Jerry Gordon » Severed Dreams

Work In Progress

Jerry Gordon — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:06 +0000

It’s been a wonderfully strange year. Learning to write and edit with a little boy mucking about. Pushing forward on a novel, novella, and anthology at the same time. Here’s the inside scoop on my ~~general state of insanity~~ current projects:

Anthologies:

Dark Faith 2 is well underway. I’m about a third of the way through the 600 submissions we received in January, and I’m on schedule to get everyone an answer within 90 days of submission. May 1st is the deadline for solicited manuscripts, and we’ll be making final decisions shortly after that. The book will debut at WorldCon in Chicago (August 2012).

Novellas:

I’m nearing a first draft on Breaking The World. The apocalyptic book follows three atheist teenagers trapped inside the Branch Davidian Church during David Koresh’s perilous standoff with the ATF and FBI. I’m quite pleased with the way the story is shaping up. So much so, it’s become the first book in a series. Tentative release, Summer 2012.

Novels:

Severed Dreams needs some minor tweaking before it heads back out.

Stage:

Despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to squirrel away enough time to finish my interactive adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest war story. I’m leaving this here until it shames me into action.

Top Secret:

A pair of really cool pop culture projects that I signed away my ability to talk about (for the moment).

SF Signal Interview

Jerry Gordon — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 16:07:19 +0000

After publishing a very positive review of Dark Faith, the masterminds behind SF Signal asked Maurice Broaddus and I to drop by their podcast for an interview. In it we talk about the behind the scenes process of putting together an anthology, our upcoming books King Maker (out in two short weeks) and Severed Dreams, and where to find some of our short fiction. The interview starts around the 18 minute mark for those of you with more interest than time. Click the logo below to check it out…

Final Drafts

Jerry Gordon — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:31:38 +0000

The draft of Severed Dreams has emerged from its second round of writing group critiques (insert awe inspiring music here). While the group was pouring over the novel, I brought in a few unconventional readers to give me an opinion on a very specific question.

The novel was always intended to be an adult venture, a kind of nostalgic space opera for grownups, but the nostalgia and the main character’s journey also lent themselves to a young adult storyline. The novel had one foot in each market.

So, on the advice of a fellow writer, I decided to test the novel on a few YA readers. Much to my surprise, it worked incredibly well for them. So well, in fact, that I’ve decided to spend a few months positioning Severed Dreams for the much stronger YA science fiction market.

The change will push the final draft back a few months but it shouldn’t substantially change the plot. The YA market has undergone a major transformation in recent years, and I think it’s ready for this kind of book.

Early Reviews

Jerry Gordon — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:04:55 +0000

There are a handful of authors still in the process of reviewing the draft of Severed Dreams, but the early reviews have come in. Overall, the critiques have been insightful and very positive. Here’s a book blurb-ish sample of early response to the novel…

“Smart and complex.”

“Highly imaginative and visual.”

“Addictive.”

“Very Satisfying.”

“Exciting, touching, and inspirational.”

“Brilliant!”

I have several months of work ahead of me, as I shape the draft into final form, but Severed Dreams is inching closer to being a finished project.

Endings…

Jerry Gordon — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:10:45 +0000

I closed out the last chapter of Severed Dreams this morning.

I still have a month or so worth of nips and tucks ahead of me, but I have to say that I’m very satisfied with how the ending played out. I think I found the right emotional note to leave the characters.

There are continuing adventures to be written, but I still found it hard drawing the novel to a close. I’ve struggled alongside these characters for longer than I care to admit. The story evolved over a period of years before I could put myself in the position to sit down and write it. So, now that the final words are on the page, I’m really feeling the journey.

It’s an amazing thing, writing a novel…

Severed Dreams:

375 pages (98000 words)