Hello, Packmate Reader!

It's been a busy summer on lockdown, around here! I hope you've managed to fare well. Biggest news: I've finished my final draft of A Bone to Pick, the second book of the XK9 "Bones" trilogy.

This time, Charlie gets to be awake for the action! Rex and the Pack team up with their SBI and OPD allies once again, in pursuit of whoever's responsible for the destruction of the Whisper Syndicate's spaceship Izgubil.

Turns out, there actually are two intertwined mysteries in the dock breach and explosion. Our team will solve one of them in this book, and be in hot pursuit of the other as we move toward the climactic battle in Book Three, Bone of Contention (a 2021 release, I hope!).

​

Coming up next!

My cover illustrator Jody A. Lee has promised to focus on the cover for A Bone to Pick in October. You'll get first glimpses and a cover reveal here first, well before I show it off on my blog, Artdog Adventures, or on The Weird Blog.

I'm hard at work on maps, floor plans, and a Cast of Characters list (as well as a list of acronyms--government agencies love their acronyms!) for both A Bone to Pick and an update to What's Bred in the Bone, the first book in the series. They'll be released together this winter.

While you wait . . .

Perhaps you'd enjoy a sojourn in Deep Ellum, Texas, the home of my sister G. S. Norwood's wonderful character, Miz Eddy Weekes. Author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough has called G.'s Urban Fantasy "Deep Ellum" series "Some of the best stories I've ever read!"

I strongly recommend you start with the first story, Deep Ellum Pawn, then catch the Sept. 30, 2020 release of the second, Deep Ellum Blues.

​

​

Other thoughts and preoccupations

Part of the problem with creating a world that doesn't actually exist in our space-time continuum is that you can only visit it in your mind, not in real life. Or at least, not at full scale. Followers of my blog may remember my "DIY Space Station" series, and my discussions of how/what people eat on Rana Station.

I'm also a lover of maps. I moved from sketchbook pages of measurements and ideas into scaled-more-exactly ink drawings and a few small 3-D maps that didn't get much of a response at sf convention art shows (black-and-white, small, and they didn't "read" too well).

​

​

But the maps showed me I was onto something--especially when I tried to make my switchbacks in 3-D, and discovered I hadn't quite predicted all the issues with them.

​

​

Models and Maquettes

So, then. How does a paper sculptor deal with that problem? Maquettes!

What's a maquette, you might ask? According to Dictionary.com, it's "a small model or study in three dimensions for either a sculptural or an architectural project." In other words, for the purpose of "visiting" Rana Station, it's a miniature landscape or building.

​

​

I've been at this for a while, as you see. I created a floor plan for Rex and Charlie's apartment several years ago, when I needed to know how the spaces were arranged (I also have a floor plan for Pam and Balchu's apartment). Still trying to visualize it properly, I created a sort of "paper dollhouse."

​

​

Paper models just didn't work that well. I took a few more stabs at creating paper maquettes in 2019, attempting to create a series of visuals that would capture the look and feel of the place, and also help Jody Lee when she painted my next cover.

​

​

​

By now I have demonstrated several things to myself. I really want to create better visualizations of the spaces within Rana Station, but my most important takeaway is that for the kind of modeling I want, all-paper isn't going to cut it. I'm working against the medium, not with its strengths. I'm looking forward to creating landscapes and scenes from Rana Station in paper sculpture--but creating the models themselves will require a different medium.

What about architectural model-making techniques? I wondered. What about some of those realistic model train landscapes? What if I used some of those techniques and materials? So I hopped on YouTube, to see what I could find. Woah! MEGA-rabbit-hole! I pulled out many hours later, dazzled and jazzed. That is actively dangerous teritory, and I'm looking forward to going back.

Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I'd love it if you'd reply to things I've said.

​

All best,

Jan

​