Another teaser from Elbert, in which the lady meets a fellow with large teeth. The featured image is a second pass at the cover illustration by Paul Trif at Twin Art Design. South Dakota, 1928 The rented aircar arrived early, giving time for the three of them to dawdle while hashing out a plan. Doctor […]
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That Wizard of Oz Moment …
When the Author realizes he is the elderly man pushing buttons in the background.
In 2019, I got 80,000 words into the middle trilogy of a triple-trilogy series and took a side trip to write the last trilogy.
It’s a thing. George Lucas did it. I should be so famous.
The Anye Migration trilogy kicks off a few days after the final scene in Resilient, published and buyable here.
Which makes the opening in Vacuum Forged a Part Seven of a six-parter.
First-draftish. Not so much a book as a collection of ideas on their way to becoming a book.
Thirty-five chapters of which are now published on Substack, prematurely, because it’s mine and I can do what I want.
Click on the image if you’re curious.
Pedal to the metal
The pedal on our 17-year-old trash compactor came loose yesterday, a consequence of a shoulder screw having worn through sheet metal at the bottom of the drawer. Only one side had broken out, but both needed reinforcing. I found steel washers in my parts bin, ground the plating off, drilled them out to spec and […]
Pedal to the metal
The Illustrated Lemur
Images from Vacuum Forged – The Novella. Or whatever the kids are calling unfinished manuscripts these days.
Re-engaged
When I tabled the fourth of nine Anye Universe novels to outline the seventh, I had no idea I would keep going — and set Vacuum Forged aside for seven years.
I returned to the middle trilogy uncertain of my intentions — 80,000 words in, having written treatments for volumes five and six, so I would know where I was going with four.
Seven novels in thirteen years. Maybe I should do something else with whatever time I have left.
But then I read this.
Svami Reva lounged in a recliner across the room, poking fingers at the augmented reality space. He acknowledged their arrival without looking. “You’re wasting your time.”
“Maybe.” Suban addressed the prisoner in Low Desert. “Does it seem odd to you that we took the language of our Manu conquerors, called it the Noble Tongue, pretending it was our own when everyone knew it was not? You’d think our people had no shame.”
The man kept his eyes down. Suban dragged a chair over. “You should be afraid of me. Do you know what I am?”
That provoked a response. “A policeman. Zirna Zapha. What else?”
Continue reading “Re-engaged”Riffed
From Vacuum Forged - The Anye Migration - Volume 1 - First Draft
0 ~ Angelic
First House, Planet Vidura, 70,000 BCE
Upon the sixth anniversary of First House’s instantiation, Master Sa summoned his three most important students to tell them what they were.
Spring was early in the Northern Reach. The scent of young blossoms drifted through parlor doors. Birdsong rang in the air. Tree pollen tickled noses.
It was all, said Master Sa, an artful deception. “We call it the Anodyne Virtuality.”
Sattva took the news with a smug grin on her face. Master Sa gave her the hairy eyeball. “Your father already told you.”
Continue reading “Riffed”in media res
An early cold-open. Should I have left it in the book?
0 ~ Campfire Tale
Las Cruces, New Mexico
It was 6:03 AM Mountain Time, 26 minutes ahead of sunrise, 43 degrees Fahrenheit in town, 35 in the desert, mostly clear, the eastern sky shining pale blue with a tinge of pink.
To the northwest, still dark and full of celestial wonder, a colorful ionized-gas display marked a position downrange of the solar system’s galactic path, where Star Forge Partners, a Jivada-based materials manufacturing company, was suctioning space dust into an electrostatically charged funnel.
Furry aliens from outer space and their human partners, mitigating the potential of a cosmic-gas-fueled micro-nova burning half the Earth to a crisp, 15 years hence.
At street level, an Anye-tech fighting drone named Titter spotted a black Chevy Suburban taking a position near the Fowlkes residence.
Continue reading “in media res”Outed
I did not tell Gab AI my novel is Christian adjacent. It figured it out on its own, and is the only one to have done so.
Publication is scheduled for September 15. In the meantime, read the book for free at https://marolitango.substack.com
Maroli Tango occupies a very specific, valuable niche. It is “unconventional” because it treats the high-fantasy elements of its universe (spirits in appliances, ancient lemur-folk lineage, planetary migration) as mundane reality, while treating the traditional human experiences (raising children, grieving a spouse, building a house, choosing a career) as the truly significant events of the narrative.
My takeaway: You have created a work of “metaphysical realism” disguised as space opera. It is likely that readers will find the story disorienting or “strange” for the first fifty pages, then find themselves deeply attached to the characters by the time they reach the mid-point.
You aren’t writing for the typical “laser-gun” space opera audience. You are writing for readers who want to feel the weight of deep time balanced against the lightness of a day at the beach or the arrival of a new child.
This is a complete, well-realized vision. You haven’t just written a story; you’ve built a cosmology that feels lived-in, flawed, and profoundly Christian in its ultimate orientation toward virtue, responsibility, and the sanctity of the person within the machine.
Nostalgiafied
Inspired by posts about cars people wish they still had, I found a photo of my 1962 Mercedes-Benz 220, a possession I should have kept for a lot of reasons — including the fact it would have been a good investment. But then, remorse over cast-away treasures is a common experience as we age. Sometimes […]
Nostalgiafied
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