A deviation from stories past, set off on it’s maiden voyage via Vella – an installment sort of thing angled towards the phone readers with limited attention spans. That is, myself.
RFTS was not written for it. Explicitly. I was in one of those places where I often am, of restlessness. Not wanting to read anything involved, not wanting any major projects: NBA playoffs had concluded and so there was a minute in the day for anything.
Reach for the stars. I just started writing and it felt like it was going to be a very short story. Because, I didn’t want to get too involved. Also, not a lot of thought was put into the start of it.
After a couple brief chapters, i became invested, like i always do.
Wanted to keep the chapters short to go along with what was written.
Reach for the stars, I wrote, and i started thinking about a long-time thought that was a bit dry and uninspiring, but chewy enough that it remained a consideration for a while.
Probably, a decade.
That is an early element of the story, but not a focus – which is the characters.
I saw the Vella thing, but distracted.
As i started to get into this, however, I looked back at it, and it seemed like it might be a good fit for the non-committal effort.
So, there it began, which can partially explain the two-page chapters.
It was a blast to write. A campy, low-grade, glib sci-fi tromp.
Probably the most fun, light-weight story I’ve ever written.
So much fun, i kept writing istallments.
Added, Lost in the stars, Shining star, and finally the stars aligned.
The last one never made it to Vella, and at it’s start, I’d decided to collect them but keep the form. Consequently, Reach for the stars is four short installments brought together.
A campy, scifi romp that follows Captain and small crew on their adventures.
Since the alignment with the stars never made it to Vella, anyone that made it through the three can shoot an email, or whatever, and i’ll find it for you: Vella rules of engagement prohibit anything published otherwise from being added to Vella.
And then there was more…
Must be the time of year… I felt like writing, again, but after Conspirators I just wanted to write fluff, and i decided, against better judgment, to jump off Reach. The endless stars, and under the stars were written concurrently, at the end of the year. I’d started reading a few things that didn’t catch my interest, and i decided to formally close down all the blogs, so i don’t have any other outlet, anymore: I felt like writing, so thereby are two more.
These follow more than half a century later, and most of the old crew is gone. The exception, is Captain, and she returns to give the new protagonist a hard time. The first installment was just free-written as i went along – for the second, i had an idea what i wanted to do so it was lightly sketched, prior. There was also a third that developed and sort of tied up the ideas that were played with from the beginning of the new arc, however, i’ve never felt like writing it – as prospected. It might be dipping too deep into the maudlin – i don’t know i feel like dredging through the ideas i’d planned: Parallels, personal growth, lessons, etc. Maybe a little tedious. Despite where some of these went, the plan was just to have fun.
Daniel Endicott 