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That's what embedded credit cards are for.   Add a few replicated copies of Galaxinet throughout the solar system (and the rest of settled space), and you're good to go. Anyplace in the galaxy you go, if they have a copy of Galaxinet, you won't be able to do much of anything until overdue bills are paid. Very basic food, clothes, shelter, and medical care might be exceptions, but your choices will be very restricted. Of course, none of this will make it into the book, and someone much smarter than me can figure out how to build banking and other services into a galactic database that only gets updated every 12 hours. Too bad the scarcity of atreidite for interstellar travel is holding up progress on that front.

Do they need to meet (often)? No. I think the story works well enough without forcing them together. Although, as Amy observed years ago, it was pretty much two stories most of the way. In an earlier draft on which she commented, they had no interactions in acts 1 and 3, and virtually none in act 4. That was three quarters of the book. I think the Royals Forum fixed act 1 well enough. I don't know if there's much more I can do to bring them together (electronically or otherwise) in acts 3 & 4.

Although, after Joseph and Paul escape slavery and go to the palace in search of Apollo's assistance, instead of them being shot, I could have Joseph and Apollo meet again, but I then still need Joseph and Paul (or Joseph and Catherine) to end up in "Heaven", the nickname for the prison where Joseph and company end up, so named because of it's high mortality rate.

I can't see Apollo being angry enough at Joseph to throw them into that prison, so it would have to happen after a face to face meeting. I suppose they could leave the palace, perhaps with special Imperial identification to get them all the way back to New Bethlehem. Something goes wrong, and their IDs are lost or stolen.

Of course, all this is in addition to everything else that has to happen during the chapter in which Apollo and Joseph meet, which is fine since I have plenty of room to expand my chapters in novella form.

Not much opportunity for prolonged tension between them, though.

Since it will probably take me a long time to finish cleaning up and publishing Archangel (since Connor v2 is the priority), I'm seriously considering publishing the first act of Archangel Syndrome as a longish novella (about 50K words) and putting that up as my first book. I would then take an occasional break from Connor (probably at the end of each act) to clean up and publish each subsequent act of Archangel as novellas 2-4, resulting in the following:

Novella 1 - the first act of Archangel. The two points in the first act where Joseph and Apollo commit to their destinies, determined that nothing will stop them, would be the end of this novella, give or take an epilogue/preview of novella 2. A trimmed version of Brain-Masters would then get punted to the beginning of novella 2. I could then restore to novella 1 one of my favorite deleted chapters (the one where Apollo is almost whipped to death at the Colosseum by Nero, after which Apollo has to undergo surgery without anesthesia).

Novella 2 - the entire second act of Archangel (the Young Leaders Conference), ending with the assassination of both Regent Mary and Nero. This act is currently rather short, even if I prepend a trimmed version of Brain-Masters to it, so it gives me the option to have the delegates visit Catholika and maybe one other planet. Depends on how much new material I care to write. Since the pope would be female, I have a few folks here I can choose as the pope (probably either Georgina or the Virgin Marilyn, both Protestants in real life). And I would definitely include a bit of crossover nonsense from the Connor books.

Novella 3 - the entire third act. Apollo is sworn in, is haunted by Nero (assuming the changes aren't too complex), up to where Apollo is overthrown and "hung" on New Bethlehem, including being accidentally decapitated as he is hung. Joseph accidentally ends up on a slaver ship, is enslaved on Earth, then imprisoned, then is rescued by Leonardo (the loonie taxi driver), and boards a transport for home, knowing an attack on New Bethlehem is now imminent.

Novella 4 - the fourth act of Archangel, consisting of the main battle and its aftermath, including the current epilogue, in which Joseph throws himself off a cliff, and Apollo concludes God is real and decides to build a Christian empire. I would reveal at the end of this novella the cause of the supernatural beings that plague Apollo and Joseph.

Beyond finally getting something published, an added advantage of doing this is I get enough room to flesh out each act of Archangel. In spite of cutting unnecessary chapters from act one about a year ago, by the time I fleshed out the rest of that act to what I consider an appropriate level of detail, I was back to a huge first act. I suspect the same will be true of subsequent acts, heading toward 200K total words. I always have the option at the end to put them together as one big book.

The main problem with these, I think, is that Joseph and Apollo don't meet at all in novellas 1 and 3, only in novella 2 and briefly at the end of novella 4. Naturally, they regularly interact via Galaxinet during novella 1 (via the Royals Forum, where they piss each other off).

Thoughts?
Dirk

I have to admit, I'm a bit fuzzy about personal timelines vs. collective timelines. The Kelvin Timeline that JJ Abrams created for the Star Trek franchise, so he could change anything he wanted, is what I consider a collective timeline. I haven't watched anything new from Star Trek in many years, but I don't recall them ever discussing that there are infinite universes, and each decision by each person leads to another universe, which is what I call a personal timeline.

Tentatively, in my story, only God creates an alternate timeline and "moves" us there. Although I don't go into details in my 4th century document (already posted, by the way), it implies the original timeline has been abandoned. I couldn't do the challenge and also leave the characters, which technically includes us, on our original timeline since that breaks biblical inerrancy.

So, rather than God creating duplicate copies of us for the new timeline (which includes the challenge) while also leaving the original version of us in our real world timeline (where there is no challenge), I chose that he moved us there and abandoned the original timeline. That creates its own set of issues, though. While there may be only one of each of us in the multiverse that way (each with their own soul), somehow God recreated the whole universe (from the galaxies down to every non-human life form in existence) and put us there. What about all the microbes in and on our bodies, many of which we need to live? Did those move to? And the pet cat I was holding when God moved us? And every ape, even though some have almost the identical DNA as us? Etc.

Thanks.

Just to clarify, when I was asking about act 1 vs act 2, I meant within the first book. Joseph's homeworld doesn't get destroyed until the end of the first book, which leaves a nice opening for a book 2 if there ever is one, although Joseph's fate at the end of book 1 is currently unknown. He jumps off the cliff wanting to know if Michael (or God) will save him. Fade to black....

At the beginning of book 2, I intended Joseph to crash onto a rocky shelf sticking out 10-20 feet below where he jumped from. So, technically, God saved him :-)

As noted in my previous post, both teenagers commit one chapter (each) prior to them leaving their home planets for the Young Leaders Conference. So, I could end the act after the commit or after they leave their planets.

In Star Wars, Luke commits after his aunt and uncle are killed, but he doesn't leave the planet until after they get to Mos Eisley, hire Solo, and blast their way off the planet. According to a couple of online sites about story structure, act 1 of Star Wars 4 ends when Luke tells Ben he wants to go with him to Alderaan and become a Jedi.

So, Apollo's & Joseph's commits are the end of act 1. The commits are far powerful moments anyway than each of their last chapters on their planets.

Thanks for your help.
Dirk

It means pinning a thread to the top of the forum, so it's always there, regardless of how many other threads are created or updated in the same forum. Have a look at topics in the Premium forum. A whole bunch of them are pinned there.

This thread isn't sticky, but VQF is. Do you want me to unstick that one?

Looks like clicking a link from within an email generated by the site is being intercepted again:

Suspicious page blocked for your protection
https://email2.booksie.com/ls/click?upn … vaew-3D-3D
Your connection to this web page is not safe due to an unmatching security certificate.
This means that the certificate was issued for a different web address than the one it is being used for, and you run the risk of exposing your data by accessing this page.

Sol, any idea why this bug keeps coming back?

Thanks
Dirk

Found it. You actually have to open one of your posted works to see it.
My user id is Dirk B. same as on TNBW.

Thanks
Dirk

Yeah, I'm coming around to that conclusion too. I already have a hard enough time finding stuff for Antonio to do. Add a dog, and the chapters will either grow longer or everyone else gets less screen time. As is, I already have to add a few paragraphs in later Holy Land chapters to incorporate Connor's groupies, who chase after him from place to place to see him perform miracles and post the videos/pics online.

The battle between good and evil animals will definitely be included, though. I'm almost certainly going to add an extra murder in Rome, which allows for a few extra chapters in the Holy Land to visit areas where Jesus went but Connor didn't. The all out Watership Down-like battle will go into one of the new chapters near the end of the trip.

I thought of a great addition to the Holy Land chapters. Since Connor is frequently attacked by and/or saved by animals, I figure it should build to an all-out battle between dark animals, who bow to Satan, and light animals, who defend "Christ".

The dark animals are easy since they can each be possessed by a demon who know how to drive the animals into an attack. They do that with the hyenas at Capernaum. The light animals is trickier since Connor is the AC, not Christ. He can definitely make himself liked by animals, which he did a few times in the first draft. In fact, the whites doves even came to his rescue when he was attacked by the wild cat at the baptism site. Ditto for when the pratincoles saved the group from the demonic locusts.

It does beg the question how is Connor able to steer an entire army of animals to defend him? Obviously, he can't be in all their heads at once. The best way, which I think is already implied by the pratincoles and doves, is for him to be able to give off some "good" vibe that brings the unpossessed animals to his defense. I can also use some of the animals in the final battle of book 3.

I'm also thinking of giving Connor a dog throughout the trip in book 1. But I need to figure out what major contribution it can make to the story beyond merely giving a sick kid a dog, although it could reinforce the image of Connor as a sweet kid if his dog adores him. I doubt pets are allowed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, though, not to mention at other tourist attractions, and in all the churches they visit.