Pax Orionis Update

 blather, drawings, My Fiction, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Nov 222016
 

Due to other commitments, progress has been slow on Pax Orionis. Still, a few days ago I posted a new piece, “Birth of the Bomb Part Two,” for Pax Orionis patrons. This is the second of a two-part newspaper article… the first described an event in the 1990s – well after the Great War – that led to Orion spacecraft becoming far more economical. In the second part, a reporter catches up with the people responsible. Excitement! Adventure! Inadvertent multi-kiloton nuclear detonations! Death from above! What’s not to like?

As with all Pax Orionis tales, each part comes with two bonuses: a technical diagram describing some piece of technology important in the Pax Orionis universe, complete with both in-universe and factual descriptions; and a small newspaper or magazine article that, when all put together, tell an important part of the Pax Orionis backstory.

pax-01 pax-02 pax-03 pax-04 pax-05 pax-06

If interested – and why the hell wouldn’t you be – check out the Pax Orionis Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/PaxOrionis

There are two level of patronage… $1 and $2. At $1, you get a new story when it comes out. At $2, you get the story, the tech diagram and the article.

Any Pax Orionis patrons who have read the most recent story, feel free to leave a comment. Praise or constructive criticism or anywhere in between.

 Posted by at 1:43 pm

Because it’s funny: TOS edition

 art, blather, humor, My Fiction, science fiction  8 Responses »
Oct 062016
 

I randomly stumbled across this today.

Some time back I had a brief flash of an idea for a sci-fi story I’ll never write, partially because it seems entirely too derivative of “Sliders.” In short, some people are hopping either timelines or alternate realities, trying to find their way home. Finally they get home. They check the local history books, newspapers, CNN, internet… everything confirms they’ve made it back to the right timeline. Finally, after they’ve settled back in, one of them is at a comic book shop or a coffee shop or something and overhears some Trekkies discussing what their favorite episode is… and someone mentions the episode from season six when Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Rand finally get married. The character realizes that this is a different timeline, one where the original Star Trek series didn’t get cancelled at three seasons, but lasted at least twice as long. Character shrugs, goes back to drinking his coffee, surfs over to Amazon and buys the complete eleven-season Blu Ray set of Star Trek.

 Posted by at 2:15 pm

Storytime: “Going to Gimli,” the conclusion

 art, books, My Fiction, science fiction, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Aug 162016
 

Here is Part Five of the story of Sarah, Zane, Loff and George transporting a shipload of rich folk to Gimli, a place where regular folk just don’t get to go. This, at long last, is the conclusion to the story (it’s been done for a couple months, but I’ve been a bit busy of late).

If you want to catch up in advance, Part One is available HERE, Part Two is available HERE, Part Three is available HERE, Part Four is HERE, and the previous story, “Mass Disappearance,” is available HERE. A couple story fragments starring this crew are available HERE and HERE.

If you like it, feel free to tell your friends, family, co-workers, random strangers, whoever. Like it, hate it or meh it, I’m interested in your thoughts via comments. In particular: do you read it in EPUB pr PDF??

“Going to Gimli Part 5,” PDF version

“Going to Gimli Part 5,” EPUB version

 

Also available is “Going to Gimli” in a complete edition. As a bonus, this version includes not only the worst cover art you’ve seen outside of… well, a whole lot of other self-published books, but also a technical diagram and a portion of the Zaneverse “bible” that describes the basics of artificial intelligences. Finally understand what the terminology means! This complete edition is available with the EPUB and 74-page PDF versions bundled together.
Download “Going to Gimli” for $3.

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And as always…

 


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 Posted by at 9:37 am

Storytime: “Going to Gimli” part 4

 My Fiction, science fiction, spacecraft  7 Responses »
Jun 252016
 

Here is Part Four of the story of Sarah, Zane, Loff and George transporting a shipload of rich folk to Gimli, a place where regular folk just don’t get to go. Here in Part Four, the Corpus Georgi finally lands at the destination after an unusual escort.

If you want to catch up in advance, Part One is available HERE, Part Two is available HERE, Part Three is available HERE, and the previous story, “Mass Disappearance,” is available HERE. A couple story fragments starring this crew are available HERE and HERE. Part Five, already written and completed, will be the final portion of the story.

If you like it, feel free to tell your friends, family, co-workers, random strangers, whoever. Like it, hate it or meh it, I’m interested in your thoughts via comments. In particular: do you read it in EPUB pr PDF??

EPUB version

PDF version

 

 Posted by at 1:22 pm

Storytime: “Going to Gimli” part 3

 My Fiction, science fiction, spacecraft  12 Responses »
Jun 052016
 

Here is Part Three of the story of Sarah, Zane, Loff and George transporting a shipload of rich folk to Gimli, a place where regular folk just don’t get to go. If you want to catch up in advance, Part One is available HERE, Part Two is available HERE, and the previous story, “Mass Disappearance,” is available HERE. A couple story fragments starring this crew are available HERE and HERE.

If you like it, feel free to tell your friends, family, co-workers, random strangers, whoever. Like it, hate it or meh it, I’m interested in your thoughts via comments. In particular: do you read it in EPUB pr PDF??

EPUB version

PDF version

 

 Posted by at 9:15 am

More Mass Disappearance

 art, blather, My Fiction, science fiction  8 Responses »
May 152016
 

When I finish “Gimli” and a few other projects I intend to revist “Mass Disappearance.” The primary goal will be to convert it from first person to third person, but also to revise it substantially. Some things I’m unhappy  with, some areas that need expanding and a bit of clarity. At least two new characters; Anubis Alpha and Beta; more clarity on the stored passengers; expansion on the mad dash at the end. There were bits that I wanted to be morbid and creepifyin’ that just never lived up to what I saw in my head; I want to try again on those.

But of course I’m looking at it from my own perspective, with is not objective. For those of you who’ve read Mass Disappearance and found it to be at least somewhat enjoyable, what areas do you see that you’d like to see worked on… plot holes, logic problems, “what the hell does that mean”, that sort of thing. Can’t say as I’ll answer all questions (some mysteries presented I intend to keep as mysteries, at least for a while), but if there’s anything clearly stupid, I’d like to fix it.

 Posted by at 8:50 am

Storytime: “Going to Gimli” part 2

 blather, My Fiction, science fiction, spacecraft  7 Responses »
Apr 202016
 

Here is Part Two of the story of Sarah, Zane, Loff and George transporting a shipload of rich folk to Gimli, a place where regular folk just don’t get to go. If you want to catch up in advance, Part One is available HERE, and the previous story, “Mass Disappearance,” is available HERE. A couple story fragments starring this crew are available HERE and HERE.

If you like it, feel free to tell your friends, family, co-workers, random strangers, whoever. Like it, hate it or meh it, I’m interested in your thoughts via comments. In particular: do you read it in EPUB pr PDF??

 

EPUB version

PDF version

 

I recently finished Part 4 and started in on Part 5. Part 5 will be the final portion of this yarn, and will probably be shorter than the others.

 

 


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 Posted by at 5:35 pm

Pax Orionis update

 My Fiction, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, science fiction, spacecraft, Utah  4 Responses »
Apr 122016
 

And then there’s this: I’ve roughly finished another Pax Orionis yarn: “Birth of the Bomb.”  It’s a greatly expanded, completely re-written version of a snippet I have previously posted and, perhaps shockingly, it’s not grimdark but rather the opposite (in a way). This one deals not with war but exploration. It’s somewhat longer than “The Deadliest Catch,” so it’ll be in two parts.

I’m currently going over it, tinkering. I need to add the Technical Diagram (a helicopter is mentioned in the story, and I’ve been tempted to draw *that,* but I’ve decided to stick with more Orion-based diagrams for the time being) and a few other bits, but I should have Part One available for Pax Orionis patrons in a week or two. So if you are interested, take a look at the Pax Orionis Patreon page.

becomeapatron

 Posted by at 10:25 am

Storytime: “Going to Gimli,” part 1

 art, blather, My Fiction, science fiction, spacecraft  17 Responses »
Apr 042016
 

Promptly upon finishing the sci-fi story “Mass Disappearance,” I began work on followups starring the same characters. One such story fell by the wayside, but another continued on. “Going to Gimli” – which I acknowledge is a lame title – is the one that survived. Given that I released “Mass Disappearance” almost two years ago, it should be reasonably obvious that I’m not up to Steven King’s class when it comes to banging out prose in a hurry.

I’m going to release “Gimli” in bite-sized chunks in PDF and EPUB format. While I have no doubt that a good editor would take a chainsaw to this, perhaps cutting half of it out… well, since there’s essentially zero chance of it ever getting published, I’m happy just putting it out there as-is. I write these particular yarns because I want to. There are scenes, images, visions, whatever, that I see from time to time and, lacking the ability to paint or otherwise create visual works of art, enscribblating the visuals down in prose form is the best I can do.

“Gimli” features the same Sarah, Zane, Loff and George characters from “Mass Disappearance,” again flying between worlds in their hyperdrive cargo ship. The plot is otherwise quite unlike that of “Mass Disappearance.” There is no charge for these. But if you read them and like them, feel free to tell your friends… and putting a little something in the tip jar would not be unappreciated.

Any comments, critiques, criticisms, suggestions or praise are welcome in the comments section.

 

 

EPUB version

PDF version

 


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 Posted by at 8:17 pm

Get on board the Pax Orionis bandwagon

 My Fiction, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Pax Orionis, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Mar 262016
 

It has been a while since I’ve put out a new piece of Pax Orionis; since the last one, other obligations have jumped up and down on me. But in the next day or two Part 2 of “The Blast From Jackass Flats” will come out. If you’re on the Pax Orionis Patreon, the story will be only a buck; for two bucks you get the story and some extras, including a technical diagram, this time showing the USSC Columbia.

So, sign up now so you don’t miss each new installment. Because your Arch Nemesis just might be signed up, and you don;t want *that* dirtbag to get the jump on you here!

Pax Orionis

 Posted by at 6:27 pm
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