Hurricane Harvey is turning out to be far more dangerous and damaging than many of us thought it would be. It will take time, money, and resources to help those who need help.
I’m therefore going to share some links to non-profit organizations that seek to aid people in exactly this kind of situation.
If you can’t help directly, please consider giving money to these or other non-profits you know of so they can help the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Thank you.
As some of you know, I work nightshift. It makes it easy for me to do many things, not the least of which is have some time to research stuff like…well…writing stories.
But the last two weeks have been different for me. I have been on jury duty. And jury duty doesn’t tell me if I need to come in until 4:30 PM. I go into work at 11:00 PM. That is not much time for my work to organize a replacement for me, and my position cannot go unfilled. So, I took time off. Two weeks. Paid because I have it. For the first time since I was in 9th Grade, I have taken two entire weeks off from work. That is over twenty years for those of you who are taking notes. In twenty years, I have never taken an entire two weeks in a row off. I’ve taken a week and an extra day or two on each end to give it some extra padding, but I’ve never taken a straight two weeks off. Sixteen days in real time without working. That’s half a month. It was enjoyable.
Now, I had jury duty, so it wasn’t entirely off, but I did not serve on any jury. I was selected for a jury pool, and went in, but all of the jury cases my particular pool was selected to see pleaded out and there were no trials for me. For my jury pool.
But for two weeks, I slept more or less when daywalkers sleep, and walked under the bright and shining daystar. The one that burns and such. It is an interesting world you daywalkers see. Stores are open while you are awake for one. There is more traffic on the roads for another. And you can usually return phone calls or text messages the moment you get them. Nightwalkers are asleep when most of you daywalkers send your calls and messages, so by the time we get them, you are asleep. So we try to wait until we think you may be awake and then forget about it because by the time you are awake, we are entering our coffins to seal ourselves from the evil daystar. It is an interesting world you daywalkers have.
But now I have returned to my normal world. I am a nightwalker again. I walk under the pale nightstar, the one that does not burn. I can walk without sunglasses again, and there are fewer cars on the road once more. Though the stores are closed now. Ah well. I don’t like shopping, so that’s a small price to pay for living in the night.
So rejoice, my fellow nightwalkers. One of your brothers has returned to this best of all worlds.
Nightwalkers unite!
Charles Edward Hurst grew up in one of the most machiavellian families that has ever existed. A Great Family, one of the true rulers of the world, a shaper of men and destinies far and wide. He was their chosen successor, the future leader who would ascend to his father’s position in time. He was the figurehead for a future thousands of years in the planning. He would be the man who would lead the world into a new future, a new destiny, carefully crafted and chosen over the generations. That was the Hurst Family plan for Charlie’s life. But they made one critical error. They never realized that the boy standing in front of them and politely nodding to their every suggestion was smart enough to be a true leader of the family. He was never going to be their figurehead. I stood beside him for years as we discussed the true future he envisioned. And it was my pleasure to guide those plans to fruition.
There were many advantages to growing up in the Hurst Family before Contact. We were born to be kings, raised as princes of the universe, destined for immortality on the greatest and most powerful stage in all the worlds. Earth. We could do anything we wanted, with anyone we wanted, and Family lawyers were on retainer to make it all go away if someone objected after the fact. It was an amazing life for those of us blessed to live it from the inside. But nothing lasts forever. I was banished and forced to live outside the Family, which gave me a new perspective on life. And the Peloran made Contact and changed the universe for all the Families. But I have to say that I was happy to grow up in the Hurst Family. It gave me many opportunities to do things I never could have done otherwise. Wolfenheim is one of them.
The Branan’s short-lived bodies broke down in a matter of five or six decades at most, but while we sought to lengthen our lifespan, the Branan sought immortality through a different route. They copied their minds into the computer networks and cut the cord to their old, dying meat bodies. The Branan heroes and elders lived in the networks, where they spent two millennia traveling between their stars at lightspeed. They built major electronic presences around every star within one hundred lightyears of Betelgeuse by sending out tiny probe swarms on solar sails. Those probes built numerous fully functional computer networks at their destination stars, and those networks built physical, industrial civilizations where no flesh and blood Branan had ever traveled. Then we made Contact.
Forge of War on Amazon
Angel Flight on Amazon
Angel Strike on Amazon
Angel War on Amazon
Wolfenheim Rising on Amazon
Wolfenheim Emergent on Amazon