Thank God for planning!  I started planning the sequel to ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ quite a long time ago and I’m glad I’ve had the time to think about it.  The reader will know that the idea for the original arrived in 1987, so I literally had twenty five years to figure stuff out.  This time, not quite as long.

But, that being said, I’ve got a very good storyline (although I’ve yet to bounce it off Jeff, my editorial consultant).  This time it’s, shall we say, creepier.  The TDR.12 boys are still causing all kinds of mayhem and having a good laugh at each others’ expense, but there’s a more international flavor, totally different settings and a lot more difficulty for our heroes.  There are three new characters introduced but some old favorites returning as well.  Altogether it advances the COAST universe, but adds its own unique spin too.

I’ve got the sequel all plotted out and now I really just have to knuckle down and do the writing.  I’ve got the plot synopsis finished although, last night, I had another great idea which I’ll have to squeeze in.  At the moment, the prologue and chapter 01 are done with a short section of chapter 02 written.  It’s a very different beast than AAOB, but that’s exciting for me as a writer.  New territories to explore, new problems to be solved… great!  Brain food.

This week the missers and I got new cellphones, shiny gadgets with tons of features.  In particular I’m impressed with the satellite navigation on mine.  Not only does it read the American Navstar birds, but is—as far as I know—the first ‘phone to read the Russian GLONASS system as well.  Added to this is A-GPS functionality, which uses the phase differences between cellsites to accurize the satellite fix.  We tried it out whilst backroading last weekend and it was nothing short of amazing.  With the map display on the ‘phone we were watching the features pass the window as they appeared in perfect synchronism on the screen.  Whilst this kind of technology may be commonplace to some (perhaps you, dear reader), it’s a pretty new thing for us and we’re having some fun with it.

And that is all for now; have a great weekend!

Roger and out, X.