I’ve seen something for what might be my third and last installment for this Season. I didn’t like looking at it and I don’t like talking about it. But it is canonical to Machine Civilization, so there it is. This is not something I’ve written in Word and run through Grammarly; this is what I just saw and and posting. Expect errors.
My Lenten commitment was daily posting. But I hate what I’ve just seen.
Continue reading “Lenten Writing”Yes, you just missed another bunny with a pancake on its head.
There’s a lot going on here but this is a writing exercise, not a proper short story in an anthology. Someday, it likely shall be. I try to resolve the Russian-Nation political dilemma with Nichole, as Togame’s friend, placing herself and her ship – literally – in the middle. Rhun is dealt with off-screen then we have a lovely little domestic scene.
Fifty bucks says Nichole sleeps with Gil’s son in the next six months. Japanese morals are different. Machine morals? Good luck with that.
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 25. End.”Recall that daily content is not just more storytelling… even though I’m 800 words into wrapping up “Tillamook.”
In the meantime, this came in the mail today: the proof-copy of my next novel, to be released into the wild very soon.
The rest of the Haven’s backstory followed by a declaration three of them were off before dawn the next day on Nichole’s flying saucer. The last Part, #25, might be on the long side…
A fan on Gab once asked how do I balance or control “high-powered” characters such as Nichole 5. My reply was to write up some kind of foil – a person or group – who can oppose them. With nothing like that here, Model Five just proposed to take Gil and Mac’s first child.
I’ll admit, compared to the last time I saw Mackenzie d’Arcy in the last chapter of “Foes and Rivals,” she’s matured quite a bit.
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 24”I call this “hiding exposition in plain sight.” Sometimes we all have to get the backstory out there. I prefer to have people walking & talking or maybe around a table with drinks. Then there’s this: a montage.
There will be a bit more tomorrow. Then we’re off to the final scene. Trying to wrap it all up by part #25.
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 23”As I now have a pretty good idea how to wrap up this “short” story – hopefully this weekend – I do no want to let Nichole’s last line, below, turn into a huge drag of exposition. I’m thinking to paint with words; that is, just as you can cover a lot of ground in a montage in a movie or visual episode, I’ll talk about Gil and Mac talking about what happened to them after they escaped Portland.
This still leaves me about three weeks of Lenten content I’ll need to generate. Another short story? Something else? The world wonders.
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 22”Thanks be to God: now I know why Nichole 5 is there. And that means I see the ending. This is a little exposition for those who are familiar with my other works, but as Gil points out, in a low-tech world, local news travels no faster than a man on horseback and international news not at all, unless you are a part of the ruling class.
I think I can write a little more after this post. I also have done the preliminary formatting and uploading of “A Texas Naval Affair,” only to find a surprising flaw with the spine of the cover. I’ve copied that to my designer and she should have it resolved later today. I just might make that Easter deadline!
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 21”Mousy, quiet Mackenzie has grown up. Having children you love and protect will do that to you.
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Continue reading “Tillamook, part 20”I’m still trying to think my way out of the box I’ve written myself into here with “Tillamook.” To tide things over, here’s a tactical glimpse of the backstory of how Gil Haven and Mackenzie d’Arcy ended up where they they are. From the last chapter of “Foes and Rivals.”
…
“Come on,” Nichole announced, turning west. “We need to be out of the city and through the tunnels before complete darkness.”
Without further word, her friends followed. Out of campus and along Montgomery Street, Gil only spoke when, just at the highway that plunged under the West Hills, Nichole abruptly turned left onto a residential street winding sharply up.
“There’s something I want to see. You two can wait here if you don’t want to climb with me.”
Gil heard Mac’s little sigh and held out his hand to help her. She took it.
Just above the tunnel’s mouth, Nichole stopped and looked north and east. Besides the continuing small-arms fire, she heard the occasional crump of mortars. Many buildings along the city’s northern edge were on fire.
“I am so sorry…” Gil just caught from her.
Leaping from rock to rock and bracing herself against trees when she had to, Nichole made the descent down the hillside to the road and tunnel look easier than it was. Both Gil and Mac had several slips and scrapes before standing next to her. There was still electric power, but only one light every hundred feet or so in the tunnel was on.
“S… spooky!” Mackenzie shuddered, still next to Gil after her last near-fall.
“You will be fine, dear friend!” Nichole could tell her eyes were back to normal, as there was no moisture on her face to match the raging sorrow in her processors. “After all, you have him, now! No! Do not speak!”
She took two steps and touched their chests. With her right hand she fingered the memory crystal in Gil’s pocket.
“I love you. I might even be a soul. But, I am not human. You must find a mate of your own kind.”
She pressed a little more into Mackenzie, who could properly cry.
“Please take care of each other!”
“Ni…” Gil began.
“…chole!” Mac sputtered.
Her shadow vanished into the blackness as Nichole ran away west.
Barring one of you sharp-eyed readers finding something my drunk eyes through bifocals did not, this shall be the cover for my next novel (at 47,200 words, I’d call it a novella, but that’s me).
Yes, I am fully aware the back blurb is long. Per something I discussed in someone else’s podcast (which shows how lazy I am to not ferret out the link) is that a writer has about 0.25 seconds to catch and hold a potential reader’s attention as they scroll down on their phone. That is what the front is for. The back is me pulling up on the line once the hook is in their mouth. Given that this is a romance, girls and women will be expecting to know more about the cute couple on the front (not kidding: I’ve had two women say that to me already). If this were another military story, I’d write, “the character does cool stuff and shit blows up” and there’s my male reader base.
[Still working on “Tillamook” with Gil, Nichole, and Teresa. I bet Mackenzie is a little less than pleased that her husband’s former lover, who has not aged a day in twenty years, just showed up as she’s entering menopause.]
machciv 