The Extrapolated Man is an epic science fiction novel set on Mars after a disastrous war with Earth leaves both planets under control of the Tharks, artificial lifeforms created as weapons who now rule the solar system. In the western wilds of Valles Marineris, Maggie finds a recording of a dead man’s memories in the wreckage of the experimental ship he flew in the war. Her discovery catapults her into a dangerous race with a psychopathic rival intent on stealing her find, and a hive of Tharks bent on erasing its very existence. To survive she must resurrect the dead man in the body of a battered warbot, and hope her creation can reconcile the past it had as a man and the future it has as a machine before their enemies destroy them both.
Art by Charles Oines
I love this cover by Charles Oines, and will continue to elements of it. My original thought was that 90% of the hard science fiction books I surveyed featured a spaceship – usually dramatically unrealistic – and a planet. Phallus and chalice, some would say. So that’s what I asked for, and Charles delivered brilliantly, with a gorgeous and realistic model of the torchship UCM Tereshkova departing a partially terraformed Mars.
However, the cover says very little about the story (my bad), and has not resonated with “the market.” So I’m going with something new. It’s all a marvelous learning experience.
Many thanks to Charles for making this cover for me. He’s a real pro, and a pleasure to work with.
Just about the first thing I’m asked when I tell someone about The Extrapolated Man is, “Will there be a sequel?”
Absolutely! There will be a sequel. I have roughed out the plot and the basic ideas I want to explore, with the notion that the sequel will pick up not long after ending of The Extrapolated Man. My goal is to have something out within a year, which sounds like a long time, but … a typical novel is a 2000 hour job for a typical writer, which is a full work-year if you’re not Brandon Sanderson.
And there are some unknowns along the way. I’ve got a couple short stories in development, and one of them is acting like it wants to be a novel too. Which is fine; it’s probably adjacent to the sequel (same universe, different era). But stories compete for headspace and sometimes the one that wins wasn’t the one you were planning to write just yet. So… yes, there will be a sequel. And there will likely be a short story or two before, and it’s possible that one of those will expand like a pocket universe into a related book that pushes the actual sequel out.
But however it works out, the main thing is that barring unfortunate encounters with apex predators and the like, there will be more!