Along the Neva

After a very short flight, followed by a contested parking spot, Laszlo finds himself walking along the southern branch of the Neva River in St. Petersburg. I’ve never been there but have heard from many that it is a beautiful city. Someday, when my books are optioned into movies, I’ll take a chartered flight; commercial flights are more and more a dry-run for slavery.

As you will shortly see, the PM of Imperial Russia, Reina, stomps onto the stage. First among equals of tribe Mendrovovitch and possibly the most dangerous of all Machines, she also attacks my stories like kudzu: taking over and displacing everything which was already there. And from the last line below the fold, it seems she is in for most of this part of the novel. Oh, well. What can I do?

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Inspection

Just back from a grueling 3-day weekend: flight to St. George, Utah via Phoenix, followed by a 1944-mile drive back to central Ohio. All to retrieve Daughter #1 from her five week internship at Best Friends Animal Shelter. To her credit, she impressed them so much that they said they would hold a slot open for her next summer if she wants in. She is thinking about it. That’s my girl!

Below the fold is a short update to Prince Laszlo’s story. Knowing this would be a hard weekend, I only took a few notes and mostly watched the movies in my mind about what comes next. I think I saw about two chapters worth. This is going to be very political.

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Prince Laszlo’s story

Making a beginning at this. After much thought, there is no way, none, that Empress Faustina’s children could have anything like a “private life.” The imperium has been a going concern for a generation now and is back on its technological feet. While not as “panopticon” as the Machines can be, a demi such as Fussy, for political reasons as we saw with her nephew, Roland, would monitor her children very closely. That means that Les’, er, inclinations would be known to her, too. But, just as we read two posts ago, between Hill and Hardt, you can still keep an open secret as a secret, if it benefits all concerned. I discover that here, in the opening of part three of “Imperium’s Shadow.”

For those following along, this starts off just hours after Faustina and her three boys were aboard the Gentlemans Cigar Trolley, on the fringe of Shelbyville, Tennessee Province. As is how I write, events start to move fast. Fast enough that I need to be older about the lay of the land of St. Petersburg, Russia, ’cause that’s where we’re headed next.

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The Great White North

As Officer Cadet Patel explains below, that has become a reality. With my future history’s Maunder Minimum, the snow and ice are coming, putting pressure on the populations of Canada and the Russian Empire. As a nation with reactionless motors and helping to terraform Mars, the Russians have a potential escape route (besides their hegemony over the American west coast); the Canadians have no such thing, hence they occupation of the old American Midwest.

Nice to see Robert getting all “crown prince” at the end of this snippet. Which is also the end of Part II of my MS. I’m getting into part three, about Prince Laszlo, and… oh, boy. I’ve never written a character like this before. I wonder if I’ll fall afoul of the SJWs and their enforcers? The world wonders.

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Bardstown Exchange

With so much of my time spent talking, either the new podcasts or slogging through the chapters of “Foes & Rivals” audiobook raws, I have neglected manuscript updates. Time to rectify that. With Kentucky Province now added to Faustina’s imperium, there is still a little more work for “Bob Hardt” and his intel group to do; that is, sounding points west of Frankfort. The center of gravity there is Bardstown, a going concern for nearly 300 years. Taken aside by his CO, Robert is almost but not quite called out as to just who the hell he is.

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Podcast 4: The Humans of Machine Civilization

A whole thirty minutes! And this is just the barest overview! We begin with Lily & Callie, broaden to their parents and families, then off to the surviving city-states of the former US, and finally a quick look at the rest of humans on Earth.

Very ambitious, but also a good start. I could spend thirty minutes on each main character, so was pleased to keep things under control as well as I did. Machine or human, any story is about people. For reference, a stemma, or family tree, is just below.

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Autocrat

A special guest appearance! This is only the second time I’ve seen Fussy in-person in this novel. She was playful when messaging Robert through his tablet but is a much harder person in the flesh. I wonder if being an absolute monarch wears at her? She almost sounds relieved to think someone else will have the burden of the incorporation of the Midwest. And, just who might be her heir?

This is the conclusion of what will be chapter ten. There’s one more, with Centurion Hill taking his team further west then up to the Ohio River, but that’s another day. Please look forward to my next podcast, in two days; I’ll be getting into the details of the Machines of Machine Civilization.

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Hard Decisions

And just like a bad penny or a case of herpes, Sky is back again. Do I have to metaphorically spray Roundup on my story to get rid of her? At least she’s made her decision and is Roland’s problem, now.

The locals, not knowing what, or rather who is coming, Centurion Hill pressures Deke Webb into his decision, too.

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“L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace.”

Another meeting but it also offers readers a peek into the neo-feudalistic structure of the imperium. If some of the NPCs in the story have trouble wrapping their heads around it, I expect my readers to, as well. But I’ve never been one for huge blocks of exposition. I’m sure more will come out in some conversation in the future.

If I have to explain things, well, that like having to read the instructions to a game; by definition, that’s a failed game.

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A Series of Reveals

With my first podcast behind me – and already notes for the second – time to get back to what is happening in former Kentucky. The short answer is: quite a bit and very fast. I think these story notes will be the last or second-to-last chapter of this section.

It was, honestly, nice to get Sky off the stage. She tends to take over; like kudzu.

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