So, I was thinking about the finale to the current Ice Age in Scarlet arc which is probably going to end up book six, though I might slot in a collection of ‘flavour’ short stories somewhere.
And I got to thinking about what would follow.
I love the world I’ve created but the current series has a clear start (the ice age beginning), middle (the struggle to adjust and discover what triggered it) and end (the confrontation with the architect of the new world and a set of realisations about what that actually means for the future).
So it has a terminus and although there are undoubtedly tales still to tell they are more limited in scope than I would like for a follow up, particularly as I’ve limited the geography of my writing to areas I know.
Incidentally one of my pet hates is series which continue to mine at an interesting period of its history until all the mystery is gone and you just plain lose interest. I want to go broader, to continue writing on how the events and the world creates by the first series an expand out to the stars (which is now very possible).
The idea I’ve had is based on some Bronze Age reading I’ve been doing and the way that filtered into the mythology of the Iron Age. Heroes going out into the dark waters and finding the unexpected, the new and all in a world where there is no backup, rickety ships put together to explore a whole new universe and the bones of the old ones.
So no rescue missions from the Union in this one and instead a cast of crackpot inventors, failed agents, mystic voyagers and people hungry for adventure going out and finding exciting adventures that will be remembered (in-universe) for millennia to come!
More thinking to do.
Ice Age in Scarlet 