Noticing the liquid’s aroma, Rei inquired, “Wine? Isn’t that a little out of character for a Vuduri?”
“I find myself more spiritually aligned with the mandasurte than the Vuduri these days,” rsay said. “Probably because of you two. I have not quite made up my mind to go Cesdiud.” He reached up to a shelf mounted on the wall and brought down three glasses.
“You sure have mellowed from when I first met you,” Rei said. “But still? How do you even know what to do?”
“I agree I do not have much experience,” Ursay said. “But we are just north of Douro, which used to be known as the premier wine-growing region in a thousand square kilometers. They do not let the mandasurte near here so I decided to try it myself. It interests me, what can I say?” He lifted the pitcher and poured the wine into each of the glasses then handed one to Rei and one to Rome. “This red is young,” he said, “but I think you might like it.”
Rei lifted his glass and held it up to the light. He swished the glass in a small circle then took a sip. “This is good!” he said. “Better than the stuff we grew.”
Ursay took a swallow from his. “It needs to age,” he said. He looked at Rome who was staring at her glass. “Do you not wish to try it?” he asked.
Rome looked up at him with some pain in her face. Rei reached over, took her glass and moved it away from her. “Rome had a bad experience not too long ago. Wine was a part of it,” he said. “No offense but I don’t think she’s in the mood. Commander Ursay please do not be insulted.”
“No,” Rome protested. She extended her arm and pulled the glass back. “I refuse to allow one ompasil to take away the pleasures of my life.” She lifted the glass and took a healthy swig. “Mmm,” she said. She turned to Rei and said, “I believe you call it getting back on the horse?”
Rei laughed.
Ursay replied, “I cannot say I understand what you are talking about but I will send a bottle along with you. In a year or so, it should be ready.” He set his glass down. “Now tell me why you are here.”
As you can see, Rome had no problem and later learned to truly like the stuff. In the world of Rome's Revolution, anything is possible!
Entry 1-276: September 27, 2013
Happy Birthday, Rei
Trying to figure out the exact birth dates of all the characters in Rome's Revolution is an exercise in working backwards.
For example, I know that Rei's final night with Sally Reynolds was on January 24, 2067 AD. In a previous post, we were able to calculate that Rei launched on June 24, 2067 AD. Rei was 25 years old when he launched. So mathematically, it was easy to figure out that Rei was born in the year 2042 AD.
In the previous long-form version of Rome's Revolution, Rei mentioned to Rome that he was a Libra so that narrows it down to the range of September 22 to October 22. Further, he was born on a Saturday. So I looked up that day on a calendar for the year 2042 and discovered that the first Saturday in 2042 where he could be a Libra means Reinard Bierak was born on September 27, 2042 which is exactly 29 years from today.
So Happy Birthday to Rei, in advance, from a person who really appreciates your contributions to the survival of the world in the 35th century. Not to mention fodder for writing many books!
Entry 1-277: September 28, 2013
This is the end
Whenever I have had discussions with other writers concerning Rome's Revolution, they all told me that they do not have a hard and fast outline. This includes my radio interview with Patti. But I cannot understand how a writer attacks a story without having at least some understanding of how a story starts, plays out and ends.
Imagine if you were an author and you were writing a detective novel, a whodunit. How could you write the novel unless you knew, well, whodunit? In any event, I never start out a story without knowing how it will end. In Rome's Revolution (back when it was still VIRUS 5), I knew it would end with the Stareater destroying Tabit, OMCOM transferring his consciousness and mutations occurring. Part 2 of Rome's Revolution was always going to end with the sky turning black, Rei and Rome grabbing their heads, screaming and passing out. Part 3 was always going to end with the destruction of MASAL and the return of the Stareaters.
I must admit that while I knew the Stareaters had to return and I knew I wanted a scene where all the Vuduri passed out, I hadn't quite worked out how Rome and Rei were going to save the Earth. Luckily, they told me the outcome before I finished the story.
With The Ark Lords, I always knew the story was going to end with Rome firing a bullet through the ersatz virus vessel and Keller screaming out, "you bitch, you killed us all." I thought it was a neat scene. I was not sure how I was going to dispose of the Darwin people but luckily, midway through, Virga gave me the answer.
Finally, for Rome's Evolution, I always knew it was going to end with the ethereal battle and Rome and Rei defeating MASAL's Sipre. The rest, well, that just fell out of the journey.
For the upcoming novel The Milk Run, I already know how it is going to end but I won't tell you just now. You'll have to read that one to find out. Finally, in the compendium to be issued after that called The Vuduri Companion, there will be a little story called "Not The End" which will tell you how Rei and Rome meet their end of days.
Stick around. It will be fun!
Entry 1-278: September 29, 2013
My incredibly talented brother, Bruce
You have heard me mention my brother Bruce many times throughout my ramblings concerning Rome's Revolution but I have never listed all of his contributions in one place. So today is Bruce Appreciation Day. I thought I'd list all the ways he has contributed to the (modest) success of the books.
First, he was the inspiration behind Pal Boco. Pal has been retired although he will reappear when I release the original VIRUS 5 next year in The Vuduri Companion. If you read the above cited post, you will see that Pal Boco was the inspiration behind MINIMCOM so really, Bruce gave me MINIMCOM. Bruce has read every book, given me wonderful feedback and heavily edited The Ark Lords to give it its distinctive style.
Of course, people do judge a book by its cover. Especially on Amazon, people will just skip over a book that has a plain or ugly cover regardless of its ratings. Bruce has done all of my covers for both the paperbacks and the e-books which require a completely different approach. I think you will all agree that they go beyond just being covers and sit squarely in the realm of art.
Paperback:
Ebook: