"Lords of Kobol" and "Colonies of Kobol": Big Plans Ahead

I have plans.  That's not to say they will be fulfilled as they are in my head presently, but I do have plans.

"If wishes were horses ..." something, something.  Is there a similar saying for plans?  "If plans could stand, I'd have a mansion."  There.  Just made one up.

Oh.  Right.  "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."  Yeah, OK.  Same diff.

At any rate, it's no secret that I plan to get back to the BSG/Kobol-verse in the near future.  I've teased my next series, Colonies of Kobol, for the last couple of years.  Well, now I have a plan.

If you don't mind a few minuscule spoilers, hit the JUMP and I'll fill you in.



Of course, The Art of Death (my "evil art museum" book) comes first.  Once that's edited and published, I'll turn my attention back toward this.

Before I dive head first into CoK, I intend to do a massive re-reading and re-watch of everything.  Starting with the original Galactica series, I'll watch that, then read Lords of Kobol, then watch Caprica, then Blood & Chrome, then Battlestar Galactica, the reimagined series.  You know, as close to chronological order as I can get.  I intend to post my progress on social media using the hashtags #TotalRewatch and #TotalReread, if you'd care to join in.

After that, I'll start writing Colonies of Kobol.

QUESTION: do you know how many different "colonies of Kobol" I intend to write about?  Hint: it's more than twelve.

I'll write the whole lot in one fell swoop and then split them up accordingly.  I intend to divide the books into three separate volumes.  (Note: subtitles are subject to change.)

This first volume will start with Earth I (including the Final Five) and the story of its downfall.  The next "book" within it will focus on the settling of the first colony of the twelve by the exiles from Kobol, Gemenon.  A few other colonies' tales will be told and then:

Fans of the original show will probably get a kick out of that symbol.

I won't say much about this volume, except that it will detail the thousand-year reign of one colony in particular over most of the others (a fact outlined in the Caprica show bible).  Then, the finale:

Obviously, this is the end.  The separate books contained within will fill in blanks before and after (and maybe during) the two TV series (BSG and Caprica).

And that's it, right?  Nope.

As I engage in the #TotalReread, I intend to take notes and alter the text of Lords of Kobol.  No, no.  Not a retcon or anything.  I plan to include "author's notes."  Sort of a director's commentary on the books.  Then they will be re-published:

No big changes here.  I'll include some deleted scenes in a section at the back of the book.  Maybe include a few footnotes or something.

Again, no big changes expected.  Deleted scenes and stuff in the back, maybe.

More deleted scenes and notes to be included.  PLUS, a big addition at the back, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Yes, this is Book Five.  I plan on retitling it "Prelude."  I'm going to get rid of the whole confusion surrounding Books Four and Five.  So, I'll retitle this prequel and make it clear that it's not to be read before the trilogy.  And I'm going to UNpublish this:

Yep.  Book Four.  Basically, a masturbatory exercise.  It helped me get a few ideas I had out of my head, but for everyone else ... meh.  People either didn't like it or they were confused by where it fit.  I'll remove it from the pantheon (heh) and include it in the back of Book Three as a "deleted scene" or alternate version of the story.  This way, I'm able to preserve the "sanctity" of Books One, Two, and Three.  The Prelude will work as well where I've positioned it and then they'll flow right into Colonies of Kobol.

So.  You can see I've laid out a huge amount of work for myself.  Once I get The Art of Death published, I intend to start #TotalRewatch and #TotalReread.  Maybe my Kobol-verse will be complete by, say, 2020.

Wish me luck.