Author: Clayton Barnett

Former engineer, current husband and father, layabout Pharmacy Technician, aspiring writer.

Reversion to the Median

Back to normal, really.  After nearly a 4-week hiatus getting “Cursed Hearts” released into the wild and dealing with some RealLife issues, things will be getting back on track here.

Yesterday was Matsuricon in Columbus, Ohio, the second biggest animecon in this area.  Unlike making it a long family weekend as we do for Ohayocon, we just drop by on Saturday.  Got there around 1030; was surprisingly empty, so Registration was a breeze.  Suddenly filled up around 1200.  Was everyone hungover and sleeping in?

Caught a panel about buying odd stuff from Japan, the creator of the Monogatari series, and a short performance by Kazha (they were okay).  Also hit the Dealers Room and got some Angel Beats artbooks and a Saber Lily figurine for my wife.

Later, was chilling at the bar in the Hiatt.  After determining that the kid next to me was 1, a girl and not a trap, and 2, legal, I started a chatting her up.  A 20-something year old pastry chef, she was also part Hungarian, which I IMMEDIATELY brought up when my wife appeared, before she yelled “Lolicon!” and clouted me.  We secured a table just as Friend Will made his appearance.  Sometime during the next five Martinis I know my daughters dropped by, but reality was rather ephemeral at this point.

Even so, and even being a Race Realist, there was a moment when I looked about the table and thought, counterclockwise:  me (pasty old white guy), 1/8 Jewess (half my age), Black guy (half my age), two Chinese girls, and my Central Asian wife, all there to celebrate and have a good time over Japanese comics and animation.  What an amazing and too-short moment of Western Civilization!

“Cursed Hearts” – published!

At long last, I am very pleased to announce the release of my fourth book – and third novel – of Machine Civilization:  “Cursed Hearts.”  The paperback is available via Amazon and Goodreads.

To make it easier for y’all to celebrate along with me, all three novels, in their ebook form, are available at Smashwords for only US$0.99 each! (note:  you might need to toggle Adult Content: On in the upper right to see CH)

Thanks for everyone’s support and encouragement!

Amazon link!

Goodreads link!

Smashwords link!

Smashwords_eBook

Pirate Twins, 5; End Act I

Europa’s appearance was originally in Part 4, but the break didn’t fit.  This installment is a little shorter, but my action sequences always are.  You’ll see more of that next week once ‘Cursed Hearts’ is commercially available.

Editing of Proof Copy this weekend.  Shall I come back to Logres & Europa?  Move onto something else?  I get many ‘Likes,’ but comments & quesions are very welcome, too!

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Continue reading “Pirate Twins, 5; End Act I” →

Pirate Twins, 2

RealLife(TM) work followed me home, not much, but I was off the clock, which sucked.  I’m trying to make this a 4-5,000 word story complete by the time my CH proof copy gets here (irrational deadlines!) so that’s 1k words each night.  That’s about what’s below the fold.  Makes sense:  my stories are characters and their interactions; this whole entry is Logres on his own, so, honestly, it’s a little boring.  I had to get him halfway across Europe; now that that’s done, I hope he and Europa can show me what comes tomorrow!

Continue reading “Pirate Twins, 2” →

Wandering into the Future

Editing and cover for ‘Cursed Hearts’ complete and the hardcopy proof will be in my hands Thursday or Friday.  I’m sure there’s a half dozen more surprises lurking in there for me.  So for now, I can sit back and relax…!

[Wanders around the house.  Vacuums upstairs.  Looks at interwebs.  Glances at watch:  noon]

Bored!

I’d a notion last night this would happen, but was far too drunk to worry about it.  In the few quiet moments at Mass this morning, I did.  If I don’t start writing something, I’ll go crazy.  So, I paged through some notes and pondered.

At first, I thought about striking out in a completely different direction:  going back to the script I wrote for the Steampunk Reilly graphic novels; it has a good series of stories held together by a coherent overall arc and a brace of interesting characters.  It also has nothing to do with Machine Civilization.

About a week ago on A Writer’s Path (a super resource), I read an article about why a writer should, basically, “stay on message;” if you do SF, do SF.  If you write romance, write romance.  Given that I’ve written SF, religion, magic, romance, horror, friendship all through visual novels, traditional novels, websites, and picture books, I considered that to be a crock of shit.  In fact, I’ve very deliberately chosen to change genres, just to see what I can do.

However, there might be a useful nugget there still:  while I have used different characters and settings to tell different stories, they’ve – so far – all been in my future history, Machine Civilization.  Mulling on that – and that I think steampunk is much better suited for a visual medium – I put the Reilly story away.  Again.  So, what to do?  There on the sidebar (or in the Menu, depending on how you’re viewing this) is my free novel/writing experiment, “Defiant.”  It’s just possible that I could edit Acts 1-3 into Part 1 of 2 of another novel (and that would be a lot of editing!  It was never designed to be a free-standing story!).  It has some romantic elements that I could turn up or down, as well as a strong military theme.  Some politics, but not so much that my head starts spinning by page five (as it did with ‘Crosses & Doublecrosses).

Then again, having just come off of a novel, do I want to undertake something big again?  Would maybe two or three short stories be better both to keep me writing and the creative process engaged?  Short stories can also be scaled up, witness, ‘It’s Just Business’ (that was the original title) turning into ‘Cursed Hearts.’

Sighing into my computer screen, I imagine Ai’s family, Nichole’s family, and anyone left alive at Neuroi Corporation, sighing back at me, wondering when Stupid Writer will tell more of their stories.  Apologies, friends:  I’m trying.

-Punk

Background:  Archimedes of Syracuse, per the orders of General Marcellus, is not killed in 212 BC by a Roman legionary but is brought to Rome to walk in that general’s triumph the following year.  Paroled, he spends the last five years of his life in an insula in the Suburra, successfully completing his notes on his invention of calculus.

Those notes, and the others recovered from his workshop in Syracuse, are used by Roman civil and military engineers over the next two hundred years to accelerate the growth and stability of the Late Republic’s provinces.  By the time of Octavian’s monarchy, Germania had been a province for one generation and Parthia for two.

Around 50 BC, the observer of natural phenomenon, Varro, formerly Pompey’s biographer, invents a primitive steam engine for use in mines and agriculture.  Circa 10 AD, Hero of Alexandria creates a cooling jacket that improves the efficiency of Varro’s engine by several orders of magnitude.  The Roman Empire enters the Steam Age.

 

Story:  (c. 100 AD) Marcus Quinctilius Justus Varus Pius, Justus to his co-workers, is a mid-level clerk in the Licinius SA international trading firm.  Besides his day-to-day actuarial duties, he spends most of his time trying to not be reminded that he is the sole surviving family member of “the last general that lost a Roman Army,” his great-grandfather, some ninety years ago.  However, because of his mother’s Parthian background and his knowledge of that language, he’s tapped as an assistant to a trade mission  – sanctioned by the Emperor himself – to the far land of Sirica (what we call China).  Roman and Serican traders meet all the time in India and the isle of Taprobane, but this was something different:  find an over-land route where Roman engineers could build a road for trade.  Or invasion.

After many adventures and close-calls, Justus and his party come to the borderlands of Serica.  There, in the city of Liqian, they have their first shock:  the citizens are the descendants of legionaries captured at the battles of Carrhae and Phraapsa and forcefully relocated to the Parthian NE frontier.  After so many years, are you here to guide us home, they ask?  Close on the heels of that, Justus quite by accident stumbles upon the Sirican’s greatest military secrets, and thus a chance to redeem his family’s name:  the powder that explodes.

 

Just an idea I had.  Thoughts?  And what would you call this?  Romepunk?  Marblepunk?