“How would we get there?” Rei asked. “We cannot take MINIMCOM. He is on his way to Ursay.”
“You would go the old-fashioned way,” said Tenoal. “We could take you in one of our boats, right into Berlis Harbor. It would be an easy journey to O’ahu, to Onalu, to Tanosa Plaza. From there you could speak to the world.”
“What about that,” Rei said, pointing to her wrist.
“What is that?” Tenoal asked. “What is so special about it?”
“It is a tracking bracelet, Onclare,” Rome said. “With it, the Vuduri would know we are off-island. It is one of the conditions of my ‘parole’ that I remain here.”
“Are you not allowed to go fishing with your old Onclare Tenoal?” he asked.
“I do not know,” Rome replied. “Today is the first day of my banishment. I do not know how far they would let me go before doing something about it.”
“Why do we not find out?” asked Tenoal. “There is no time like the present.”
“All right, Onclare,” said Rome. “We will try it.”
“When would we leave,” Rei asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
“I will take you right now,” said Tenoal, rising up from his seat.
“I think we can wait until the morning,” Rome said. “Rei and I are very tired. We do not know what time it is.”
“Very well,” said Tenoal. “At first light, we will go.”
“Thank you, Onclare,” Rome said.
Rei tapped Rome on her shoulder and pointed down the beach. Rome turned to look and saw Binoda walking toward them, speaking to what looked like thin air. She came up to them and patted Rei on the shoulder, bending down to give Rome a kiss. She cocked an eyebrow and Rome pointed to baby Aason who was under the table. Binoda nodded and proceeded past them to the other side of the table.
“Tenoal,” Binoda said to the leader.
“Ah, Binoda,” the older gentleman replied, getting up to give her a hug. “It is good to see you. It has been a long time.”
“Yes, it has,” replied Binoda. “Not since Fridone disappeared.”
“Yes, my brother,” answered Tenoal sadly. “I miss him.”
“I have a surprise for you,” Binoda said. “But first I need to ask you something.
“Of course,” Tenoal replied. “What is it?”
Binoda looked around at the tables and the people sitting there. “Do you know every person here?” she asked.
Tenoal looked around. “Yes, Binoda, of course,” he said. “I can vouch for every person here.”
It won't take long until the "big" secret is revealed. Too bad it didn't make it to final version. Meanwhile, Rome mistakenly thinks it can wait until morning.
Entry 4-033: January 29, 2016
Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three
I'm getting good at this now. I have finished compiling Year Three of the Tales of the Vuduri series already! Like Years One and Two, if you've missed any of these posts over the past year, it'll be an easy way to catch up. I have published it on Amazon. You can easily find it there. This is what the splash page looks like:
The paperback will be available on CreateSpace in about a week and on Amazon and B&N about a week after that.
I'd like to sell the ebook for free on all platforms but Amazon and B&N just don't allow it so I charge the minimum permitted. Actually, selling for free is kind of an oxymoron. I give the book away in the hopes that readers will be sufficiently intrigued to investigate Rome's Revolution or The Milk Run and actually buy a copy.
Last year, I joined the KDP Select program and ran a 5-day free sale but I gave up when I found out that you weren't allowed to sell on any other platform for 90 days. I sold 66 copies. As soon as I marked it back to $1.99, I didn't sell another copy. People are just too accustomed to getting free stuff that nobody wants to pay two bucks for a 140,000 word opus.
As far as the paperback, I am simply awaiting for Bruce to finish the back cover so I can order a proof copy. Once that is approved, it will go on sale, probably within the next two weeks. I have to sell that thing for $17.99 because it is so danged thick. Oh well, find one of the free outlets and help yourself to a year's worth of fascinating stuff.
Entry 4-034: January 30, 2016
The DOCX Format
Since I only produce these volumes once per year, I forgot that each image requires an alt tag (alternate title) and Epubcheck refuses to pass your manuscript unless every image has an alt tag. Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three has 179 images. Every image required that I right-click, select Format Picture, then select the Alt Text tab and type in text. What a pain in the butt!
I'm far too lazy to go through such effort so I decided to write a script to tag all 179 images at once. I opened up the DOCX file in WordPad and imagine my surprise when all I saw was gobbledygook. I made a wish to the magic answer machine (aka Google) and it told me that the DOCX was nothing more than a ZIP file with XML documents embedded within. I added a .ZIP extension and opened it up in WinZIP. Sure enough, it looked like this:
I drilled down into the word folder and with great trepidation removed the file called document.xml. In it, I found an example of a properly alt-text'ed tag that looks like this:
So all I had to do was do a search and replace for the phrase [type="#_x0000_t75"] and change it to [type="#_x0000_t75" alt="image"]. I wrote my script in FoxPro, ran it, copied the modified document back to the ZIP file and then removed the ZIP extension. It worked! It passed Epubcheck. Hooray! However, I did make a note in my files to remember to do this next year but I thought you'd like to see what I have to go through to create a properly formatted ebook.
Entry 4-035: January 31, 2016
Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three WEB SITE
Now that Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three is live, it was time to upgrade the web site. In an amazing stroke of foresight, my talented web developer Regina, planned ahead and we had room to add the third volume without disrupting the flow of the web site. The URL for all the books is www.talesofthevuduri.com and the web page looks like this:
As I've mentioned innumerable times, my immensely talented brother Bruce creates the gorgeous covers for both the ebook and the paperback. If you examine each of the covers closely, you can see there is a theme developing here.
First, look at the number of starships in the sky. In Year One, there is one starship. In Year Two, there are two. In Year Three, there are three. Bruce already has the starship picked out for next year. It looks a little like the Space Shuttle. Also notice that each year had a different accent color. I don't know what color Bruce has selected for next year but it doesn't worry me.
Bruce already has Year Four and Year Five planned out in terms of content. You can see that the digital camera is zooming back and now the eastern coastline of Portugal is coming into view. Bruce also expanded the size of the spaceport in the lower right and added an additional ring to I-cimaci. This trend will continue for the next two years.
We have room at the top to add two more sample links. Next year, we will move Years Three and Four to a second row in 2 X 2 grid. When we finally roll out Year Five, the top row will go back to being three wide and the lower row will be two wide.
Then I stop. I know I could go on forever but I don't want to. Maybe I'll post one blog article a week? I don't know. If there is a Year Six, then it means there is a Year Six. That's all I know for now.
Tomorrow, wait till you find out how much I've written so far!
Entry 4-036: February 1, 2016
A million words
As my immensely talented brother Bruce observed during the development of the covers for my recently published Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three, he said, "Do you ever look at this and say to yourself 'Damn, that is a lot of writing I've done'?"
To tell you the truth, I hadn't really thought about so I decided to tally up how many words I have actually produced to date. Here is the wo
rd count:
Non-science Fiction:
Future Past = 107,000 words
The FoxPro 2.5 API = 35,000 words
Science Fiction
VIRUS 5 - Part 1 - Tabit = 98,000 words
VIRUS 5 - Part 2 - Tau Ceti = 98,000 words
VIRUS 5 - Part 3 - Earth = 91,000 words
(These books were eventually compiled down to the current Rome's Revolution which sits at 167,000 words but we won't count that since it an abridged version of VIRUS 5)
The Ark Lords = 79,000 words
Rome's Evolution = 84,000 words
The Milk Run = 89,000 words
Tales of the Vuduri: Year One = 123,000 words
Tales of the Vuduri: Year Two = 140,000 words
Tales of the Vuduri: Year Three = 151,000 words
If you tally all these up, you get an astounding 1,095,000 words. You read that right: OVER A MILLION WORDS!!!
If you want to get technical and throw away the VIRUS 5 novels since I didn't actually ever put them into publication, you would swap in Rome's Revolution which I did publish. That would bring the tally down to a paltry 975,000 words on Amazon alone.
Boy, am I blabby!
And there is more coming. The Vuduri Companion is up next followed by MASAL - The Robot War. Then another Tales of the Vuduri compilation and finally The Vuduri Knight.
Who knows, maybe I'll hit 2 million by the time it is all done. Yikes!
Entry 4-037: February 2, 2016
Surprise!
As I have mentioned several times, when I collapsed the original three-book set called VIRUS 5 down to the modern novel called Rome's Revolution, a lot of extraneous material had to be excised to get it down to a reasonable length. One of the major scenes that got cut out was the luau scene after Rome and Rei had been transported into exile on O'ahu.
After the kefir and the disagreement about money, Rome and Rei had settled back to enjoy the rest of the festive meal. Her mother and her father, forcibly separated for 10 years, had remained behind. I wonder what they were doing? Well, whatever it was, enough time had passed and they decided to make a guest appearance at the luau. Here is a little "taste" of that scene:
Rei tapped Rome on her shoulder and pointed down the beach. Rome turned to look and saw Binoda walking toward them, speaking to what looked like thin air. She came up to them and patted Rei on the shoulder, bending down to give Rome a kiss. She cocked an eyebrow and Rome pointed to baby Aason who was under the table. Binoda nodded and proceeded past them to the other side of the table.
“Tenoal,” Binoda said to the leader.
“Ah, Binoda,” the older gentleman replied, getting up to give her a hug. “It is good to see you. It has been a long time.”
“Yes, it has,” replied Binoda. “Not since Fridone disappeared.”
“Yes, my brother,” answered Tenoal sadly. “I miss him.”
“I have a surprise for you,” Binoda said. “But first I need to ask you something.
“Of course,” Tenoal replied. “What is it?”
Binoda looked around at the tables and the people sitting there. “Do you know every person here?” she asked.
Tenoal looked around. “Yes, Binoda, of course,” he said. “I can vouch for every person here.”
“Are there any here who might be connected to the Overmind?” she asked.
Tenoal seemed surprised at the question. “No,” he said. “Those that had that ability have long since left. We are all mandasurte here. Of that, I am quite certain.”
“Excellent,” Binoda said.
The air next to her shimmered and suddenly, Fridone was standing there.
“Fridone!” Tenoal said, throwing his arms in the air. “My little ormei.” He came around and hugged Fridone, his brother and Rome’s father. “What is this magic?” he asked.
“No magic,” replied Fridone. “Just a precaution. I am not supposed to be here.”
“It is getting to be quite a crowd,” said Tenoal jovially, pointing to the table.
“Join us,” he said and he waved at Rav who brought over two more logs. Fridone and Binoda sat down at the table to partake in the feast set before them.
Binoda enjoyed her food but Fridone absolutely devoured it. His zeal was not simply that he missed the food of his ancestors and family. The fact was that he really hadn’t had a decent meal since he was kidnapped and taken to Deucado, almost ten years earlier. The people on Deucado were well-meaning but they had not had enough time on that strange new world to master the bounty provided by their new home. The meats had no taste, they were derived from the falling blankets. The fruits and vegetables had not real substance to him. Yes, Fridone enjoyed this meal both for its flavor and the company it provided.
Again, while this sequence was fun, it didn't really advance the plot at all so it had to go. But I did enjoy writing it and you get to revisit it for this short while. Sadly, it is time to say aloha to peace and tranquility.
More on that tomorrow.
Entry 4-038: February 3, 2016
Salvation
When Rome and Rei and Binoda (and Fridone) were exiled to Hawaii, they only saw it as a staging point for their plan to alert the remaining good Vuduri as to the Onsira's insidious plan to eradicate the mandasurte, the mind-deaf during the latter portion of Rome's Revolution. This was back when the novel was in its original long form called VIRUS 5. However, Fridone's brother, Rome's Uncle Tenoal, thought their presence was more symbolic:
After the meal, Tenoal leaned forward and moved his arm in a broad sweeping gesture.
“It is more than coincidence that you came here, you know,” he said.
“Of course,” replied Binoda. “I picked this place because of you and your family.”
“No,” said Tenoal. “It is more than that. What you are doing, preserving the mandasurte culture, this is the very essence of Havei.”
“You do not need to tell me, brother,” Fridone said.
“Yes, I do,” said Tenoal. “You were always a scientist first. Even though you grew up here, you were not satisfied to just live off the land and sea. You had to explore.”
“Is there anything wrong with that?” Fridone asked, somewhat defensively.
“Oh no, that is not what I mean,” said Tenoal. “You and I, science and nature, we are just a microcosm of life here. What I meant was that these islands, our people, we have been here for over 3000 years. These islands have been under attack by invaders, whether it was a new species of plant or animal or people of ill will, it has been this way for much of our history. And what you have told me today is just another such attack.”
“How did Havei survive the Great Dying?” Rei asked. “You are so isolated here. Did it set you back?”
“Completely,” said Tenoal, sadly. “The disease which ravaged the world nearly wiped us out as well. During your day, there was so much trafficking with the outside world, it was only a matter of days before the infection had spread to all the islands. Our people were nearly exterminated.”
“How did you recover?” Rei asked.
Tenoal replied, “The same as the rest of the world. Very slowly.”
So my characters felt their actions had meaning even when I, the author, had no knowledge of this. Good for them. And the Onsiras will get theirs in the end.
Entry 4-039: February 4, 2016
Hawaiian Desserts 1
When Denise and I were in Hawaii for our honeymoon, we went to a lot of neat restaurants. Every place we went served Mai Tais and there was a pineapple garnish on everything. The food was fantastic and so were the desserts but some places seemed to put a premium on presentation. Some were so neat that I had to slip them into the now-lost luau scene from Rome's Revolution. Over the next few days I'll show you some pictures and how I integrated them into the story. Here is the first picture:
Here is that dessert in the context of the story:
If I may have your at
tention, please,” Tenoal said to them.
“Yes?” Rome asked.
“Rav has a treat for you,” Tenoal replied. “Rav!” he said, waving at the teenage boy who had first greeted them.
Rav came over carrying a tray with several plates on it. He took one and placed it in front of Rome and another in front of Rei. On Rome’s plate, he spread a brown, granular substance along the lower half. He took a small pitcher filled with a foamy white liquid and spread the foam part over the upper part of the plate then ladled brown syrup over it. When he was done, a perfectly rendered picture of a palm tree swaying over the sand was created.
“This is wonderful,” Rome exclaimed. “What is it?”
“It is a palm tree,” Rav replied.
“No,” Rome said, laughing. “The food itself. What is this made of?”
“The sand is brown sugar,” Rav explained. “The white is whipped cream and the brown is chocolate syrup.”
“Mmm, chocolate,” Rome said, dipping her little finger in then placing it on her lips. She had grown quite addicted to it over their year-long trip from Tabit to Deucado.
“He is not done yet,” Tenoal said.
Tomorrow, I'll show you the second dessert which was also just as scrumptious.
Entry 4-040: February 5, 2016
Hawaiian Desserts 2
Yesterday, I revealed that when Denise and I were in Hawaii for our honeymoon, we saw a lot of beautifully presented desserts. They impressed me so much that I had to slip them into the now-lost luau scene from Rome's Revolution. Here is the second dessert we encountered: