[Update 18 January 2024: reflecting three more books since this was first posted]
I had someone ask, “Who are all these people?” So, much like Reading Order, I thought I’d pin a post showing a simplified family tree of the Hartmann and Rigó branches, with a side mention of some of the Thinking Machines.
Little stars represent royals. Bolded are demi-humans. Kalí gets an underline as no one knows what she is.
Continue reading “Machine Civilization Stemma (Update 1)”This has come up before. Being 1) lazy, and 2) busy writing when not being lazy, I’ve kicked the can down the road. It appears I have just ran out of road. So, here are two suggestions as to how you may choose to read the books of Machine Civilization, which stretches in time from now until, so far, about three generations hence.
“What order should I read your books in?” is a question I have fielded many times, in person and online. My glib answer is, “doesn’t matter, so long as you’ve paid for them.” My honest answer is to tell a story (imagine, me being a writer) and ask a question.
The story is this: when I stumbled into being a writer on November 2014, I just kept plowing on, meeting new ideas, new people, and dealing with them head-on in my former bull-headed engineering fashion. Understanding this was a coherent future history, it dawned on me after about four years that I, of all people, needed an Excel file to track the multiple interconnections. You can pull a thread in “The Fourth Law” and paragraphs twitch in “Friend and Ally,” and if your follow that thread, you hit the entire novella of “Crosses and Doublecrosses.” And that is one, single, example. There are dozens.
Having said all that to say this: below the fold are two groupings. The first is Order of Publication. What that allows you to do is follow me as this world and worlds were gifted to me and I came to understand and write them down. The second is Internal Chronological Order, and even that is tricky. For example, the very first event I record is a flashback of Lily Barrett and her father, looking at books in Jinbocho, Tokyo, Japan, in an early chapter of “The Fourth Law.” Then would be the first short in my collection, “Empire’s Agent,” about the creation of tribe Tohsaka; but that collection covers two generations. So, please take the ICO list with a grain of salt, slice of lime, and shot of tequila.
EDIT: I have also included a tiny descriptor of each book.
Continue reading “Machine Civilization, Reading Order”Apologies again. I died a little, including a trip to the local county hospital ER. Got better; some kind of seizure. Doc who looked all of thirteen wanted to give me valium. I told him to stick it. He was pissed and my wife laughed once he left. “You’re so charming,” she smiled. “I’ve no reason to be.”
So, in reparations for being silent for a week, here’s 1200 words of Graf and Pai’s encounter with Human Supremicists. They seem nice enough but have ideas which just won’t work in a Changed world, and they cannot understand that. Reading over it, it’s a bit confusing as to when Graf is recalling the encounter and when Pai is seeing to him after; it will make more sense when properly formatted into a book.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 13”Much shorter entry today. I realized yesterday I had screwed up and forgotten something: this book is supposed to be, in large not all, a war diary of Graf’s back to Alix and, for the future, their kids. So, I had to backtrack from what came after the end of this segment and am working it into a letter he writes two days later. Since it starts with, “Pai will have to check this, what with the painkillers I’m on,” we can guess this jaunt to just east of Pataskala, Ohio Province, didn’t go all that smoothly.
In RealLife news, today is election day in most of FUSA. As there was no candidates above the county level, I could consider them all. Anyone running unopposed, I skipped. All attempts to steal more of my money, voted NO. Doesn’t matter, they always pass. There are more people who like their gibs allied to guilty old White people that crap like that passes every time.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 12”Much shorter segment. After being sick last week, I’m a bit behind. We get back into the war side of the story. After this intro, it will revert to how I wanted this next book to flow: as a war diary of Graf to his children and their mother.
It is very, very odd for me to even type something such as that.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 11”The thing about tampered genes is you never know when they might show up. A majority of Faustina’s descendents are human. A majority of Gary & Henge’s are Demis; the difference is that Fussy’s two husbands were human, and there was no way to create a breeding program without first cousins marrying. Very bad form. In G & H’s case, not only is Gary a Demi, his wife is a former Machine with a manifested physical body. That makes for some very interesting genetic permutations over the generations.
Saying all that, Pai sits their hosts down and tells them about their son’s gift. She graciously mentions her old self, version 1 (and I bet Suza and Tér will go nuts to see her again; the twins had not been born when Pai went to version 2.) as a temporary bridge until the rest of the Hartmann clan is informed and some kind of tutor system set up; given the wars – which will be back on in the next segment – this temporary bridge might be at least a year.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 10”Fairly significant reveal about the infant son of their Hartmann hosts. Wonder where it will go? Once we get all this settled, it’s back to the fighting and politics.
Apologies for the no Wednesday post. Sick again; wife and I had food poisoning. I’ve not really slept in three days or eaten in one-and-a-half. A couple of people at DayJob echoed similar problems for them of their kids. Food quality, not to say safety, is dropping fast.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 9”A bit shorter as I didn’t want to get too far into the weeds here. The twins are fighting, again and always, but the reason this time is rather rude to Graf’s wife. Pai steps in to correct some misperceptions. Graf does raise a good question: where did Henry get the idea “Auntie” was not real?
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 8”Moving on and briefly back with his family, Graf has a bit of a “road to Damascus” moment. Not sure it will take, but we’ll see. Pai could instantly tell something was different. She is likely reaching out to her uncle, Balthazar, who is Russian Orthodox, for more information. I cannot imagine her hostile to a possible emergence of her husband’s faith; still, this is a complex subject and I will proceed carefully.
Next, we will meet this branch of the Hartmann family. I bet at dinner; I love dinners.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 7”Very tiny installment as it wraps up the Houston hospital arc. The next will have this odd family back together, with an introduction of Istvan and Llaura Hartmann and their infant son, plus a bit of a shock to Graf. Looks like a Thursday update.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 6”Longer segment, but it really didn’t lend itself into being broken in two. Had I, a good point would have been when Pai was about to decapitate Robert for what he called her husband. But things moved on fairly quickly. At the end, I included a bit from a homily at my church Sunday before last; to wit: listen. You never know when you’ll hear.
If you’re curious as to why Robert’s left arm and leg are artificial, there’s something you can read. And the references to Graf’s gift/curse as well as Luce (pronounced loo-che) are from here.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 5”A bit of clarification of the last segment. I don’t want Graf or the readers to think he has some kind of super powers, so Pai gives him a little background.
After their convo with Robert, things take a complicated turn. I have much to think about this weekend.
Continue reading “Civil Wars 2, 4”
machciv 