Lucas Cats

by on January 30, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The panther-like Gangani ruled an entire continent of San Lucas when humanity first became aware of them. Their empire was fractured by rebellions and secessionist movements, and some asked for help in breaking the empire, while others sought help in holding its power together. We helped none, but gave humanitarian aid and protection to all who wished it. The Gangani rulers protested humanity’s stopping their reprisal raids, but we helped them capture many terrorist cells. That allowed them to save face at home and act as if they were acting with newfound restraint. The Gangani still lost most of the Uaithni’s northern reaches, and many of their outer provinces in the south attained independence. But the general end to the greater amount of violence on either side allowed the Gangani to maintain a significantly larger empire than they would have maintained had the rebellions and secessions continued without our interference.

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Barnes and Noble

by on January 29, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Most of you know that I make money selling my stories on various online platforms. Amazon, iTunes, and Smashwords to name a few. The largest amount of my sales, and the largest steady income, comes from Barnes and Noble, though. So I was rather annoyed last year when the ability to update my books stopped working.

I e-mailed tech support and informed them of the issue. At first, they thought I was just off my rocker, but after a few weeks of patiently explaining the issue, and showing the steps I had gone through to show it was their issue, not mine, they realized that, yes, there was an issue with their system. They didn’t fix it. I was annoyed enough that I actually considered taking my books down. But I kept hoping they would send a tech to fix it.

Last week, I found out why they weren’t fixing the issue. It seems, they were developing a new publisher platform and updating all of the old books into the new one. Everything works the way it should now, and my books at Barnes and Noble are up to date with those available at the other platforms again. I’m happy. I would have been happier if they had fixed the issue when it came up, but I understand their reasons. They have didn’t want to spend valuable tech time on the old system they were getting rid of. It makes perfect sense.

I just wish they had told me about this at the time, so I would have known what the delay was. Or fixed it. Or something other than total silence. But I do understand the technical reasons, and am very happy that the platform works and is better than it used to be. Will you, the buyer, ever see a difference? Probably not. But it is nicer for us publishers.

Now, back to writing. Wolfenheim is growling at me from the corner right now.

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San Lucas

by on January 28, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Essential Galactic Atlas

Mount Inferno expels ash into the air almost every day on San Lucas. It rumbles and grumbles and threatens to bury the continent of Hankou with ash and lava on a weekly basis. The Chinese maintain permanent installations in orbit, and surround the volcano with force field projectors and air purifiers to keep the ash and lava at bay. It is enough to keep Hankou habitable, but the reasons for why the Chinese cared was a mystery. Until we performed the DNA analyses and learned that the cats who lived there had been genengineered from Chinese lions and tigers. The Chinese ethos is that anything or anyone who was once Chinese will always be Chinese. So these cats are Chinese. Which makes Hankou Chinese. And perhaps all of San Lucas. The San Lucan government disputes all Chinese claims to any part of their system, but they do not have the military strength to expel the Chinese “aid workers.”

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Jack

by on January 27, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

I was a know it all. I thought I was three meters tall and bullet proof. I got into fistfights over stupid things. And some real important ones. I was stubborn as the sky is wide. I never did know when to quit. I lived my life at full throttle, never slowing down for a breath I didn’t need. I fell for sky-blue eyes under small town lights. I fell for deep brown eyes under dark woods canopies. And God Almighty, those green eyes were something to behold. I never had everything I exactly wanted, but that’s part of what was so beautiful. Life was good. Life was great. And I was…fantastic. Because I had a name to live up to. A name I’d earned, and one I very much was not going to let go to waste. I was Jack. Still am, I suppose, but I’ll always remember the Jack I was when I was fifteen going on eighteen. When I was eighteen going on thirty. When everything was right in the world.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Lucas Cats

by on January 26, 2018 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

Life for the jaguar-derived Uaithni of San Lucas is better than it once was. They once ruled their entire continent of course, but then spent centuries as a suppressed underclass in the empire they created. The general dissolution of that empire has created a dozen or so small Uaithni nations, in a loose alliance with each other. Citizens of any nation can quickly and easily travel between any of the others, for business or pleasure. Rising levels of industry have increased their productivity and the amount of time they have for leisure. Uaithni space-based construction of everything from civilian products to spaceships is a young but growing industry. The Uaithni lead the rest of the San Lucas cats in their drive to recreate themselves as a true spacefaring culture. We’re helping of course, but they are doing the bulk of the work themselves.

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