#uroborossaga

‪#UroborosSaga Book 2 is free for #Amazon #kindle today. #scifi #dystopian 

If you like Eamon, he will return with his own story in Book 8! 

Playing around in the Mischief App to try out some poses and colors. For the second faux Uroboros Saga movie poster, the composition will likely include Silverstein, Taylor IA, Ezra One, and Eamon Two. I’m thinking it’ll have Silverstein up front, holding Taylor after she’d been shot, with suitably angry Ezra to one side, and the stoic Eamon to the other. 

“I’m not talking about that. How do you know about Mars? That was decades ago,” Silverstein asked.

“That is a sensitive conversation, and we have an audience.”

Silverstein nodded. “We need a proper analogue, then.”

“Have you heard the story of Anchises?” Kale asked, looking up at the fresco painted on the ceiling overhead.

“He’s warned not to boast of his affair with Aphrodite, lest he be struck by a thunderbolt. In the version you’re referring to, was he killed, or merely rendered blind?” Silverstein replied, shifting uncomfortably.

“What matters is that he had a son,” Kale replied, sipping his coffee. “That son, Aeneas had a wife. In carrying his elderly father out of the flames of Troy, his wife did not survive as they escaped.”

“But, the son of Aeneas and Creusa, Ascanius, would survive to be part of the lineage of Romulus, the founder of Rome,” Silverstein said.

“Anchises’ foolish pride nearly got his son, and grandson, killed. Creusa pleaded with them to flee. To think of their posterity. The Gods set her aflame as a sign, along with a shooting star. At last Anchises, dousing Creusa in water, agrees to flee Troy,” Kale replies, squinting upward.

Silverstein nodded. “She does not die then, but later as she falters behind as they flee, presumably killed by the Greeks.”

“Aeneas goes back to find her, but she has been killed, or taken. Then, Creusa’s ghost appears, telling him where he will go, and that he will marry another. She pleads with him to care for their son,” Kale said, setting his coffee down, and folding his arms.

“And, Aeneas tries to hold her, three times, but cannot take hold of her before she vanishes into the ether,” Silverstein says, beginning to understand. “She was rescued, in death, by Rhea and Aphrodite to keep her from being enslaved.”

Kale nodded, giving Silverstein a hardened expression.

“Except in our version of the story, I’m Anchises, I got Aeneas killed, hid Ascanius away, and I am the one haunted by Creusa?” Silverstein muttered, shaking his head. “How do we deal with her?”

Kale cocked his head to one side, “Do you really see yourself as Anchises?”

“If not me, then who?” Silverstein replied, sullenly.

“Doctor Maurice Madmar. I know you see him as a victim, but I am confident that regardless of his role, what happened was not your fault,” Kale said, his expression darkening with his mood.

“What are you seeing in this that I don’t see?” Silverstein asked.

“It may be that as much as we need to address the plight of Creusa, we need to appeal to the desires of Rhea, and Aphrodite.”

“Did you lay awake all night thinking of that analogue?” Silverstein said, covering his face with his hands.

“It’s good, right?”

“Yes, damn you.”

Three Book Bloc

First, a little about the Uroboros Saga three book bloc standard. Book 7 was a mostly self-contained story, that existed inside the Uroboros Saga continuity. It definitely crosses some T’s and dots a few I’s, but is mostly like a Netflix Marvel show is the rest of the Uroboros Saga series is like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to continue to the comparison. Book 8 will serve both as a stand alone story for fan-favorite Eamon, and a catapult into Book 9.

That is the standard format each three book bloc. The first book is a more stand alone story, and the second and third books are a longer story. So, if you're waiting to read Book 7 because you're worried about a cliffhanger ending, go ahead and read it.

Writing A Western

Book 8 is my attempt at writing a Western with a science fiction backdrop. The format is pretty simple with Westerns. Typically, there's a wilderness setting around a small town. The antagonists spend the majority of the story making you hate them. There's a showdown at the end, good prevailing over evil.

I've done my best to give the Western the proper respect, but having a special assignment Ursine Metasapient as the protagonist complicates things. Eamon isn't bullet proof, but pretty close where small arms fire is concerned. He's as big and strong as a grizzly bear, maybe a little more, and he's genetically tailored and designed to be the first cop in the door on a tactical entry.

Eamon has appeared a couple of times during the Uroboros Saga, and like Ezra One, people have requested that he receive his own book. I was all too happy to oblige. Expanding on the Metasapient characters in the books is something I have wanted to do. Book 8 feels like a marvelous opportunity given the setting and absence of most of the other primary protagonists.

I have no idea if I’ll do an Ezra One, or Drone Underworld stand alone, or one contiguous with the rest of the Uroboros Saga. Drones are extremely difficult characters to design. My notes and research on Ezra and Brook easily dwarf nearly every other character. Even Intelligent Agent characters aren’t as hard to create and write dialogue for.

Research

I had to do a lot of research for the book. I'm from Idaho and the Northwest, but Montana is a place unto itself, and correctly representing the people, even 200 years in the future, alongside the environment was important to me. In describing Eamon's capabilities, I did a lot of research on Grizzly Bears, both from scientific research, and historical accounts.

The hardest research has been on the issue of identity from the perspective of artificial intelligence. Humans have the luxury of being physically distinct at birth, and being granted sensations and experiences that help shape their identity out in the world. Artificial intelligences sequestered to a server farm might reach very different conclusions.

So, I looked at the philosophy of identity in decision making. That's a long road that runs between intelligent decision making, and total nihilism. It's always been part of my journey as a writer to look at the philosophical implications of technology we might see in the future, but the research ended up feeling just as relevant in the present as well.

Book 9

Big things happen in the background of Book 8. I want to go into Book 9 with something that will be the confluence of the last half million words I’ve written for Uroboros Saga. I don’t want it to be an endless shuffle with every character making an appearance or cameo, and I don’t want readers to look beyond 9 with uncertainty either.

I think there will be a Uroboros Saga Series after Book 9, but I don’t know if it’ll pick back up with a Book 10. If you’re a reader, feel free to reach out and let me know what you’d like to see next, or reply to this post.