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Machine Civilization, Reading Order

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.

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Book 17. Part Three. 14

Much RealLife in the last few days. This five-hours, six-days per week is not at all helpful.

Glad that I waited, though. My first glance at this scene had the three women meeting the train. I realized that, like kudzu, Aurie was growing to take over Part Three, a part supposedly focused on Eloise. So, I have her and Colour away from the meeting, unable to hear what’s going on. They get to know each other and the Regent just a little better.

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Book 17. Part Three. 13

Getting things back on track. What? You thought I would listen in to three girls gossiping? On the first hand, that’s rude; on the second hand, it’s boring. On the gripping hand Aurie would kill me.

So, it’s the next day. A little exercise before Aurie meets with the Texas Secretary of State. Who will be mad as a hornet about the blockade.

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Book 17. Part Three. 11

Road trip. Which shall be followed by a train trip. I like telling road stories.

Looks as if things are getting a little hot, vis a vis politics with the Republic of Texas. I do wonder if the Rigó family – the other branch of the other daughter of the Barrett’s – weren’t there, if Faustina would have annexed them, at gunpoint, by now. Oil, natural gas, uranium, industry, agriculture… I think the temptation to her would have been overwhelming.

And now a faction of the Texan government threatens one of the Rigós. One married to one of the Empress’ sons. This is more stupid than anything the Canadians have ever done to the imperium. Very curious how this shall play out.

Research to do. Have a good Memorial Day weekend, for those of you in FUSA. The nation is dead but we must honor our dead.

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Book 17. Part Three. 10

I think Aurie has become comfortable enough with the idea of Bob and Kali handling the Martian rescue that she can relax and play a little, even if it might start a war.

Speaking of, this concludes this arc of Part Three. Next will see Aurie and Colour, along with an increasingly bewildered Eloise, on their way west. There is still that matter of Edward’s wife, Livia, being detained in Texas. I need to get that resolved before I see Miss Patel back home.

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Book 17. Part Three. 9

Aurie being Aurie decides to “turn it up to eleven.” She does seem to personally like Eloise but it’s just as obvious she is using her. The next installment will show just how much.

Not really sure what Aurie is up to, here. Just because she thinks fast and has access to vast information, that doesn’t mean she always makes the right decision. I’ve already had Bob point out in that meeting that she seems flustered in a way that Faustina never was. It may be she’s not suited to rule. We’ll all just have to wait and see.

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Book 17. Part Three. 8

And here I am, ten days later. Been thinking a lot while prepping Daughter #1 for her Hokkaido internship then getting Daughter #2 installed in her 5th-floor flat, two hours away. And it’s a 5th-floor with no elevator for an old man with hypertension. But I’m getting back into the story and realizing revisions are going to be as important as new material.

Below starts with a bit of a re-write of the last post as I thought of the “write a letter” thing a few days later. It happens. I’m also thinking about moving the entire “imperial family back six months late” to the end of Part Three. I’ll know more when I get there.

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Book 17. Part Three. 7

Funny to see Eloise put Aurie in her place like that. For the readers of Regent, y’all will know what “the second reason” Aurie had is.

I see several possibilities as to the next few scenes but it may take just as many days for me to work them out. The MS is at 42k and there is still Part Four, where I try to get all the players, including the Russians from Part One, back on screen. I wanted this done before Imaginarium but am beginning to have my doubts.

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Book 17. Part Three. 6

Apologies for the delay. Daughter #1 graduated from college (BS Animal Science) on Saturday. It was a few hours drive and then there was a celebratory dinner. Then the drive home…

Where I realized I felt insanely bad. My guess is being in several crowds, I picked up some bug. I was in bed all day Sunday and could not eat at all. Had some water and a piece of toast to make it into DayJob on Monday but was still a wreck. Monday afternoon it occurred to me to take some of our ivermecting 1% PO and then a nap. By 1800, I felt human again. That stuff is amazing and everyone in every Western government who opposed (and opposes) its use should be crucified.

Anyway, back to the story. Where were we? Ah: Aurie’s knocked up and Eloise is a drunk foreign spy. Got it. Let’s mix an angel into the batch, shall we? And said angel tosses Eloise a lifeline.

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