posted 05-16-2012 07:54 AM               

This material will fold into the section I'm doing up right now on the 'Vega' flights to Venus and Halley's comet. That's an odd combo perhaps, but makes sense in the context of celestial mechanics. Vega also definitely represented a 'compromise' mission, in which an original idea was modified in order to accommodate several goals.

I probably have one or two interviews left and then this last section will come together over the late summer months. This fall and early winter are budgeted for revisions and, unfortunately, some trimming. As usual, these people have done so many interesting things that it's hard to encapsulate it all in one book - especially with my 'day-by-day in the trenches' approach that I sometimes fall in to.

posted 08-05-2012 10:28 AM               

Pretty much every spare moment is being channeled into fleshing out material in the final chapters, and slimming some of the earlier ones.

Since my last post I've conducted additional interviews, and refined major sections of the text. There is kind of a 'boiling down' process that is happening right now.

Many Viking folks are monitoring Curiosity quite closely, as all are interested in seeing the results of its tests on Martian soil. This machine could endorse, nullify, or completely re-write the Viking results. No pressure there!

posted 10-10-2012 09:07 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Gallentine:
Many of these people are in their late 70s, or early/mid 80s, and can still talk about this stuff like it was yesterday.

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posted 10-31-2012 11:05 PM               

Still very much to do - some factual corrections didn't make the deadline, and it's still too long. But the work has come a very long way and I'm excited to tell some stories that frankly have never been heard before.

I am also aiming for 100% previously-unpublished pictures. Not sure if I'll make that, but it'll be close anyhow!

cspg, you're absolutely correct that the moments of personal contact with these people are priceless. There are days when I think about all the history that these people have seen, and here I am trying to pull just a little more out of them, and it's truly a fortunate position to be in.

jiffyq58, you've got some priceless material there in those Mariner reports! Hang on to that stuff; it's quite difficult to find hard-copy originals.

And Philip, you are correct that the final title is still in flux. The book focuses squarely on the inner solar system - our first landings and rovings and testings for life. The title needs to reflect that, while still evoking the grandeur and majesty of exploration.

posted 05-13-2013 09:19 PM               

At this stage, the book is tightening up nicely. I have been doing a complete front-to-back read-through which, to the dismay of my family, is being done out loud. But it's pretty much the only way I can gauge how smoothly the text is reading. (Ambassadors from Earth was read out loud at least three times. Occasionally I had to go out and sit in the car to do this.)

My list of corrections is now mercifully short.

Also, the state of the pictures has really improved. I continue to hunt for those elusive gems - shots from people's basements that nobody has ever seen before. And overall, I am quite pleased with the results so far. My scanner has been working overtime as I've processed old photographs, someone's yearbook photo, and even an original printout of data from Viking.

posted 05-14-2013 06:28 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay Gallentine:
(Ambassadors from Earth was read out loud at least three times. Occasionally I had to go out and sit in the car to do this.)

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posted 09-18-2013 08:44 PM               

Right now the length is very similar to that of Ambassadors. At my worst I think I was about 13,000 words over budget, but through some tough decisions was able to cut back to fighting weight.

posted 12-21-2013 01:27 PM               

I like it for a variety of reasons. I like that the title is somewhat majestic while the sub-title explains what's inside. I like the idea that the unknown can beckon. I like the Romper-Room, tramp-through-the-mud feel of 'adventuring'. So there you go!

The next hurdle I suppose is the cover art. Still under discussion.

posted 03-29-2014 11:34 AM               

Late last year the Press got back to me and said that they really liked the manuscript, but would like for it to be somewhat shorter. It's true: I can be really long-winded. I began that process of shortening just after the New Year and finished last weekend.

Although I was certainly sorry to see some of the material go, really it's a tighter and better book overall now.

I get asked a lot about what the process is like to submit the final work, so I'll try to cover that here.

When you're done making changes to the manuscript, it has to be formatted and printed in a very specific fashion which is detailed on a two-page handout that gets sent to you. Double-space, 12pt. Courier, etc.

Then you have to print two copies of it, but don't bind them or anything. Just rubber-band the pages:

The images take a lot of preparation. They have to be of sufficient resolution to be useful, and you have to have permission for every shot you use. The upshot of this is, don't submit low-res pictures you downloaded off the web and don't have permission for!

Each picture must be numbered, captioned, and printed out on its own page. You must also indicate whether a shot should be cropped:

The photo permissions all go into a binder. Joining those are written releases for each person you interviewed:

So by the time you're done, the binder is full of permissions and photo captions and cropping indications, your CV, and a sort of mini-bio sheet:

So once that is done, you burn data DVDs of your imagery and manuscript files. They go into the binder as well. You include a cover letter telling the publishers all about what amazing people they are and how thankful you are to be working for them (which is ALL TRUE, by the way). Then it's (finally) off to the Post Office.

I wrote the proposal for this book in 2008, while Ambassadors was still in copy-edit. So I must say it's a bit surreal to have made it to this stage and still have my sanity.

In a few months I should receive the copy-edited manuscript and will have the penultimate chance to modify things.

posted 01-04-2015 09:03 PM               

The completed and revised manuscript has been in the hands of the publisher for several months now, and is in the process of being copy-edited. I should see that back any time.

All the final picture selections have been made and turned in. I forget if I said this already, but somewhere around 90% of the book pictures have NEVER before been in print. I'm very pleased about that.

I do have a draft of the cover but it's nothing final and hinges on a photographic permission. I just can't post that quite yet.

But I am very VERY pleased to report that a wonderfully thoughtful Foreword to Infinity Beckoned has been written by "Mohawk Guy" Bobak Ferdowsi from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. No matter what that guy does, he seems to do it rather well!

As it stands, the book is due out in late summer/early autumn of 2015.

I can't tell you how much it means to have all you folks enthused about this project. It's been a real journey for me, with some amazing stories to tell that haven't been heard anyplace else.