Work on the final draft manuscript of Harry Heron; Savage Fugitive is taking shape. The story is now complete, and the manuscript is currently being overhauled to cut out the 'fat' and shake out any inconsistencies. My publisher plans to start work on the publisher's editing and internal design in March. All being well, we hope to see the book published in August or September.
When I created the fictional political union for this story, and the fictional adversary, a commercial/industrial conglomerate opposed to governmental restrictions and regulations, it seemed beyond the realms of today's realities. I first conceived this idea during the run up to the financial collapse in 2008, while attempting to understand what was happening in the global economy. Sometimes the saying "you couldn't make it up" comes back to bite. My concept took on the idea of a "Global/Interplanetary Group" which controls a wide range of industrial and commercial companies spanning not just the Globe, but a number of settled planets as well. Modelling parts of it on the Honourable East India Company, which had its own army and navy, and actually ran the governments of several countries, I developed the Consortium.
Reality, it appears, in the form of modern technology that allows companies to operate anywhere, and base its HQ on a coral atoll if it so desires, plus the mobility of wealth and the people who control it, actually make the Consortium all too real.
So, what does the story in Harry Heron; Savage Fugitive cover?
Harry Heron; Savage Fugitive
With her ship damaged and failing, Captain Maia takes the only option open to her. She orders the ship abandoned, instructing Sub-Lieutenant Harry Heron to plot in a collision course before he leaves. Escaping the ship with a ragtag group left behind when the last pods leave, Harry succeeds in keeping his group out of Consortium hands. In the process he encounters the Canid race and their “Provider” — a living planet wide intelligence. Learning that Ferghal is held in a laboratory run by the Johnstone Research organisation, Harry devises a plan to rescue his friend and there follows a guerrilla campaign against their enemy.
The series now includes:
Harry Heron; Midshipman's Journey
and soon ...
Harry Heron; Savage Fugitive