Maxwell Pearl's Blog

Well, it's taken me a while to get this going again, but here I am. In any event, I'm working on a sequel to the original trilogy that started my science fiction writing journey, The Casitian Universe Series. I wrote those novels starting more than 15 years ago, and I spent a lot of time imagining the world. It is, by far the most developed worldbuilding I've done to date, and that makes sense considering that not only do I have two sequel novels in progress, but I also have a prequel in progress! (It's not yet clear how many books that will be.)

In writing the sequels, I wanted to strike a balance between explaining what was already understood from the previous books, and moving forward without explanations. Some things about the world (spirituality of one branch of humanity in particular) had not been well worked out in the original series, so it was fun to dive in deeply into that aspect in the sequel. But most of what was there had already been explored and explained in the previous books.

I have seen three strategies spectulative fiction sequels. The first, and I think most common, is: assume the reader of the sequel has read the previous books. Don't explain anything except what's new and additional worldbuilding and plot for that sequel. The second, and I think least common, is: assume nothing of the reader. Summarize what has gone before, explain what's needed, etc. (I generally find this boring.) The third strategy is the one I am working toward. Assume most readers have read the original, but perhaps it's been a while, and perhaps some haven't. Provide some background so people aren't completely lost, but don't summarize too much, or explain too much.

It's a hard balance, and I hope I've been able to strike it.

I'm hoping to finish the first book of the sequel in time to use NanoWriMo to finish the second. We'll see if that works. The sequel is set about 80 years after the events of the third novel in the series, Humans Untied. Beatrice, who is a major character of the second and third novels of the original series, has died, and the family is gathering for her funeral. This, and a crisis on Hilcyon are the opening narratives of the new book, tentatively titled The Human Family.

I decided I wanted to start my author blog again. I've been doing a lot of writing, and thinking about writing, and I feel like I have stuff to say. So I'll say it - possibly frequently, possibly occasionally, we'll see how it goes.

At present, I am working on the sequel to the Casitian Universe Series which I'm really excited about. I'm excited to be returning to that world as a better writer. I'm doing much more in-depth character studies, and it's fun to keep working on the world-building I'd started long ago. It has entirely new characters - this book starts 70+ years after then end of the last book, "Humans Untied."

A book I wrote a while ago is soon to be published by a small press, Echobird Press I'll put up links when it's available.

It’s been quite some time since I released “The Expedition” back in 2012. But in that time, I have been working on two novels in that universe, a sequel to “Humans Untied“and a far-prequel – a novel that describes the original capture of human beings in the Neolithic period. The … Continue reading

So, I hope you’ve read my post about why I’m not publishing (that is, selling and marketing) my science fiction anymore. But, I said I’d still be writing, and I am. I just finished the final touches on the newest stand-alone novel, called “The Artifact.” I hope you enjoy reading … Continue reading

I’ve been in a writing funk all year. It got worse when I went to Wiscon this year, and deepened further during the summer’s WorldCon brou-ha-ha. I’ve been percolating, ruminating, and mulling things over. And I realized that what I really wanted was to spend my precious time telling stories and becoming a … Continue reading

I’m leaving before dawn on Thursday to fly to Madison, Wisconsin for Wiscon. This will be my third Wiscon, and my sixth genre con. Wiscon is my favorite con, I think, and I’m going to make a commitment to get there every year from now on. I’m on five panels … Continue reading

I enjoyed my time at FogCon, and I ended up on more panels than I expected. Two in particular, “Focus on Ferguson”, and “Wash Your Hands Before Attending,” (the added panel in which we talked about epidemics, and the “big one”) made me think a lot about dystopia. As I’ve said elsewhere, … Continue reading

I like flash fiction. I’ve written a fair bit, although haven’t ever tried to publish any. Chuck Wendig, a science fiction writer who’s blog I read, has a flash fiction challenge, and it seemed the right time.  So here is my humble entry (the text in bold are two of … Continue reading

I’ll be at at least two SF Cons this year – FogCon, which starts on Friday, and WisCon, which is in May. I’m on four panels at FogCon: “When your Traveler is my Colonizer“ “Focus on Ferguson“ “From the ice planet Hoth to Mars: how can we write about real … Continue reading

It used to be that the tools that writers used were a typewriter and a pencil. Perhaps a dictionary or thesaurus by their side. Now, the number of interesting writing tools out there for speculative fiction writers is legion. Here are the ones I use fairly regularly: I would never, … Continue reading