Moving Westward

Hello lonely blog follower, Facebook friends, and even Twitter account holders who made the ill advised action of following my never so frequent updates.  You can be thankful at least that I am not filling your mailboxes and feeds with endless posts.  Focused posting.  That’s good enough for me… when I get around to it that is.

Despite numerous heartfelt attempts, I have decided that I am completely incapable of generating any enthusiasm for rewriting “The West Wind ” (at least presently)  I am therefore pursuing what I believe to be the only sensible course of action… Start writing a new book!  If there is a rule that I need to finish rewriting the previous before starting anew, like some sort of literary lima beans before desert, I am afraid I am guilty of its violation.

“Due West” picks up roughly a year following the conclusion of “The West Wind.”  Rachel West returns as a principle POV character, as does my favorite troubled and unstable heir Eli Hardy.  For my third POV I am introducing a new character, the inimitable inspector Edward Percival Alford sent by the American Colonial government to investigate the extraordinary events of the previous story.  The setting remains the same – the Steampunk Western alternate world of the early 1900s.

Scrivener files created, timeline drawing template opened, let the plotting begin!

“The West Wind” – A Steampunk Adventure set in the Old West

Un-sticking this post…

Status as of 10/23/11  11/26/11 1/29/12 11/23/12: Putting the rewrite “on hold”

It is the summer of 1912 and the western frontier of the British American Colonies is a pressure cooker of intrigues fueled by greed, resentment, and the need for revenge in this steampunk adventure dominated by plots and power struggles between rich and powerful industrialists. It is a world of massive floating mansions, horses, stagecoaches, airships, private railroad cars, dusty western towns, flying machines, and a traveling mechanical freak show.

Dramatis personæ:

Roland Pritchard – a true success story of Her Majesty’s American Colonies having built an extensive railroad empire that is the backbone of industrial development in the western frontier.

Eli Hardy – the only child of Jakob Hardy, recently returned from studying abroad (something more controversial) and is confronted by the real truth behind his father’s success.

Rachel West – an apprentice clock maker (something less banal) has emigrated fled to the American Colonies in search of a place where she and with her half brother Clarence will be accepted for who they are and not what society dictates. to escape a deadly conspiracy only to find herself embroiled in even more dangerous intrigues.

Eli Hardy… The Angry Young Man

Eli has been an interesting character to develop….  Here’s a little bit more about him:

Eli Hardy is the only child of Jakob Hardy, the second richest most powerful tycoon in the western territories who will stop at nothing to become the singular richest and most powerful man in the western territories.

Eli has recently returned from studying abroad and is confronted by the real truth behind his father’s success– the brutal exploitation of his employees, the land, and its native population.

Eli is appalled and humiliated by his father’s various attempts to engage his participation in the family business.

The West Wind follows Eli as he struggles to reconcile the gnawing hatred of his father’s methods and the fear of what his life would become without them.