Atlas and the Celestial Sphere originated from two desires. First, I wanted to do something for my son, who is also named Atlas. (Not about him, just for him). Second, I wanted to create a world that readers could lose themselves within and spend hours daydreaming about and wishing was real.

I have fallen in love with many books in my life, each one for reasons unique to it alone. Many inspired me creatively or academically, others caused me to question and reevaluate my ideas and positions, still others demonstrated the incomprehensible beauty possible when a master takes ahold of a narrative.

Of all the many books I’ve read and loved, only a few have left me wishing I could abandon the real world and live permanently within that time and place described within the novel. Most of these books won’t appear on lists of quintessential literary works, or college reading lists. Some aren’t even written particularly well. Yet, they succeeded in fully suspending my disbelief and in carrying my imagination away to another world/time/universe. Years later, I still sometimes find myself longing to be a part of those narratives. Atlas and the Celestial Sphere is my attempt at creating something like that for future readers.

Additionally, I wanted this story to be about perseverance in the face of failure, about flawed characters overcoming overwhelming obstacles as well as their own crippling weaknesses, and about believing in yourself when no one else does. Like I said, I’m writing this for my son.

I have just completed the first draft and am now running through the first revision. Even with all the many flaws that wake me up in the middle of the night, I’m quite pleased with how the first draft has turned out. Currently, the manuscript is just above 100,000 words. As I tend to underwrite during first draft phase, I expect it will grow to somewhere around 112,000. Considering I only began the project in January, I’m pleased at how quickly it has come together.

For now, I’m posting the first two chapters. They are very much first drafts and I’m sure there are numerous typos, inconsistencies, and other errors. In the near future, I will post preliminary revisions of these and a few additional chapters.