This post is about Afua and the Ophanti. I didn’t create Afua. But I did create the Ophanti and the Dooga. I didn’t create a Kchak, and nor did I think up the planet Nuafri. However, I have written about all of them together with Karl Drinkwater, a science fiction writer (among other genres) and a good friend.

I approached Karl several years ago. If I check my old gmail I might discover when, but it’s certainly a while ago, pre-covid and all that. Jane had contact with Karl back when we lived in Greenland. She reviewed one of his books and when he saw the review he reached out to offer to send her a paperback. Now, don’t get any ideas, folks. Reviews are lovely, and I love ’em, but I can’t send paperbacks all over the world. Karl is one of a kind. It was also some time ago. 😉 Anyway, Jane followed Karl on Facebook and several years later, post-Greenland, I reached out to Karl to pitch the idea of a collaboration.

Specifically, I was interested in writing in his universe. I wanted to promote my pen name Bran Nicholls (since defunct – almost – as I have switched to Christoffer Petersen in 2024), and I thought a fun way to do it would be to collaborate on a project. And, following many long emails, lots of video chats, several more long, really long emails, a few more chats, me dragging my heels, Karl waiting, more emails – about 10% of them about the project, the rest just for fun – we’re there. Meaning we have batted the manuscript back and forth a few times and we’re close to, you know, publishing it!

The result is Afua, a sci-fi novella set on a jungle planet in Karl’s Lost Solace universe, and my first collaborative work. Over time the story has changed to the point where I have to really think hard about what parts were written by me and what parts were written by Karl. We’re both really pleased with how the story turned out, and we plan on running a Kickstarter campaign to launch it very soon.

What’s interesting for me, though, is that one of my main goals when reaching out to Karl, was to try a collaboration and to gain the experience of writing together with another author. I have tried it once before, but while Isabella and I enjoy a fabulous and supportive working relationship, our styles are very different. The project – a good one by all accounts – stalled, and we then moved on to other things.

So this project, like the main character Afua, is very dear to me. It is the culmination of a new challenge, and, hopefully, the first of the many such projects. Karl has been very generous letting me play in his world, and we both feel we have found a common ‘voice’ that fits well with the story, and blends into the series of novellas set in Lost Solace. Of course, Karl’s diehard fans will have the last word, and hopefully some of my readers too.

What’s also curious is the fact that Karl and I have yet to meet in person. This might not be so curious today, but it certainly adds another dimension and proves that creative collaboration doesn’t require meeting in person, although I am looking forward to meeting Karl at some point in the future.

More about Afua soon.

Chris