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Welcome to the Space: 1999 Omega Diary
What is This, Anyway?
This diary will be an ongoing (yet mostly spoiler-free) log of the development of the novel
Space: 1999 Omega.
I can't promise how often it will be updated, but I'll try to keep at it. Drop me a line if
you're enjoying it, though, but don't ask for secrets...
What is This, Anyway?
This diary will be an ongoing (yet mostly spoiler-free) log of the development of the novel
Space: 1999 Omega.
I can't promise how often it will be updated, but I'll try to keep at it. Drop me a line if
you're enjoying it, though, but don't ask for secrets...
February 14th, 2010
The Countdown Has Begun...
So, you might have guessed we've been busy!
Last November, Mateo got in touch with me and wanted to get Omega out and I'll take
full credit for saying what about everything else? Luckily I had foreseen this day
someday coming and had quietly built The Magnificent Seven (even though it's not
seven people), a team ready to deliver on the promise of getting Powys up and running
again. Ken Scott was interested in doing covers. Phil Merkel could provide audio
services for remastering the Resurrection audio book (and had a web hosting service
capable of supporting MySql and PHP).. Elena Pizarro could micro-proofread with
amazing skill so she could focus on one book while I would focus on another. And yours
truly knew enough about Joomla to get a site up and running. But a huge ace in the hole
would be that little book on the splash page of this site, Scary Stories of Stamford. My
friend Rolf Maurer and I put together that book as a fund-raiser for the local Unitarian
Church in Stamford, CT (complete with Rolf's cool illustrations) and I looked all around
for a way to do it cost-effectively -- the end result was exploring lulu.com. Suddenly,
getting books out without a huge initial outlay of cash was possible, and the quality was
pretty darned good, too. An infrastructure had fallen in place that could not only get
Powys up and running again, it could get it running better than it had before, without poor
Mateo and his dad having book packaging parties where they'd fulfill orders placed by
readers.
With a lot of late nights, early mornings, working vacations, and pots of coffee, we've
come a long way in three months.
And did I mention that everyone involved, Mateo included, also has full time jobs outside
of Powys Media?
Everyone involved is also a huge Space:1999 fan, however, so the wind in their sails
(and our sales) is a passion most have had for thirty years.
Except me! I'm a parent of this franchise more than I am a fan -- I didn't have the same
experience most of you have had. I'm all about telling stories. I also love knocking down
obstacles in the pursuit of getting people to read stories they want to read.
The new Powys site, particularly the forum, has created something new -- a little
community, with about 55 registered users and lots of guests. We never had that before
and it's creating a place where fans of the show and the books can interact with the
creators of what's already been released or is going to be released.
You may already be realizing this, but 2010 is an event for Space:1999 fans. From
Robert Wood's new book to all the stuff we're pumping out, there hasn't been a year like
this year is shaping up to be since the 1970s, when the show was still on the air.
And we're not, all hyperbole aside, finishing this year. We're already laying the
groundwork for more books. I might even do another one. Time will tell.
What better experience could there have been for the team at Powys than the past few
months? Survive and attempt to grow against significant odds with highly limited
resources when all hope seems lost? With a hostile universe occasionally taking shots
at us! This is why we can tell stories about Moonbase Alpha -- to some degree, we're
living just like they are!
Omega comes out in two weeks. Ken Scott delivered an amazing cover for the book, and
Christopher Penfold's foreword blew me away when I first read it. There are a handful of
significant milestones for an author when you do one of these books -- your first draft,
your final draft, when you get to read the foreword, when you get to see the cover. For
Omega, those last two were particularly cool experiences.
For all of the work that's been involved, I have an honor that no one else will ever have,
unfortunately. I've had novels with forewords by the two most esteemed writers in the
Space:1999 universe. There's no fanboy in me to giggle with delight (isn't that just the
way the world works?). It's an entirely different kind of honor -- and I suppose the person
I have most to thank is Mateo, since he arranged it. I guess I could look at this as an
honor by the first generation stewards of the show to the second generation, a kind of
passing of the baton. But it feels more like being a kid again, when you really struggle to
get something done and you put your heart and soul into it and someone, whether it's a
parent or a teacher, gives you a little wink and says: Good job, kid!
Somehow that reaches right into your marrow and takes hold and there's a little part of
you that will always glow from that moment.
Okay, enough of my yakking.
Omega will need to stand on its own in a couple of weeks. It's been like no other
experience I've had writing. If you like it, keep in mind that there were many parents of
Omega -- somehow, I was able to channel Mateo's knowledge of the show (and now my
knowledge of the show), his passion for the show, our collective passion for storytelling
and film and everything else and get that into a book, building on a foundation added to
by Byrne and Penfold and Muir and so many others. If I succeeded, you should feel like a
kid again. Everything you loved about Space:1999 should be there.
See you on the other side.
Back to Diary Home...
The Countdown Has Begun...
So, you might have guessed we've been busy!
Last November, Mateo got in touch with me and wanted to get Omega out and I'll take
full credit for saying what about everything else? Luckily I had foreseen this day
someday coming and had quietly built The Magnificent Seven (even though it's not
seven people), a team ready to deliver on the promise of getting Powys up and running
again. Ken Scott was interested in doing covers. Phil Merkel could provide audio
services for remastering the Resurrection audio book (and had a web hosting service
capable of supporting MySql and PHP).. Elena Pizarro could micro-proofread with
amazing skill so she could focus on one book while I would focus on another. And yours
truly knew enough about Joomla to get a site up and running. But a huge ace in the hole
would be that little book on the splash page of this site, Scary Stories of Stamford. My
friend Rolf Maurer and I put together that book as a fund-raiser for the local Unitarian
Church in Stamford, CT (complete with Rolf's cool illustrations) and I looked all around
for a way to do it cost-effectively -- the end result was exploring lulu.com. Suddenly,
getting books out without a huge initial outlay of cash was possible, and the quality was
pretty darned good, too. An infrastructure had fallen in place that could not only get
Powys up and running again, it could get it running better than it had before, without poor
Mateo and his dad having book packaging parties where they'd fulfill orders placed by
readers.
With a lot of late nights, early mornings, working vacations, and pots of coffee, we've
come a long way in three months.
And did I mention that everyone involved, Mateo included, also has full time jobs outside
of Powys Media?
Everyone involved is also a huge Space:1999 fan, however, so the wind in their sails
(and our sales) is a passion most have had for thirty years.
Except me! I'm a parent of this franchise more than I am a fan -- I didn't have the same
experience most of you have had. I'm all about telling stories. I also love knocking down
obstacles in the pursuit of getting people to read stories they want to read.
The new Powys site, particularly the forum, has created something new -- a little
community, with about 55 registered users and lots of guests. We never had that before
and it's creating a place where fans of the show and the books can interact with the
creators of what's already been released or is going to be released.
You may already be realizing this, but 2010 is an event for Space:1999 fans. From
Robert Wood's new book to all the stuff we're pumping out, there hasn't been a year like
this year is shaping up to be since the 1970s, when the show was still on the air.
And we're not, all hyperbole aside, finishing this year. We're already laying the
groundwork for more books. I might even do another one. Time will tell.
What better experience could there have been for the team at Powys than the past few
months? Survive and attempt to grow against significant odds with highly limited
resources when all hope seems lost? With a hostile universe occasionally taking shots
at us! This is why we can tell stories about Moonbase Alpha -- to some degree, we're
living just like they are!
Omega comes out in two weeks. Ken Scott delivered an amazing cover for the book, and
Christopher Penfold's foreword blew me away when I first read it. There are a handful of
significant milestones for an author when you do one of these books -- your first draft,
your final draft, when you get to read the foreword, when you get to see the cover. For
Omega, those last two were particularly cool experiences.
For all of the work that's been involved, I have an honor that no one else will ever have,
unfortunately. I've had novels with forewords by the two most esteemed writers in the
Space:1999 universe. There's no fanboy in me to giggle with delight (isn't that just the
way the world works?). It's an entirely different kind of honor -- and I suppose the person
I have most to thank is Mateo, since he arranged it. I guess I could look at this as an
honor by the first generation stewards of the show to the second generation, a kind of
passing of the baton. But it feels more like being a kid again, when you really struggle to
get something done and you put your heart and soul into it and someone, whether it's a
parent or a teacher, gives you a little wink and says: Good job, kid!
Somehow that reaches right into your marrow and takes hold and there's a little part of
you that will always glow from that moment.
Okay, enough of my yakking.
Omega will need to stand on its own in a couple of weeks. It's been like no other
experience I've had writing. If you like it, keep in mind that there were many parents of
Omega -- somehow, I was able to channel Mateo's knowledge of the show (and now my
knowledge of the show), his passion for the show, our collective passion for storytelling
and film and everything else and get that into a book, building on a foundation added to
by Byrne and Penfold and Muir and so many others. If I succeeded, you should feel like a
kid again. Everything you loved about Space:1999 should be there.
See you on the other side.
Back to Diary Home...
Space:1999 Omega Diary