Tag: Faustina

Bright Eyes, 2/?

So, from Fussy’s first word, I guess this story is over? I kid; all the Harmanns are rather hardheaded and used to having their way. Think of it more as a negotiation point.

Looking back at part one, Liz almost seems a little “aspie.” Makes sense as being a demi of a technical bent, she’s used to focusing completely on something before moving on. Thus, that’s why Josh had no idea that she was interested in him until the radar array project was complete.

Below, I love the little bit where Josh is busted for looking at Faustina’s ass. We men really are pigs.

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“The Fallen” 4/15

Another interlude back on the surface, seeing how the rescue effort is developing. And, boy, is it. Even so, there’s much careful planning for phase two, the drone. Recall at this moment Kira has no idea how deep the hole is or how does it end. As she says, she is assuming the best for Allie and Zhukov and planning accordingly. I have Kira reflect a little on the political changes to Earth and Mars over the last thirty years.

The play on words of “A-Hole,” A for Alicia Alvarez, came to me before Mass yesterday, so I’m assuming the pun is divinely inspired.

Because there is a lot for me to learn in this second interlude, I may be back to a MWF posting this week. Apologies.

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“The Fallen” 1/5

This is the conclusion of Part 1. Fussy has just laid it out to Eloise in sort of a “this is your duty” approach, which they knew would be the best route to take, rather than, “that other woman wants you out of the way.”

We meet Saras, not quite eight years old. Demi-human. She is the main character for Part 2, which I’m working on but once again stuck. I’ll figure something out, I’m sure.

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“The Fallen” 1/2

After showing the interpersonal politics between Robert and Nadia, I quickly wanted to show that this is not just a marriage forced on them by their respective rulers. They met, talked, had a (small) chance to say “no.” Any marriage is work; constant day-after-day work. I’ve been at it for over thirty years. No time off for good behavior.

Even a crown prince must defer to their sovereign, so Robert makes a call. At this point in her life (Fussy is fifty now), I think she is a jerk just for jerk’s sake. St Petersburg to Huntsville in a few hours? I wonder how he’ll pull that off…

“I I I” isn’t even out yet and I’m already writing spoilers.

Mild content warning for what’s below.

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“Trevor Goodchild”

Ideas come from the oddest places. On the social media site, Gab, there is a clever gentleman who goes by the name this post is titled. Some quick intarweb searching informed me it is from an animated series/live-action movie called “Aeon Flux.” I am not familiar with it nor does it sound as if it is something I’d like. Still, that’s his moniker. The man is astonishingly well informed – especially about medical matters – but also politics and culture. And he does not suffer fools. If, as the Left believes, words could hurt, he would have a body count in the tens of thousands.

For some reason, it occurred to me to incorporate that persona into Machine Civilization. Of the meatspace man, I know nothing and think it’s best to keep it that way. So, having read his posts for all these years, I wanted to construct an image of his image. That is what’s below. A mere 1500-word micro-story, but once someone is in, they are in. Hell, I tie Trevor to Arpad Rigó, one of the two most important families in my stories. Expect to see more of him as I keep writing. Until my liver explodes.

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Lenten Writing

I’ve seen something for what might be my third and last installment for this Season. I didn’t like looking at it and I don’t like talking about it. But it is canonical to Machine Civilization, so there it is. This is not something I’ve written in Word and run through Grammarly; this is what I just saw and and posting. Expect errors.

My Lenten commitment was daily posting. But I hate what I’ve just seen.

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“A Texas Naval Affair,” final cover

Barring one of you sharp-eyed readers finding something my drunk eyes through bifocals did not, this shall be the cover for my next novel (at 47,200 words, I’d call it a novella, but that’s me).

Yes, I am fully aware the back blurb is long. Per something I discussed in someone else’s podcast (which shows how lazy I am to not ferret out the link) is that a writer has about 0.25 seconds to catch and hold a potential reader’s attention as they scroll down on their phone. That is what the front is for. The back is me pulling up on the line once the hook is in their mouth. Given that this is a romance, girls and women will be expecting to know more about the cute couple on the front (not kidding: I’ve had two women say that to me already). If this were another military story, I’d write, “the character does cool stuff and shit blows up” and there’s my male reader base.

[Still working on “Tillamook” with Gil, Nichole, and Teresa. I bet Mackenzie is a little less than pleased that her husband’s former lover, who has not aged a day in twenty years, just showed up as she’s entering menopause.]

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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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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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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