Tag: romance

“The Fallen” 3/4

A rare Saturday update. I’ll be busy Sunday through Tuesday morning, so I thought to get something out now.

We start in on international politics, with the Japanese consul in Neo-Yokohama getting the first word in. For a diplomat, I’d say he gets too many words in, so I think the slight to Anton is deliberate. Toward the end of this segment, he lays out his travel plans for some shuttle diplomacy.

Starting to wonder if I should pin that map of Mars to the top of this blog as a reference.

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Ice Inundation Intelligence

Pleased to announce the release of both the paperback and Kindle versions of my latest book. Number seventeen of the future history that is Machine Civilization.

As with many of my other books, I am hoping to have it ported to Smashwords in a week or two, depending on how many times I bang my head against a brick wall for their kludgy interface,

***

Canada is dying. In a new ice age, one by one, their cities are falling. They occupied the empty US Midwest but Quebec wants out and the Russian Army is coming into their central provinces from the west. Leading a scout unit to divine the Russians’ intentions, Lt. Eloise Patel is captured and tortured, then rescued by the love of her life, Centurion Bob Hardt. The politics point to a three-way war.

Mars is being reborn. Terraformed by the Polar Alliance, the northern hemisphere is an ocean. But the Second Inundation has many worried. There to keep an eye on things, Empress Faustina and one of her sons stumble across an ancient alien artifact – and vanish.

While the politicians bluster and threat, Hardt, Patel, and Sgt. Sergei Konev of the Russian Army try to keep a peace on the ground and between one another and their three nations.

***

“The Fallen” 2/7

Dinner. I’m good with dinners. Surprised that Les ran his mouth there a little bit; as I mentioned yesterday, having those two alone for weeks and months might be changing how they act around others.

I’m thinking of wrapping up Part 2 by Friday, and then taking another multi-year step. We’ll have to see.

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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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Book 17. Epilogue. 1/2

Part one of two of the story’s end. This wraps up Bob’s side of things. I’m edging out of “hard SF” here, but that’s okay. Their world is Changed and we know a helluva lot less about ours than we think we do.

Off to Imaginarium in an hour. Four to six hour drive, depending on weather and traffic. Nothing on the schedule tonight, so I’ll see what I can do for Konev’s wrap up. Obviously, Reina will be there. She’s always there.

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Book 17. Part Four. 7

Back to Bob’s rescue mission. It starts well…

I’m already into the epilogue and may finish the raw MS before Imaginarium after all. I could copy it to a flash drive and hand it to my copyeditor, I suppose.

Would a highly trained soldier really steal a look at a girl in the middle of a rescue mission? Sorry, ladies, men are pigs.

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Book 17. Part Three. 9

Aurie being Aurie decides to “turn it up to eleven.” She does seem to personally like Eloise but it’s just as obvious she is using her. The next installment will show just how much.

Not really sure what Aurie is up to, here. Just because she thinks fast and has access to vast information, that doesn’t mean she always makes the right decision. I’ve already had Bob point out in that meeting that she seems flustered in a way that Faustina never was. It may be she’s not suited to rule. We’ll all just have to wait and see.

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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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