Date: Thu, 2 May 2002 02:43:34 +0100 From: Ardveche Subject: Crux Intro [This story is the copyrighted property of Ardveche (c) 2000-2001 and may not be copied or distributed in whole or in part without permission. Any comments, suggestions, questions or requests should be emailed to ardveche@ardveche.com.] CRUX ==== INTRODUCTION Crux is a story that came to my mind, fully formed, some months ago and I immediately wrote and posted the first chapter to the Nifty archive. However, uncharacteristically, I was deeply unsatisfied with it, so I asked David to remove it. I discarded that original chapter for the most part and submitted a new first chapter along with a fresh second in its place. These are the chapters that have sat in the archive for the past few months. Now, just to confuse matters further, I am submitting the first four chapters to the archive and this time I will go on to complete the story. These chapters are a new first one, a rewrite of both the old first and second (now the second and third) and a new fourth chapter. So there you go. What's it all about? People keep asking me why the second chapter bears no relation to the first, I answer that it does and it will. At the most basic level, it should be plain that it is set in the same city and on the same night, more than that I prefer not to say at the moment. Suffice it to say that as well as being novel length (as were Educating Alex in Beginnings and New to this State in High School), this one is in novel format. I am going to write a series of 'introductory' chapters to bring all the principal characters out. To an extent these chapters will refer to one another, but the real intertwining of the narrative will take place in later chapters as all the disparate threads are drawn together. Unusually for me, this story is written as a series of third person perspectives. Arguably this makes it easier to give each character a distinctive 'voice', but for some reason it makes it harder for me to write. That said, I do know exactly where I am going with this story and how I am going to bring the various characters together. Bear with me! The other question I keep being asked is: "Why the fantasy and science fiction section?" On that one, I must simply say 'wait and see', some of you have already guessed, many of you wrongly, but I don't plan to reveal anything about the plot until we get there! So, that's it for now, on you go and read the story... Ardveche Mail : ardveche@ardveche.com Site : http://www.ardveche.com