My last post hinged on the new Star Wars movie, Rise of Skywalker. Some of my beef with the last movie had to do with character development and arc.

I’m not going to get into other people’s characters today.

Instead I want to look at my own characters. I have a single main character, Atom Ulvan Meriwether. Supporting him I have the crew of the ship: his daughter Margo, the ship’s AI imprinted with his dead wife, Daisy the pilot, Shi the gunslinger, Byron the mech, and Hither the hybrid courtesan-bodyguard.

Each of these characters comprise the crew and thereby they are each a part of a unit that adds layers and depth to the story. They orbit around Atom and his ultimate goal of survival across the Black.

With Atom I wanted to portray a character with more of a story than your average wandering gunslinger. I wanted a backstory that could be visited through the brief introductory segment, through flashbacks, and through conversation with the crew. Atom is a duality in a character. He embodies a walking death fused with the life affirming tenderness of fatherhood. Through Atom I wanted the readers to contemplate the lengths we would go to protect our children. What would we do to deal with the loss of a spouse, of a soul-mate? How would we strive to create order when the universe dumps an extra helping of clan-destroying chaos in our laps?

And that’s Atom in a nutshell. He is an example of ‘the higher you rise the farther you have to fall’ and life thereafter. From the Emperor’s left hand to the captain of a small freighter, he had to remake his entire existence.

Each character in Atom & Go: Genesis has a place. Each is a piece of the puzzle. I plan to return to those pieces sporadically through the next few posts.

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I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays from balmy Corning, NY. Seriously, it was almost 50 degrees today. People were jogging in shorts. Usually this time of year is accompanied by single digit temperatures and that’s warm if there’s no wind-chill.

As we approach the new year I want to challenge each and every person who reads this blog to make it a point to say out loud three things you are thankful for. I know this time of year can be rough for a lot of people, but even at our lowest moments there are things that we can be thankful for. If we choose to bring a positive outlook to our everyday lives we can affect those around us in a positive way.

I might not be able to to get another post out this week as we are going to be visiting family in the great brown north. Usually they are inundated with snow at this time of year, but right now the ground is nekkid and cold. So, I’ll probably see you next year.

I hope you all get some great books for Christmas. Keep on reading them and keep on flying the Black.