The Verdant Skies Sequel meeting (with doughnuts)

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"Ah, there you are, Steve... I thought you weren't going to make it."

"So did I... you should've seen the line at Starbucks. Oh, cool, doughnuts! So, what are we here for?"

"Well, I've called this meeting of the Right Brane staff to discuss ideas for a sequel to Verdant Skies. I--"

"Whoa. A sequel? I don't wanna do that!"

"Why not?"

"Why not? Dude... we just did a sequel to Kestral, didn't we?"

"Yes, The House of Jacquarelle. You said it came out very nice--"

"And it absolutely bombed on the market! We had... what... nine purchases?"

"I think you're underestimating that a bit--"

"And now you want to do another sequel? That's nuts!"

"Hey, stop spraying doughnuts!..."

"Come on, Steve... I think it's a great idea."

"'Course you do, Blake! You played Hardy in Verdant Skies... you got laid by that spy chick!"

"Watch that language, Steve--"

"What? She dumped me for Al... the Lenz character."

"But you still hit that... at least twice!"

"All right, all right, boys, calm down."

"No, come on, Dave. Sequels make it look like you can't come up with anything new... doing two in a row is PR suicide! Besides, we have another story we can do--"

"Oh, not the 'Batman' thing again..."

"It's not Batman, Scott... how many times do I have to tell you! It's an urban vigilante story, where the guy gets help from a wearable computer--"

"Oh... 'Batgeek.' So much better..."

"Scott, don't provoke Steve. Listen, critics say Verdant Skies was our best work yet... and now the public--the paying public--is asking for more! How can we possibly deny them?"

"They said they wanted the Kestral sequel, too, Dave. Look what happened."

"The final numbers aren't in yet... I think you're over-reacting to a slow patch--"

"Slow? Slow! Glaciers struggle to keep up with these sales!"

"Okay, okay, now look: If another project looks better, we can always work on that. But as long as we're here, it won't hurt to discuss some story possibilities for a Verdant sequel... right? And who knows? Maybe while we're discussing it, something will really click--"

"Like the gun against my head--"

"Steve. Now, sit down, and have another doughnut. Blake had an idea just before you walked in, of introducing these characters that are robots, but they look like humans."

"Sigh..."

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"No, man, no. No aliens."

"Come on, it's sci-fi. They're out in space. How can there not be aliens?"

"This is supposed to be a realistic story... not Star Trek--"

"Or Kestral."

"Shh, shh."

"--there aren't little green men hovering around every planet!"

"C'mon, Steve! Even Sagan put aliens in his book."

"Do I look like Carl Sagan?"

"He looks more like Neil Tyson to me."

"Shh, shh."

"Okay, how 'bout this: You save the aliens until the end... not as participants in the story, but just sort of like: 'Oh, look who's been watching us all this time'."

"Lame..."

"Not as lame as your Cylons."

"I never called 'em Cylons! They're called... manbots."

"Hey, can we have fembots then?"

"Lame..."

"No aliens, no robots... well, jeez, what we gonna do a sequel for?"

"How about showing the horrible aftermath of the Yellowstone Caldera? I mean, it's got to have ruined crops, choked people and animals, clogged rivers and plumbing, and stuff. Maybe there have been wars or bad riots, over food or resources. There must be a lot of people dead. Why can't we tell that story?"

...

"Oh yeah, people really want to read that!--"

"Don't you know there's a depression on?"

"Recession."

"I don't care what 'ession' it is, no one wants to read downers! We can't do that!"

"Hey! Stop spraying doughnuts!"

"No, it's gotta be a war! They come back for resources, and the Earthlings fight them for control of Verdant."

"What else, from the X-Box guy?"

"Oh! But maybe the Verdant guys have learned special powers that allowed them to live in space... like being able to command the elements with kung-fu motions, or travel in spirit-bodies!"

"What else, from the anime guy?"

"Can't we have Anise Lenz meet back up with her guy Sergei?"

"What else, from the Harlequin guy?"

"My name is Donna..."

"Well, maybe if you let your hair grow..."

"Mondo lameness! Listen, if you guys can't come up with anything better than this, I'm not gonna touch it! I need another frapp..."

"Hey, wait! You can't leave yet, Steve!"

"Why not?"

"'Cos you don't have my order! Get me a grande iced cafe mocha."

"I'll have a white chocolate mocha frapp... venti, please."

"Isn't there a size bigger than 'venti' now?"

"Get me a tall half-caf double-soy espresso with room!"

"Yeah... it's called 'ginomini', or something..."

"Grande dark cherry mocha frapp... those things are great..."

"Yeah, two of those!"

"sigh..."

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"Hey... while we're waiting for Steve to get back, maybe we can come up with something he'll like."

"Something Steve'll like? You haven't been at Right Brane long, have you, Bob?"

"Uh... just a couple months..."

"Well, don't try to figure out what Steve likes. He's insane. One minute, he's making a big deal about the poetic irony of Farscape... the next, he wants to lobotomize texting drivers!"

"Word, Bob. Once I saw him get so mad at a Starbucks employee, that he paid for the drink, left the store, and poured it out on the sidewalk in front of the door, making sure the other guy could see him. And left... didn't ask for his money back or anything."

"If it weren't for his ability to put more than three sentences together, we would've let him go years ago."

"Uh... how would that work, exactly?"

"Never mind, I'll explain it later. Now. Maybe we can sell him on... oh... another colony. You know, someone who figured out how to build the Silver drive in the Victorian Age."

"All steam-punky, huh?"

"Isn't it the Verdant drive?"

"Hey! Didn't Verdant Skies make all these references to some sci-fi show everyone was looking down on?"

"Yeah, uh... 'Brane-Boy'!"

"You're not suggesting they meet Brane-Boy out there, are you?"

"No, no! But instead of a Verdant sequel, we do a series of Brane-Boy stories!"

"Now you want us to invent Brane-Boy?"

"Well, he's in the first book--"

"He's only mentioned! We didn't give any details at all... we'd have to create it from scratch!"

"Well?"

"Well, there's no time! If we don't get started on this project soon, it won't get done until late fall."

"Right: No Brane-Boy. Maybe some other time."

"Well... what else?"

"Hey: Supposed there's this old loner scientist on Verdant who builds these two androids... one's good, and one's so bad, they have to dismantle him..."

"Bob!..."

[Stormchild]

Does this mean we don't get a sequel? Or are you just teasing us?

Any news on how I can get a copy of The House of Jacquarelle. I am just about to finish my current read and would love to get on with it. It would be jumping about 200 books in my to read list.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"...grumble... grumble... razzn-frazzn-rotta-shotta..."

"Hey, Steve, how's it goin'?"

"Oh, hi... uh..."

"Jacques Stroppe. I played President Lambert in Verdant Skies."

"Jacques, right! What's up with you?"

"Oh, nothing much. Between roles right now. You working on anything new?"

"Well, the boss is trying to talk me into doing a Verdant Skies sequel, as a matter of fact."

"Great! Is Lambert in it?"

"I don't know. In fact, if those numb-nuts can't come up with any better ideas than what I've heard so far..."

"Oh, you've gotta put Lambert in it! That was a great role for me! Especially the parts with Pam."

"Pam?"

"Yeah, you know... the girl who played Shay Vaughn, the sexy mistress. Man, she was hawt!"

"Oh, right. Well, if they can figure out what to do with you..."

"May I help you, sir?"

"Yeah, here's a list. Um, like I said, if they can figure out a story, and we can fit you into it...

"Great, thanks. Picking up for the office, eh?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, Barista: I'll pay for his order."

"Thanks, Jacques."

"No prob. So, are they working on the story ideas now?"

"Oh, I'd say they've probably gone over robots, Predator aliens, Aliens vs Predators on Verdant, steampunk, old satellites that think carbon-based life-forms are infestations, cowboy freighter pilots, podracers... and poked fun at my love of Farscape."

"Think they'll come up with anything good in there?"

"Those boobs? Not a chance..."

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

"Guys... it's getting late... the doughnuts are all stale..."

"We can always order more doughnuts. But we need to figure out what to do about a Verdant sequel."

"Can it."

"Oh, Steve, come on--"

"No, I'm serious. I mean, think about it: Verdant was designed to be pretty self-sufficient. With a little belt-tightening, they could conceivably stay out in space for years. Earth is not going to magically recover from the caldera eruption for years... maybe decades. And no one on Earth knows how to recreate the Verdant drive, much less find Verdant. If Verdant doesn't need to go back, there is no story."

"But... but what, what if... what if..."

"What? What?"

...

"I got nothin'."

"Me neither."

"I'm dry..."

"See? There is no story."

"Man, that sucks. I mean, there's gotta be someone who doesn't live happily ever after up there. Why can't they get a story out of it?"

"Hey, you can't always get what you--"

"Hold on... say again?"

"I said you can't--"

"No, not that! Blake! What'd you say?"

"Uh... I said there's gotta be someone who doesn't live happily ever after up there..."

"Yeah! Someone who doesn't like it up there... probably for some stupid reason. There's always disgruntled people! Why can't we tell a story around them?"

"Yeah, but who?"

"You're kidding, right? I can think of about a half-dozen people right off-- and a few hundred thousand we've never met--"

"By George, I think you've got something there. Steve, what about it?"

...

"...Maybe..."

"That's all I need to hear. Blake, close the door. Donna--"

"I know. More doughnuts."

"Aces. Let's storm some brains."

Verdant Skies II
Coming, I dunno, maybe before late Fall.

[dreams]

[Stormchild]

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by Stormchild

Any news on how I can get a copy of The House of Jacquarelle. I am just about to finish my current read and would love to get on with it. It would be jumping about 200 books in my to read list.

Stormchild: The House Of Jacquarelle is here. I think I was number 1. You can be number 10! More donuts for Steve!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It is also on Smashwords, here... at least for a limited time, for those who have PayPal issues. I will upload The Lens and Berserker to Smashwords as well, we'll see how long they stay up.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

It is also on Smashwords, here... at least for a limited time, for those who have PayPal issues. I will upload The Lens and Berserker to Smashwords as well, we'll see how long they stay up.

Thank you, Steve. I added it to my cart.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I'm glad you were able to! Smashwords seems to be having "one of its days" today, working one minute, then locked up the next. There's no telling when (if) I'll get The Lens and Berserker in there...

[Stormchild]

Thanks for that Steve. Downloaded and ready to read.

[pshrynk]

Quitcher whining! I just made it 11-ty sold. I was just waiting til I got done with The Lens before I got it. Sheesh. These authors!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

-snif!- Thank you!