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
