Forward bound!

Everyone talks about first impressions.  Being someone on the job-hunt, I'm very much aware of how first impressions can lead to more interviews or the door.  For books, I think it's doubly true.  How many times have you picked up a book and after reading the front or back cover, put the book down.  Even if the book's genre was one that you enjoyed reading.   When I started to write Continuum, I became much more aware of how people browsed books at book stores.  Fortunately, there are a few good ones left in San Francisco.  One's not far from my house in a neighborhood called West Portal.  With so many shops in that quaint, gemuetlich SF neighborhood vying for attention, it was interesting to see how people browsed and selected books to purchase.  So, I decided to spend a lot of time and a lot of effort on the first few paragraphs of Continuum.  Not that I plan on selling many, if any, copies of Continuum, should I be so lucky as to find a willing publisher.  Rather, it's a story that is a part of me.  As I write Continuum, I've relived memories and dreams, but more importantly, I've learned a lot about myself.  Continuum springs from a set of recurring dreams I've had since childhood, therefor I'm very passionate about the story and how people receive it.  My hope is that the reader experiences some small portion of the wonderment I've experienced within those dreams.

When writing and rewriting the forward; then replaying the forward time an time again in my head, I came to realize a trick.  Replay what ever you've written in your head in the voice of an actor or actress that you admire.  Pretend that actress or actor is sitting in front of you or in front of a small group of friends, reading aloud what you have written.  For Continuum, I've chosen several people, depending on the character they play or have played, the tambour of their voice and the accent of their speech.  For me, I've chosen mainly British actors for the Shahdoan:

Matt Smith (Doctor Who) -- Forward Narrator
Helena Bonham Carter (Big Fish) -- Eschiir
Toby Jones + John Hurt -- Gamtoo
Kelsey Grammer - Gawult
?? (not me, and I'm not saying) -- Justin

There are others, but I hope you get the picture.  The vocal and acting talents of those listed above leave me in awe, for I am one of those who hate the sound of their own recorded voice.

So here is yet another (and probably not the last) attempt at the Forward or first paragraph of Continuum.  My hope for Continuum's Forward is that it both sets the stage for the rest of the  story, but also leads the reader forward to the first chapter, and on the start of a journey of wonderment and extremes.

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(C) 2011 T. Alan Tranter

Life in the universe is varied and vast.  From humble bits of matter that are slightly more than inorganic reactions to beings known simply as the Continuum Weavers.  A very ancient race with great power that live in, yet are not bound by, our four dimensions of space-time.  Little is known about them.  Very rarely do they interact with anyone, including their own.  But on occasion, when the need arises, they do enlist help with their weaving.

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