artwork by the very talented Adam Burn – used with permission
I’ve reached that golden point when writing the first draft of a novel. Yes, the point where I have less to write than I have already written. I’ve crested the hill, and now all I have to do is stroll down the slope on the other side. Nothing to it, right?
Right …
So what is Humanity Machine? What’s it about? What’s it have to offer? In short, why should the reader care?
Those are very good questions. Please let me try to answer.
Humanity Machine is a story of Manufactured People. Soldiers created on demand using an advanced form of 3D printing. More precisely, this is the story of one such soldier: Vance. This is her journey as she grows from just one more cog in the machine to an individual that can shape the destiny of her people.
Humanity Machine is a story of Intense Space Battles. Highly advanced, self-modifying warships slugging it out in the depths of space. Vance serves as one warship’s drone controller, commanding her squadrons of interceptors and bombers against a powerful and tenacious foe.
Humanity Machine is a story of Divided Humanity. Not by politics or ethnicities or faiths, but by technology. It’s a story about how technology molds a society, and how that technology can make its people seem very alien to an outsider. Imagine a society with no families, no children, and no gender roles. Imagine a two-tiered society of the created and the creators. What would that society be like? What would its people be like?
So there it is. Humanity Machine. I’m pretty excited about this one.
And, of course, if I’m going to go through all this effort, I’ve got to give the novel some beautiful artwork. A big thank you to Adam Burn for allowing me to use his artwork for this post. Please check out his DeviantArt page here for more fantastic artwork. If all goes as planned, Adam will be doing the cover art for Humanity Machine, when I reach that point.
Naturally, a lot of hard work lies before me. Humanity Machine already weighs in at a hefty 70,000 words. I expect it to be somewhere between 130,000 and 150,000 words when everything is said and done, and those words aren’t going to write themselves. It’s been a tough experience. This is novel thirteen for me, and it is easily my most ambitious. The outlining alone took me a year to complete.
But it’s all going to be worth it. I can feel it. I hope you share that sentiment when it’s done.
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