Work in Progress

 

 

L.D. Alford:  Works in Progress

 

Work in Progress              Send me a note on writing

13 March 2026, I'm fixing my website.  This has been the worst transition I've ever made in technology.  All the hosting sites dumped Microsoft Web Extensions.  This means you have to completely redevelop and redesign your web.  I have 54 domains and thousands of webpages.  The task is daunting, but just the fact I'm updating this page will give you an idea of how far I've come.  When all the pictures and info shows properly on the page, all will be well.  If you need help with your web because of this issue, I can provide some help.  I've just about figured it out.

1 March 2016, I finished writing Sorcha (Claire) and I'm really happy with the novel.  I also completed the marketing materials, although I haven't sent anything off to my publisher or to any other prospective publisher.  I put them up on the web.  You can see the synopsis at Sorcha.  I haven't written any secrets yet.  The novel is full of great secrets--so to speak.  I also put in a proposed cover and the first chapter.  Perhaps that will whet your interest.  I'm always looking for prospective publishers.  My current publisher is stuck in the recession and not putting out many works at risk--I'm afraid that will be with us for a while longer.  I'm afraid I'm a risky writer.  I just need more book fans. 

 

 

Novels

2 November 2014 Update

Here is the current list of novels I am working on or have finished.  You can see the working title may be entirely different than the final title.  This is because until the work is finished, I usually don't bestow a title.  I think the year started is right in most cases.

 

Type

Title

Year Started

Stat

Words

 

Working

1*

2

SF

1

A Season of Honor (Honor III)

1986

30 Oct

P 08

Nov

62,500

Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox

Desert

2*

3

SF

2

The Fox’s Honor (Honor II)

1989

2 May

P 08

Oct

93,300

Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox

Duel

3

9

SF

3

The End of Honor (Honor I)

1995

13 Jul

P 08

Jul

62,000

Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox

Seeds

4

4

HF

4

Antebellum

1991

7 Feb

*

60,400

 

 

5*

5

F

5

Aegypt

1992

16 Jun

P 08

Jan

70,500

Aegypt I

 

6*

8

HF

6

Centurion

1995

1 Feb

P 08

Jan

114,100

 

 

7a*

6

SF

7

Athelstan Cying

1992

26 Sep

A

79,280

Ghost Ship Chronicles I

Ghost

8 15

7b*

SF

8

Twilight Lamb

2007

8 Aug

A

70,055

Ghost Ship Chronicles II

Ghost

9 16

7c

SF

17

Regia Anglorum

2007

23 Nov

A

94,335

Ghost Ship Chronicles III

Ghost

10*

10

SF

9

The Second Mission*

1996

13 Nov

P 03

Aug

94,400

 

Time

11

1

Fan

Illidin

1977

Sep

I

 

 

Illidin

12

11

F

10

Sister of Light

1997

16 Aug

C

72,940

Aegypt II

Reich

13

7

F

House

1994

23 Dec

I

 

 

House

14

13

SF

11

Hestia: Enchantment of the Hearth

2006

28 Dec

*

65,550

 Enchantment I

Goddess

15

12

Fan

Aramis

2006

27 Apr

I

 

 

Aramis

16

14

HF

Japan

 

I

 

 

Japan

17

17

F

12

Sister of Darkness

2008

3 Jun

C

 84,585

Aegypt III

Darkness

18

18

F

13

The Shadow of Darkness

2008

14 Sep

A 104,025 Aegypt IV Lumière

19

19

F

14

The Shadow of Light

2008

24 Oct

A 113,000 Aegypt V China

20

20

F

15

Children of Light and Darkness

2008

1 Dec

A 112,900 Aegypt VI Sisters

21

21

F

16

Warrior of Light

2009

1 Feb

A

119,660

Aegypt VII

Ceridwen

22

22

HF

Praetorian

 

 

 

Centurion II

Praetorian

23 23

SF

18

Shadowed Vale

2009

10 May

A

118,570

Ghost Ship Chronicles IV

Ghost

24 24

SF

 

Ddraig Goch

2009

25 Aug

W

 

Ghost Ship Chronicles V

Ghost

25

25

F

19

Warrior of Darkness

2009

29 Oct

A

103,840

Aegypt VIII

Warrior

26

26

F

20

Dana-ana: Enchantment and the Maiden

2010

10 Jun

A

111,950

Enchantment II

Diana

27

27

F

21

Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon

2010

1 Nov

A

121,475

Enchantment III

Daemon

28

28

F

22

Khione: Encahntment and the Fox

2011

1 Mar

*

85,370

Enchantment IV

Fox Spirit

29

29

F

23

Valeska: Enchantment and the Vampire

2013

1 Dec

*

124,890

Enchantment V

Vampire

30

30

F

24

Lilly: Enchantment and the Computer

2014

1 May

*

105,030 

Enchantment VI

Computer

31

31

SF

25

Escape from Freedom

2014

1 Oct

**

121,475

Freedom I

Escape

32

32

F

26

Essie: Enchantment and the Aos Si

2015

1 May

*

101,530

Enchantment VII

Shape

33

33

F

27

Sorcha: Enchantment and the Curse

2016

1 Mar

*

118,670

Enchantment VIII

Claire

How to read this chart.  The highlight indicates the novel I am working on now.

Column:

1. My original numbering sequence.  The large number is the number I gave a work when I put the list together in about 2000 or so.  The small number is the order of my concept development of the novel (Illidin is the first novel idea I conceived).  The Ghost novels have some suffix letters because I imagined them as one book and later broke them apart into three (now four, maybe more).

2. Type of work.  Fiction - F, Historical Fiction - HF, Science Fiction - SF, Fantasy - Fan.  The small number is for completed novel and the order of completion.

3. Title is the final title of the work.  I leave the working title until I fix a final.

4. Year started.  I went back and tried to determine when I started each novel.

5. Stat (Status).  Writing - W, Incomplete - I, * - ready for marketing/publication, On contract - C, In consideration - A, Published - P (year and month)

6. Words.  The number of words in the novel.

7. Notes.

8. Working.  Working title for the files.

A work can only be considered completed when it is published, and I keep a list of changes for each book after publication.  If I ever get a chance to fix some things, I will.  Once I have a work started and outlined, I can finish the first draft in about 2-3 months of daily writing (0700 to 2100).  I like to aim for 10 to 20 double spaced pages per chapter and about 20 chapters.  This is a guide to give about 60,000 words or more per novel.  In general, I have a goal of about 100,000 words per novel.  Some novels need more and some a little less.

 

Past Notes

31 January 2015, I am almost finished with Escape.  I'm about to start the second run-through.  I'm also going to make thorough run-throughs of Lilly and Valeska.

2 November 2014, I finished Computer around 1 October and immediately started writing on Escape.  Escape is a science fiction novel set on a colonial world.  It's about an extrapolated communist nation called Freedom on an island.  The protagonist is a girl named Reb, who will do anything to escape Freedom.  The protagonist's helper is a young man named Scott who is illegally flying over he island on a cargo run and crash lands.

1 May 2014, I started Computer on about 1 May.  This is a slow write.  I think I started it too early, but the ideas are moving in my brain.  I know where I want to go with it.  I originally thought about writing a ghost novel about the Wichita Aviation Museum or the AF Museum.  This caught my mind first.  One of those will come at some point.

9 February 2014, I started Vampire on 1 December--almost as soon as I finished Khione.  I got this great idea about a girl vampire and a secret agent.  The agent was easy, I used the stuff from my other novels.  The vampire was easy too.  Although I've written to not follow trends, I think I have a very unique spin on a vampire here.  Plus my vampire is not a nice vampire, but still has redeeming qualities--kind of different than the nauseating goody shining vampires of a certain work.

30 November 2013, I finished Fox Spirit and set the title Khione: Enchantment and the Fox  on it.  You can read about the novel at Enchantment: Khione.  There is a synopsis.  I'm already thinking about writing another novel--maybe this time about a vampire.

21 August 2011, I started an new novel with the working title Fox Spirit on or around April.  I'll try to get a better date.  The work is moving very slowly because of my other work.  I'll try to give updates when I can.  I also started a blog on general writing called Zen of Scenes at www.novelscene.wordpress.com.

1 February 2011, I think I'll call Daemon: Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.  That will keep on the enchantment theme that I started with Enchantment of the Hearth.  The novel is being blogged with commentary on the writing.   

9 January 2011, Daemon has been through about 3 rewrites.  I want to let it sit for a while before I go back to it.  The novel weighs in at 121,475 words which is my longest to date.  It is a very tight novel in spite of its size.  It reads quickly too.  The novel is still being blogged at my two blogs.

26 December 2010, I started Daemon on 1 November and finished the first draft on 24 December.  The novel is 22 chapters long and I am blogging it at www.pilotlion.blogspot.com and www.ldalford.wordpress.com I'm updating the particulars today.  I'll have more soon.

I just finished writing The Shadow of Light.  This is the fifth Aegypt novel.  I am very happy with this novel.  It is a fun mystery/spy/adventure/ancient/modern world story.  You will find it all fits together very well and concludes the Aegypt adventures well.  I don't know if I will write another novel in this series, but I left some open ideas just for that purpose.  I would like to write another novel based on the children of the family.

I propose to work on Regia Anglorum next, but we shall see.  Keep checking.  I'll put info as I write when I start on that novel.

 

 

 

 

Meet the Author

L. D. Alford is a novelist whose writing explores with originality those cultures and societies we think we already know.  His writing distinctively explores the connections between present events and history—he combines them with threads of reality that bring the past alive.  L. D. Alford is familiar with technology and cultures—he is widely traveled and earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Pacific Lutheran University, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University, and is a graduate of Air War College and Air Command and Staff College.  L. D. Alford is an author who combines intimate scientific and cultural knowledge into fiction worlds that breathe reality.

 

 

 

  Novels by this Author
   
       The Second Mission (Available now)
       Centurion   (Available now published by OakTara)
       Aegypt            (Available now published by OakTara)
 

  

The Dragon and the Fox

 

                     (Available now published by OakTara)

 

                                                             

     The End of Honor               The Fox’s Honor               A Season of Honor 

 

 

 

  L.D. Alford is the author of 41 technical papers published in international journals on flight test, military policy, flight safety, space, and cyberwar.  Technical Writing
   
  L.D. Alford has been a professional aviator for over 34 years.  Aviation Writing
   

L.D. Alford Aviation Writing Technical Writing Unpublished Novels Writing Links Engineer