Hello again! It seems that every time I go to a sci-fi conference, people always ask me how I created the images and got the ideas for the various spacecraft, space stations, and other assorted vehicles for my novels. I’m happy to explain it to them there, but I also figured there might be more people out there who are curious as well. So I’ve begun to create blog posts that address these questions.

Today I will be talking about the creation of the aerostat that is featured in Book 3 of the AlCent Sagas series. To be honest, many of these creations began as totally unrelated musings sometimes decades ago. I would see an ordinary object and my mind would begin to mull over the possibilities for it. (When I was a kid, my parents soon found out that putting me in my room was no punishment. If I had only a pencil, it became a rocket on a space voyage of exploration. If there was a pen nearby, it became an airship exploring the jungles of Africa or South America. Even if I found a paper clip, it might be bent into an excavator on a distant planet!) Some of these ideas stayed with me over the years, waiting for a story in which I could apply them. The aerostat was no exception.

If I remember it correctly, I was playing with my kids on the carpet when I picked up a small ballpein hammer like this one. I reasoned that if it were an aerostat (airship), where would it best be used? Surely not for long distance voyages, for it’s envelope form would be too inefficient for that. Maybe it could be used for travel down into deep crevasses. The flat face of the hammer would house a fan to drive it, the ball would be the cockpit, and the middle would hold the cargo (balanced under the load). I mulled it, and then filed it away in my brain.

Later, as I began to sketch out the various stories of the AlCent Sagas series, I started to develop the idea on paper to get my head around the concept. Once I have the dimensions and features clearly in my mind, I can “see” it enough to begin writing.

These are the drawings I submitted to my cover artist. He takes them and works his magic to create the images that adorn each book. He is amazing, and you can see more of his work here. https://www.artstation.com/kapucha76

Here are some early stages of the aerostat development by Kapusta. I believe he got on the right track from the start! He says my drawings help a great deal. You can see his progress to the final product.

My next hurdle was to worldbuild enough to “see” the terrain, buildings, vehicles, et cetera. But before I could do that I had to create the history of the place. I began eons ago with the star Alpha Centauri B blowing off some of its surface. Planet AlCent B1 caught much of this blast which created the large fissures on one side of the planet. The blown off star material, once found by early Alpha Centauri explorers, would later be called “varysium,” an extremely dense material highly prized for its strategic uses. (All this is merely back story which the reader picks up as they go along.)

Next I built out the settlements that would be found on the planet AlCent B1. These drawings were made to help me visualize the planet and locations as I wrote the story. I never submitted them to my artist Wojtek Kapusta. Perhaps I should! Readers of “AlCent Sagas: Book 3 – Investigation” will be familiar with the concepts and locations. Between the drawings and the novel, how did I do?

I hope you enjoyed this explanation of the development of the aerostats and the worldbuilding of AlCent B1. The book was released on Amazon for Kindle and print some weeks ago, and the Audible version should be released any day now. I hope you enjoy all the books in the series! Until my next post!

Novels by James Crawford –

Mariner Valley – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141N9UXO

Seed of Aldebaran – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SHXTRMP

AlCent Sagas Book One: Formation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQ5C3TQT

AlCent Sagas Book Two: Revelation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2FRH6Q8

AlCent Sagas Book Three: Investigation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5SBFYMW

AlCent Sagas Book Four: Desperation – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D84DF2N9

A Noble Paradise – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QG6LZ10

Cover artist – https://www.artstation.com/kapucha76