Holiday pressures and life changes do often make it difficult to maintain post schedules for longform work, so I want to fill the gap today with a hybrid of housekeeping and history.
In the former theater, I’ve been blessed by/suffered with a number of developments. I’ve completed the handwritten manuscript for $20,000 Under the Sea, and you can expect the final two chapters to be posted here in the coming weeks. My writing process is to do first-round editing as I’m transcribing my handwritten work into a digital format, and those final two chapters are chonky, so bear with me as I’m getting everything in. Once it’s up here, I intend to initiate beta-reading and second/third-round editing, and you, as readers, have until that process is done (or near done) to read it here before I hide it like I did with Three and Two and Two and the material that went into Promises for a Worse Tomorrow. That said, if you are interested in beta reading, please reach out to me at slhlocrian@saltpoweredllc.com. I am not being choosy with who is allowed to offer me feedback (though I may be choosy about what feedback I listen to). The only qualification I ask for is interest in reading through the manuscript and providing me with your opinion (ideally with a minimal amount of follow-up required from me).
The beta-reading/editing phase for $20,000 Under the Sea will likely be longer than for my previous two books. This is because I’ve recently started a job, and my dedicated writing/editing time has been quartered. On the flipside, lack of uncertainty regarding my ability to survive in the hellscape of capitalism really has been a breath of fresh air, so motivation is in higher supply now at the very least.
Now for history. As my access to illustration for my work is currently limited, I’m looking at a more graphic-design-centric approach for covers/graphics/materials for $20,000 Under the Sea. In particular, I’m hoping to leverage the theme of historical photographs with which I’ve been adorning my recent Whom Emperors Have Served posts. Chief among the questions for cover design for the book is how one might use historical photographs to depict (or at least reference) the Nicholas. Fortunately, in the early days of submarine navigation, vehicle designs–likely the same ones the inspired Jules Verne–were wild.
In particular, see the Intelligent Whale, depicted at the top of this post. It was an experimental craft built during the American Civil War, sold to the U.S. Navy in 1869, tested (disastrously) once, and then condemned in 1872. Various sources indicate that the total number of people drowned in testing the sub may be as high as 42. Between the aggressively silly design and its outright unreliability, it feels…appropriate that it might be a stand-in for Captain Kneecap’s inimitable trash sub.
For a less exceptional inventor or navigator, the design may in fact be an inexpensive conveyance beneath the waves. Whether that’s desirable, of course, depends on how badly you ever want to make it back to the surface.
Top photo courtesy of chinfo.navy.mil
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