Ep. 192: NaNoWriMo Failure... Success!

This year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) say me drop 20,000 words short of the 50,000 word goal which will result in me working through the novel during December and offering you, my loyal listener, a free book. My first novel in a genre I didn’t really like when in high school despite the fact my father had hundreds of the things lying about the house. I’ve read some (Heinlein, Asmiov) but never really was too interested in them.

Until 2018! When I started

The Sinking of the Saavedra Maru!

TSSM takes place in outer space, of course, on a multi-generational ship to populate another planet. The main focus of the crew is Guzman89, Flynn, Markus, Kokkei, Wade, Williams, and the captain, Gynere. Guzman89 is the 89th version of a cloned person and she is in charge of the cloning/medical coma section of the ship. The others range in age fro 20 to about 140.

Rather than put people in deep freeze until they need to be thawed out (something most interstellar novels include), they are put in a medical coma and given anti-aging chemicals as discovered by Nobel-prize winners May-Britt Moser and Carol Greider (not together or in the same year).

However, Gynere is attacked and Flynn & Markus are ordered to find the attacker. They must question everyone including their boss (Guzman89), their subordinates (Kokkei, Wade, Williams) and others. 

Also on board are two very strange comatose patients. One, called the Hermit by others, is very old. He was, perhaps, involved in a war on his home planet but deemed valuable enough to save by the rulers. He’s dipped in a coma until his injuries can be healed.

The second is a brain-dead young woman whose organs continue to function normally. With no blood. Why would the spleen clean and recycle blood that no longer circulates in her body? 

Success! For you. My plan is to finish The Sinking of the Saavedra Maru before the end of the year and make it available online for three or four people to read, if they wish. A Free Book! For you! If you want it. 

I will make the appropriate announcements when the novel is finished.