FLU SEASON : a pandemic trilogy

Contrary to rumors, I have not been mindlessly lazing away my summer. I have been writing and editing the second volume of my pandemic trilogy, titled The Way of the Son, which as of this blog is around 75,000 words with about 30,000 to go in order to complete the story. It is a continuation of the first book, obviously, but do not allow that fact to be a spoiler.

Now that I finally have the cover artwork, I can continue the process of production and begin marketing this newest science fiction novel of mine. Here is a summary (as much as I can reveal) of Book I:

I. The Book of Mom

In the beginning was the virus and the virus was with us. Or something like that. Just as you and I experienced in 2020. We faced uncertainty, fear, the unknown, and reacted to what politicians and scientists thought was the best way to deal with the emergency. What we know now in 2022 may be different than our initial thoughts and actions. But what if it continued unabated? We feel safe again, returning to some kind of normal life yet with some elements not quite the same as we knew them before the pandemic. Yet what if we were in a longer crisis?

In FLU SEASON, a stand-alone novel that has blossomed into a trilogy, we follow teenage son Sandy as he accompanies his mother in fleeing their city. With the pandemic in its sixth year, everything has collapsed into an unbearable situation. Mom decides it's time to leave the chaos of the city for what she believes will be relative safety at her parents' farm. After the struggle to get to the farm, however, they find the chaos has invaded the rural areas, as well. Violence and the stark reality of survival hit them hard. What to do? They cannot return to the city.

They will go to Mom's older sister's house in another city. But everything there is also not what they expected and not a good place to stay, so they travel on to the other sister's home. There they face a big turning point in their plans, one that shapes the rest of the trilogy. Along the way we experience as they do the ways the world has changed, what the new normal actually means with random violence, no law and order, lack of food and fuel, as well as the on-going pandemic and the necessary precautions everyone must take. We follow how they figure out how to live in this altered world. They encounter others along the way, who represent various views of what is happening, some who have a better chance of surviving than others.

Ultimately, Mom takes Sandy and his cousins to the barrier island where the family has a beach house, a place they often visited when Mom and her sisters were young. It is a place with special memories for Mom - memories which she has kept hidden from Sandy all his life. On the island, however, are already people who are trying to survive. Their leader has set the island community on a path to become some kind of utopian society, but one that is not very appealing to Mom. But what can they do? Endure the strict rules for a year or so then leave when the mainland is safe again? Or can Mom make the island community into a safe place for as long as sanctuary is needed?

Our narrator is 19-year old Sandy but his focus is on his 36-year old mother, a single, never-married woman who had a wild side during his childhood yet became a professional tuba player and music professor. Her precious tuba is a family heirloom, not to be left behind or mistreated. Music saves her and she relies on her tuba in times of stress. Sandy doesn't get it; all he knows is his Mom has been his whole life, the only person he has been able to rely on. The pandemic suddenly throws everything out of balance and he grasps at whatever stability he can find while struggling with his Asperger's syndrome (high-functioning autism) and his Mom's often erratic behavior.

FLU SEASON : Book I. The Book of Mom is coming this fall...which is only a few weeks away...available in paperback and for Kindle.

[NOTE: FLU SEASON contains scenes of violence and adult situations but none are gratuitously portrayed.]

You can read the blog post introduction to the FLU SEASON trilogy here.

Read about the challenges of writing a disaster story here.

The writer as main character (or not), using FLU SEASON as an example, is here.

Tying FLU SEASON to the long line of apocalyptic fiction is discussed here.

How to write Young Adult Erotica, like in FLU SEASON, is explored here.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2022 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

On Writing Young Adult Erotica

FLU SEASON - a pandemic novel, part 5

For years I've been teasing fellow writers with my plan to write "YA erotica" which on its face seemed to be a misnomer. How could I dare write about young people engaged in the wild throes of lust? Or, more realistically, how could I not?

It's all in the details. How much to tell - or, as we say in the industry, how much to show. While many novels include romantic relationships, some also depicting sexual encounters, the line between "ordinary" love and affection and true erotica has been a matter of explicitness. How graphic are descriptions? Are we reading a nuts and bolts level of instruction? Is flowery, poetic language used - which may soften the otherwise rough exhortations? Where is the focus and, indeed, the intent of the writing? Is it to further the plot and character development or simply to titillate the reader? These are questions which define whether the writing is mainstream fiction or the genre of erotica.

In my first published novel, AFTER ILIUM, a young college graduate meets an older woman on a post-graduation trip to the ruins of ancient Troy (also known as Ilium). It features quite romantic descriptions which, seen through his inexperienced eyes, are ridiculously written in lusty metaphors. Yet the scenes could easily be considered erotica. It was my first intentional writing deemed erotic. However, both were adults at the time of publication.

I've had love scenes in every one of my novels, some more than others, because expressing love and making love is a natural activity for humans. It must be part of the plot, but fit plausibly with the character's normal behavior within the framework of the story. A character may change, of course, and acting lustful or becoming less interested is also part of a normal character arc. But the actual descriptions in the scenes remains the issue: how much to show or how far to go?

Shakespeare set the standard, I believe, in his play Romeo and Juliet. While the principal characters seem to be in their teenage years, film depictions typically show Romeo as being, say, 16 and his love interest Juliet as being 13 or 14. (No more than 18 and 16, respectively, I'd say.) At any rate they are not considered adults in the play or in films. Yet they meet, fall in love, and...consummate their love (well, on celluloid). In the 1968 film we get a waking up in bed together scene, complete with a bit of gratuitous nudity. Nudity in a scene is not, in my estimation, a marker in itself of erotica.

I was too young to see that film when it came out, given its rating, but seeing it later, as a youngish curmudgeon, I thoroughly enjoyed the depiction of young love. Only after a few decades did I realize that what "got to me" was the sense of memory the film brought out in me: the flashes of love I recalled feeling at this or that moment in my youth. Having always been a Romantic, I was more interested in a love-interest than merely a sex session - but that's a discussion for another time, likely in my therapist's office. A stream of "young sex" films shot forth during the '70s, culminating in the borderline kinky Blue Lagoon.

In writing my forthcoming novel, FLU SEASON, I willingly took myself back to that fateful time in junior high school when I had my first "crush". It was magical, to say the least. At the end of the school year, the whole class (a small school) had a field day at the local lake, and we suddenly found ourselves walking hand in hand down the tree-shaded trail...but with her jealous gal pal following us so we couldn't have a moment to ourselves. But when she got fed up with her friend not giving her any attention, she stormed off and we finally had a moment for that glorious first awkward kiss. But I digress....

In short, we were all young once, and in love for the first time, and that experience, good or not so good, sticks with us. If we have pushed it back out of the way, closing the door to that room, as it were, then the right story or a movie may unlock that door and there we are: back in that flash of feelings that once overwhelmed us. That is the beauty of youth, of first encounters, of that frozen moment in time which is not naughty or vulgar but a confirmation of our existence and our ability to love beyond ourselves. It is a necessity in our development. Without certain milestones in our development, according to psychologist Erik Erikson, we do not develop normally. 

So I finally did it! My forthcoming "pandemic" novel FLU SEASON features what I think is a nifty teen romance - what could be called YA erotica. In my defense, I believe I've balanced quite well walking the tightrope between a believable encounter between two young people and what may make readers uncomfortable. The narrator of the story is a just-turned nineteen year old son of the main character ("Mom") who meets his 16 going on 17 year old cousin and falls instantly in love. But, fleeing the chaos of a city ravaged by pandemic, times are hard, and hard decisions need to be made, as his 30-ish single Mom keeps reminding him, the product of young love himself. As the story of fleeing danger and seeking sanctuary unfolds, the love story also unfolds, in a sweet way, then with more urgency, both characters recognizing their feelings for each other and eventually doing something about it, something which will change everything...and give us a trilogy rather than a stand-alone novel. 

But enough spoilers. FLU SEASON: The Book of Mom comes out later this year. Cover reveal soon. Look for it on your favorite YA erotica shelf. And remember: nobody will know what you're reading; they will only see the cover, which suggests an apocalyptic sci-fi story, not the steamy exploration inside - or Mom's constant teasing of her son about needing to repopulate the world once the pandemic ends.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2022 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

A Question of Quests

A little more than a year ago, I set out on a quest, pushed by fellow writers who encouraged me to try my hand at writing an epic fantasy. Well, good folks, I did that. I typed every day of the year with a story firmly in mind. On good days in the summer I wrote for a full eight hours. I actually wrote a novel following a hero's quest. Then I wrote a novella about a little princess in another part of the realm. Then I merged the two stories. The result is a 235,000 word tale of daring-do chocked full of all the epic wisdom I could stuff into it--which, I am learning, may be relevant in our heated political season.*

By "quest" I mean a journey of some kind--a hero's journey, in Joseph Campbell parlance. However, in writing an epic fantasy, a quest could be a hero going in search of something of value, or a hero simply trying to travel home from far away, perhaps from a place of tribulation. A quest could mean a bubbly travelogue, much like Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Or, a quest could be a hero going to a particular place where he intends to do something important. This last option is the pattern I adopted for my epic fantasy. (e.g., A man with a plan, out getting a tan, and learning to pan the jokes of his sidekick Tam.) My model for a quest was Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, although I bent over backwards to avoid borrowing anything from it. Likewise, I started reading George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones, but I deliberately avoided any dragon references which my readers might tease were similar to Martin's use of dragons.

Then, much to my chagrin, I discovered a problem. A fatal flaw. An underlying faux pas. A fundamental error. So...what to do with a 235,000-word tale of rousing adventure that falls short of being an epic fantasy? Maybe call it epic sci-fi? That just might be crazy enough to work! You see, there are some rules....


Rule #1. The setting of the epic fantasy must be a world of non-existence to the world of both author and reader; hence, a totally fabricated landscape. If we dare suggest it is here on Earth, we lose. 

The "present" of my epic fantasy is about A.D. 8000.

I beg a waiver. Initially, I invented a world, true, but as I laid out the plot, the series of happenings our hero would experience, I marked them out on a map of a known location here on Earth. By then I had decided this epic would be a behemoth comprising five separate interweaving story lines and one of them would be from a novel I had started long ago in my youth. That early novel idea was set in a futuristic America. As I started writing my epic fantasy, that futuristic America was slated to be the mythological history underlying the present story. As the manuscript grew tremendously, I scaled back that "backstory" to only the mentions my cast of characters would speak once in a while. However, I kept the setting of a future America.

My waiver is because the setting is so different from the world we know today that it might as well be some other place purely of my imagination.


Rule #2. An epic fantasy must have a large cast of characters which includes certain ones in stereotype roles. 

I deliberately tried to achieve that large cast but, going on a quest, our hero and his sidekick are not likely to come upon very many people. In fact, after a couple chapters of just traveling down the valley, I thought I better introduce some new quirky character to liven up the story. Hence, the magus appears. More people to talk. And the magus, being old, can impart some of the backstory. Also, a trek down a valley can only entertain for so long. At some point they would come upon a city, and what would they find there? More people.

My eyes fell upon an infographic, not long after I started writing my epic fantasy, which stated that an epic fantasy needed I needed 20 characters. Besides my hero and sidekick, there would be others playing important roles: the evil prince, the jealous rivals, ordinary townsfolk with devious agendas, warrior tribes in the wilderness, corrupt judges, executioners, crowds of biased citizens, trinket dealers, stable boys, and so on. There would be a love interest for our hero, of course, and maybe temptations down the road. The one character I did not have was a clear antagonist. 

In English teacher lingo, the protagonist is the character that moves the story forward, no matter if that person is good or evil. Usually, moving the story is what causes us to set the story on that character's shoulders, as narrator or our main focus. The antagonist is not necessarily the villain, though he/she may be. Rather, the antagonist is that character (or force of nature) which seeks to thwart the advance of the protagonist, preventing the achievement of his/her goals. In the case of my epic fantasy, the antagonist is chiefly all the dragons of the world and assorted rogues along the way.

So, in the end, I have 20 characters that play some significant role in the plot--not just walk-on roles for color but say or do something that pushes the plot forward, regardless how much "screen" time they get. I'm particularly fond of the hunchback and the river pilots.


Rule #3. The average "bestselling" novel (at least in the fantasy and sci-fi genre) have 15 obstacles to achieving the goals of the quest. 

No problem, I thought. I had a map and I knew how to use it. Something would happen about every half-inch on the trail I had drawn on the map. I pretty much kept to that plan. Later in the story, as new ideas developed from the current writing, I switched out some of the events happening. However, making sure our hero had to deal with 15 (or more) episodes, each a danger, distraction, or detour to overcome, was the reason this epic fantasy reached 235,000 words.


Rule #4. The epic fantasy requires lavish description, flowery language, quirks of speech (including made-up words for things), to better envelope the reader in a strange world far from our own here on Earth. 

Well, I did write a science fiction trilogy involving interdimensional travel to another world, so I did invent other languages for that world. However, in our present day and time, when my college students have such aversion to reading even the shortest, simplest texts, I find myself skipping over large paragraphs of description. All right, it's a room in a castle, and there are pieces of furniture. I don't see how the colors or textures matter unless it somehow influences the plot. Becoming jaded, I suppose; I have read some of the longest novels ever written (e.g., War and Peace, Shogun, The Well at the World's End) and did not skip any portions of them--but that was then.

Therefore, I swore to keep it lean, to concentrate on action, dialog, and offer enough description to paint the scene. I swore to keep scenes manageable in length and chapters at the size to read in an hour or less. I promised myself to get to the core of the action or present information or backstory in colorful ways (usually through dialog) that were fun to read in themselves. I was aiming for an epic fantasy length story, of course, so the leanness of the initial writing was not a concern. I knew I could flesh in a scene where needed after I'd finished the draft. And I did. 


Rule #5. Things happen in fantasy places, both impossibly wonderful and just as likely amazingly cruel. Unconstrained by modern law or sensibilities, an epic fantasy can be quite open with regard to the particular incidents that occur.

I also had in mind to keep this book clean; that is, morally sound, suitable for at least the New Adult category. I accepted that I could not keep it at a Young Adult level because there would be dragon slaying about every chapter. There got to be more violence, and some sexual episodes downstream but I had the camera turn to the window so we could watch the sunset. I feel good about keeping it less graphic than my other novels. As it turned out, I would even let my mother read it. My father, however, is a different case.

I think I can save my book by calling it an epic science fiction fantasy adventure and leave it at that. Hard to put all that on a title page, of course, but then I have maps this time--maps of a place not quite our own landscape. After all, our hero was born only 4800 years from now, give or take a few days. A lot happens between now and then.


NEXT: I shall further explicate the amazing episodes that comprise the greatest epic fantasy (or similar genre) that I have ever written on a computer! 


*"political season": I started to believe from my "inhabiting" wise characters that I could be a fair alternative to the presidential candidate options and so I began the Bunny Party. Unfortunately, we only achieved 12 votes, half of them from my relatives.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2017 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Spring Break Reading That Got Away!

You had the best of intentions. You downloaded some books, promised to read them, and then Life ...or assorted or sordid Spring Break activities somehow got in the way!

We understand.

Or perhaps you had the best intentions of getting into some exciting new reading but did not get to download the books before leaving for your Spring Break venue.

We still understand.

No problem! 

Books, 

like all the particles and elements in the universe, will always exist!

It's NOT too late to catch up on your spring reading!

At the beach or at the pool or in bed late at night, here's my recommended list of readables (most are available in both Kindle and paperback versions but [wink] we know you want to take them with you on a small portable device, right?):

THE DREAM LAND Trilogy

If you have cravings for a genre-mashing epic of interdimensional intrigue, two geeky lovers, two worlds, a cast of millions, steam-powered cars and airships, cruel overlords and cheap drugs, exoskeletons and jungle girls, rogue cops and war rabbits, ancient history and modern science, a sleepy planet and a fatal comet, then perhaps The Dream Land trilogy would be an excellent choice.

The Dream Land I "Long Distance Voyager"
Kindle or Paper 

The Dream Land II "Dreams of Future's Past"
Kindle or Paper 

The Dream Land III "Diaspora"
Kindle or Paper

AFTER ILIUM
A young man's summer trip to the ruins of ancient Ilium (Troy) is interrupted by a quick affair with an older woman...which sends him on his own Odyssey across the Turkish coast.

Kindle or Paper 

A BEAUTIFUL CHILL
An unlucky professor gets lucky but turns obsessive to keep control over the beautiful art student he picks up one dark and stormy night.

Kindle or Paper

AND CHECK OUT MY FELLOW AUTHORS AT MYRDDIN PUBLISHING!

Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Epic Fantasy, Romance, Psychological Thrillers, and Literary genres!

Both YA, New Adult, and Adult books!

All in ebook format and most also in paperback.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2014 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Think you got burdens? Try being a Saint.

Sure looks like 2014 is already starting to be a rockin' year!

Better than expected success with The Dream Land trilogy (yes, other people beside my mother bought it, despite almost no promotion aside from social media).

Had my first guest blogger here (Kate Bitters, author of Elmer Left.), and had my first guest blogging experience there (on The Bitter Blog). Both were totally awesome (still a bit tingling from it all).


Now comes the opportunity to introduce my Myrddin Publishing colleague, Joan Hazel, and her newest novel, Burdens of a Saint, the second book in The Guardians series, which involves shape-shifters--and werewolves? (Book 1 is The Last Guardian.)



It may be hard to believe but, in her busy life, Joan Hazel has written three novels that range from paranormal fantasy to contemporary to historical fiction. She's also an accomplished actress and vocalist, and has performed with companies across the eastern United States. 

In her spare time, if there is any, she plays with a colorful cast of characters who live in her head. Currently she resides in DeLand, Florida, with her husband, Ricky, and their two "fur kids"--which I suppose means wolves?


So what is this paranormal novel about? Here's a clip from the back cover of the paperback (also available for Kindle):

Your life will change today...

When Janet Beesinger writes the words in red on her calendar, she has no idea what they mean. But, as a psychic, she knows when the universe gifts you with personal information, you listen.  How was she to know the Universe meant an irritating and sexy shape-shifter who would challenge everything about her life?

Saint Wolfe can feel the gravity of his arrangement with the goddess Hel closing in around him, forcing him to confront his past and the betrayal of the woman he was to marry. Needing to make peace with his past, he returns to New Orleans in search of forgiveness, only to be confronted by his own immortality. His only hope for atonement lies in the hands of a woman claiming to be a psychic. Will she be able to help Saint find salvation before his debt to Hel comes due?

Flipping through its pages, I thought this excerpt was especially provocative:

“Geeze, Mom, get a room!” Eric’s voice broke the silence between Saint and Janet, causing them both to jump back.

“I agree with the kid. Get a room.” Saint looked past the young man to find his older brother standing there. He heard the small whimper escape Janet’s throat before she pushed past everyone and disappeared through the curtains to Princess Ryhinni’s reading room.

“What did you do to my mom?” Eric asked, stepping up to Saint.

“Who? Me?” Saint stammered. “I did nothing to your mother.”

Though the teenager was quite a bit smaller than Saint, he didn’t back down. “Yeah? Then why was she crying?”

“You are the one who blurted out for her to seek shelter,” Saint defended.

“To seek shelter? What are you talking about?” Eric asked.

“You said to get a room, which makes very little sense considering you live here.”

“Whatever, dude. I know she rented that room to you, but don’t think that just because you made us breakfast, you can be my new dad.” Eric said, poking Saint in the chest. “Stay away from my mom.” Eric stormed up the stairs. The ceiling reverberated with each of Eric’s footsteps, culminating in a WHAM.

Saint stared, wide-eyed, at his brother. “What was that all about?”

“You tell me,” Fergus said.

“Was I wrong? Is that not what he meant by 'get a room'?”

“You are too literal, you know that?”

Saint’s brow knitted together. He did know he took things literally. Ghost had accused him of that quite frequently, but language usage changed too rapidly for him to keep up with every little nuance.

Fergus grinned. “He meant you looked like the Big Bad Wolf about to devour Little Red Riding Hood.

“Preposterous!” Saint exclaimed. “She was merely....”

“Merely what?”

“She was merely telling me my fortune.”

Fergus crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the bookshelf. “Is that what you kids are calling it these days?”

Saint adjusted his vest. “Well, I’ve never!”

Fergus grinned widely. “Keep looking at Little Red like that and you will.”

Wolf or Saint?

Where to contact author Joan Hazel:

Website: www.joanhazel.com

Blog: http://joan-hazel.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @guardianwriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Joan-Hazel/362411800440684?ref=hl

I'm looking forward to the third book in this series! Happy reading! Awooooooo! 

(That last bit was intended to be representative of a wolf's howl. Close? ...Close enough?)

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(C) Copyright 2010-2014 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.