Points on an alternate timeline…
That’s what many of my books represent. I’ve had great fun scattering them along this timeline corresponding to an imagined but alternate future history for 10+ years. You’re probably not aware of the nexus between these books. Maybe you’ll be surprised. “OK, you have four series,” you say. “Aren’t those at least independent?” One is, the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries,” a miniseries of two books so far, Muddlin’ Through and Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (the two books are on sale from April 29 to May 6, by the way). All the books in the other three series are scattered along this long timeline that exists in my imagination.
It’s curious. I don’t write linearly. I can’t be constrained by a linearity like Grafton’s alphabet mysteries or Rowling’s Harry Potter stories. Linearity is far from my thoughts when I sit down to start a new yarn. As I go along, I might see that the story can reuse some characters and settings on that timeline, but that’s never a goal to begin with. That’s why there are independent books like Mary Jo’s adventures and More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. My new book, Rogue Planet, is 99% independent too. I also hop around three genres. One quarter you might see a sci-fi novel, another a mystery, a third a thriller, or combinations of these genres. You can still think of me as channeling Asimov, whose extended Foundation series (that includes books beyond the Foundation trilogy) is a masterpiece of sci-fi. Mine goes beyond sci-fi, though, and the points land on that timeline in a random fashion.
The first point on that timeline is The Midas Bomb. The first edition was my third book, though, published after Full Medical and Survivors of the Chaos, both following it on the timeline. These three books can all stand-alone, too, but they are points on that timeline—and now they each start a series (nothing unusual about that). I’ve been scattering points on that timeline ever since, if I thought it was appropriate to put them there. New books might land on that timeline at any point; they might not either.
The Midas Bomb is the first book in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series”; I didn’t start writing that as a series (it was intended as a prequel of Full Medical), but it always seemed that C&C had another case to write about. TMB is also where arch-villain Vladimir Kalinin makes his first appearance—he appears on that timeline in many spots, contributing his villainous perspective in two series, the C&C books and the “Clones and Mutant Trilogy,” as well as in two books that bridge two series, The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan and Soldiers of God. (I have many other villains, of course, but old Voldya has staying power.) You see that with time sci-fi elements are added to the mystery and thrills while still providing those mystery and thrills. You can’t begin to imagine the fun!
You might already know that Rogue Planet is in the same universe as the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” that begins with Survivors of the Chaos, and the Dr. Carlos stories in Pasaodobles in a Quantum Stringscape and Fantastic Encores! Rogue Planet is also on the big timeline too, even though it’s more independent of the previous books on the timeline (it’s hard sci-fi with fantasy elements, but high-tech instead of magic). There’s plenty of space for more books on the timeline. I’m not committed to putting them there, of course. Any decision to that effect often occurs during the writing, especially for a book like Rogue Planet that doesn’t use a lot of characters or settings from previous books.
Do you need to know any of this to enjoy my books? Certainly not! All of my books are stand-alones in the sense that you can read them independently of all the others. You might enjoy seeing how the Chen and Castilblanco characters develop from novel to novel, where those clones and the mutant came from in No Amber Waves of Grain, or how the colonists came to be on a planet in the 82 Eridani system in Sing a Samba Galactica, but that’s not essential. And I never write cliffhangers—every short story and novel is a complete story. I guarantee that. Still, you might be amused by that lengthy timeline that lurks in the background. I haven’t talked about all the books on there. You can have fun placing them too, after you read them!
***
Rogue Planet is now available! Hard sci-fi, space opera, or fantasy? You decide. Think Game of Thrones or Star Wars with high tech replacing the magic. Available in all ebook formats for $2.99 (Amazon and Smashwords) and print for $10.99 (Create Space). Spring reading at its best!
Note: I’ve refrained from adding links for all the books mentioned above. Here’s the link to my author page instead, where you’ll find all the books mentioned…and more!
In libris libertas…
