landrews

I have been mostly absent from LJ for a couple of years. The Buffy 20th and the resulting Friends Reunion page brought many friends back into my orbit. If you aren't aware of it, PM me and I'll give you the scoop. I have GREAT news on many fronts :-) 1) My daughter who was so sick is much improved. She actually has had a "remarkable" recovery according to her docs. A drug approved in the US the month after she first became ill ended up being the only reason she's alive today. 2) Thanks to many, many people, many of them in fandom and many of them fanfic writers who shared their knowledge with me, thanks to all my LJ friends over the years, and, while I laid low with cancer and then with my daughter, thanks to the bright spot that is 1_million_words and all of you that post daily challenges and prompts, that run contests, and make sure we are all inspired to keep making words, especially kaige68 for keeping everyone going even if, like me, they rarely pop in, I now have an agent!! Paul Stevens of Donald Maass Literary Agency will be representing all my book-length fiction :-) 3) I neglected to post a link to my last published novella, Someday Loyal. Alien invaders are lobbing fireballs at Peoria, but Grandmama is holding tea. When the military arrives in search of Mrs. Suniol, Alice is drawn into the mystery of Lake Snow, a missing husband, and securing the key to an entire civilization's survival.A Return To Earth novelette. Reviews are love! I also have a new fic at DarkFuse Magazine if you happen to have a subscription. It's under Featured Fiction,Prelude To A Murder Conviction. 4) New Buffyverse fic for starlet2367's FIFTIETH birthday! Originally posted a few weeks ago at Stranger Things. Not that Stranger Things! The original one, lolol. lostakasha, damnskippy, and samsom also posted fic, and psychofilly made art :-)

Title: Salt
Author: LAndrews
Summary: It all starts with Angelus, but they can't let it go – Cordy/Angel (mention of B/A)
Word Count: ~ 2800
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine, Whedon's et al, a work of transformative fiction.
A/N: Happy Birthday 2017, Starlet2367. We'll always have fanfic! Unbetaed.
Link cross-posted to 1_million_words, Stranger-Things, and AO3
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Hey, all, despite my daughter's health issues, my writing is proceeding and today through Friday April 17, you can get my 10,000 plus word science fiction novelette, MANTEO, at Amazon for FREE!



'Manteo' follows the historical events of the second English colonization of Roanoke through the viewpoint of Manteo and the alien probe, Prometheus, up until the departure from Roanoke of Governor John White. After his leave taking, the story becomes pure speculation and allows Prometheus compassionate action, a consequence of his constantly developing humanity. It gave me a chance to write my take on why the colonists abandoned Roanoke and when, with a direction for their future provided by current real-life investigation.

WHAT IS THE PROMETHEUS SAGA??

M.J. Carlson introduced me to Ken Pelham and their joint enthusiasm for the writing experiment they wanted to try made me really interested in the project. They were proposing the collaboration of, ultimately, thirteen accomplished and award winning writers in a fiction writing and marketing plan to be called The Alvarium Experiment. The first project, the Prometheus Saga, would involve each of us writing science fiction stories of 5-10,000 words. Each story would in some way include an alien probe named Prometheus, who has been sent to observe the human race from its beginnings to current day. The very thoughtful and thorough details of both the Prometheus character specifications and business plan that Ken and Charles Cornell had drawn up inspired me to jump up and down yelling, “I’m in, if you’ll have me! Pick me!”

One of the challenges of writing a Prometheus Saga story is that you are writing into an existing framework with a character that has set boundaries. I love a structure challenge when writing story. The Prometheus specs gave me just one character out of my control, which provides just enough boundaries to make writing the story a puzzle challenge. How do I fit this particular character with these particular traits into a story completely my own? I also chose to write within the historical boundaries of a real life mystery because I’m a structure masochist that way. The benefit of having such boundaries is that it allows the time you would’ve spent world-building to be spent instead on strengthening the smaller details of your story through research and craft and concentrate on putting your reader right there in the story.

In this case, Prometheus inspired me to try a version of the Roanoke story I’ve been wanting to write for years. Like many Americans, I’ve been completed fascinated by the mystery of the lost colony since I learned about it in history class. I wrote a novel-length fanfic for the show ‘Bones’ several years ago that revolved around the possession of Virginia Dare’s remains, The Dare In The Snipe Hunt. My research taught me a lot about the Lumbee tribe in North Carolina. I had intended to write about Virginia Dare as a character for the Prometheus story, placing her among the ancestors of the Lumbee, but then I found Manteo and couldn’t resist writing the historical realty of Roanoke in the framework of the Prometheus project.

In Prometheus, I had a great ‘outsider’ viewpoint to exploit to give a wider perspective than I might have otherwise managed. It also let me share the historical events while being respective of the real people involved and the fact that we don’t really know their personal motivations for their actions. I let Prometheus become the scope through which we view the events. I also wanted a more visceral point of view. The real person I chose for that second viewpoint became Manteo once I discovered he was one of two people who were present for the entire history of the colonization of Roanoke, involved in all the major events that led to its demise, and that he had no voice in the historical record. I also liked that as a Native American he knew both sides of the occupation, since he also took the initiative to learn English, travel to London, and learn about the English vision for America. It seemed to me that Prometheus would be drawn to observe such a man.

The process for this story was quite a bit different from my current process, but very similar to writing fanfic, which I did quite a bit of when I was sharpening my writing skills after a long hiatus (and still do on occasion!). My personal life at the time of writing this story was very difficult and harkened back to the years of writing in fifteen minute bursts when my kids were little. It was nice to have the set framework, which freed me up to write the details.

Go HERE for links to all the Prometheus Saga stories and HERE for author info.

The Saga spans the range of the existence of Homo sapiens. The stories do not need to be read in any particular order; each story is an entry point into the overall story.

My Prometheus Saga novelette, 'Manteo' is now available for 99 cents!

I'd love for my flist to read and review :-))

Here's what it's about: MANTEO

New trailer:

In October, I was asked to join the Alvarium Experiment. That's the Facebook page, but there's a website in the works. Currently, it's a group of thirteen writers banning together to collectively work on fiction projects. 'alvarium' is latin for 'hive'. Our first project is The Prometheus Saga, a collection of short stories and novelettes which all in some way feature 'Prometheus', an alien probe housed in a human body. For all intents and purposes, Prometheus IS human, with all that entails. Prometheus knows its unique because it changes bodies and sexes and is basically immortal, but it doesn't know what it is or what the occasional voices in its head are or if other people hear them. Some of the stories share Prometheus's point of view and some the reader is left to discern which character housed Prometheus. The stories are set anywhere from 40,000 years ago to modern times. Several feature well-known historical settings or people.

My story, 'Manteo', is set on Roanoke and involves the British colony into which Virginia Dare was born and which was 'lost' when her grandfather, Governor John White sailed for supplies in August 1587 shortly after the colony's establishment. The Spanish Armada interfered with his plans to return before the winter storms hit. When he finally returned three years later, the colonists were gone, their houses dismantled and missing and the stockade walls had been rebuilt into a stout defensive fort. The only indication of the colonists possible evacuation was the word 'Croatoan' carved on a tree and 'Croa' likewise carved into a post. The sign agreed upon to indicate distress, a maltese cross, was not found. An incoming storm and promises of lucrative piracy further south motivated the ship's pilot more than John White's pleading to sail for Croatoan Island to see if the colonists had joined the native Americans living there, one of the few tribes still willing to help the colony at the time of his original departure. He never returned to America and no one has ever discovered what became of the John White's daughter Eleanor and granddaughter Virginia Dare.

The Croatoans did, in all likelihood help the colonists move on from Roanoke, which was a dangerous location for the colony and also in the midst of a three year drought. Manteo, a Croatoan, lived among them. He was one of the first two native Americans to travel to England. My story focuses on the demise of the colony and Manteo, a man divided by wanting the best for his people, the rich culture and technology of England, but also seeing the ways in which the coming of the English hurt all the tribes they contacted, including his own. Samuel, John White's African slave, provides an outsider point of view of both the colonists and Manteo's quiet angst and change of perception as the colony struggles to survive.

All the stories of the Prometheus Saga will be available on Kindle on January 26.

Prometheus Saga trailer!

That is all :-)

ROTFLMAO at the horse part of the ep. If every specialized subject is handled so poorly, then it's even more fantasy-oriented than I thought :-/ But everyone (and the horse) was still very, very pretty :-)))) And I loved the stealing the tree thread. Steve would do anything to make his Danno happy :-)

My Dad's hanging in, doing better today, still in ICU. They could give him actual painkillers today, which really helped :-)

Watched SPN just now -
I like what they are doing, tremendously. And the end cracked me up. Do they have a new show runner or what? Kripke come back? Why are they finally bringing it back on track?

Only the second time Show has ever made me cry- the other being "Mystery Spot"- but wow- what an utterly fantastic episode. Kudos to Robbie Thompson for being a true fan and writing an ep that both shows us fanfic writers are being heard and why we're still watching :-)))

eta: yes, didn't watch until Saturday... maybe next week I'll watch real time :-)

:waves: I've been commenting at various journals, but not posting.

I now have a website where my original fic info and fanfic links (under the Short Stories Tab) can be found. Elle Andrews Patt.

It also has a blog :-)

My twitter is @LAndrewsPatt

I'm making a concerted effort now to really get my original fic out there.

My short fiction, "Karl's Last Night' won first place in the 2014 Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Awards for Short Published Fiction this past weekend. Totally surprised me since it's modern noir and I didn't think it stood a chance against the traditional fic :-))) Sweet to win that one two years in a row!