Escape from Freedom
Is an unsold/uncontracted novel ready for publication
 
 

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Imperial Sigil by Tanna Borrell

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Escape from Freedom


Dystopian:

I try to steer clear of overt sexuality in my novels.  I do try to depict the reality of sex in marriage, and I try to do it with class.  In Escape, there is an entirely new dynamic.  The protagonist's helper in Escape will do anything, literally anything, to escape.  In this regard, she is willing to give up her body and everything she has to this singular goal.  She doesn't own much more than her own body, so that becomes the thing she believes she must give for freedom.

In most of my novels, I'm trying to show men in control of themselves, their bodies, and their emotions.  The protagonist of Escape is not as strong as those men.  He is easily seduced and doesn't really get that he has been seduced. 

All of this plays a very important part of the novel.  The society of Freedom is highly sexualized.  The Citizens are repressed and controlled through their sexuality.  The party members indulge themselves in every sexual perversion you can imagine and some most can't.  They use the Citizens as sexual slaves and sexual prey.

Part of the climax of the novel is focused on what the protagonist's helper, Reb, gave to Scott, the protagonist, for the purpose of escape.

Let me mention dystopian--that is the title I placed on this section.  This is a real dystopian novel.  It allows the reader to compare the society of Reb (Freedom) with the society of Scott (New Athens).  The point is to show a true dystopian perversion of human society.

Research:

You might conclude that pure science fiction requires no research--this is an absolutely wrong idea.  Good science fiction requires a basis of the real world with a projection of authentic science overlaying it.  If the world does not match the proper sense of the reader, the story is ruined.  If the science is not convincing and logical, the unique feel of the future is gone--the novelty of the science part of the fiction has been lost.  For me, writing science fiction is like developing a new idea in engineering.  I can see it in my mind, and I try to describe both its effects and its design.  The research is through constant immersion in engineering and in fiction.  This way, the imagined worlds are real and the science comes alive. 

The world of the Dragon and the Fox is a projection based on the idea that genetic manipulation was required for humankind to conquer the worlds they discovered when they traveled into space.  The genetic manipulation was used to create great doctors, technicians, scientists, and leaders.  Eventually the society became moribund and turned into something akin to feudalism--the Human Galactic Empire.  Against this backdrop, the Dragon and the Fox fight for honor while their world and civilization is falling around them.

The technology of the Dragon and the Fox is also a projection.  All of the concepts described are potential technological solutions.  The big idea isn't the technology or the changes to the human species.  The big concept is how little technology and human changes have really affected the fabric of human interaction.  The one specific change that is very evident in the world of the Dragon and the Fox is the differentiation between men and women.  This change in human culture historically reverses itself based on the organization of society and the identification of the differences between men and women.  The world of the Dragon and the Fox highlights this differentiation based on the feudal and genetic leadership base of their society.  I don't advocate these roles or this type of society--the ideas come out of the question that brought about the world of the Dragon and the Fox.       

The Question: 

The End of Honor asks a unique question:  what can be the ramifications of personal relationships when they are ultimately based on political ends? 

The Characters: 

We applaud Prince John-Mark and the Lady Lyral.  We applaud their happiness, love, and pleasant agreement.  However, this agreement results in the death of John-Mark's father, Lyral herself, and provides the tipping point for the entire Human Galactic Empire.  We love the characters.  We see the honor in their actions and lives.  But when we reflect on the harm they have caused, we wonder if honor is enough.  Good intentions and good people are often the cause of much suffering.  That is more akin to the theme.

The Theme: 

The theme of The End of Honor is that responsibility and humility are the greatest human virtues and the basis of true honor.  We see good intentions and seeking honor ultimately cause untold hardship and pain.  The result of John-Mark and Lyral's apparently honorable actions is a universe at war and friends dead.  John-Mark must give up everything to return the Human Galactic Empire to peace and political balance.  In the end, we find honor is the willingness to give up everything for the good of others.   

Teaser:

Would you be willing to give up everything to attain true honor even if that meant your own degradation, pain, and suffering.

5 May I decided I finished the fist cut of Regia yesterday--yea!  I put it together for page count etc.  Always painful using the outline mode in Word and I'm always worried about loosing text.  The denouncement for Regia will be very surprising and there is still the entire rest of the story to complete.  I guess that means another one or two Ghost novels.  I am working on the marketing materials after I make another cut on the novel.

27 April Kita has to confront a enormous problem on the ship and with her friend.  Nichol is cutting.  She is a singer and writer, but Family Trading ships don't need singers and writers.  Nichol is a special and a member of the special's girl club--she is Kita's friend. Only Kita knows Nichol is cutting and the reason.  A fieldtrip to the surface of the planet Acier by Kita's class brings Nichol's greatest fears to the forefront.  Nichol is terrified that the ship will leave her planetside one day.  She can't imagine the horror of having to live on a planet like Acier--only dust and sand.  Kita confronts Nichol and promises a solution.  She loans Nichol her doll Alice--so Nichol will remember not to cut (her promise to Kita).

Now Kita is skipping work, training, cabinwork (homework), eating, and sleeping.  She is trying to determine a solution to Nichol's problem.  Her adopted mother and father are on Acier for the next seven-days--part of their special project.  Just what does Kita have in mind.

25 April Kita has gone from eating garbage to building complex navigational solutions in school.  She has a job third shift working as a grease monkey in shuttle maintenance for Master Slate.  The last hour of third shift, she gets to train in shuttle with Master Larsen.  She can reach the pedals because Master Slate made her a ceriplast extension, and she can see over the glareshield and reach the other controls because Master Slate made her an acceleration pad seat.  She just flew Fujin and made a survivor landing.  And Den and Natana, her parents, the Captain and First Officer, have no idea.  Kita can't imagine how this might be a problem. 

Her other problem is Alex.  Kita can't stand being around too many people.  Crowds and closeness are difficult if not impossible for her.  It took a long time for Kita to let Natana, her adopted mother, hold her, and Den doesn't even ask--Kita's distrust of men came directly from Carnival.  Alex is the leader of the boys in her class and the bane of her girl's club.  Alex has taken a special dislike of Kita.  She brings a fancy lunch, target one.  She is really smart, target two.  Her parents are the Captain and First Officer, target three.  She is puny, target four.  She is unusually good in soccer, target five.  She's the new kid, target six.  She's from forward of cargo, target seven.  As if Alex needed that many reasons, but he adds more.  He eavesdrops at lunch and challenges Kita to a shuttle approach fly off.  He and the others have no idea of her special skills or Master Larsen's clandestine training.  He's about to find out.  All the kids compete in the flyoff.  Challenges are encouraged by their teacher, Master Polar.  Of course, Kita gets the highest score they've ever seen.  Now Alex is really mad.

22 April Nikita has taken the Regia Anglorum by storm.  She has her issues, but she is a lovely child.  All she wants to do is learn and experience life.  She wants to be an astrogator, like Natana, and she wants to fly shuttles, but she can't reach the pedals or the other controls.  She can't even see over the glareshield.  She is malnourished and has to eat fancy high carb, high protein and fat meals.  This sets her apart from the other children.  A girl club asks her to join because she is special, and she is special.

16 April I think you will love Kita.  She lives on garbage in the streets of Carnival and hides from the creeps and catchers.  Her life is enlivened by watching the shuttles land through the spaceport fence and reading the papers Father Benedict leaves for her on the top of his garbage--sometimes he can leave some edible garbage for her.  Kita's life is tentative but she is living.  Then she feels a mind of unprecedented power and beauty in one of the shuttles--her life is about to change.

9 April I'm starting to flesh out Regia.  I want to add a new character--a powerful psyonic girl from a terrible planet.  I'm thinking of naming her Nikita - Kita for short.  I'm thinking 8 to 10 years old and on her own for a long time.  The planet will be egalitarian in the sense of Vance's seminal work Wyst: Alestor 1716.  He used the term egalitarian instead of socialistic to not get up the hackles of the current intelligentsia.  I don't think I have to worry about that in this day and age.  Most today think socialism is not good at all.

4 April I'm still reviewing Cying and Lamb before I start Regia.  I like Ghost better every time I go through it.  On a side note, I've been imagining how great these novels would be as Manga or Anime.  The Goddess novels would make great Manga and Anime too.  The same is true for the Dragon and Fox and Ghost.  The best would be Children and Warrior.  These books kind of lend themselves to Manga with unusual, strong girl main characters, their interaction in school and with others, and supernatural twists.  Plus both have an oriental setting for part of the novel and fantastic (literally) oriental characters--Yinglong and the Pheonix.

28 March for those of you who like my SiFi, I'm working on Athelstan Cying and Twilight Lamb with the purpose of finishing Regia Angelorum.   This is the Ghost ship chronicles.  I hope OakTara picks this series up, otherwise I'll be looking for someone else to publish it and that is always a pain.  OakTara is evaluating the Ghost Ship Chronicles for publication--they are a continuation in the far future of the Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox.

16 March I'm incorporating my readers notes and comments into Warrior.   The novel is really different and exciting.  I will probably work on the secrets for Shadow of Light.

10 March I incorporated my reader's notes into Children.  I am waiting to get Warrior back.  I can't wait to read it again.  Warrior is a really neat novel.  I don't want to start another novel yet.  Too busy.

28 Feb I'm working on my reader's notes to The Children of Light and Darkness.  I have The Goddess's Warrior and The Goddess of Light out to readers.

12 Jan 09 Right now I am working on my readers notes for The Goddess of Darkness.  I will be incorporating my readers notes in The Shadow of Darkness and The Shadow of Light next.

I don't know where I will go next.  I'm thinking I'll start on Aegypt VII.  We shall see.

Length of Novel:

? words (work in progress)

Keywords and Market Focus:

Science fiction, space, adventure, intrigue, space ships; will appeal to adults and young adults interested in science fiction/adventure

Ghost: Regia Anglorum is a unique novel but the concept is similar to Jack Vance’s To Live Forever or many of Andrea Norton’s mind swap novels.

Genre:

Science Fiction

Synopsis: 

The continuing adventures of Den and Natana Protania now in their own Family Trader ship: Regia Anglorum.

Author's reviewer’s quotes:

TBD

Short descriptive teasers:

TBD

Further Information:

Ghost: Regia Anglorum is the third novel in the Ghost series. 

The Ghost trilogy is a follow-on from the distant future of the universe introduced in the Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox.

 

 

 

  If you are interested in reviewing this novel for publication... Contact the author

 

 

 

  Novels by this Author
   
       The Second Mission (Available now)
       Centurion   (Available now published by OakTara)
       Aegypt            (Available now published by OakTara)
 

  

The Dragon and the Fox

 

                     (Available now published by OakTara)

 

                                                                          

      The End of Honor           The Fox’s Honor               A Season of Honor 

 

 

 

  L.D. Alford is the author of 41 technical papers published in international journals on flight test, military policy, flight safety, space, and cyberwar.  Technical Writing
   
  L.D. Alford has been a professional aviator for 29 years.  Aviation Writing
   

L.D. Alford Aviation Writing Technical Writing Unpublished Novels Writing Links Engineer

 

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