Saturday, January 5, 2019

2019: current sci-fi WIP: The Torn Planet

Hey everyone!

I want to introduce you briefly to another world I've been working on since late 2018. This currently has the working title 'The Torn Planet' and is (as the title suggests) science fiction. The first draft is complete at ~25.000 words - which makes it a novella.

It's one of my best stories if I'm any judge of this myself. It has a clear outline considering plot and the characters stand independently in the story. Although they are only three (five if you count the aliens) main characters their actions are clear and truly do speak louder than words.

The Torn Planet is about a time in the future when Earth has been entirely depleted of its resources and become toxic to human life. Those who had the money (big corporations and governments) built orbital stations (think ISS but much bigger) in order to preserve the human race. And since station life is difficult most of the people are in cryo-stasis. They have been frozen to be thawed when a.) a solution arises to Earth's toxicity problems (spoilers: it's not likely) or b.) a new planet is found to inhabit.

The company Ad Astra is one of those corporations that managed to build a station in time and saved a lot of people with it. They represent both a company and part of the United Arabian government. Their goal is simple: They want to get away from Earth before it gets WORSE. They know humanity cannot survive as it is at that moment (frozen and non-living by any most standards). They want to find a new planet to settle on but do not have the means to travel to it.

Enter Zinnia. Zinnia is the main character of The Torn Planet. Zinnia is a woman who wants to build a family (children are a big topic for her) and live a peaceful life on the station supporting her husband Beni's research into the science of wormholes. This is her duty as well as her desire even though she was 'built' for more: In the past her father (director Muhammed of the Ad Astra company/government) chose to give her genes (enhancements) that would aid in wormhole research but because she chose Beni and her family over going into science herself these enhancements have been neglected. Beni however refuses to have children as long as they are stuck around Earth. He promises instead that they will have them as soon as he has opened a wormhole.

But then Beni dies and without him Zinnia is momentarily lost. Her father implores her to pick up where Beni left off. With his death the way for Zinnia to unravel the mysteries of wormholes is cleared. On top of that she is promised a batch of Beni's genes to still have his children even though he is dead. IF she manages to create a wormhole and bring the Ad Astra ship called the Tree of Life to safety in a new galaxy with a new planet.

That's the setup of The Torn Planet in a nutshell. What happens next is (hi)story. It involves space travel and aliens. It involves betrayal. It involves irreparably broken hearts and damaged minds and the revenge of a super-human mind against those who have committed the greatest crime of humanity. And all that in only 25.000 words!

Are you excited? You should be! I aim to publish The Torn Planet before May. The exact date isn't yet certain but in a couple of weeks I'll be looking for beta readers and shortly after will update you on the fixes publishing date.

Stay tuned!

WriteBot.

No comments:

Post a Comment