Our friends were about to pay a visit to their oldest alien acquaintance... ----- Chapter 2. "Captain Ariane Austin, Doctor Marc DuQuesne, it is an honor to welcome you back to my Embassy once more," Orphan said, giving the full pushup-bow which both the Blessed and the Liberated used as a sign of greatest respect. "And you as well, Sun Wu Kung. I take this to mean that the various... issues in your home system have been addressed in a satisfactory manner?" DuQuesne saw a smile instantly appear on Ariane's face, [ Continue reading... ]
Challenges of the Deeps: Chapter 1
September 30, 2016 By 4 Comments
Today we begin snippeting the third Arenaverse novel, Challenges of the Deeps, which will be released March 2nd, 2017. The eARC will be released in early December, by which point about one-half of the book will have been snippeted. Re-Enter the ARENA! ------- Chapter 1. Ariane Austin felt the peculiar jolt that the Sandrisson jump always gave her, and found a smile on her face. "We're back," she said. "Out of the political frying pan and into the Arena's fire," DuQuesne said, chuckling. "Feels good, doesn't [ Continue reading... ]
Why I Write the Way I Do
September 20, 2016 By Leave a Comment
All authors develop a style of writing – something that makes their stories theirs. Some of the "signature" is in the way they use language – particular turns of phrase and patterns of prose – while other parts of the signature will show up in the themes they like to revisit, the types of characters they like – or don't like – the things they'll show or hide, and of course the plots they choose to do, or not do. Now that I've been doing this for well over a decade (which seems so strange to me – it doesn't seem that long, unless I [ Continue reading... ]
False Dichotomies of Publishing
September 13, 2016 By Leave a Comment
I've touched on this subject in some of my prior posts, but after having yet another discussion on this general topic, I thought it might be worthwhile to visit this particular issue in a separate post. Often, both those published in the traditional fashion and those who are self-published present their approaches as though they were equal choices which need simply be chosen between (and naturally extol the virtues of their chosen approach while pointing out all the deficiencies of the other method). But this is, put simply, wrong. The [ Continue reading... ]
The Author and Criticism
August 25, 2016 By 1 Comment
One consequence of putting your writing up for sale and public view is that, naturally, people will express opinions about that writing. For most authors, their stories are pretty near and dear to their hearts, and so they always hope that people will say nice things about their writing. This is, of course, not always the case. More generally, this is always not the case for stories in general. There isn't a novel published that doesn't have someone expressing negative opinions about it. Even a book received with great enthusiasm will still [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 23
July 13, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Well, the Sergeant was back to consciousness if not to action... Chapter 23. "Whoa!" Tavana lunged out reflexively, catching Maddox as he was almost dragged headlong into the water. The carbonan fishing pole was bent in a sharp curve, vibrating furiously even while Tavana managed to get the smaller Bird brother back on his feet. "Got something, Tav, we got something!" "Vraiment, that we do! Can you hold it?" Maddox' face was set in lines of determination. "If… you can… keep me from falling on my [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 22
July 11, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Xander said the Sergeant was waking up, so why not see things from his point of view? Chapter 22. Campbell blinked his eyes blearily, forced them to focus. What… Oh. I'm inside my suit. For a moment he was confused. Was I on EVA? Fixing something? What happened? When he tried to sit up, he felt the tremendous lethargy and pain of having been still for many hours, even days, and his leg gave a dull throb despite what his nanos reported as "significant pain reduction". That cleared his head, and [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 21
July 8, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Well, Xander seemed to have things under control... Chapter 21. The pistol bucked three times in Xander's hand, almost without him willing it. A screech and convulsive writhing showed that he'd hit the sinuous creature just as the targeting app had said he would; the centisnake, as Maddox had named the thing, shuddered to a slow halt; once it was still, Tavana stepped forward and brought the machete down hard, taking the head from the body and causing another powerful but this time harmless sequence of [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Odyssey: Chapter 20
July 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Sorry about the delay; medical emergencies in the household distracted me yesterday. Chapter 20. "You have to eat something, Tav." Tavana jumped slightly at the unexpected voice. He was sitting on the steps of the lander's ladder, looking up at a comet whose slowly-fading tail covered thirty degrees of the now-dark sky. "Not hungry." "Bullcrap," Xander said, and held out a plate. He was about to refuse again when his nose caught the scent. "A Buckley? Merde, Xander, we were supposed to be saving those for special [ Continue reading... ]
Castaway Planet: Chapter 19
July 4, 2016 By 1 Comment
The Sergeant was down... ----- Chapter 19. Xander sensed the information dump hit, stream through him and into his omni, even as he saw the Sergeant slump down and felt as though the bottom was dropping out of his world as it did. No. This can't happen. The other three boys were staring at him and the unconscious Sergeant, eyes wide, tears trickling down Francisco's terrified face. His own terror was clawing at his mind, the thought of facing a world filled with things like that monster without Sergeant Campbell looming [ Continue reading... ]
What You’re Saying