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December 4th, 2007

Last Entry Until Release...

This is going to be the last Omega Diary entry -- save one. After the book comes out, I'll
probably post one more entry to answer some questions.

Surprise, surprise, Powys didn't get a book out in 2007. Well, that's going to change in
2008. You'll likely see a lot in 2008. Don't believe me? After this long hiatus, that's
hardly surprising, but the long wait is finally almost over.

Omega has gone out to a few "test readers" -- feedback's been good! I'm still editing it --
let's just say there's a lot of stuff to check and recheck.

My own Space Odyssey, my time in the Alphan universe, is finally drawing to a close
after a lot more years than I expected. But I'm going out with a bang, I hope.

It's been an odd experience, helping to steward something that isn't part of my childhood
the way it is for many fans of the series. I came to it with adult sensitivities, but I'm still
coming away with fondness for some of the characters and a respect for the efforts that
went into building the series thirty years ago. If I'm hopeful about anything for Omega it's
that Mateo and I have found spots to polish in this universe and make them shine in
ways they never have before. Omega is not your typical Space:1999 story. When it's all
over, you may see the series differently. Some mysteries will be resolved, and a few
new ones may pop up when you're not looking.

Your emails have been a lot of fun -- you folks have a lot of passion for this show! Keep
'em coming. And I think I've answered every single one that's come in.

In an interview on the Powys web-site on the release of Eternity Unbound, I talked about
how cautious I'd been with Resurrection and how I wasn't going to be cautious at all with
this new story. That's pretty much the way things turned out. I'd bounce ideas off Mateo
and occasionally there'd be silence on the telephone, while other times he'd get very
excited. We've spent so much time working on this story that I don't think we have any
sense anymore of what's going to surprise people and what won't. I've been spending
time in an Alphan universe that's a little different from the one you folks know. To some
degree, things have returned to their Kubrickian roots (with a nod to Arthur C. Clarke).

For anybody who's interested, the music I've listened to while working on this story
includes the following: Batman Begins by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard, The
Lord of the Rings trilogy by the amazing Howard Shore, The Bourne Ultimatum by John
Powell, and that's about it. Much more action oriented than my other Space:1999 stuff,
which was more moody and a little gothic. There's not as much horror as the Balor
books, but there's some. Lots of battle scenes and twists and turns and surprises and
betrayals Surprisingly, a lot of the story really has a lot to do with the search for intimacy
in a cold universe. That wasn't a theme I expected to be getting out of this story.

Anyway, that's all for now. Happy holidays and Happy New Year to everyone, and a big
thank you to the folks who've followed this long process, both the development of
Omega and the ongoing saga of Mateo's publishing company. This whole experience
certainly hasn't made me rich, but it's added a lot of wealth to my life, my writing career,
and besides that, it's been a lot of fun. That's really what it comes down to in the end. In
the end, I've been working on this series not for pursuit of the almighty dollar, but instead
for the sheer fun it has been. I'll miss that more than anything else. I won't miss
wondering if I could ever get this darned thing done!

But done it nearly is. And you won't know what hit you.

The mother of all Space:1999 stories is coming in 2008 (and then John Muir's gonna
come along and hit you with the other mother!).

Regards,

Bill Latham

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