Castaway Planet: Chapter 10

  They had just had an unexpected and utterly bizarre disaster...     ------     Chapter 10                  Laura stared in uncomprehending shock. Bobbing ever so slightly, the vast wall of dark, wet stone still loomed up less than a kilometer distant. The piece that had fallen from it—a solid mass the size of a skyscraper—should have been towering over them even nearer. There was no possible way that the lagoon before them could have been two hundred meters deep, no, not even a tenth of [ Continue reading... ]

Castaway Planet: Chapter 9

  Now that they're down and alive, time to do some exploring!   ------     Chapter 9            "Okay, Sakura, now cycle the lock again, exhausting to the outside." Whips wasn't taking any chances. Before letting anyone step out of the shuttle, he wanted Dr. Kimei and her husband to check the air readings. So they'd put Laura Kimei's omni, which had a lot of built-in sensors for medical purposes, into the starboard airlock, let it open to the outer air, and left it there for an hour to [ Continue reading... ]

Polychrome: Chapter 21

Well, Our Hero had finally embarked on his real Adventure...     ------     Chapter 21.      I walked straight to the East, not looking back. Not daring to look back for a while. It had been almost impossible not to just blurt it all out, looking at her then, when I knew I might die before reaching Oz, that this might be the last time I saw her. But she didn't need that burden, even if it was something she wanted to hear, which I really didn't think she did. I was pretty sure she did like me as a friend, [ Continue reading... ]

Castaway Planet: Chapter 8

  Well, since this book has more chapters, you can tell they made a "good landing" in the technical sense...   ------     Chapter 8     Despite the sledgehammer impacts, the cabin of LS-5 remained cheerfully, invariably lit as the world spun, and now, as the ship quivered to stillness, they stayed on, as though nothing had happened. Laura could see that Sakura, at least, was unharmed; her seat had locked properly and the girl's one arm was visible, white-knuckled with tension. Hitomi's [ Continue reading... ]

Castaway Planet: Chapter 7

  And now the moment of truth: they have to land.   -----     Chapter 7     "Nebula Drive fully retracted. All smart dust now stowed away. Recovery of materials at 95%," Sakura reported, partially to herself. The routine, reporting each detail of her tasks, helped calm her, slow the heart that threatened to accelerate out of control. It's all on me. The thought was terrifying, more so because she knew she couldn't show it. Melody and especially Hitomi could panic if they realized just [ Continue reading... ]

Polychrome: Chapter 20

  As the Heroes have started their move, so must the Villains...   ------     Chapter 20.      Ugu the Unbowed stood on the balcony overlooking the petrified Emerald City; halfway to the horizon the pure dead gray ended, in a line as sharply drawn as if by a knife, and the green of the surrounding lands began. "And so it begins." "Sire?" Cirrus Dawnglory – or, at least, the being who now wore his name and face – said, clearly unsure of what his King meant. "Ah, you are here. Excellent. Walk with me, [ Continue reading... ]

Castaway Planet: Chapter 6

  They were in the new solar system hoping to find a world...     ------     Chapter 6             Akira's arms hugged Laura tightly for a moment. "Are you all right?" "I think so," she answered on the same channel. One good thing about having private comm channels was that you could have a private conversation even in the middle of a not-too-large cabin. "But my God, Akira." Even after four days it was still hard to grasp what had happened, and only now that they had successfully reached that [ Continue reading... ]

GamerGate: My Comments

  WARNING: Some strong language, especially for me, ahead.     I rarely make what could be considered political or activist posts. This is mainly because of two things;   I am rarely 100% certain of everything I say, contrary to many people's impressions of me. On important subjects, I hear people talking, with apparent authority, and saying things that come to opposite conclusions. I'm not equipped any better than most of these people to decide who's right and who's wrong. I may come to a conclusion of [ Continue reading... ]

Castaway Planet, Chapter 5

They had set their sights on a distant star...     -----     Chapter 5            The unnamed star glowed before them, a visible disk, as LS-5 came out of the Trapdoor Drive. Now the next cycle of worry begins, Whips messaged to Sakura, who gave a tense, wry grin. Finding a good star was excellent luck… but we cannot live on a star. Yeah. But let's take one problem at a time. He saw her shove the worries out of her mind and concentrate on trying to figure out their location. We're already [ Continue reading... ]

Paradigms Lost: Chapter 46

Now we come to the end of this adventure.. and the end of the snippets of Paradigms Lost! I hope you've enjoyed them.  If you can't wait to read the rest, the eARC is now available at Baen Books!   -----   Chapter 46: Explanations "I must confess, Jason, that there are a few things which remain unclear to me." Rebuilding Verne's mansion was taking some time. It had also taken a lot of fast talking to keep Jeri from poking her nose too far in; even though the mansion was relatively isolated, the battle between the [ Continue reading... ]