Novel Update & Poem: This Day

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

Rooms is very close to being published. I think it's about two weeks away. I've worked more with Greg Opalinski, who is doing the book's cover design and illustration, and I'm extremely excited about his work and the direction that the cover is going. When it's published, you'll see why!

New Book: "Beatrice"

(Forest)

Beatrice is coming along. It is very different from Rooms, but I'm enjoying the differences. It's not easy to write, but exciting to see it progress. I've written about 34,000 words, and I'm into chapter 14. The book is very intricate, and putting all the pieces together is challenging.

The book is a fantasy/thriller, so I'm working on building the tension as I go through. Also, the amount of fantasy will increase as the book progresses as well as the more dynamic plot elements. I'm enjoying it more and more as each chapter builds on the others.

Poem
The poem below was written in 2006 and coincided with the writing of Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy. I've traveled to Ireland a lot and have read a great deal on its history, people, and its rich legacy of writers. This is a poem that has that Irish feel, and I like the story it tells, the picture it paints and the way it ends. 

This Day

On summer planes

Of green and peat

Of wind and marsh

And bog

She swiftly stepped

Around the rock

As sunlight chased

The fog

She moved and flowed

And smiled her eyes

Upon the beauty

Green

The awesome roar

Of windward storm

Came in

From out at sea

Round drops then touched

Her cheeks again

As light still crossed

Her path

She knew this day

Would ne’er return

To bless her eyes

So soft

So by the sea

As seabirds soared

And cried

Their whistled tunes

She took it in

All sounds and sights

And imagined

Secret runes

She closed her eyes

And dreamed a man

Who touched her

Bright as spring

The time ticked by

The hours moved on

The storm kept

Rolling in

She thought

And pondered

Journeyed home

And finally at her door…

Last peek around

The wood frame square

A final look

At sea

She caught a glimpse

Of her true love

And saw the look

Of me

Copyright © Bob Stegner 2006

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.

Rooms Update & More On The New Book

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

I have finally completed all of the edits of Rooms. It was a creative and exhausting task.  I was just thinking about how thankful I am now for all of the student papers that I've read and edited over the years. It helped, and during the process, I've also learned a great deal about my writing and writing in general.

Since the editing is now completed, I can focus on working with Greg Opalinski, who is doing the book's cover design and illustration. I just chose the basic layout today from several possible choices. The cover image will come from a scene that occurs within the first few chapters of the book.

Next we'll be looking at the main character, Rad, and what he will look like and be wearing. It's a very powerful experience to see a character come to life visually through someone else's eyes. Greg is doing an awesome job, and he's been very patient with my requests and suggestions. He's wonderful to work with.

I'll let you know the exact date when Rooms will be published on Amazon. It should happen soon! Also, I wanted you to know that I've updated and changed the Teaser below as well as the Excerpt from chapter's one and two. There have been a lot of changes since I first put these on my blog, so if you haven't looked for a while, you might find it fun to see the changes. I think both chapters are much better.

Rooms' Teaser

Rooms' Excerpt: Chapters 1-2

Rooms' Chapter Titles

Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy published and for sale on Amazon.com

Paperback - $3.23

Kindle version - $0.99 

Wheatgrass' Teaser

Wheatgrass' Excerpt

New Book: "Beatrice"

(Forest)

Las time that I wrote a blog on this topic, I mentioned that I'd let you know the name of the new book, and as you can see above, it will be called Beatrice. I've decided to give it the same name that I gave the original short story that I wrote for my students in Alaska. The story in the book is quite different than the original, but I still like the title and think it works well, even with the story being different.

I've completed ten chapters and have the next few planned. As I've said in the past, the work that I did for Rooms has helped me a great deal in my new book, but the fact that it is a different genre absolutely presents different challenges.  If you haven't read my earlier post on the new book, this book will be a fantasy/mystery/thriller and take place in Scotland with the Bauman family being at the center of the story.

The plot is taking lots of twists and turns, and it's been a lot of fun pulling from the varied tapestry of events to gradually build the story. I've encountered an interesting conundrum while writing it. I did some research beforehand and have included some aspects of historical events. There was one situation where I used something that actually happened to someone, but I felt that the person's family might not appreciate them being used in the story. I hadn't included their name, but I decided to change that part of the book anyway. It actually worked out better with a purely fictional event, but this was my first situation of that type.  The other events are very old that I have in the story and are important to the story line, and even in that case I've changed any names in the connections to those that I've fictionalized. I think it's fine to include them in the story. So, including non-fiction in a fiction story has its problems and aspects that you have to consider.

I'll keep you updated on this book as I go along, just as I did with Rooms.

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Tree/Moon Image from:

Forest Blue Moonlight Wallpapers.. Digital image. Travelization. N.p., 30 June 2012, Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <www.travelization.net>.

Rooms Update / Wheatgrass Sample / Started A New Book / A Poem

To everyone who has been reading my blog

I've noticed that people from all over the world have been visiting.  It would be great to hear from you! Please, either comment or use my author email below.

Author's Email

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

ROOMS UPDATE

I wanted to share with you that I've been thinking a lot about a possible sequel to Rooms.  I've been working on some ideas.

Below are five links.  Clicking on any of these will give you a better idea of what Rooms and Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy are about.

Rooms' Teaser

Rooms' Excerpt: Chapters 1-2

Rooms' Chapter Titles

Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy

To learn more about Wheatgrass, click and read either the Teaser or the Chapters 1-2 Sample below. If you would like a copy of the complete book, it's been published on Amazon.com in both paperback and kindle versions. Simply click on the book cover to go to it on Amazon.

Wheatgrass: An Irish Fantasy published and for sale on Amazon.com

Paperback - $3.23

Kindle version - $0.99 

Wheatgrass' Teaser

Wheatgrass' Excerpt

New Book

I started a new book.  I've been itching to begin something new since I finished Rooms.  I remembered a halloween story that I wrote for my students when I ran Peregrine School in Alaska.  It was titled Beatrice.  I loved reading it to them, but I lost it somewhere, so the other day I decided to start writing it again.  As I wrote, it began changing.  I could see a lot more happening and got excited, so I began doing some research. Now I think I might have my next book.  When I was a singer/songwriter, I loved to write many different types of songs, and I think I'm very much the same when it comes to prose or poetry.  This book will not be science fiction.  It will be a fantasy/mystery/thriller.  It will take place in a location in Europe in an old family mansion.  I'll let you know more as I get into it, but I think it's going to be a blast!!

POETRY

"Barren"

by Bob Stegner

Sitting quietly with myself

Beside a being I came

To be lonely with

Esconced in a sickening quiet

Of my own breathing

My heart pounded

An aching permeated

The core of me

I Yearned to touch and hold

My body screamed to feel passion and heat

A tender caress

A glancing swipe of a finger

A wondrous hand on my thigh

A gesture of real love

In this place

I was barren

How?

Did I decide to be there?

Did I choose that path?

Did I somehow deserve

Those moments consumed with

Torturous, frozen emptiness?

A void

Filled with words

Spoken and thought

Of daily routines

Of rehashed memories

Of tedious factual redunduncy

And anything

Yes, anything to fill the space

Between the throbbing beats of my heart

My soul screamed "NO..."

While I quietly sat and thought and yearned

For life

But then...

I accepted, hesitated, and dreamed of

Someone

Someone who might walk through a door

Someone who might smile and look deeply into me

Someone who felt what I did

Someone to love me

Really love me

But then...

My eyes lost focus

My mind dulled

My heart slowed

My senses faded

And I was there, in that room again

With her

Barren

Copyright © Bob Stegner 2008

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

ROOMS Update and Poetry

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

ROOMS UPDATE
I'm continuing to look for novel contests to enter, possible publishing companies to send the book to and looking for an agent.  I'm also gathering other ideas for my next novel and my next young adult short fantasy.  It's a busy time.

Below are four links.  Three of these will give you an idea of what Rooms is about.

Rooms' Teaser

Rooms' Excerpt: Chapters 1-2

Rooms' Chapter Titles

Author's Email


POETRY

Glass of Wine

A base

A stem

A goblet

Clear, clean, and precise

Soft liquids poured

Moving slowly and passionately

Eddying inside and around

The stem caressed precisely

Swirling the liquid grape

While nosing and gazing

The goblet tips

Drops coalesce and cascade

Expanding in ways unknown

Sweet, dry, earthy tones

Shared with fruits and wooden barrels

Of red and white varieties

Of cultures and passionate people around the world

Sit back, enjoy, dream and wonder

What origins

What climate

What soil

What hand

Formed

A glass of wine

Shared in a moment

Of time

Copyright © Bob Stegner 2006

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

ROOMS: What's Next?

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

Below are four links.  Three of these will give you an idea of what my new science fiction novel, Rooms, is about.  You can use the fourth link to email me if you would like to talk to me directly, or, of course, you can also just make a comment at the end of this post.

Rooms' Teaser

Rooms' Excerpt: Chapters 1-2

Rooms' Chapter Titles

Author's Email

The next part of my work with my novel will be to begin working on ways to publish it.  I've started looking for names of publishing companies by looking at books that I've enjoyed reading.  I've compiled a long list of large companies, but as I researched further, I quickly discovered that most of these will not accept unsolicited works.  In most of these, you need to have an editor/agent that will go through your book and then present it to the company. I might go that route, but for now, I'm working on some other angles.

There are publishing companies that will accept manuscripts from unknown authors, and there are writing contests that I could enter.  I'm looking for information in both of those areas.

I've decided to edit my work myself one more time and take it to a higher level on my own.  I've started that process and should finish another major re-write sometime next week.

In this session of editing, I've found fewer and fewer small errors, but I've also done some heavy work on chapter's 1 and 15.  I wanted to increase the readability and interest in chapter 1, and for chapter 15, I divided it into 2 chapters, changed the titles of the chapters, cleaned them up and focused the content for greater fluency and interest.  I feel very good now about both of those edits.

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

MY SCI-FI NOVEL IS DONE!!

ROOMS

by Bob Stegner

(Trish Steele)

Rooms is finished!  I'm very excited and will be sending it off to publishers soon.  I don't know what will happen, but I'm proud of my work and very pleased with how it turned out.  We'll see what happens next, as I begin my search into the publishing world!

Directly below I have listed the chapters of the book with a  link to the complete first chapter and after that a summary discussing what the book is about.  Have fun! :)

ROOMS Chapters

1.    R-131 - Click here to view and read the first chapter

2.    The Door

3.    Change

4.    Insight

5.    Obsessed

6.    Rad

7.    Zeer

8.    The Scree

9.    The Room:  Level 1

10.  Into the Desert

11.  Shawn O’Reilly III

12.  The Room:  Level 2 / Old Earth

13.  The Room:  Level 2 / Transformations

14.  Rest

15.  Questions

16.  The History Cluster

17.  One

18.  The Decision

19.  The Room:  Level 3 / War

20.  The Room:  Level 3 / AmeriCorp

21.  The Room:  Level 3 / Escape

22.  Interlude

23.  The Room:  Level 3 / Jana

24.  The Room:  Level 3 / Above Earth

25.  The Room:  Level 3 / Reprise

26.  The Room:  Level 3 / Sparks

27.  The Room:  Level 3 / Visionaries

28.  The Room:  Level 3 / Healing

29.  The Room:  Level 3 / Zeer

30.  The Room:  Level 3 / The Meeting

31.  The Room:  Level 3 / Crossroads

32.  The Room:  Level 3 / The Plan

33.  The Room:  Level 3 / End Game

34.  Home

35.  The Womb

36.  Awakening

37.  Another Beginning

38.  Earth

Rooms Summary

There was a time in Earth’s past when it could no longer sustain life, and a group of humans decided to leave the planet behind.  That group multiplied and spread throughout the galaxy.  Just as a person might skip across a shallow pond, moving from stone to stone, the human race gradually stretched across the Milky Way, jumping from one planetoid to another in the hope of finding another jewel, another Earth-like planet.  On each of these outposts, the humans lived inside protected settlements called lifeglobes.

In this time of exploration and colonization, the people in each of these desolate settlements developed extremely sophisticated holographic Rooms to entertain themselves and help fill the void that had been created by constantly having to live inside an enclosure, always separated from the outside, never being able to walk open and free beyond their home.

In one particular lifeglobe on planet R-131, rumors had spread about a Room that was unparalleled for its reality and difficulty.  All the best players were moving to R-131 to play this Room.  For some, it had become an obsession.  This Room, however, had not been designed for their entertainment or pleasure.  It had been created to change the course of human history.

If you'd like to let me know what you think, please leave a comment in my blog or you can email me by clicking on this email link or using the email address in your email account.

bobstegnerauthor@gmail.com

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Completed Third Reading of Rooms

(Trish Steele)

I just completed the third reading and edit of Rooms.  I thoroughly enjoyed this read.  It had been three weeks since I'd touched it, and that helped gain a perspective on the work.  I was very pleased.

I've decided to do one more read through next week, then, hopefully, I'll be done and will send it off to the publishers. With the changes that I've made, I just want to feel the flow of it one more time.

Directly below I have listed the chapters of the book with a  link to the complete first chapter and after that a summary discussing what the book is about.  Have fun! :)

ROOMS Chapters

1.    R-131 - Click here to view and read the first chapter

2.    The Door

3.    Change

4.    Insight

5.    Obsessed

6.    Rad

7.    Zeer

8.    The Scree

9.    The Room:  Level 1

10.  Into the Desert

11.  Shawn O’Reilly III

12.  The Room:  Level 2 / Old Earth

13.  The Room:  Level 2 / Transformations

14.  Rest

15.  Questions

16.  The History Cluster

17.  One

18.  The Decision

19.  The Room:  Level 3 / War

20.  The Room:  Level 3 / AmeriCorp

21.  The Room:  Level 3 / Escape

22.  Interlude

23.  The Room:  Level 3 / Jana

24.  The Room:  Level 3 / Above Earth

25.  The Room:  Level 3 / Reprise

26.  The Room:  Level 3 / Sparks

27.  The Room:  Level 3 / Visionaries

28.  The Room:  Level 3 / Healing

29.  The Room:  Level 3 / Zeer

30.  The Room:  Level 3 / The Meeting

31.  The Room:  Level 3 / Crossroads

32.  The Room:  Level 3 / The Plan

33.  The Room:  Level 3 / End Game

34.  Home

35.  The Womb

36.  Awakening

37.  Another Beginning

38.  Earth

Rooms Summary

There was a time in Earth’s past when it could no longer sustain life, and a group of humans decided to leave the planet behind.  That group multiplied and spread throughout the galaxy.  Just as a person might skip across a shallow pond, moving from stone to stone, the human race gradually stretched across the Milky Way, jumping from one planetoid to another in the hope of finding another jewel, another Earth-like planet.  On each of these outposts, the humans lived inside protected settlements called lifeglobes.

In this time of exploration and colonization, the people in each of these desolate settlements developed extremely sophisticated holographic Rooms to entertain themselves and help fill the void that had been created by constantly having to live inside an enclosure, always separated from the outside, never being able to walk open and free beyond their home.

In one particular lifeglobe on planet R-131, rumors had spread about a Room that was unparalleled for its reality and difficulty.  All the best players were moving to R-131 to play this Room.  For some, it had become an obsession.  This Room, however, had not been designed for their entertainment or pleasure.  It had been created to change the course of human history.

If you'd like to let me know what you think, please leave a comment in my blog or you can email me by clicking on this email link or using the email address in your email account.

bobstegnerauthor@gmail.com

Image of Door:

Trish Steel [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons