Posts Tagged ‘alien adventures’
New science fiction book: Why visit the planet Meniscus?
The next book in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series, Return to Sintha, will be here in March. Perhaps you’d like to know why you would want to visit Meniscus??? No, it is not a part of the knee, but a planet out there among the stars. The word ‘meniscus’ refers to its meaning as the ‘curved upper surface of a liquid in a tube’ and refers to the way water behaves (mis-behaves) on the alien planet.
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When you read, do you love:
- adventure – lots of action and danger?
- a short read (all the Meniscus stories are about 20,000 words or less)?
- an interesting setting – lots of alien species, plant and animal?
- an alien language with a dictionary and in-text translation of what the aliens are saying?
- a bit of romance – not explicit, but relationships front and centre?
- following the action with a map? and a glossary of alien terms for plant life, wild life and measurement?
- an annotated list of all the characters in the Series?
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There are twelve previous titles in the Meniscus Series. You could start anywhere, but I recommend beginning with Crossing the Churn, Oral Traditions or Rosetta Stone.
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as yet, has no title on the unfinished painting.
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In my next post, I will talk a little about the setting of Return to Sintha and some of its main characters.
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All my Best,
Jane Tims (a.k.a. Alexandra)
An Upcoming Trilogy in the Meniscus Series
To the right of the post, you will see, in a column, a list of the nine existing books in the Meniscus Science Fiction Series. This summer, I am working on books 10, 11 and 12, a trilogy in that the books are connected in theme and story. The three books are (provisionally) entitled:
Meniscus: Rosetta Stone
Meniscus: The Struggle
Meniscus: Return to Sintha
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The books tell the story of how Abra, historian and transcription expert, works to solve the mystery of the Dock-winder language, hoping an ancient manuscript written in Dock-winder will contain a clue to the downfall of these oppressive overlords.
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The books contain many old friends from previous books in the Meniscus Series, including the people of Themble Hill. They also introduce two new characters: Abra and her husband Trath, a Slain.
From the list of characters at the end of each book:
Abra– an historian; transcribes, transliterates and translates Museum manuscripts from Gel-speak to English; brought to Meniscus in the 2013 harvest; taken as she worked in the library of the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Connecticut, translating a codex of Maya glyphs into English; used as a processor of the beelwort drug by the Dock-winders of the Prell-nan Ogle-hath syndicate; met her husband Trath when he brought raw beelwort to be processed; lives with Trath in the Museum of Dock-winder Legacy, Prell; as she works in the Museum library, she sometimes forgets she is no longer on Earth.
Trath – a trader; gathers wild beelwort for sale to the city syndicates and hospitals; brought to Meniscus as a baby by the Dock-winders in the 1988 harvest and genetically altered to be a Slain; makes his home in the Museum of Dock-winder Legacy, in Prell; addicted to beelwort; married to Abra.
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Here is an excerpt from Rosetta Stone:
“Why did you leave me?”
says Trath.
Abra lifts her head.
Stares at Garnock,
the Wandering Star.
Careful of her words.
“You are never home.
Never tell me
where you have been.
Hardly speak to me
when you are there.”
“You are always
in the archives,”
says Trath,
“with your books and papers.
Never seem to care if I come or go.”
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All my books are illustrated and include maps, a character list, a glossary and a Gel-speak dictionary.
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Meniscus: Rosetta Stone will be out this fall.
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All my best,
Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)
new book in the Meniscus Series
My new book in the Meniscus series … Meniscus: South from Sintha … is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats! The book follows the continuing story of Odymn and the Slain as they head out on a new adventure and build their relationship with one-another. To purchase the book click here for the paperback and here for the Kindle edition.
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On a planet where Humans are slaves, Odymn is free. Her companion, the Slain, was once a trader in sentient beings. Now, for love of Odymn, he has agreed to change his ways and to return his former captives to their homes. Together, he and Odymn travel the urban alleyways and wilderness woodlands of the Southern District of Prell-nan, risking everything. They must battle wild life, outsmart power-hungry Dock-winders and dodge the grasp of ruthless Gel-heads. But in spite of good intentions, will the Slain be able to right the wrongs of the past? Or will the consequences of his actions outweigh the good he and Odymn want to do?
In the second of the Meniscus series, South from Sintha tells the continuing story of Odymn and the Slain. Odymn loves her silent companion, but trying to help his former captives may be a challenge she did not anticipate.
You can try to mend the broken, to right the wrongs of the past, but sometimes you can`t go back.
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Copyright 2017 Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra) Tims
a muse takes over – telling a story through the seasons
In New Brunswick, the passage of time is measured in part by the seasons. Right now we are in winter, in the midst of another snow storm and taking a lot of care when walking on all the ice. Soon it will be spring with crocuses blooming on the lawn and water in every hollow. Then summer, days on the deck and keeping cool. Finally, my favourite season, autumn, colourful leaves and starry nights.
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Since I am a writer embedded in the winter-spring-summer-fall cycle, it’s natural that changing seasons are an important part of my sci-fi novel. Although weather is often a factor in story telling, I find many books ignore the changing of the seasons.
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Seasons on planet Meniscus occur in a cycle of four, as in the northern and southern latitudes of Earth. On Meniscus the seasons are the result of a changing heat regime as once per ‘year’ one of the twinned suns slips behind the other. Whether the physics of this makes much sense, I can’t say. “I’m a biologist, Jim, not a physicist!”
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Book One, Crossing the Churn, begins in summer. Foraging for food is easy. As the days pass, leaves begin to fall and soon the characters wade rather than walk through the forest.
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Book Two, South from Sintha, finishes in autumn, as the days grow colder. New characters in Book Two are looking for a home before winter sets in.
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Book Three, Winter at the Water-climb, takes place in a world of ice. The plot focuses on the coming of cold weather and shorter days. Foraging for food is difficult since everything is hidden under snow drifts. Survival depends on what has been put into storage.
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Book Four, The Town in the Themble Wood, celebrates the coming of spring and the vibrancy of summer. The Slain and Odymn scout the Themble Wood for a town-site and help the other Humans establish a new community.
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Book Five, so new it has no name, will take the characters back into autumn. In many ways this book will be a race against time as winter approaches and the Slain must find Odymn and other characters who have been lost after a crisis.
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Including seasons in my story adds to the possibilities for describing setting. The cinnamon scent of trees in the autumn Themble Wood, tracks in the snow of the new town, and melting water-springs add to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes my writing can explore.
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The progress of getting my first book into CreateSpace has been hampered this week by the appearance of ‘The Blue Screen of Death’ on my computer. It is fixed now, but I am sure the folks on Meniscus have never faced such a challenge!!!
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Copyright 2017 Jane Tims
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