The Republic of Texas

by on January 2, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Republic of Texas Army aerial cavalry regiments have been an integral part of the Army for centuries. They flew ground attack helicopters or transport aircraft during the Second Great Depression, and adopted other aerial attack craft in the decades that followed from the Air Force that slowly disappeared into the ever-devouring maw of the Space Force. They flew all types of atmospheric ground attack and transport craft when the Peloran made Contact, but the technological race that followed made pure airbreathers a relic of the past. By the time The War came upon us all, the Army flew the same Savages and Vigilantes as the other services, though their mission was still purely atmospheric in nature. Their entire reason to exist is to provide scouting, ground support, and transport for their ground pounder brothers and sisters. Their training and their mission reflects this, and many consider them the best pilots for atmospheric operations.

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Avenger

by on January 2, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Jack's Defense Weekly

I’m a very visual writer. I like to have pictures of my designs and characters that I can refer to when writing stories. That is why I’ve drawn out most of the designs in Jack of Harts in pencil. And the quality of those sketches for public consumption is why I have worked with far more capable artists to bring those designs to life. 😉

The F-12 Avenger was originally modeled by Kirk Alderfer way back in 2011. This was back when I was still writing my first published novel. He would go on to bring several other designs into (digital) reality for me and I highly suggest you check out his Galactic game universe and miniatures as he really is an imaginative artist. I own many of his miniatures and have used them in games. I love them.

The final version of the Avenger shown here was created by Stephen Huda. I wanted a higher definition version of the design for my covers, so I contacted him and he came up with the following design. It actually incorporates all three major design and refit phases of the Avenger depicted in Forge of War, from the original Earthbuilt prototype used at the beginning of the book to the final Peloran rebuild featured in the book’s final battle.

At least one example of this fighter has been seen on the covers of all but two stories I’ve published to this day. I think I can safely say as a New Years Resolution that I intend to use this design more times this year.

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Happy New Year

by on January 1, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

A New Year is here. On the one hand, it’s just a flipping of the calendar or a changing of the days with no other meaning. On the other, many new laws will be taking effect, so we have attached a great deal of meaning to it.

Whatever the case, we are entering a New Year. For myself, twenty years have passed since I was preparing computers for Y2K, and today I write stories and create worlds. I like what I’ve done with my life, and I intend to do more of it in the coming year.

So Happy New Year.

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The Audacious Affair

by on December 31, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art

One of the great inspirations for my stories is World War II. Many of the class names, ship names, and companies in Jack of Harts come from World War II, and I tend to spend a lot of time trolling World War II sites for interesting bits I can put in my stories. The Avengers, Hellcats, and Marauders are all named after World War II fighters or bombers for instance.

And when it came time for me to write about the British Royal Navy in my most recent story, I trolled the web for information on them as well. Hence was named the HMS Audacious, British Royal Navy Victory-class dreadnought. And then since I tend to write more about fighters, I needed a good British World War II fighter to play with. So I wrote it in.

The next step of course is to get the amazing Stephen Huda to make the cover for the story so it will look good. I give him what I want, along with the theme, and some reference pics, a scan of the truly horrible chicken scratching that is my art ideas, and he goes hog wild and makes me a cover far nicer than I asked for. The story has this scene where American Avengers and Hellcats are supporting some British fighters in defense of Audacious, and Stephen Huda made that scene come to life.

Here is a small sample of the art he delivered mere days ago, showing Wing Commander Lance Evans plowing the road for HMS Audacious in his Spitfire space superiority fighter, in service to King Henry the Ninth, monarch of the British Commonwealth.

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A New Year is Coming

by on December 30, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Many use the season of Christmas and New Years to reflect and consider the year we have come through and the year we are going into. New Years resolutions are common, and commonly not followed through on. One of the reasons I try to avoid them in general. But this year may be different.

You see, I try to maintain a carefree and happy attitude most of the time. That covers a far less carefree attitude underneath, one that has some rather particular thoughts on how things should be and what to do when things aren’t right. I would probably rank on at least one or two spectrums if they’d done testing in my day. And I don’t always have the quietest of responses when something doesn’t work like it’s supposed to work. It is a temperament I have dealt with most of my life. One way I found to mitigate it is to maintain a carefree and happy attitude most of the time.

Life is good. It’s not worth bellyaching over the small things.

It doesn’t always work. Sometimes the small things pile up into a large enough crap sandwich that no amount of telling myself “I’m living the dream” will work. At which times I either walk away to let it roll off my shoulders, or give my righteous two cents about the situation. Not always in the quietest of ways, either. People I thought were friends have left when I let those two cents slip out.

That is one reason I treasure everyone who has seen that side of me and is still a friend. Those who work with me despite the sometimes persnickety precision of my particular passion. You know. That whole writing thing that seems to take up a large percentage of my mental processes most of the time.

I am truly thankful for all of you. And if there are New Year’s Resolutions out there that I think would be good to make, one would be to make it more abundantly clear how I feel on that point in the coming year.

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