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Songs from the Eden Cycle 3: Annotated

August 21, 2026August 18, 2026 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Songs from the Eden Cycle Volume 3 was created in November of 1997, when I was somewhere around Chapter 7 in The Phoenix Effect. By that time I was getting a little bit better at keeping up; it looks like I was writing maybe two or three times a week of maybe a page or two every now and again. I’d also started a new poetry comp book called Dualities, where I was experimenting with the dualities (and paradoxes) of life; I really liked the idea of the mind and the heart not just being this or that, but this and that at the same time. This deeply influenced Phoenix to the point where I was was starting to get a good idea of how a character like Poe could be both Mendaihu and Shenaihu in spirit.

The second half of the mix was definitely made in late October or early November, as the first and last tracks are from a sort-of holiday compilation called Invocation that dropped on 7 October. I found myself listening to that particular CD a ton over the next several months, which was totally unlike me. It’s not your typical world music collection, though there is a lot of that on it. It’s like a cross between world music, modern orchestral, and experimental electronica, and it just happened to fit perfectly with The Phoenix Effect.

SIDE 1

Rabbit in the Moon, “OBE”. This was a standout track on the Urbal Beats electronica mix that PGD had put out, and which had gotten a lot of play on the sales floor. I’d remembered hearing it and recognizing the Tori Amos sample (“Precious” from Little Earthquakes, a favorite track due to that excellent piano riff), and thought this was a fantastic use of it. In my head the song embodied the distress of the recently awakened and the fallout that started to pile up at this point.
Shai nO Shai, “Better with White”. This Parisian band came and went so quickly I have no idea who they are other than that they were signed to BMG as a sort of French/Irish alternative folk/indie rock hybrid. Their lyrics were rarely straightforward, either using symbolism or hinting at ancient folk tales. Either way, I loved their one album Human Condition and it got a ton of play in the back room of the store. I’m still not entirely sure what this song is about, though I felt at the time that this was Kai’s approach to her status: a bit of dysphoria and monachopsis (just discovered that word!) but trying to get past it all.
Mansun, “Wide Open Space”. This was such a leftfield track that didn’t fit in anywhere else to the point that it fascinated me. This was a band that had been filed away under Britpop but sounded nothing like Oasis or Blur. They were an odd mix of glam, psychedelia and maybe even a touch of prog, and I was hooked. This song was another mood piece for the story to inspire that feeling of not quite feeling like you belong where you currently find yourself. Safe, but out of place.
Whiskeytown, “Not Home Anymore”. I’d first heard of Ryan Adams via this band, who were much more alt-country than his solo work. I called this one a “high lonesome” track because it does have that feeling of sad bluegrass, in this case returning to your past and finding that nothing remains. Like the above track, this song made me think again about how the recently Awakened would deal with their current situation, having realized there’s no turning back.
Lauren Christy, “Breed (Coda)”. This interesting deep cut is actually a much darker and grittier version of the title song of the album it’s from — the original’s sound is heavier and faster. Because of that, the song’s lyrics take on a more desperate meaning. In the context of Phoenix it becomes about the Awakened understanding how fragile life is and needing to ensure it stays safe and continues.
U2, “Please”. The next to last track off Pop and then the current single from it, this pretty much completes the musical arc I’ve been building up over the last few songs. To me it’s about finally learning your own personal barriers and when to say enough is enough. With Phoenix it then becomes a song about learning how to fight back.
The Chemical Brothers, “Elektrobank”. This was then the current single for Dig Your Own Hole and my favorite track off the album partly because of the brilliant video. I loved the energy of this song as it felt like a long-awaited release, even when it goes into half-speed in the back quarter of the song. It’s a breath of relief. And so with the book it’s the point where one is finally in control of their own self.
Cocteau Twins, “The Thinner the Air”. I’d long been a CT fan and this was a deep cut from the Victorialand album that I loved. It’s such a delicate track that feels more like an exhale. It also feels otherworldly (as most CT songs usually do upon first listen), so it fit nicely in this mix as a follow-up to the previous song. A breath of relief after such a long stretch of anxiety and frustration.
Seal, “Crazy [Acoustic Version/Instrumental Version]”. And yet despite that relief, there’s always that reminder of what happened before it all that you can never quite forget. I absolutely loved the original version when it came out back in 1991. This was a b-side to the CD single and I thought it was fascinating how it mixes two completely different interpretations into one track. I suppose it could be seen as part of that ‘dualities’ thing I mentioned earlier… the calm acoustic and the tension of the instrumental. A theme that pretty much stayed throughout the entire project.

SIDE 2

Jocelyn Pook, “Oppenheimer”. This was from the Invocation compilation and I was taken by its otherworldly chanting, but also my favorite version of the famous “now I am become Death” quote which includes the unnerving ending line that often gets dropped: “…I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.” That deeply personal acceptance of a world-changing event to the point of understanding its consequences sets the tone for the haunting piece itself, and that was a very heavy inspiration on the latter half of Phoenix where it starts getting more intense.
Forest for the Trees, “Dream”. Meanwhile, this Beck-adjacent project is kind of an oddball throwaway (complete with purposely incorrect use of the three person tenses) that I really liked, especially with its utterly strange accompanying video. I liked that this was a much lighter take on the dreamworld versus reality. That was pretty much how I pictured the multiple realities in this project. [This is not available on the Spotify playlist; the YT video is here.]
The Verve, “Bittersweet Symphony [James Lavelle Remix]”. This was an interesting track in that I loved this version before I even knew who James Lavelle was as a producer and the mastermind behind UNKLE, who I’d discover in 1998. I liked that this was almost a deconstruction of the song, mostly a slow drum groove instead of the ‘stolen’ string loop. It doesn’t quite lend itself to the Phoenix project per se, but it does lend itself to the ongoing theme in this volume that deals with Otherness.
Orbital, “The Box”. This was a brilliant single I loved the moment I heard it, and loved it even more once I finally saw the video for it. This was the kind of electronica that appealed to me: the kind that you could sit down and immerse yourself in. There’s this strange otherworldliness to the song that works well with the slowly expanding Mendaihu Universe I was creating.
Dubstar, “Stars”. The US version of their Goodbye album came out that September and I instantly fell in love with it. It had that early 90s Britpop retro feel and this song was just absolutely gorgeous. The album got a ton of play in the back room at HMV and of course gets an MU Legacy Soundtrack badge. This was an easy fit: just taking it literally, singing about the power of love against all odds, which ties in once again with Poe and Kai’s budding relationship.
Nine Inch Nails, “Hurt”. For a while in the mid 90s I listened to The Downward Spiral quite a bit and thought it was a brilliant album. A few years and much self-therapy later and it felt a little too close to home in some respects and became a hard listen. Still, around this time I’d finally gotten my own CD copy of the album (I’d originally had a dub of it from Chris) and started listening to it repeatedly at the store. I’d always loved this particular song and felt it was a perfect ending track. It works here as well, once again tying in with the Otherness theme.
Pulusha, “Isolation, Part 1”. This one is a special song for me for a few reasons. I remember kind of gliding by it the first couple of times I’d heard it on the Invocation CD, but one afternoon at the shop it just…hit me, and hit hard. Between the spiritual aspects of Phoenix and the spiritual research I was doing at the time, the idea of a twin spirit leaving the body for what might be the last time felt so visceral to me and I nearly fell to my knees with the sensation that I was letting go of something forever. I think these days that’s something you might call ‘deconstruction’…? Either way, that was a turning point in my building this universe. It must have been around this time that I’d finally come up with the idea of Trisanda being the destination. I’d had the vague idea of that world being the soul’s origination, but it must have been around this time that the story now had a new focus: reconnection. [This is not available on the Spotify playlist; the YT video is here.]

This mixtape I think solidifies the mood of the project, a point where I’d stopped flailing and pantsing and I had a much better idea of where I wanted it all to go. I’d gotten closer to the characters on a personal level (finally) and that meant I could explore their lives further. While the mix is still a bit disjointed like Vol 2 was, it’s less so this time out because of that closeness.

Songs from the Eden Cycle 2: Annotated

August 17, 2026August 16, 2026 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

This volume was made not long after I came back from the long distance road trip to visit my friend. The first one came out so well, and I was really getting into writing Phoenix at the time, that I wanted to make another volume. This volume was also made mostly in the back room of the record store, grabbing songs both from my own collection and from the CDs we were selling. [I may have opened one or two just to copy some songs, then to shrinkwrap them back up afterwards.] There are a few songs from the original Vigil song list here as well. I was willing to embrace some of the much earlier ideas I’d had for the project that fell by the wayside when I worked on True Faith.

It’s also interesting how this and the next volume feel a bit disjointed, and I think it’s partly because I was making a lot of the mix up as I went along. It was less about grabbing a bunch of songs I already wanted on there and more along the lines of stuff I happened to be listening to at the moment mixed in with stuff in my collection I’d been listening to since ’95. A good portion of it is less about specific scenes or ideas and more about the mood and the vibe I was looking for at the time. This one does work, although it’s not nearly as strong as volumes 1 or 4.

Songs from the Eden Cycle, Vol 2.

SIDE 1

George Harrison, “Isn’t It a Pity (Version One)”. If I recall, I think this one just happened to pop up because there had been an open copy of All Things Must Pass that needed shrinkwrapping, and as I hadn’t listened to it in ages (I had it on vinyl), I thought it would be fun to revisit it. I’d always liked this track, dire though it was, and somehow I felt it fit in with the mood of the book, specifically how the newly awakened felt disconnected from everyone. It’s also a classic example of the ‘slow build’, a technique I’ve always loved in music.
The Smashing Pumpkins, “Tonight, Tonight”. I’d picked up Mellon Collie not long after it came out, and even though I felt it was a bit bloated, there were some great tunes on it, and I really liked this one. It’s the exact opposite of the previous track: a celebration of freedom, in this case the freedom given to the newly awakened.
Depeche Mode, “Home”. I was listening to Ultra quite a bit at this time as it was already one of my favorites of the year to date, and the mood of the album fit my current writing project perfectly. There weren’t any specific scenes connected to this song other than a vague idea of Poe’s connection with Kai, who at this point was still a recently awakened character instead of the Mendaihu agent she became in A Division of Souls. He wanted to provide her with comfort and a place to belong.
Beck, “The New Pollution”. This continues the above idea, a freshly awakened spirit feeling vastly out of place and trying to figure out their new world. “She’s alone in the new pollution” to me sounded like being given a decision: do I remain a victim, or do I make the best of it instead? I think I was also going through the same thing on a personal level at the time.
Tori Amos, “Little Earthquakes”. This dates back to my post-college Boston days when someone had played it over the air on the college station in a way to grieve a lost friend. In a way it also ties in with the above idea of victim versus victor instead… to me it’s also a song about going through all sorts of personal shit, and needing to be strong about it. Something that kind of fit me on a personal level as well.
U2, “Gone”. Another track from Pop, this ties in with the above as well, as to me it created an image of coming to terms with loss, and with putting so much into something and getting diminishing returns. In a way that was how my connection with my ex played out so I channeled that into the story as well: finding a reason to let go and move on. “Didn’t want it that much anyway.”
Live, “White, Discussion”. I’d been a fan of the Throwing Copper album since it came out, and I quite liked the epicness of this, especially the way it doesn’t so much end as die out slowly. I also remember it showing up in the Virtuosity movie during my time at the movie theater in Somerville. I took the original idea of this song about constant debate about right vs wrong yet actually doing nothing to fix the problem, and turned it into something tied in with Phoenix. In this case, the bigotry the newly awakened would most likely have to deal with, whether now or in the future. That had always been a plot idea: bigotry against The Other, and those who are all talk and no action about it. I suppose that’s always been in a lot of my stories at the time, come to think of it.
Delerium, “Silence”. I absolutely loved this track at the time, and I’m pretty sure I copped the promo copy of the Karma album by then. [I’d also been a fan of Sarah McLachlan at the time.] It got a lot of play on AOR and alternative radio that summer. This ties in with the electronica wave that I felt fit in perfectly with the project; something slightly futuristic and different from the mainstream.

SIDE 2

Sneaker Pimps, “Post-Modern Sleaze [Video Mix]”. Becoming X was getting a lot of play both in the back room and during my writing sessions, as it was the perfect mood music for this project. I’d started looking into more trip-hop, and that was why I’d glommed onto Tricky’s Pre-Millennium Tension as well. This version is a bit beefier than the original album version, so instead of it feeling a bit sparse and lonely, this one feels more like driving through Bridgetown at 2am, which is totally something Poe would do.
Republica, “Ready to Go [US Mix]”. I needed to put in a song with a bit of oomph in it, otherwise this mix was going to be a bit dire. Well, maybe not, as some of my gloomier mixes worked really well! Anyway — this song was still getting a lot of airplay and had that relentless upbeat drive that worked well with the more positive elements of the story idea. The bliss of the exciting parts of cyberpunk, I suppose.
Stabbing Westward, “What Do I Have to Do?”. This one dates back to the summer before I started at the record store, and I always felt this one could be tied in with a scene of the recently awakened ‘rising up’ in some way. Whether that would be a positive or a negative is left up to question. I liked the idea of a character’s drive being seen as both a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. That duality played a big part in this project from here on in.
Sarah Brightman, “Cape Horn”/”A Salty Dog”. This, on the other hand, dates back to my days in 1993-4 living and working in Boston. I’d started listening to Dive quite often on the way to work in the morning, as it had that light pop feel that was both a bit on the retro side and also calmed my frazzled nerves a bit. The first track, basically an intro, samples 1962’s Mutiny on the Bounty before starting the Procol Harum cover. That song itself is of course about the olden days of sailing, but with this synth-heavy version it made me think about spacefaring instead. It reminded me of an anime I’d seen a year or two previous (title long since forgotten) that used the same ‘don’t know when or if I’m coming back’ melancholy during the space launch scenes. This could easily have helped shape the idea I’d had of the newly awakened souls originating from somewhere other than Earth. [The original did in fact come from my New Age reading, but my remembering the song only helped solidify that.]
The The, “Good Morning Beautiful”. I’d recently read that this song was recorded in London after many bottles of booze had been consumed, and it shows, because it’s a song full of disgust and anger, as only Matt Johnson could pull off. While it doesn’t quite tie in with the Phoenix theme, it does lend itself to the antagonism that would arise between the recently awakened and those working against them. I was still big on the idea of spiritual freedom versus religious rigidity.
Elton John, “Believe”. This one also dates back to 1995 when I was still working on True Faith at the time. While a lot of big name alternative and grunge sounds were coming out in the early part of that year, EJ came out with the quieter and darker Made in England, and this was the big single. I remember liking the track quite a lot and latched onto it because it had that “I believe in love” refrain that worked with the Phoenix theme, specifically the connection Poe and Kai were creating. Love conquers all.
Soul Asylum, “Black Gold”. This one on the other hand dates all the way back to the 1993 Vigil sessions! It shows up on the ‘soundtrack’ notes from that time as well. One original idea I’d had was post-apocaylpse, or more to the point a post-war idea in which NewCanta (and Bridgetown, and so on) were created basically after a horrifying world war that wiped out several cities, and several decades later these sprawls were the result. ‘This flat land used to be a town’ hints at that, and this song would work as a sort of soundtrack to those first years as a prefabricated sprawl.
Joy Askew, “Corrine”. This song I first discovered on one of those label promo mixes, and it does lend itself to the idea of coming out of your shell. Tying in with the Phoenix idea, it’s along the lines of “Dear Prudence” in that ‘get out of the box you’ve put yourself in’ way, which was an idea I’d had for Kai.
Phish, “Free.” I’d been listening to the newish album from them and finally getting around to listening to them more often, and I liked how celebratory this was. It ties in with the previous track, uplifting in its own way. Despite all the strife and turmoil the newly Awakened were dealing with, they also knew they had a goal: to free themselves from their binds and be their true selves.

In retrospect, this volume is fascinating in that it really leans heavily on the New Age aspect of the Phoenix project, something I was still somewhat interested in at the time. It’s also interesting in that the third volume, which I’d make a few months later, had a much darker mood to it.

Songs from the Eden Cycle 1: Annotated

August 14, 2026August 13, 2026 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Recently I’ve been visiting the early days of the Mendaihu Universe project, specifically when I’d started writing it mid-March of 1997. I’ve talked about the background of this story quite often here, but I’ve sometimes commented about its influences only in a passive way. When I started The Phoenix Effect, it was going to be more dark and intense than its previous incarnation as True Faith. And I can safely say that the primary influences of this version were the movies/series Bladerunner, Gall Force, Bubblegum Crisis, and Johnny Mnemonic, and the Masamune Shirow mangas The Ghost in the Shell, Dominion and Appleseed.

Then of course there’s the music. Nearly all of my writing projects have dedicated mixtapes and/or playlists — yes, even the juvenilia and the trunked ideas — and Phoenix was no different. At the time, this new story was still considered part of a much larger extended universe I then called the Eden Cycle, with vague outlines for several books spanning multiple storylines and eras. [That in itself was inspired by the Star Wars expanded universe.] Mind you, I was still nowhere near the write every day goal I was aiming towards, so by June I was only a few longhand chapters in, sessions squeezed in before my shift at HMV or in the evening after dinner.

The first volume of Songs from the Eden Cycle was created for two reasons. One, I needed all the inspiration I could get, and ‘soundtrack’ mixtapes always worked for me; and two, I was heading out on a weeklong multi-state road trip to visit a good friend of mine, and what better way to think about my project than while I’m on the road? I may have only gotten one writing session in during that trip, but I’m sure I gave that mix a few repeat plays at the time.

Songs from the Eden Cycle Vol 1, created June 1997 (likely later in the month).

SIDE 1

Poe, “Hello [Band Version]”. When I first started making the mixtape in the back room of the store, I knew this was going to be the first track because it had inspired the new direction for the Vigil project. Plus, it’s a banger! I liked that the lyrics were an obvious nod to cyberpunk, and to my ears a nod specifically to Johnny Mnemonic and Neuromancer. At the time, Phoenix‘s plot contained the idea of spirits with the ability to switch bodies, including cybernetic clones. The “phoenix” part of the title then was meant to evoke an idea of being reborn, specifically in a violent way. The opening of Phoenix is almost exactly the same as it is in A Division of Souls, only that the Awakening ritual was originally a catastrophic ‘ring of fire’ explosion at the Tower. [Note: Spotify doesn’t have this version available, so the original album version took its place.]
Failure, “Heliotropic”. There’s no specific scene or idea for this song, only that I was listening to Fantastic Planet quite a bit by this time and this was added more as a vibe than anything else. The heavy and distorted bass and the thundering drums to me evoked a grimy night city scene a la Bladerunner. B-Town was never planned to be all grime and grimness, mind you; just certain parts of it to make sure there’s a visible line between the haves and the have-nots.
U2, “Mofo”. I was also listening to Pop a lot at this time too; I loved the album even despite the critics hating it. I loved the almost non-human sound coming from this song, which hinted at that ‘phoenix’ idea; the story at the time had these newly awakened spirits hiding inside cybernetic bodies just this side of the uncanny valley (another Bladerunner influence).
David Bowie, “Dead Man Walking”. Another “phoenix” idea I played around with: what happens to the original bodies once the spirit leaves and enters a new one? What remains? They were a husk at most, and a possible target for a different and malevolent spirit at worst. [I hint at this in The Persistence of Memories when Caren and Poe meet Saisshalé for the first time.] I was also listening to Earthling quite a bit, pleasantly surprised that I’d finally found a non-greatest hits Bowie record that I really liked.
Psykosonik, “Need to Die”. This CD was given to me by a coworker at the record store who was really into the whole electronica and darkwave thing. He liked it all, even though he was not a clubgoer. This darkwave band was similar to bands like VNV Nation and Front Line Assembly, which I also gravitated towards. I liked this laid back groove and thought this song fit the mix. [Note: I would only find out years later that one of the band’s members, Ted Beale, would end up being the infamous Vox Day. I keep the two as separate as I possibly can.]
Live, “Lakini’s Juice”. Secret Samadhi was their weird album, I think. It was the follow up to the hugely successful Throwing Copper, and while there are elements of their heart-on-sleeve earnestness they’ve always had, it’s a much darker affair. This was the first single and definitely a left turn for them: grimy and gritty and unsettling. I thought it fit the flow and mood of the mix nicely.
Elysian Fields, “Lady in the Lake”. Bleeding Cedar was one of the early promo CDs I’d gotten from the store, and I was taken in by the band’s sultry goth sound. It was like listening to a much darker version of Mazzy Star in a way, feeling like the aural equivalent of a ghost story. While “Jack in the Box” was the single, this was the track that appealed to me. Lyrically it doesn’t quite fit but the vibe is perfect.
Moby, “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver”. Despite my wondering why he decided to cover Mission of Burma for his non-electronic ‘punk’ album Animal Rights, I kind of liked this take on one of my favorite Boston-centric songs, as he manages to retain the meaning and energy of the track. Why here? I think partly because WFNX was playing it a lot at the time and I needed to fill out the last part of Side 1. It does sort of fit the mood of Vigil’s take on the situation: if someone has to take the reins and get shit done, it’s definitely going to be them.
The Verve Pipe, “Veneer”. I’d loved the Villains album and had seen them live at Avalon in Boston in May, where I learned the story behind this dreamlike track — driving alone on a deserted Michigan highway while high as a kite. Hearing it in its proper context made me absolutely love the track. In the context of Phoenix, I think this was how I thought a newly ‘awakened’ spirit would feel: completely out of sorts and confused, maybe akin to being high.

SIDE 2

Richard Einhorn & Anonymous 4, “Exlamavit (from Voices of Light)”. I was obsessed with this album in the latter half of 1996, having heard it on an NPR station as I was driving into Boston one night. Einhorn wrote it as a soundtrack to the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. It intrigued me because it was the first modern orchestral piece that caught my interest, and reminded me of my favorite Dead Can Dance moments. This intro piece fit perfectly with the “ring of fire” moment in Phoenix.
Pulp, “Common People”. This was a good year or two old and I was passingly familiar with it but it hadn’t resonated with me until around this time when I finally got what the band was about. I’d been listening to the store copy off and on and knew this was the big hit. It might not completely fit in with the story idea, but the vibe of distrusting those who mock or hate you fit in perfectly. It kind of fits Vigil’s vibe as well.
Sponge, “Isolation”. I’d also been listening to the Working Class Hero John Lennon tribute album quite a bit at the time. It’s a song about Lennon dealing with the darker side of fame and feeling isolated despite being constantly surrounded. While the original from the Plastic Ono Band album is more plaintive and laid bare, this version is more pissed off, and it works alongside the above song with that feeling of social disconnection. [The tribute album is not on Spotify and is thus not on the playlist above.]
The Offspring, “Gone Away”. This song was super popular on WFNX (does anyone remember the first single off this album?), and it sort of continues the whole feeling of social disconnect, this time from a deeply emotional point of view. It inspired a possible idea of a recently awakened character who felt this deeply yet didn’t quite understand where it was coming from yet.
Filter, “Hey Man, Nice Shot”. There were actually a good couple of songs I thought fit the opening ‘ring of fire’ scene, and this was the more ‘violent’ one I came up with, fitting perfectly with my still-occasional use of Miami Vice style of writing. And I can never pass up a song that perfectly uses the quiet –> LOUD dynamic.
Failure, “Daylight”. Even then I’m pretty sure I saw this song as an “ending credits scene” track, because it has such an epic coda that just builds and builds and leaves you breathless at the end. I’m also sure even then I pictured a hard cut to black when the drums and guitars kick in after the last verse. This is the first of many mixtapes where this song makes an appearance.
U2, “Wake Up Dead Man”. Could this be a denouement scene song after all that? Perhaps? It’s near the end of Pop, after all the louder and bigger songs, and it evokes a feeling of exhaustion after all the pomp and noise. It also fits pretty well after “Daylight” — while the former song is the moment where something life-altering happens in the story, this song is the moment right after when one suddenly realizes what its consequences are.
Jamiroquai, “Virtual Insanity”. I’ll be honest, this was more of an “I need one more song to finish this mix off” song, but it also fits the theme and the flow as another ‘end credits’ track. In my mind it does somehow fit in with the feeling of something life-altering happening, and now here we are having to deal with the fallout.

Not bad for a first volume, and it got a ton of play over the next several years. I’d be making two more volumes by the end of the year, with a fourth and then-final one made late in 1998 when I was working on the transcription and revision. Several of the tracks on these early volumes have had direct influence on The Phoenix Effect. [I will talk more about these in future entries here.]

A few variations would show up over the next few years, but in 2018 I’d revive the Songs from the Eden Cycle series as a way to keep the universe in mind. The most current one is Volume 10, created in late 2024.

Jumpstart, restart

June 19, 2026June 18, 2026 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I’m still feeling a bit frustrated with the Theadia project, but the plus side is that I’m finally making an effort to put more work into it after a month or so of being stalled.

One thing that’s been bothering me for a while now is that there are several characters and side plots that are integral yet I’m not giving them enough stage time. This in turn has had a cascading effect in that I can’t quite finish the story because there’s too much of it still missing. This is why I’ve been taking the time to think about how I want to approach this project going forward. I’m still interested in it, and I think it’s worth the work, but clearly it’s going to take a lot more than powering through and filling in the gaps later on.

This is why I initially realized this project was going to be a duology. At least two books, at any rate. I had to stop thinking of it as a standalone and more as a multi-book story, like the Bridgetown Trilogy. Even though it centers on its two main characters, I still need to tell the stories of the other characters they interact with, because theirs is just as important.

This is also why I’ve been thinking about doing a second rewrite. I admit the first rewrite was less of one and more of an extremely detailed reread/major edit hybrid, which did help the story a little bit but in the end didn’t help it enough. [I also admit that part of the reason that happened was my inability to follow through was due to Real Life things going on at the time that needed more attention.] I’m still planning on taking a page from the Belfry Years when I took The Phoenix Effect and rewrote it as the trilogy, only this time I’m going to take it much more seriously.

And ultimately, this is why I’ve been spending the last week or so giving my creative outlets a much needed jumpstart. In order to give enough attention to this, couldn’t just force myself to start over again. I had to return to exercising those creative muscles, getting them back into working order. Thus the return to the 750 Words site, the return to journaling and blogging.

I still have a long way to go, but I’m at least in a much better position to take the right steps to get there.

Scanning the longhand stuff

February 21, 2025February 17, 2025 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, and I may as well start doing it now, considering I have a brand spankin’ new scanner/printer to do it with. And since I’m working on the Trilogy Remaster, why not start with the longhand version of The Phoenix Effect?

I of course have endlessly waxed poetic about my time writing this in the food court of Solomon Pond Mall while I waited for the record store I worked at to open. I’ve also talked about how I consider this novel the turning point in my writing career, where I found my style and acquired the ability to write consistently instead of ‘when I was in the mood’. And about how this was the start of my almost-daily sessions down in my parents’ basement that lasted for almost nine years.

I’m scanning a chapter at a time into pdf form and saving it to my Dropbox, considering that’s the safest route. I may even eventually scan the completed typed version, which currently only exists as inaccessible MS Write files. This first chapter was surprisingly long at nineteen handwritten pages, and I’m pretty sure the first five or so were rewritten from an earlier and much rougher draft (probably no earlier than a few weeks at most) that must be kicking around somewhere.

Why do this at all, you ask? Well, why not? I’ve been wanting to revisit all this stuff at one point or another, and it’s easier to read a pdf on my PC or ereader than it is to dig most of this stuff out of their dusty corners where they currently reside. And besides, I think it would be fun to have all of this stuff in one easy place.

Will I eventually scan my other work? Sure, why not? I’ve got all sorts of longhand and pre-MS Word work, trunked and otherwise, that I haven’t revisited in years. It may be of no one else’s interest but my own, but I think that’s a perfectly fine reason to do it anyway.

On Writing: Letting Ideas Percolate

March 31, 2014 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I’ll be truthful–the Mendaihu Universe has been percolating in my brain for at least twenty years this past winter.

Twenty years. Isn’t that a bit long for me to be sitting on these novels? Shouldn’t they have all been written, published and made into movies by now? Shouldn’t I already be working on the next trilogy in the universe? Well, in a perfect world–yes, of course! And with that, I’d have some nice cash in the bank as well. This, however, is not that perfect world. There are reasons it’s taken me so long to get those beginning scraps of ideas into the shape they’re in now. For one, back in winter 1993-94, I only had the gung-ho to write them but the barest of plots. For another, I had to do more homework in the genre, learn what makes a good SF/F novel that people would enjoy.

But a very large portion of it was the fact that I had to learn how to write in the first place.

I’d been toying with writing science fiction during most of fall 1993, just after I’d graduated college. There were a few pieces of inspiration: Akira, the Gall Force OVAs, other SF/F-themed anime, Orson Scott Card’s How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy and Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing. And there was my music collection as well, to inspire me and keep me company.

The first few ideas popped up most likely that December–I’d finally given up on trying to resurrect one of my earlier novel ideas, and scrapped nearly everything except a single idea: an underground gang who broke the all the rules, but for the right reasons. From there I played around with a few tropes: a multi-planetary setting (created while doing laundry one afternoon on Charles Street), a giant sprawling city (part of my lifelong compulsive habit of map drawing), cyberterrorism (Hi, CompuServe and AOL! Glad to have you around!), politics (Clinton had just entered office) and so on. I hadn’t quite latched onto cyberpunk yet, though I had read a bit of Gibson by then, and within a few years we’d get a short but interesting wave of internet-themed movies (The Net, Hackers, Strange Days, and Johnny Mnemonic for example) that would add fuel to this idea. I was pretty much open to anything at that point.

A number of months later I was writing the first attempt, True Faith. [To spare you the story some of you already know, here’s the short version: TF was an extension of the “Vigil” underground gang idea with all the other inspirations I noted above, plus a twist: I added a bit of spiritual enlightenment, inspired by my then-recent foray into Wicca. It was co-written with my then-girlfriend Diana; it was mostly my idea and my writing, but she came up with a few of the character backgrounds, plot twists and wrote a few passages as well.] This version lasted from summer 1994 to probably late 1996 and was never completed, for various reasons. One of the most important being I just was not happy with the prose.

What was wrong with it, anyway? Well, for one, I think I was focused too much on inner dialogue. The characters did a lot of thinking and contemplating and not much doing anything afterwards. For another, I’d written a lot of scenes starting something but never quite completing them. And worse, I had a habit of writing what I call “stage directions”: the character did this, he went over there, he got up and tapped a code, he did that, he went there. The end result was that I’d come up with a lot of interesting ideas and scenes, but the execution lacked any kind of oomph.

Come 1997, I chose to start again, almost completely from scratch. This was The Phoenix Effect; it retained the spiritual bent, the underground gang and the cyberpunk ideas, but the focus was now on two new characters, investigators hired to figure out why certain AI units were now becoming more human. That last idea was inspired by my 1996-8 foray into New Age spirituality, infusing the idea that the soul came from elsewhere other than Earth. This novel did get finished, and I even attempted to submit it to a few places, but I was still unhappy with it.

I toned down the stage directions, I followed through on the action, and I had the characters doing things instead of just thinking about them. What was wrong this time?

Two further problems: quantity and delivery. The description of scenes and characters was slim to nil, as I’d focused too much on getting the story out on paper. Who were these people in my novel, anyway? Why were they there? Where were they? In my head, to be honest. I had them up here in my cranium–I knew exactly what they looked like, where they were, what they sounded like…but I’d put none of that on paper. I realized part of this was due to having written this longhand–I was focusing on keeping the story moving that pausing for a few seconds to describe something felt like I’d tripped up. I’d expand on these things a little when I transferred it computer, but there was still a lot missing.

Cue the third attempt, right around 2000-1, with A Division of Souls. This would be the first novel I’d write completely on the PC. Fully-expanded, complete scenes? Check. Expanded description of characters and scenery? Check. Expansion of the characters’ backstories? BIG check. Expansion of plot? BIG check. Scenes and plot points were completely rewritten and others totally new. I even plotted ahead a few chapters before writing them, something I rarely did before then. The outcome worked so well that I ended up with not one but three novels, which I wrote well into 2004. I was quite proud of this trilogy. And yet…

What was the problem this time? Well, aside from burning out in late 2004 and never finishing Book 3, I still didn’t quite get what I was doing wrong. I had a great story idea, an extended universe to play in, well-crafted characters, and description galore. So why was I still not quite there yet?

Again: the writing. It took me a long time to figure this part out, and only recently, in the last year or so, did I finally get it. You could see the choppy edits, the “screw it, I’ll fix it later” passages, the subplots that went nowhere. In other words, I had an extremely rough draft, and I’d said “good enough”, and that was the killer. I had the finished product, but I just hadn’t bothered to polish it at all. You see, I wasn’t quite there yet. I still had that final hurdle.

This meant some major review and revision. And I mean major review. So how did I go about it this time? Well, this time out I took all three books (I’d finally finished Book 3 in January of 2010) and put them on my Nook, and proceeded to read them. And read them. And read them. AND READ THEM.

I immersed myself in these three books to the point that I had the entire trilogy arc in my head. Over the course of six months or so, I must have read all three books from start to finish through at least three or four cycles, and each time I made a mental note of what needed fixing, from big things like story arcs to miniscule things like dialogue tags. And starting in 2012, I started the biggest revision I’d ever gone through in my life. I painstakingly went through each chapter and worked the hell out of each one. Some chapters were relatively quick to work through, but those first six or seven chapters in Book 1 were almost completely rewritten from scratch–a lot of those passages hadn’t been properly revised since their 2001 inception.

As of today, I’m on Chapter 10 of Book 3. It’s been one hell of a long trip, but it’s been worth it. I learned a hell of a lot in these past few months, possibly more than I’ve ever done in the last ten years combined, about what makes a decent manuscript and what doesn’t. And most important, I finally learned how to write.

Now, should this have taken twenty years? Who knows. I’ve got other interests aside from writing science fiction, and I’ve had day jobs that took precedence. I’ve had personal events intervene. And yes, just like any other writer, I get distracted easily. Am I fine that it’s taken two decades to get where I am, and I still haven’t gotten these things published? Yes, I am. I’d rather have a complete and professional product out there that I’m proud of, rather than release a half-assed, phoned-in book that I wouldn’t be able to resell, at least not to any publisher. I’ve learned other things on the way too, come up with new ideas for the Mendaihu Universe. I’m not about to write this world off just yet, not when I have more to say about it. As soon as I’m done with this major revision of the first trilogy, I’m going to start working on the next one.

So yes, sometimes it’s a good idea to let ideas percolate. Sometimes the end result is worth the wait.