Continuing this glimpse into what was removed from the early drafts. As I mentioned, the main content of these is background and character information on Kyri and her life before the main action begins. ----- Chapter 2. Kyri stared numbly down at the remains of the front door; with cruel irony, the fire-charm on the door had remained intact, so the huge portals were unscorched, smeared only with water and soot from the rest of the mansion but otherwise marred only by the deep crescent-shaped gouges [ Continue reading... ]
Phoenix Rising: Deleted Early Chapter 1
April 22, 2013 By 2 Comments
The original draft of Phoenix Rising included several chapters which were cut, mainly because they slowed our approach to the main action of the book. The downside, in my view, was that we lost a glimpse at how Kyri became the way she was, and other characters' interactions with her before the main events. The only changes I've made to these chapters are titles and names which were changed for the published version. ----- Chapter 1. Kyri smiled at her little sister Urelle as she ran, zig-zag fashion, [ 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... ]
STORY: To Duel the Gorgon
March 22, 2013 By 11 Comments
This is a very short story (about 2400 words, or roughly the length of one of my average chapters in a book) which was originally written just as a spinoff of a Usenet discussion. The context was that we were trying to decide if there were any magical effects which could not be duplicated by technology -- i.e., whose presence immediately signaled we were dealing with magic, not science (even Sufficiently Advanced Science). One of the participants put forward the Gorgon/Basilisk/Medusa effect of "turn to stone when you look at [ Continue reading... ]
PORTAL: Chapter 25
March 6, 2013 By 2 Comments
This is the last snippet of PORTAL that I'll be posting, since the eARC is now available for those who HAVE to read the rest NOW; this puts you just under halfway through the book. I may post a few more chapters just before the release of the hardcover. ----- Chapter 25. "My God this is beautiful!" It wasn’t the first time she'd expressed those sentiments in the last hour, but Helen couldn't restrain herself, and the others didn't seem bothered. The walls of the huge, [ Continue reading... ]
PORTAL: Chapter 24
March 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
There was still some other work to do before they went on their jaunt... ----- "Careful!" Joe said reflexively as the huge assembly wobbled. "Sorry," Horst said from the other side. "It is not easy, moving this thing while keeping it steady. Not exactly the best-balanced object we've moved." He couldn't argue that. Nebula Storm's rocket nozzle, once meant as a replacement for Nobel's in case of damage, was a massive, bell-shaped assembly that looked deceptively simple from the [ Continue reading... ]
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