The Travelers

A Novel by Mark Johnston

Book Two of the New Enlightenment

In the thrilling sequel to Mark's debut, Solar Umbrella, Parker Varia and his friends face their greatest challenge yet, in this fast-paced, near future novel.

An asteroid hurtles toward Earth, but its true nature holds secrets that could either doom or elevate humanity. With the fate of the planet hanging in the balance, Parker must navigate treacherous political waters and battle enemies new and old, all while uncovering the asteroid's hidden potential. As powerful forces vie for control, Parker and his allies must prevent Earth's destruction—and harness the asteroid’s power for humanity's future.

The Travelers took 71 "writing days", most of those over the summer 2024. I really worked hard during those ~60 days, averaging 1000 words a day. In reality, I wrote a lot on some days and much less on others. Some days were research-laden and some I didn't write anything.

I had the vast majority of the story already mapped out in advance and was constantly writing bits and pieces or recording little ideas here and there.

Changes from Solar Umbrella

Multiple POV (point of view) characters (instead of just Parker) in order to provide better pacing for the reader
Used a new piece of software to write (scrivener), which helped me keep things organized and allow for easy compiling to ebook/paperback
Fixed the annoying long indents Solar Umbrella had (see point 2) Note: I've reworked Solar Umbrella as well, so the newest version doesn't have this issue either
Organize my writing better, especially to help with POV's (see Writing Process for more)

I kept track of my progress and ideas if you're interested: blog at goodreads

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Purchase:

$12.99 CDN paperback, $6.99 CDN ebook. All other amazon stores in local currency equivalent

Review or read reviews

below, or check goodreads

Book facts:

Writing time: according to my software, 71 "writing days" (days I actually wrote in the program), but in reality a lot longer in terms of planning, research, etc. I started thinking about this book while writing Solar Umbrella and really starting planning it out in January 2024, with actual writing starting in May, but 90%+ being written during July and August.

Book length: just over 78k words, longer than I had expected. I thought it would be closer to 70. 224 pages on paperback. 61 chapters + epilogue

Swear words: yes, but less than Solar Umbrella. I tried to make the core characters seem older, so they swear less. I'm sure my students will make me count eventually.

Ok, I counted. ass (2), asshole (4), bullshit (1), fuck and variants (8), shit (3), shitless (1) = 19 total or 0.02%

Price: I think I will set it at $13 CDN / $5.99 ebook. If you're curious, I pretty much broke even last time. if you bought my book for 9.99 on amazon (thank you!), I just wanted to make sure you knew that was the cheapest possible. I made $0 per book there, which was fine, but I'll probbaly charge a little more this time just to pay for my software and some timmies teas as I write.

Will there be a part 3?

90%. I really see the Travelers and part 3 working together. I have a rough idea for sure, but we'll see how it goes. I have a fantasy book in the planning stages I might want to write first.

I might write a novel for kids around grade 5, as that's the grade I'll be teaching. I have a neat idea about a generation ship that I think might work.

Solar Umbrella was a "let's see if I can do this" sort of thing, and it turned out much better than I thought. The Travelers seems more like a real book, whatever that means. It seems like I've learned a lot and the writing is much better than Solar Umbrella. I might just take what I've learned from these two and start something new. I almost want to rewrite Solar Umbrella. I still dig the story, but there's a lot of writing I wish I had done differently. We'll see what happens.

I might go full Sanderson and write the fantasy novel and connect it. Time will tell.

Full Jacket

Another cover I was messing around with

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