Iskander: Blog

Many stories these days are part of a series and we all know what is meant by a prequel and a sequel - and a standalone. With both of these, there is an explicit placing of the story in the series timeline. But what do we call a story that takes place entirely within the time frame of another story? Or one that is contemporaneous with another related story, even if the stories don't touch until later in the series?

My new novella Colette, currently being posted, is a case in point. It is contemporaneous with Mrs Henderson's Limp and is also a prequel to Through my Eyes. Again. The main character, French/English Colette is referred to in Through my Eyes. Again. and also in the upcoming sequel Through different Eyes. That upcoming novel (watch out for it in 2023) takes place almost entirely within the time frame of Through my Eyes. Again. telling the story of Col and Mutti Frida from when they disappeared from Will Johnstone's life in late April 1964.

Colette is thus a parallel story to Mrs Henderson's Limp and a prequel to Through my Eyes. Again. The four stories are all related - and the epilogues of Colette and Through different Eyes describe the same event - but through different eyes.

I suppose the four stories populate and define a "universe" in some way - but one that has diverged into an alternate timeline sometime after 1945. Perhaps the defining moment for that split is when Will Johnstone's consciousness is transported into his twelve-year-old body (October 1962).

But placing them in a universe has left unsolved the problem of how to describe them. In a way, these stories mirror life. We are all the central character in our own story but a subsidiary character in the story of those people entwined, however loosely, in our story.

In that sense, prequel and sequel seem to lose their relevance.

Chapter 1 of my latest novella (about 30,000 words) has just been submitted and should appear soon. I will be posting a chapter a week - but please note that the chapters are not of equal length - indeed this first chapter is very short.

There are eight chapters, an epilogue and an afterword.

The complete novella is available on Bookapy and for my Patrons on my Patreon (see my profile for the link).

Finally, please be aware that this story, somewhat inevitably, travels into some fairly dark places - and that starts in Chapter 1.

Through different Eyes the sequel to Through my Eyes. Again. is progressing. A number of people have been reading the first draft and providing feedback. I've now gathered all that into a single document so I can see the entire picture and work on their suggestions. I'm hoping to release TDE towards the end of the year.

I have also completed a slightly related novella about the Colette that Mutti Frida met in Ravensbruck Concentration camp. This is now available for beta readers. If you'd like to join the beta reader program, please drop me an email here.

As always, take care of you and yours in these increasingly 'interesting' times.

Iskander
(Robert Hart)

It's been a while, so I thought I'd update everyone about the sequel to Through my Eyes. Again.

The good news is that the first draft is complete and beta readers are now providing feedback, allowing me fix any problems that exist (and they've found a few already). I'm hoping to have Through different Eyes on Bookapy and serialised on SoL before the end of the year.

If you can't wait to find out what happened when Col & Mutti Frida disappeared, you can join the beta reading program at my Patreon (see my profile for the link).

Robert Hart
(Iskander)

Welcome to 2022 - even though it opens in quite a dark place, we have to hope it will improve from here.

As a late Christmas present - or an early New Year present or even a present from me to you on my birthday - you can get the final excerpt from Col’s diary on my page here - it's just been uploaded. This takes the story up to the start of Through my Eyes. Again. and so once you’ve read this, go and grab the ebook from Bookapy. If you want a paperback, that's available at Amazon.

As everything (including my birthday party) has been cancelled due to Omicron, this is quite a prolific writing time. As well as completing Col’s diary, I am 5,000 words into chapter 16 of Through different Eyes (the sequel to TMEA). I'm also working on a parallel story to Mrs Henderson's Limp but it's been stuck for about 10 days - but I think I can see my way forwards there, now I’ve let it brew for nearly a week. It is about another SOE radio operator - but it's going to be about 25,000 words (it's at 18,000 at present).

Here's hoping this year is better than the last two.

Take care of you and yours,
Robert
(Iskander)