Category: writing

Savannah, 1/3

Hope everyone had the New Years Eve and Day they desired.  I’ve spent most of the morning avoiding writing (two loads of dishes, repaired a space heater, collating a week’s worth of leftovers) and the afternoon sitting down and writing.

Below the fold are the first moves against the city of Savannah and the Peoples Liberation Army units that occupy it.  There are several references to military history and we learn that like her Machine namesake, Faustina has what a normal person would consider to be a very odd sense of “fun.”

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A personal look back

I am not normally a reflective or sentimental person but ARSH 2019 has been quite the year.  Foes and Rivals went live 366 days ago, so I can call that 2019-ish.  After losing over two months when my copyeditor of five years ghosted me, Worlds Without End came out in October.  “Crosses and Doublecrosses” has been ready since just after Thanksgiving but the H1B’s at Kindle think the cover is flawed (it’s my cover!  Publish the tanjed thing!).  My short story collection is effective ready to go, only lacking a cover and copyediting, which I shall have completed in January.

In meatspace, my eldest daughter went off to college for Aminal Science/Pre-vet and is thriving to the point she’s spending part of May and June of 2020 at a college on Hokkaido.  I changed employers for more pay and – more importantly – more time off to write.

Time which I have been using to write [working title] “Crusade”; 33.5k words since late October and the city of Savannah is only now about to be attacked.  I suck at war stories, it seems.  This shall end up either being a very large, 3-part novel, or I’ll break it into three distinct books.  I’ll know when they show me the scenes.

Thanks to all who follow along.  God willing, I’ve so many more stories to tell in the time I have left.  Happy New Year!

Bang Bang

Three thousands words today!  W00t!  I have the morning off tomorrow, Christmas Eve, but have to work second shift.  At least with now-teen daughters I don’t have to worry about them running screaming into our room at 0600 that “Santa was here!!!111!!”

Instead, I’ll work more on the Battle of Augusta.  Short and confusing but more engagements are.  We even catch a glimpse that our heroine is not nearly as composed as she thinks she is.  Lots to do…

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Locked out

Finished the segment I began yesterday:  Faustina having a brief chat with the mayor of what’s left of Asheville.  With that in the bag, I went to review some maps about their upcoming troop movements.  Yeah, there are those three dams, but I’m sure the barges and escorts will fit through their locks…  Those dams look a little small… let’s look them up and also check ‘street level view’!

Well, dang.  Having spent a half-dozen of my formative years around the Columbia River, I took it for granted that a great waterway would have locks for barge traffic.  I realized now that the Savannah River is not a “great waterway.”  Important, certainly, but it is a creek compared to something such as the Columbia.

I still think I can get their artillery onto barges in Augusta.  But the legions are going to have to cover the 160 miles from Asheville to there, first.  Then, while the barges – under guard – move down-river, the infantry will march another 125 miles.  I see that a few days of maps, calculations, and re-writes are ahead of me.  Hope to have something by Wednesday.

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Bed to bed

No, not Faustina; she’s too nice a girl for that… and she has more important things in her mind that dalliances with boys.  “It is no small thing to make a new world.”

In the meantime, they are coming up on their first non-Knoxville population center and need to maintain operational security in what is essentially “Indian country.”  I’ve actually written on a little as to what happens the next day but it was not a good fit for this little entry.  Tomorrow.

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First Moves

War!  Well, at least the first stages of it.  To engage an enemy you have to get your men there first.  Faustina leads Legio One and Legio Two out of permanent camp on their way south, over the Smoky Mountains.  This puts her in a challenging position:  she will be away from any signal, at least until the outskirts of her target city, so will have no choice but to rely upon what the machine Ventidio trained her to do, as well as her own staff, officers, and centurions.  If she’s smart, she will listen very closely to her centurions…

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