Book 1: The Orphan from Space (Jan 2014)
Book 2: The Crystal Crowns (Aug 2014)
Book 3: Return to Earth (Oct 2014)
Book 4: Betrayal on Gruentok (May 2015)
Book 5: Galactic Quest (Sept 2016)
The Cornish Talisman Series started with the story about a young man that inherits his grand father's farm
and finds a spaceship hidden in one of the barns. I even had a couple of
chapters written and a couple of the main characters defined. The title "My Grandfathers Spaceship".
Catchy title don't you think? But, as usual, I found the story had a different idea and kept teasing me to change focus.
Then came my first decision on where the story was headed all based on my first
sticking point. Sticking points, you know, those things in a story that just
reach out like thorns behind the roses and keep jabbing at you.Anyway, I changed direction and decided to tell the story behind how the spaceship
came to be hidden in the barn and of course where it had come from.
Well, it rapidly developed into a space yarn involving a fifteen year old boy aboard a family owned and operated survey ship that discovers a long abandoned ship of the Predecessors. The Predecessors were an ancient group of beings that vanished long before present humanity developed space travel. All three families aboard their ship have children and our young hero is also not the oldest.
Arial is three years older and the captain's daughter. She treats him like a child, and he, of course, is madly in love with her. It is a twisted set of circumstances that leaves our young Jasom marooned on Earth and living at an abandoned farm in Nashua, Montana in our year of 1952. He is lost, alone, and doesn't know if he'll ever see his family again. Circumstances have a way working things out and our young orphan is taken in by a childless couple who run the local store in town. Years go by without a word from his parents as he blends into the local school system and eventually starts college.The title has a further allusion to which you will have to read to find out.
At the end of book 1 "The Orphan from Space", I split the story line between book 2, "The Crystal Crowns", and book 3, "Return to Earth". Time wise, book 2 recombines with the main story line near the end of book 3. However, book 4 "Betrayal on Gruentok" begins at the end of book 2 and intersects near the middle of book 5 "Galactic Quest". So far, its been a span of almost 9 years since the beginning of book 1. Many new characters have been added along the way and several threads have been left hanging. Galactic Quest does more than just close the threads, it brings the story of Jasom and Arial to a turbulent but happy ending.
Which brings me back to "My Grandfathers Spaceship", the original story. I've toyed with the idea and developed a somewhat plausible story line that would pick up nearly 50 years after the first series closes and centers on the grandson of Jasom and Arial. There would also be some characters from the original books along with a delightful clone of the Cornish Talisman's AI Cornell.
(see the blog on My Grandfather's Spaceship for more details)
