck would have it, we both played off each other very well. Based on some very rough ideas Drew had, we came up with a premise and outline for a five-issue limited series called Machina Nation. Another time during a planning session, Drew asked if I had any ideas for a space epic and I pulled out the notes I jotted down for Elias Starr. Drew loved what I had and we brainstormed for a bit, coming up with even more ideas. However, we decided our priority was going to be Machina Nation, so I put the Elias Starr notes away.

Drew and I recently had to halt production on Machina Nation as he was offered a position with Ape Entertainment. We still keep in touch and we're still very enthusiastic about the prospect of working together in the future, so hopefully that will become a reality.

Anyway, these Elias Starr ideas began to burn a hole in my mind and I wanted to get them out. I began to seek out a new artist (with Drew's permission, of course) and I almost found one. However, it didn't feel right doing this without Drew, so I came up with another project for that artist. I told Drew I had another idea--I was going to do the first story we had in mind as a novel, titled Elias Starr and the Prometheus Engine and I wanted him to handle character designs and the cover art. Drew was very enthusiastic about that idea.

Here's the basic gist of the story--about twenty-five years ago, a ship was created, called the Prometheus Engine. In addition to possessing the most advanced artificial intelligence ever invented, the Prometheus Engine also houses massive databanks that contain zettabytes of information about everything in the known universe--art, history, literature, language, culture, science, math, mythology, etc. The task of the Prometheus Engine was to travel past the known universe, searching out new worlds and civilizations and collecting information about them as well as bringing knowledge of the planets in the Intergalactic Parliament.

However, shortly after the Prometheus Engine launched, it vanished. Until now, over twenty years later, a signal is intercepted that originated from the Prometheus Engine. Parliament enlists Captain Kai Loire, a young but determined and passionate officer in the Parliamentary Security Force. To aid her in her mission, Parliament sends her with the one man who had contact with the Prometheus Engine and may be able to facilitate its return--Elias Starr, infamous pirate who was captured and put into a cryogenic prison for the past twenty years. Also with them is a high-ranking science officer, Adrian Chance--Elias' son who spent the past twenty years growing up without his father and is now older than Elias.

It's going to be a fun ride.