Author Archives: admin
Amores
The Amores are three volumes of lyric poems, focused primarily on the poet’s relationship with his mistress Corinna.
Newsletter #87
Newsletter 87: July 7, 2015 Dear People, I continue to chunk forward on DEATH’S BRIGHT DAY, the next RCN space opera. I’m at over 80K as I write this. I’ll have more to say about this at the end of … Continue reading
Newsletter #86
NEWSLETTER 86: May 5, 2015 Dear People, Death’s Bright Day, the next RCN space opera, is chunking along. I’m at 37.4K this morning (but am taking a break to write this newsletter). I trimmed the plot before I started; now … Continue reading
Air and Darkness
Air and Darkness is the fourth and final book in the Books of the Elements Series. It will be available November 2015 from Tor. The setting of this novel and of the series, The Books of the Elements, is the … Continue reading
Onward Drake!
Onward, Drake! Baen Books published a tribute book in conjunction with World Fantasy Con in November 2015, where Dave, who turned 70 that year, was a Special Guest. There are stories and essays from John Lambshead, Cecelia Holland, Barry Malzberg, … Continue reading
A Martial Poem
When Tony Daniel, Baen editor, requested Dave to read a martial poem for the Baen Free Radio Hour podcast, Dave took it literally and recorded a poem by Marcus Valerius Martialis. He read the original Latin poem (Book 4 #18) … Continue reading
Newsletter #85
NEWSLETTER 85: March 6, 2015 Dear People, I have a complete plot for the next RCN space opera. Furthermore, I have a title: Into Death’s Bright Day. I’m going to give the plot another pass to smooth things out so … Continue reading
Newsletter #84
NEWSLETTER 84: January 6, 2015 Dear People, Happy New Year, all of you. I hope that you’re doing well and that 2015 goes well for you, whatever that means in your terms. Things with me are fine. I said in … Continue reading
Holiday Greetings 2014
Happy Holidays From Bucolic Chatham County From Dave
World Fantasy Con 2014
Newsletter #83
NEWSLETTER 83: November 3, 2014 Dear People, I’m between projects now, so I’m spinning my wheels wildly. This is the same thing each time so I’m not complaining…. Well, heck, maybe I am complaining. Nobody drafted me into this job. … Continue reading
Dave’s Sample Plot Outline
There are frequent requests for a copy of one of Dave’s plot outlines. Here’s a pdf copy of his plot outline for What Distant Deeps: Plot Outline.
Amores II:17
Sulmo, a third portion of the Paelignian countryside, holds a piece of my heart. It’s a small region but fed by sweet waters. Even when the sun draws near in summer and cracks the Earth, and fierce Sirius, Icarus’ dog, … Continue reading
Newsletter #82
Newsletter 82: September 2, 2014 Dear People, I finished! I finished Air and Darkness! Free at last! Well, it certainly felt like that. This one was slower going than most. I continued to get daily wordage, but it wasn’t as … Continue reading
Newsletter #81
NEWSLETTER 81: July 11, 2014 Dear People, All is well, but I don’t have much to say. This is a placeholder just to assure people that I haven’t died or given up writing or been kidnapped by white slavers. I … Continue reading
Into the Maelstrom
Into the Maelstrom is the second of The Citizen Trilogy which John Lambshead is writing from my outlines using the life of George Washington as a model. The cover is by Dave Seeley. I’m quite pleased with the book and … Continue reading
Newsletter #80
NEWSLETTER 80: May 2, 2014 Dear People, Air and Darkness, the last of the four Books of the Elements fantasies for Tor, proceeds. As usual, it isn’t rocketing along, but I’m making steady progress. And grumping a lot because I’m … Continue reading
Newsletter #79
NEWSLETTER 79: March 4, 2014 Dear People, I’m beavering away at Air and Darkness, the final Book of the Elements for Tor. I’m in the middle of chapter four. Things are falling into place bit by bit, as they do. … Continue reading
The General Series (Raj Whitehall)
Various writers–Steve Stirling, Eric Flint, and Tony Daniel–developed the novels from Dave’s outlines. The General series began with The Forge in 1991 and has now reached ten volumes. Using the life of the Byzantine general Belisarius as my matrix, I … Continue reading
Newsletter #78
NEWSLETTER # 78: January 13, 2014 Dear People, I have a rough plot for Air and Darkness! And I’m about halfway through polishing and expanding it, though there’s a lot of work to go before I start writing… but writing … Continue reading
Holiday Greetings 2013
Happy Holidays From Bucolic Chatham County From Dave
Suzuki DL650A
My new bike, a Suzuki V-Strom 650 (DL650A). It replaces the Bandit 1200 which I simply wasn’t running hard enough to keep the engine happy. The DL650 has fuel injection and ABS, both of which are very good. The seat … Continue reading
The Story Behind Monsters of the Earth
Written for Upcoming4.Me [online magazine] Posted 30 October 2013. The Books of the Elements combine Roman culture with regional myths, but I don’t mean regional religions. I’m building on African backgrounds and folktales in Monsters of the Earth, but there … Continue reading
Newsletter #77
NEWSLETTER #77: November 3, 2013 Dear People, Two months ago I said I had a direction on the plot for Air and Darkness, the final novel in the Books of the Elements fantasy series for Tor. The plotting has proceeded, … Continue reading
Dinosaurs & a Dirigible
This is a compilation of my five time-travel novelettes, published by Baen, September 2014. The four Henry Vickers dinosaur-hunting stories have never been published together (which is odd now that I think about it). The dirigible comes from Travellers, a … Continue reading
Halloween Spider
The Natural World of the Drake Residence As a kid I was very frightened by spiders and insects, and even as an adult I don’t like them very much. For that reason I make a point of not smashing them … Continue reading
Genetic pose
I have always had a suspicion that Lamarck was correct: that the giraffe wished so hard that he had a longer neck which could reach higher leaves on the acacia tree that his descendents were born with incrementally longer necks. … Continue reading
Newsletter #76
DRAKE NEWSLETTER 76: September 1, 2013 Dear People, MONSTERS OF THE EARTH, the third of my Books of the Elements, is out from Tor. The Donato cover painting and the production treatment are just as good as they have been … Continue reading
Amores II:16
Little ring, cincture of the finger of a pretty girl who cares for nothing save for the love of the giver, may you go as a worthy gift. May she receive you with joy and immediately slip you over her … Continue reading
Writing Advice
Josh Sowin gathered writing advice from 14 writers on his blog. This is Dave’s advice. See http://betweenletters.quora.com/14-Writers-Handwrite-Their-Writing-Advice-on-Their-Hands
Newsletter #75
NEWSLETTER 75: July 8, 2013 Dear People, I’m exhausted. In the past two months I’ve finished the rough of The Sea Without a Shore, the next RCN space opera, at 123,020 words; and I’ve spent two weeks in Italy. (I’ll … Continue reading
The Sea Without a Shore
The Sea Without a Shore involves Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy as private citizens on a mining colony which is in rebellion against its homeworld. Their missions are to help unofficial interests on Cinnabar–but since on the one hand those … Continue reading
Dave’s Greetings from Italy
Greetings from Italy!
Newsletter #74
NEWSLETTER 74: April 15, 2013 Dear People, This is a trifle early, but Jo (my wife) and I are going off to Italy at the end of the month for two weeks with a couple we’ve known for about 40 … Continue reading
Transgalactic
Transgalactic is a collection of works by A E van Vogt. Eric Flint negotiated with the van Vogt estate, and I wrote the short introduction and chatted with Eric about the contents. It contains the original versions of what as … Continue reading
The Heretic – Signing
Newsletter #73
NEWSLETTER 73: March 5, 2013 Dear People, I am chunking ahead on the next RCN (Leary/Mundy) space opera, THE SEA WITHOUT A SHORE. More accurately, for the past couple days I’ve been slogging through mental mud on the novel, but … Continue reading
‘Birds of Prey’ March
Kipling, and particularly Kipling’s verse, has been important to me ever since I encountered it when I started to read. (There was a copy of The Jungle Book on the folks’ shelves, along with the first three Hornblower novels and … Continue reading
Circle City Bookstore
Manly Wade Wellman, Reporter
In many respects, Manly was as much of a journalist as he was a fiction writer. He was close to his (two years older) brother Paul for all of their mutual lives. When Manly got out of college in the … Continue reading
Newsletter #72
NEWSLETTER 72: January 6, 2013 Dear People, The big news from my viewpoint is that I’ve completed a plot outline for the next RCN (Leary/Mundy) space opera. My working title is The Sea Without a Shore, from The Barrel Organ … Continue reading