Civil Wars 2, 7

Moving on and briefly back with his family, Graf has a bit of a “road to Damascus” moment. Not sure it will take, but we’ll see. Pai could instantly tell something was different. She is likely reaching out to her uncle, Balthazar, who is Russian Orthodox, for more information. I cannot imagine her hostile to a possible emergence of her husband’s faith; still, this is a complex subject and I will proceed carefully.

Next, we will meet this branch of the Hartmann family. I bet at dinner; I love dinners.

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Civil Wars 2, 5

Longer segment, but it really didn’t lend itself into being broken in two. Had I, a good point would have been when Pai was about to decapitate Robert for what he called her husband. But things moved on fairly quickly. At the end, I included a bit from a homily at my church Sunday before last; to wit: listen. You never know when you’ll hear.

If you’re curious as to why Robert’s left arm and leg are artificial, there’s something you can read. And the references to Graf’s gift/curse as well as Luce (pronounced loo-che) are from here.

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Iter, 4/4, end

Ugh. Helping to move Daughter #2’s stuff to her new house. In 87F/90% humidity. I’m too old for that.

Decided to conclude this one, so it is just a tiny bit longer. Having always been content to just be as her man’s side, Min gets a little surprise from Fussy at the conclusion of Les’ funeral. And then there is the interplay with Reina. Aurie gets in first, to make sure that most dangerous of Thinking Machines does not do anything stupid. Min was, after all, once her.

For the next week, I need to flog Matters of Life and Death to where I can hand it off to my copyeditor. And, I need to ponder the eleven stories and decide what I’d like to see on the front and back covers so my designer can get started. Everyone have a good weekend.

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Iter, 3/x

It was a 17-hour drive, augmented by my GI tract bug. DIdn’t get home until 2347. I’m recovering today but very glad to have the day off. In fact, after this update, I’m laying down for at least rest if not a nap

“A walk in the woods,” is an old military metaphor for a failed commander to use his sidearm to blow his brains out to try to expiate his failure. Thankfully, this is just a walk between two cousins, more human than human, who are groping their way to an understanding and acceptance what their loss.

I do like how Aurie – she’s so down-to-earth in private! – immediately recognized where Min’s grief was leading her. And put a stop to it, instantly. That meeting with Reina has me a little worried, though. She’ll likely work on Min’s mind in the exactly opposite way.

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Red Rain, 1/x

Starry Sky allowed me to play with the ideas of death and purgatory; really happy subjects. Because I try to do things differently every now and again, I was gifted a vision of what I am starting here. And, to do something I have never published before (I did try my hand at it once; amateur hour writing), I am going to try some allegory. Not 100%, mind you, where “everything points to something else,” but at least 50% or more.

Further, the protagonist of the story, introduced in the second part of this segment, is the antagonist of my romance/horror novel, Cursed Hearts. And, the character of Nike inhabited the two novels of the saga of Nichole 5 Clarke. The young woman is a horrible but tragic figure, a tortured and wounded soul who in the novel lashes out at the world, wanting nothing more than to be with her step-brother. I wanted to see if she could get a second chance.

Let’s see where this goes, friends. Deus vult.

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“The Fallen” 4/13

May or may not be an update tomorrow, Friday. This was a little hard to get down. Unfortunately for Alicia, it’s about to get harder. I see another Interlude after that, but I don’t think, per my first, they’ll be all the funny anymore.

Burial customs are a cornerstone of all civilizations.

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Colour Strange Charm

Merry Christmas Eve. Level 3 storm warning here. My pharmacist at DayJob is literally dialing it in: logging onto EPIC from home. It’s too cold for the salt to work so the roads are a mess. Told me to stay home.

I think I can finish this MS today. That would have symmetry for me. It was Xmas Eve, eight years ago, just before midnight when I clicked “Publish” and changed my world.

And no, I don’t know what she is, either. Kalí first makes her appearance in “A Texas Naval Affair,” where another young man was trying to woo someone from the imperial family. Love will make a man do strange things.

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Colour of Salvation

As you might expect, parts of this were shown to me at church back on December 11th. Always should check in with the Lord whenever you can. He’s still arrogant but I think Robert a bit more humble than his gifted brothers and sisters. It was and is Aurie is fond of Jimmy but that does not means she’s not an egotistical jerk.

That’s something surprising: how comfortable demi-humans seem to be in their own skin. Putting aside Empress’ Fussy’s occasional “normies” comment, none of them appear to look down on humans or act like narcissists. I wonder if it has something to do with how they think, faster and a bit different from us? I’m sure I’ll find out some day.

As an illustration of how all these stories touch, Panck Hill, below, was Robert’s CO in part 2 of “Obligations of Rank,” and after one too many coincidence, twigged as to who Bob Hardt really was. And was both wise and kind enough to ignore it.

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Cadets, 1/4

Yes, I went dark again. I re-listened to the six chapters of “Foes and Rivals” I recorded to try to get their voices back into my head. Then another movie started playing in my head. That what this is.

Set ten years before the action in my forthcoming novel, “Obligations of Rank,” we have two youngsters in Empress Faustina’s army, on the outskirts of St. Louis. For those who have been following along in the raws I posted of my next novel, this campaign does not end well.

I have DayJob this weekend but am off Monday. Unfortunately a friend asked me to put together a little precis of “creative writing” for, I think, upcoming NaNoWriMo season. So little time…

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