The story of Raq has been around for some time. It first came to life as a short story, part of an anthology called Slayers with 7DS Publishing. At the time, Raq was called We Are Not Alone. Fast-forward some years, and I gave it some tweaks and put it together in my own short story collection, Science Fiction & Space Opera Short Story Collection.
I’d always planned to make it into a full-length novel, or a novella at the very least. But, for a long time, I wasn’t sure what direction it should take. I played around with some plots and the beginnings of a storyline formed. Once it had grown to a respectable word count, the story sort of stalled and needed fresh eyes, so I knew it was time to get my beta readers to give it an ogle. After this, and several re-reads, the story started to take shape again, and soon, Raq became something I was quite proud of. Since its release, I’ve received many positive comments and reviews, and I’m glad I ploughed on and finished the story. And to think I was this close to shelving it entirely.
The idea for The Dark Without sparked one day, a few years ago, during a power outage. I sat in the darkness with nothing but a battery-operated lantern and wondered, as many do during a power failure, when the electricity would come back on. Because, you know, no Wi-Fi so no smart devices could be used, among other things. Sad, I know, but this is the time and generation we all live in.
Then, several days later, I thought about the power outage and wondered, what if it never came back on? What would I do? What would people do? How would we restructure our lives to accommodate no electricity? People had done it before, way back when, but what and how would this modern generation fare, one used to conveniences and technology that relied heavily on power?
From there, various scenarios ran through my head, and I remembered that television show, Revolution, and how everyone’s lives had changed from the loss of power. I really enjoyed that show, by the way, and when it got cancelled, I was pretty pissed off.
Anyway, long, meandering story short, one thought bubble multiplied exponentially. The scenarios changed, and the outline took a zig-zag while twirling and twerking about a long and circuitous path…much like the current story. I may have technically completed eights drafts, but if I am being completely honest, it’s more like something close to fifteen. Then, part-way, the outline itself changed again and became the story it is now.
After many beta reads with great insights and suggestions, The Dark Without finally took proper shape and was completed. Now all that remained was the cover design. Normally, being a graphic designer, I do my own covers, but for this book, I wanted something completely different! Something wild, chaotic, meandering and cyclic to reflect the book. I probably could’ve done it myself, but for once I wanted that task out of my hands. I came across the insanely talented Phil Sadler on Instagram. We got to chatting and tossing about ideas. With some (many) tweaks, we had the final product.
Technicolour Sandbox is a name that just popped into my head, and I imagined a jumbled scene of multi-coloured, multi-layered images and stories like an overstuffed box of toys, random and chaotic, tangled, upside down and almost spilling over. Over the years, I had written an odd assortment of stories I’d started, abandoned or shelved. A while back, I sorted through these treasures (some made me recoil in horror at my juvenile attempts at writing), and pulled out those with a similar “theme”.
With the growing shadow of AI looming over us, and in some cases creeping silently in the background without us even realising, I came to the conclusion that these stories, along with some new ideas, would be perfect for a short story collection. Let’s face it, AI and the digital era is here, and it’s here to stay. However it’s used, abused or governed, it’s not going anywhere. It’s everywhere, from computer software to help creators lay down fonts and artwork to special effects in cinematic productions. Robotics is moving forwards in gigantic leaps and bounds. Everything is pretty much dependant on a piece of code. But we are (hopefully) still human, and as humans we have an intrinsic drive to rebel, to maintain, to be individual despite being a collective. With this basic theme in mind, I tweaked or altered the stories to suit.
While these stories are created by me, a one hundred-percent human, and my imagination, in a tongue-in-cheek gesture, I decided to have the cover art created using AI software. Of course, my attempts were middling to downright horrible. I was probably doing it wrong. So I commissioned Jason H. Abbott. If you’re on Instagram, go follow him. He’s been producing some truly incredible AI-generated art conjured by his imagination. He did not disappoint!
T.K. Toppin is a published author of Science Fiction, Space Opera and Speculative Fiction novels and short stories. Her stories are character-driven and scattered with mystery, intrigue and excitement. T.K. was born, raised and lives in Barbados. When she’s not writing, she can be found seriously working on her doctorate in procrastination by binge-watching shows on streaming networks, doing absolutely nothing, and juggling the baffling realm of social media marketing.
You can find out more about T.K. Toppin on
Linktree,
Instagram,
Threads,
TikTok,
Facebook,
Twitter and
Blogspot.
Subscribe to J.C. Gemmell’s newsletter to discover other independent authors of sci-fi, dystopian and cyberpunk fiction.
