Are you a science fiction fan?
Do you love those retro British and American comics and the glorious pulp sci-fi reads of times gone by?
Ironic, isn’t it?
Why do we love the retro science fiction stories of the past about our future?
Were you a fan of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, or Edgar Rice Burroughs?
Of course, there are so many more authors, who delightfully tweaked our varied imaginations.
Of course, there are so many more authors, who delightfully tweaked our varied imaginations.
Do you remember the first time a story ever gripped your fancy?
Can you re-live the wow factor again?
Did you ever imagine yourself inside the adventure and veering off at a tangent and going somewhere else inside the story?
Do you want an adventure tailor-made for you?
Do you want an adventure tailor-made for you?
I would walk about in my dream thinking, “If I was in that story, I would do this or that.” I found myself wishing for all sorts of adventures.
When I read H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, I remember getting a tremendous lift out of the short excerpt when an ironclad called H.M.S. Thunder Child attacked three Martian tripods in the River Blackwater to save a paddle steamer full of refugees.
It was not more than half a page and the uplifting and brave event was short lived. Yet it achieved great admiration from me as a young and impressionable avid reader. Anyone who has read War of the Worlds or listened to Jeff Wayne's musical adaptation will know.
In my mind's eye, I wanted to know more about the crew and the bold ironclad. I found myself re-inventing a small section of the story from a whole new perspective. I wondered what it would have been like to be on such a ship that cruised into legend, blazing away at the Martian abominations in defence of mankind.
The whole endeavour of this written work was inspired by an evening school writing class and it developed from there. It was a wonderful project that I found most absorbing.
So I decided to Something About it.
It was a labour of love and a project that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would come home of an evening and sit down to add to my re-invented story set in H.G.Wells' Victorian Britain. Of a day I would ponder each step of my story. I had a dramatic ending, but there was to be a journey to that ending with characters showing the reader the way. Everything began to fall in line and each day I became more excited about my creation.
When complete, I knew I had to get professional editing done. This was achieved by requesting for applicants to edit the story. This was done via an agency for freelance editors with relevant qualifications. I offered a price and the interested parties would come back with their price offers and examples of what they could do. As the freelance editors began to bid for the work and sent me samples of what they could do, I was impressed by the skills. I was also shocked by the amount of correction I could see on the pages they sent back.
After about four or five applications, I settled for one person who did a wonderful editorial job for around the price I was asking. £10 per 1,000 words of a novel containing around 54,000 words. When I read the corrected text, I was overjoyed with the way my Sci-fi retro adaptation novel was flowing.
I got a wonderful cover from a professional book cover artist. Also, the word alignment with font size got done professionally. It all made for a dynamic presentation. I sat back and saw sales begin to come in from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. I was delighted.
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| The Dynamic new cover |
A Plan of action began to develop in my mind.
The whole endeavour of this written work was inspired by an evening school writing class and it developed from there. It was a wonderful project that I found most absorbing.
So I decided to Something About it.
It was a labour of love and a project that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would come home of an evening and sit down to add to my re-invented story set in H.G.Wells' Victorian Britain. Of a day I would ponder each step of my story. I had a dramatic ending, but there was to be a journey to that ending with characters showing the reader the way. Everything began to fall in line and each day I became more excited about my creation.
When complete, I knew I had to get professional editing done. This was achieved by requesting for applicants to edit the story. This was done via an agency for freelance editors with relevant qualifications. I offered a price and the interested parties would come back with their price offers and examples of what they could do. As the freelance editors began to bid for the work and sent me samples of what they could do, I was impressed by the skills. I was also shocked by the amount of correction I could see on the pages they sent back.
After about four or five applications, I settled for one person who did a wonderful editorial job for around the price I was asking. £10 per 1,000 words of a novel containing around 54,000 words. When I read the corrected text, I was overjoyed with the way my Sci-fi retro adaptation novel was flowing.
I got a wonderful cover from a professional book cover artist. Also, the word alignment with font size got done professionally. It all made for a dynamic presentation. I sat back and saw sales begin to come in from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and Japan. I was delighted.
My Pastiche novel about H.G. Wells' fictional battleship H.M.S. Thunder Child (The Last Days of Thunder Child) was based on H.M.S. Devastation. In my imagination, I could see this design for Thunder Child going into battle against three Martian tripods on the River Blackwater in the county of Essex, England, the UK in 1898.
Muzzleloading guns went obsolete around 1889. All Royal Navy ships, including Devastation, were converted to Breech loading. However, I invented a political excuse to keep Thunder Child antiquated and still retaining the short stubby muzzleloading guns inside revolving turrets.
This was to give Thunder Child a feeling of being behind the times, but still plucky when the occasion demanded. The diagram above was found in a library book and then I was fortunate enough to find it online. This gives a great internal view of the working of H.M.S. Devastation and I used this plan for my vision of H.M.S. Thunder Child in The Last Days of Thunder Child by C.A. Powell.
Do you want to escape into a retro British world of dystopian adventure?
Look no further.
Read: THE LAST DAYS OF THUNDER CHILD by C.A. Powell
For the USA: Please click
For the UK: Please click
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For the UK: Please click
