Pulled out Iron Falls

The other day I talked about the need for good well rounded characters, and that my story Iron Falls kind of lacked them as I opted to go with a more action driven story. Well, after about a week online through e-Quill Publishing, I got my first honest review of the story. Let me just say that it's awesome to see that the reviewer in question opted for discretion over humiliating little old me on the big bad web. Evidently, despite long hours editing and getting it proofed by several others, there were still a few consistencies and typos found on the final copy. So, I pulled it after finding that no one has purchased a copy.

Does this mean that I'm going to throw in the towel, pack my toys and join the circus. Yeah, you'll be so lucky! Far from it, I'm going to fix what needs fixing and streamline inconsistencies that had nonetheless found their way into the submission. The reviewer was kind enough to provide me some pointers where I've gone pear shaped and where I did rather well, so it's going to be a lot of work - but fun work as I rediscover once more the basics of writing.

Project Lucky 13: The Location

Introduction

Locations are generally the backdrop where the story is set in, the "stage" if you like. For Project Lucky 13, I have opted for the red planet. Yes, I know that Mars seems to be the de facto other planet where writers set their science fiction stories on. While I'm not in the same league as Ben Bova, Kim Stanley Robinson and Gregory Benford (amongst others), I've had a fascination with Mars and had always wanted to write a bunch of stories centering on people living on Mars.

Background

So, let's look at the basics:

Mars is the fourth planet in our Solar System, and named after the Roman god of war. It's "Red Planet" nicknamed is derived from the iron oxide that is prevalent on its surface, which gives it a reddish appearance. Accordingly, it is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth. The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons.

Until the first unmanned flyby of Mars occurring in 1965, there has been speculation about the presence of war, and even life. But follow on missions suggested that Mars once had large-scale water coverage on its surface, while small geyser-like water flows may have occurred during the past decade. Of course, recent unmanned exploration of the red planet, as early as 2005, radar data revealed the presence of large quantities of water ice at the poles, and at mid-latitudes.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Martian Trojan asteroid. Mars is currently host to three functional orbiting spacecraft:

Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. On the surface are the two Mars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) and several inert landers and rovers, both successful and unsuccessful. The Phoenix lander completed its mission on the surface in 2008. Observations by NASA's now-defunct Mars Global Surveyor show evidence that parts of the southern polar ice cap have been receding. (quoted from Wikipedia)

I think one of the reasons why many a writer chose Mars as a setting is because it can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude reaches −3.0, a brightness surpassed only by Venus, the Moon, and the Sun. And let's face it, Mars has some pretty impressive landscape to boot. It has Olympus Mons, the highest known mountain within the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. It's practically inviting itself to be used as a setting.

In The Project

So, how does this fit Project Lucky 13, you ask?

Easy.

A large chunk of the story will revolve in and around Valles Marineris, the longest stretch of canyons and labyrinths. It is roughly the same length as the continental United States, and has a number of craters and chasms. It and the Noctus Labyrinthus are notable locations within a fictional colonial territory I named Nueva Venezuela.

Nueva Venezuela and Karamchand

While a lot of it's still sketchy to say the least, and I need to create a more detailed fictional history for both, both colonial territories started of independent of each other. Karamchand, which centers around Olympus Mons and the Tharsis Bulge, started predominantly of as a collaborative project between the Indian government and several corporations in the 2050s. In turn, Nueva Venezuela started of as a dream of the Venezuelan mission commander that landed on the red planet in 2047. It eventually grew with continued financial backing from European, Latin League and NorSec interests.

By the time the story starts in 2202 and 2206, both territories are self governing extensions of NorSec. Naturally, there are other colonial territories controlled by other Earth-based power blocs and administered by a U.N. agency. Hopefully, I'll enlighten you on them in a follow up post.

Project Lucky 13: Introduction

This morning I posted about what I should be doing, and after much contemplation over a good latte and a torturous training session at the local Les Mills gym. For starters, it'll tie in with a marketing strategy to have something downloadable for free -- give you guys a taste of my writing style. This hopefully will make you want to go to e-Quill Publishing and buy Vesta Central and a few other stories written by me. Good plan, eh?

Anyway, I'm dubbing it Project Lucky 13 until I come up with a proper title.

How did it come about?

The idea started out of a short story that I showed to a couple of my trusted friends, titled First Mounted Rifles: Thirteen's Luck: a pretty basic story that I dreamed up a while back and was to go on to Written Games as part of the new promotion strategy around my writing. Having asked for feedback, my friends suggested that I expend on it further. Considering that I just finished Iron Falls and submitted, I figured that a new project wouldn't hurt. Besides, I need the practice.

So, what's it about?

The story will be set on Mars, in the first decade of the 23rd century. I was undecided if I wanted to keep it in the same futuristic universe but at the end thought figured that it be nice to play in it, and that it wouldn't hurt things too much. After all, the upcoming Iron Falls story and its direct follow-ons were to be set in and about 2115 AD with Gene Bukowski, Kevin Yamakawa, Emilio Heerdan and company. In turn, Project Lucky 13 is going to be set on Mars and roughly over 90 years later. What else can I tell you? Hmmm . . . the protagonists are going to be members from of the NorSec military's law enforcement arm and based in Nueva Venezuela Territory -- itself founded by the European Union and the Latin League, who are part of NorSec.

Anyways, I will be updating you on Project Lucky 13 as it progresses.