Nothing Much New

Still writing intermittently on Chapter 3 of Homecoming?, and lately I've been feeling tidal forces pulling me back to Schroedinger's Cat, but so far I've been able to resist.

I decided to put The Undine Chronicles up on SOL, and both Redemption and Reconciliation are there now.  I've gotten some recent positive feedback on them, and that cheers me up.

Sorry I haven't been more diligent about writing, but Real Life has a way of interfering with plans. Maybe I'll get blessed simultaneously with both inspiration and time to write, soon.

QM

New tactics

I actually am writing some new stuff these days - remember I said that I had to work on Homecoming? It's slow going though.  

Anyway, I finally took note of the fact that some  of my own favorite authors are reposting their existing works on SOL, and I decided, What the hey! I might as well check out the possibilities for expanding my readership there.  

I have to tell you, the results were pretty overwhelming.

I reposted the Breakdown in its entirety, over the course of five days, and the volume of  feedback I've gotten from SOL readers has eclipsed the total feedback I've ever received on my stories on any other site!  That's pretty amazing.  I think the experimental results are pretty definitive.

Anyway, since Homecoming? isn't yet finished, I can't post it in its entirety.  Inasmuch as I've already promised readers on other sites that I'll work on it, I'll continue to post it, chapter-wise, until it's finished.  Then I'll start to work on Shroedinger's Cat again.

In the meantime, if you graze through multiple stories sites looking for entertainment, don't be surprised if you see more of my stories popping up on SOL.  I have a few short ones that might be appreciated there.  

All that is not to say that there weren't a few SOL readers who were unhappy with the ending, because some things were left hanging at the end of Breakdown.   My response is:  I clearly created it a series story.  What is it about series or serial stories you don't understand?  By definition, these stories have to leave something hanging in order to provide continuity.  They are not just companion stories in the same universe; rather they are episodes of the same saga.

Enough lecturing for now.  Instead let me issue my thanks to all of the readers who have responded with feedback.  I hope you continue to enjoy my works - and I hope the occasional spelling or grammatical errors don't spoil the stories for you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

QM

Keeping Promises - completed

Okay (breathing hard), it's done.  Chapter 3 was submitted to my ASSTR web site, last night, and to SOL this morning. Hopefully it'll show up when those sites refresh, today. I also posted the story in its entirety to my ASSTR FTP site, as a PDF document.  I hope you enjoy it.

I'm going to take a vacation from the Swarmiverse, and try once again to finish some of my ongoing, stalled-out stories, notably Schroedinger's Cat and Homecoming?.  They'll be slow going though, because I have to re-familiarize myself with the story lines - it has been that long.  IF I ever get them finished, I'll probably take a long vacation from writing.

Yah, yah, I know.  Some of you think I've already taken too much time off.  Let me remind you once agina, that this is a hobby for me.  I only do it when I can't find enough quality reading to occupy my time, and the only currency in which I get paid for it, is your gratitude.  Not that I don't appreciate that, but it doesn't help squeeze blood out of the turnip!  

Another author that I follow said it best: "Why don't you try it for a while, and see how long it takes for you to burn out?"

It isn't easy to create entertaining, believeable, logically consistent fiction, populated with sympathetic, and hopefully, well-developed characters, out of nothing but your imagination.

Anyway, for those who like the story, thanks for your appreciation. For those who offer constructive criticism, thanks for trying to make me a better author. For those who can only engage in name-calling, or bitch about characters, situations, and outcomes that they find disturbing... well, you get what you paid for.

QM

Keeping Promises

... is the title of the new story that I posted tonight.  It is set in the Swarmiverse, and further investigates the coping mechanisms of the cosca, as it adapts to life away from the familiar trappings of Earth.  The blurbs read:  "Heroes die young.  Life goes on.  The rest of us have to stand up and be counted.  Sometimes keeping promises costs more than you think it will."

I'm pretty sure the final edits will be completed sooner than I expected.  If it happens that way, I may post a chapter each day for the rest of the weekend.

QM

New Swarm Story coming this weekend

I just finished a new story set in the Swarmiverse. This one deals with the aftermath of the death of one of the cosca's pilots. It's about 15K words in 3 chapters, and is now under editorial review.

I don't like the working title, so I'm not going to use it here, but I hope to choose a final title and post the first chapter by this weekend. I know, I said I won't post unfinished stories anymore, but this one is finished. I'm just not going to post it all at once. I will post the chapters as I get them out of final edits.

Galen Rides again...

For those of you who like him, our wandering technical support Dom, Galen Cuvier, is the news today. I just posted Chapter 2 of Homecoming? I know it's been a long time, but I really am trying to finish this tale. When it is done, I promise to never, never, never post any part of a story until the whole thing is finished. I'm kind of stuck with this one, and a couple of others, though. Not much action or sex in this chapter. Think of it as a bridge between the more exciting parts.

Left Behind - a (short) Swarm pickup parody

Back in January or so, of this year, when many of us were in the winter doldrums, one of the more enthusiastic Swarm authors got the idea that we should have a contest, the theme of which to find out who could write the best pickup story. There was a twist, though, and it was that the story had to involve one or more of the actual Swam authors. This was my entry. It didn't win, of course, and it sat around languishing ever since, but I ran across it today and thought some of you might enjoy it. Keep in mind that it is a parody, and not part of the Swarm canon!