ALIEN: Manticore
Blackwinter-witch
MemberPraetorianApril 04, 2017UPDATE: September 05 2017***************
ALIEN: Manticore is now past the 110,000 word mark. :D
That's why I've been so scarce around here, busy-busy-busy with writing and housekeeping, Life's usual hurdles, etc..
There's also short-stories coming soon-ish. They're being worked on, but have to be adjusted as the Main story progresses to eliminate continuity errors and such other annoyances.
One short-story ties-in to a work found here having to do with Walter's fate on 'Paradise'.
The other gives my views on the origin of The Alien, which I am titling ALIEN: Origins and it's far more deserving of that title than Alan Dean Foster's Covenant prequel.
A third short-story is loosely-related to the ALIENverse, but will be available for reading also.
END UPDATE*******************
I'll be posting little excerpts and teasers here, entertaining questions (though some I may not be able to answer) and I hope you guys enjoy this little window into my perspective on the ALIENverse. :) This is all partially-edited material, so it's going to be rough and have flaws.
This little bit calls-back to something Ridley Scott wanted for ALIEN, the 'flying mouse drones'. I love the idea, and as a nod of Respect and Appreciation to R. Scott, here they are in their scene.
" The ship tended itself, and it’s hibernating crew conscientiously. It constantly monitored everything aboard and outside, surveilling the cosmos via it’s sensor arrays and their sophisticated instruments. It watched, listened, and in some ways it ‘smelled’ ‘touched’ and ‘tasted’ the universe around it.
In the engine section and elsewhere throughout the vessel, the hundreds of tiny drones that swarmed and flitted about only in the absence of the crew had once again emerged, performing their tasks tirelessly. They were semi-autonomous mouse-sized extensions of the mainframe intelligence, it’s roving eyes, ears and hands, ever-vigilant over their country of darkened, cold, minimal-gravity, nitrogen-filled corridors, rooms and chambers.
As the ship came into range of comm relays, it established contact, checked for messages and other items of information the crew had stated preferences for. It collected what there was to be had, flagged items for each member of the crew and continued it’s vigil and voyage.
Sometime later, a signal impinged on antennae sensitive enough to pick up the extremely weak radio-frequency emission, one in the sub-milliwatt range, and conforming to no known comms protocol. It ran, there was a break of precisely twelve seconds, then the signal repeated again.
The computer recorded it, worked out a fix on the emission-point, and flagged it for the Captain’s attention.
Weeks later, it detected a new signal, from the same emission-point as the earlier one. This one was stronger and clearer: A standard-format distress beacon and Emergency Location Beacon.
The artificial intelligence double-checked the emission-point, re-analyzed the earlier, now silent, beacon and compared it to the Interstellar Trade and Commerce Commission standard beacon it had detected. It examined the distances involved to the nearest comm relay, worked out how many years the EM signal would take to reach it at the light-speed limits of radio transmissions.
Manticore did not possess the ITCC-mandated overrides that would force it to go to the distress beacon. The laws on Shadowfall dictated that responding to a distress beacon was strictly ‘Captain’s Discretion’.
In accordance with that, the computer began restoring the ship to Human Habitation standards, altering course to the star system that the emissions were coming from and bringing the Captain out of hypersleep."
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Glad your excited & looking fwd to seeing this all unfold! Only 2, maybe 3 weeks, at Most.
If need be, I will publish when I said I would, and release the 'Preferred Authors Edition' later.
But I won't leave any of you hanging.
Female character. :)
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
I am TOTALLY my worst critic!!
But, I have learned how to use that, and it's actually a help in editing, I have to say. It makes me ask
"Is that truly the best you can do?"
So, helps me keep striving to be better...but it can be a merciless and vicious part of one's own mind.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Sounds good to me!! I'm glad you guys are all looking fwd to this even and especially with ALIEN: Covenant looming over things :D
Just to say, when lurking about on here, I have the story open and am editing even as I wander around the forum. It really helps me focus my thoughts I've found.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
I agree completely. I know what you mean about what I call 'The Endless Editing Loop'. That is also a reason why I specified a release date, as a safety net vs my getting caught up in such without noticing, as can happen.
As an example and life lesson I learned:
A guy that a friend knows has been writing and re-working, editing, re-editing a dungeons & dragons type tabletop pen and paper RPG he developed.
He's been doing so for over 20 years now and keeps saying he'll find a game publisher when it's done....and it never gets done...endless editing loop.
So, yes, I completely agree with you and TY for reminding me of such!!! :)
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Thank-you for saying!! I really appreciate the feedback, it tells me that I am achieving the right 'feel' of things!! :D
Glad you've enjoyed the excerpts!! I've enjoyed sharing them as little teaser-y glimpses into my take on the ALIENverse. :)
To me, and from what I've read here in the forum, the 'Feel' is if not the main element of the ALIENverse, it's incredibly vital regardless. It's very important to me to be able to create and sustain the 'feel' for the reader.
Work is ongoing, as we speak. I'm doing this reply during a break from editing. :D
Things are shaping up nicely and if you thought things were rough for the crew of PROMETHEUS, all I will say is that they got off Easy. ;)
Small spoiler: There will be a 'Reverse Holloway Maneuver' in the story. :D
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
How to Un-Cook The Big Chap....
One major problem that stood in my way was how to give The Alien back it's power, it's mystique, make it frightening again.
This was especially problematic as in the course of the story there are some answers given about it.
What I can say without getting spoiler-y is that it won't get inside the ship...there's too much technology on a ship like inboard sensors and the like which give the crew too much advantage vs it.
I've been taking a good, long study of The Alien, the First One, the one that captivated us all and gave many of us nightmares to this day. :)
I can give The Big Chap back it's power, and what I've slowly worked out regarding The Alien over time re-affirms it's darkly beautiful and horrifying beauty, it's perfection in the eyes of the Natural World and an unforgiving universe.
There's Xenomorphs, Protomorphs and Neomorphs...
There's only ONE true Alien.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Nice to know other writers have had similar challenges working with The Big Chap these days!! TY for saying and letting me know!!
Man...Taiga Forest with an Alien...that's just Horrific-Beauty, really!!
Volcanic and such environs...is just totally and absolutely Perfect.
You make a great point about it's 'Alien-ness' and regards to environments!!
" You just cant see it frolicking through in a nice forest, or skipping through some grasslands. "
Unfortunately...I can now. LOL :D
And this exchange has just given me a flash about a minor detail that everyone keeps overlooking...
It's stated in a few places that LV-426 was a 'captured' body, an interstellar wanderer...so...hmmm....gears and machinery are spooling up. ;)
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
No, no!! It's quite alright!! It's kind of a fun mental image...the beast romping in a field of grass and daisies, chasing and snapping at butterflies...it's ODD, but not unpleasant. :D
Dystopican city with one of The Big Chaps...heh, that would be a nightmare, yeah...and almost straight out of my head as well. :)
That's a good idea, intriguing I must say!! Definitely deserving of thought, and the mental imagery leaps right to mind!!
Man, I love this forum where I meet you and others you and I have encountered who have imaginations as active as our own!!
Update: Completing Editing Pass #4. Then there'll be Editing Pass #5 with the 6th as the final one before releasing the story. It's going well enough that I can make accurate estimates now and things are on-track as per the release date I stated :)
2 weeks, possibly a 3rd week, at most. :)
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Ditto and I am so glad I found my way here!!
ALIEN: Manticore:
10 Chapters
58,019 word-count, at the present time
So, it takes a while to go through it, yeah. I work from start-to-finish, to be sure I don't miss anything. It takes longer, but also helps me keep track of what I've edited and such thus far.
EXACTLY, a change somewhere can induce,inspire, or outright force a change elsewhere!!
So far, that's actually been working in my favor as some weak areas have been found and reinforced, built-up to a better degree.
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
Godzilla: King of the Monsters
TY for saying!!
Yeah, it's long, with more to be added. :)
...which is in-progress, and will make things much better than my original first-draft ideas.
8000-odd words is quite a good piece of work!!
In perspective, here's (below) some word counts from writer's guidelines from Publishing sources, so you have a pretty solid accomplishment under you!!
- SHORT STORY:
- Under 500 words can be described as ‘Flash Fiction’
- Between 1000 and 8000 words is a short story (also, most short story competitions will stipulate their required word length for entry)
- Between 5000 and 10,000 words is a long short story
- NOVELLA: This is a story that is between 10,000 and 40,000 words.
Good to hear you're adding chapters and building on what you've got, and I'm looking fwd to reading it!!
Thank-you for the kind words of appreciation and encouragement!!! :)
I'm indeed just about to open it up and continue work on it, as well as roughing out a short story that ties in directly to ALIEN: Manticore and covers the new character more in-depth. I'm TRYING to keep that one genuinely 'short-story', but we'll see how it goes, sometimes stories decide some things for themselves and the writer is just along for the ride. :D
IN SPACE THERE IS NO WARNING
