I'm not sure where the inspiration came from for that story. It was something I penned back in the early 2000s. One of those ideas that I put to paper and left to mature... hopefully like a fine wine.
I picked it up again in 2006, worked on the overall outline and characters I wanted to 'employ'. And set it aside until recently.
Mind you, I did not stop writing in the interim. I write pretty much all the time. If I am in a parking lot waiting for a customer to open up for the day, I sit and make lots of squiggly black lines in one of my journals in hopes it makes some sort of sense the next time I look at it. If I'm waiting for some long job to finish, I'll take a 'coffee and writing' break - no charge to the customer, of course.
This last year I got stuck back into it. Taking breaks now and then, still reading lots of stuff, still pecking at it and other things... but it did take the forefront of my writing efforts.
Once I figured out the direction and the final plotline, it was a fast finish. Two subsequent months in editing and re-editing left me with a fairly well finished product that I was then willing to 'expose' to some fearless readers for their critical review. It survived three separate reviews with minor recommendations each time. I did go ahead and send it out then to about a dozen different folks... agents, publishers, and the like.
I did get back maybe 50% response rate - disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. Most of the responses were boilerplates. The folks couldn't even take the time to read the query letters in full because I included a sentence at the end that told them to include the word 'bedazzled' somewhere in the body of the text so my email program would allow it through the spam filter. ONLY ONE editor did so. I had no such filter active so I know none went to spam. It was a test... only a test.
Out of all that, I did receive two offers for publishing. One even included a contract.
However, the contract was by all appearances, an offer to start a self-publishing round for me. The other was clearly pushing me to self-publish. NOT what I want to do. I want an agent and/or publisher that can look at my work critically, say yea or nay, give advice, and help me move on. I prefer a traditional relationship over some nonsensical thing where I have to worry about all the minutia of self-publishing.
My stories have been well received. The folks that have read them (not all family and friends!) have asked for more, asked if there were going to be sequels, and in just about every case, became very invested in the characters. I like that!
Anyway... here is the teaser without the spoiler that I have been sending to the agents and publishers.
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This is the story of Alex, a gentleman going through a troubled time in his life. At a loss for direction, an unexpected introduction leads to a very unexpected adventure.
Beginning in a somber court setting, our ‘hero’ finds himself at a loss for what to do next with his life. Perhaps he just needs to go do a load of laundry. However, an interruption and introduction leaves him equally confused until he concludes this new person is just some sort of recruiter trying to get him to do some ‘consulting’. He has no idea how right, or how wrong he could be.
His first meeting is a quick tete e tete and a bit of a tease. With no real information on what ‘they’ want him to do, Alex continues with his efforts to find direction and move back into a more normal life.
Still feeling disconnected and needing some distraction, he falls into a deal where a wonderful vacation presents itself… and he grabs it. To his chagrin, it turns out to be just another part of the recruiting process that started weeks earlier.
Giving in to curiosity, intrigue, and the charms of his recruiter, Tracy, he cautiously accepts the opportunity for the adventure.
This journey finds him helping decipher some strange technology found inside a volcano, an unexpected love affair develops, and a virtual reality turns out to be not so virtual.
On his way, he finds that Tracy becomes more than a close friend, and the people she works with become very important in his life. Berk, a large, boisterous Australian. Theo, the director of the project, vegetarian and so tall he needs to duck through doorways. There are Karen, a feisty molecular physicist and other scientist trying to make sense of what they have found. Kyle and Tatyana are the ‘concierges’, pilots, and protectors.
Karen and Tracy have a surprising history and a closeness that keeps Alex on his toes. They become his closest allies in his search for a new way to look at the information that has already been uncovered.
As the secrets of the volcano are untangled, a virtual reality begins to play heavily in the lives of our characters. At once seeming to be a help to their quest for information. At other times, the virtual reality seems almost to be playing with their very lives.
It is soon discovered massive amounts of energy have been accumulating for more time than our characters can comprehend. What possible purpose could there be in accumulating enough power to knock our solar system askew? Moreover, how is it possible that what they found in the volcano can predate any such technology developed by humankind?
An unexpected antagonist is quietly moving against the island volcano and its occupants, wanting only to take the technological secrets of the volcano and its newly discovered ‘inhabitant’.
And then there is (censored). If ever trouble could come from an unexpected place, (censored) was that place. Instrumental in divulging to the antagonist the secrets and surprising technologies within the volcano, (censored) pushes into motion a sequence of events that can only end one way.
Once the trouble starts, it can only end with the help of what they have found in the volcano.
The only caveat… they must first figure out how to make it work.
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