Time to Reveal That Secret Job I've Been On
Been bound by an NDA since January, which is not an easy thing for me: I've grown accustomed to blogging, tweeting and tumbling about the projects I'm on from the start. This one, though, has been a secret until now. Right now, I can finally share some information about the company I'm working with. I can also tell you a little about what we're doing.
The picture up above is some Christopher Jones artwork. She's a main character in a title called Parallel Man. That's one of the titles coming out in 2014 from FutureDude, and I'll be involved to one extent or another with many of them:
1. Parallel Man
Christopher Jones is illustrating this story by Jeffrey Morris and Ira Livingston. In Parallel Man, all possible worlds are real. Every event, no matter how small, is a branch point for another reality. Every reality is the starting point for infinitely more worlds. We're going to be exploring a lot of "What-If" worlds in this story: Maybe there are worlds where the Nazis won or where there was no mass extinction to pave the way for the rise of mammals... or, perhaps, there's a world where the most notable difference is that the President still smokes.
(Inked interior art from Parallel Man: Never bring an energy weapon to a dinosaur fight.)
I'm going to be doing a lot of the online work: Blogging, developing digital content, that sort of thing. I'm also involved in some of the behind-the-scenese writing, using real knowledge from the modern scientific lexicon to provide in-universe explanations for the existence of alternate realities, and for the sometimes strange properties of said realities.
2. Brainstorm
Dennis Calero is illustrating this one. It's one that I'm excited about for many reasons: Brainstorm is a story that explores ideas about artificial intelligence, consciousness and sentience. To me, it's also a tidy homage to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, which is roundly agreed to be the first science fiction story.
(Cover art for Brainstorm: These guys are one set of players in a rich, complex story.)
My job on this title is pretty much the same: I'm the guy who ties accepted scientific theories together to explain how the fantastic concepts in the story are theoretically possible, then I blog about those theories and look at the cultural and scientific relevance of the tech and events taking place. I'll be sharing those insights with the world through the FutureDude blog, and other parts of the website.
3. Additional Information
There's a third title, Stroid, that's still in very early development. I haven't got much to tell you about that one right now, but you can rest assured that I'll give you more details as they're available.
I'm also working with a lot of really great, impressive people: I've mentioned writers Jeffrey Morris & Ira Livingston, and artists Christopher Jones and Dennis Calero. There's also Eric Chu, who was part of the Battlestar Galactica concept design team. You might say he's the father of the modern cylon.
This guy.
There are a bunch of other talented, creative people onboard as well. I haven't met them all and I may not. It's a big company. I am excited that Hal Bichel is directing social media, and Jonathan Kiehne is joining me on a lot of the online content. Dorion Sagan is onboard, too, and there are others who I'll likely be able to say more about as time goes on.
So that's the big secret. This is the stuff I'm working on right now, and the incredible work I'm getting to do. Thanks for being patient while I waited for the go-ahead to start blogging about it. I promise, now that it's public, I'm going to make up for lost time.