Well, at least I won’t have to worry about coming up with new titles for my blog posts for a while!
Everything is still great, as much as I am lightly ashamed to admit. I have been presented with an opportunity to do the work I love (and, if I may say so, that I do very well) by the universe, and by Jove I’m going to do that.
I switched tracks from doing Novel 5 for a little bit to pivot into the next Tintian novel (I’m about due for one), that I am currently calling “Tintian and the Chimera’s Secret”! This one will be based loosely on “The Secret of the Unicorn”, and possibly fold in “Red Rackham’s Treasure” as well, although we’ll have to wait to see about that. I’ve written out the start of the story’s notes, beginning to lay down the foundations for how the story will parallel the original, and how it will be different.
One big difference is going to be the concept of “treasure”. Modern “treasure” is money, plain and simple… sure, there are the usual “Maybe the treasure was the friends we made along the way” tropes, as old as time itself, but really, modern treasure is monetary power. The Tintian universe is post-scarcity, post-money… it uses credit for luxuries and calories over one’s allocation, but everyone is on more-or-less the same playing field when it comes to what they can buy. One of Tintian’s eventual enemies is going to be a business-and-media mogul who uses influence and military power as currency, somebody who believes very firmly that hierarchy is necessary for society and is pushing to reinstate it despite the harm it will cause. But what does “Rackham’s Treasure” really mean? Will it be military power? An old ship, maybe loaded down with banned weaponry? Biological technology that allows people to never age? Instant knowledge programs?
I’ll have to think about it. But it will be fun!
Anyway! Things are great here, and I hope everyone out there is staying safe, checking in with your friends and family, and doing well!