Danny is
autistic and lives in the town of Bleak Harbor located on the Michigan
shoreline of Michigan. He’s excited because the dragonfly festival and his
sixteenth birthday will happen in the next week. He focusses his attention on certain
topics like dragonflies, perch, the Chicago Cubs, and the poetry of Wallace
Stevens. Danny lives by his routines, but his routines are disrupted when Danny
disappears from his home. Who would kidnap him and why?
Summary
Danny has recently moved to Bleak Harbor with his mom
Carey Bleak Peters and his stepfather
Andrew “Pete” Peters. Bleak Harbor was founded by Danny’s ancestor Joseph Estes
Bleak. The heir to the Bleak fortune worth millions of dollars is Serenity
Meredith Maas Bleak, Carey’s mother. Carey and her brother Mayor Jonah Bleak
have been written out of the will and
Serenity wants to donate her money to the town if they will rename the town for
her. Carey has been on her own since she had Danny and finished college. She
had lived in Chicago with Danny and Pete. She still works in Chicago and
commutes back to Bleak Harbor. Pete was a commodities trader in Chicago but
lost his job and is now running a medical marijuana shop in Bleak Harbor. Carey and Pete are having marriage trouble
and they both have secrets neither knows about the other. They both receive off
text messages about their secrets. Danny goes missing and the secrets come out.
Other characters that complicate the story include Katya Malone, a police
officer assigned to Danny’s missing person case who is mourning the accidental
death of her daughter, Randall Pressman, Carey’s boss who Carey has obtained incriminating evidence against, Quartz,
Pressman’s fix-it man and a former NSA agent, Allen Locke, an ex-DEA agent who
is hot on Pressman’s trail, Michele Higgins, a reporter looking for a big
story, and Jeffrey Bledsoe, an ex-con and Danny’s birth father. The sins of the
past haunt these characters and when all the secrets are revealed, will Danny
survive?
The SecUnit
(Security Unit) for the PreservationAux survey group has hacked and disabled
her governor module during her last contract. The hack lets her follow the Company’s
programming or to ignore it. She saves Dr. Bharadwaj from certain death from
the hostile fauna of the planet where the PersevationAux group has been
surveying to decide if they want to bid to the Company on building a colony
there. The SecUnit calls herself Murderbot, but never out loud. Her feelings of
companionship for her human employers impede her programming. What will she do
when an unknown enemy threatens her charges, hide or fight?
Summary
SecUnits are made by the Company and must be used by
every survey team for protection. The Company supplies all the materials to
each survey team from the lowest bidder, so the materials are unreliable and
suspect. SecUnits are half organic and half mechanical, so she is a cyborg. SecUnits
are supposed to be perceived by their contractors
as autonomous robots. They can be
repaired using the MedSystem. She communicates with the HubSystem of the habitat to keep the security of her charges. The story’s complication occurs when they
lose contact with the DeltFall Group survey team, the only other survey team
assigned to their planet. Dr. Mensah, the leader of the PreservationAux Group, investigates
at DeltFall’s habitat despite the SecUnit’s suggestion they leave the investigation
to the Company. What they find at the habitat changes their perspective on the
Company and on their SecUnit’s behavior.
Recommendation
I loved this story. The action is tight, and the
conclusion completes this story. The protagonist has the perfect blend of
sarcasm and drive to understand her
reasons for existing. She wants to sit back and watch her space soap operas,
but her human charges keep getting in the way, making her have feelings she
doesn’t understand. She is not the Murderbot she pretends to be and they catch
on to her deception. This novella begins her transformation into something
else. This story is the first of four novellas in the Murderbot Dairies series.
I want to read the other three novellas available and the Murderbot novel that is
scheduled to be released in 2020.
This is my writing progress report for January 2019
Oh, Christmas Tree
Writing
Progress from December 2018
I wrote 5 blog posts for garydavidgillen.com.
I bought and used the editing program Pro Writing Aid
to edit the novel. I edited and typed Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 30,
32, and 33 in August of 2018. I started reviewing Chapters 34, 35, and 36 in
September and plan to finish the review in January. Chapters 1 to 11 were
reviewed by using Pro Writing Aid and submitted to my novel writing class.
The first draft of Assassin in New Marl City was
complete at 99981 words in July of 2018. Decided to cut six chapters to use in
book #2 and write two new chapters to end up with about 88000 words in book #1.
I wrote the new Chapter 5 in September and new Chapter 10 was written in December.
Draft 2 is complete at 89072 words.
I submitted a scene with a Christmas theme from Chapter
11 of my novel for my writing class.
The stories 4 Humours,
Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, Get to the Point, and LARP Film Noir have been
submitted to magazines.
Statistics of magazine submissions for 2018 are; 0
different stories submitted a total of 0 times with 0 accepted, 0 pending, and
0 rejections.
Events
from December 2018
I did not attend an event in December 2018.
Writing
Goals for January 2019
I plan to write 4 blog posts for garydavidgillen.com.
Type the edits for Assassin in New Marl City Chapters 34,
35, and 36 in January 2019.
Edit Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of
Assassin in New Marl City using comments from the Advanced Writing Workshop at
Parma, Ohio.
Revise Space Station Sunyata for my intermediate
writing workshop at South Euclid, Ohio.
Polish and submit the stories Sleeping Sickness, Space-Dog
Confession, White Bracer, Mage Squad, I Shall Not Return, Prisoner of Tarnal, and Kay-Eye for submission to short
fiction magazines.
Submit 4 Humours,
Space Station Sunyata, Grognard, and LARP Film Noir to other short fiction
magazines.
Edit Searcher of Riven.
Hire an editor for Searcher of Riven from Fiveer.
Edit Ruins of Yarnud.
Hire an editor for Ruins of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Put the novel, Assassin in New Marl City, into the
writing program, Scrivener.
Purchase e-book covers for Searcher of Riven and Ruins
of Yarnud from Fiveer.
Purchase an e-book cover for Assassin in New Marl City
from Fiveer.
Planned
Events for January 2019
The next conference that I would like to attend is ConFusion in
Dearborn, Michigan from January 17 to 20, 2019. ConFusion is sponsored by the
Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association.
Links
This is a link to my December 2018 Writing Progress Report
Hamilton, an American Musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Hamilton, An American Musical
I watched the play Hamilton on 08-25-18 at the State Theater
in Cleveland, Ohio. After enjoying the play, I wanted to experience all things,
Hamilton. This review includes five different media I experienced in 2018. I watched
the play; I read the biography; I read the book featuring all the lyrics and
stories about the production; I ripped the soundtrack from the library, and I
ripped the Hamilton Mixtape from the library. All the media was great, and I am
glad I pursued all things, Hamilton. If the play comes back to Cleveland, I
would like to see it again.
Hamilton play Introduction
I made a monthly plan for 2018 to go out with my wife for date nights. The plan was Hamilton on 8-25, the Ohio State Buckeyes versus Oregon State on 9-1, the play of Pride and Prejudice on 10-27, the big ten championship game on 12-1, and the Cleveland orchestra Christmas concert at severance hall on 12-22. They were all great events. I wasn’t sure I would like Hamilton because I had heard about the amount of the rap used by the actors. I’m not a rap fan, I am a rock fan. But when the play started on 8-25, I was hooked. The play tells the gripping story of Alexander Hamilton’s life with no dialog. All the words are sung using different styles of music including rap, rock, R & B, soul, Broadway tunes and Motown.
Hamilton play Summary
Alexander Hamilton immigrated to New York City as a
young man, became a successful lawyer, fought in the American Revolution, was
George Washington’s closest confidant, and created the Federal banking system.
But the people of our culture remember him as the face on the ten-dollar bill
and the guy who lost a duel to Aaron Burr. This play makes the story real and
applicable to today. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the play’s author, the songwriter and
the lead actor, author, the songwriter and the lead actor is a genius. He based
this play on the Hamilton biography of Ron Chernow. It’s so much more than a
play. His lyrics are rich and on point. He tells us a compelling story. The
final song’s title says it all. Who lives, who dies, who tells your story.
Lin-Manuel told Alexander Hamilton’s story, he told it well, and it will be
told for generations to come. That is the definition of a legacy, a wonderful
achievement.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Alexander Hamilton Introduction
Ron Chernow researched every part of Alexander Hamilton’s life to write his biography called Alexander Hamilton. He tracked down all the available sources and wrote this biography, warts and all. Hamilton was brilliant and driven to succeed, but his passions lead him to poor choices in business, love, and pursuing a vendetta that leads to his fatal duel.
Alexander Hamilton Summary
The biography starts with his parents. They were a
black sheep fourth child of a Scottish nobleman and a plantation girl from the
island of Nevis. Hamilton’s drive to better his position in life was from
seeking to avoid being poor like them. He inspired the people of St. Croix with
a published letter about a hurricane that hit the island and they gathered the
money to send him away to school. Hamilton went to King’s College (now called
Columbia) in New York City. He became a lawyer and fought in the Revolutionary
War as George Washington’s most trusted aide. He longed for the glory of battle
but was too valuable for his administrative skills for Washington to risk him
in combat so he saw limited action. After the war, he was the first treasury
secretary for Washington’s cabinet and he set up the Federal banking system from
scratch. Washington and Hamilton were the leaders of the Federalist Party and were
opposed by the Democrat-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and
Aaron Burr.
Aaron Burr started as a friend and colleague to Hamilton, but the slights between the two men graduated up into a vendetta. Hamilton’s aspirations of becoming the next president were ended with a sex scandal started by the Reynolds Pamphlet which was written by Hamilton himself. After Washington retired, Hamilton became the highest ranking general in the army, but they did not go to war with England again at that time. Hamilton blocked Aaron Burr’s bid to become the third president and this lead to the fatal duel.
Alexander Hamilton Recommendation
Chernow makes all the aspects of Alexander Hamilton’s life come alive and it is easy to see how Lin-Manuel Miranda was inspired to write songs and eventually a play about it.
There’s a book on the Hamilton play called Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. The book has the full lyrics of the songs from the Broadway Musical with annotations by Lin-Manuel. It also includes pictures from the performances. The 46 songs are arranged into 32 chapters and each chapter starts with a short article about different aspects of the production. The articles cover the original solo performance of the song Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel, background information about the main players of the original production, backstage stories on the set, choreography, instrumentation, costumes, cut and unused alternate songs, and other insights. My highlights were pictures of the original notebook notes from Lin-Manuel on pages 36 & 202, the full lyrics of the cut song Cabinet Battle #3 on the debate on slavery on page 212, and photographs of original letters and pamphlets written by Hamilton. This book brings back memories of the play, the annotated lyrics gives insight into the writing process, and studying the printed lyrics help in understanding all the words to the cast recording.
I borrowed the double CD from the library of Hamilton,
American Musical, the Original Broadway recording. All 46 songs, 23 per disk,
of the play are on the disks. I like all the songs but my favorite five tunes
are in order from the best; Alexander Hamilton, My Shot, You’ll Be Back, The
Room Where It Happens, and Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story.
Hamilton The Mixtape
Lin-Manuel Miranda also commissioned various artists
to cover the songs from the cast recording. The songs are on the CD, The
Hamilton Mixtape. My favorite five tunes in order from best are; Say Yes To
This, Helpless, Dear Theodosia (Reprise), Wait for it, and It’s Quiet Uptown. There
were two songs that were not part of the play that were demoed for this CD. They
were Valley Forge and Cabinet Battle #3. Both songs were interesting, and it’s
too bad they couldn’t be included in the play because of time and material.
My Hamilton Mixtape
I made a 21 song under 80 minutes Mix tape featuring
the best songs from both albums as follows:
Alexander Hamilton from the Cast Recording
My Shot from the Cast Recording
The Story of Tonight from the Cast Recording
The Schuyler Sisters from the Cast Recording
You’ll Be Back from the Cast Recording
Helpless recorded by Ashanti
Satisfied recorded by Queen Latifah
Wait For It recorded by Usher
That Would Be Enough recorded by Alicia Keys
What Comes Next? From the Cast Recording
Dear Theodosia (Reprise) recorded by Chance the Rapper
Say No To This from the Cast Recording
Say Yes To This recorded by Jill Scott
The Room Where It Happens from the Cast Recording
Washington On Your Side from the Cast Recording
One Last Time from the Cast Recording
I Know Him from the Cast Recording
Burn recorded by Andra Day
It’s Quiet Uptown recorded by Kelly Clarkson
The World Was Wide Enough from the Cast Recording
Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story from the Cast Recording
Links
I mentioned watching the play and reading the biography in my Writing Progress Report for October 2018. This is the link.
Bonus: There is a YouTube video of an original solo
performance of the song Alexander Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda at an evening
of poetry, music and the spoken word at the White House on May 12, 2009. It’s
an amazing performance with over 6 million views.
