Making significant progress on the Doctor Hightower series for Amazon Vella. This is a new Amazon “product” based on serialized stories targeting phone readership. It is based on episodes as opposed to chapters. This is a little different for me to be writing episodes rather than chapters. Of course, it is also just the same. The episodes by design are a little shorter than the chapters in a book and the total word count will be less.
Hightower was a project I really liked that got caught up in my health problems and mental malaise. It is great to be zipping along with this story now.
Plot recap: In 1938 at Harvard University a team of scientists were working on developing a life extending drug from substances gathered by world famous scientist Dr. McAlister. This team included a young Dr. Hightower and his wife Anna. Included in the group was a hot head named Baxter. McAlister calls off the project because he is uncomfortable with the funding source (the military), the pending war and how his discovery might be used. Baxter decides that the documents about the formulae would be valuable and he will sell them to the highest bidder. To make his document the most valuable, he decides to eliminate (kill) all members of the team. This hideous objective includes killing Anna Hightower. Baxter confronts her at home and shoves her off the roof patio. She strikes her head on a fence and dies instantly. During this confrontation Hightower confronts Baxter and the result was Baxter also falling to his surmised death off the roof.
However, Baxter survives and escapes. This begins a lifelong battle between the two mortal enemies.
Image icon for the series:
Not sure when this will be live on Amazon but would guess within the next few months.
The Hightower project has bumped Durango Two Step back a little. My estimate on the next Vincent Malone book is late summer–yes, this year. I know my credibility on this book is not good–seems like I’ve been writing this for year; but it is alive and well and I’m writing on a regular basis again. So maybe it will actually happen.
Nothing new happening with my art. Have plans for more uploads of past art in the next few months.
That means more cactus and tumbleweed stuff. There was a period of time when we were living in New Mexico that all I painted was cactus or tumbleweeds–some of these got a little weird but they were pleasing to me.
Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary 