Everything You Want/Need to Know about CAPRICA (the book) ...
"Is this fan fiction?"
Yes. I wasn't paid by Universal to write this therefore I am not charging you to read it. It's free.
"So did you just pull the story out of your ass or what?"
That's a little harsh, but actually, no. I didn't. The fansite Caprica Times published an interview with the last showrunner, Kevin Murphy, after the series was cancelled. In it, he explained that season two would pick up five years after season one (where we see them in the finale's montage) and feature occasional flashbacks to show how they got there. Now, I didn't feel like I could do that in my writing because constant flashbacks would get annoying/confusing, but I felt like I could tell a more linear story, showing the five years leading up to the "Shape of Things to Come" montage and then beyond. A few story beats were also revealed by Murphy, but I won't be divulging those here as they're basically spoilers for the book. To put it succinctly, I pretended like I was a one-man writer's room for season two and three of the show and Murphy's comments were my instructions. (Anything that falls outside of his instructions, I guess, does qualify as "pulling it out of my ass.")
"Do I need to have watched Caprica to enjoy this?"
Are you serious? Yes. You should watch Caprica. There are some references and story points that will only make sense if you've seen the show. I wrote it right after a binge of the series, so I'm sure it'll read well after a binge, too.
"What about Galactica?"
Hmm. Probably not. You're OK there. It'll be enhanced by having watched it, though, I'm sure.
"What about Blood & Chrome?"
You are thorough; I'll say that for you. "Need to," no. If you saw it once, that's enough.
And I'll stop you now. No, you do not need to have watched The Plan before reading this, either.
"OK, smart guy. What about Deadlock? Should I have played the video game Deadlock?
Huh. You got me. No, you don't have to have played Deadlock. A few ships get their names and designs from the game, but no storylines or characters. The base game starts in year five of the Cylon War and this book only covers the first few years of the war. There's no real crossover.
"Maps? Where did you get these maps?"
I made them. The "stellar" maps are based on the QMX map released a decade or so ago, which was based on a writer's room document by Bob Harris, Kevin Grazier, and Jane Espenson. A lot of tidbits about the various colonies come from that document and I used them in writing Caprica and Colonies of Kobol. The map of Caprica itself is based on the very tiny bit of land visible on the QMX map and a couple of shots from the show.
"Wait a minute ... Colonies of Kobol? This book isn't really 'new,' is it?"
No, not really. CoK is an enormous book (over 2,000 pages in Word) so I'm sure that's daunting to potential readers. Plus, some people might not care about rando characters centuries before the TV shows on other worlds. There is a hunger for more Caprica, however, so releasing just that portion of CoK made sense to me. Caprica fans will get a taste of what might have been, and maybe they'll want to try out the rest of my books.
There are a couple of new pages, however. You can read those after the JUMP.
ABOUT THE EXCERPT
Since I was tailoring the Caprica portion of CoK to readers who were looking specifically for a continuation of the TV show, I knew I needed to do something that roped them in from the start and made them feel like they were reading the show. (The first chapter, after all, is an interview with Zoe by the Messengers/Angels and that doesn't really feel like the show.) I decided to do what every episode of Caprica did (except the pilot): start with "PREVIOUSLY ON CAPRICA."
You know how they go. We'd see a slow-mo shot of a character with their name printed on screen, like this:
And then we'd hear their internal monologue, explicitly saying what they've been doing or thinking, explaining their motivations, or what have you. For Daniel, in the middle of the season, his voiceover might say something like, "I don't want to deal with these gangsters, but I have to get my company back." And then we'd get a clip or two showing him using the Adamas to rough up his board members or Vergis killing himself in the living room.
This has the added benefit of showing the readers what all NINE regular characters were up to at the end of the first season and points their expectations toward where the show, I mean, book is headed.
Plus, since the "Shape of Things to Come" montage was such a important part of the season one finale and sets up so much of season two, I decided to incorporate that, as well.
So, without further ado, here's the "new" bit from Caprica:
"We were being framed," DANIEL GRAYSTONE said, "so we had to fight back."
Billboards flashed "ALERT" images of both Daniel and Amanda Graystone. The GDD raided the Graystones' home, led by Director Singh, but Cyrus Xander, gun in hand, intervened. "Daniel Graystone believes a lot of people are about to be murdered," Cyrus said, "and I believe him." Would-be bombers spread out into the stands of Atlas Arena. Fugitives, Daniel and Amanda entered a room and connected a computer to the system. After furious typing by Daniel, Cylons landed and took aim, quickly dispatching the terrorists. One remained. Olaf, Clarice's husband, raised the detonator and shouted, "The One True God will drive out the many!" Cylons scrambled up the stands toward him. "So say we all!" He set off the device, destroying himself and the Cylons in a massive cloud.
"I had built Heaven," CLARICE WILLOW said, "but she destroyed everything."
The sister turned in her virtual environment, watching with awe as
martyrs to the cause began to appear.
Zoe, however, clenched her fist.
The skies darkened. The ground
quaked. The followers blinked out of
existence in the new hellscape, forcing Willow to remove her Holoband. In her room, the servers for her digital
afterlife sparked and died.
"I've stopped Clarice," ZOE GRAYSTONE said, "but am I ready to enter the real world?"
Daniel watched as the Zoe avatar paced around the virtual representation of their home. "I've been working on improved design models for a mechanical body. Compact. Agile.
Amanda added, "And with skin."
Zoe considered this. "Skinjob."
"I finally have Zoe back," AMANDA GRAYSTONE said, "but can my trust in Daniel be repaired?"
"Vergis told me that you stole his chip and killed two of his employees." Amanda waited for an answer. "Tell me it isn't true."
Daniel replied, "Well, it's complicated." Later, in his home lab, he said, "I suspected she was hiding in the U-87, … so I tried to flush her out by exploiting her fear of fire." Eyes welling with tears, Amanda slapped him. Hard.
"Zoe convinced me the worlds need to be cleansed of sin," TAMARA ADAMA said.
"We're gods in here," Graystone said on a rooftop in New Cap City. "Let's act like it and forsake these motherfrakkers." New Cap City wiped away in a flurry of V-World code and was replaced with a dense forest and mountains. "Our fortress is complete," Zoe said. "It's paradise."
"Almost. It needs one more thing." Tamara clenched her fist and pink flowers began to dot the lush greenery around them.
"The old guatrau is gone," SAMUEL ADAMA said, "and Tauron can finally get the help they need."
"Take a good look, kid," Sam said to Willie. "Fat colonies like this one are propping up the crooks that run that place." The image on the television shifted to show the "playboy dictator," Andreas Phaulkon.
"Look at that man," Ruth said. "His people dying but, hmm, not a care in the world."
In the Skybar, a U-87 emerged from the elevator firing two automatic weapons into a group of Tauran gangsters. Now with bodies strewn about, Sam looked at the Cylon which said, "Task completed. By your command."
Adama asked, "How are you with tanks?"
Joseph cradled his bleeding, dying son. "With Willie dead," JOSEPH ADAMA said, "I'm focused on my work at Graystone," the Adamas conducted business in a boardroom with Daniel and Cyrus Xander, "keeping the new guatrau happy," he knelt before Fidelia Fazekas, placing the top of her hand against his forehead, "and trying to rebuild my life." Joseph embraced Evelyn and hugged her tightly.
"I made it my mission to stop the Soldiers of The One," JORDAN DURAM said, "and it almost got me killed."
"You hear they fished a floater from the Theoresos?" Duram
asked GDD Director Gara Singh. Willow
stabbed Mar-Beth in the neck … Singh, the STO mole in the GDD, replied, "I
had nothing to do with this." He
loomed over Duram, "I've gotta take your badge and gun." In the park, Duram was shot and fell down a
hill.
"The Cylons listen to me," LACY RAND said, "and the STO doesn't like that."
Diego, the STO commander, spoke to the Monad Blessed Mother, "This girl exerts unexplained control over war machines we bought on the black market."
Mother responded, "You know what needs to be done."
Lacy, with Diego now dead at her feet, told Odin, Lexon, and Devanna, "We're not running." The young recruits walked into a chamber with two dozen deactivated U-87s. Rand said, "Robots, power up." The machines complied. "We've got work to do."
Static. V-World code sweeps over our vision. We now see the future. "The Shape of Things to Come."
Civilian Cylons crowd the cityscape. Construction workers among steel beams. A Cylon walks a group of leashed dogs past the bronze memorial to the Atlas Arena U-87s.
"Cylon butlers, Cylon nurses." Host Baxter Sarno then asked Daniel, "How long before my niece comes home with her Cylon fiancée?"
Graystone answered, "Well, I think people are smart enough to realize that, as useful as they are, Cylons are simply tools. Nothing more." In the virtual version of their home, Amanda sat with the avatar of her daughter, Zoe, and they watched Daniel continue, "And to forget that, to blur the distinction between man and machine and to attribute human qualities, is folly."
Joseph and Evelyn Adama conducted the ceremony surrounded by their family: Samuel, Larry, and Ruth. Young, blue-eyed Bill watched on. "William was a proud Tauron and a good boy. Our father's name lives on in another way now. Bill, you were named after your brother. As we are from the soil, so shall we return. So say we all." The youngest Adama sprinkled the soil into the flame and the others cheered for him.
"Are you alive?" Sister Clarice Willow asked from the pulpit of her virtual temple. "You are God's children. We are all God's children." Cylons of all makes and models entered the temple and performed the monotheist gesture on themselves before they sat. "I'm planning a trip to Gemenon to visit the Blessed Mother herself, and I have every confidence that I'll depart with a powerful new ally." Willow entered the Monad Retreat and beheld, for the first time, Mother Lacy Rand in her robes alongside a U-87 soldier with red metal highlights on its chest.
"Hello, Clarice," Lacy said. "I really think you should kneel."
Back in her virtual temple, speaking to a congregation of machines, Willow continued her sermon. "I am going to prophesy now and speak of one who will set you free." Zoe … the avatar or the Messenger? … heard this and smirked.
In the Graystones' home lab, Amanda looked into the tub as Daniel tapped the screens.
"The day of reckoning is coming," Willow said. "The children of humanity shall rise …"
The shadow in the thick, white liquid emerged. Zoe Graystone sat up and took an unnecessary breath. Momentarily confused, she backed against the edge of the tub and marveled at being in the real world.
But Sister Clarice finished, "… and crush the ones who first gave them life."Caprica comes out June 9.
Thanks for reading.
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