Solitude and the Dimension Space Series
Treatment, 16 July 2024
Dean M. Cole
Solitude’s Logline
Months after the apocalypse, Earth’s last man discovers the last woman is stranded aboard the International Space Station, alone and on the verge of death—so begins a race against time.
Summary/Elevator Pitch
The Martian meets Gravity when a mysterious light wave erupts from the CERN supercollider and wipes humanity from the planet, leaving only two people in its aftermath – one on the surface and the other stranded on the ISS, neither aware of the other. After months of desperate isolation, Earth’s last man discovers he must rescue Earth’s last woman, who is not only stranded aboard the International Space Station and barely alive but also holds the key to understanding the mystery of the light wave. So begins a race against time.
Inspiration for the Story
My inspiration for Solitude stemmed from an online discussion. I asked an apocalyptic science fiction discussion group what they would do if they suddenly became the only person in a world with all the toys of humanity still lying around. Given nothing to lose and with the entire world at your disposal, what kind of crazy stuff would you do before you checked out? I stated that I would try to go to space. I’d bet there was something in Area 51 that could get me close, and having flown attack helicopters in combat and jets for the airlines, I would also wager I could fly it. Solitude grew from that seed. However, I decided my would-be astronaut needed a better reason to go to space other than ‘for the heck of it, so I stranded a woman on the ISS. Then, I created a mysterious reason for humanity’s disappearance and left the keys to that enigma with our stranded heroine. The search for the answer to that mystery, its eventual resolution and the discovery of multiverse-spanning threats fuels the plots of the other books in the series.
Project’s Reception
The Dimension Space series has sold more than 300,000 copies. Solitude‘s audiobook, narrated by R.C. Bray (The Martian) and Julia Whelan (Gone Girl), was named a finalist in the Science Fiction audiobook category for the Society Of Voice Arts And Sciences Voice Arts Awards in 2017 and won the ABR Listener’s Choice Award for Best Science Fiction in 2018. It has 7600 ratings on Audible, averaging 4.4 stars. I’ve since released Books Two through Five in the series: Multitude, Amplitude, Magnitude, and Fortitude. The series has garnered over 20,000 reviews worldwide across several platforms, averaging 4.5 stars. In 2020, the Independent Audiobook Awards named Book Two, Multitude, a finalist in the category of Best Science Fiction.
I am writing the sixth and final title in the series, Infinitude. We anticipate a winter 2024/2025 release in all formats.
The Dimension Space page on Audible features each title’s cover, synopsis, and reviews: https://www.audible.com/series/Dimension-Space-Audiobooks/B07Q82VT9R
World Setting
It’s a world ravaged not by disease or war but by the infernos and carnage that followed humanity’s sudden disappearance. However, much remains untouched, still lying where it sat when humanity vanished.
Lead Character Arcs
Vaughn Singleton – Army aviator Captain Vaughn Singleton is a highly intelligent man who succeeded at everything until he took his abilities for granted and stopped applying himself. His once-promising military career is going the way of his now-defunct marriage. To reignite his failing career, he takes part in a NASA experiment. When he emerges from NASA’s vacuum chamber, Vaughn soon discovers he is the last human left on Earth, a situation for which, initially, he is ill-equipped.
Angela Brown – Stranded alone on the ISS, Commander Angela Brown watches a wave of light sweep across the planet. Over the following weeks and months, Angela struggles to contact someone on the surface as she fights to survive aboard a deteriorating space station. Then, Angela glimpses the dark underpinnings of humanity’s demise from orbit above Central Europe. Something apparently went horribly wrong with an experiment at the supercollider in Geneva, Switzerland. As a theoretical physicist, Angela might be able to unravel and possibly reverse the events that led to the apocalypse … if she could only get there.
Why Audiences Will Emotionally Invest in Their Journey
Vaughn’s Journey – Vaughn is a lovable loser, an everyman whose character develops as we follow his arc. He excelled in everything early in life without applying himself, despite his habit of acting before thinking. The odds caught up with Vaughn as the years progressed. His career and marriage fell victim to a malaise borne from the assumption of success. Leading up to the event that wiped life from the planet, he became keenly aware of his professional and personal failures. Initially, his newly learned self-doubts leave him emotionally ill-prepared for his role as humanity’s final torch-bearer. After the event, we see Vaughn fall into despair and self-loathing. We ride alongside him as he picks himself up and finds his reason to go on. Only then is he mentally equipped for the news that he’s not alone. If he can surmount his lingering self-doubts, it will take every ounce of his considerable talents and natural abilities to rescue her, as long as he doesn’t fall victim to his innate tendency to act first and think later.
Angela’s Journey – Angela suffers from imposter syndrome, borne from years of being an over-achiever and the youngest in her position. It manifests as a defensive edge, and it all started when her single mother sacrificed everything to get her into MIT at a young age. The feelings grew while she worked on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and followed her to NASA, where a series of events led to her being the youngest person ever to lead a space station expedition. When a light erupts from the supercollider and begins to sweep across the planet, a string of disasters leaves her stranded alone aboard the ISS with no descent module. She soon begins to wonder if everyone was right. Maybe she wasn’t qualified. She’ll have to conquer those self-doubts to survive because, as Earth’s last man struggles to get past himself, the failing space station will do everything possible to finish what the light that emerged from CERN started.
Obstacles to Overcome
Vaughn must cross a land ravaged by humanity’s sudden disappearance. He’ll go to Area 51 to search for the rumored secret spaceplane, Aurora. However, his tendency to take quick action causes the rescue attempt to fail catastrophically, forcing him down another, more dangerous path. Angela fights starvation, failing health, and a failing space station to survive. She’ll have to ‘science the shit out of it’ to live long enough for Vaughn to effect a rescue.
Antagonists
Vaughn’s Initial Tendencies – In Solitude, the first installment in the series, Vaughn’s tendency to quick action and inner demons serve as the antagonists for his portion of the story.
Starvation and a Dying Space Station – Starvation and a dying space station become Angela’s antagonists.
A Xenophobic Robotic Race Bent on Dominion of the Multiverse – Behind everything lies an external actor bent on the destruction of all earthly life. However, this antagonist’s existence is not revealed until the cliffhanger ending of Solitude. The external operator’s identity, motivations, and mysterious origins are revealed over the course of the series’ other installments.
Central Elements of Action and Adventure
I’ve spread action throughout the story. In the early parts, Vaughn crosses a land ravaged by humanity’s sudden disappearance. He narrowly avoids being consumed by a massive inferno.
Once he discovers Angela’s existence, he crosses the Rockies, flying through weather that seems determined to kill him. He finally reaches Nevada and finds the rumored Aurora spaceplane inside the secret Groom Lake Air Force Base in Area 51. Overconfident in his piloting abilities and rushing because of Angela’s declining health, Vaughn hurries his preparations and launches before he fully understands the operation of the craft. He reaches orbit but, running out of fuel, falls short of docking with the space station. He botches the deorbit burn and narrowly survives the destruction of the spaceplane. This loss forces him to return to the starting point of his story arc, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He had been hovering a reactionless thruster inside the facility’s large vacuum chamber when the light from the supercollider swept through the area. With technical assistance from Angela, he upgrades the thruster’s power source and capabilities. Reminiscent of the final scene of The Martian, he must fly this modified craft into space and then link up with the space station.
After he retrieves Angela, he must then fly it back down without killing both of them.
Solitude demonstrates the indomitable human spirit through the actions of both characters to, first, defeat their inner demons and, finally, the external ones that are actively trying to kill them both.
Central Theme
Solitude spotlights the indomitable human spirit through the actions of both characters to first defeat their inner demons and, finally, the external ones that are actively trying to kill them both.
Similar Films — Shared Classic Elements and Differences
The Martian, Gravity, I Am Legend – As with the protagonists in these three tales, Solitude’s characters endure, relying upon their ingenuity to beat seemingly insurmountable odds. Solitude surpasses them in scope, the multiverse scale of the situations, and each protagonist’s unique challenges.
Unconventional Aspect
The use of CERN as one of the focal points for the story and setting, as well as the combination of time travel and multiverse twists, form unique features that make this series stand out. The adventure the characters embark upon to unite is unique. My readers and listeners have raved about the emotional payoff experienced when humanity’s last two survivors finally unite. The scene engenders strong emotions and presents humorous twists when several plot elements come together.
Audience
From the audience data gleaned from my Facebook marketing campaigns, I know that men and women of all age groups are intrigued by the premise of this story. The characters present themselves as flawed, everyday people with whom viewers will easily relate.
Through the story’s relatable characters, the audience can imagine how they might react if facing similar challenges.
Audience’s Takeaway
Never give up! Never surrender! (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.) Solitude demonstrates how persistence and the human spirit can ultimately prevail despite our flaws and limitations if, when faced with the ultimate test, we press on, willing to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good.
Additional Considerations
My combat helicopter and jet pilot background allowed me to create realistic and detailed scenes involving extremely challenging flight conditions in the atmosphere and above it. I love writing. I thoroughly enjoy the artistry and artisanship of first creating the story and then refining it.
Outside of writing, I’ve built custom motorcycles and experimental airplanes, all of which won awards. I flew Apache Attack Helicopters in combat and earned the Airline Transport Pilot rating in both helicopters and jets. Presently, I am an airline pilot, flying military charters all over the world in the Boeing 767.
Cover Images and Art
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Book Trailer
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