(Due to pending copyrights the working titles of certain manuscripts have been intentionally omitted.)
With plot and storyline mapped through the sixth novel, the manuscript of “The Dowry Voyage”, stands well under way as the second work in the Forest Kingdom of Drisnia series. In this installment the focus shifts to that of the Princess of Lyndium; who gains a mentor and grows from the passive heroine and fish-out-of-water character to that of a mature woman and an able monarch. Figured mainly in a naval setting, this epic fantasy introduces new “exotic” locales and a coterie of unrelentingly disreputable knaves in a C.S. Forester vein.
Part way completed, this "novel of deadly intentions" is a classic murder mystery set in the politically charged atmosphere of 1972 Milan, Italy. Police inspectore Aurelio Chiara and his partner Franco are charged to investigate the death of a well-known, and equally disliked businessman with problematic criminal and political associations; Pietro Alessi. Suspects abound in this suspicion-laden tale as a lifelong nemesis, wronged family members, and the workings of political parties competing in the hotly contested general election come to a head.
Well into the narrative phase is a science-fiction cast in the “space opera” genre, albeit with a large dollop of Sumerian mythology enveloping the superstructure of the storyline. Based on an earlier short story entitled “La Gardenia Chocolate” the work has mutated in revision and has expanded accordingly. In the far future, or is it distant past?, a multi-national crew are on the trail of a world that boasts a large enough quantity of life sustaining water to support colonization, or exportation to their rapidly de-hydrated civilization. However, an unexpected accident initiates a dramatic re-writing of the natural history of the planet and define the crew’s role in the act of destruction, or creation. Tough decisions will have to be made, as old national divisions rear up and propel elements of the crew toward mutiny.
Currently in the structuring phase, the second book of three in the “Albigensian Seed” series, is “The Flower of Gaillac” (and the Impenitent Raven). Based on the "found diary" of the prominent “Delphine” character, a first-person account chronicles her early life in medieval Provence and her initiation into the loyalist hierarchy residing in the Cathar city of Albi. In a sense, a "coming of age family saga", the sequel is a visceral feminine counterpart to the first installment, wherein Delphine, or rather, known then as Marie, is forced to come to grips with the severe changes and addictive compulsions thrust upon her by the merciless hemorrhagic virus re-writing her gene triggers.
|