Writing Unreal Right

A world created in speculative fiction seems real once my mind can fill in the details. When I "see" in my head the lakes, mountains, and meadows or weedy asphalt and delapidated skyscrapers, I transport to the side of the character. The details, the color of the sky, the smells and sounds, give me a...

The Consortium

The toxic air on Marril must be endured if thayanite is to be mined. The moon is practically made of the valuable mineral so everywhere exposes inhabitants to the toxin but those who live near open mines or work in them are exposed more. Thayanite lodges in the throat and lungs and scars the tissue...

Populous v. Power

Some may think that our claimancy system is rather archaic. We put a family in power, they choose who to pass power down to, and it goes on rather like an old monarchy. The difference is just the wars. These individuals do not go to war with one another in order to gain more land,...

In a World

When I write scenes on various planets I imagine what smells, sound, and feelings that world would have. Quirni would be so different from where I am now. Right now I'm sitting outside at lunch. I hear the exhaust fans from the building, lawn mowers, a car idling, a woman talking loudly on her phone...

Three Worlds

Three habitable planets orbit the sun of the Ipet system. The Defense Delegate, the DD for short, is responsible for this. It has two main types of scientists who choose which worlds to terraform. The first group studies the ecosystems by seeding traceable nano-molecules and watching how they pass from organism to organism, assuming there...

Going Down the River

Winding through a story to get to a known ending requires careful consideration for all the parts that must be present for the ending to make sense. That probably seems obvious but it isn't always easily done. So many times while writing Quirni, Andrea and I would discuss ways to move the story along faster...

The Map of Our Universe

The map we have in our black book of knowledge is actually something I worked on for our story back when we created it. It was one of my first real contributions to the universe, and I made the universe. When my mother told me about how she wanted the folds to be, and how...

Whose a Good Claimant?

In the Quirni series, claimants rule over land they personally own and that land is called their claim. Their power is complete on their claim and so they carry the title of lord or lady. If a claimant writes a system of laws that work well for the common man, they will attract people as...

Is There Anything Good to Eat?

Only a few of the characters in the "Quirni" series have lived on all three planets in the system. Erica lived on Sirrus until she was eight. She lived on Marril until her mid-twenties, and then she moved to Quirni. She was never lovingly housed and protected from harm no matter which world. Instead she...

In Memory of Aberfan

Aberfan is a town in Wales that suffered a horrible accident October 21, 1966. The waste from the mine had been stored as hills. One of those hills slid onto the town. It killed children in the school, teachers, and families in homes. I have used the name Abervan in Quirni in memory of the...