PRICE OF FREEDOM TIDBITS.

Status: Writing on Chapter 192 of The Price of Freedom. (Page 1,678)

Doing: Writing on this blog; answering e-mails; working out, and well...you know the rest! :0)

Watching: Conserving energy to keep the house cool during today's 90+ degree weather.

Listening to: "No Ordinary Morning"; "Strings for Yasmin" by Chicane/Tin Tin Out

Reading: Kushiel's Scion. Page 252.

TOPIC: UPDATES AND OTHER INTERESTING TIDBITS

Was thinking how I was going to continue the storyline up to the next big confrontation in Waco. But seeing how Kayla went from being an adult of 35 back to a teenager of 16 (and driving Kenneth nuts with conflicting emotions and needs (hehehe) ), I saw some prime opportunity to do a little exploring of the changes going on in Kayla herself.

And Mother knows this too. But they both know that this won't change anything between them.

So the fight continues unabated.

Right now, the two are engaged in a bitter argument over who is the stronger and which has the upper hand. It's a bit ironic that Mother's creation would one day break from the fold and side with humans and latch onto one of the more prominent freedom fighters; thus vexing Mother herself.

And to think that Kayla was once cold and calculating--completely without emotion or feeling. (Of course, I've delved into this past aspect of her a few times throughout the book. It's still a fascinating subject to fall back on--just for personal inflection.)

Now...being sixteen years old has given Kayla's character a whole new dimension to explore--not at least with the ongoing relationship between Kenneth and her. I found it surprising to know that this was the age in which they encountered each other in 2162. I had always thought that she was 19 years old when the book first opened up--and that's how things were.

It never once occurred to me that Kayla also can change from what she was once to the person she is now.

The more I write in this book, the more stuff keeps popping up. And I'm glad that I never saw a reason to restrict myself like the industry hacks want me to.

This kind of personal exploration and flexible writing allows me to just...write.

Forget the limitations and what lies ahead, I'm just going to see what will come down the pike.

However, since I've already established Kayla's character in the last many...hundreds of pages hence (including the nervous breakdowns and other behaviorial shorts in her programming), I think I'm just going to keep going with the way things are and see what happens.

I'm bound to scare someone with what's buried in these latter pages. :0)

***

I know that there are going to be a lot of questions when The Price of Freedom finally debuts sometime in 2018, but for the time being--? I'm not worried.

I've also been toying with a new prequel novel for The Price of Freedom called The Frontlines of Freedom. I was talking with a new writer contact last night (or over the past couple of days), and she was doing a prequel for one of her books.

Now, even if I hadn't talked with her, I had also been toying with the idea of doing a backstory after the first two books are complete. (Because by themselves...? It's going to be a long publication run for this saga.)

But I've been so engrossed in finishing the first book and seeing where it leads before I embarked on a possible sequel...? I didn't want to risk torpedoing any new information which will be embedded in the current tome.

However, the book will document the battle outside of Waco, Texas in 2162--where the reader is first introduced to Kenneth Sparks--where he and Captain James Tanner encounter a stray Neos reconnaissance unit headed by Kayla Sorenson herself.

While most of The Price of Freedom stays focused on Kayla, this prequel will zero in on the fated decision to allow Kenneth and Kayla to return to one of the few remaining Free Earth Movement strongholds left over in Washington D.C.

The novel will also explore some of what Kayla used to be--seeing how the current novel only gives out hints and such; but nothing seriously concrete.

Think of the hints as being dream images laced in perpetual fog of unreality: You don't know if it is real or not. You just go along for the ride and hope for what passes for a happy ending.

But I've always wondered why I didn't backtrack the novel from 2162 and up until the current year of 2166.

I didn't see the need, I suppose. I just started it out a month before the new year (December 2165), and went with the flow.

Seeing how I'm halfway through the novel (at 326,006 words), the urge to do so is getting stronger as time goes on.

However, if anyone here is worried that The Price of Freedom will somehow be "derailed"--don't start betting now.

Cause the book will be completed first--and then I'll see what happens next.

Sky

TUESDAY ACCOLADES

Status: Currently writing on The Price of Freedom--Chapter 182.

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails; working out.

Watching: Evening News

Listening to: "Halcyon" by Chicane

Reading: Windows on a Lost World by V.E. Mitchell (ST-TOS)


TOPIC: STORY TWISTS


Never thought that that this would pop up in The Price of Freedom.

For a time now, I've had to focus more on what was happening with Kayla Sorenson and her ongoing struggle to find her true identity and what her purpose in this long and ongoing war between humanity and the Neos.

Of course, I'm used to the fact that I like to drop a bombshell on my readers every now and then, but this one has me kind've stymied.

Three times or more--throughout the book--either Kenneth Sparks or Kayla Sorenson was visited by their future daughter; Felica Sorenson.

In many guises, she visited them in the year 2166--throughout the first 5 months of the year; each time either saving their bacon, giving Kayla a boost, or in this latest case...?

Stopping her from killing Kenneth Sparks.

But this latest visit also comes with a surprise: Felicia is pregnant with Kenneth's child!

How did this happen was explained in a later chapter--as Felicia "rescues" her estranged mother from her own insanity.

The reason behind the joining.

However, it hasn't been fully explained as to whether or not this is the same Felicia from the current timeline, or another version of her which alternated from another aspect of the timesteam.

Felicia isn't talking and neither Kayla nor Kenneth know much pass their past experiences with their wayward daughter.

So another mystery still has yet to be solved. And by the looks of things--it doesn't appear that it will be solved in this book. Possibly in The Catalyst of Freedom, but I can't be sure--as that storyline is still in bits and pieces. (In terms of an outline.)

And another twist in the current storyline is still unfolding. Because of what happened in Felicia's subspace domain, Kayla has been regressed back to a teenage girl.

16-years-old and no longer pregnant with Felicia.

What's going to happen when she returns to 2166?

I don't know. But count on a very interesting read from here on out. (Not that this book has ever been boring from minute one...?)

Sky

WEEKEND CHAOS.

Status: Currently writing on Zombie Nation: Outbreak Zero; Chapter 179 of The Price of Freedom

Doing: Writing this blog; surfing the net; answering e-mails

Watching: Pink Floyd's "Live Pulse" concert on PBS. (From 1994)

Listening to: Nothing at the moment. Pink Floyd will do for the time being. :0)

Reading: Resistance by J.M. Dillard (ST-TNG) (On page 225 finally!)

TOPIC: MILESTONE OF MILESTONES

This one should've gone out a few days ago. But I was so backlogged on e-mails--I haven't had the time to post a new entry.

Oddly enough, ourecho.com doesn't seem to be functioning at the moment. (shrugs)

So I can't post my monthly chapter entries for this month.

Anyway, I am currently at 302,795 words on The Price of Freedom. Chapter 179.

Things have taken a turn for the interesting--to say the least. Kayla Sorenson transformed yet again and this time, she appears to be completely disconnected from reality and those around her.

Kenneth tries to reason with her, but he ends up getting smacked around again--like the last time in Union City; prior to the city's destruction.

But this is on the heels of an F5 tornado which came out of nowhere--and sucked everyone involved inside it.

Hence, Kayla's transformation.

So this time around, she's more light and energy--but she's also machine as well. An interesting angelic hybrid if I do say so myself. :0)

Unfortunately for Kenneth, he's weaponless. The twister sucked up their weapons when the old farmhouse was broadsided.

So I don't know what's going to happen as a result of this new encounter. I'll be finding out when the new month starts.

VACATION OVER--WORK BEGINS ANEW

Status: On vacation (One day left)

Doing: Writing this blog; recovering from being sick.

Watching: Nothing. (Seeing how the Mariners got spanked last night by Tampa Bay. I was passed out yesterday night--so I didn't see the actual end to the game.)

Listening to: Some old Electrobox taped music from C-89.5

Reading: Resistance by J.M. Dillard (ST-TNG)

TOPIC: STARCHILD DUEL AND THE PRICE OF FREEDOM

The week starts anew with a revival of both Starchild Duel and The Price of Freedom.

The plan is to complete the last three chapters to Duel before the final battle between Cara Hastings and Isis McGowan--and go from there.

The intrasystem fight between the two combatants is going to take a more integrated and complex approach.

I could most likely start the fight off by a brief tussle over the Moon before both jump towards Mars via a hyperspace conduit. (These are short jump methods of travel used by the Starchild of Ancient Lore. For long-distances, a hypergate bypass conduit is more favorable.)

I'm still not sure if Talia McGowan is going to want to remain behind. Since Jalen Osoro of Pasik III merged her spirit with the stranded Starchild of Ancient Lore.

I don't think that Tarnek is going to be able to stop her from leaving anyway.

And as soon as Isis gets done playing her role as the 'human ice cube'...?

She's going to have her hands full as it is.

So the novel is sitting at 291,504 words with 144 chapters in play.

As for The Price of Freedom...?

Things couldn't anymore dicier for Kenneth Sparks and Kayla Sorenson.

The shit's flying in the fan as reinforcements from Wynne show up on the heels of an Neos strike force.

Having switched sides, Timothy Caldwell, Kim Sanders, and Anna Ellison join in the fight--and eventually the journey to Jonesboro, Arkansas.

But old scores between them have to be settled first--and that's provided they can survive the Neos as well.

Previously, the 101st Combat Division; 13th Reconnaissance Unit had been partly massacred by another Neos incursion--short of Wynne itself--and at the hands of Kayla herself; when she had been transformed by one of Mother's Seeker units.

The survivors were taken hostage by Susan Meyers people in Wynne and tortured for information and other things--as per Neos sympathizers.

Kayla was left inert and in a stasis lock, while Kenneth Sparks spent 17 days as the female overseer's prisoner and personal sex toy.

This aspect of the storyline took 208 pages to flesh out.

The book so far sits on 174 chapters with 295,656 words.