The west coast of Jivada’s large continent from Pulina Nava south was fifth-pass reclaimed land mass, less than 5,000 years old.
In contrast, much of the Northern Reach was nearly as old as the Anye migration’s arrival in-system. There, California redwood trees poked at the sky, branches laden with eagle nests, roots drilled into manufactured soil that was, even given an extra 20,000 years, barely knit together well enough to support them.
Which was why Jivada was buying all its lumber on Earth, and a good reason not to park your space yacht next to a tall tree on a windy day.
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.”
Mom was the artist of the family. Philippines, 1967. Norma Jean Roberts Dyer Razovsky posing at her easel, mid-blink, in the company of Alan Maury Razovsky (Dad) and little Johnny Dyer (me).
We can’t tell what she was working on due to harsh lighting, but it had to be amazing because Mom was good at it. However, in the acorn-tree department, yours truly once drew a circuit diagram on posterboard for a science fair project (1963), and to this day, that is the extent of what I can do with a drawing instrument.
I am, however, an advanced novice on Adobe Photoshop — and what a great tool that is, especially when reinforced with a dollop of AI software IP theft facilitator, or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
Turn away in disgust if you must, but that’s how I did this.
Now that you’ve noticed creepy fingers on the right hand, you can’t look at anything else, can you? AI is notorious for glitches — Mason’s neck is too long, the lighting is off, color balance is iffy, and it looks like a paste-up job, which it is.
Never mind. This is just a placeholder for the actual cover, which will be developed by an artist, unless I attend a seance during which Mom teaches me how to paint.
In the meantime, this illustration will get me through the pre-release phase, during which authors traditionally leak WIP chapter excerpts into the ether, a tried-and-true means of inciting readers into an anticipatory frenzy — such as you might be experiencing right now.
May I suggest you visit my catalog to satisfy your cravings until publishing date. July perhaps, unless I perform another massive rewrite, which is not out of the question.
So, answer me this: Does my first mockup cover elicit comparison to Japanese tentacle erotica?
I completely forgot such things existed; and by the way, I have discovered services that animate illustrations for free, and worth every penny of it.
Maroli Tango cast members posing for a promo. You can’t get a maroli to stay still.
Mason Fowlkes out of costume. Mind you, I have no idea how this happened. Might have been something I said.
Did I mention you should buy my books? Also, are you an artist? Are you aghast at my brazen use of AI? Do you know how to paint hands? Tell us in the comments.
John Dyer Writes 
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