Author: billlatham

Yesterday, I sent my final draft of Odysseus Wept over to the folks at Powys. There may be a tweak or two, some proofreading, but I’m basically finished, at long last!

The final page count, before any foreword or anything like that gets added, is around 650 pages. I don’t know what the final format will be but I suspect standard paperback isn’t really an option for this book (Lulu.com spines struggle in the standard paperback size for longer books), but I’m trying not to be involved in the printing process if I can help it.

I’m also not planning on posting any more about this particular book — it has to stand on its own and it’s not a straightforward narrative in many ways, so it’s time for the readers to weigh in. I will be contributing to the Powysverse Compendium update (but only after its author has her own theories, first!).

Thanks everybody for your patience. This was a very, very hard one to write, not gonna lie, and even harder to edit. In 2023, it’s time to set my sights elsewhere, and I’m excited about that.

I’m guessing the book will be released in the early spring, but not up to me.

See you in 2023.

I’m on page 405 of 638 in Odysseus Wept’s second draft. As expected, this is taking quite a while, and I’ve yet to hit the uncharted waters of the last real burst of writing I did, where I know I left myself pockets of things to write, so the book’s likely only going to get longer.

I crossed over into Part Three of the book yesterday, so even I was surprised to see that Part Three is about half of the book.

Periodically, we’ve told people which books to reread in preparation for reading another one in the series and this time around, you can probably skip Resurrection but that may be it. Some of this book is a sequel to The Forsaken, so that comes with the territory, but I’ve mined little bits from all of what I’ve been thinking of as Phase Two of the Powysverse. Phase Two is everything that’s NOT included in the Powysverse Compendium (Vol. I).

There’s something of Jonathan Swift’s most famous work in this book. Less Homer than you might think, given the title.

This is not a book I think people will be reading in a single sitting.

So, while I’m busy working on editing “Odysseus Wept” I’m also writing content for a separate book called “Tropes” that I’ve been keeping under the radar. “Tropes” is a book of shorter fiction that usually focuses on stories that use concepts that have either been done to death or turned into cliches right from the get-go. So, obviously, I’m not claiming originality in these stories, but I will certainly do my best to say: “You know what? What about this take on it?”

The main reason I’m posting up here is just for a little bit of transparency. One of the tales in “Tropes” has a lot to do with “what happens when a kaiju dies in your city?” This is an older story of mine. But there’s a movie coming out from Japan that looks like it’s gonna play with similar concepts, and all power to that movie!

The often untold story of cleaning up dead ‘kaiju’ finally coming to theaters next year – Japan Today

I hope it’s a great film because obviously, I loved the idea. I’m pretty sure there won’t be much overlap between what I have and what they’re doing, but just want to state that my story is probably a decade old — they didn’t steal from me, I hope no one ever thinks I stole from them!

I’m likely going to sell “Tropes” directly from this web-site, so be on the lookout for that.

There’s a LOT of editing to do. But Draft One is, at last, complete.

Hey, folks — I’ve been taking an extended vacation from Powys stuff since last summer. Unfortunately, that vacation happened before Odysseus Wept was finished. I normally don’t like to leave things in gray areas, but this one is quite precisely in a gray area. I don’t really have any status update to give other than it’s not finished and I’m not currently working on it (well, maybe a little). Think I spent a little too much time on Moonbase Alpha and deserved a little Breakaway…

I am working on other things (even I had to be reminded that there are other books out there than Space:1999 books). Expect a Cold War thriller sometime in 2020…

Long time since I chose to update this site rather than work on the book — sorry about that.

Odysseus Wept is still in the writing stage — but before you complain, it’s probably going to be a five-hundred page book — for those of you familiar with my prior works, that’s like getting two or three books in one. I worry that the paperback spine won’t do particularly well with a book of this length, but determined to keep it in one volume.

An interview on the Powys site (www.powysmedia.com) will likely be coming relatively soon so I don’t want to steal anybody’s thunder by giving too much away here. But what I can tell you is that where Omega and Alpha sought to demystify Space:1999, Odysseus Wept seeks to remystify it. While this is the end of the chronological line for the Powys series, the overriding mythology is deep and broad should anyone else out there decide to pick it up (or even just grab a couple of elements and run with them).

This has been a very organic book for me in that I tried very hard not to plan it out as much as we’ve planned out other books in this series — what that means is that sometimes even I don’t know how things are going to ultimately turn out. Well, let me clarify that a little. I know the ending. I know the beginning. It’s the pieces in the middle that sometimes characters are deciding for me.

Some readers complained with Omega and Alpha that we were trying very hard to tie everything in the Space:1999 universe together — in our defense, that’s not something we listened to much — we basically used four episodes from the show to build a mythology — that fact that we could get things to connect from four episodes, while leaving out forty-four other episodes, tells me we weren’t as ambitious as people think.

Odysseus Wept is also going to connect some things together — some of which may surprise you. The Final Revolution taught a little bit of physics in the Space: 1999 universe, Omega and Alpha taught a little bit more, but Johnny Byrne’s Children of the Gods also seeded a little bit of what makes Odysseus Wept work. It’s not so much attempting to answer every question — we’ve tried very, very hard to build a consistent universe for a show that was often inconsistent. We’re going to leave questions unanswered — we’re even raising some more. This time around, in Odysseus Wept, we’re not “meddling” with anything from the original episodes for the most part — but perhaps we’re playing a bit with what you’ve seen in our stories and novels.

Paul Morrow is the primary character of a third of this book. So (spoiler-alert) where The Final Revolution dovetails with this book is a good portion of the way in — Odysseus Wept’s first act is tying The Forsaken into a bigger picture — and I’ll stop there.

I can’t tell you what genre Odysseus Wept is — aspects of it are science fiction, other aspects seem at least tinged by fantasy, but much of it reads like historical fiction, maybe even something Clive Cussler-esque, where historical elements suddenly start becoming important in the present.

The key thing is we’re trying to wrap up all the loose ends, while also establishing the foundations for what happens AFTER Space:1999. And as I’ve said earlier, I’m determined to not have a Star Trek: Generations kind of ending — it’s closer to The Undiscovered Country, but it’s the Space:1999 version of it (sorry to go Star Trek on you but aren’t you used to me doing that by now?).

I’m in the home stretch — still more to go. I’ve never spent this long working on one book before — and I’m just imagining what the editing process will be like — but it’s definitely nearing the end.

Thought you’d like to know…

I’m Telling Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! On You

So let me get the quick stuff out of the way – I’m definitely glad I went to see it, I don’t know that I need a second viewing, I have not seen any of Darren Aronofsky’s other films, and this is absolutely not a film for everyone – kudos to Paramount for putting this film out in theaters, and curses to Paramount (but understandable curses) for not knowing how to market this film.

What on Earth Is This Movie?

Well, that’s gonna take me a little while to answer.

It’s About the Anxieties of Mothers

Before I say anything else, let me catalogue something – let me catalogue a mother’s anxieties:

• I’m afraid I’m not going to live up to some image of motherhood (typically, my mother-in-law’s image of motherhood) – this is the role played by Michelle Pfeiffer
• I’m afraid I don’t have the perfect home – insert entire film here
• I’m afraid the world will steal my husband away – insert entire film here
• I’m afraid the world will steal my child away – insert last act of the film here
• How am I supposed to keep a neat home when everyone around me is trying to prevent that from happening – insert in particular the “pick up dirty tissues/pieces of toilet paper in the bathroom” scene
• I’m afraid of having children in this world when war is out there killing children
• I’m afraid of having children in this world when religion is warping the minds of others – but also putting out “representatives” in the world who want to prey/pray on my children
• With all the work I do around here, why is none of it appreciated?
• Why am I being judged by strangers?
• At what point do I go from provider of hospitality to the actual welcome mat that provides for the wiping of feet?
• As the heart of the home (more on that later) – I provide all the love that I can – and it’s never enough – worse, it doesn’t come back to me!
• Other people take advantage of my maternal instincts (portrait of a mom whose son is wetting his pants and wants to use my bathroom and I have to let him)

So, I’m gonna stop there, but believe me, I could go on!  In many ways, this film is a collage of motherly anxieties and fears.

It’s About the Assault on the Nest

Much of the most disturbing imagery in the film is tied to our protagonist’s attempts to defend her nest from a horde of assaults.  “Don’t sit on the sink, it’s not braced yet…”  How many times do we hear that?  And how many times is it ignored?  The bloody hole in the floor – and bear with me on this one – the bloody hole is a doorway (to the basement, yes, but it is also a doorway into some kind of truth hidden in a dark place). The birth canal is also a doorway that is sometimes bloody (and can be trespassed against one’s will). Most of the suffering in this film involves trespass into the nest – the house is raped repeatedly.  The order of the house is raped repeatedly.  The order of particular rooms is raped repeatedly – particularly the bedroom and the husband’s writing room.  The order of the marriage is violated repeatedly – how many times does the “husband” make decisions without asking the “wife/mother” if it’s okay?

Borders are violated repeatedly throughout this film – I’m sure someone could go write a paper on this film coming out at a time when part of the United States wants to build a wall around the southern half of the continent to prevent illegal entry (country rape) while those already inside the country are having their rights stripped and/or violated (personal rights rape).

It’s About a Male Writer’s Interpretation of a Mother

Darren Aronofsky is obviously male, but that’s not the male I’m talking about.  Lest we forget, Jennifer Lawrence’s character, while our protagonist, is a creation of Javier Bardem’s character – we actually see three versions of her in this film – the opening burn victim, the Jennifer Lawrence character, and then the new incarnation at the end.  He’s recreating her over and over, slightly differently each time.  Is he trying to perfect her?  Or is he trying to come to terms with her?  I don’t think the film gives us a clear hint on which direction it leans, but it’s obviously creating versions, so changing the model each time reflects at least some attempt to perfect something.  But what is it?  I don’t think we know.

However, and this harkens back to Mary Shelley, when a man tries to create something (without a woman), it’s possible it might lack a soul.  He’s not getting something right.  Message?  Don’t know what it is.

It’s Telling Us Something about Transformation with Imagery

Frogs…why was there a frog in the secret cavern in the basement?  Well, whenever I see a frog used in an image (“Gravity” comes to mind), I always see it as shorthand for a transformative process – a frog transforms visibly from egg to fish-like creature to four-legged animal in its life cycle.  When I see transformation happening with versions (see the prior section), I think the message here may have something to do with transformation.  Another aspect of frog imagery, however, is the common visual connection between a sperm and a tadpole – a sperm combines with something else to transform into a larger being, and a tadpole just transforms into a larger being – but in either case, transformation is key.

Gold-speckled strands…what’s up with that?  Well, we see that in two places – when Jennifer Lawrence pours her medicine into her glass of water, at least initially it looks remarkably like the mysterious crystal we see at the beginning and end of the film (and which we see in its “destroyed” state in the middle).  I’m not sure what the connection is – is it DNA?  Is it a wedding ring?  Is it coincidence?  I think the fact that her medicine is coming out of what looks like the product of a Nineteenth Century pharmacy is loudly telling us – this clearly isn’t really medicine!  Oxytocin is known as the “love chemical” or “love hormone” – it’s an internally generated chemical that makes us happy when we’re in love – it’s a drug.  And at the end of the film, the crystal removed from her chest is clearly called “her love for him” – so pretty sure there’s something there.  The husband has to regenerate the mother from this essence each time it is destroyed by…fire!

Fire…what’s up with fire?  Well, fire is another gold-speckled strand.  It’s destructive and it warms us – just like love.  It can be all consuming or it can be enabling – just like a mother’s love.  I’m pretty sure there’s something equating love and fire in this film.  Fire is also VERY transformative – and some of the first images in the film show sooty hands (the aftermath of fire) as a creative process happens, transforming ash to physical matter.

Okay, But What About the Film Itself?

Lighting – lots and lots of beautiful lighting.

Cinematography – lots and lots of haunting cinematography.

And again, like “Gravity” – it’s not a movie that’s really trying to tell you what it is.  “Gravity” is a clear adventure story, but it’s also much more, particularly on the transformation front.  We see a character evolve a lot in “Gravity” – but you were probably too wrapped up in complaining that it didn’t have a lot of plot to notice (come on, admit it!).  “Gravity” did a wonderful job with economizing much of its story because it didn’t want to focus on story – it was trying to tell a bigger story than its plot (can you tell I love that film?).

“Mother!” is a marvelous film in that it said screw you if you only focus on story – we always assume that films MUST have plots that are clear – as a result, it’s rare that we truly see film stretching its borders.  James Cameron can spend all the money he wants on blue people and CGI worlds and I don’t feel he’s done a bit to transform film (and I like his films!).  He’s made the colors brighter.  I love a good plot – but when I look at a film like Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” – I marvel at it because at some point it stops holding onto plot as the only thing that matters (and that’s coming from a novelist who’s in love with plot engineering).  Like “Mother!”, “Brazil” plays with time.  Time as a constant can make a story predictable, can’t it?  You can also kill a good story by coming up with the unexpected time shift – it’s gotta be earned, though, doesn’t it?  I think “Mother!” played fair in that in the first five minutes you could tell that a backwards transform was happening – soot typically doesn’t become solid – it’s usually the other way around.

I admired greatly how the last third of the film was kind of a hodgepodge of scenes from other films – “Night of the Living Dead”, “Assault on Precinct 13”, “Rio Bravo” – do you notice a theme there?  The last third of the film was…a western, and the fort fell to the onslaught of larger forces.

Just like every fort falls – our childhood homes fall apart for whatever reasons – and I’m pretty sure at the heart of all of this – that’s what this film is about.  A house fallen. And the desire to rebuild it and somehow get it right this time.

And isn’t that a message we all need to hear right now?  In America?

I don’t think this will ever hit my top ten favorite films, but man, did it get my gray matter going, and for that, I say thanks, Darren!

I’m having a rare day where I can focus a lot on Powys Media stuff, so figured I’d pop up here and say hello.  Most of the day has been spent working on formatting The Prisoner: Miss Freedom.  Sigh.  Not my favorite way to spend a day.  The primary file we’re using has been through so many people over the years that it’s an inconsistent mess — in many cases I’m reformatting every line on a page, and that’s after using some mad Microsoft Word skillz to whip it into shape.  I’ll be a very happy camper when that book is out.

I attended the Alpha 2017 convention a few weeks back for a couple of hours, long enough to arrange for the foreword for Odysseus Wept (if you read the Final Revolution and saw a familiar face pop up near the end…well…that’s all I’m saying).

Back to today.  I’ve been sitting in one of those marvelous places where I have to figure out what’s going to happen next before I can really write anything more — and I’ve been stuck there for a few weeks.  Think of Odysseus Wept as three small books laced together into one big one.  I’ve got pieces of all three books done but primarily I’m focusing on the first book, I’m about 80% finished with that part I suspect, but that’s where I’m blocked.  I’m hoping tonight I can get past that block point.  The middle section of the book is where some of the darkest things will happen (Steve Foster’s worried now…), and then the third section will tip toward happier prospects.

In the meantime, I’m not getting a whole lot of time to get the Eternity Unbound Special Edition edited.  Plus, I have a draft of Black Doves sitting in my email box that I need to get to.  And a website to finish up.

Yeah, I know, sounds like a lot of whining, and maybe it is.  The publisher hat and editor hat are totally suffocating the writer hat, which is the one I prefer to be wearing.  It was great hearing people at the convention coming over and saying how much they enjoyed the Powys books.  I doubt if you folks realize this but your comments on this web site (and some occasional posts on Facebook) are the only real feedback we get anymore outside of convention appearances.  The forum on the Powys Website is locked to new members (you can thank the thousands of attempts at malicious hackings for that).  But your old logins (if you had one) probably still work.

Anyway, back to work.  I’ll give one little hint about Odysseus Wept.  At the convention, I donated the first 35 or so pages of the current draft of Odysseus Wept to the auction and someone who has posted on this site in the past was the winner.  The feedback I received after he or she read that portion said:  “…it’s not going to be an easy ride for our Alphans…”

Yup.  That’s pretty much what I’d say, too.

Off I go…

Now that hardcover editions are a reality at Powys, we can start working on the Special Editions of our books.  What does that really mean?  Mostly that these are the final editions of our books.  The editions that should hold up to frequent re-readings as we all start to forget what’s in these books and revisit them occasionally.  We proofread and get any lingering typographical errors fixed, perhaps add a new cover, and what’s most fun, we see if there’s anything left on the cutting room floor that we might share with our readers.  In some cases, we might even add some goodies that weren’t in the original editions.

The Eternity Unbound Special Edition has a little of all of these.  It’s the special edition of both Resurrection and Eternity Unleashed, first of all (Resurrection will likely not receive a separate special edition — what would be the point?).  The End of Eternity novelization will be here (as well as in the Year One Omnibus once that’s ready).  And then there’s Eternity Unhinged.

What, you may ask, is Eternity Unhinged?

Well, first let me lower some expectations.  It’s not a novel, it’s not a novella.  It’s not particularly long.  If you have the existing edition of Eternity Unbound, I wouldn’t necessarily buy the new edition just to get Eternity Unhinged (I’d be more likely to recommend it for the extra goodies like old outlines). But I can tell you it will be totally worth reading!  I’m not going to tell you what’s in it.  But I will offer some hints.

First of all, it is not an epilogue to Resurrection — it takes place before Resurrection.  Keep in mind, that could be at any point in Balor’s timeline — I’m not going to say which part.

Next, it will not rock your world.  If a lost chapter of any famous novel were to be found, it would almost inevitably disappoint — the good stuff’s already out there. A newly recovered lost song by your favorite recording artist is never better than their other songs, is it?  If we ever get to see “London After Midnight” — the lost Lon Chaney film, I can pretty much guarantee you it’s not going to eclipse “Hunchback of Notre Dame” or “Phantom of the Opera”.  That’s just not the way the world works!

When you read “Eternity Unhinged” you will find that it is squeezed neatly between two existing paragraphs of something you have already read (if you’ve read “Eternity Unbound”).  That doesn’t mean it’s one sentence long!  It means I carved out something that already existed and expanded it.

So, why bother?

If you read “Eternity Unleashed” and “Resurrection”, there are characters and events that are mirrored between the two books.  You could argue that Balor talking to Koenig is very similar to Balor talking to Talian.  Some of that mirroring deserved a little more meat on it, at least according to your humble author, and what’s in the final thing that is “Eternity Unhinged” has been something germinating for a decade.  Remember, it’s not earth shattering — but it will give you a look at something that deep down inside we all knew was there.  In “Eternity Unhinged” you’ll finally get to see it.

So, what else is in this book?

The original author’s note from “Eternity Unbound” is included, along with a brand new author’s note.  Including a little discussion about some humor at the end of “Resurrection” that didn’t please everyone!  But most of the extra stuff included in this edition will be content that was either removed or rewritten from “Resurrection”, including some old outlines the include some of the early endings of the book.

Some of the removed content is from Balor’s discussion with Koenig before Koenig’s (spoiler alert!) immortality kicks in.  I will talk about that briefly here. If I thought it were great stuff, it would still be in “Resurrection” — that doesn’t mean I think it’s bad stuff.  That whole conversation between Balor and Koenig was more about timing than content — it’s a verbal fencing match (or was intended to be) where Balor is trying to keep Koenig off guard while planting little seeds in Koenig’s head, helping to push Koenig over the edge as part of Balor’s ultimate plan.  That part of the book was the hardest to work on because there was always the danger of going on too long.  I originally cut it back even deeper than what was published and Mateo asked me to put some of it back in.  So I get that it’s not everybody’s favorite part of the book — it really wasn’t intended to be (although some people out there love it).  It’s a slow burn, to use what is mostly cinema terminology these days. It was meant to have something in there to offend everybody, while all sticking within a common theme.  Balor is really trying to do what demagogues do best — trying to make you lose your faith in reality, waiting for the moment to strike.

For anybody out there who would complain that we’re not spending enough time working on new stuff while we revisit the old, there’s only so much new stuff you can write in a day.  These special editions are more editing projects than anything else, and they can be done in parallel with doing the new stuff.

So anyway, that’s what you can expect — along with a new Ken Scott cover…