Over the last couple of days, I've gotten most of the first chapter of "DSS Vimana" done.

This is going to be one hell of a book, complete with weird Gnostic themes and intense contrasts of scenery.

As I've mentioned before, it starts in an alternate 1939 where the Second World War has been averted by the Space Race and starts in the UK and US. I had also planned for one of the settings to be an off-world colony around the year 2305. But I have now added Laon, France in 1153 and the UK in 1946, in a furry version of our timeline.

The principle theme is neither time travel nor reincarnation as such but rather the insidious illusion thereof and the malevolent, predatory cosmic deities that rely on that illusion for sustenance, much like an ant mimic spider or an angler fish relies on illusions to feed. In such a universe the only salvation is to know what the trap is and how to avoid it, but when your only clue is the cryptic phrase "Godric of Hereford Lays Dying," you don't have much to go on. And so like a Koan or scripture, it remains at the back of one's mind until it finally makes sense because until that moment, it is an extra piece that can't be made to fit.

I'm either writing the best stories of my life, or I'm a genuine lunatic for thinking this up. I described the plot to Kobi and he said it sounded like a fever dream, so I'm not sure if that's going to be an asset or a liability.