About me

I’m a full time technology manager in the real life but I have enjoyed science fiction, fantasy, and odd humor for all of my life. I’ve dreamed about being a writer for dozens of years, but never found the time to write anything with work, life and doing the adult thing. A few years back, I began writing a 50,000 word novel every year as part of NaNoWriMo. Around the same time, I began running to help increase my fitness level and health, which gave me time to dwell on the stories brewing in my head.

Since 2011, I have written several half-pieced together novels that may get looked at and completed some point in the future. However, A Distant State was originally written in November 2013, but was the most thought out and structured novel that has the best chance of being completed.

Status of A Distant State:

The book is roughly 60% complete and had been collecting dust for over a year and a half as I worked on other writing projects. The Nerdist contest came along and I felt it was time to finally dust off the almost completed first draft and finish up this bad boy to see if I can get it published. I’m planning on eighteen chapters, with fourteen completed in the first draft. I’m projecting about 100,000 words total, give or take a few hundred. I’m currently re-reading the novel to get back into the characters voices so I can write the final four chapters as well as editing the earlier chapters.

Of course, these are all first drafts and need some editing love where I’m hoping Inkshare will help polish this up and make it a novel worth reading.

Goals:

I’d like at a minimum to be able to publish e-books so I will need to have 750 pre-orders, but seeing A Distant State in paper would be outstanding.

Here are some stretch goals (borrowed from Kickstarter lingo)

1. 100 Preorders: I’ll release a new chapter (in raw edited form) every 100 pre-orders beyond that.
2. Every person that orders a "COMRADE" level, can submit a name for a character in the novel and I’ll squeeze them into A Distant State.
   
3. At 250 pre-orders, I’ll post a video update so you can see my ugly mug and answer any questions you may have for me.

Synopsis

In this alternate history timeline, Leader of the North American Communist Republic Fidel Castro places the most intelligent minds, their children, and members of the communist party of the 1960s into a vessel that is destined to circle the solar system for one hundred years until it was safe to return to Earth. The threat of a nuclear winter was too great by having members of the communist party chaperoning the children and raising them as their own, they taught the children to believe that Father Castro was the savior of all mankind.

The Supreme Father has three golden rules:

1. All Father Castro Gave us Life
   
2. The Republic over the Individual
   
3. The All-Father Is Never Questioned
   

Fifty-five years have passed since the launch of the NACR Libertad and Aleksi Brilev is preparing for his first time as the ship’s lead cellist in the farewell performance of the oldest member and last person onboard to have placed their feet on Earth. His mentor joins him for a final practice session and entrusts Aleksi with a priceless gift full of hundreds of keys, both musical and mysterious.