Since I’ve mentioned it couple of times now, I thought I’d expand a little on my curent project, working title “Space Romance”. That’s up there with “The Selkie Story” for descriptive, isn’t it?
It’s a m/m romance set over a thousand years in the future, when mankind has colonised a large portion of the Milky Way. There are no intelligent aliens in it, though there is evidence there’s been at least three species intelligent enough to develope and use space travel who have been and gone. There is Faster Than Light travel, and no, I’m not going into any specifics 🙂 There’s several inhabited planets, and considerably more inhabited not-planets, including space stations, gas giant moons, and asteroid belts and fields. There’s still a bit of a frontier field, especially when it comes to plundering the natural resources of anything they can glue and atmosphere to, but several rival governments have arisen and the potential for galatic war is averted only by the sheer impracticalities and costs of sending enough people through space to start one.
Our heroes are Richard Kuiper the Seventh and Jared. Richard is the son and heir of the mining corporation that controls The Field, as asteroid field with a population of more than nine million people (or rather, a company with more than nine million employees). The product of detailed designer genetics, he’s beautiful to look at but some find it a little disconcerting. Sheltered but not spoiled, he’s well educated and, prior to the beginning of the novel, happily resigned to his path in life. Jared is Earth born, something he’s sick of telling people because of the inevitable follow up questions. Coming up to forty, he’s done many things in his life and is beginning to think that being a thief isn’t the smartest path he’s ever followed. Short, dark, and able to look scruffy in even the smartest clothes, at the beginning of the novel he’s being seized by security after attempting a bit of industrial espionage.
In his escape, Jared ‘accidentally’ kidnaps Richard when they become chained together. Yep, it’s that kind of story.
Anyway, I won’t go into any more detail about the plot right now (I couldn’t, not without throwing a lot more of the world building at you anyway), though I’m about half way through writing it at the moment. The crunch for the couple is coming up shortly, and then there’s the resolution to the mystery subplot and the dramatic climax. I’ve enjoyed the world building so much I’d like to set more stories in this universe, though I need to finish this one first. I’ve always wanted to write science fiction, but I’ve never found a plot to set in the universes I’ve created until now. That’s the great advantage of romance; it gives you something to hang the story off. All the political stuff comes much more easily as a subplot than a main plot.
Anyway, I wrote over 5000 words over the weekend, probably more considering how much I deleted that wasn’t going where I wanted it to. It’s nice to feel like it’s going somewhere again, even if it is scattered with notes about changes I need to make to earlier sections. If I can reach the end, then we’re laughing. Edits are something I can do!
Richard took his hand from his dick and sat up, resting his arms on his knees.
“That’s not what I think it is, yes?”
“Yes.” Jared smirked at him. “It’s a very limited field; it’ll just about cover the bed.”
“Those are illegal. They’re massively dangerous.”
“That’s why the field is so small. If it doesn’t encounter the gee-generators or any natural zero gee it should be fine.”
Richard pressed his right thumb to each finger in turn – a childish fidget – while he turned the idea over in his mind. The fluids would go everywhere. What happened when they reached the edge of the field? Could they be certain the field wouldn’t interact with anything it shouldn’t? They’d have to tuck the bed sheets in tightly to stop them interfering, and they’d need to move everything else away from the bed area.
“Is that nerves or anticipation?” Jared asked, nodding at his fingers.
Richard glanced down at them, and replayed the last few moments’ contemplation in his head. “Anticipation. My mind appears to have made up itself. Help me move the pillows?”
