Month: September 2023

“The Fallen” 3/5

A bit of a physical transition from Neo-Yokohama to Ekaterinberg. And yes, Alicia’s reaction as the pass over the marshes is what we writers call a “tell.”

The Russian functionary makes two mistakes in a row, which I find a bit surprising for a politician at that level and on another world. When I wrote what comes out in segment six, I now think it was a ruse to get Anton wondering how competent these people are. Looking further ahead, I was surprised to find someone I’d not expected to see on Mars. That will be for later.

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“The Fallen” 3/4

A rare Saturday update. I’ll be busy Sunday through Tuesday morning, so I thought to get something out now.

We start in on international politics, with the Japanese consul in Neo-Yokohama getting the first word in. For a diplomat, I’d say he gets too many words in, so I think the slight to Anton is deliberate. Toward the end of this segment, he lays out his travel plans for some shuttle diplomacy.

Starting to wonder if I should pin that map of Mars to the top of this blog as a reference.

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“The Fallen” 3/3

At last we get Anton Sr into the frame. He’s twenty-nine, I think, at this point. A high-caste Mexican married to a demi-human, mixed race imperial princess. With an ambassadorship. And, as we discover in this shorter segment, still, after five years, getting used to married life.

Hell, at five years my wife and I nearly got divorced. It was my fault. A twice-divorced colleague sat me down and explained: “Clayton. You’re a man and an engineer. If someone tells you a problem, you immediately want to fix it. Women are NOT like that. They talk to talk. Just pretend you’re listening and all will be well.”

And here we are, thirty-one years later. Thanks, Bill!

Section 4 will start us down the political spillway: Japs, Rus, imperials. And a very odd occurrence when they fly over the Arabia Marshes. I wonder if the plot might be showing up?

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“The Fallen” 3/2

As y’all have heard me say, part three is a bit harder for me. That being so, I’m planning on every-other-day updates rather than daily. I’m having to pay a lot of attention to details I’d otherwise gloss over, and it takes time.

What a lovely family. I’m trying my best to not ruin it.

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Ice Inundation Intelligence

Pleased to announce the release of both the paperback and Kindle versions of my latest book. Number seventeen of the future history that is Machine Civilization.

As with many of my other books, I am hoping to have it ported to Smashwords in a week or two, depending on how many times I bang my head against a brick wall for their kludgy interface,

***

Canada is dying. In a new ice age, one by one, their cities are falling. They occupied the empty US Midwest but Quebec wants out and the Russian Army is coming into their central provinces from the west. Leading a scout unit to divine the Russians’ intentions, Lt. Eloise Patel is captured and tortured, then rescued by the love of her life, Centurion Bob Hardt. The politics point to a three-way war.

Mars is being reborn. Terraformed by the Polar Alliance, the northern hemisphere is an ocean. But the Second Inundation has many worried. There to keep an eye on things, Empress Faustina and one of her sons stumble across an ancient alien artifact – and vanish.

While the politicians bluster and threat, Hardt, Patel, and Sgt. Sergei Konev of the Russian Army try to keep a peace on the ground and between one another and their three nations.

***

“The Fallen” 3/1

As I mentioned in the last installment, this one is a bit harder as there is no main character, per se. That means I cannot use first-person thought without headhopping, a bad early habit of mine from some years ago.

I’m realizing now that what that does do is make me describe things more. That’s a net positive as this is a new world in the process of terraforming. So I suppose part three was meant to be this way.

We step ahead about ten years here. Saras is married, one son, a daughter pending. Back on Mars, which we saw she considers her home, she and her little boy anxiously wait for his father, her husband, to get back from Earth.

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“The Fallen” 2/10

And this is the end of part two. It would made for a fantastic scene in a movie, which was how it was shown to me.

Saras’ conflicted feelings to Les are obvious, as a girl, and complex, as they are both demis. Her question and his answer toward the conclusion put an end to whatever emotions she might have been feeling about him, besides love and respect for a senior member of the family. And, this is two Tolkien references in two segments, for those of you keeping track.

I’m getting into part three…and it’s a tangle. Unlike part one which had Eloise with “first-person thoughts,” and part two with Saras doing the same, there is no single of the three I’ve met so far who will have that. So, instead of people thinking and talking to move the story along, it’s third-person me typing all this out. It is NOT my style and I find it limiting and clunky. I’ve only about 1000 words of it so far, and one of those three characters hasn’t even wandered onstage yet, so I’m a little unclear as to how long part three will be. I do, at least, see how it keeps the overall arc toward that feral demi-girl whose image started all this foolishness.

Have a good weekend. New material on Monday. Deus vult.

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