Sailing Venus

Okay, so Mister Smarty-Pants Writer is reading articles and books with big words in them. So what? Number-crunching does not a story make, and it's a well-known fact that Blaschke (the Texas one, not the dead Austrian mathematician) is woefully unequipped to write a mindbending hard SF romp, ala Greg Bear or Neal Stephenson. So what gives?

I've always wanted to write a Venus story. I've done Mars and Jupiter tales, but Venus has held a special appeal to me since it's so inhospitable. SF writers have tended to avoid it for the last 30 years or so, ever since they learned the steaming jungles burned away several billion years ago. But several things came together to plant the seeds of inspiration a year ago (of which I outline a few here, for the benefit of those who find the process of writerly creation somewhat more interesting than watching paint dry).

First (not necessarily in cronology, but perhaps in importance) I stumbled across JP Aerospace's Ascender. Is that thing cool or what? A space-faring balloon. I've put dirigibles on Mars (and really, who hasn't?) but with Venus' higher air pressure, airships would be more viable--particularly at altitudes where temperatures were somewhat hospitable for humans. Another thing that occurred to me at this time was that hydrogen isn't explosive or flammable in the absence of oxygen. So on Venus, with an atmosphere almost wholly composed of CO2, hydrogen airships would be as safe as helium, and a heck of a lot more viable from a cost-benefit perspective. At this point, the title--Sailing Venus--popped into my head, fully formed. When you get a title like that, you don't argue. Thirdly (or fourthly?)--and this might need to go first when all is said and done--I reunited with Battle on Mercury, the first science fiction novel I ever read (first novel, period, I might add). At the time, I couldn't imagine a more alien or hostile world than Mercury, and the story used all those elements to its advantage. Talk about "man against nature."

Part of my wanting to this Venus story is to see if I can take those "hostile environment" elements from Mercury and one-up them. That's the technical angle of the writer in me looking for a challenge. But another major drive is the desire to write something my kids can read. Almost the entire body of my work to this point has been specifically for an adult audience, and now that Calista is reading (and Keela will be learning soon) that parent reflex is kicking in a little. Gaiman had the same motivation in writing Coraline, after all. This wouldn't be a children's book by any means--it'd be closer to Steve Gould's Jumper, in that it'd be equally accessible by adults and non-adults. Plus, there is the undeniable fact that the Harry Potter phenomenon has boosted the profile and production of young adult fantasy, but there is something of a scarcity of comparable SF. I'm not saying I'll be the next Heinlein as far as juveniles go, but I do plan on filling the story with danger and excitement with the intent of making it a fun read.

So. Sailing Venus. The first words may be laid down this weekend, or I may instead finish up a couple of short stories that've been languishing. Either way, we're close to liftoff. And knowing the blazing speed at which I write, the damn thing might be finished by the time my kids graduate high school

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