Silent Planet is one of the Arkies series, and in this one, I decided to ring the changes. The premise is that the four arkies and their sentient computer, ArkMa, are ranging the galaxies looking for SR (settlement ready) planets. Up until now, they'd never found one, so this time, they did. They descend on a seemingly deserted planet that has signs of an elaborate civilisation. Singer senses life... but no humans. The arkies discover some dogs which invite them to join their pack. An unseen intelligence is watching, and suddenly deafening sirens ring out. It turns out the brain of the city, somewhat like ArkMa, is very much alive...
The way these manga-style books are written is quite different from normal narrative. Here's a sample of the manuscript showing the set-up.
- Page 10 []
Panel 33: The Arkies are reacting to a loud sound and
a voice that seems to be coming from all around the square. No one is visible.
The cat is wailing and streaking across the square. Three parrots swoop
overhead.
Caption: SUDDENLY, A SIREN
SOUNDS.
SFX: EEEEoooooEEEEooooooEEEEE!
Cat: WROOOOOWWWWW!
Voices: DANGER, DANGER.
ABANDON CITY. DANGER, DANGER. COLLAPSE IMMINENT.
Panel 34: The Arkies react,
running away, but Pace seems about to stop.
Caption: THE ARKIES FLEE FROM THE SQUARE.
Merlinna: RUN!
Lyam: BACK TO ARK3!
Pace: WAIT!
Panel 35: The others turn back to look at Pace, who has
stopped and is holding up his hand for silence.
Singer: BUT—
Pace: WAIT, EVERYONE.
SFX: EEEEoooooEEEEooooooEEEEE!
Voices: DANGER, DANGER.
ABANDON CITY. DANGER, DANGER. COLLAPSE IMMINENT.
Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books, so the blog will continue for at least the next month or so.
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