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
October 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
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... ]
Polychrome Chapter 19
October 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
And at last our Hero is ready to really start on his adventure! ----- Chapter 19. Polychrome danced lightly through the corridors of the Palace, out the gateway, and laughed. For there were gathered all the people of the Rainbow Kingdom, from the smallest child to the eldest of the wise old women, all gathered to see the Hero off. Far, far away, down the Way of Light that ran from the dawn to the sunset, she could see the tiny figures of Erik and Nimbus, and the much larger shape of [ Continue reading... ]
Paradigms Lost: Chapter 45
October 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Jason had one more idea to try... ----- Chapter 45: That Future is Past Morgan opened the door, startled as I pushed past him without so much as a "hello." "Master Jason… ?" I looked around, shrugged, jogged into the living room and climbed up on a chair. Verne was in that room, staring at me curiously out of hollow eyes set in a leathery, lined face and framed by pure white hair. "J… Jason," he said slowly, as I mumbled a curse to myself and dragged the chair over a bit, "what… are you [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Planet: Chapter 4
October 22, 2014 By Leave a Comment
They were looking for a star... ----- Chapter 4 The stars shone out again, and she sat forward. "Coils recharging. Doing a full survey of the sky again…" She tumbled LS-5 once more around its axes. "Generating full sky view… okay, everyone, start looking. I'm blinking our virtual displays between the first panorama we got and this one. I'm sending different areas of the sky to—" "Got one!" sang out Caroline. "Brightest star in our sky just jumped a beautiful, beautiful big fraction of a [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Planet: Chapter 3
October 20, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Well, things had gone rather pear-shaped, as the British might say... ----- Chapter 3 Sakura clamped her jaw shut to keep from screaming as LS-5 whirled into the void. She gripped the arms of the pilot's chair convulsively. She heard herself muttering, "Oh my God, oh my God…" and her mother and father both whispering something that sounded very similar. The whirling, dizzy, uncontrolled spin lasted only a few moments; automatic stabilizer jets fired momentarily and then cut [ Continue reading... ]
Paradigms Lost: Chapter 44
October 20, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Jason has to do a bit of political outreach... ----- Chapter 44: Paternity and Possibility "Senator MacLain?" The voice on the other end was as distinctive over the phone as it was in public address or on television: precise, educated, a pleasant yet cool voice that carried both authority and intelligence—it reminded me somehow of Katharine Hepburn. "This is Paula MacLain. Mr. Jason Wood?" "Yes, ma'am. I don't know if you know who I am—" "Young man, if I didn't, I wouldn't be speaking [ Continue reading... ]
Polychrome: Chapter 18
October 17, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Iris had said he had some sort of final task for Erik... ----- Chapter 18. I felt the chill of the morning deep in my bones as I awoke. I never liked camping as a kid, and I don't like it any better now. Who was it who said that adventures were unpleasant things happening to people a long way away? I dragged myself out of the little tent and onto the remainder of the little shelf of rock I was on. I wasn't sure of the point of this little exercise, but you generally didn't argue with Iris [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Planet: Chapter 2
October 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment
So, it was just one more drill in a series of drills... ------ Chapter 2 Laura smiled as she dropped through the entry hatch to see that her husband, Akira, had just finished strapping Hitomi into her crash seat. The seven-year-old was behaving very well, clutching her winged-wolf plush and pretending it was flying back and forth in front of her, but otherwise sitting still. "You made good time," she said, giving Hitomi's inexplicably blonde hair a ruffle and kissing Akira on the cheek as [ Continue reading... ]
Paradigms Lost: Chapter 43
October 15, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Jason had made a deal that made him nervous... ----- Chapter 43: Beware of Spooks Leaving Gifts I stared down at the disk in my hand. The fact that it contained possibly treasonous information made it seem as heavy as lead. But, unfortunately, it wasn't the worst of the things I had to deal with. My date with Sylvie last night, our third "real" date, had been bittersweet at best. We were happy to be together finally, but another fact overshadowed our enjoyment: despite three days of careful work, Syl, Verne, [ Continue reading... ]
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