I’ve been wondering what I might blog about for a while. I’m quite rubbish at thinking things up from nowhere, and need something to respond to usually. In this case, it’s the fact that I have just (about 7 minutes ago) finished the first draft of my semi-noir sci fi thriller. Well, actually, whether or not it’s noir, semi or otherwise, is up to other people to decide. I had that in my mind when I wrote it, but didn’t intentionally try to make it so.

It was perhaps the hardest thing I have written. This kind of thing isn’t really compatible with the way that I write without much planning. I now have to do a big rewrite because the beginning doesn’t agree with the middle or the end. But it’s not a mess or all over the place, so I’m happy with the way it turned out. I just need to think of a better ending line.

I have no idea when it will be available. After the rewrite, it will need editing, and then proofreading, and beta reading. At least another month. But I thought I’d share anyway.

When I say that it’s sci fi, it’s set in the same universe as the NEXUS series (but isn’t part of the series), but on a pretty low-tech colony planet. It’s easy to forget that it’s sci fi. A rough outline of the plot:

Jack Mason comes home to find that the girl he brought back the previous night is dead and mutilated. The fact that she’s in his apartment isn’t the only thing that makes him the prime suspect. His past means that he has never left the crosshairs of the city’s only clean cop. With the threat of the death penalty hanging over his head, Mason must search for proof of his innocence in a city owned by the guilty: human traffickers who want him dead too.

I’ll also work on the blurb…