Sold a story to Nature Magazine's Futures section today. It was a good day.

Congrats!

Cog 2 is all outlined with lots of scene synopses. Now all I need to do is write it.

I have a great idea for a novel. Well to be exact, I have a great world. I have to come up with a plot and characters, but world is one of the scariest I've every thought of. (Based on a dream, I mentioned it while back). Here is the basic description of the world.

We have always been surrounded by ghosts. Everyone who dies becomes one. Fortunately for the living, the dead have their own concerns. That is why we encounter them so seldom. The dead are everywhere but mostly pay us no attention.

Unfortunately a team of paranormal researchers have learned how to draw the attention of ghosts, to materialize them, enslave them and control them. Now tangible ghosts, ghosts who can work 24 hours a day without food or rest, are displacing the living in all fields. Soon the world will consist of the very rich and their spirit slaves. The rest of the living will become servants to the fashionable rich who choose keep a few living workers, or charity cases. Most will simply be denied work and food and medical care, so that they can die as soon as possible and transform into the useful dead.

We are not quite there yet; the transition is in its early days. Four in ten of the living still have some sort of job. But the dead replace more of the living every day.

There have been attempts by rebel candidates to campaign on a program of reversing this process. But existing legislators in democratic nations have passed reforms to fight the scourge of voter fraud. The new IDs these reforms require are so expensive that now only the very rich can vote. Some say that these new laws were passed under ghostly threats, others that simple bribery was sufficient. In undemocratic nations, the process has been even simpler.

Nor is there much room for other kinds of politics. Neither peaceful protest nor armed rebellion seem practical. Any attempt at either is put down by hordes of tireless unkillable soldiers from the wars of the past. Warriors who fought with or against Alexander the Great will float side by side with Stalin's. The armies of Hitler and Churchill will fight together to supress dissent or rebellion.

The rich and those who are still employed live well in the new ghost economy. Nobody needs to drive; they can be transported in the ghost-powered, ghost-steered flying carriages owned by the grand new monopoly "For the dead travel fast". Ghostly servants are available cheaply from "House Elves Inc." Since the dead are not only a source of cheap labor, but can replace most machines, food and consumer goods are absurdly cheap worldwide. And if some don't like spending every moment surrounded by the dead, or wish to do more things for themselves - well it would be dangerous to say so. No need to join the hordes of homeless beggars sooner than you must, or become part of the great dead majority prematurely.

My current thoughts for titles are "Rich in Spirit", "Land of the Dead" and "Deadlands".

No reaction? Maybe the idea is not as cool as I thought. I can use feedback and it does not have to be encouragement. Of all the ideas I've had for novels, this is the one I'm thinking of doing. But maybe it won't appeal to others as much as it appeals to me.

I think it sounds really cool. And you can explore things about what it is to be alive and to be, well, a human.

OK, working away. I think I'm going to end up using this style a lot. The intent is lush, on the edge of purple, but not over it. So does this work?

As Jill cycled down the street spectral carriages flashed above her. Clouds showed faintly through the ornate trimmings and fire-breathing horses as they pulled their loads to destinations across town or across the world. Mongols riding war elephants and Germans riding Panzers streaked overhead, traveling to carry out gruesome missions. Though it was only two in the afternoon, blue lights flickered in every building. All houses were haunted now.

Do I avoid purple? Is "gruesome missions" over the red-line, and into the purple?

don't worry, I won't ask paragraph by paragraph. But this is going to kind of be a model for a lot of scenes, so I want to make sure the style is fine-tuned.

I don't find that purple at all, just vivid and precise. It's evocative yet still clear.

My only objection to gruesome is it seems oddly judgemental. Dreadful, maybe? Not all German units were as, well, barbaric as the Mongols.

I'm pretty sure not all Mongols were as barbaric as the Mongols, just like not all Germans were as barbaric as the Germans. People are both shit and mundane like that. I figure they deserve standing up for as much as Germany, don't they?

Then it is misleading and unclear. Does this make the point clearer?

Mongols riding war elephants and Germans riding Panzers streaked overhead, enslaved dead traveling to carry out gruesome missions.

I think you can leave out "they despised." Enslaved carries the connotation of having no say in matters.