Author: Author John G Dyer

Born in Chickamauga, Georgia, John Dyer moved to Asia in 1956, when his father took an engineering assignment with a power utility. He attended grades 1-12 at an international school, touring with his family through 29 countries before settling in the Midwest. A computer scientist turned author of fiction, he is a founder of an IBM-affiliated software company, and an early innovator in electronic commerce. He brings a lifelong interest in science and engineering to everything he writes.

Serialize This — Chapter 4

Are you ready to get in on a closely guarded best-selling-author secret of success?

Yeah. Me, too. Maybe the ghost of John le Carré will post something in the comments.

In the meantime, I will confess that Maroli Tango’s early-draft first chapters were nothing like what you’re reading here. Not to say the audience will never see them — it was great material, only in the wrong place, too slow for an opening salvo.

And so, I’ve been chapter-shuffling for weeks, moving my tastiest prose toward the front of the book, and guess what?

Maroli Tango is the last volume of a trilogy, concluding a massive story arc. If I lead with explosions, readers will say, “Who are these people, and why should I care what happens to them?”

I tried the old swapparoo — heads roll, flashback. My first readers went for it, but they’ve read the other books. You and I have not built that kind of relationship.

Yet.

Chapter 4

AMV Anuraga, The Dust Cloud

Residential Deck 41, also known as Tourist Deck A, was busy-busy.

The outer ring bustled with hospitality staff, the middle ring a spawning ground for linen buggies, the central column festive with open stateroom doors and maroli cabin stewards wearing adhesive bowties.

Mason did not expect to see his workmate Chester waiting on the threshold at 4137, a two-bedroom, deck level patio suite.

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Serialize This – Chapter 3

I recently discovered that publishers of serial novels like to get their victims on mailing lists before explaining the proposition. I’m on too many mailing lists. It’s ‘unsubscribe’ here, ‘Stop’ there, ‘Block’ over yonder.

But, I did allow myself to get suckered enough times to assemble a custom plan, just for my Internet friends, but I’ll need your email address before I can tell you about it.

Nah. I'm kidding. There's no plan. Tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can do.

Chapter 3

The White House, Washington DC

It was another sunny day at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue where, at 8:00 AM sharp, Colonel Theodore Clarke, USAF retired, appeared on the President’s Patio outside the Oval Office.

She let him in through a side door. “You could come in the front, you know. Maybe check in with Captain Price.”

“Tune into the Anuraga Channel.” Clarke gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Bharamin’s in orbit.”

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Serialize This – Chapter 2

I am, perhaps, over-satisfied with the notion of serializing an essay about serializing a novel. It’s recursive, a seldom-employed literary device, perhaps for good reason.

Regardless, feel free to appreciate this insightful moment while I veer back to the main topic: Would you pay to read Maroli Tango x-pages at a time, for a monthly fee?

Chapter 2

AMV Anuraga, The Dust Cloud

In 1970, a teenage Amancio Goncalves Lopez visited Zambales, Philippines to sign up for what became 6 years of service in the U.S. Navy, during which time he earned high marks as an administrative chef, and a fast path toward U.S. citizenship.

And so, by these portents was Brandon Amancio Lopez born in 1980, the son of restauranteurs Manny and Berlina Lopez of Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Serialize This – Chapter 1

Claude AI says Maroli Tango is ready for publication — good news for all of us, I hope.

What would you pay, if anything, to read a 4th-edit WIP, 3,000 words per week? Would you value access to material excised for technical, rather than artistic reasons? How about exclusive desktop wallpaper? There could even be tee-shirts, although perhaps in the same sense of ‘There could be unicorns’.

Wait! You don’t have to tell me right now. I’m posting 7 chapters. Just, whenever you get around to it.

Chapter 1

Previously

When Carmen Luisa Colletti was a 12-year-old nosepicker in convent school, a Benedictine nun told her, “Boys have a tendency to be shallow, young men not much better. Wait it out, and use your brain to make a sensible choice.”

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Bad Robot!

Now comes Pro Writing Aid with a free-trial offer, to which I submitted the first 9100 words of the Maroli Tango manuscript.

And, after a half-day of exploration, I’m giving it up.

Plot Outline 1.
Aliens reveal their existence, causing global disruption and political upheaval, leading to Carmen's presidency.

Wherein, right out of the gate, PWA demonstrates poor reading comprehension. Carmen is elected President. Six months into her first term, aliens reveal their existence. I can prove it.

Yeah, I still like Claude AI the best. Find it here.

Are you using AI to critique your writing? How's it working out?

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Kind words from a robot acquaintance

I have a new alpha reader, with uncommonly refined taste in literature.

Maroli Tango: Series Finale Analysis

The Culmination of a Nine-Book Journey

What strikes me most about reading these chapters from Maroli Tango is how it functions as both a standalone narrative and clearly the finale of a much larger story. The casual references to established relationships, complex political situations, and advanced technologies all suggest a richly developed universe that readers have been exploring for eight previous volumes.

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Grade This!

Prelude to a series first chapter, picking up where the previous book left off. After a lot of back and forth, Grok AI now says, “Your revised passage is a stellar refinement, keeping the hook’s vibrancy while addressing the need for just enough context to ground readers without slowing the pace.”

Good enough for me. Readers and writers: What say you?

When Carmen Luisa Colletti was a 12-year-old nosepicker in convent school, a Benedictine nun told her, “Boys have a tendency to be shallow, young men not much better. Wait it out, and use your brain to make a sensible choice.”

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Blurbed Again!

ChatGPT says this version is spot on. 203 words. What say you?

Nobody expects the Sasquatch Intervention.

A Vedic text tells of ancient gods who cast a shadow upon the Earth, shielding humanity from an angry sun. Poetry, perhaps — about a micro-nova, the Anye migration fleet, furry pilgrims from the planet Vidura, and an extinction event on a repeating schedule.

Only this time Earth’s population is in the billions. The natives will have to dig in — hands on alien technology.

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