Other than that, I have been concentrating on my third book and am currently in the stage of the third draft. It is developing well, feels more solid and flows better with each draft. I am also extending my time off work to focus on this book and myself (something I have never done) which is exciting and a little scary!
So, what else has been going in...well: I went to see The Jungle Book in the cinema and it is brilliant! Awesome cast, looks gorgeous and has a dark daring edge about it. Also went to a couple of concerts. Gregory Porter and Michael Bolton. Both were not my choice and both are not really my cup of tea (especially Bolton)...but, both were excellent! Gregory Porter has one of the best voices I have heard live and his albums really don't do him justice! And Michael Bolton...well, he is a bit of a legend and you know what, he proved it!
New albums I have bought: Deftones 'Gore' = brilliant as always. Ihsahn 'Arktis' = insanely good. I also beefed up my Prince collection (another legend gone) and finally picked up some classics - Paradise Lost 'draconian times' and Napalm Death 'Scum'. Currently reading the third Miss Peregrine book, Library Of Souls which has been brilliant.
Apart from that, it has really just been lots of coffee and lots of writing. Still writing some reviews for Roobla and have started a new story for Hot Chilli Erotica. Anyways, I have included some draft three work from my latest book below...naturally, this will no doubt change during the countless other drafts but for now, enjoy!
Prologue
Reflection ? – 22nd
February 2177
Ask a child to draw the moon and
they will always draw it with a face. Nine times out of ten, it will be smiling
and coloured in yellow, the notion of the moon being made of cheese integrated
into their young minds forever. Depending on the skill and imagination of the
child, sometimes the drawing will have extra detail such as teeth, eyebrows or
hair; some may even emphasis the shape by adding craters and imperfections. The
drawing I had, somewhere, was pretty accurate, I thought, and I always loved
the glint it had in its eyes; mischievous and full of life. It was the only
thing I could think about as I lay motionless on my back staring up at a sky
consumed by the sun.
“Where
am I?” I ask myself half blinded, half cooked and struggling to move and lolling
about on the ground like an overturned tortoise.
“Relax”
I say out loud suddenly aware that my voice seems distorted and echoes in my
ears.
I lift
my hands up to the side of my head but they are stopped by some sort of helmet.
I blink and look away from the sky squeezing my eyelids closed and then opening
them as wide as I can and forcing tears out from my eyes. I roll my body from
side to side and gain enough momentum to turn onto my front. As my eyesight
slowly returns, I see that the ground is dust and rock. Sharp jagged stones
feel hard, even, through the suit I am wearing and the ground shimmers with a
heatwave thick and alive. I am distracted by an explosion to my left and with
all my strength, I manage to push myself up onto my knees and awkwardly turn my
head to the sound of it.
A
crumpled mass of metal and glass dances with fire as sparks shoot from within.
A few seconds later and there is an inward collapse of the structure and it
collapses in on itself with a loud bang. I put all my energy in standing up as
memories return and with a wave of sadness realise what this hulking mess is,
or rather, was; K.A.R.A. my spaceship. As I watch it helplessly melt, more
memories flood through my head and I begin to panic, my breathing becoming
strained.
“Breathe, breathe in the air”
says a female voice.
“Look around, careful where you
stand” the same voice whispers in my ear.
“Speak to me…tears you cry” who
is speaking to me?
“Forget the sun, you haven’t got long”
I scan the horizon ahead of me careful to not look upwards.
There isn’t much left, the loss
of the moon and the expanse of the sun has turned the Earth into a floating
rock. Its surface is nothing more than ash and boulder. Where once rivers of
water were are now rivers of larva and this beautiful blue and green planet is
now a hellish red and grey desert. The intense heat from the sun has also
shifted its core and its destruction is very imminent.
An alarm rings through the entire
suit and a countdown begins. Thankfully, K.A.R.A. managed to get me within a
mile of the crater but with every step, my surroundings are shifting and
changing. Am I hallucinating? Am I dreaming? Is this all real? Am I mad? Hell,
am I even alive? The voice in my ear speaks to me again.
“Welcome home” and a wave of recognition
sears through my body; I recognise this place, it’s my home town.
But it couldn’t be. The crater is
in Mexico yet my home town is in England.
“No time to waste and fritter
away…the mission, the mission needs completing” I remind myself out loud as I
walk through pockets of what once was, what is now and what will eventually be;
an observer of Earth’s existence.
Marching on, I witness the fall
of Troy, am stood centre stage when they drop the atomic bomb, battle through
the depths as the Titanic comes to rest and pass through huge bubbles of outer
space. I see myself in a white room, witness the marriage of my parents and am
there at the birth of my sister. Suddenly, I hear a bell…and then a wailing.
Drawing me closer to where I need to be, louder and louder until I am forced to
stop dead. One of these time pockets has car frames sticking out of the ground,
their plastic insides twisted and virtually unrecognisable. Rusted metal chains
and huge footprints are here and there and with each painfully slow footstep I
take, there rings the unmistakable sound of coins crunching.
“Remember this place!” the voice
says in disdain.
“You remember it well…I was
always with you. It was always us and them, always me and you versus them; they
were nothing but ordinary men”
“I remember” I say as I leave the
pocket behind me, a flash of green grass appearing in my visor and staggering
my balance.
The alarm in the suit is increasing,
the whole thing is failing and the heat is causing it to disintegrate. As much
as I can, I quicken my pace but a sudden laugh takes me by surprise and an
intense memory remembering games I used to play as a boy brings me to a
complete stop.
“Stay with me, ignore
the…loonies” the female voice tells me.
“Stay with me, ignore the…loonies”
another voice tells me…clinical and cold.
“Stay with me, ignore
the…loonies” a third voice tells me…darker this time.
“Who are you all?!” I scream out
loud spinning round as I do.
I am in a room. My arms are
restrained across my stomach and my chest feels tight. The only other thing in
this room is a table littered with photographs. The room is stifling and so hot
and as I struggle to free myself, I notice a large mirror on the wall and peer
at my reflection. I am wearing a space suit and behind me is a landscape of ash
and boulder but when I turn around, I see the table and the photographs.
“Son…it’s me…it’s always been me”
the female voice is in this room.
“Mum? It can’t be…no…I…” this
can’t be real, what is going on.
I walk over to the table and look
down at the photographs.
“My son” she says again and I
realise that the voice is coming from the photographs themselves so I lean in
to get a closer look.
