CarlHoliday

Chapter 6 Ship Clock 261997 Abner 34-793k The Lab Rat A few kilometers outside Second City Ring 4 a large complex of multistory buildings lay behind two tall chain-link fences topped with razor wire on either side of a twenty-five thousand volt electric fence. No one was allowed in or out without prior authorization. The largest building, covered an area of over one thousand hectares, was built as a bot operated pesticide and pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The other four buildings

Chapter 5 Ship Clock 262003 Li 72-893b The Orphanage Li stepped from the speeder that brought her from the bot juvenile detention facility where she stayed while doing her three months of community service. It was at an early childhood education center for children of working stepparents, so the work she had to do wasn’t that bad. Though, since she had to stay at the detention facility, the whole episode was not what one might call a good time. After she pulled her bag out of the speeder, th

Chapter 4 Ship Clock 262003 Moli 20-578p Apricots Moli sat in her room without the energy for anything. She had a book on her module to study, but it was boring and caused her to nod off on occasion. She lay back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. She noticed a spark of light directly above her. She’d never noticed it before and wondered what it was. She got up and went out of the room. “Nanny, where are you,” Moli called. “In my storage room, why are you not studying?” Nanny said

Chapter 18? Yes, Chapter 18. I was trying to come up with what I was going to write next in the next chapter in the Hercules III saga, but I just couldn’t come up with anything logical. There just wasn’t anywhere to go even though I had the outline to go by. So, I thought about where I could go with The G. M. Os. And, then, yesterday it came to me and by five o’clock this afternoon I had completed Chapter 18. Plus, it ended with a cliff hanger, which is extremely rare for me, but seemed appropriate. So, now I have to write Chapter 19. And, there’s a strong possibility of having a Chapter 20. From where I’m at now, I can actually see this going on for a long time, but maybe I’ll end it sometime soon and then jump into a second G. M. Os. book. We’ll have to see. There is one character that I think needs to come to the commune so that will probably occur in Chapter 20 or maybe 21. I just don’t know at this point in the story. I think I have laid the foundation for a possible whole new book in this series. I have a good set of core characters who interact very well. Children are now coming into the story. Considering how long these people live and the number of years between physical ages, it is quite logical to have this go on. The structure of the commune is such that it lends itself to bringing in new characters and permitting the core set to expand and develop further. I also think the child to adult cycle is an important tool to allow one set of children to move off the commune to pursue their own lives somewhere else on Hercules III or move into the dormitories at the commune and work toward building familial relationships and having farms of their own. The possibilities are endless.

Chapter 3 Ship Clock 262003 Frederica 72-893b The Commune At five thousand thirty-two hectares the commune was the largest on Ring 5, but not the largest on the ship. Frederica had heard there was a new commune on Ring 1 that was made up of thirty-seven adjoining farms and totaled over thirty-eight thousand hectares. Of course, those were established farms that already had male and female partnerships—usually brothers and sisters, but sometimes due to circumstances and permission of the b

Chapter 2 - The Temple has been published. It's the first chapter of a new protagonist, Li, who is very much into meditation. I was also very much into meditation when I was studying esoteric religion. It was fun and gave me a peaceful attitude in life. Later, when I was very much into evangelical Christianity I went back to meditating on what I was reading. It helped. Of course all of that was long ago, but the memories remain. So, I gave Li a little project. Later in the book, Li will have more adventures, some good, some bad. I don't know why I go for the bad stuff all the time, but maybe it's because of all the mental trouble in my life. That's where the new book is going. In the first two chapters, the protagonist is thrown into an extreme mentally harrowing situation that has been very difficult to write. How does one describe a brutal rape of a child without making it sound erotic? How does one describe sexual abuse without being too graphic? Thankfully, I was able to give the protagonist an out that may not be what he wanted. It is a good thing that I do have that outline to go by, otherwise my thoughts might wander into areas that have no business in the story. Not really looking forward to Xmas, though. It's not much of a day around here. Xmas was a big deal when I was younger because we would go over to my grandparents to be with my cousins. There are six of us, surprisingly all a year apart. I'm the youngest, born and raised in a city, basically a sissy, and, as it has turned out, crazy as hell, but didn't know it. N_____ and I have yet to discuss what we'll be having for Xmas dinner. He'll probably want hickory smoked, grilled steaks. I've been thinking of bacon, fried eggs, and hash browns, just to be different. We've been eating burgers and steaks for the past month and a half, or so. Anyway, hope everyone has a pleasant Friday and enjoys reading Chapter 2.

The G. M. Os. Chapter 2 Ship Clock 262003 Li 32-413f The Temple As usual the day was warm and, of course, there wasn’t a gray cloud in the sky. There were never any clouds in the artificial sky. Li, thirteenth iteration age 12, walked along a path from her residence toward the Temple of the Golden Cock where for the past month or so she had been meditating mostly to learn how she could have an active role in the temple, but, also, partly to exorcise the ghosts her brother put there. He w

As luck would have it, I screwed up and tried to accept Microsoft’s offer of OneDrive. What a stupid thing that was. I couldn’t remember my password, and then I couldn’t remember the answers to all of the questions they asked to verify my identity. So they locked me out of my account and now I can’t send out any chapters of The G.M.Os. to get proofed. Plus, I had already sent one out one and was waiting for it to come back. So, I’m stuck for the next while or so. With help from an Admin, I was able to get the ID for my proofreader and sent her a message of my new situation, including my alternate email address. Hopefully, she hasn’t gone off on vacation for the holidays and will be back soon so I can start publishing more chapters. The new book is going along fairly well. It’s a good thing I outlined it in the beginning because that is making the writing process go a lot better that usual. The creative wave is still there, but it has slacked off a bit. Good thing I have time, since I don’t plan on publishing it until The G.M.Os. has finished. I think I’ve come up with a final title, ‘The Memoirs of Jaconnus.’ He an author of a lot of novels and dies a rich man (oh, how we dream of impossible things). The only problem so far is the sexual abuse he is subjected to in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Hey, what would a CarlHoliday story be without a little violence or abuse? Of course, the Warnings will occur at the beginning of each chapter so readers have a choice of proceeding or not. This will definitely not be a PG-13 story. It’ll barely qualify for NC-17. The good thing is that in each occurrence the author of the memoirs is able to see that when he was being groomed for abuse (in Chapter 1) by his friend’s father and the man who lived with his father it was wrong and he should have gotten out of that situation. He explains that in the beginning he was so innocent and naïve that he couldn’t make that determination. Plus, there weren’t any females in the house and everyone went around nude, for the most part. Then in Chapter 2 when he is drugged and brutally raped he has the ability to recognize that what happened is wrong and takes himself out of that situation by never going over to his friend’s house again. He never explains why he didn’t tell his parents, but maybe being the equivalent of eleven years old made him feel embarrassed by what happened. Chapter 2 ends with total resolution of the situation with the friend’s father and the friend, but it also ends tragically. Chapter 3 looks good with a friend from high school going to the same college. There he’ll meet a new friend and a young man who becomes his lover. Chapter 4? Well, let’s get Chapter 2 finished and then we’ll talk about 3. On the home front everything is going along fairly well. Nothing to report other than I have to call the lab where I had my blood draw from my annual PC visit. Doesn’t look good. They don’t call unless some test has to be redone.

Seems I’m on a creative wave and I don’t want to get off. Wrote the outline—which is something of an exception to my normal writing technique—today, including naming the protagonist (Jacobus or Jac), childhood friends (best friend until death is Laconus or Lac), primary friends, secondary friends, lovers, and lovers under contract. The span of the story will be from age 5 to death at 106. To the best of my chemically fuzzy memory, this will be the first time I’ve tried to write something in first person. This will be written as a memoir. Gore Vidal distinguished memoirs from autobiographies in that autobiographies are written as fact, while memoirs are written from memory, meaning that sometimes it might not be exactly as it happened. The premise of the story is the development of a gay man from sexual awareness to death. Another stretch for me will be writing this without explicit sex, but still trying to be erotic enough to maintain interest. We’ll see. Primarily, this will be about men under paid contract to an older man (Jac) to provide household duties and bedroom duties for an unspecified period of time. It takes love and throws it out the window. Though, Jac will have lifelong male friends, including Lac, who will provide strong friendship bonds (including casual sex) that will be as close to love as Jac can get. There is a part early on where Jac is seduced by Lac’s father and the father’s contract lover; these will occur in the year before Jac’s preliminary majority (on Hercules III age 15 is when someone can drink alcoholic beverages and have an active public sex life). Of course, these seductions will be noted by Jac in his memoir in the fuzzy memory of a man at age 100 (on Hercules III that is 747,116 years old), they will not be specific to the point of detailing what exactly occurred. Mostly, it will be Jac’s view that what happened was wrong and it might have had an effect on his later relations with younger men (early on after final majority at 18, later in their later 20s and early 30s). At this point, the first few chapters are fairly well in mind. As is the last chapter and the epilogue (written by the adult son (straight) of a woman he met while a young man and her husband who Jac seduced and had an affair with (what the heck, this story is about sex, mostly)).

WARNING: This chapter contains descriptions of graphic violence. The G. M. Os. Chapter 1 Ship Clock 262003 Eugenus 54-721c The Hacker “Well, what did they want? Stefan asked. “Us,” Carlos said. “And?” “The new probe; they want us to pilot it. They want to get rid of all of us; they’re ending the greenie project. I guess the bots finally figured out they could do all of our tasks without any help from us.” “When do we leave?” “In a day or three; it’ll take a few days to get all of t

This is a multi-chapter sci-fi story primarily about 11 to 18 year-olds, though some chapters deal with adults. There is sexual exploration, graphic descriptions of violence, religious themes, and the development of a master-slave relationship. There is bit of sex, but nothing too graphic.

Finally! The end has come. The GMOs ends at Chapter 17. There are no more words to add. Difficult chapter, death, evil, marriage, commitment, and children. Pending revisions, the story ends at 112,301 words. Soon, to a computer near you, The GMOs presents a world controlled by robots where humans are treated not much better than cargo as their spaceship heads out into the heavens looking for an acceptable planet for the humans to colonize. There will be crime, prisons, gay identification, gay bigotry, gay and straight sex, attempted murder, suicides, sexual evil, children, and just a touch of humor. On the whole a rather pleasant story. Difficult to write, even though the words flowed easily. The only thing to remember about this story is that it doesn’t take place here, today. If something sounds morally wrong here, it might not be there, not to say those things occur. This is a story of the future and don’t be aghast at the differences between here and there. The first chapter will carry a warning that it contains descriptions of unbelievably bloody scenes that have an important impact on the main protagonist of the whole story. After that, those chapters that contain something that some may find uncomfortable to read will contain a warning. Unfortunately, skipping a chapter may have a detrimental impact on reading further chapters; miss something now, might not understand what’s happening later, not to say that will occur.

Once again things didn’t turn out as planned. I wanted Chapter 16 to deal with the marriage of two characters but that was thwarted by bureaucratic rigamarole. Then, where to go from there? So, my original plan was to add a new character to the current core group in Chapter 17. Well, the way it worked out was that the protagonist from Chapter 1 is the addition. This character brings a whole new set of problems—what would a story be without problems—and as it worked out, he fit perfectly into the mix. The result is 17 becomes 16. Do I go back to the original 16? No, as much as I would like to, those two characters are secondary to the overall aim of the story as a whole. I now have two characters that can lead the story towards its inevitable end. Chapter 17 deals with tragedy and recovery. I’m also thinking of adding in a bit of love, nothing wrong with that is there? What have I learned from all of this? Well, for me, don’t set plans in concrete. Don’t even set them into freshly poured concrete. Go with the flow of the story. Bring protagonist 1 into a relationship with protagonist 2 and let the secondary characters all around support them until no more words can be thrown into the mix. And, the word counts? Chapter 16 comes in at 7,413 bringing the total to 104,767, pending revisions. How many more chapters, well at least one, maybe two, depends on how many words I can squeeze out of the old gray matter and whether the additions can add anything rather than just word counts.

Finished Chapter 15 last night. Good thing I have a great selection of music to listen to because on Tuesday and Wednesday this chapter was difficult to write. Two suicide episodes were just a bit tragic and tough to put down. Then, there was the end to write, which ultimately turned into a surprise, happy event. Nothing like death and sex to get things bubbly. Did a bit of Excel boo-boos on reporting the results of the last chapter. The total word count now equals 97,354 and the projected 20 chapter word count stands at 129,805. I think I’ll do a wedding in Chapter 16, Chapter 17 will deal with a new resident, Chapter 18 another wedding, Chapter 19 another new resident, and Chapter 20 will bring the story to a close with children arriving at the core group’s residences. Yes, adopted children in straight, gay, and lesbian households. Should be a fun, happy ending. Of course, maybe that will all change. Sometimes I just can’t quite control what happens in a story, Chapter 15 being a prime example. One tragedy almost hit too close to home. Saw at great quote on Facebook this afternoon: I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiatist in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Roald Dahl

Okay! Need a new character? Well, create one. Give him a trade, a living situation, a tragic event, rejection, and finally, the chance for love. Chapter 14 came in at almost 7,000 words, on track to exceed 100,000 words in 20 chapters. But, maybe, I’ll just stop when I hit 100,000. At this point, there is only one, maybe, two characters that are coming to the commune. Definitely one. Haven’t decided on the other. Chapter 15 will deal with suicide and possibly a wedding (or, maybe it won’t, just depends on the suicide situation). Suicides a fun topic I’ve dealt with before and having been there myself, it’s always nice to reflect on the maybes. The last time came very close to being the last time, just couldn’t do it, though. No matter how down I get, just can’t get rid of those optimistic thoughts, which, so far, have kept me alive. But, there’s always that moment when the time is wrong and no matter how much you really don’t want to do it, you do, and don’t have to worry about it anymore. That’s the problem with jumping, it takes too long, you have those few moments to think, “Oh, shit! This is really going to hurt,” but it really doesn’t because the hurt is momentary and there’s no memory of it. The end is the end, no matter how you do it. Chapter 16 will be probably deal with another wedding and an undisclosed possible tragedy that I’ve researched, but just have to work it into the story. That leaves 17, 18, 19, and 20. As I see it there’s the possibility of another wedding, the one or two characters coming to the commune, and, and, and? There is the possibility of bringing that second character into the commune in Chapter 19 and then that will leave Chapter 20 as either a wrap up or an abrupt end. There is always the possibility of bringing in children, they’re fun, and they could extend the story indefinitely. Been a kid myself. Funny thing about growing up in a dysfunctional home, you just don’t know you’re in the shits. Well, after a while you know your family is different, but you just think it’s just a different kind of normal. Then later in adulthood you find out, no you were in the shits and had it rougher than most kids because your parents were crazier than you. Now, having lived with my son for over four years (it’s five years since I last spoke to my wife, but that’s another story for another time), come to find out he was living in the shits, too. Of course, I was crazier than hell and didn’t know it. Then, come to find out, the wife was crazier than me and she still won’t admit it. Now, he’s got his own problems: four Prozac a day to control his anger, Gabapentin to relieve his anxiety, and Trazodone to help him sleep. Sheesh! I thought I was bad with a mood stabilizer, an antidepressant, and an antipsychotic, well, crazy is crazy, no matter how you spell it. Life! Hard to live with sometimes, but fun to write about all the time. Take a handful of characters, throw them into a mud puddle, stir them around, pick one up and throw it against a brick wall to see if it splatters or just falls to the ground landing in a limp pile. Pick up another, throw it into the air, and wait to see if it floats up there or falls flat on its face. Pick up two, squish them together and see if they scream. Watch out though, those two over there doing the Esther Williams backstroke; see them leaning over and kissing between a few strokes; are they boy-boy, boy-girl, or girl-girl, the choice is yours.

As has oft' been said, “The best laid plans of mice and men . . .” Well, I had plans for Chapters 11, 12, and 13, but things went awry. As often happens with my writing, the characters generally lead the story. So, in this case, Chapters 11, 12, and 13 cover the same characters over a four day period and, since they totaled over 20,000 words, there was only one thing to do, break it into three pieces. As I had it planned two protagonists meet on the first day at a university when they were moving into their dorm. Friendship blossoms, but from that point forward everything went south. This university is unlike any place I’ve ever heard about. And, one of the protagonists has a troubled, dark past that carries its own nightmares. The other is only looking for love and quite unremarkably finds it. Another mishmash of a sexual/psychological drama, but this time around it progresses from sexual horror to where two straight kids are thrown into a gay living situation. Unfortunately, for one of them past horrors rise up and nearly destroy him. Where the book goes from here I really have no idea. There is an unresolved issue with the protagonist from the first chapter whose life has changed dramatically and will change further. The two protagonists from Chapter 10 have a major life event coming up, but the protagonists from 11, 12, 13 may eclipsed them. Even though they are younger, they have an age advantage due to the way laws work on Hercules III. That’s one of the problems with this story. Characters move through time in such large spans that I have to keep track of who’s how old now and how old they’ll be when the I start a new chapter. That’s the problem with the protagonist in Chapter 1, he is now 16, but his dramatic event cannot occur until he’s 18, and that won’t occur for another 126 years, but in the meantime the protagonists in 11, 12, 13 will have their major event in 52 years and, to make matters worse, one of the protagonists in 11, 12, 13 is a close friend of the one from Chapter 1, their event will come in an earlier chapter. Sometimes it takes me a couple hours to sort out all the characters and their ages when they appear in a new chapter, mainly because not all characters from one chapter move forward to another. Check, confused, check, confused, check, confused. So, all of that works out to at least four chapters. I could still add a new protagonist, but I just might end the story at 17 chapters. I just don’t know right now. I’ll have to think it over and see what comes up. Life is kind of crappy right now. My son’s Expedition is on the fritz with the chronic problem with the 5.4L engines. Now, he’s using the car he gave me to use and I have to go back to using my old broken car. Monday I go in for my annual visit with my PC provider and was hoping to be able to go over to Guitar Center and get my electric fixed, but my son threw that out the window because he has to get to work. Now, I have to wait until the 28th when he’s off work and I have a dental appointment in South Seattle. The only problem I foresee is my dental appt is at 0730 and Guitar Center doesn’t open until 1000. On top of everything else, it’s raining and where I live we have severe down slope winds off the Cascades whenever a low in coming onshore from the Pacific. And, since I stopped drinking, I can’t go to the bottle for solace. Want some crackers with all that whine? Sometimes life can just be a pile of shit.

Chapter 10 is in the bag with 6,902 words. Two days, 6,902 words, just a bit too much. I watched an interview quite a while ago of an author who only wrote no more than 1,500 words a day. I’m definitely exceeding that rule, but as I’ve said before, this is a good story with a good set of characters who work well together, sometimes. Chapter 10 is one of those heartwarming stories. This book has a lot of those. Coming up, Chapter 11 will concern a young girl who leaves her boyfriend and goes off to university. There she’ll meet a new boy. They’ll become friends. They’ll become good friends. They’ll become girlfriend/boyfriend. Then love will blossom. And, then she’ll go home for the holidays. Old story to be rehashed again. Chapter 12 looks like husband/husband trouble. Chapter 13 is looking like woman on woman rape and the consequences. Chapter 14 will have an important decision occurring for protagonist in Chapter 11. Chapter 15 will have two young women moving into their own residence, two men getting married, and a woman and a man getting married. And then it all becomes fuzzy, again. Though I do know a future chapter will have two new residents moving to the commune. I’m still thinking I need to create a new character though and put him/her into a living situation that has not been covered so far in the book. On the home front, got my new glasses yesterday. I’d told the optometrist I thought I could do without bifocals because I did all my computer work on a laptop. So, although I can now see significantly better long distance, I think I should’ve gotten those bifocals. I can see fairly well without glasses up close to read and use the laptop, but it’s the middle difference that’s the problem. It’s a bummer being on the shady side of life.

Chapter 9 is in the can at nearly 6,500 words. As luck would have it, Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 are now connected as Part 1 and 2 of the same story with a set of antagonists that in many ways are worse than the established antagonists on the ship. They are a group that is so evil they will go to any possible extent to eliminate those who they consider defective or a threat to their existence. Yes, I play the hate card, again. If this book goes to twenty chapters it’s on course to come in at over 120,000 words, not to say I’m verbose, I’m just trying to tell a story about a set of good characters who will flock to a good place on Hercules III. Earlier in the week, I took two days to proof and revise Chapters 1 through 8. Plus, I worked on the database I’ve established for the book. One of the major parts is a plan of each chapter detailing the characters and their ages. Also, I’ve added a new feature, a ship clock of years dating back to a revised zero after a dramatic event that occurred on the ship. This will help readers keep track of the characters as they progress to a final point somewhere in the future. As far as the characters go, I see I’ll have to come up with some more. Right now, I have 28 characters in 3 relationship groups. I think they’re not enough to carry to story to its end and, therefore, I’ll have to come up with more. There are a wealth of living situations on the ship that can provide possible characters, it’ll just be a matter of development of the character and its storyline that logically leads to the book’s end point. Right now, though, it’s back to Chapter 4 to pick up two characters who are having a developing storyline that needs to be moved forward in time. The only problem with the book is my original development of ages under the new order. The number of years between each physical age increases so the characters age slower and slower as they get older. Then there are the acceleration periods where the year separation increases significantly, but luckily goes back to a normal progression once acceleration ends. Anyway, I’ve created a monster that keeps growing to the point where I need to rein it in every now and then.

Well, Chapter 8 is now in the folder. It needs a few revisions and proofs, but it’s fairly well established as it is. Unfortunately, it came in at over 7,000 words. But, I can’t see any way to stretch it out to 10,000 so I could split it in two. So, I guess I’ll just have to live with a long chapter. One thing about this chapter, though, there is a storyline that can be established for a future chapter. I could’ve done it now, but it would be better to do it later because of the nature of an antagonistic group that has developed. They will have a significant impact on the future of the commune and whether or not it turns out bad there are currently a lot of characters that will be seriously impacted. Yes, another nice set of characters that are easy to write about. Plus, I did add two new characters to the mix that will give good performances in the future. Most of Sunday and today was spent working on tracking material to sort out which characters belong in which chapter. The other thing is the length of lifetimes in this society. I have to jump forward a lot and establish points in time that can be used for each set of characters. As an example, Chapter 8 jumped 76 years from the original timeframe at the beginning of the book. Mostly, this was done so that one of my favorite characters could age from 16 to 17. I know, confusing, but that’s the way I’ve designed this society. Chapter 9 will go back to the original time and jump forward about 20 years so two girls can go from 11 to 12. Slower than Chapter 8, but puberty is involved and have to keep to medical realities. Can you imagine taking over 40 years to go thru puberty? More fun and games to come.

Well, must have been feeling real good today. Wrote and finished the first draft of Chapter 7 all in one day, just over 6,000 words. Of course, it had the protagonist from Chapter 1, so it went rather well. He’s a good character that just has a little trouble with life at the present time. Though, he’s young right now and has a long way to adulthood. Can you imagine being 12, while actually being 173 years-old? This guy has 257 years to live until he’ll be 18 and an adult. My only problem with him right now is that I can’t really see anything happening to him until he is 18. Of course, there will be some minor events in his life, but I don’t think they’ll add up to a full chapter. Now, I have to come up with what to do in Chapter 8. Do I go back to the earlier chapters and pick up one of those protagonists, or do I create a whole new character and story line? Either option is a possibility, but I really think I need a new one. There is the protagonist from Chapter 6 I could use, but it’s a little early for him. I think he’ll have to wait for a few more chapters. There is also the time issue. The first six chapters occurred in the same timeframe, while Chapter 7 jumps 33 years into the future. Chapter 6’s protagonist has a major event coming up, but that won’t occur for at least another 100 years or so. The protagonists from Chapter 3 have a major event coming up and that might fit in with the 33 year timeframe, but I think it’ll be much later. Right now, I just don’t quite know how all of this is going to work out. Of course, the more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to come up with a new character who might just fit into the 33 year present. But, then you have to come up with a life and a series of one or more antagonists affecting that protagonist in his or her future. There is the default antagonist in the whole book, but sometimes I just want to have something special. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll come up with something. I could always use the good gay/bad jock thing, but that’s kind of stale right now. Besides, I’ve got something similar to that coming up for one or more of the other characters. I just need to think about all of this. On the home front, nothing much happening, which is good; though we did have a horrific wind and rain storm up here a couple days ago. Other than a few dropped branches and the flooding creek, nothing happened right where we live. We didn’t even lose our power, which is good. The puppy is having a bit of intestinal distress, but heck, he’s a dog. Dogs pick up the damnedest crap, put it in their mouths, and then swallow it. Sometimes it’s the same crap as the time before. If he wasn’t so smart, you’d think he was dumb as a lab. Look in his eyes and you can almost see the gears turning, look into a lab’s eyes and all you get is the silly dog staring back at you. No, not to say that labs aren’t totally stupid, there was one on the tube the other night that has been trained to smell electronics, like hard drives and flash drives. The state internet child porn bureau looks forward to using him.

Finally finished Chapter 6 today. It’s a long one, over 6,700 words, but I think that was the only way to completely tell the story of a new character who goes from a horrific life to one peace, but full of questions. Sorry about being so vague, but, you know, that’s just the way it goes. The next set of chapters will move up in time allowing each character to come to terms with their existence on Hercules III. The future still looks a bit vague, though. I know where I want to go, but I’m not certain the story will necessarily end there; this is mostly due to the fact that people live so many years between age levels. The protagonist in Chapter 6 starts at age 15, but it takes him 11 years to reach age 16; and, it’ll take another 65 years until he’s 17. It’s already come up that the teenagers feel like they’re really old, when in reality they just stay at their current physical age so long. At least the primary antagonist has been set, though sometimes secondary antagonists will be introduced to keep the story going. Sometimes I find it difficult to introduce people who are what one might call evil and watch how they interact with the protagonist(s). I think it was Martin Scorsese who said (tried to Google it, but failed), ‘A good story isn’t good without an antagonist.’ (or something like that) So, this story does have a bit of evil and meanness in it. Plus, I’ve tossed in a few bits of fun. Actually, there is one in Chapter 6.

Chapter 6 is going a bit slower than the first 5 chapters, but I took Wednesday off. Hey, I’m a vet, disabled vet, too; not bragging, just saying. Frankly, I was drunk for most of the 7 years I was in the Air Force. That kind of thing tends to happen when you’re the child of alcoholics; not bragging, just saying. Also, the lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I’ve been averaging 6 hours of sleep and, now, in the last three days have had to take an hour nap in the afternoon (prime writing time). The interesting thing about Chapter 6 is it’s the first chapter to invade my dreams. Last night, I had two different dreams about where the chapter might go and what might happen in a subsequent chapter. I guess the ol’ subconscious decided it wanted in on the action, too. Here’s a bit of dialogue from Chapter 6 that doesn’t give away hardly anything of what is going on: “You’re fifteen?” Gerry said. “So am I, but I’m three years younger than you, but at least we’re fifteen. David is sixteen.” “Just turned,” David said. “Two hundred and ninety-one years-old, I feel like an old man, but I’m still just a kid. Now, from what you say, Abe, more than likely I’ll never see seventeen.” “Sorry, but that’s how it works here,” Abe said. That shows how aging now works on Hercules III. Plus, this chapter gives about the clearest idea of how the bots treat humans on the ship. Earlier chapters give a hint, but this chapter comes right out and defines the bots as about as evil as machines can get. On the home front, my son and I have decided to rename Rambo to Rambo the Poo. Maybe it’s just that he’s a dog, but I’ve never seen a dog do what he’s doing. He eats his poo. We think he picked it up from his mother who ate puppy poo and since Rambo the Poo has never been around other dogs to pick up good doggy habits, he continues to have a between meal snack now and then. I’ve gotten in the habit of being close enough to give the command ‘Inside’ when he’s finished. He’s very good about leaving the poo and running to the backdoor. In he goes and off I go to pick it up and dispose of it in the prescribed manner. What does one do with doggy poo? When my son takes Rambo the Poo for a walk at night and Rambo the Poo gives a pile, N____ picks it up in a little poo bag and drops it in the garbage can; big can, nobody notices, except the smell in there is definitely poo-ish. Of course, there is the problem that the can is for general recycling (i.e., paper, plastic, glass, etc.), but not for poo. I suppose the sorters at the station get a kick out of those little blue bags full of poo.

Well, finished Chapter 5 tonight. Another quick one. Two days, 5,621 words. At this rate, the book looks like it’ll come in at over 100,000 words; good size for an amateur writer. Tomorrow, I’ll start Chapter 6, introduce a new character, and move from an agricultural scene to another urban story. Chapter 4 was sort of an urban story, but there was no clear indication where exactly it lay. I suppose it could have been in a small town, but that never came into play. As I see the book progressing, it becomes clearer that the story will move forward in time until most of the major characters end up in the same locale. There is always the chance that one or two won’t want to go where the others are going, but I think I can work it around so that each will have a happy ending. On the home front, last night I got eight and a half hours of sleep, though this afternoon I had to lie down for a nap; or, maybe it was just to rest my eyes from all this writing and reading I’m doing. Anyway, big storm coming in tonight, windows are already rattling and a gust about a half an hour ago actually shook the house (Mobile home, manufactured one year before they started calling these things manufactured homes. As far as I’m concerned, if it comes to the site on wheels it’s a mobile home. Comes on a trailer, it’s a modular home. Same principal, different delivery.)

Revision day on the book. Chapters 1 through 4 received major proofreading, correctioning, and a bit of revising. Major revision was the title of the book. It started out to be GMMOs because at the time I came up with it there was real meaning to the letters, but now I can't remember what the second M is supposed to be, so the book is now titled The GMOs. I'm sure everyone knows what that means. I admit it, I have a problem with tenses. Went through Chapters 1, 2, and 3 looking for 'ings' that needed to be changed in the 'eds'. Hope I got them all, but I'm sure Sharon will be able to find more. She's good at that and probably says "Oh, god, not another one" every time she proofs one of my chapters. I also have a problem where to put asked, before or after the name. I'm sure she, again, says "Oh, god, not another one, I wish he'd learn where to put these things." Chapter 4 was done yesterday with it's initial proof. Last night I posted excerpts of Chapter 1 on Sneak Peeks. I took out all references to what's actually going on, but left in a lot of how life is on the new Hercules III. Also, left out the gory parts that are there only to show what bots are capable of in their treament of human criminals. They'll be in the final; I hope. Of course, I'm always coming up with gory bits to throw into stories and have to ask permission to put them in and I do understand why that is so. Tomorrow, Chapter 5. I do have a problem though. In Chapter 3 there is a part where two women come to realize they want to move their relationship from boss/employee to something more than good friends. Reading through it today, I realized that it might help if a Lesbian read through the section and see if I gave it a realiable representation of real life or if I'm an old queer who has the temerity to write something he knows nothing about. If anyone knows of someone let me know; or, maybe I just need to talk to the beta people and see if they can help. Life is moving along. Sleep is crap and doesn't seem to be getting any better. I know, I'm just obsessing again. Had to take a short nap to catch up today. Though, I did sleep rather soundly through the night, just couldn't get to sleep and woke up too early.

I’ve decided to end Chapter 4 at 4,064 words. I’m sure there will be more with revision, but there just doesn’t seem to be anywhere to go further than when two 11 year-old girls admit not to have feelings toward each other. You just can’t go any further. It’s an important point in life. You have to stop a chapter somewhere and those two came to an end. Well, not totally. They have a full life ahead of them, if the bots or the hazards of living don’t get them first. They will be back in future chapters and maybe they might have feelings for each other or maybe they’ll just be the kind of good friends that hold on to the very end. It’s hard to say where they will go. Both are good characters, though. One is a mutant and the other a convicted criminal, what more could you ask of two characters. The next chapter is full of 11 year-old love, at least from one side, anyway. Two characters from Chapter 1 come back and one admits a deep secret to the other. The protagonist from Chapter 1, Gene (Eugenus) and his friend, Moli, have a romp in the broccoli and just might become very good friends, or will they? After all, Gene is only second year 11 and Moli is first year, what could they have in common. Gene’s stepparents raise vegetables and grain, Moli’s stepparents raise fruit. Gene will be studying molecular biology in university; while Moli has her heart set on ancient languages, mainly computer and operating systems, which may help get her a job with the bots, if she can show enough aptitude to pick up on their languages, systems, and pass rigorous physical, mental, and security tests and investigations (bots don’t allow just anyone to mess with their internal software structures). Anyway, Chapter 5 sounds like fun and might end sometime further in the future when the children do go off to university. (Moli hopes they go to the same one so she can be close to “her (Sally Brown) sweet baboo (Linus)”). Remember to Google, so not to confuse some who might think I was talking about the Sweet Baboo from Wales. By the way, I hate Microsoft Word’s grammar checker. As in: “what more could you ask of two characters”, Green Line!, suggests “asks” instead, as in: “what more could you asks of two characters.” Tell me, who talks or writes like that. It sounds like my redneck in-laws from Arkansas. Asks, sheesh!