Mega progress update!

So last week was a momentous one. Last week, I completed the 2nd edit of my 1st novel ‘Alyssa', and sent it in for final review. This completes the final draft of the rewrite of the novel.
This follows the 1st edit (received in November 2018 and completed May 2019) which was the most extensive part of the rewrite. The 2nd edit, by contrast, was more of a tidy up and improving basics such as descriptions, individual scenes and dialogue.
Regardless, that’s it. The novel is done!
The work now passes to my publishers and I await the next phase.

Its been a massive undertaking.  I have put a huge amount of effort into following the edits and suggestions of my editor and making the original story 10 times better.  Hopefully, this is reflected in this new edition when it is released.
As for a release, that’s up to the publishers now.  Like everyone else, I will now await their word on what comes next.

But that’s not all.  Last week I also submitted two short stories as part of writing competitions. 
The 1st I submitted to Mantic Games, as part of a competition to have a short story featured in the upcoming new rule book for their wargaming system ‘Kings of War’.  The prise is a Mega army box (a big box of toy soldiers) which I am keen for!
The 2nd story, character bio’s and the summary was sent to Black Library, as part of a big competition to seek out new author talent for their line of Fantasy and Sci-fi stories set in the Warhammer and Warhammer 40k universes.  Again, I’d be very keen to be writing for Black Library so have given it a good go.

We will see what happens, but I can satisfactory say that my writing muscles have been thoroughly exercised.
I will likely post up my short story submissions onto this blog sometime in the future, but meantime, that’s you all up to date.  Till next time.

Where have you been?

Ah yeah, it’s been a while hasn’t it?  I’ve a good excuse though.

Boyle and Dalton sent through a developmental edit of my book ‘Alyssa’ back in November 2018. They did an exceptional job of diving deep into the style, characters, narrative and flow of the book. Brad, my editor, sent through extensive notes and since November 2018 I had been working my way through those notes.

Alyssa was my first book, written in 2011 and self-published in 2012. At that time, I was still developing my style and Alyssa was very much the test bed for future books. Returning to the book, I found Brad's comments to be right on the button.

Just over a month ago, I finished my editing and rewriting of the novel, and resubmitted to the publishers.

I will now wait and see if my edits are what they need. 

Strange as it may seem, I enjoyed the experience.  I had expected the process of rewriting my novel to be more painful, but instead I knew already that it was badly needed.  Looking at the writing style I used in ‘Anna’ (my fourth book) and looking at the style in ‘Alyssa’ before the edits, the books were very different.  I took the experience as an opportunity to bring the earlier book into line.  It also gave me the opportunity to develop the characters and world a little more, adding much-needed detail.

With the latest draft submitted, I have now found time for other writing and non-writing activates.  My sister-in-law and family got me a Writing Magazine writing course for Christmas, and I have been slowly working my way through the course material.  This has been a very interesting experience, as I’m learning a lot about aspects of the craft I may have neglected, such as keeping a writer’s notebook and Commonplace book.

I’ve also taken the time to write a little fan fiction, writing some stories for some tabletop wargames that I play.  Whether these stories ever see the light of day or if they ever remain just an exercise to keep my writing skills sharp, I don’t know.  We’ll see.

My Instagram account has seen much more posts around painting models and wargaming than it has writing but this has been a good distraction.  Rest and recovery from an intense period of editing.  As enjoyable as I found the experience, it was intense.  I feel I may have put myself under more pressure than I should have to get it finished.  I have learnt from the mistake and will be pacing myself better next time!

The next stage will come after the latest edit comes back from my publishers.  I don’t know when that will be but I’m looking forward to moving the story along a little further upon the publishing path.

Until next time.

Plans within plans

It's been a busy few months as Deborah and I adapt to the new arrival in our life. Little Logan is now nearly four months old and doing very well. Our little son is growing up quickly and our current prediction is he will be a mischievous one!

Whilst looking after the wee man has been my top priority, it doesn't mean I have been idle on the writing front.

I have massively expanded my Pinterest account with writing tips and tricks. Everything from story structure to simple grammar has been posted up and I've found it very useful to have this library of knowledge at my disposal. If you're interested, find my pins here:

 https://uk.pinterest.com/jgcully/on-writing/

In turn, I've continued to develop the 4th book in my Haldred Chronicles series. 'Anna' is taking shape nicely and I'm aiming to have the first draft complete in a couple of months. As in my previous blog post, I will see how it progresses but am not going to promise anything just yet.

I've also continued to write background for Wrathborn, a wargame system, as well as keeping my Black Library short story submission up to date.

Finally, just within the last few days I received my copy of "Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2017", which I shall be reading extensively for information on publishers and agents.

Till next time!

PS: this is the first blog post I've written and published completely on my BlackBerry Passport! Next, let's see if I can write a book on it!
PPS: unfortunately in my haste to publish this blog I managed to make a number of grammar errors.  My thanks to those who picked up on them and let me know; corrections have now been made.

Hello 2014!

First blog post of 2014!  Lots to report.

First, and most importantly, I’m getting married.  I proposed to my girlfriend at the start of January, and she said yes.  So my fiancée and I are very, very happy and celebrated by staying over at the fantastic Slieve Donard hotel that night.  A good start to 2014 I think you’ll all agree.

Even with the immense excitement of this new life event, I have still been writing.  ‘Tales of Larrick City’ I hope to have ready for proof reading by the middle of February at the latest, and out by the end of March.  This short story compendium will be free to download when it comes out and I hope to use the stories in it to further expand on the world of Haldred Chronicles.  I hope you will all enjoy once it’s released.

It’s turned into a good excuse for me to explore a number of different writing styles and expand on little plot hints here and there found in the first 2 books.  That, and it will also include a glossary of terms used in Haldred Chronicles; useful in particular for those un-used to some of the Northern Irish style humour and phases.  Well it is my home country, the mannerisms were bound to slip in!

I’ve also been making progress on the 3^rd official Haldred Chronicles novel.  I’ve written almost 30,000 words and I’m really happy with the way things are panning out.  The style will be closer to ‘Kalla’ than ‘Alyssa’ and will further expand on the relationships between the various characters, as well as keeping up with everyone’s favourite characters.

On top of that, I still have a lot of ideas for future novels.  14 if I’m being precise (the number varies from day to day).  I definitely want to keep Haldred Chronicles going and if things pan out properly, you’ll get not 1 but 2 books out in 2014!  Just don’t expect the official 3^rd book until maybe the summer.  Meantime, you should all have Tales of Larrick City to keep you interested!

So lots to look forward to and I’ll keep you all informed.  Have a great 2014 everyone.

My Nanowrimo experience

Hello everyone.  Yes, I know it’s been a while.  But I have lots to tell I’m glad to report.

As I reported in my last blog post way back at the end of October, my plan was to take part in the National Novel writing month run by www.nanowrimo.org.  An event known on Facebook and Twitter as #nanowrimo.  I am glad to report that I took part in the event throughout November, though I did not complete it as intended.  The plan was to write 50,000 words but I only managed 26,000.

Still, the entire experience was one I would definitely recommend to any budding writer or current writer looking to boost there creativity.  The event forces you to concentrate on writing, even writing for the sake of writing.  Quantity is better than quality, the idea being that you complete a 1^st draft then spend the next while perfecting what you manage to write in the tight time scale.

26,000 words was not what was required to ‘win’, but it certainly gave me a lot to think about and has set a solid foundation for Haldred Chronicles book 4.  The main characters, major plot points and scenes have all been formed in one way or another.  What is needed now is some time to properly connect them all together and fill in the details, particularly regards the descriptions.

A lot of the writing was often just dialogue between characters, to be filled in at a later date.  But that’s part of the fun!  Letting you set things up so that later you can go back and fill out the details; updating descriptions and making the scenes truly breath.

I had a lot of positive experiences during November as the challenge went ahead.  For example, I noticed certain activates I’d been doing in my life influenced my writing.  Obviously every writer will take some kind of small influence from there own life in writing, but during Nanowrimo this seemed to be heightened due to the challenge to put words on the page.  One example was my experience with the boxed set of all the seasons of the TV comedy series Frazier in my DVD collection that played in the background whenever I was writing.  I have found that some of the humour in book four has been influenced by the Frazier style of comedy; that unique sort of dry sarcastic wit.  Indeed, one of the characters I can say with confidence is definitely my own take on Frazier Crane, though given the setting he is sufficiently different not to just be a direct copy.

It was a fantastic experience as well due to the community involvement.  The multiple forums on the nanowrimo website were highly active during November and before, offering help and tips as well as places to brag / encourage.  The topic posts were a treasure trove of helpful material from ‘how do you escape a burning building’ to ‘dress sense of the 17^th century’.  Anything and everything could be covered and when you asked a question, however obscure, someone somewhere on the boards would be able to answer it for you, often very quickly.  For those interested, the forums are still up and the community still very active.  Go take a look!

The experience was further enhanced by the writing buddies system.

Before the event began, I was able to connect with a number of like minded individuals in order to encourage each other, share work and comment.  This provided a more personal connection for developing the story and putting words on the page.  Constantly these writing buddies encouraged me to ‘keep writing!’.  They were part of the reason I got as far as I did.

I must send a particular big congrats to my writing buddies BriegeH, Daireen, Eimi111, Erin Funk, GabzWritez and ValkyrieMist who did successfully complete the challenge.  Good job all of you!  I assure you, I am immensely jealous J.

I may not have completed the Nanowrimo challenge, but I have certainly benefited from the event and now, the future is clear for books 3 and 4 to grow.  The plan will be to return to book 3 in about a months time and finish it.  Before that, I will continue for another month on book 4 and fill in a few more of the scenes.  I want to leave book 4 in at least draft 2 form. 

Book 3, ‘Tales of Larrick City’ will then be finished and I will look to release it in the first quarter of 2014. 

Once again, my thanks to all my writing buddies on Nanowrimo and everyone who encouraged me in completing the challenge.  Thank you so much!  Good luck with your own endeavours.

Till next time.

Story time

I’ve not posted up a short story in a long time so for today’s Blog, why not?

This was a short story done a while back with Katrina and Matt.  It was an experiment in different language styles and a more ‘action’ orientated style of writing.  It’s a break from the norm I must admit and didn’t quite work out how I wanted, but it was a good excuse to try something new. 

The original writing challenge was to write an alternative take on a Fairytale.  This is my attempt.  Please excuse the rather unoriginal names of the characters.

Hope it entertains at any rate :).

* * * * *

“Big Dog this is Wolf Pack!  We’re falling back!”

“Big Dog to Wolf Pack, say again, what do you mean falling back?”

A massive explosion answered the question for Captain John Spartan, making everyone around him duck for cover as a plume of black smoke bellowed up from behind the house his SWAT team had been assaulting.  Seconds later, members of the SWAT team came dashing round the battered wooden residence.  They were carrying one of their own in a casualty tarpaulin; others appeared wounded or in shock, face’s blackened.

“Get those men behind the line!” barked the Captain, bringing the stunned police men and women around him out of there shock.  Uniformed officers rushed to the SWAT team’s aid, escorting them back behind the protective line of security tape and police cruisers.  No sooner had they gotten the injured officers to the ambulances than gunfire started from the house, huge muzzle flashes erupting from the windows.

Officers, civilians and TV-crews dived for cover as bullets tore apart the police cruisers for a third time, peppering them with bullet holes.  Mercifully no-one was hurt but John didn’t want to think about the bill for repairing all the damage the ‘Pig Skin’s Brothers’ had inflicted.

They were only 3 men, but from the looks of the damage inflicted and the harsh treatment they had given the SWAT team they had enough explosives and firepower to continue the siege for a long time.

“Captain Sparta!” yelled a disheveled looking reporter as she scrambled over to where John was kneeling by the side of the one of the battered cruisers, followed by her equally disheveled looking camera-man. 

“Kate Appleton, Channel 9 news.  What’s your assessment of the situation?”

John paused, making sure to give Kate as confused as expression as possible. 

“Well the situation is I’ve got armed criminals shooting at me and reporters asking me stupid questions.”

“Sir, we’re live on air.”

John smiled at the accompanying camera.  “I know.” He said. 

“Riddick!” John yelled over his shoulder, ignoring Kate as she opened her mouth to continue questioning; she sensibility shuffled off.

“Sir!” bellowed a gruff formidable looking uniformed sergeant, who quickly sprinted over to the Captain’s side.

“I think it’s time.”

Riddick gave his commander a confused expression behind his black aviator glasses.  “You sure?  Hell of a lot of people around.”

“I know, but considering what the Pigs are packing I don’t want to risk any more lives.”

“Send in the Lupin.” ordered the Captain.

* * * * *

“Ha ha! Yeah!” screamed Stray Hat Willie, punching the air with one hand.  “Did yah see that bro?  Look at them cops a’ running!”

“It’s a beau-ta-ful thin’.” Agreed his brother, Two-by-four Tommy, shouldering a plank of wood.  “No way is we go’in back to the big house now, no way!  They aien’t getting us out fo’ a lo’arong time!”

“Yeah got that right!” declared the final member of the trio, Stone Wall Freddy, the mountain a man slapping a fresh box magazine into his M60 machinegun and grinning toward his brothers.  “Cops ‘ill fuss and fetch out there till they’s gone stupid.  By then, we’ll have dug the tunnel and be away out in’ta the swamps.  Old daddy would ah been proud!”

The brothers briefly took their hats off at the thought of their dearly departed ‘Pa’. 

“Now.” Freddy said next, looking over toward Willie.  “Willie, it’s your turn down in the hole.”

“Ah come on Freddy!” whined the younger brother.  “I wants ta throw more grenades!”

“You’ll get your chance.” Freddy assured his concerned cohort.  “But we all take’s our turn, you know that.”

“I guess so.” agreed Willie reluctantly.  “But yeah’s better keep’s me a few cops ta explode!”

“Hell yeah!” shouted both of the other brothers.

Just as Willie was about to open the attic hatch and descend to the tunnel digging area, a strange humming sound started to build up from outside the house.

“What the heck is that?” asked Freddy, frowning and heading back to the window, machine gun in hand.

“Hey, yeah should see this boy’s.  Them cops got some kind ah ray-dar thing out there!” he declared, beckoning his two comrades over. 

The brothers took a window each, peering carefully out of the shattered glass.  Sure enough, an armored vehicle painted in police blue and white was parked up by the perimeter.  Atop it was what looked very much like a radar dish, pointed at the house.  The humming seemed to be coming from the vehicle.

“Ah!” said Tommy, grinning.  “If they’s trying that old psycho-ma-logical warfare on us they going ta be disappointed.  I could go fur some of that Rock-in-Roll!”

“I hear that!” agreed Willie. 

Freddy, considered a little smarter than the other two, wasn’t so sure.  He was particularly concerned by that fact that everyone he could see at the police perimeter had there hands over their ears. 

“Boys.” He said, as the humming from outside seemed to intensify.  “I think we should maybe all get digging, just this once.”

His brothers looked over.  “Why’s that Freddy?”

Freddy didn’t get a chance to answer; he was interrupted by the house falling down.

* * * * *

Kate Appleton was beaming at the camera.  The makeup boys had cleaned her up and she had an exclusive interview with Captain Spartan.  This would be a perfect boost to her career, even if Captain Spartan wasn’t known for his media appearances.

“Captain Spartan.” She said, microphone in hand, flashing a toothy smile.  “can you tell us just what has occurred here.”

“Lupin.” said John, eyeing the reporter and wondering why the hell he had agreed to the damn interview.

“Ah…can you elaborate for our viewers?” Kate asked, trying to maintain her fake smile and resisting the urge to beg the good Captain to act like a normal human being for once.

“Fine.” John relented, producing a slip of paper from his back pocket and rather obviously reading from it.

“Lupin is the latest weapon in the fight against crime.  This highly specialist police armoured vehicle is equipped with a turret mounted sonic non-lethal weapon designed to collapse constructs under controlled circumstances.  Given the danger faced here at Brick Street we decided to deploy Lupin to prevent lose of life.”

Trying his best to look a little bit more interested, John addressed the camera.

“Basically folks.” He said, actually managing to crack a smile.  “We huffed and we puffed and we blew there house in.”

The camera just happened to pan past the Captains head to the scene of the 3 Pig brothers being lead away in handcuff’s.  Each of them was covered in the dust of fallen masonry and still had shocked expressions plastered over there faces.

“So remember.” John declared, face serious as he pointed at finger at the camera.  “Crime doesn’t pay.  Commit a crime…”

He thumbed back toward where the Lupin vehicle was parked.

“…And the Big Bad Wolf will come knocking at your door!”

Other peoples blog's

I am glad to report, I have been working away on Tales of Larrick City this week as planned.  In the process, I’ve also been reading a lot of other peoples blog’s.  This is both an educational experience but also very interesting to see the different styles, different advise and just the different things people post about.

Take this update for example from one of my favourite authors, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, talking about the writing of his latest novel.  The post is entitled “Lets talk about Abaddon”.  For Warhammer 40K players you’ll know what he’s talking about.

http://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/

The post is humourous, as well as being very insightful into the world he is writing on and the amount of research he’s been doing.  And like I said, it’s just damn funny.  It’s the kind of blog I wish I could write.  Interesting, informative and funny.

Then there’s this blog from Randy Ross

http://www.theloneliestplanet.com/2013/10/18-months-of-social-media-one-writers.html?m=1

This one is more of an insight into the writers experiences with social media.  Which, sadly, seem to have been not the very best particularly regards Facebook and Twitter.  Read carefully and you see plenty of hints and tips on how to maximize their effect, as well as pitfalls to avoid; a very informative blog post.

Finally, from Bob Mayer.

http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/the-authors-marathon-10-things-to-remember

This post is all about writing marathons and I thought quite useful due to my intention to run with Nanowrimo in November.  Again, its an advise blog with plenty of very good information.

These blogs and more have greatly encouraged me in my writing and I hope they do the same for you.  I still consider myself a complete novice in the world of the writer so I don’t feel I’m in a position to write ‘advise’ blogs just yet.  But I think I can still make my posts interesting to the reader and I hope this one has been interesting for you, if only just to direct you to other peoples sites.

It will be a learning experience as I continue to experiment with my online presence.  In particular this week I have seen a massive increase in my activates on Goodreads.com.  Come visit me if you are on the site yourself J

www.goodreads.com/jgcully

Till next time everyone, have a good weekend.

The need to blog more often

Well, tonight I’m not feeling the best.  I had to cancel some gaming I was hosting, which sucks as I was really looking forward to it.  However, I have managed to write up this blog and do some profile updates whilst the meds hopefully do there work to convince my guts that being sick is not a good career path.

As the title says, I need to blog more often.  I’ve started to realize the potential of blogging.

Blogging is supposed to inform people of what I’m up to; that bit I’ve gotten right.  Via this blog in its various forms across websites and forums, I’ve kept everyone up to date on what I’ve been doing on the writing front; word counts, plot plans, book plans, character interactions and all that other good stuff.

I’ve also occasionally posted up short stories to give you a little something extra to take a look through and get a glimpse of just what goes on in this dangerous mind of mine.

What I haven’t done is promoted any particular discussion, or informed on techniques used in my writing.  I’ve been talking about writing stories but not prompted anyone’s individual thoughts on writing.  I’ve proposed characters but not encouraged any engagement on them.  In essence, I need to get people talking instead of just reading a blog post and forgetting about it.

Fortunately, a lot of very talented ebook writers and bloggers have helped immensely in advising on just how to do this and get more from book blogging.  That, and they’ve been a great help in improving my various internet profiles.

An example of good blogging is this post from an interview with the author of ‘Wool’, currently one of the most popular ebooks ever.

It can be found here = http://writerunboxed.com/2013/09/23/the-year-of-the-reader-how-one-successful-indie-author-marketed-his-work-up-the-bestseller-lists/

Then there’s the advise I got from members of the Createspace community.  I’d like to publicly thank Eric from the createspace forums / blogs for helping me improve the next few links to my profiles (his own link is http://ericvanderhope.com/ please visit!)

My LinkedIn profile is now = uk.linkedin.com/in/jgcully

Much easier to remember I think you’ll agree.

My good reads profile is now = http://www.goodreads.com/jgcully

Again, much easier to remember and quote.

And he even helped me update my Author pages on Amazon too!

Amazon.com = http://www.amazon.com/author/jgcully

Amazon.co.uk = http://www.amazon.co.uk/JG-Cully/e/B00AJ3LPA2/

They now look a lot tidier and go directly to my internet pages on these sites.  Thanks again Eric!

Now for some news.  As of today I have officially started writing ‘Tales of Larrick City’.  It’s format will be a departure from the last two Haldred Chronicles books as this one is going to be a short story compendium and glossary of the series.  It’s also going to be a departure from a price point of view too, because when it’s released it will be free!  It will give me an excuse to try a few different writing styles and experiment more, as well as filling in some nice additional detail on characters and the Haldred Chronicle’s background.

In addition, I have decided that I will write book 4 as part of the November Novel Writing Month competition held by The Office of Letters and Light (www.nanowrimo.org).  This competition is the reason ‘Alyssa’ was finished and published in the first instance, so it will be good to get back to it.

This should mean that I will have at least the first drafts of my next 2 books done by the end of November.  It’s ambitious but I’m going to try as a little extra work at the start of the process makes all the difference.

So there we have it.  New ideas about blogging, new internet profiles on websites across the board and new plans for the future.  Lots happening!  Till next time everyone (when I hope to be updating as a much healthier individual).

A very busy month

It has been quite some time since last I updated the blog, but then, it has been a very busy month (the title kind of gives that away).

I have been doing nothing but writing and proof reading over the last while, re-reading chapters, tidying up the writing and basically working things through with novel number two.  I’ve had no time to really do anything else due to working on the novel and real life; so no further progress on publishing or on other stories.

The good news is progress has been made and the novel is really taking shape.  The first half of the book is basically done and I think properly carries forward the characters, both old and new.  However, it’s the second half of the book that is proving a little difficult.

I have been coming up with very good scenes, but a lot of them just don’t fit with the story so I’ve had to cut them out and save them for future books.  Several perfectly good chats between characters have had to go purely because they just didn’t suit the situation or didn’t advance the plot.  It was a shame and it’s slowed things down but maybe, just maybe, they will get worked into future stories.  We’ll see.

I am keeping at it.  I’ve had a lot of encouragement from friends and family and everyone is very keen to see the next book.  I don’t want to disappoint them!  I am making progress on the last six chapters and plot elements are falling into place, just slower than I intended.  One big piece of work that was holding things up was the identification of the final bad guy.  Fortunately, that has now been sorted.  I’m most pleased with the result and I hope people will be suitably impressed once they…well, I don’t want to spoil the plot now do I?

That’s progress for now.  Meanwhile, hope you all like the little short story I’ve done below.  This is another old one.  Nothing big, just a simple dual between medieval warriors.  Enjoy!

* * * * *

The North Mans Blood

The fool’s body offered no resistance to Vadra’s blade.  It cut cleanly, slicing the soft skinned southerners head clean from his shoulders.  Vadra had thought the mans neck too long anyway; it was fitting that this weaklings end would come because of it.  Too long; like a chickens.

Yes, that was fitting too; slicing the head off a chicken.  Not that the man, in life at least, had been want for courage.  Oh he’d had courage indeed to face a veteran Warchief such as Vadra in single combat.  But he had fought like a chicken; prodding and pecking worthlessly with his thin sword blade, expecting Vadra to fight the same way.  Vadra had let the man try and land a clean blow to draw blood but the heavy northern armour he was clad in was proof against the southerner’s blows.  Then, when the southerner had at last changed tactics and gone for a stronger blow, Vadra had contemptuously swept the mans’ sword aside, sending it to the muddy ground.  Vadra’s backswing with his long sword had been the beheading blow.  The southerner hadn’t even had time to scream.  Or beg for that matter.  Vadra, in his vast experience, had seen many a southerner beg before the end.  It was very annoying.

“He was a good man north lord.  He was a friend.”

Vadra turned at the sound of the voice.  Around him single combats where taking place up and down the muddy battlefield.  North men fighting in a mass melee with southern warriors, the bright colours of the southern lands in stark contrast to the dark grey’s and blacks of the northern host.

The voice had come from another Southerner.  This one was different.

Unlike the headless corpse now lying at Vadra’s feet, a short, thin thing that hardly deserved the name ‘warrior’, this man was bigger.  Broad shouldered, clad in chain mail with only a small sash tied at his belt to mark him as a southern mercenary.  He had a thick shaggy beard, much like the one Vadra sported, black and braided.  He held a long sword, again like Vadra’s, at the ready.

Yes, maybe this Southerner was a proper warrior.  Indeed he had the look of a north man about him.  Prehapes he was of northern blood?

“I will have to kill you now north lord.”

Vadra smirked at the threat.

“You will try.” Vadra replied in his best broken Southern dialect, his skill at languages not as great as his skill with his sword.

He took a ready stance.  The Southerner nodded, slipping into a low guard.  Already, Vadra was impressed.  The Southerner indeed seemed to know what he was doing; it would be interesting to see how long that lasted.

Vadra attacked, blade sweeping high then down at an angle.  The attack usually caught off guard inexperienced foes with its speed and controlled power.  The Southerner countered well, batting the blade away and thrusting.  The long swords met in a clash of steel on steel, slipping past each other in a shower of sparks.

Yes, this one was a good warrior.

Vadra did not let up, striking again.  Again, the Southerner blocked then counter attacked with skill.  Blade met blade in ear splitting clangs of steel on steel, each warrior striking again and again to weaken the other.

Vadra did not let up.  He never did.  His strength, his years of experience, his skill with the blade; all these combined, would see him victorious.  Of this he was sure.  No southerner, no matter how skilled, would ever best him.

He blocked one of the Southerners blows.  He let go of his sword with one hand, and brought a mailed fist up, slamming it into the Southerners stomach.  The man staggered back, winded.  Vadra allowed himself a smile.

A soft skinned underbelly then.  How disappointing.

The man had his sword out in a wandering gesture but with a thunderous blow Vadra knocked the sword from the mans hands.

Time to die.

He swung his sword up, ready to...

The man leap forward and to Vadra's astonishment, grabbed the Long Swords elaborate pommel, denying the killing blow for but an instant.

Fool, he could not delay the envit...

Vadra gasped, a sharp searing pain in his neck.  He gurgled as blood bubbled up from the gaping wound now in his throat.  The Southerners face was inches from his own, a cold hard anger behind the mans eyes.

“I told you I'd kill you.” said the Southerner, as the life of Warchief Vadra ebbed away, the dagger in his throat putting pay to his murderous ways.

* * * * *

Man Flu

Well that’s maybe a tad overly dramatic to call what I have at the moment Man-flu.  But it’s certainly not fun.  It may actually just be a continuation of the cold I had a few weeks ago.  Whatever it is, it won’t go away.

Despite this, I have continued writing.  I’ve been working my way through draft 2 of novel 2 more or less every day, making amendments and updates here and there.  It’s going well and I’m enjoying fleshing out the story.

Likewise whilst I’ve not been on www.authonomy.com that often, I have been reading through stories and making some comments just to get into the way of things.  I even made the decision to upload my books 4^th chapter to the site, though that is as far as I will go with the book.  It’s a good site, I would definitely recommend it and they have strong community.

I even managed to write another little short story.  This one was the ‘emotion’ short story I mentioned a while ago.  Sadly, I don’t think I’ve got the emotion aspect of the story to come out properly; it lacks a certain something.  However, I’m posting up here anyway for you all and I hope you enjoy.

Hopefully by my next blog update I’ll be feeling better and will have more detailed news on progress.  Take care guys.

* * * * *

The platform was a rudimentary thing.  No more than weak plastic structure set up in haste; it would do he supposed.

He stepped up the steps of the platform and over to the podium wearily, his legs moving with reluctance; he did not want to be here.  Not here, not now, and certainly not giving a speech.  But with rank came responsibility.  Prehapes he should have realized that sooner?

In front of him, emblazed into the podium itself, was a holographic digital screen displaying his prepared speech in clear 12 point font.   A glass of water sat nearby on a stand.  He took a sip from the glass, his mouth already dry even before he began.  He looked up, looking across the hanger bay to those assembled around him.

One hundred people stared back at him, the majority young, fresh troops of Pan Oceania Fusiliers.  The occasional Orc trooper, helmet-less but clad in full battle armour, stared out from the masses.  Amongst them were other regiments too.  Kamau, Bagh-mari.  Even a few Akalis.

They had all come to hear his briefing.  Hear him ‘give them a bit of courage’ so his old friend General Mcdonald had said.  They needed it.  With the 2^nd offensive of the Combined army only just concluded, courage was in short supply amongst the Pan Oceania forces.  The boys and girls of the latest run of reinforcements needed courage before they entered the hot zone.

Who better to encourage them than a real life war hero?

He cleared his throat, straightened his back and placed both hands on either side of the podium, adapting a stern gaze as he let his eyes float over the assembled troops. He was gratified to see at least a few of the troops straighten up.

“Welcome to the Paradiso front ladies and gentlemen.” He said in a strong, clear voice, accent strong with his Sydney upbringing.  His tone was businesslike and his voice carried easily across the hanger-bay; he was not a man who needed a microphone.  He glanced at his digital speech.

“I will not mince words.  We are in the fight of our lives.  Make no mistake, the Combined Army is a formidable foe.  We are fighting a hard battle.  But we will be victorious.”

So far, so good.  He took a sip from his water again, before looking back across the audience.

“You will each have read the briefing I am about to give you, but General McDonald felt it would be wise for someone who has been on the ground on Paradiso to brief you personally.  That person is me.”

“My name is Captian Vandra.  I was in Ravenbrucke.  I was on the front line when the aliens arrived.  I…

Stick to the script he mentally reminded himself.

“It was we who held the line during the first attacks of the Combined Army…”

It was we who were the first to fall.

The sudden memory was unwelcome and unexpected.  He pulsed his lips, keeping that particular sentence from escaping.

It was we who first watched people die on Paradiso.

His hands had started shaking.  He gripped the podium tighter, to keep the troops from seeing.  He was aware he had paused too long.

Stick to the script

“Ravenbrucke was a hard battle, tougher than any I have faced in my career.”

That’s better, nice and easy.

“The attacks were sudden, without warning.  Our primary objective was to keep the aliens at bay to allow citizens to escape.”

We failed.

His next prepared sentence caught in his throat.  A new one emerged, unhindered.  He didn’t try to stop it this time.

“We held them…held them as long as we could.”

He wasn’t reading from his autocue anymore.  He knew the presentation managers would be exchanging words of concern.

The hell with this.

“We failed.”

The statement rolled across the audience.  A simple, biting statement of fact.  Not what they had expected.  Several of them exchanged worried looks.  Others kept looking toward him, maybe hoping that this was just part of the introduction; that shortly, he’d be back on track.

Take control.

Vandra cleared his throat.

I will tell them the truth and to hell with the consequences.

“Right now Dan and the other tech guys are trying to figure out how to salvage this quickly developing situation.  Thing is, I don’t need a microphone so they can’t just turn me off.  Isn’t that right Dan?”

A technician at the back threw his hands up before slumping back in his chair, folding his arms in resignation as his holographic control console melted away.

“The other boys in the presentation team aren’t going to step in.  Because they know my reputation.  Both my professional, and my physical.”

Just to be sure he turned a daring eye on the security corps troops at either side of the podium.

His look said I will have my say.

The troopers, good soldiers, took the hint, and advanced no further.

He gripped the podium again.  The audience looked to him, now much more interested.  That or they just didn’t know what to do.

“We held as long as we could.  The term shoulder to shoulder didn’t mean much to me until that day.  When we really did stand shoulder to shoulder as they tore into us.  The merciless Morat.  The invisible Shasvasti.  A hundred different kinds of horrors came out of those drop-ships.”

“We held as long as we could.  Through the screaming, the blood, the pain…the loss.”

He felt the pain of loss gripping his heart.  His jaw tightened as he fought down the feelings of regret from that day.  Regret at being one of the survivors.  That he lived, when others died.

“We held as long as we could.  But they were too strong, too many.  I remember taking a wound to my shoulder and down I went.  The last thing I remember was a trauma doc signaling for aid before he got hit by something and fell on top of me.”

Doctor Mcleod.  A good man.

“We lost a lot of good soldiers that day.  Damn good soldiers.”

He’d been hanging his head and at this point looked up at the audience again.  He knew his eyes were watery with tears that wanted to flow, but that he would not allow to flow.  No.  No he mustn’t, even though now he had a captive audience.  An audience watching a man falling apart.

Despite his best efforts, a single tear dropped from his eye.  As small as it was, everyone seen it; noone moved.  They simply didn’t know what to do, even as General McDonald himself arrived from one of the side hanger-bay doors and advanced on the audience, his expression a mix of anger and concern.

Captain Vandra sighed heavily.  He opened his mouth to continue.

The courage.

You can’t fall apart.  You do that, and you deny them the one thing they had in abundance that day.  Courage.

He closed his mouth and nodded, as if remembering.  “The courage” He breathed, yet his voice carried across the audience.  All ears heard it.

“Courage.” He said again, louder this time.

He looked up, his expression hardening.  Changing.

Courage

“We ran short on ammunition awful quickly.  Food and rations too.”

His eyes narrowed.

“But the men and women who stood beside me that day did not run short of courage!”  He almost yelled the last word.  He wiped his watery eyes.

“The enemy had better weapons, better equipment, some would say better tactics.”  He straightened now, that single tear now but a memory.  Just as quickly as his mood had darkened, now, his mood rose.  Rose to that of a warrior.  Of a fighter.  Of one who would not defile the memory of his dead comrades.

“They do not have the same level of courage!”

Murmurs came from the crowd.  The advancing form of General McDonald slowed, the yell of frustration in his throat dying before he could utter it.

“You men and women now take the place of the soldiers of Ravenbrucke.  Will you be brave?”

Fusiliers exchanged looks, but some of the other regiments knew this was a direct question.

“Yes!” growled an Orc trooper, stepping forward from the front row, the armoured giant easily towering over the other troops.

“Will you be brave?” asked Vandra again.

“Yes!” yelled two Bagh-mari troopers in unison, stepping forward, their camouflaged armour plate shimmering.

“Will you be brave?”

“Yes!” a troop of Fusiliers roared, punching the air.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” chanted the audience now, every regiment, every individual, men and women, chanting and yelling at the top of their lungs.  Yet even over the din Vandra spoke and his words were heard.

“We will batter them to a stand-still, make them bleed for every inch of land they take!  They will run screaming back to the hell spawn that sent them with their tails between their legs!  And it is we who will send them there!”

“Yes Yes Yes!” chanted the excited audience.  They roared their approval and Vandra’s chest swelled with pride.  He almost believed his own words.

No wait.  He did believe his own words!

They had made them bleed for every inch of ground.  They had made them fight bitterly for every piece of Paradiso soil.  They had died in their hundreds.  They would do so again!

It was not his soldiers who had failed.  The aliens had failed!  Paradiso was not their’s.  Humanity was still here, fighting.  And not giving up.

Another tear rolled down his cheek, but this time not of regret.  It was pride.  Pride in his people, his army, his comrades now in arms.  General McDonald was at the platform steps, walking up with a smile on his face.  He knew what the end of this speech should be.

He marched across the podium, the audience still chanting, and embraced Vandra in a warriors hand shake.

“You are one surprising son of a b****.” He said as the two of them turned toward the audience.

He had done as he was ordered.  He’d given them courage.

* * * * *                                                

Amongst the assembled fusiliers, one stood watching.  In the background, unnoticed.  She smiled and nodded. 

Yes.  Captain Vandra’s speech was very inspiring.  Good for the humans to have such inspiring leaders.

She slipped from the assembled troops as they calmed down and moved to their various units.  Internally, she prepared a micro-data burst for later transmission.  The transmission read simply:

Captain Vandra: Flag for termination

* * * * *

I love writing

Very obvious statement I suppose saying ‘I like writing’, but it’s very true.  I am immensely enjoying writing.

The 2^nd Draft of the 2^nd Novel has been printed off and I am reviewing and editing all 86 pages.  Still a lot of scenes to fill in and fill out but definitely on the right track and more importantly, on schedule!

Likewise, big news this week is I have signed up with the author and readers website Authonomy.com run by Harper & Collins publishers.  This website allows authors to upload their books, get them reviewed and if enough positive comments are passed on about the book, the editors at Harper & Collins may take an interest in it.  You never know.

So I’m going to make at least a few of the chapters of the first book available on Authonomy and if there is enough interest maybe the whole book depending.  You can only view the book on the authonomy website, not download or otherwise, so it should be ok.  We’ll see.

The book will of course still be available for purchase on Kindle.

I also have plans to make the book available on Kobo, Google Play and WHSmith but I need to investigate just how their own upload processes work.  This will happen sometime in May as I’m still tied in with Amazon Kindle till then.

Finally, as usual, a little short story for you all.  It’s another Infinity the game themed story, part based on the campaign we are running at the wargaming club.  For those familiar with the infinity background, this doesn’t tie in with the official background but was a nice little experiment in character interaction in a Sci-fi setting.  Hope you enjoy, even those who may not be familiar with the infinity background and setting.

Till next time.

* * * * *

The clear windowed doors of the plush high rise office slide open soundlessly, and Chandra Spec-Ops commander Jane Halliday marched in.  Clad in the full battle uniform of the Assault Sub Section, Jane looked out of place amongst the sickeningly peaceful setting.  Her sharp silver eyes told of a battle hardened warrior woman, her short blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and her face hawk like.  She had a bored disinterested expression already prepared.

Here we go.

“Jane!  How lovely to see you.” beamed Diane Kildra, standing up from behind her expansive office desk and walking round to meet her colleague. 

The two women could not have been more different.  Diane was dressed in a figure hugging light grey dress, trimmed in the traditional ALEPH purple.  It was designed to perfectly emphasis her curvaous figure, in stark contrast to the angular battle armour Jane was clad in.  She had high cheek bones, a wide friendly (if false) grin and bright, captivating blue eyes.  Her face was framed by short brown hair, and her long eyelashes and expertly applied eye-liner spoke of a woman used to being obeyed without question and swooned over without argument.

Jane rolled her eyes.  “I see you’ve gained a few pounds since last we met.”

Diane stopped mid stride.  She burst into laughter. 

“We are witty today.” She said, rolling her own eyes in mock annoyance.  The remark, after all, referred to an impossible situation.  Both of them were installed into the latest L-hosts; the very best synthetic bodies ALEPH could provide.  Diane was crafted within the most advanced civilian diplomatic model, built as the perfect unit to conduct business with; particularly for men.  Jane, meanwhile, was in the female variant of the special operations combat L-host.  Immensely strong, formidably well engineered and battle tested in a dozen different war-zones.  One to kill, the other to captivate; two different styles of warfare, at least as far as ALEPH was concerned.

“I’m in the mood.” Jane remarked.  “At least for now.  That is unless the reason you’ve brought me here turns out to be another one of your pointless little face-to-face visits.  In which case, I fear, my mood will darken.”

Diane pouted.  “Touché.” she remarked, spinning on her heel and swaying her hips as she returned to her table.

Hasn’t she ever heard of jeans and T-shirt? Thought Jane inwardly

“I would offer you a seat but you never accept one.” Diane said over her shoulder

“Yeah, I’m that kind of girl.”

Jane approached the table, allowing Diane to activate the holo-imager attached to it.

“What do you want Diane?”

“Patience Jane, patience.” From a desk drawer Diane retrieved a small paper packet.  From the plain none-descript packet she retrieved a cigarette.

“You don’t mind?” she asked Jane.  Jane raised an eyebrow.

“Is there really any point?”

Dianne shrugged, lighting the cigarette with a small golden lighter she had taken from the same drawer.

“It’s a good question.” She took a puff, letting the smoke waft from her mouth and nostrils.  “The tobacco and nicotine don’t affect my synthetic body in the slightest.  The various chemicals in this pointless smoke stick are completely nullified by my built-in scrubber and detoxification systems.  I can neither taste nor smell the smoke, and neither can you, as your automatic systems phase out the horrible chemical taste.”

She regarded the cigarette for a moment, before taking another puff.

“And yet…”

“You know I can come back if you and the cigarette need a moment alone.” Said Jane, deadpan.

Diane smiled without looking up.

“Actually, it illustrates a point rather well.”

She turned toward Jane, the smile on her face now changed; to one that suggested that at last, she was getting to her point.

“Mankind, indeed woman kind, has a terrible tendency to continue doing things that are either bad for them or pointless.  Or both.  Take for example our current situation on Paradiso.”

She waved a hand at the holo-imager.  The gesture recognition systems activated, uploading and displaying the pre-programmed video holographic replays.  Suddenly across the front of the table various security camera video feeds appeared, suspended in mid-air as if by invisible threads.  Visions of war played out in front of Jane.

“They’ve been busy then.” Remarked Jane, her built-in comlog already downloading the video sequences and attached intelligence notes for later analysis.

“Indeed.  That’s why you’re here.”

“In-fighting isn’t something new.”

“The reason for this in-fighting is.” Said Diane, her expression now much more serious as she set the cigarette in an ash tray that had rose up from the innards of the table, and started to pace.

“Let me tell you a tale.” She said next, clasping her hands behind her, tone now businesslike.  “Approximately a week ago an unknown data source was detected by several of our allies, originating within the Combined Armies zone of control.  Being the good little co-operators that they are, they immediately scrambled a variety of emergency retrieval teams.  Characteristically they then set upon each other like ravenous dogs.  At the various detected data sites, they tore each other apart in order to acquire the data source for themselves.  Some succeeded, some did not.” 

She turned on her heel, retracing her steps as she continued.  Jane tracked her movements.

“The data source lead to another site not far away.  Once again, retrieval teams descended, proceeded to kill each other and eventually, it was the Yu Jing who acquired something very valuable.”

She gestured to one of the replaying videos.  It grew in size and sharpness before stopping, magnifying on a Yu Jing Hackers data sleeve.  The enhanced holographic image focused and sharpened on what looked like a holographic representation of an organic, pillar like structure projecting from the hacker’s comlog.

“Cosmolite.  So far, so usual-business.”

“Yes, we thought the same.  But then we realised…this ones transmitting.”

Jane frowned.

“Go on.”

Diane, relishing her story telling, did just that.

“Unfortunately for the Yu Jing, the Old Man of the Mountain got wind of their little discovery.  He beat them too it and acquired, as far as we can tell, some kind of alien black box.  Even after a carefully executed ambush, the Japanese did not retrieve the alien artefact and the Bahram assassins escaped with it.”

Diane gestured to the display again.  A new video emerged from the background gaggle, melting through the first.  This one showed what appeared to be the inside of a building and Ariadna forces moving stealthy through the corridors.

“Our story gets better.  The Nomads retrieved vital data on the alien artefact even if they could not acquire it directly.  Two of their research sites on Paradiso, which happened to house the information, then suffered almost simultaneous biological alerts.  During one of those biological alerts, Ariadna and Pan Oceania forces infiltrated the research positions.  They acquired a great deal data.”

Diane chuckled for a moment.

“As well as providing me great amusement.”

Jane turned her frown toward Diane.

“I’m serious, watch the feedback.  Never have I seen a Black Ops operation turn into a comedy show so quickly.  I recommend watching the scene where the Pan Oceania hacker meets the Ariadnian Chasseur.  The two of them just don’t know what to do.”

Jane’s deadpan expression did not change.

“Anyway.” Continued Diane, taking the hint.  “The second infiltration will be of greater interest to you.”

By her command, the display now showed another video playback.  In holographic detail, it showed Nomad forces exchanging fire with figures in the distance.  A zoom in on a stilled image and a quick enhance…and the identity of the figures was suddenly apparent.

“Tohaa.” Growled Jane, crossing her arms.  “I thought first contact had not been officially confirmed with them?”

“It hasn’t.” said Diane, freeze framing the image of a Tohaa soldier in mid firing position.  “They shouldn’t be on Paradiso.  And they certainly shouldn’t be attacking their allies.”

Diane flicked her wrist and the display melted away before the two women.  At the same time, Jane’s comlog chimed internally, indicating that her download of the intelligence data was complete.

“Command wants you on standby, 24 hour notice.”

“For what?” queried Jane, eyeing her colleague

“For war, if necessary.  It has been decided that whatever that alien tech is, it is not to be left in the hands of one human faction or another.  And certainly not in the hands of the Tohaa.”

“When you say alien, you mean this tech is neither Combined Army nor Tohaa?”

“Yes, that is our assumption.” Confirmed Diane, taking a seat again and reaching for her still smouldering cigarette.  “Combined army have tried to retrieve the data and artefacts without successful.  Likewise, the Tohaa attack on the Nomad research station indicates that they, too, want that technology.  This is alien in the truest use of word.  Alien tech being pursued by other Aliens, as well as us.”

“I’ll assemble a team.” Acknowledged Jane, activating her comlog.  In her background vision, various veteran Assault section personnel profiles floated, ready for analysis.

“It’ll be rapid deployment on short notice I take it?”

“Yes.  Be ready Jane.”

With a curt nod Jane turned and strode from the office. 

“Diane.” She said over her shoulder as she entered the buildings lift.

“Yes?”

Jane turned just inside the lift doors, the barest hint of a smirk on her features.  She paused for effect.

“Purples not your colour.”

The lift doors shut, just as Diane was opening her mouth.  She made a face as she flicked ash from her cigarette.

“I hate it when a Chandra grows a sense of humour.” She muttered to herself.