2019-05-02 - Slantwise Apologies 
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Just wanted to write a quick entry explaining my absence from
Cosmic Voyage in recent weeks.

Essentially, books have gotten in the way. Just after I started my
project, Kameron Hurley's freaking *awesome* _The Light Brigage_
came out. I love her writing, and had been really excited for this
book - and it was even better than I could possibly have hoped to
imagine.

I found that moving my headspace from her superbly crafted world to
my own little one was exceedingly difficult, so I put the project
to one side for a bit. In the weeks that followed, I worked on a
more expansive plot concept, and tightened up some of my ideas of
what I wanted to do.

Everything was going great, and I just had to finish fleshing out
the early stages a bit more before I could publish them.

Then Emma Newman's latest book in the Planetfall series, _Atlas
Alone_, came out, another book that I've been just aching to read.

In reading it, however, I realised that much of what I'd planned
for Slantwise Convection *was in the book*! I'm not claiming that
my concept was the same, or that I was doing it better - because I
wasn't - but there was whole parts of my ideas running on the page
in front of me! If you've read the book, then I'll say that the
final twist? I'd worked it out after, maybe, six chapters. Not due
to any failings on her part, but because I'd already written some-
thing which was so similar.

I still *loved* her book, there is just so much of her creation
that speaks to me on a deep, personal level. I couldn't help but
compare her plot narrative to my own, and mine did *not* fare well
in the comparison.

I finally finished the book today, and I just don't think that I
can go back to my world just yet. I'm not going to abandon the
Ship, but I am going to park it where it is for a week or two.

So: apologies to tomasino, and to the cosmic crew. Slantwise
Convection will be back, I promise. A little wiser, I hope, and a
lot more capable.