Republic of Texas

by on January 24, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

What would become the Republic of Texas traces her history back to the time of the Spanish Empire and Louisiana Purchase America. The United States was expanding west after purchasing much of North America from France, and the Spanish were having problems controlling New Spain. The locals wanted independence, the French thought they could conquer it, and the Americans thought they had bought much of it from France. And the Indians lived there and didn’t want anybody invading their lands. That made the frontier region that would become Texas a rather difficult area to settle and control for any single nation. And it helped to create the frontier culture that would define the region for centuries.

 Comment 

The Gemini Affair

by on January 23, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Jack grew up in a world at peace. His only interests were partying and girls. Two decades of War changed the galaxy and left Jack with no home to return to. Seven decades after War’s End, Captain Jack Hart was a man at peace once again. His ship represented the freedom to live wherever he wanted. He could fly anywhere from Earth to the furthest frontiers of human expansion on a whim and a prayer. And his cargo holds could carry whatever luxuries people wanted wherever he was going.

All of that was endangered when he ran into a mysterious freighter while on a routine trip to the Pleiades Cluster. What secrets did it hold? What mysteries did it hide? Why was it skulking around the heart of the Pleiades Cluster? Why did it open fire the moment it saw his ship? And what would the answers to those questions do to the foundations of the world Captain Jack Hart had built his life on?

***

The Gemini Affair is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

 Comment 

Wolfenheim Emergent

by on January 22, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Malcolm McDonnell grew up in a world before Contact, when we still thought we were alone in the universe. Then the Peloran brought medicines that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and expand our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age for mankind, but the Peloran were not the only ones to make Contact.

Four years after the Shang attacked us, Malcolm had used his contacts inside the Hurst Family to make the Wolfenheim Project a reality. His mission was to take humanity’s message back to the stars with that most human of responses. A new colony in Alien space. No Alien power would drive us from them. We were coming. We would always be coming.

But the head of the Hurst Family discovered he was funding the Wolfenheim Project and sent a fleet to impound it. Now Malcolm McDonnell and the Class One Colonization Ship Wolfenheim fly through Alien stars on their way towards a new home with a determined foe on their heels. One that Malcolm does not remember, but who most certainly remembers him.

***

Wolfenheim Emergent is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

 Comment 

Wolfenheim Rising

by on January 21, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Malcolm McDonnell grew up in a world before Contact, when we still thought we were alone in the universe. Then the Peloran brought medicines that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and expand our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age for mankind, but the Peloran were not the only ones to make Contact.

Four years after the first Shang attacks, Malcolm had used his contacts to make the Wolfenheim Project a reality. He had the funding he needed. He had the ships he needed. He had the people he needed. He was ready to take humanity’s message back to the stars.

No alien power would drive us from our destiny. We were coming for the stars. We were coming for them.

Then the people funding the Wolfenheim Project found out they were funding the Wolfenheim Project and demanded their money back. That was when things started getting interesting. Malcolm McDonnell was not the kind of person to give up when the going got rough, you see.

***

Wolfenheim Rising is available at the following retailers

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Apple Books

Kobo

Smashwords

 Comment 

Into The West

by on January 20, 2020 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

J. R. R. Tolkien died before I was born. I do not remember a time when he lived. But his works dominated my youth. I learned how to spell grey the proper way because of him. And yes, I started with The Hobbit, and went on to The Lord of the Rings which I read cover to cover, including the appendixes. All of them.

I grew up in a world without him, but one that had his son. Christopher Tolkien has been the editor and mapmaker of Lord of the Rings for my entire life. He has always been there, expanding on his father’s work and making it into a world that goes far beyond the pages of just those early books. Taking the notes and poems and stories that his father started, editing them and finishing them and finding ways to publish them so all those of us who loved that world could see more of it. I loved the Silmarillion as a child. I was pretty much his target audience.

Now he is gone. The Tolkiens that have dominated my life are no more, and that is a great and terrible thing to face. They have gone into The West, and we must give them one Last Goodbye. And this…this is where my mind goes back to again and again

Into The West
Into The West

The Last Goodbye
The Last Goodbye

 Comment