I deed it! I DEED IT!
And I didn’t break the Internet this time!
As I’m sure you can see, I’ve managed to put together a passable and more reader friendly navigation panel on the front page. Each button will take you right where you are looking to go, and the Gate Series content is even sorted by chronological order; handy for the two new readers a month I get!
See ya all later, busy busy bee over here.
Sometimes love just ain’t enough. Here is the other shoe dropping… the rain dropping upon your sunshiny heads… the gravel dumped upon your floor.
Some relationships, no matter how deep the affection, can be ripped apart by outside factors. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how reality is sometimes, especially in inter-racial relationships; they have several burdens and stigmas to overcome, and sometimes its too much for one or both parties to handle. Such is the case for poor Talia.
So there; all of you readers who were worried something was wrong with me because I wrote such a “happy and romantic” story can be at ease. I’m apparently still the same dour and depressing writer I always was.
For those that want to see how the relationship falls apart, read here. For those that don’t, you might want to read it anyway; because a lot of the elements presented here will be factors in The Endtimers’ Legacy. We begin to really see the ugly side of Erani society and attitude that’s always been there, but had been glossed over from the Erani-centered perspective in The Second Gate.
I’m just ecstatic it didn’t take me a month to write this like the last one. See ya’ll next time.
And finally, some new content for the new year; the second lead-in short story for Endtimers’ Legacy. This is a little bit of a different style and turn than you’ve normally seen so far at this point… in fact, it’s almost a romantic story than a sci-fi one. Thus, I’ll admit I’m a bit worried that it won’t be received well, even though it is a fairly important piece of development for two major characters for the second book. Plus, there’s a point to it… which I think will come into focus in the future.
Anywhere, go ahead and give it a read here. Hopefully, it won’t take a month for the next short to be revealed.
And now, the lead-in to The Endtimers’ Legacy begins in earnest with the first short story bridge. We get to see a little insight into the inner workings of the bureaucracy of the Galactic Alliance, for good and for ill, from the eyes of the current Premier of the Galactic Parliament, Robert Datson. Find out what is going on in his headspace here.
Turns out that everything isn’t still happy and pretty in the galaxy… and that in some ways, the collapse of the Erani nobility has caused more harm than good in the short term.
I’ve really come to like this short story lead-in format between full length novels; it allows me to flesh out the perimeter of the setting without burdening readers with as many jarring tangents in the novels themselves. When you have novels that push 400 pages as it is, anything that streamlines the process is welcome, I am sure.
Work goes on in my world; still tooling around with Megatokyo: Endgames (a small snippet of what I’ve been tooling with could possibly be ready for a sneak peek sometime later this month). But that doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my own IP!
Got a handful of short stories in the works, for example, as a bridge from The Second Gate to the second book in the series. I’m looking to publish the first of them, Head of State, within the next week.
But at the same time, I’ve been working on Book 2 itself. Unlike the first book in the series, I’ve taken the wishes of the readers into account and am going to publish it all at once rather than a chapter a week. That suits me well enough, and if that’s the way you all want it… then that’s how you’ll have it.
Nevertheless, I want to give you all something to sate your appetites in the meantime, and so I am proud to reveal a preview of Book 2 of the Gate Series; The Endtimers’ Legacy.
If you don’t want to be spoiled in any way, do not under any circumstances click here. If you do want to be spoiled, or are otherwise indifferent, click here.
Thank you for your patience, and I’ll have more ready for everyone soon. I promise!
In honor of the start of National Novel Writing Month, I offer support not in participation (As I have not the time for reasons mentioned earlier), and sadly not money (as I have little to spare at the time), but in revealing works past.
Redemption got it’s start as my contribution to last year’s NaNoWriMo. Over the following year, I refined that first draft with the usual several revisions/cuts/additions that tends to be my irritating way of never really being satisfied with my work. And now, I present it here, and can be found at later dates in the “Other Stories” section of the site.
Thank you for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the read, and if you are someone taking part in the festivities, I wish you good luck.
As per reader demand, The Second Gate has been put into expedited completion, the entirety of which can now be read here.
It’s a bit of a catharsis for me; this was a project ten years and fourteen revisions in the making. Hopefully future books in the series don’t take nearly as long.
Seriously, I wouldn’t live to see the end of it.
So, what happens now? Well, it’s going to be a while before I get Book Two; The Endtimer’s Legacy, in the works… got a few other projects on my plate, one of which should be posted shortly, another of which one will probably not hear anything about until next year at the earliest.
As for all the readers (who as I understand, have become a large handful as opposed to a small one), if you like what you’ve read, spread the word. Tell your friends, tell people who you think would like it. Another way you can help is visit The Second Gate’s listing on the Web Fiction Guide (link here). Rate it or review it (or both); the more you do, the more the word spreads.
Until next time, happy reading. I hope to be back soon with more for your eager eyes.
Ubeks are a rather interesting species to try and figure out.
The common perception among the Galactic Alliance is that they are unintelligent barbaric brutes that are barely capable of serving the galactic society beyond being intimidating security guards or low ranking peacekeepers.
The truth is, of course, much more complex than that. Ubeks can be profoundly intelligent, and usually are. It’s just that their intellectual strengths tend not to be the ones that are preferred by “sophisticated” society.
Let’s put it this way; you probably don’t want to try and discuss Post-Schism Interpretive Erani Art or the merits of Militant Secularism within Arcadian culture with an Ubek… but if you’re trying to figure out how to break the siege and blockade of your homeworld with a tenth of the resources and vastly inferior technology, having an Ubek over your shoulder to make those decisions would be a very good thing.
Find out more about what makes our big, varying blue neighbors tick in Chapter Twenty-Eight.
Due to the shaky nature of my connection today, I’m playing it safe and giving all ten of you an early update. Here is Chapter Twenty-Seven.
In other news, I’ve gotten some feedback as to how to proceed, and it looks like the “I want it all!” crowd has it. Within the next few days, I should start posting the remainder of the Second Gate for all you impatient type peoples!
Oh, I kid. I’m glad you all like it so much you all want the rest right away. I’m glad to oblige.
So, here’s Chapter Twenty-Six.
I think I failed all my readers again. Julianne and Justin don’t always see eye to eye. In fact, they rarely do. Yet, somehow, they don’t have a horrible, failing marriage that is destined to end in drama and a broken family. How can I do such silly things?
Meanwhile, I promise Timothy isn’t trying to be a catastrophic jackass. It just comes naturally. He actually thinks he’s doing what’s best. Maybe he is; but that doesn’t mean anyone else has to like it… even himself.
TKO Creations 