Novel progress update

Ive been working hard!

Just a short update to say that I have been working hard at the novel and Act 1 is now with my proofreaders (with whom I am eternally grateful).

The novel uses short point of view (POV) style chapters. This is similar to GRR Martin but often even shorter and punchier with more scifi/black mirror style twists or Junji Ito comic book page turn reveals. These shorter chapters will then be framed within a four act structure.

This is about 33k words and should be about 1/4 of the finished product. After its been through the proofreaders and another round of editing expect teaser POV chapter drops both on the blog and maybe as reads on the YouTube and Instagram.

No title as yet for the novel, but Act 1 is called:

There is a House of the People who sit in Darkness.

Act 1 introduces the core characters, sets up the 2078 cyberpunk world and instigates the plot, bringing our dynamic cast together and setting them in motion.

If you have read the short stories you will have met our core cast already as all of the stories are set in the same universe and each tale develops a key character who will appear in the novel. Everything is set in interconnected world but the short stories have more of a tight focus on one key scifi idea (AI safety in Ling Xi's stories, Mind to Mind interfaces in CJ's story or cyber/surgical addiction in Sapphire's stories) or allow a single character to breathe free from their interactions with others (Rick exploring his own journey and themes of addiction).

Its all starting to come together. A core focus for me personally is for the novel to not only have deep scifi and horror themes that should make the reader think but also be a tightly written novel with dynamic characters and a plot that moves forward apace. The first Matrix film is a big inspiration for me, not so much for ideas (I have a character refute the simulation hypothesis in one scene) but for how it flawlessly combines mind blowing scifi concepts with well paced action.