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!

The Priests' Wedding

Waltzing Melissa honours me by setting her latest effort in my own little corner of the Swarmiverse. Her new story is called The Priests' wedding, and picks up the future history of the cosca somewhat after the events described in Changing Priorities.

As you might surmise from the title, it describes the toils and tribulations of the priests sent to minister to the cosca, as they try to implement the Pope's directives concerning marriage and the priesthood. Melissa has assembled a wonderful, sexy tale full of humor, angst, love and purpose. Please enjoy it as much as I did!

New Chapter

Well, as promised, Schroedinger's Cat, Chapter 7 is finished and posted, and will be available with the next ASSTR update. No real suspense, I think, but some interesting personal stuff going on, and a little local color. Getting real close to the party now.

Homecoming Chapter 2 is underway again, and I hope to finish it soon.

I may or may not get back to writing in the Swarm universe soon, but another author has indicated some interest in writing a new tale involving the cosca of Family Values and Changing Priorities fame. I've seen some of the preliminary work, and what I've seen looks pretty good.

I'm not sure how much longer I'll continue writing for the Web. Writing, for me, is a way to fill the time between stories by my favorite authors. When they go on hiatus, that's when I write. When I do write, there are usually several stories vying for my time. One thing is for sure: Once Schroedinger and Homecoming are complete, I'm only going to post new stories that I've completely finished. Chapter-wise posting aggravates readers (even when they want it!), and causes me too many headaches in maintaining story flow and logical consistency.

That's all I have for right now. Have a great day.