Blackjack update - kinda

Blame my partner Josh.

It's his fault, okay? Not mine.

Yeah it's his fault so little progress took place on Blackjack. The guy calls me, tells me that Interstellar Overdrive is on his mind. We spend 35 minutes chatting about it, and he sends me on a tailspin that occupied most of my week. I'm like Dug in Pixar's Up. "SQUIRREL!"

So we're reworking it to be a little smaller per episode because we found some nicer beats, and also it looks like 60 pages is a more standard number for some of the serialized stories we're seeing. Wool, the biggest and best of them (Ridley Scott's directing the movie!) is 58 pages for its first issue. The good news is that with the new paradigm, we'll be able to get started on publishing the series sooner rather than later.

The problem is I've got to get act one of Blackjack to you guys. I still threw down about 10 pages, specifically some scenes in the Tower with Blackjack, Apogee and Superdynamic (a little Ruby thrown in there). I need another 5-10 to finish the sequence, and give it the importance and message I'm looking out of it. Then it's back to KC and a sequence that I envisioned almost two years ago, a superhero BBQ, then some stuff with the former Lady Despoil, now known as Lillith, and finally a 20 page action sequence that'll make the Hashima and D.C. stuff look like child's play.

And that'll be act one. In reading over it, I'm seeing tons of holes to fill, and a scene or two that are more "telly" than I'd like, but everything is in rough order.

All in all an act one that'll please people more than the one in book two. I know, there was a point to all of that, I had a plan for Blackjack and it doesn't really pay off until the end. But I can understand that some folks were put off by it, especially with how he starts to behave when faced with the frustrations of the dream world. I always figured they'd drop you into a Matrix-like world, where you had to fight and struggle for everything you wanted, even though it was just at the edges of your outreached fingertips. The idea is to keep your mind busy for years, keep you focused and moving so you never have a chance to question what you're seeing and experiencing. Anyway, that was my idea. Some folks had a problem with Shard World as a whole. For most folks, the best parts of books one and two were the "real world" parts, and I can understand where going off to Lala-land can be off putting. But I did it for a reason. There was a goal.

Despite that, I understood and heard the complaints. I totally get it, and my intention is to do a Blackjack that's what people want.

In drama, they tell you to start as late as possible, as close to the actual conflict as you can. Well, in a way, Book 3 is sort of the beginning. The previous stuff, while awesome to write for me, and enjoyable to some of you to read, is the quick flashback (with a Morgan Freeman voice over) at the beginning of the movie, before the "real" stuff starts to happen.

Blackjack's made an interesting transformation for me. From a guy who was clueless and aimless to a guy who knows what he wants and won't let anything get in his way.

Anyway, back to work!

Blackjack Hero Journal #7

The working title is Blackjack Hero, because he's trying to remake his life. But this is Blackjack, after all, he'll find a way to ruin things, while at the same time saving the day and getting the girl. Anyway, the "hero" moniker might change. I'm not sure if it fits exactly. If Blackjack makes it through this book in one piece, he won't be a hero in the traditional sense of the word.

As far as progress, act one is coming together nicely. I have a good head of steam going and lots of good ideas. The funny thing is when you come up with something later on that you have to backtrack later. In this case, I've just decided to involve Dale's father. It was going to happen, and I think I've made no bones about it, but I've got to put it in there from the beginning. I'm also debating taking a different angle to the thing. I just don't know if there's time. Same thing with Jason Mckeown. Remember him? The temptation is to make him secretly one of the many heroes I've mentioned, like Paladin. He'd fit perfectly as a dude in heavy armor, his face concealed by a helm. But it'd be interesting to try something different, something unexpected. No, Jason's not secretly Epic...COME ON!

Anyway, I plan on releasing an in-progress act one when I have it put together. I love hearing your ideas and thoughts and act one will have a pretty sexy cliffhanger. As of right now, it's at 97 pages (after dumping a lot of crap) in Kindle formatting, and it needs another 40 between plugging in gaps/transitions and the grand finale of the act. Again, it'll be a total mess and not indicative of the final product, but I know you'll see past all my stupid mistakes and spelling errors. Like when I had to change the first name of one of the new heroes Blackjack is working with, Red Quiver. I called the guy Roy, because...well, because. I liked it. Guy feels like a Roy. But I'm informed by my partner Josh, after he read a battle scene between Blackjack, Roy and a few others against a huge dinosaur/T-rex monster thing, that Red Arrow of DC fame is also called Roy. My subconscious screwing with me? Maybe. But when I did a quick find/replace, it replaced the word "royal" with "Ianal". Roy's new name is Ian, you see...

I caught that one, but some strange & weird stuff gets past me.

Okay, so when? Give me a week. I'm going full speed, finally, after a slow/lazy summer. Sounds good? One week and act one's ready.

Crap, pressure!