Author: Clayton Barnett

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

Empire’s Agent, pt.12

Busy morning about the house; was in the process of installing a new fluorescent ballast in the garage when there was a spark – oh, yeah:  should probably turn the breaker off.  Obviously Someone wants me to write more stories or I’d have been struck dead just then.  All together now:

“there are no such things as coincidences!”

Below the fold the story did not, honestly, go where I thought it would.  I was very surprised that they made such an emotional connexion when I’d been expecting a physical one.  That’s, obviously, still a very real possibility in their next few hours, but… I wonder…

The devil on my left shoulder whispers “kill him!  horribly!  tragically!” Not today, Will D.!

In other RealWorld(TM) news, the final version of the Second Edition of The Fourth Law is being reviewed for release into the wild without a radiocollar.  I hope to post an Amazon link no later than Wednesday.  If you want to save 30% and get a personalized, signed copy, let me know in the comments or via writer [at] 3-arstudios DOT com.

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Empire’s Agent, pt.11

Second, awful, miserable Dayjob(TM) weekend prep.  Nine to four with no breaks, no lunch.  At four (1600), I curled up around some boxes of liter normal saline and fell asleep for maybe fifteen minutes.  Saw this and what I’ll write and post tomorrow.  Worked for another 90 minutes.

I tend to forget about the weather; I shouldn’t:  it can be a fantastic tool for advancing a story.  Especially a story where two people might just be falling for one another.

Since, for the vast majority of time we’ve been genetically ‘human,’ getting sick = dying, I think that caring for the sick is a special form of love we show one another.  I’d call it a subset of agape, but I drink more than I Greek.

My other task is to make two, minor, editorial changes to the 2nd edition of The Fourth Law.  After Createspace does their third and final review, it’ll be commercially available.  It will likely not be until the following weekend that I’ve everything fixed and uploaded onto Smashwords.  Following that, the 2nd edition of Echoes of Family Lost.  In May, “The Saga of Nichole5 – Part 1:  ‘Friend & Ally'”

It’s as if I’m an author…

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Empire’s Agent, pt.9

“Hasten slowly.”  Twenty quatloos – and a free, signed copy of the second edition of “The Fourth Law” to the first person who identifies who is best known for that quote:  hasten slowly.

It begins to come out that while they are total strangers, Arpad and Lily do know quite a bit about one another.  And it seems they both like what they’ve discovered.  Lily’s past is still a splinter in her mind; I know that there are things as bad in his.  He’s old enough that his father could have been in the AVO, and so despised.  Hell, maybe he’s Orban’s love child?… we’ll see!

It’s lunch time and the sun’s warm!

PS  And yes, that’s Lily’s silhouette in the center in black.  Cute girl.

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Downs & Ups

My free webnovel of “Defiant” is now no longer available.  In a few months it shall return as a proper, edited novel with a proper cover.  On the drive home today – from a long, awful, day at work – I’ve glimpsed a title.  Perhaps I’ll create a poll on Gab.ai to see which way the winds are blowing?

Anyway, the tentative title for the webnovel formerly known as Defiant is now:

“The Chronicles of Nichole5:

Part 1 – Friend and Ally”

If there’s a part one, that forces me to write a part two!  At the bottom of the cover I’ll add “A Novel of Machine Civilization” to let the unsure know it’s a part of my future history.

Didn’t find anything else wrong with the re-edit of The Fourth Law.  I need to add two pages, at my wife’s very good suggestion, and get that off to Createspace.  But… tomorrow.  Too tired now and I don’t want to bugger up my pdf files.

Yes, yes:  Lily and Arpad’s lunch!  I know!

 

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MeatSpace

Wrote a little Saturday.  Had to install some plastic sheeting to keep our under-deck dry as well as a new ballast in the garage.  Lily and Arpad are eating lunch on the roof of her hospital. The last time she did that with a guy he died about ten pages later.  Best to take my time, there.

While I shall most definitely be returning to this story, I’ve also finished checking my proof of the 2nd edition of The Fourth Law.  I’ll be featuring that throughout this week with excerpts from the book.

In the mean time, proof that I can use a screwdriver.

 

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Empire’s Agent, pt.8

Nasty outbreak of DayJob, today:  my boss’s dotted-line boss was in for the annual audit.  I did my best to stay invisible.  In that time, I was able to see far beyond what I’ve written here.  But, it was a 10-hour day, so:  rest.

I have to tell this from Arpad’s POV because I didn’t understand just how – even with Ai’s family – how alone Lily is as she approaches thirty years old.  I’m not cutting her parts out, but limiting them for poignancy.

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Empire’s Agent, pt.(7)

Back on track.  I re-re-read what I’d re-read yesterday.  I’m just a middle-aged hack, but FFS, that was awful!  Was I really drunk enough to write that?

I didn’t even bother editing it:  deleted.  Let’s try again.  Sure:  dashing Arpad is something of a player; nothing at all wrong with that.  Has he a history?  Well, lookie here…!

[Personal aside:  thought about this all morning.  Left phone upstairs in pharmacy while I went to eat lunch in ground floor cafeteria.  Rather than troll news sites, I spent the next forty-ish minutes thinking about this story.  Bits.  Pieces.  Glimpses.  Pic…

What?  Oh:  “picnic.”  My imagination opened like a carpet.  Arpad owes Lily a lunch at her hospital, but after that… they’re going to go on a little date… how, why, where… don’t bother me:  I’m writing!]

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Casting Call

Not writing anything on Sunday freaked me out so I thought about things Monday – so much my brain shorted out and I had to leave DayJob at 1500 – and came home to write a little.  I’d thought I’d try following on Empire’s Agent, about Arpad and Lily.  I dropped about 400 words and went to bed.  Going back to look at them, just now, I must have been worse off than I thought:  just awful!

The problem, of course, is me.  After starring in my first two novels, Lily Barrett is something of an iconic figure of my future history.  One doesn’t just randomly use icons in short story writing exercises.  I’m going to spend the rest of this evening thinking and making a few notes.  I am really interested where this might lead but I don’t want to bugger it up.

Content tomorrow.  Something.  Promise.

Apocryphal Henge

When she was young, she never smiled like this. Now that she’s older and has changed states, I wanted to pass this along.  Made by Tracy Michallow of StarArtWorks.  She and her husband are quite talented; please give them a visit!

I’ve paddled about my future history and have so far not come up with where I’m going next.  I have to have an answer tomorrow, or I’ll die.  And, what the hell am I supposed to rename “Defiant”?!

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