Coming Soon

A entire day spent waiting to see if I was going to be on the jury of a civil case and numerous days with very little sleep have all left me physically and mentally drained.  I simply don't have it in me to come up with a story for today's post.  So that I post more than a blank page, I will put up a preview of my next book. Post Exodus.  The wonderful folks at Amazing Things Press are currently giving the book a thorough round of editing before it gets released.  In the meantime, enjoy the introduction.

 Prologue

Excerpts and transcripts from media reports during and after construction of the Arks.

“Scientists from many disciplines and countries are predicting a tragedy that would mean the end to all humanity and a total end to all life on Earth. Numerous astronomers have sighted a large meteor on a collision course with the Earth....”

“Engineers from NASA, ESA, the Russian Space Agency, and CNSA have all come together to cooperatively design large ships that could carry thousands of people safely into deep space....”

“Protesters around the world have started demonstrations in countries that do not have their own space agencies or launch facilities. They are expressing concerns about their respective cultures being forgotten due to a lack of representation on the Arks.”

“A fleet of cargo ships carrying supplies and equipment arrived in the port of Ras al Khafji today. The shipments were made in order to build launch facilities in the Middle East. The international Ark Organization has stated they are doing this for two reasons. The first is to ferry laborers to the orbital construction platforms where the Arks are being built. The second reason is a show of appreciation for the drastic lowering of petroleum prices during this time of global crisis.”

“Protests have all but ceased as people from countries around the globe begin to move themselves into their cabins on the Arks. The only vocal group still clamoring to be heard is insisting that no human beings be left behind on Earth. They strongly feel that those who wish to stay be removed from their homes by force. A military General stated, on the record, that he would forcibly move those folks on the condition that the protesters give up their spaces on the Arks to make room. No response to this statement from the protesters has yet been made.....”

“Cheers could be heard around the world today at 7:00 am Greenwich Mean Time as the engines of all the Arks were simultaneously engaged. While there is still some work left to be completed before launch, the engines now make the Arks self sufficient and significantly closer to being ready for launch.”

“Welcome from the inaugural broadcast of the ArkNet, a news and information channel for the residents and crews of the Arks. The final Ark, named Argos, boarded the last of its resident passengers and sealed the outer doors to the living quarters just yesterday....”

“The first Ark to be officially completed, affectionately dubbed Noah, passed its final checks and has been certified as spaceworthy....”

“We are entering the final month of ArkNet. As the Arks continue to head out on their respective courses, the distances between them will continue to grow and require too much energy to maintain constant contact between us all. Before we start our farewells, there is a remarkable greeting that needs to be extended. The first confirmed child conceived on the Arks was born this morning. Rick and Julia Johnson of the Enterprise welcomed their son Kirk to our journey....”

A release date hasn't been set yet, but it should be soon.  When the big day is announced I will proudly display it on my Facebook page and Twitter feed.

A Supernatural Detective

In this modern time crime is ever-present and in all aspects of life.  Law enforcement organizations often have detectives that specialize in one type of crime or another.  Homicide detectives look into incidents of one person killing another.  Individuals of the narcotics division do their best to keep the streets safe from those that sell illegal drugs.  There is no reason why there couldn't be a department that focuses on crimes related to a world many don't believe exists.

Pulling a little from Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes Division novels, the Harry Dresden books of Jim Butcher, and numerous stories and tales of the Faerie Kingdom interacting with the modern world, I thought a little bit about a police detective that involved magic.  What tools would he use?  What kinds of evidence would he discover?  How would he track down and arrest suspects?

It was raining again.  Or still, I couldn't be sure.  This time of year an evening shower was to be expected.  This storm, however, seemed to be particularly oppressive.  My trenchcoat was quickly dripping water on my boots as I got out of my car.  I do my best to keep the falling water out of my eyes as I look up the height of the apartment building before me.  I had been called here to visit an apartment about halfway up, on the fifth floor.  I didn't know which window on that floor belonged to the room I needed to visit, but the shadows crossing one set of thin curtains seemed particularly active for such a dreary night.

I climbed the five flights of stairs despite the elevator in the lobby appeared to be working just fine.  With the types of law breakers I tended to chase, being contained in a box as it quickly rose dozens of feet above the ground wasn't an ideal place to be.  That and my general lack of exercise combined to make the ardous trek up the stairs a better option than the otherwise modern convenience of the elevator.

Stepping off the stairwell landing it was immediately obvious to me which apartment was the one where my presence was required.  The two street officers standing on each side of a door decorated with a single stripe of police tape were only slightly less of an indicator than a giant neon sign would have been.  My trained and finely tuned senses caused my skin to crawl and the hair on the back of my neck stand up straighter than a flagpole.  This told me the crime that took place was indeed one that required my talents.

I showed the officers my detective's badge as I pushed the apartment door open and walked in like I owned the place.  A hall stretched away in front of me with a door leading to a room on either side.  The other end of the hall opened to a larger room.  The flash of a camera and subdued conversation of the crime scene techs pulled me that direction.  Reaching the end of the hall I saw it opened to a kitchen and dining room on one side and cozy living room on the other.  The technicians were doing their best not to step on each other as they attempted to collect evidence around a body laying in the middle of the living room floor.

At a glance it appeared the unfortunate deceased was an older woman.  Without confirmation from a coroner, I would guess cause of death to be simply old age.  She looked like a dried out husk of a human being.  Her skin was wrinkled and her hair was splayed out on the floor in thick white strands like an angelic glow shining from behind her head.  What struck me as odd was her clothing.  I hadn't encountered many women in their 80s wearing the latest club scene fashions.

Looking around the room I could see a number of pictures of groups of young people and a few of a young couple smiling at the camera.  There was one person consistent in all of the images.  I supposed she was the victim's granddaughter or great-granddaughter.  She was attractive enough that I was almost tempted to go against my lifelong rule about not personally informing next of kin.  Almost.

I walked up to the head technician and looked at him knowingly.  "What do we have here Mickey?"

Mickey glanced my direction and opened his notebook.  "There were no signs of forced entry.  The landlord had to unlock the deadbolt and doorknob for an officer doing a wellness check requested by the resident's sister.  There are no indications of a struggle and the neighbors haven't heard anything from in here for days despite frequent guests in the past."

Mike turned the page in his notebook, glanced at the words, and looked me directly in the eyes as he recited the next set of facts.  "The coroner has come and gone.  He declared the cause of death to be heart attack due to advanced age and dehydration.  The victim has been identified as Genie McCallister.  A 23-year-old legal secretary at a firm downtown."

I blinked quickly at this last statement and looked again at the woman on the floor before me.  I would have estimated her age at no less than 70.  I honestly would have guessed at an age closer to 90.  There was no way anyone would have mistaken her for 23.  I changed my mind about the young woman that all the pictures around the room had in common.  It wasn't the resident's descendant, but the resident herself.

I reached into a deep pocket in the inside of my coat.  Fingering past several familiar shapes I grasped a smooth crystal and extracted it.  I then looked over at Mike and gave him a quick nod before stepping to the body and standing with my legs straddling over it.  I held the crystal out before me and started an ancient chant in a language that was considered dead before Latin became popular.

Mike gestured to the other technicians and started to walk back towards the hallway leading out.  "Come on boys, let's give the detective the room."

As I was left alone in the room with the deceased victim the crystal in my hands began to glow brightly and become cold in my grip.  I could feel an tingle in my spine as aetheral energies flowed through me and into the crystal, seeking out any residue that might be in the area.  As I watched figures and shapes began to rise from the crystal and take form.  They coalesced into the characters that made up the alphabet of magic itself.  While I didn't immediately recognize the words being formed of light in front of me, I could tell enough about them to determine their intended use.  It was a spell to draw the life force out of a being quickly, aging them decades in a matter of seconds.  As I couldn't see any part of the spell indicating a destination for the life force, I could only assume it was being stored somehow.

I ceased my chanting and held my pose until the crystal's glow faded away completely.  Putting it back into its pocket in my trenchcoat I exchanged it for a small tin containing a powder specially mixed for me by a friendly woman that happened to be the direct descendant of an Ancient Oracle.  Putting some of the powder in the palm of my hand I closed my eyes and pictured the letters I had just seen emerging from the crystal.  I opened my eyes and quickly looked at the powder.  Some of the silver components in it had migrated to one side of my palm.  This was the side that was facing towards the kitchen.

As I turned and moved towards the kitchen the silver in the powder shifted to point me towards a space between the small table and fridge.  The silver flecks in the powder centered themselves in my palm when I stepped behind one of the two chairs slid under the table.

I returned the powder to its tin and put it back in the deep inside pocket with the crystal.  I reached to the back pocket of my pants and withdrew a simple notepad with pen attached.  I opened it to a clean page and made a quick note of the date and address of the apartment building.

I once again closed my eyes and began a chant different than the one I spoke over Genie's body.  Instead of maintaining a flat tone, my voice rose as I came to the end of each phrase.  It could easily sound to anyone listening like I was asking a series of questions over and over.  This was amazingly accurate.  I raised one had into the air in front of me around the area the powder had indicated.  My other hand gripped the pen and held it against the page of my notebook.

My raised hand began to feel cooler and cooler as a field of snow appeared before my eyes.  A set of strange footprints led towards some barren trees nearby.  In the distance was a familiar castle built entirely of ice.  The pen in my other hand began to make a series of marks on the paper.  Nothing like the characters that the crystal generated earlier, these marks were much more organic in appearance.

After a minute I stopped my mysterious questioning and opened my eyes.  The snowy field vanished instantly and I could once again see the walls of the apartment.  My raised hand warmed to room temperature quickly and I closed my notebook before replacing it in my back pocket.

I now had the first few things I needed to figure out who had invaded Genie's apartment and taken her life force.  They had opened a portal to the Winter Realms of the Fae Kingdoms and strolled right through.  The marks I made in my notebook indicated the energy used opening the portal was from a middle level resident of the Kingdoms.  Now I only needed to compare the marks to a few records and ask a few friends form the other side of the Veil to narrow down the list of suspects.

Do you think Law and Order: Faerie Kingdoms could become a thing?

Cover Art

A lot of work goes into a book's release even after the writing is done.  Editing for proper grammar and consistency in the story.  Deciding on a font and size of print.  Coming up with a quick blurb for the back of the book or inside cover.  

However, before any of that can be noticed, a cover must be developed that catches a reader's eye and conveys an idea regarding the theme of the book itself.  With that in mind, the folks at Amazing Things Press have come up with a cover for my next book, Post Exodus, that I think fits this bill rather well.

As the cover isn't completely "official" yet, I can't publicly display the whole thing yet.  I can give out a little preview though.

There will be more to come over the next few weeks.  You can get more frequent updates on my Twitter feed and Facebook page.

An Onerous Task

With the right choice of words and structure, even the most everyday of tasks can become an exciting narrative.  With a simple change in how things are described can give a new perspective on even the most tedious of chores.  Shedding a new light on how things are seen can add a degree of excitement to something almost everyone has done at one point or another in their lives.

Once again I am forced to walk away from the warmth and comfort of my home.  I travel down the well-worn path with my large beast at my side.  A beast whose muscles were barely covered by a thick coat of fur.  A beast that could tear a throat out with his powerful jaws or slumber peacefully curled up next to his owner.  It all depended on his mood at the time.

Our travels at this time necessitated by the need to answer the primal Call Of Nature.  The instinct was too much for my simple abode to contain.  These periodic sojourns into the wilds were necessary and important for the both of us.

As we make our way past trees and small fields of grass and flowers, unseen eyes spot us passing by.  Peering out from the darkness, they watch us until we are no longer in their field of vision.  The beast at my side and I are both dismissed from their thoughts almost as quickly as we disappear from their sight.  The shadowed beings then return to their combat on war-torn battlefields, cutting and singeing of flesh for consumption, or whatever tasks they were undertaking before my passing.

The instincts of the beast have not reached a high enough point that he would strain against the narrow tether connecting us.  This allows me to control our direction as other paths and routes splinter off our desired path.  I maintain this control until we reach a field larger than the others we passed.  At one end of the field the yells and screams of children of various ages could be heard.  At the other end was our destination, a small cluster of trees where the beast could perform his naturally demanded activities in privacy.  As he did so I looked across to the children and smiled as some contorted themselves around large pieces of equipment while others squealed as they were chased from one discreet hiding place to another.  While all looked innocent at the moment, I knew many injuries had been suffered and much blood had been spilled at this place over the generations.

The beast unleashed a growling sound to inform me that he had finished what he came to do.  We carefully returned to the peace and safety of my home along the same path which took us away.  This time I nodded to acknowledge some of those hiding in the shadows that observed me.  Others I passed unaware of their presence.  Once we returned and safely entered my home, I began to perform a few tasks to satisfy my own instinctual needs.

Who knew walking the dog to the local park could sound so interesting?  Is there a chore or task you have ever thought of differently in order to make it less tedious?

The Tale of The Noah continues....

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my story of the Noah completed in time to enter it in the science fiction contest I had planned on.  Real life reared its ugly head and interrupted my writing time too much.  The story itself also took on a life of its own that would not allow itself to be ended quickly.

I did go back and do a little editing to my previous entries in order to clarify a few things and correct a couple of mistakes.  I will update the previous posts with these edits by this time next week.  Word of these updates will be posted on my Facebook page.  In the meantime, here is a continuation of the story itself that I did manage to make despite interruptions, interferences, and power outages.

The majority of the crew of the Noah battleship waited patiently for a communication from Earth. Those that would be directly involved in the evacuation maintained their systems in a state of readiness. Others waited until their duties maintaining the environmental systems for the humans were required. While the environmental systems could be maintained automatically, the upkeep of a dry environment by a ship built for those that normally resided in oceans wasn't to be trusted to computers alone.

Darryl studied the interference patterns his cousin had emailed him. Without realizing how long he had been staring at the graphs and listening to the audio recordings, he finally got a grasp on what was before him. He rubbed his tired eyes, printed out a few key files and made a couple of notes, and carried everything to the dining hall. There he searched for one scientist in particular. This researcher had a hobby that involved numbers and multiple possible permutations and sequences. If anyone could figure out the details of what Darryl's cousin had sent him, it was a long-time D&D player and Game Master.

Darryl saw Alistair sitting alone eating with one hand and making notes on graph paper with the other. He approached the lone scientist with pages in hand. After a few minutes of discussion, Alistair looked away from his notes to the ones Darryl had presented. Looking over them briefly he stated, “It's simple. It's a base 12 encoding. Just different enough to our own base 10 to seem random unless someone is used to looking over numerical possibilities. I'm due to be back in the lab shortly. Once my shift is over, I will look over your notes and this signal and let you know if anything rises from the mists of confusion.”

Darryl thanked Alistair and grabbed a quick snack for himself from the buffet tables. He was due to start a work shift himself soon. As he was getting ready for the last few hours of his work shift, two pieces of news came to Darryl's attention almost simultaneously. Alistair had started to decode the information Darryl had given him earlier. While an exact translation was impossible, there were data components that could be easily interpreted. Alistair would meet with Darryl later with the information.

The second piece of news impacted the camp at large. The politicians had finally come up with a message to be broadcast to the Noah. The message accepted the help of the Noah in evacuating the planet, should they provide enough evidence that said evacuation was necessary. They also wanted to know the specifics of the plans for the evacuation so priorities could be made for getting more valued members of humanity safe first. There was no mention of how it would be determined which members of humanity were more valuable than others. The people that worked around the base were nearly unanimous in guessing that the politicians would form the head of the line. There was little to no mention of rescuing the non-human residents of the planet Earth. This came as no surprise to anyone that had worked with the politicians for more than five minutes.

The Noah received the message and excitement and activity both increased significantly as the crew prepared themselves for the evacuation plan. There was some confusion regarding the possibility of prioritizing the evacuation. The Noah felt that all life was equally important, regardless of how obvious or subtle their contribution to society may be. Because of this, their evacuation plan treated all the residents of Earth as equals and would evacuate them all at once. They were already scanning less intelligent lifeforms and comparing the results with their original scans when they originally transported everything to Earth. They looked for variations in DNA sequences that had crept in over numerous generations. This would allow them to simply update their files for reconstitution instead of collecting completely new DNA scans. There were a few new species that were descended closely enough to previously known species that an adjustment was all that would be required.

The Drag'kun battle fleet was primed for their attack. Designated crafts were starting to alter their course in order to intercept and attack the Noah battleship. The rest of the fleet would quickly enter Earth's atmosphere and begin razing major population centers. Panicking citizens would later be collected for enslavement. They would then be forced to extract usable materials from the wreckage of their own former homes and places of industry. Some would be given the ardous task of gathering raw minerals from the planet itself. There were no plans for stocking food or supplies for these slaves since they weren't expected to survive their duties.

Please leave a comment saying what you do or don't like about the story and where you think the story may go.

Where are "The Noah" Going?

I have decided to enter my tale of The Noah in a science fiction contest.  With the entry deadline, looming, most of my writing time has been dedicated to filling, editing, and completing the story.  I am hoping to have it finished and submitted in the next few days.  Once my submission has been accepted, I will post links to it here, on my Facebook page, and in my Twitter feed.

In the meantime, feel free to browse through any of the stories I've previously posted or check out some of the authors over at Amazing Things Press.  Go. Read. Enjoy.

Seeing The Whole World

Once before I posted about someone without the ability to see.  The idea of the exact opposite has been floating around in my head for many years.  What are some of the things someone would do if they found themselves with the ability to see anything, anywhere?  Viewing the past and future would still be impossible, but it would be easy to look at anything currently occurring on the planet.

I was finally coming to terms with my sight. It wasn't something that most people have to adjust to. My peripheral vision wasn't narrowing to a dark tunnel. It wasn't getting more difficult to read signs at a distance or books up close. I had to adjust to the fact that I could see everything.

When I say everything, it is much more than simply a matter of my vision being 20/20. At any given moment I could focus my view on a section of wall and see every nail pinning the drywall to the stud, how much the wood compressed and how much of it splintered when the nail was driven in, each stroke of the sander smoothing out the mud in the panel joints. I could easily see all of this regardless of whether the subsequent construction had been covered with paint, wallpaper, or both.

More than that, I could lay back and let my point of view roam anywhere in the world. I could see diplomats speaking to each other in a secured conference room on the other side of the planet. Since I couldn't hear them and never bothered to learn to read lips, all of the state secrets they may be passing to each other were still safe.

All of this started with an attack. I was working my usual evening shift at a corner convenience store. An armed thug rammed thug sauntered through the door, pulled a gun, and shot me in the head. As I lay on the ground bleeding, he rummaged through the cash drawers and helped himself. He walked away with just under $500. Not worth the life he just intended to take if you ask me. Even with the security cameras at the front door, behind the counter, and in the parking lot outside, the police were unable to identify the guy. Since I had seen his face very clearly, I told them I would gladly point him out in a lineup if they needed me to. They never called me in.

However, his shot wasn't lethally accurate. The bullet just grazed my skull. Somehow the pressure wave in the fluid inside my skull caused something to change in my brain itself. At least that's what the doctors keep telling me each time they call me in to take more pictures of my head. They don't know what kind of effects the difference in my brain chemistry may have, but that's only because I haven't told then about my new planet-wide visual acuity.

Doctor's orders kept me out of work the next couple of weeks. My boss said he would hold my position for me as long as I didn't sue the store. He smiled and sounded like he was joking, but I kind of doubt that. By the time I clocked back in for another evening shift, I was already aware I could see considerably more than I had before. With a little practice during slow parts of my shift, my vision was improving by leaps and bounds. After my first week I could count not only the cash in the drawer without opening it, but see exactly how much was in each shift's drop envelopes as they sat inside the safe in the boss's office.

The first time I noticed how much more I could see it was more out of boredom than anything else. I was sitting on my couch watching television. A movie was on that took place in the Sahara desert. Seeing all that sand blowing around and the shimmering heat was making me a little thirsty. I looked in the general direction of my kitchen and wondered if I had any beers in my fridge. Instantly I could see inside the refrigerator as though the door and wall between it and me were made of clear glass. All of the contents were clearly visible to me. It came as such a surprise that I blinked a couple times and the view disappeared. I sat and stared at the wall for a minute, thinking the whole thing must have been a hallucination caused by being shot.

I looked at the wall between me and my bedroom and again thought about the contents of my fridge. Nothing happened this time. Since I was looking at my bedroom wall my mind wandered to what clean clothes I might have to wear the next day. Suddenly I could see all of the folded shirts and pants in my dresser drawers. I noticed a couple of shirts I knew I had left in the hamper were sitting in my drawer. I realized this couldn't be a hallucination since I had no way of knowing my sister had washed my clothes and put them away while I was in the hospital. I'm not sure why I didn't start to panic. I began to look through other walls in my apartment. I could see how much soap was left in the bottle in my bathroom, this despite three walls and the plastic of the bottle itself potentially blocking my view.

I started to experiment with how far I could see. I peeked into other apartments on the same floor as mine. Then into rooms in apartments one and two floors beneath my feet. I kept extending my view further and further. Reading the expiration dates on the labels of food in the store on the corner. Counting the seeds in the vegetables on display at the farmer's market down the street. I will admit I spent too much time peering into the women's locker room at the gym a couple blocks down while sitting alone in the living room of my apartment. There seemed to be no limit to how far my vision could reach or how detailed a view I could get.

This new ability was a source of fun for the most part. I could watch any NFL game I wanted without my television being on or traveling to a stadium. I could watch a movie being made anywhere in the world. Women's locker rooms weren't the only places I looked at ladies in various states of undress. In general, whatever I wanted to see, I just looked at.

The fun stopped a few months after I got back to work. Once again, an armed thug entered the convenience store. This time he was wearing a ski mask despite the heat of the August evening. Without even thinking about it, I glanced at his waistband behind his back. There was a gun behind his back, loaded with the safety off and a round chambered. A quick look behind the ski mask told me how much danger I was truly in. The face hiding behind the cotton was the same one that belonged to the man that had shot me once before. There was no way I could give him the chance to kill me or hurt anyone else again.

What are some of the things you would look at if you could focus your sight on anything?  What would you look at first?