Still Working...

Well, this is basically just a quick update to let you all know I'm not dead or anything.  I'm still looking for beta reader, if any of you are up to it... But right now I'm focused on finishing the process of getting a couple books from the Kindle release over to smashwords.

This has basically required that I due a lot of formating to get the document ready for the meatgrinder at smashwords.  I'm almost done with the first of these books (I'm going to look through the formatting guide again to make sure I didn't forget something), then I'll start releasing them.

Smashwords is in many ways a much smaller selection of titles then Kindle, so hopefully more people will catch sight of these books and they'll start moving at half-way decent rates again.

General Updates

Well, I haven't actually said much about what I've been doing lately, so it's time for a little update or two...

1.) A Fox's Tale: The Smith's Son - The second book in the A Fox's Tale series is done... all that's left is a bit of editing and cover design.  Unfortunately, my sister was the one that produced the cover for A Fox's Tale, and she's in the middle of a rather heavy semester in High School, so it may be some time before it's actually released.

Sorry...

Also, I've taken A Fox's Tale off the KDP select system and will soon be releasing it through Smashwords as well.

2.) VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens - I've started initial work on VALKYRIE #3 - Outer Reaches.  At the same time I've started learning both Blender and Sculptris... My plan is to port the models I've made in Sketchup to Blender, give them proper textures and use Blender to produce new covers and trailers for Youtube, but that's slow going.

3.) THE GREATEST GAME - Sadly, this series is on the back burner right now, as interest has been relatively low.  I do have plans for the series, but with so few people reading the books and my already full work load, it's probably better if I focus more on VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens and a couple projects I have going for more traditional publication.

4.) PROJECT ROLL-PLAY - Development is still ongoing, and I've become fairly active on the Giants in the Playground's Homebrew forum discussing various elements of RPG design.  Right now I'm focused on providing enough magical spells and rules to roughly equal that which you'd get in the 'core' rulebook for a game like Pathfinder or DnD.

5.) Traditional Publication Projects - I've been actively working on a book meant to be published through traditional channels, as it's a bit more mainstream in SF content then VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens.  This book is being developed under the provisional title 'Midshipmen', and, much like the Honor Harrington series, is largely being inspired by the old Horatio Hornblower stories.

Unlike Honor Harrington, I'm not going out of my way to use such things as 'broadsides' and so forth in the stories, but real world physics and a sort of twisted reflection of the way officers were trained and worked in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars.  In some ways it might be closer to the whole Master and Commander series in it's depiction of midshipmen and apprentice officers.

The story will revolve around the careers of two midshipmen: Astra Tanaka and Miles Ambrose while on their first shipboard assignment to Peregrine-class Gunboat Swift Fox during the initial lead up to and outbreak of hostilities between the United Empires of Anglica and Nihon (UEAN) and the Imperial Republic of C'Hall (IRC), essentially playing along the same historical roles as the UK and Republican France.

As the UEAN is settled by colonists from Britain and Japan, there are a number of direct references to the period.  The main UEAN naval facility in their home system is known as Spithead, and so forth.  The IRC is made up of former colonies of France and Russia, with French being the official language.

A large number of other nations will also make their appearance, echoing the multiple powers involved in the period.

Gearing up for Valkyrie: Into the Heavens book trailers.

Well, I've been busy... and among the things I've been working on was 3d models of the ships from VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens.  I posted a couple test renders of Daniel Logan's starship earlier, but I've just finished Michiko's...

Here it is, the NIS-X Shinshin. Enjoy.

LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT

Last night I finished uploading my latest work to Kindle and Createspace, bringing out my fourth book. That's right VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens volume #2 is out!

Get it now at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HV5HSPM

If you’re a fan of science-fiction anime, manga, and light novels you’ll probably like this story.  It features a cast of characters from across the globe which can only grow in the future.  It’s a light novel, so it’s short but that doesn’t mean it does not pack a punch.  It's the sequel to VALKYRIE: Candidates so be sure to grab that one first.

Synopsis: 2163, the war between Earth and the Ixo drags onward. The pilots of Project Valkyrie are sent to 2 Pallas, an asteroid in the inner solar system to defend a science station working to trace the Ixo attacks back to their homeworld.

The four teenagers that pilot the next generation ships known as Interceptor Frigates are all but swallowed up by the Valkyrie program as engineers and technicians try to improve upon the designs after each engagement. Despite all of the stress of deployment, Daniel Logan and Michiko Hoshimoto try to find ways to relax amidst the chaos and keep themselves from becoming a danger to each other and the rest of the project.

The four teen pilots of the new 1st Interceptor Squadron are quickly thrown into battle against the Ixo as the alien fleets continue their relentless assault on Earth. As the Ixo introduce a series of far larger and more powerful vessels into the war, the teen pilots of the 1st Interceptor Squadron find themselves being thrown into the midst of a struggle between titans.

50,000 words, Rated T (Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.)

Friday Food for Thought #17

Climate Change

Week 3, Month 12, Episode #17

I know I haven't been posting much recently... The reason for this is that I've been really busy.  I've just finished the second installment of VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens and I'm working with an offer from Tate Publishing on the first book of the A Fox's Tale series in print (for free, when normally they have people pay them to publish).  Not to mention working on the cover for VALKYRIE: Pallas and a new cover for A Fox's Tale: The Warden's Daughter.

But none of that is what I wanted to actually blog about.

A couple weeks ago, seven scientists released an open statement that was rather alarming, or alarmist depending on your point of view.  Basically what they said was, in order to stop climate change that all fossil fuel power plants should be shut down and replaced by nuclear power plants.  Not following through would result in catastrophic climate change.

This is an extreme response... it's understandable if they think that not doing it will result in dramatic climate change, but one thing that will never stop so long as human beings build camp fires is carbon dioxide releases into the atmosphere.  Human beings create CO2.

Stopping climate change is impossible, managing it is possible.  One thing that many people don't know is that right now there is an international forum going on about the subject... After the recent super typhoon, the Philippine delegation has been screaming at them to do something.

Anyway, for a writer... especially one working in Science Fiction, it's a good idea to both understand climate change and its repercussions.  As I think I may have said before, climate change by itself is not necessarily a bad thing.  I mean if you want a good example of positive climate change, imagine terraforming Mars.  Earth itself could certainly be made more habitable for human kind.  There are huge swaths of our planet that really aren't ideal places for us humans to live.

Secondly, it's important to consider what the climate would be like in a hundred, two hundred, or three hundred years into the future if you're writing during the time period.  This means you have to know what possible results of dramatic climate change are.  Things like, climate zones, growing seasons, and so forth would all be affected, but here are some things that I think would be interesting to consider.

1.) The Great American Desert - Before it was settled, the Great Plains region was often times called this.  As climate changes begin to affect us it's possible that the old name might return as the tropical and arid zones advance further away from the equator.  This may not actually reduce the amount of food production as warming of the Dakotas and Canada's would probably result in their crop yields increasing.

2.) Drunken Forests - A result of the thawing of permafrost in the taiga reasons (Alaska, Canada, and Russia), trees in a Drunken Forest lean as their roots rot or are released from the permafrost.  Ultimately this process will cause them to die and rot.  This is already going on in those areas.

3.) Polar Forests Return - An extreme result from warming of the planet would be the return of the polar forests.  For those of you that are not familiar, Antarctica has not always been a barren ice desert.  During the Mesozoic era it was a heavily forested area despite being dark for large swaths of time during the winter months.  If you wanted to counter increased carbon levels, planting a polar forest as the continent warms would be one way of reversing the trend (though the penguins wouldn't be happy).

10/11/2013 Update

Okay, so while it may appear that I haven't been busy, appearances are deceptive.  THE GREATEST GAME: Hunters is currently being edited while I finish the cover art.  It's a bit behind schedule, but I think it should be out within the week.

In the meantime VALKYRIE: Candidates is currently free on Kindle, so go grab a copy or two.  So far I don't have many sales this month (big sales last month though) so I'm a bit nervous.

Due to delays on the paper version of A Fox's Tale #1.  I will be doing VALKYRIE: Pallas first in the Winter Quarter (Yes I have my release schedule organized into quarters), meaning it will be available well before Christmas time (YES!)

Then I'll be working on A Fox's Tale  #2 for a mid December release (perhaps a week or two before Christmas) with THE GREATEST GAME'S second installation being released sometime in mid January.

LAUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT

Last night at midnight, I pushed the button labeled "Save and Publish" on the Kindle Direct Publishing website, launching the second of three planned series.

VALKYRIE: Into the Heavens is here!  Get it now at: http://www.amazon.com/VALKYRIE-Candidates-Into-Heavens-ebook/dp/B00F1RFYTE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1378648763&sr=1-1
If you're a fan of science-fiction anime, manga, and light novels you'll probably like this story.  It features a cast of characters from across the globe which can only grow in the future.  It's a light novel, so it's short but that doesn't mean it does not pack a punch.
Synopsis: Volume One of the VALKYRIE Light Novel Series.

2163, it has been twelve years since the Ixo first attacked Earth, killing millions and igniting the first interstellar war. In order to reverse a series of defeats, the United Nations launches Project Valkyrie. They select four teens from across the globe and bring them together to train them to become the first of a new type of soldier: the pod pilot.

A brilliant teen orphan, Daniel Logan is conscripted into the unit, along with Michiko Hoshimoto a fellow teen with a competitive streak and fiery temper. He shares dorm space with the other two candidates: Svetlana Gurevich and Rosa Löwe. Danny’s skills earn him respect in the simulators with all save Michiko, who accuses him of cheating. At the same time he harbor’s a terrible secret.

Can those candidates put aside their issues with one another to save Humanity from extermination at the hands of the Ixo? Humanity is well on the way to losing the war without them, and the Project is lagging behind with only two ships available for testing. Will Danny and Michiko be ready before the end, even if, the Ixo, do not interfere?

49,000 words, Rated T (Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.)

Friday Food for Thought #12

The Science behind VALKYRIE…

Week 4, Month 9, Episode #12

No, not that one! Damn it CCP Games, why did you have to name EVE:VR that… Although, if I was going to bet money on a name for it… That would have been it.

I’m talking about this one…

If you’ve been following me at all, you probably have noticed VALKYRIE, at least at some level.  Here I’m going to be talking about the science behind the science fiction in VALKYRIE.  In a lot of ways, VALKYRIE takes some ideas that have been shown in other series and games (including EVE Online… Damn you CCP!).  I’ve just decided to take them and run.

1.) The Pod Pilot

One of those things is the Pod Pilot.  The idea behind the Pod Pilot is that if you could directly connect a person to a starship (essential turning the ship into an extension of their body) you could dramatically increase the combat effectiveness of the ship.  This is the entire basis for the universe of EVE Online, with the addition of death in the pod resulting in your consciousness transferring to a new clone.

*Ehm*

EVE Online takes place in a universe where technology has progressed to the point that a ship’s armor can be rebuilt by nanites within minutes and every ship flies a bit in defiance of Newtonian physics.  Not to mention that they clearly have some sort of inertial dampening system.

VALKYRIE does not.

This leads to the real reason anyone would use a pod filled with shock absorbent fluid as a combat station on a starship.  Inertia is a very lethal thing.  Over 25 Gs of acceleration is likely to cause death or serious injury.  Accelerations of over 5 Gs often result in ‘black out’ or ‘red out’ as the acceleration forces shift blood away or two the brain.

In 1975 the Sprint anti-ballistic missile system went operational. Each missile could accelerate at up to 100 Gs.

As a result, it’s quite clear that the technology exists for starships and space combat vessels to accelerate at rates that exceed the human body’s tolerance.  In order to survive such accelerations, let alone engage in combat the crews must be cushioned against those accelerations. 

Most Science Fiction uses the Inertial Compensator, a fictitious device that through a combination of witchcraft, sorcery, and techno-babble somehow negates the effect of inertia on the ships and their crews.  If you want to do ‘Hard’ science fiction, then the Inertial Compensator must go.

Hence the pod, holding a pilot or crew member in a compressible fluid to absorb the shock of sudden accelerations and cushion them during longer burns.  In VALKYRIE the absorbent capacity of the pod is roughly around 90% of the acceleration the pod is being subjected to in a shock acceleration, though its effectiveness decreases the longer the burn.  Considering that the ships are rated for around 40-50 Gs of acceleration, this ends up subjecting the pilot to around 4-5 Gs during combat maneuvers.

Now, this leads to a second problem… a person stuck in a pod filled with goo is supposed to pilot a spacecraft… How?

The answer is a technology that is still in its relative infancy despite being used in such ludicrous ways as…

Umm, yeah, I still can’t get that damn thing to work with my brain.

EVE Online uses an ‘invasive’ form of Neural Interface for the pilots in the form of a set of implants that the pilot is connected through.  VALKYRIE uses a different system that isn’t invasive or utilizes implants, instead the VALKYRIE utilizes a ‘full-body’ neural interface system made up of a suit which reads and transmits information through the human neural system.  Inputs from the senses are overridden by the suit, allowing the pilot to see through the ship’s eyes and so forth.

It also can be painful when a system fails, transmitting a shock through the neural link to the pilot.

In VALKYRIE the transition from a human body to a starship is too severe for an adult’s mind to cope, leading Earth to utilize teens.  While this may not be an actual hurtle in reality, it makes for a simple device to use teens as the pilots.

2.) The Enemy

The Ixo are the enemy for the VALKYRIE series, and while hive minds and insects have been done before, each time I’ve read them I found some pretty severe problems in their design.  Take for instance, Ender’s Game and the Buggers.  As an aside, Orson Scott Card – Buggers? Really?

The Buggers communicated with each other real time through some sort of psychic link type thing that ended up being similar to Ender’s command system and… *HEAD DESK*

Honestly, Ender’s Game is a great book in a lot of ways, but the whole hive mind and psychic link thing really wasn’t one of the strong points of the story.  In fact, if you read Ender’s Game you can see where I got some of the ideas.

Anyway, the problem with a hive mind as an advanced race of evil alien life is twofold.  Firstly, how does the hive mind communicate across interstellar distances, and secondly how does anything new get invented in such a society?

Most hives on Earth utilizes pheromones as a primary means of communicating, and they really don’t have a ‘hive mind’ as we’ve come to think of in science fiction.  What they have is a set of programmed responses to stimuli and pheromones from their genes.  Sapient life forms tend to be a bit more thoughtful then that.

So, how is the insect race called the Ixo different?  Well, I started out with a couple specific aims for designing them.

Aim #1: The Ixo must be naturally capable of piloting ships to much higher accelerations then humans.  Think of this as the cockroach effect.

Aim #2: The Ixo must be incapable of communicating with humanity.

Aim #3: The Ixo must be capable of denying humanity the ability to use remote operated drones in combat (and thus promoting the use of piloted spacecraft).

Aim #4: The Ixo must be capable of FTL communications and travel.

Most of these are fairly biological imperatives.  However, Aim #2, #3, and #4 are actually partly related to the technology the Ixo use.

The Ixo evolved as one would expect as an insect hive which ultimately became intelligent enough to be tool users and develop a culture.  They communicated with each other through their pheromones, body language, and written languages until they ultimately invented a communications system derived from the Quantum Entanglement.  This allowed instantaneous communication between paired devices.

Eventually, the devices became implantable, linking the queens with their children in a hierarchy that involved the majority of the species.  Thus a hive mind of sorts was born, but one with a clear and understandable natural hierarchy.  This combined with the natural instincts of a hive evolution turn the workers of the species into creatures that act almost like remotes for their queens and often utilize weaponry that is as lethal to themselves as their foes.

As a result of the Quantum Entanglement Communications network, the Ixo have no use for radio communications.  Quantum entanglement devices allow them to operate drones without relying on radio waves or hamstrung by light speed lag as communications through Quantum Entanglement is instantaneous.

The Ixo have no qualms with totally flooding all radio channels with powerful jamming, making it impossible for human radio dependent drones to be utilized in combat.  With drones no longer an option, humanity has to put at least one human in every ship.

3.) The Interceptor Frigates

The ships utilized by the pod pilots in the series are called Interceptor Frigates, thanks to the extremely high accelerations their capable of and their relatively small size.  Each is around the size of an airliner and usually twice to three times the weight of such a ship.  Armament varies depending on the ship but basically utilizes everything that Humanity can construct.  Most ships are conversions of earlier ‘drone starship’ designs that were rendered useless thanks to the Ixo’s jamming.

Some example ships…

Lockheed Martin YSI-1 Starfire Interceptor Frigate – Constructed by Lockheed Martin as a conversion of their first generation RS-1 Drone Frigate.  The Starfire is the first operational Interceptor Frigate. 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Crew:  1 Neural-Interfaced Pilot – Pilot Cadet Daniel Logan

Length:  75.31 meters

Beam:  67.89 meters

Draft:  19.84 meters

Mass:  345,000 kilograms

Powerplant:  2x General Electric BC8-GE-77A Antimatter Beam Cores (76,900 kN each)

PERFORMANCE

Max Acceleration:  45.5 G

Max Burn Duration:  53.8 hours

ARMAMENT

4x LaWS-M3A4 Laser Turrets

2x General Atomics M3A1 Blitzer Railguns

2x General Atomics M1 Particle Beams

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries NIS-X Shinshin Interceptor – Derived from the Lockheed Martin YSI-1 Space Interceptor, the Experimental – Neural-Interfaced Ship or ‘Shinshin’ has a larger wingspan, more advanced scanning systems, and a different armament then the American produced ship.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Crew:  1 Neural-Interfaced Pilot – Pilot Cadet Michiko Hoshimoto

Length:  77.61 meters

Beam:  75.86 meters

Draft:  19.07 meters

Mass:  383,000 kilograms

Powerplant:  2x General Electric BC8-GE-82J Antimatter Beam Cores (81,600 kN each)

PERFORMANCE

Max Acceleration:  43.5 G

Max Burn Duration:  81.2 hours

ARMAMENT

4x J/LaWS-3N Laser Turrets

2x General Atomics JM3A1 Blitzer Railguns

2x Type 59 SSM-6 Missile Battery (5 Missiles per Battery)

4x Type 56 Chū-MMS Micro-Missile Banks (36 Missiles per Bank)

Sounds like fun ships to fly, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I got to get back to polishing the actual book and drawing up the cover art, so see you guys later.

VALKYRIE #1 - Progress Report

Huh, so I apparently am pretty good turning a reference picture into an anime like character... Who knew?  I think I might actually be able to do this book's cover art myself...

This is Michiko Hoshimoto, one of the protagonists from the book I'm working on.  She's the 16 year old pilot of the NIS-X Shinshin, one of two prototype 'interceptor frigates' which are piloted by a pilot by neural interface and hold the pilot in a pod filled with shock absorbent gel to allow them to withstand up to 80Gs of acceleration.

As for the book, well... It's sort of like what you'd expect a bastard child of Pacific Rim, EVE Online, and Ender's Game to end up being like.

I'm going to be writing the last chapter tomorrow from the way things are going right now, then I'll be polishing and editing it for another week at least.  I may have it ready by the end of the month.

Hmm, maybe I should give a bit more detail as to the story...

The VALKYRIE series focuses on the character of Michiko Hoshimoto, Daniel Logan, Rosa Lowe, and Svetlana Gurevich, the first four pilot's assigned to Project VALKYRIE.  The planet is under attack by an insect like race called the Ixo, who pilot ships that far outpace the abilities of conventional human vessels.  We can't simply upgrade these ships as the reason we can't build ships that would match an Ixo vessel's acceleration is that such a ship would kill the crew when it lit it's engine.

The answer comes in the form of pilots whose minds are hooked directly to the ships submerged in a pod filled with shock absorbent fluids.  As the immense difference between a human mind piloting a human body and a human mind piloting a starship, only teens and children are capable of adapting to 'being the ship' as it were.

Book #1 is called Candidates, and focuses primarily on the relationship between Michiko Hoshimoto and the protagonist, Daniel Logan.  They have to adjust to living and working together at Wolf Point Academy, base of the VALKYRIE Project, in the Galapagos (cool location, and there's a sensible reason they're there!)

So I better get back to writing and crank this thing out.

What's Next?

Now that I've got a book out, I suppose I should update this with what's on my desk now...

I have set aside the Ambrose Chronicles for now, as I am still waiting on Analog's response to my last story... so instead.

VALKYRIE #1: Candidates

Think the neural link and pod capsule from EVE Online and the basic plot of Ender's Game combined.  Four teenage geniuses are recruited to pilot a next generation of combat starships as Earth is under attack from the Ixo, a insectoid race which began attacking ten years previously.  The teens are three girls (Michiko Hoshimoto, Rosa Löwe, and Lana Gurevich), and one guy (Daniel Logan).  Each has to adjust to the others while training to command the most advanced ships developed by Earth.

That is what I'm working on now.  Or should I say, I'm almost finished with right now.  Basically, aside for the first three chapters, the rough draft is done.  I'm currently reworking the first three chapters so that they fit the rest of the book.  I've found that this happens quite a bit when writing a story, the earlier chapters tend to need revising to fit the rest.

Currently, I may have this complete (revised, polished, and edited) by the end of the month.  After which I'll be switching gears again to...

The Greatest Game #1: The First Five

On June 29th, 1919 the newly elected leadership of the Weimar Republic (formerly the German Empire) rejects the Treaty of Versailles.  As negotiations fall apart, President Woodrow Wilson withdraws all American support to the Allies in an effort to prompt the French and British to negotiate with Germany.

This fails, and the tired citizens of Europe find themselves embroiled in war once again.  This time, it is not Germany and the Central Powers that are the aggressors, but France and England.  The Weimar Republic fights a defensive war, dragging out the battles.  Losses on both sides force the conscription of women into the assembled armies.

Despite these measures, neither side can manage to inflict a decisive defeat on the other, as shortages of all things impact all walks of life.  The Allies often times can only manage a single offensive a year, thanks to shortages, industrial bombing, and the refusal of America to intervene once again.

By 1934, the war has ground on for an additional fourteen years with no end in sight, when the Soviet Union launches an invasion in the East, attacking German possessions in Poland and the Austro Hungarian Federation.

Follow  Unteroffizer Ernst Weissman and Leutenant Mira Marder of the 53rd Gruppe as they fight against the Soviets in the East, and Ernst struggles to survive his first five combat missions.

BTW: Thanks to everyone that downloaded A Fox's Tale: The Warden's Daughter.  It's peaked at #10 in one of it's categories, and #30 in another.

That's awesome guys.