I used to work on quite a few books in my head on those endless days on the road, during my convention era. Some were just vague ideas, a few were just a clever title. Ascendancy was the first one that I had a beginning, middle and end for. So I started writing it for real. I must have rewritten the first chapter four dozen times. I discovered along the way, that while I some small talent for character development (although maybe not as talented in getting that character onto the page), I did not have any abilities when it came to getting the action scenes (some which were rather vivid) out of my head and onto the page.
The book died when I got to the climax of the first section (there had been five sections planned).
What is linked below is the most intact version I can find. I know I almost completely filled in the first section, as well as completely rewrote Walter's conversation with his Doctor in the second section, which is horrible as presented here. The third section was to be a collection of short news stories and interludes that would span the 15 years between the first two sections and the last two. I wrote some of those interludes. I also wrote a complete outline for what wasn't yet written. I have been unable to locate on what computer or disk I stored this expanded version. The links here lead to the fullest version I can find so far. I'll update it if I find a newer version.