Elite: Dangerous And Here the Wheel by John Harper

Elite: And Here The Wheel by John Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an action adventure played out across a wide canvass. Set in the world of Elite: Dangerous it’s the 5th of Fantastic Books Publishing’s Elite offerings that I’ve read. Having been bowled over by the first four, I set out with some trepidation into this one, knowing it was going to be different – every book has had a completely different structure and feel – but not sure if it would be as good as the rest. Well, I’m so pleased to be able to say that it is! It’s completely different in setting, tone and pace, but like the others, a delight to read. And Here the Wheel follows the trials and tribulations of a famed pirate, but nothing, including his fame, is quite what it seems. Throwing the pirate into an enforced and uneasy alliance with a woman who hates all pirates with a passion is a useful trick to generate tension and drama – and tension and drama abound in this action-packed space adventure – but the conclusion when it arrives is satisfyingly unpredictable.

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Elite:Dangerous Tales from the Frontier by 15 authors

Elite Dangerous: Tales from the Frontier by Chris Booker and 14 others
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the best of the best – from serious nail-biting drama to laugh-out-loud funny

Where to start reviewing this one? At the beginning I guess. The book opens with Crossing the Line by Chris Booker, a very human story of small time traders wanting to break into the big time. A real page turner to draw you into the anthology.

Next in line comes The Comet’s Trail by Darren Grey, an equally good read about a space pilot bounty hunter with cerebral palsy, a rare condition in this future world. Seeing how a lifetime of having to fight for respect pushes her to seek the ultimate prize without hesitation really racks up the tension.

This is followed by A Question of Intelligence by Lisa Wolf. This is a very human story set in an extraordinary world where a daughter’s search for her father becomes a clash of cultures with political wrangling in danger of obscuring the real challenges: ones that mirror things we face right now in the real world.

We bounce out of this story with its cast of thousands, into The Easy Way Out by Ramon Marett, where we travel with a lone pilot. Ship critically damaged and failing as time passes. He needs a miracle. A real roller-coaster of a story.

Then on to The Maledict by Tim Gayda, an imaginative tale of panic around a fast-spreading plague, the rise of a sinister cult and one man’s single-minded determination to get to the truth, except that when he finds it, it doesn’t provide the simple solution he’d assumed.

This is followed by The Children of Zeus by Christopher Jarvis, an enthralling tale of two very different protagonists whose opposing philosophies are set to clash when they’re out at the edges of known space. Tension builds as it becomes clear what’s at stake.

Then a complete change in tempo and setting to Pinacotheca by Alexander G Saunders where a vast gallery of the universe’s most treasured art mysteriously vanishes. The story weaves beautifully evocative descriptions of this vast ship floating lost in space with a nail-biting narrative of the two traders who stumble upon it years later and unravel an incredible story.

Next we’re plunged back into the maelstrom of human emotion in Blood is Thicker by Ulla Susimetsä  where one woman’s thirst for vengeance blinds her to the impossibility of achieving her goal and the reader can only turn the pages with an ever-increasing sense of impending disaster.

This is beautifully mirrored by the next story, Beyond Civilisation by Marko Susimetsä which gives us another evocation of human emotion in a tale of power, disillusion, idealism and heroism around a half-forgotten settlement on the frontiers of known space.

After the roller-coaster of the previous duo, Cat’s Cradle by Rose Thurlbeck, is a perfect change of tempo; a gem of a story about a woman and her cat. But this is no ordinary woman. She pilots a starship and the cat goes with her.

The animal theme runs on into Nature’s Way by Gaz Bailey where we learn with resignation but without surprise that the trade in smuggled exotic wildlife still flourishes in the year 3300. The risks, however, have changed beyond recognition.

By this stage you will have forgotten that this whole anthology is in some senses a ‘book of the game’, because the prose will simply draw you into the vastness of the Elite universe, and captivate you with the stories of the people who live in it. But the next story swings close to that overall rationale. A Game of Death, by Allen L Farr, very cleverly interweaves the whole idea of computer gaming with life aboard an orbital scrap yard where family secrets are unexpectedly laid bare in a satisfyingly rounded tale.

Now we skip again from large cast to solo protagonist in Mission (almost) Completed by  Matthew D Benson. A commander returns from a successful mission but his life support systems are failing. As things become critical his hallucinations and flashbacks weave the story to its conclusion.

Then back at the edges of the known universe in Research Purposes by Fred Burbidge, salvage hunters discover a lost research facility, but they’re not the only ones with an eye on the hidden prize, which leads to an edge-of-seat adventure where death stalks them down the deserted corridors of the abandoned base.

The anthology ends (alas, alas, but it has to end) with the perfect story to round off such a choice collection. An Ode to Betty Cole by Nicholas Hansen is a wonderfully quirky and evocative mystery. Your senses will tingle with the crew of the ship as they receive a video transmission from the past.

The stories in this collection cover the gamut of human emotion; they range from serious nail-biting drama to laugh-out-loud funny. And as though to show this off as the best of the very best, every story is superbly illustrated by Arto Heikkinen.


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What’s with the ‘difficult’ problem thing on Facebook?

OK, so what are these things all about? New age problems for a seriously dumbed down society or am I missing some clever irony? I’ve just seen another one. It says

‘Name a CITY that does not have the letter “A” in it. Bet you can’t.’ Someone has added ‘This is hard!’

As I read it I thought Hereford, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Hull (or even Kingston-upon-Hull for the purists)... and wondered what the point was. Previous ones have been along the lines of ‘Bet you can’t say your own name without falling over backwards – this is hard!’

So I’m doing my own. Here we go

OK - go!

THE SHORT SHARP FOCUSED PITCH

When I and my co-author launched the first edition of How to be a Fantastic Writer (back in wheneveritwas) our publisher treated us to a frenetic 2-day launch event online. They canvassed for short submissions that we had to critique as part of the launch, using the pearls of wisdom we aimed to pass on as part of the toolkit in the book.

I think we critiqued about 40 short pieces. It was a demanding, intense, constructive and enjoyable exercise. We were also asked to pass on some specific practical advice on writing and selling commercial fiction. We did this via articles, tutorials and discussions.

One of the tutorials was entitled: A MINI TUTORIAL - THE SHORT SHARP FOCUSED PITCH and this is reproduced below.

In the actual launch, this was published in three parts with people joining in over the course of the first day. You can see the interactive discussions by following the links given at the end of each section.

THE SHORT SHARP FOCUSED PITCH

PART I

The aim of this mini tutorial is to give you the tools to create a short, focused pitch for your commercial fiction novel.

Write down the following three things about your novel
1. The name of the main character.
2. This character's goal or objective.
3. A sticky situation in which this character finds him/herself.

Usually in commercial fiction there is a clearly identifiable main character, but there may be more than one. Pick one. The character you choose may have different goals at different points in the story. Note however that the main character usually has an overarching goal and this is the best one to pick. Likewise your character will go through several sticky situations as the story progresses. Pick one that really threatens the goal.

Example
1. Jack Smith.
2. To climb Mount Everest.
3. The summit is 20 minutes away but time is tight.

In the online tutorial, participants were asked to have a go at listing out these three elements for their own novel and saying why they picked each one. Those who wanted then posted their lists as comments on the tutorial itself and we commented on their choices. See these discussions HERE.

PART II

Add the following two elements to the list you created in part one.

4. Something or someone who stands in the way of the character you listed in part one.
5. The potentially disastrous consequences that could result if the character doesn’t overcome this opposition.

Again there will be several answers to these questions. Your character will meet different types of opposition and will face different consequences at different times in the story. Try to choose something that could really spell disaster for your character.

Example (continued from the example in part one)
4. The clock stands in Jack’s way. It says that Jack must turn back in 25 minutes or he will not be able to descend safely before night falls.
5. Another climber in difficulty asks for his help, which will take precious minutes from his available time.

If you end up with several different versions for the five elements, that’s good. You will be able to experiment and see which pitch works best.

Again in the online tutorial, participants were asked to have a go at listing out these two elements for their own novel and saying why they picked each one. Those who wanted then posted their lists as comments and we commented on their choices. See these discussions HERE.

We also recommended that participants try out several variations, noting that it is usually easy to decide on 1, 2 and 3, but it gets harder to figure out 4 and 5 as there will usually be many more alternatives.

PART III

Take the first three of the elements in your list and turn them into a single statement.

Using the example given, we can turn this into the following:

Jack Smith has sold everything to fund his attempt to climb Everest and he stands within sight of his goal.

Now take the last two elements in your list and turn them into a question.

Using the examples given, we can turn this into the following:

Will he lose this only chance to fulfil a lifetime ambition when a stranger calls for help?

Put these together and you have a short, focused pitch:

Jack Smith has sold everything to fund his attempt to climb Everest and he stands within sight of his goal. Will he lose this only chance to fulfil a lifetime ambition when a stranger calls for help?

These short pitches don't tell the story of the book in any detail. The important thing is that they introduce the main character, say something about his or her motivation and then they raise a question, hopefully leaving the reader curious enough to read on.

This is the technique I used to write the pitch for the novel Like False Money. It caught the eye of several publishers who asked to see more of the book, even before the book itself was well enough written to warrant publication. However, when the book was accepted the publisher took the essence of the pitch and used it in the cover blurb.

The original pitch around the five elements was as follows:

Annie Raymond [1], desperate to be taken seriously as a private investigator [2], finds herself in an impossible job with a boss who hasn’t a clue who she is [3]. Will her career be over before it starts when a schoolgirl [4] accuses her of unprofessional conduct [5]?

Participants were invited to post their own short pitches for people to comment on. See these discussions HERE.

Adapted from Chapter 2 of How to be a Fantastic Writer which contains more detail and examples.

If you found this mini tutorial useful, please leave a comment, spread the word and buy the book.

Elite: Reclamation by Drew Wagar

Elite Dangerous : Reclamation by Drew Wagar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Not since Emily Bronte has anyone got away with this trick!

This is the second of the Elite books that I’ve read. Very different from Elite: Mostly Harmless but also an excellent read. A beautifully crafted story with real characters. I couldn’t help but get drawn into their world. I saw the beauty of the Prism system and cried ‘foul’ over the political shenanigans that threatened it. And what an amazing and original heroine. Not since Wuthering Heights has anyone got away with killing their main protagonist so early in the book. The threads of the story tangled and untangled until the unexpected but ultimately satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended.


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Elite: Mostly Harmless by Kate Russell

Elite Dangerous: Mostly Harmless by Kate Russell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fast moving, funny and with a pearler of a twist

Years ago I used to devour science fiction like there was no tomorrow. Then I was stung by a few bad books and went off it for years. The short story anthology, Fusion, brought me back on board, and wow am I glad about that or I might have missed this one. Elite: Most Harmless is a gem. It’s fast moving and funny. It’s one of those who-needs-legal-highs-with-books-like-this-about sort of books. And a pearler of a twist at the end. Quite a few twists along the way. It had me gripped from page 1. The thing is that I could so easily have passed this one by. I don’t play computer games and this is authorised Elite fiction, and I did wonder if I would need to be an Elite aficionado to get it. Not at all. Once it had hooked me (which was well before the end of page 1) I never gave computer gaming a thought. A great read.


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Writer’s Reveal

Starting from the movie term ‘baton pass’, this series links writers and their work rather than scenes in a film. I took the baton from Stuart Aken and here’s my leg of the race:

What are you working on?

Not what you might think for a crime writer. Along with a colleague I’m looking at how creative writing techniques can be used in reducing the incidence of hip fractures in people with dementia. I'm writing a crime novel too and just waiting for a release date for the paperback of Where There’s Smoke.

What is happening around you while you write?

When I write on long train journeys, almost anything can happen. Memorable moments: the group of black deer scampering about the field outside; the psychiatrist who read patient notes loudly into a Dictaphone; the train that caught fire; the late night journey across Europe with only a very weird person whose language I didn’t speak for company. I created a watered down version of him in a book once. In fact, if I only ever wrote in a quiet office (which would have been my preference had life not intervened) would I ever have written the characters from The Doll Makers? Probably not, I’d have thought them too far-fetched.

Explain your research routine

I don’t have one. When I want to write about something I don’t know about, I go and dig for it. I talk to people, visit places, read first-person accounts, and of course I use the internet. And I rarely turn down the offer of a new experience, though sometimes I watch appalled rather than join in. It still makes my blood run cold when I think of the antics I witnessed that became Annie’s tower block escapade in Like False Money.

Which comes first plot strand, character, or what?

Usually it’s a tiny fragment of back-story that sits around a character who I will draw in my head in great detail and sometimes write about in depth. But barely any of this initial nugget will sit on the page in the finished version. The Jawbone Gang evolved from 30 pages of back-story that wasn't touched on until half way through the book.

Please visit my website for more info or join me on social media:
Website: www.pennygrubb.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pennygrubb
Facebook: www.facebook.com/penny.grubb.3 
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I'm handing the baton to April Taylor who has been writing stories since she was a child. She lives on the Yorkshire coast in the north of England with her husband and a blind rescue golden retriever called Rufus. In her working life, she was an information professional working in public and prison libraries – the latter had some very interesting moments! Her last job before giving it all up for writing was as R&D Information Manager for a global pharmaceutical company.