New Bio

Playing around with a new bio to spice up my various author pages. Below is the current draft.

Chuck Litka, who signs his stories and paintings C. Litka, plies his art as an amateur, which is to say, for pleasure rather than profit so he never has to wonder Will this sell? He has dreamed of writing science fiction since his distant youth, but his intrinsic inability to spell English, together with a certain lack of persistence doomed his early efforts to doorstops.

He attended the University of Wisconsin earning a BA in International Relations, and a BS in Agronomy. He worked for several government agencies, stocked shelves in grocery stores, and spent 13 years in pre-press as the printing industry moved from manual to digital, ending up as a graphics tech for a small daily newspaper before giving it all up to paint.

He lives with his wife in rural Wisconsin. Weather permitting, he rides his bike for several hours a day, occasionally tends a small garden and mows his lawn once a week. Unless it doesn't need it.

Come now, Chuck, we'll need a little more than that. And no, I can't just make stuff up. A bio is not a work of fiction.

He bakes his own sour dough bread, and drinks four mugs of tea a day – loose leaf, not tea bags.

Great, that added 21 words and a great deal of excitement. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. How about travel? Travel's always material good for a bio.

Mr Litka spent several months traveling from Wick to Penzance in the early '70 on a British Rail pass.

Care to add any more to that?

He left his appendix in Canterbury.

Right. And since then? You know, in the last 40 years?

He's been to Nester Falls, Steamboat Springs, Baileys Harbor and Two Rivers, but these days he hates to travel. He wonders, with Google street view, why anyone goes anywhere when they can see the world from their easy chair?

Okay. Moving on. What else do you do for excitement? ...No, I don't think cleaning the leaves out of your rain gutters warrant inclusion.Yes, I realize it involves an element of danger, but still, we'll give it a miss. What else?

He usually spends an hour or two in the morning, and another hour or two in the evening writing. Once or twice a week he may paint a picture. He daydreams a lot.

Heaven help me. Please, I need something interesting to write about. No go.

Years ago he read a book, The Golden Age, in which he came across a story about an absentminded old man – "...eccentric, learned.. [who] ...was alleged to have written a real book" – living an uneventful life in a house filled with books. This struck him as the ideal life. When he no longer needed to help rich men get richer, he adopted it.

He's currently working on a new story to see him through the long winter ahead, if snow shoveling doesn't do him in first.

Well, it certainly won't be excitement that does him in. Really, he's every bit as exciting as a bare white ceiling without a crack. His idea life.

Thanks for Your Reviews and Ratings

I'd like to thank everyone has taken the time to review and/or rate my books at Smashwords, Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads. I am always curious to know what people think of my efforts, even if curiosity should sometimes kill the cat. I truly appreciate your comments and criticisms. It is considered inappropriate for an author to respond to posted reviews. A reviewer should feel free to express their opinions without fearing a backlash from the author. That is my policy, however, I welcome any questions or comments and I'm more than willing to discuss any topic regarding my work that you might be interested in. There are several venues that you can use to post questions or comments.

There is a discussion option on my author page on Amazon, where you can start a discussion here:

http://www.amazon.com/C-Litka/e/B00X2OB7G2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

I also have a page on Goodreads were you can ask questions as well, here:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13856675.C_Litka

I don't know if either of these places will alert me when something is posted, but I look in at least once a week, so if I don't respond right away, I should within a week.

You can also leave a comment on any post on this blog. I believe I'll get an email when you do, so I can respond promptly. (I have, and then again, I haven't, so it's hard to tell. But I do look in at least once a week as well.)

And finally, you can email me at: clitkabooks@outlook.com

Again, thanks for all your reviews and ratings. Much appreciated.

The Shape of Things to Come

With the publication of A Summer in Amber, Some Day Days, and The Bright Black Sea, all my major writing projects of the last five years are completed. With one little exception,(below) anything new will have to be started from scratch. So what will that be?

Currently I have several ideas. The Bright Black Sea was an ode to all the old golden age science fiction I read in my youth, and I would like to write a story as an ode to one in particular – Edgar Rice Burroughs with a story in the of Carson of Venus mode. I have a vague idea of writing a sort of fantasy set in an Edwardian age-like setting. And I also have this Three Robots in a Boat idea that involves three robots returning to a long abandoned earth to try to figure out whatever happened to their creators (humans) – whose ultimate fate was lost over the eons, due to file format changes and digital decay in the robotic central memory.

These are all just the noses of a story. It's getting them to the wagging tail that takes time and work. We'll have to see what develops. If anything.

That said, I have, however, slowly started a new story and I'm some 15,000 words into it. It looks to be either a long novella or a short novel – but it's yet to take on a definite tone and believable story arc. I have the pieces of the story in a pile, but I haven't quite got them to fit together into an entertaining and believable story with characters acting in believable ways yet. I hope, however, to have all this worked out and a petty solid first draft done by the holidays, after which I'd lay it aside and start another new project, one of the ideas mentioned above, or something new. If I can get past the noses and come up with a plot, I'd spend January through March or April working on that second project before returning to my current story with fresh eyes to hammer out a final draft. So, best case scenario is that I'd have a new story out late April or May 2016. But that's likely the best case. It's easy to day dream, but its hard to put words to day dreams, and harder still to nail down all the corners you cut in the day dream, so I'll make no promises.

As I mentioned above, there is one small project I might publish in the meanwhile – one very, very, short coming of age/mystery novel disguised as a children's story. I wrote it some years ago envisioning it as a children's picture book that an adult would read to a child and could explain, if necessary – the pictures for the kids, the words for the adult. (So I didn't have to write in the "See Zip run!" style.) It's called Lines in the Lawn and it's about mowing the lawn and growing up. The whole picture book part of it isn't going to happen, but if I can at least come up with a cover that sets the scene, I will publish it at some point down the road. (I just hate illustrating.)

And so that's the Shape of Things to Come. A short story, maybe, between now and March, and a new long novella or short novel May-ish. And after that, another novel, late fall 2016 or early winter 2017. No promises, however.

The Bright Black Sea version 1.1

Version 1.1 of the Bright Black Sea is now available. "Minor Bug Fixes" to the first 13 chapters. A few missing words added, a few better ones found, a few unnecessary ones eliminated. Some italics lost when processing the manuscript for publication restored, a few artifacts from years of work updated. If you've downloaded this work and haven't started reading it yet, download this latest available version. And as always, I regret any mistakes, but in a work that has spanned years and is nearly 1/3 of a million words long, mistakes can still hide in plain sight even after repeated readings. I correct them and upload the corrected versions as I find them or they're called to my attention.

The Bright Black Sea is Now at Your Favorite eBookstore

The Bright Black Sea is now available for FREE at Smashwords, Amazon (US), Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Kobo. My previous two novels, A Summer in Amber and Some Day Days are also available for FREE at these ebooksellers as well. 

The Bright Black Sea is Now Available

The Bright Black Sea launched on schedule last night, as an ebook on Amazon for their minimum price of $.99 and on Smashwords.com for free. It should be available at Barnes & Noble, iBooks and Kobo within a week or so for free as well. Once that happens I'll point this out to Amazon and they have in the past matched their competitors price, so it could be free on Amazon (US) within a week to ten days as well. I hope $.99 won't break you, but neither Amazon nor I want you ticked off that you spent $.99 that you didn't have to, if you're willing to wait a bit.

I've now published three books, all of which I'm sharing rather than selling. I'm an amateur writer – I write for pleasure, not for money (not that there's much money in writing for most writers anyway), so publishing them for free is a natural way to complete a book. If I wanted to make money writing, I'd have to do a whole lot more than write. I'd need to identify and study the market and its bestselling books, craft a minor variation of those bestsellers and promote the snot out of it. All of which sounds very much like a job to me – one without the certainly of a paycheck every two weeks. So, instead, I simply write stories I want to read for fun and never ask myself "Will it sell?" or "How can I make it so that it might sell?" There's a niche for any work of art, and though some are pretty small, I think making my work just a (free) click away is the best, if not only way, of finding my readers and that niche. Without making it a job.

The three books I've published this year are the work of five years. I don't know what I'll write next. I have a few story ideas, but they're just the noses of stories, which are easy enough to come up with. It's  getting the idea from the nose to the tip of its wagging tail, and then into words that takes some doing. Still, winter's coming and it'll be long and empty, so I'll have plenty of time to type from nose to tail, if the inspiration comes.

The Bright Black Sea Charts, Diagrams, & Characters

In a printed book I would have this information in the front of the book where a reader could easily flip back and consult it. I've found that in ebooks, however, that it isn't convenient to go back and find the right page, so I'm posting the information here where it can be download and printed out, if you care to have it on hand.

The Nine Star Nebula

Below is a representation of the Nine Star Nebula, with its eight stars, major drifts and most of the drift worlds and stations. Volume One, The Captain of the Lost Star take place entirely in the Azminn solar system. Volume Two, The Enemies of the Lost Star takes them to the drift worlds of Zilantre, Boscone and Despar. Volume Three, The Ghosts of the Lost Star takes the Lost Star to the drift station of Plyra, then on to the Amdia solar system, and the various drift worlds and stations out to the Kryver Reef.

The Inhabitable Planetary Belt of Azminn

Below is a diagram of the Azminn solar system showing it's human inhibitable planetary belt and the relative position of the 21 planets that circle Azminn in this belt. (At the time of the story, relative positions shift over time.) The size of the planets are drawn to indicate importance & population rather than the actual size of the planets. The Captain of the Lost Star takes place entirely within this system.

A Diagram of the Interplanetary Freighter Lost Star

Below is a diagram of the Lost Star. I have no working knowledge of computer drafting, so this diagram is hand drawn, and rather crudely at that. Sorry. I made the Lost Star very utilitarian, a no-frills tramp space ship. The unexpected result of having a very plain ship, was that I found it impossible to come up with a cover illustration that was at all interesting using it. And I did try.

The Cast of Characters for The Bright Black Sea

And finally here is the list of characters for each volume. The ship and its crew change their names in volume three in an attempt to evade their enemies. The Lost Star becomes the Starry Shore, and I've listed the crew's new names with their real, or at least old names in brackets. For the most part I used their old familiar names in the text, unless it involved dialog.

Volume One, The Captain of the Lost Star

Crew of the Lost Star

Wil Litang (m) captain and narrator

Illynta Tin (f) pilot, & purser

Molaye Merlun (f) pilot

Kie Kinti (m) systems tech

Riv D'Van (m) co-chief engineer, partner of Lilm Ar'Din

Lilm Ar'Dim (f) co-chief engineer, partner of Riv D'Van

Myes Qilan (m) 3^rd engineer

Lili Chartre (f) electrical engineer

Dyn zerDey (m) environmental engineer, partner of late Captain Miccall

Barlan Dray(m) chef, Zylantre martial arts master (2 sword), partner of Saysa

Saysa Dray (f) chef & steward, partner of Barlan

Added after Calissant:

Rafe gil'Giles (m) chief systems tech

Vynnia enCarn (f) first mate, partner of Tenry Roynay

Tenry Roynay (m) pilot, engineer, partner of Vynnia enCarn

Astro & Orbit ship's dogs

Ginger one of the ship's cats, a Neavery Snowshadow cat

Other Characters

Phylea Kardea (f) office manager, general manager & partner Min & Co. later Min & Kardea

Ensly Mirrior, (f) employee of Min & Co.

Tallith Min (f) owner of Min & Co. daughter of Martingale & Onala Min.

Captain Zelbe Jann, (m) captain of the Comet King

Seni Shir, (f) first mate of the Comet King

Miclae Midedow (f) supercargo for Minlin Commission

Mountain King & sub-units sentient ship

Tat Timlor (m) shipbroker

Nadine (f) assassin

Max (m) assassin

Doctor Hans Wissen (m) doctor

People Mentioned

The Four Shipmates Sailed together aboard the Lost Star in the old days, they are,

Hawker 'Owner' Vinden, (m) late ship owner of the Night Hawk Line & half owner of the Lost Star

Fen 'Captain' Miccall, (m) late captain of the Lost Star, co-owner of the Lost Star

Martingale 'Pilot' Min, (m) late co-owner of Min & Co

Onala 'Purser' Min, (f) wife of Martingale late co-owner of Min & Co.

Olaeytha Min, eldest daughter of Martingale & Onala Min, scientist of the Outbound Survey Service on an extended mission.

Jelter Min, son of Martingale & Onala Min Towth adept on Kimsai's Peaks and Valleys Continent.

Volume Two, The Enemies of the Lost Star

Additional characters

Glen Colin (m) ghost former chief engineer

Captain Lenz deLin (m) LinTin Chartered Trading Co. port captain

Captain “Lively” Livtin (m) ship captain,

Captain “Blackie” Bright (m) ship captain

Captain Maulie (f) ship captain,

Captain Leith D'Lay (m) St Bleyth skip fighter captain,

Expora Minor (or Miner) outlaw sentient ship/mercenary berserker

Botts illegal class 8 robot, auxiliary unit of the Explora Miner

Captain Agust Nun (m) St Bleyth tactician & frigate captain

Naylea Cin (f) St Bleyth assassin, AKA Nadine

Volume Three, The Ghosts of the Lost Star

Additional Characters

Crew of the Starry Shore (formally the Lost Star)

Nives Wilcrofter (Wil Litang) (m) captain and narrator

Illan Lantra (Illynta Tin) (f) purser

Bry M'Ley (Molaye Merlun) (f) first mate

Kylan Balino (Kie Kinti) (m) systems tech / environmental engineer

Drimoch Riven (Riv D'Van) (m) co-chief engineer, partner of Lilm Ar'Din

Leelem Cardim (Lilm Ar'Dim) (f) co-chief engineer, partner of Riv D'Van

Haz Mytin (Myes Qilan) (m) 3^rd engineer

Lila Tan (Lili Chartre) (f) electrical engineer

Barjour Astry (Barlan Dray)(m) chef, Zylantre martial arts master (2 sword)

Saemin Astry (Saysa Dray) (f) chef & steward, partner of Barlan

Ralf Hugou (Rafe gil'Giles) (m) chief systems tech

Elana Colniz (f) pilot, Starry Shore

Dicier (Dici) de'Vel (m) pilot, Starry Shore

Nadde Zoe (f) environmental engineer, Starry Shore partner of Myes Qilan

Sar Nil (m) engineer, Starry Shore

Feyla Linnor (f) Captain of the Azurete

Pax Sol (m) first mate of the Azurete

Irin Chan (f) chief engineer of the Azurete

Tern Cho (m) captain of Vulture

M'Risha Drae AKA Zilantha V'Ran (f) Litang's grandmother

Ben Ton (m) ex-pirate

Crain (m) ex-pirate

Zervic (m) ex-pirate

Martong (m) ex-pirate

Racken (m) ex-pirate

Vikei (f) ex-pirate

Tor (m) ex-pirate

Admiral DarQue (m) Cimmadar navy commander

Captain Lil'dre (m) Cimmadar navy flag captain

Sub-captain Tri'n (f) Cimmadar officer

XinDi (m) Cimmadar sailor

An're (m) Cimmadar sailor