DuQuesne had finally gotten a friend to wake up... ----- Chapter 2. Ariane stood unmoving in the doorway, afraid to break the magic of that moment. Her own heart had leapt when Wu Kung's hand moved to stop DuQuesne, but the incredible light that had seemed to shine from Marc's face was something she'd never even imagined possible. She had heard tears of sadness being blown away in a wind of relief and happiness that she'd never thought Marc would ever feel. She just watched, holding her hand out to keep [ Continue reading... ]
Spheres of Influence: CHAPTER 1
June 12, 2013 By 2 Comments
And so we begin the snippeting of Spheres of Influence, leading up to the release of the novel in mid-August! ------ Chapter 1. The slender blond man glanced up from his desk, startled – DuQuesne had, of course, been suppressing the station security systems. Couldn't take a chance that someone would be warned, if things had gone bad. The startled look immediately gave way to caution. "Stop right there, please." DuQuesne stopped immediately; Ariane did the same. He saw [ Continue reading... ]
Spheres of Influence: Deleted Chapter Four
June 10, 2013 By 8 Comments
Herewith is the fourth, and last, of the deleted chapters of Spheres of Influence. Again, the editors were right to have me delete these, but there's stuff in here that may interest those generally interested in the universe GCA and Spheres take place in. ----- Chapter 4. "Why are we here?" Ariane asked. "Not that I mind, it's like coming home again." The immense racetrack spiraled and twisted, on the ground and in the sky, something that couldn't have been built hundreds of years [ Continue reading... ]
Spheres of Influence: Deleted Chapter 3
June 7, 2013 By 1 Comment
We continue with these postings. In this one... we get to learn more about where Ariane is going... and where DuQuesne was, once. ----- Chapter 3. "So where, exactly, are we going, Marc?" She saw DuQuesne give a tiny start at her words, the first either of them had spoken in the little spaceship since they'd left Kanzaki-Three several hours before. She'd been able to tell he needed to think for a while, but after this much time she felt she needed to say something. "We're actually going [ Continue reading... ]
Spheres of Influence: What Has Gone Before… and a Little Bit After
May 29, 2013 By 7 Comments
I will begin the snippeting of Spheres of Influence pretty soon -- about two months before the eARC release on August 15th. So here's a teaser and preparation (which is, in fact, at the front of Spheres of Influence as well) ----- Previously in Grand Central Arena: The solar system of 2375, population fifty-five billion, approaches utopia as closely as most of humanity could imagine. The advent of efficient power harvesting, storage, and transmission of all kinds combined with nanoassembler systems called [ Continue reading... ]
HYPERION ORIGIN: Chapter 9
April 15, 2013 By 7 Comments
Well, you know, heroes aren't very much fun without some villains to bother them... ----- ix. He paused just before entering the huge glass-fronted office, checking his shadowy reflection in the doorway, making sure his hair was perfectly arranged, his hat just so, his white suit precisely as it should be. Appearances mattered, after all. He pushed the door open and walked in, long-legged stride accentuated by the clean lines of the suit. The secretary looked up and smiled. "Dr. Fairchild! Mr. [ Continue reading... ]
HYPERION ORIGIN: Chapter 8
April 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Well, something had gone wrong... let's see if they survived! ----- viii. "DuQuesne! DuQuesne! C'mon, Blackie, don't do this to me!" He was aware of aching pain, pain throughout his body, as though ever fiber of his being had been stretched out, pounded, stretched again, and wrapped around a bed of needles. Muzzily he forced one eye open, seeing Seaton standing… no, floating over him, dark circles under his friend's eyes making him look as though he'd gone rounds with someone twice his [ Continue reading... ]
HYPERION ORIGIN: Chapter 7
April 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Preparations were complete... ----- vii. "You okay, Rich?" The tone of his voice spoke volumes more than the simple words. "On the beam and in the green, Marc." Seaton looked at him from the other acceleration couch, duplicate bank of controls mirroring Marc's own. At DuQuesne's glance, he nodded. "Dot and I talked it out the last few days. She wasn't happy, but she's accepted we have to do this, and supports me. Don't worry. I'll pull my weight." "And more. Sorry to have asked [ Continue reading... ]
HYPERION ORIGIN: Chapter 6
April 8, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Our friends had made a few discoveries... ----- "Good Lord, Richard, it's huge!" Dorothy Vaneman looked with awe up at the immense battleship-gray hull that curved up and away into the sky, seeming to lean out over them ready to fall over at any minute. "I thought this was supposed to be a test vehicle, a little thing!" "Well, Miss Vaneman, neither of us are particularly small, so the ship's got to fit our needs," DuQuesne said with a smile. "I suppose you have a point, Dr. [ Continue reading... ]
HYPERION ORIGIN: Chapter 5
April 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment
They'd had their accolades, now it was time to get to work... ----- v. "Blackie" DuQuesne squeezed himself, with difficulty, farther under the imaging tank – an N-th generation descendant of the original cloud-chambers used in early nuclear experiments, adapted for the specific task of reacting to the presence of liberated sub-etheric particles of the third order. He grunted as he found the loose connection – one of the grounding connectors had worked loose, probably due to resonant vibration; he had to pad these [ Continue reading... ]
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