That's right, after nine months of work, I've reached the halfway point in the new Uniwar project, so here's what it is: a novel.

I know it's sort of odd taking a concept originally used in a Flash game and turning it into a lengthy dramatic book, but trust me, I made it work and it's going to be one hell of a ride. Some of you might be underwhelmed at the idea of a Uniwar novel, but think about it. When you walk into a bookstore, all you see on the new release shelves for sci-fi is Star Wars/Trek expanded universe books, Halo novels, and the latest Honorverse book (which is already three years old). It's an uphill battle, but sci-fi needs a new champion (had FOX cared, Firefly could have been it).

The rough draft for the book entitled Ideal Soldier: The Athena Project is 76,229 words long, 63 chapters, and 390 pages double spaced (photo of the stack below). My target length for the final draft is 105,000 words. I plan to begin the editing process in 30-60 days. The target audience is both males and females 15-30 years old.

Let me clear up the name confusion first. The Uniwar name is being dropped and the series is being renamed Ideal Soldier which was the original subtitle for Uniwar. For familiarity's sake, I will keep referring to it as "the Uniwar book" until it is released. If you're wondering what an Athena Project is, then I've already accomplished what I wanted with the title.

The big question I'm sure all the big readers are wondering is "Will it be published through a mainstream publisher (Penguin, Harper Collins, Bantam, etc.) or through a print on demand company (Xlibris, Lulu, Publish America)?" If you will be paying for this, I want to assure you that my book is of paramount quality and easily available. Mainstream publication delivers both of those. Print on demand companies will not get my books into brick and mortar stores, pay me a respectable advance, refuse publication if it sucks, or copy edit them. I plan to query agents this fall to represent me. If nobody wants it by the end of 2009, this book will simply not see the light of day.

Another big question is going to be "can I test read it?" If needed, I'll put out a call for test readers upon completion, but it's very unlikely.

I'm sure the other big question will be "Will I be giving copies to Tom Fulp to give away as Portal Award prizes etc.?" The answer is you bet I will, but that's getting ahead of the game as I need to get published first.

Onto storyline. Even though the Flash games didn't have much of a story to begin with, forget what you already know. In a nutshell, the story is about the exploits of two opposing soldiers in a future war 1,000 years from now who are at odds with each other throughout the story. A third wild-card character comes into play in the end. In this tale, there are no "good guys" or "bad guys". A vaguely similar, yet more detailed retelling of Uniwar Levels 1 and 2 are present about two thirds through the book. The concepts behind Level 3 and The Lost Civilization are also there, but have been drastically changed. There's a great cast of characters, many with tragic and shocking tales which I'm sure you'll enjoy. Wish me luck on the editing process. It's going to be an interesting ride for the rest of the year.

I leave you now with a photograph of the rough draft.