Apart from reading books, I also write them. My science fiction books tend to involve a lot of made-up history and some sort of mystery (with a romance chucked in). That’s how The Search for the Crimson Lady developed. I suppose it’s a little bit like the legend of the Flying Dutchman, a legendary ghost ship which was said to never be able to make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever (except in a space setting with a few tweaks).
The oldest extant version of the legend of the Flying Dutchman has been dated to the late 18th century. Purported sightings in the 19th and 20th centuries claimed that the ship glowed with a ghostly light. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a portent of doom. [1]
Ahem. Back to space, the final frontier. In my story, the Crimson Lady was a pirate ship that preyed on the shipping lanes for seven years or so, when she disappeared without a trace. That happened about one hundred years ago and fact has morphed into legend. Everybody’s got a theory, of course, the most realistic being that the Yrmak warlords, annoyed the ship was muscling in on their pirate trade, blew the Crimson Lady to pieces. In the last few years, though, there have been unsubstantiated reports that the ship has been seen. The True Believers reckon she exists in a parallel universe, from which she occasional appears like a phantom – although nobody really believes it.
And then Tara Wyndham finds an artefact, a mug that was from the original Crimson Lady. Her grandfather is fascinated by the ship and its story and he hires a luxury yacht (with dishy captain) to find out what happened to her.
I always know when a story is going to work. I tend to wake up at around two or three in the morning and stare at the ceiling for an hour or so before I go back to sleep. When I’m onto a good plot, instead of reliving every mistake I ever made in my life, I chew over the details of my story and what has to happen next or what doesn’t make sense or what I have to fix. But it all comes out in the end and now it’s finished and published.
Here’s a tiny taste. For context, Tara has been to a clearance sale at a deceased estate, where she bought a ship model and a mug. She’s come home, all excited.
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Grandfather was in his study watching the rain fall on the house’s central atrium, splatting onto leaves and running down the windows.
“Tara,” he said, smiling. “Just in time.”
She grinned. “I was lucky. Any later and I would have been drenched. I picked this up at a deceased estate sale.” She handed him the ship model, which he set on the desk in front of him.
“Not bad.” He inspected it, then looked up at her. “But I hope you didn’t pay much for it.”
She told him and he laughed. “It’s worth about three times that much.”
The shelves on the wall behind him held ten spaceship models, a fraction of his collection. He changed them out regularly, but the Crimson Lady always held pride of place, the lady in the flowing red dress prominent on her bow. Yes, the design on the mug matched.
“What about this?” Bubbling with excitement, she pushed the ship model aside and put down the mug.
Grandfather’s eyes narrowed and his body tensed. He lifted the mug carefully, turning it in his hands. “Wow.” He stared up at her. “From the same place as the ship?”
She nodded. “A deceased estate. The woman selling doesn’t know anything about the mug, just had it in a box of junk. She gave it to me because it was damaged.”
Grandfather laughed. “I hope you didn’t tell her.”
“Not likely. You’ve taught me better than that.”
“Even in this condition, if it’s genuine, it’s very valuable.” Grandfather frowned, fixing her with his intense dark gaze. “The design appears to be correct. Can you tell me anything, Archimedes?”
The house’s IS responded immediately. “The design matches that of the original ship. Please show me the maker marks on the base.“
Grandfather turned the mug over so the IS could scan it.
“The tableware for the original Crimson Lady was manufactured at the Beecher plant. The company no longer exists, taken over eighty-seven years ago by Chando Corporation. That company has now closed. The new owner is Quanzhou Corporation.“
“So, this mug might be from the original ship?”
“I believe so, yes.”
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That’s enough to put them on the trail.
The story is set in the Dryden Universe. I’ve already written a number of books in that setting, and you’ll encounter a Human Empire (they’re the goodies), large green aggressive aliens called Yrmaks, and a few other aliens. You’re right, it’s all a bit reminiscent of Star Wars – but I hope the physics is a bit better and there’s NO magic and NO Force. You’ll find the book here.
I had a lot of… fun probably isn’t the right word. There were times I had to stop and ask myself what was going to happen next and getting the time line right was sometimes challenging. There was what was happening now as opposed to what happened in the near past and the distant past. But that’s one of the things I love about writing – it’s challenging and ultimately satisfying.
