The Final Countdown...

Sorry Mike. lol
I keep thinking of that "B" lady in Major League 1-2 who hated that other song. :D

Okay, here we go! I have frozen any further corrections. Anything else that comes in will be logged for future editions.

Pirates Bane has been uploaded to Amazon and B&N and are now in the publishing process. Expect them to go on sale within the next 6-48 hours depending on the site and weekend.

   Fresh from fighting the ghost of a terrifying bioweapon On Epsilon Triangula, Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons has taken on a new task, to get to the fabled star system of Bek on the other side of the sector. But to do that the admiral must do what is now unheard of, a long jump through uncharted space. The jump is a test of man and machine. But when he arrives at his intended destination, new challenges await. Old foes, who learn why he will become...
Pirates Bane.

EDIT: WOW! GOING LIVE ALREADY!
http://www.amazon.com/Pirates-Bane-The-Wandering-Engineer-ebook/dp/B00HKO356A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388280849&sr=8-1&keywords=B00HKO356A

Twas the night before Christmas...

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a Denubian mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The insiders were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of corrections danc'd in their heads,
And Dad in his boxers, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap -
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the curtains, and knocking something over with a crash,
The lights from the streetlights on the breast of the frost below,
Gave the luster of mid-day setting objects aglow;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and nine robotic reindeer,
With a little ole driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than missiles, his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted and call'd them by name;
"Now Jory, now Jacob, now Gord and Darion;
On Poon, on Thomas, on Chris, on Robert and Brandon;
"To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
"Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
As as a toy helicopter they did fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of books, and St. Nicholas too:
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:
He was dress'd all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnish'd with ashes and soot;
A bundle of books was flung on his back,
And he look'd like a Tauren peddler just opening his pack:
His eyes - how they twinkled! His dimples: how merry,
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up in a smile,
and the beard of his chin was as white as the tile;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encicled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of T'clock jelly:
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a nod of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
He spoke not a word but went straight to his work,
And fill'd all the stockings; then turn'd with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprung to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, 
And away they all flew, like the down on a thistle:
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight -
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

He sees you when you're sleeping...

Happy Holidays to one and all!

 

I did my annual 3D Christmas card this year, a tradition I've had for neigh on 10 years I think. This year I cheated a bit, I used mostly canned models I bought with only a few of my own. lol

 

I also jotted out a quick story to go with it, more of a rambling thing than anything else. Just for fun, and no it's not in any universe.

He sees you when you're sleeping:

 

Nicholas looked out the window to the world spinning below. "So beautiful. so, so ever so beautiful," he murmured softly. He looked around to the steel and plastic around him and then back to the world below.

It hadn't always been like this, on a cloaked space station orbiting Earth. No, up until four decades ago they had been based in their hidden Antarctic base, having moved there after humanity had begun exploring the North pole, forcing the abandonment of the base there.

"See something Santa?" a small female voice asked.

Nicholas turned to the female Alp and smiled. "No Siri, just admiring the view."

"Nervous?"

"After so long in the sleigh?" he chuckled, shaking his belly. The elf doctor kept reminding him to leave off the cookies and milk but he couldn't help it. He felt obliged to eat the things, and besides, he needed the burst of energy. He had been doing this job for centuries now. He and the other Santas. He smiled slightly. He had been the first though.

He looked at her reflection in the glass briefly. "No, I'm fine. The equipment test out?"

"Yes Santa, of course," she said with a smile and flick of her long pointed ears. He snorted. Of course it did. It wasn't like the bad old days centuries ago when they had first started this project.

Over a thousand years ago the Alps had crashed their ship on Earth. They had attempted to live with humanity, but the barbaric humans had either hunted them or worshiped them. They had withdrawn further and further north into what later became known as Scandinavia. Meanwhile the barbaric humans had taken the nature of the elves and created stories about them, demonizing them as nightmares and such. It was ever the way of his people, to see a threat in something they do not understand. At least until the past century. Now, hopefully, things were changing. They were starting to explore, to see with fresh eyes the wonder of new things. He hoped it would last.

When the Alps had retreated, they had left stories of themselves in their wake. Their species name had mutated into elf, even he thought of them as elves from time to time. Sometime in the past, he forgot the exact date, they had started interacting with proxy humans, taking in humans who had been abandoned or orphaned, and raising them as their own. There had been dark stories of changelings but he knew they weren't true. After all, look what they said about him! He chuckled softly, remembering some of the movies and books the other humans had made about him.

He had been one such waif. An elf family had taken him in, taught him their ways and raised him as one of their own. He in turn had traded for goods and materials for the elven community when he had come of age. At first they had needed a lot, but their stubborn use of their ship's recycling systems and greenhouses they had eventually created had helped them taper off their needs more and more every year. Eventually they had a surplus of material.

The crash had scattered their population and destroyed much of their technology. But they clung to some of it. Out of boredom and to stave off insanity some of the long lived elves had taken up hobbies, whether it be science, or engineering.

Frustrated by the lack of appropriate materials they had turned to making things of wood. Some had made toys, and the humans of the day had traded them or given them away to children. Thus the myth had been born.

Seeing a positive impact in human civilization, the elves had encouraged the practice. They constructed a base under the ice inside the remains of part of their ship. As human society grew the elves became increasingly uneasy about direct interaction, preferring Santa to do it for them.

They clung to their tech, and when human civilization had started to catch up, they had begun rebuilding their own from human materials.

They had tiny probes that allowed them to view people from afar. Cloaks to hide their people and equipment, much like this great station. It was quite large, enough to house the hundreds of elves, their craft, and most of the adopted humans.

Their medical science was state of the art, each of the elves were old, centuries old. Nicholas himself was ancient by human standards, blessed by good food and elven medical science. But even he couldn't deliver all the presents now, even with their time and dimensional shifting equipment. Thus, the Santa legion had come to be.

When he had first started out, oh so long ago, he had used a sleigh craft drawn by specially bred reindeer when he and others had traded in Scandinavia and Germany, it had become his calling card. Elven scientists had salvaged anti-gravity harnesses for his reindeer and sleigh, rigging it to expand his ability to trade. He smiled fondly, remembering their first wild ride. The reindeer had pissed themselves senseless until they had gotten the hang of it. He chuckled. They hadn't been the only ones!

Over time they changed their practices, instead of trading he took some of the waste or broken bits. But the elves insisted on some form of compensation, so he delivered toys and goodies for children. It became a tradition he at first hated, but now loved. Seeing the smiles on the children's faces made him feel like he was walking on air.

To make it easier on him and to keep with the traditions building around him they limited his deliveries to one night a year. Fortunately one of the elven scientists had recovered and rebuilt a dimensional shifter that not only slowed time, it allowed him to pass through walls or down from the ceiling as needed.

That Clarke guy had it right Nicholas mused, advanced technology really was indistinguishable from magic. He shook his head. Still, even with all their vaunted technology he could no longer do this job alone. So the legion had been born. At first a few, and now sixty Santas. Men and even a few women in the adopted human side grew up wishing to fill his boots. It amused him a great deal to think of what they would think a few hours into the job. But he had to admit, despite the exhaustion, he knew he would feel elated, completed, and thrilled when the evening was done. It was the same every year.

In the 19th century, the elves hadn't liked the humans continued interest in war so they had moved the base to Antarctica when humans began to explore the northern wastes. Their sense of safety hadn't lasted long, they had become uncomfortable when the humans started whaling off Antarctica.

The turn of the 20th century found a quickening in human development, which had in turn restored some of the long lost Alp tech. It had also  frightened the elves into exploring space once more. In 1947 they made contact once more with their species. A shuttle crashed in America, but the main explorer ship had successfully hid behind the moon.

Spurred by this contact, some of the elves had returned to their home, but others had elected to stay and continue their work on Earth with the Santas, refusing to abandon the charity they had started. He understood their thinking, his people needed a positive role model and treasured their sacrifice.

In order to fuel the demand for materials, they still recycled, but now imported raw material from the asteroids in the system. If humanity only knew what they were doing to help them! He wished he could make them understand, but knew they were still young, still ever fearful of what they don't understand.

They had also started to become greedy, something the elves hadn't expected, it was still foreign to their nature. The holiday was becoming commercial, which bothered some. There were trends some didn't like, he hoped something would alter them. He reminded himself to talk to the psych department when he got back.

They, like him saw his role as beneficial to humanity, encouraging charity, humility, and many other good qualities. He knew it did, at least around this time of the year. Despite the greed, people really did help one another. Every little bit helped, bringing the positive spirit out in everyone.

"Is the list finished?" He rumbled, tugging on his belt.

"And checked twice," Siri replied with a smile. "The probes report excellent results this year. The encouragement of recycling and the modification of human responsibility as stewards of the environment seems to be holding."

"Good," He said as he nodded. He heard a click of hooves. He turned to see one of the genetically engineered reindeer being led by an elf walk by. He nodded again and then returned to his mussing.

"We'll be ready for you shortly Santa," Siri said and then withdrew.

He snorted softly and nodded. He adjusted his hat and then straightened to his full height. "Time for another night of magic," he murmured with a twinkle as he strode past elves who nodded politely to him.

He entered the shuttle bay and smiled to his loyal crew as he stepped up to the sleigh. His wife gave him a kiss and a smile, better tonic than any bottle of rum.

He took up the reins and nodded to Siri. She nodded back and stepped back with the others as he flipped switches and the field around his craft and reindeer began to form, bending space around them.

 

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

 

 

I hope you and your families are doing well. I am about to go to see mine at my sisters.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

 

Chris Hechtl

13 Degrees.... in 10... 9...

Sorry for the delay!

I goofed on the spelling of 'Separation' (separation) on Amazon, I'll correct it shortly.
The manuscripts have been uploaded, again, sorry for the formatting on B&N. Amazon should have it ready in 12-48 hours. Hopefully sooner. B&N said not until tomorrow sometime.

I'll post an update here when it goes live.

Have a good T-day everyone!

EDIT: And we are Live! Blast Off!
http://www.amazon.com/13-Degrees-Separation-Chris-Hechtl-ebook/dp/B00GYI9CB0/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385659870&sr=1-9

And now I get to cook dinner and hope we can figure out how to fry the birds without the experts here to do it. Hopefully I have eyebrows tomorrow.

Just a quicky...

A quick heads up on news:
Mechmaster sent me back Afraid of the Dark the other day. I'm implementing some edits in between getting ready for Thanksgiving and dealing with family. (who want to shop daily, ugh!)
I don't have a time table on releasing it yet. He's suggesting a bit of a rewrite plus deleting sections of the book that don't contribute directly to the story. (but explain some other things I wanted explained for the possible game or sequel) I'm still debating what to do.

Poon has started winding down on corrections for 13 Degrees. If he gives it a passing grade I'll try to run it through one last read through/spell check and then publish it this week. (in-between the 1,001 other things I have to do this week!)

Edit: Oops! Forgot this: If you haven't seen it in the comments, Jory has created a Facebook Group called Federation Military Network. Fans can see some stuff I haven't released here or in the books just yet, plus discuss the Federation series.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/582559128466667/

And finally, Jory is working on a short story. We're still discussing details. I'm open to some of the insiders to write stories if they mesh well with the main plot, don't involve the main characters, or are out in another sector... :) What can I say, it's a big galaxy. Hint Jacob, Thomas. ;D

That's it for now! I'll post again when publishing is imminent! Now I get to chase my nephew and his cousin around John's Incredible Pizza and then shop. Joy!

Because I can...

One of the great things about doing your own cover art... and in doing it in 3D is that you can change camera angles, lighting, or other things.
I was going to work on my notes or other things, but instead was distracted all day. So, I set a series of shots up and rendered them out. Oddly, the shots looked better with GI and AO off. With them on, Irons and the other people looked ghoulish.

If you were wondering about the layout:

The design of the bridge is based on one of my all time favorite Trek ships, the Defiant. It of course has my own twists though.

I should have changed the color of the Helm and 1 engineer to a yellow trim suit, they are ratings. I borrowed the characters (Ensign Patter and Lieutenant Nobeki) for the people in the back of the shots.

If you were wondering, the screens are from the web and my texture files. :)

PB cover and ships

Okay, enough teasing, here it is!

Yes, that is the admiral, yes he's evolved a bit. It's not just my skills, there is a reason for it. :)

Here are the ships seen on the holotable. For the record, no I didn't make them, I bought them and repurposed them for me and my universe. Call me lazy. :)

Terran HK gunship:
A bit of a misnomer, really a broad class designation with tons of variations. A gunship is basically a fighter writ large, with a crew of 3-6 depending on the species and how friendly they are. This one has destroyer class weapons mounted in fixed positions.

The gunship has a short range, and very short life support. It needs a mother ship. But it is fast, and can hunt down helpless prey, herding them in a direction or swarming targets like giant angry bees...

Apollo class Corvette:

This is a popular corvette design that was mass produced in thousands of star systems before and during the Xeno war. This ship is extremely popular with Horath...

Manta class Frigate:

This is a slightly redressed design with my turrets on it. The wings hold extra fuel and hard points for weapons.
The above vessels were created by rj001 with textures from my library. They are cheap, so if you want to play with them, by all means go pick them up and have a blast. I'd love to make a movie or 2 on youtube with them. :)

Next we have the Antelope class Fast Attack Destroyer:

The Antelope has a battlecruiser spinal mount graser/force beam weapon and a bunch of small turrets. It's fast but lightly armored. Good for a first response in a system attack, or in a raiding scenario.

And finally, we have the Cutlass class. (I think it is something else but I'm blanking out)

This ship was on the cover of Jethro 2. (in the background) It is an ancient ship, a heavily armored destroyer. It has over a dozen turrets, but only a few missile tubes and lacks proper point defenses. It's slow, but it is just a few meters under a light cruiser class designation.
Both of the above ships were made by: skynet3020 and Simon-3D.

I have other models by these folks which you will see later... like on the cover of um... New Dawn... :)

I'm at ends on what to do right now, sort of spinning my wheels since I keep getting interrupted. Catching up on house work before Thanksgiving sounds ... okay, I admit, it's not appealing. :)But nor is scrambling at the last minute either. :P Maybe I'll spend a day or 2 catching up with Bill Baldwin's Helmsman series...

PB was going to the dogs...

I did say was. LOL
I've since moved on from that cover art idea, though I did toy with it for a bit, and I did redress my Blitz cyberdog for the scene I had in mind.

The above 2 are purely robotic dogs.

This is a cyborg Bulldog. He's supposed to be a bit steamerpunk, but I got lazy since he was going to be in the deep background. He's also supposed to be a bulldog with a flat face, but it wasn't working out right. Inside the funky Boller hat (it's a glass dome) is the dog's organic brain. He's a mascot of the Bounty. (More on that when you read PB)

With that scene... not quite discarded, but well, no longer the primary idea... I've gone back to my original one, a space scene. But the problem is, I've done a lot over the course of my books. I want to do something different. So I've got a couple candidates in mind... but both are... complicated. Hard to do. REALLY hard to do. GRRR...

Jethro First to Fight!

NEW NEWS!

 

   Brandon just passed me J2 a few minutes ago. He's the fourth person to have a go at it. He said there were very few issues, all fixed, so I'm going to roll it out next week as soon as I make a few corrections, format it, headings, get the TOC sorted out, add the sneak peek, make sure the links are working, and then convert it to B&N and Amazon's required formats.

So, hopefully you'll see it out Tuesday or Wednesday! If not sooner!

(but not this weekend, nephew invasion imminent)

 

Also, Mechmaster finished his Dalek Second Empire comic:

http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/cg-lair/daleks_page1.htm

 

He has 6 pages left in an epilogue. He's turned his attention to Afraid of the Dark again. Hopefully it will be out as well before the end of the year. (though I doubt it)

 

I haven't heard about 13 Degrees of Separation in a while. I'll have to poke someone maybe. :)

BooYa!

YES! YES! I just finished the first rough (I did say rough, emphasis on that) rough first draft of Pirates Bane.

Who's the man? lol
I'm a bit giddy. :)

  Also my hands are sore. 280 pages right now, but I expect that number to go up over 300 after I go through the 8 pages (front and back mind you) of notes I've got, and add some more perspectives to flesh the narrative out a bit. Right now it is mostly from Irons POV. Then I get to do a read through, spell check, another spell check, a fact check, and then I can shoot it to Gord or whoever wants it first. Then I can work on the cover art. (Of which I already have pieces to it)

But... for now I'm done for the evening. Time to celebrate!

 

.... crap. Outa ice cream.  NOOOO!

Grrr... crappity crappity crap crap. Grrr.

Soda is evil....

Well, Hershey kisses too.
For some that know me, they know I've been trying to loose weight. I have a bit of a sweet tooth though. I have cut back on salt, eliminated chips and junk foods like cookies, cake, brownies, and other things. I read that snacking is a mixed up message, the urge to eat is really an urge to drink. I have a bad habit of wanting to snack when I am working on the PC (ie writing) or when I am watching a TV.
So, I took it upon myself to try to substitute drinking soda for snacking. I also cut down my food portions over the past 6 years.
And when that didn't work, I'd have a handful of kisses.

I... kinda sorta got out of hand. Partly it was from the heat, (100 degrees for 3 straight weeks) also working out and staying hydrated, but also just me going overboard. (been there, done that many a time) I've been drinking 2-3 liters of Pepsi daily, (yes, I did say I got out of hand didn't I?) plus sometimes 2 handfuls of kisses.

Anyway, what I thought was a routine visit turned into something else, the doctor nailed me for a glucose level of 440. He said I should be in a diabetic coma or dead. He classified me as type 2 Diabetic.

Here's the thing.
1 NO shortness of breath, NO trouble breathing.
2 NO heart trouble, no chest pain. No radiating pain in my arms.
3 NO marks on my skin, no jaundice, nothing. He checked for black marks on my neck. Surprise! Nothing. NOT A DAMN THING!
4 NO fatigue (beyond the normal from lack of sleep) Getting up at night is normal, when I feed the cat (or go look to see why the cops are next door again at 1am this week, or the shooting down the block...) I go pee and go back to bed. Dur. Why the hell not? And I'm not a log, I can't sleep through fire trucks, ambulances, and police vehicles 30 feet from my window.
5 Thirst and urination (I know, yuck, get over it) were considered normal by me. Yes I am thirsty on occasion, I drink a lot. (I sweat a lot when it gets above 75, and I need to hydrate after exercising) When you drink you pee too. (DUR!) As I said above, I'm trying to substitute snacks for drinks. It's a diet thing.
6 NO constant hunger pangs. Yes some, but that's normal when I first wake up, just before lunch, and just before dinner. Dur. That's when I eat!
7: NO vision or hearing issues. I hear and see fine. I sometimes hear too well, I can hear people talking inside next door or the neighbors playing pool in their garage at 2am down the street. NO blurred vision, NO wavering issues and I haven't had floaters in almost a year.
8 NO rapid weight loss. I am trying to loose weight. Hello! You think that my busting my ass and cutting my portions isn't going to show some weight loss? Skip bellow to find out how well that's going.

So, I have all the answers right? No. sigh, not by a long shot. No, I know I'm not the expert. I also know I'm not a number, I am a big guy (6'4") and I don't fit the categories the eggheads set up for standards based on what they consider baseline height and weight. So, I am leaving myself open to being wrong, but.... But hey, I know my body. This is me here we're talking about.

So, I am frustrated and annoyed, dismayed, depressed, disgusted, disgruntled, and somewhat in Denial. (maybe) Mostly with myself.
He put me on  500mg Metformin and ordered a crap load of blood work in 2 weeks, then another visit. (fasting! Gee great!) He wanted to admit me, but my last blood work was 2 weeks prior and hey, I am fine. Functioning normally.
The funny thing is, the Metformin causes some of the above symptoms. GRR.

I'm frustrated also because I used to have a lot more sugar in my life. (snacks above) plus I'd load my tea (Unlike Irons, I don't do coffee) and my cereal with sugar. (I used to put a third to a half a cup of sugar daily, sometimes 3-4 times a day. I dropped it to 2-4 teaspoons once or twice a day)
I've gotten to the point where I have trouble eating a piece of cake or glazed donut. It's just too much sugar so I stopped. (I also have IBS so I know when to quit)

The frustration is giving me a constant headache, (as is my sinuses) so that's fun. The ripping nausea from the damn meds is annoying and aggravating too. And no, don't tell me there is a pill for that. I'm not falling for that damn trap. I've seen it with my gram, experienced it throughout my life too. NO.

He told me to do a lot of aerobic exercise. Not happening when I have to be within 30 feet of a toilet. GRR.
I do muscle work out on my Chairgym.
Which, btw is another annoying thing. I lost only 4 pounds since I started using it in July. My last appointment was in June. (I lost 17 pounds prior to that) I use it daily, 5 days a week normally. Plus 150 push ups, 200 tummy crunches, 100 squats, and other exercises every other day. GRR. I do have nice triceps though, if I do say so myself. lol

So, no more sugar. I dumped the soda down the sink, I hid the kisses, I'm not eating the pudding I bought (thinking it'd be better than ice cream, it's not) and I even stopped putting sugar in my cereal and my tea. (and I am seriously grumpy over that) I stopped drinking tea for a day, it's not worth it so I went back but with Equal. Yuck. A year ago (before I started drinking 2-3 liters of Pepsi daily) I had a glucose level of 120. Let's see what it is in a couple of weeks.
Fingers crossed it was a blip and warning and I can go back to life without the meds.

One thing: I am NOT giving up my ice cream. No way. And no, I've tried sugar free. No thank you. Now I just need to quantify this experience enough to put it in a book. (hey maybe someone will have diabetes? a hero? Hmmm)

Okay, Rant over.

In other news: Despite that drama and other drama going on (don't ask, we'll be here all day and I need to get back into PB) I've gotten PB up to 76 pages and counting. Chapter 1 has split twice, with another split imminent. (that's normal)
I have a couple issues with chapter 1, I bought books to dig into some things only for them to be duds and little or no help there. (well, the wormhole part might still be good...) But, I'm stymied a little. So, I might go back to some sections.

I've gotten into the map again, adding more details. I am seriously considering a few ideas now. (okay, not seriously, but you know...)

Brandon said he's working on finishing Jethro 2. I think 1-2 other people have asked to have a go at it before I release it. We'll see how it goes.

Brandon and a couple of the volunteers have poked me about some niggling facts I messed up on. Like oh, the admiral's age. I'll fix that when I do another publish. I did goof a little with his family, but there was a reason for it. I've explained a bit in PB to cover it.

I haven't heard about progress with 13 Degrees or AD for a while. Not sure what's up there. Probably life. Expect road bumps, I try to. Still, they catch me off guard too.

Oh, Jim put up a page for my books.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/chris-hechtl/
Very cool, thank you.

Cover Art

Okay, here they are:
Jethro 2 First to Fight

This image has a mix of canned and my constructed models in it. Some you might recognize. Some of my models are based on designs from Chronicles of Man or STNG. The Destroyer in the background you may recognize from Renderosity. Jethro's armor is a redressed BKEO2K10 Version 2.0. The weapon is from the Mechgirl pack. Jetpack is from Cowboy Gumdrop. He had wings but well, they hurt the image so, I nixed them. :)

And, 13 Degrees of Separation:

Here is not only your first look at Trinity, but also some of the characters from the stories and books. You can see them better in the previous post.
Proteus was dead easy, after all, he/it is a mercury blob. But Defender and Sprite were a lot more challenging to do. I went through several mental iterations of them, and feedback from the Greek chorus saved me some headaches when I was set to buy Defender's armor. (it was going to be 2 or 3 others at different times, and even pieced together from all 3 at one point) Consider this their 1.0 appearance. Like Cortana, Fess, and other notable AI of Sci-fi, their image will evolve over time. (hopefully)

I had hoped to release Jethro 2 this month, but no dice. Maybe sometime soon. 13 Degrees will come out a month or so after. (even though it's been edited a lot more than Jethro 2...the reason is simple, it has spoilers)

In other news: I've dived back into PB and added 16 pages to it since Friday afternoon. (almost 1/2 again it's previous size) I've got some things to work out, but it's on track, even if I'm behind schedule. The great thing about being your own boss, you only have yourself behind if you fall behind in self imposed deadlines. :)
I don't know how much I will get done today, it's family day so... you know. Distractions... sigh. :) We'll see. I want to take my time with some parts, there are a lot of things going on, and some stuff coming to light is... oh boy! This is... no, can't telegraph it. GRR. Well, you'll just have to wait and see wont you? >:D

I also rendered (again) some pieces of Beachhead. But I did it uncompressed, so they are just a weee bit too big to upload. (try 1.93 gigs each) So, I'm going to play with converting them later.
Oh, and for anyone looking for that spinner on my youtube channel, I've got 3... or should I say HAD. Youtube deleted the one with it in it so I need to re-up it sometime in the future. Sorry about that.

Cover art done!

Well, I hope they are done anyway. I'm waiting on feedback on Jethro 2's cover.
In the meantime, how about I show you some of the images that went into the cover of 13 Degrees of Separation?
Each image represents elements or a scene of one of the stories. There are 13 in all (dur) and then the final image. Some have characters from the story. Some characters you've seen in the books.
Many used canned art from Daz3D and Renderosity. Credit goes to the creators of the meshes and art.
Let's start with something half way decent here:

The Last Round up:

Salvage:

Barkeep:

Cali and the wolves:

A matter of breeding:

Eternia:

Hauling Freight:

From the log of the Io 11:

Leonardo:

Message in a bottle:

Nohar Private Detective:

Special Delivery:

And finally, my personal favorite (and my new desktop!) Yard Dogs:

On the next post I'll give you a first look at Trinity 1.0, the covers of 13 Degrees and Jethro 2 (maybe) and hopefully more news.

In news:
Gord passed me 13 back, I passed it on to Jacob who passed it back this morning. I need to go over what he said in the notes, make some adjustments, then pass it on.
Brandon is plugging away, so is Jim or Jory. (sorry fellas, I don't remember who has what right this second)
Mechmaster is wrapping up his Dalek comic, for those of you reading it (and watching the videos on youtube) it should be epic. I dunno when he'll post it, (he has no set timetable) but it should be wild. :)

The weather is nice, so if everything plays out okay I'll do some catch up on chores and things and then either do a side project (maybe a quicky movie?) or I'll dive back into a book... either PB or Alive... though I've been urged to get into the Bootstrap sequel... lol

 

 

For Adam.... And those interested in Bootstrap refrence material

Okay, I've been up to my neck in various things, drama in the neighborhood, family, all the while trying to get the covers of Jethro 2 and 13 Degrees of Separation done. (more on that in another post)

But, I finally remembered that promise to Adam, so with a little free time, I dug through my archive and pulled the better ones out. They are crude, but you hopefully get the idea. Maybe someday I'll do some in 3D. :)
Here is the main base overview:

And now the close up of level 1 (ground)

Level 2:

Level 3:

An overview of the entire region:

I have other maps about the drone crash (on the other side of the river north west of copper town) plus the path of the Leviathan, but they are just basic remakes of the above map)

I also did images of the shark hound:

Plus some of the hardware for the cover. The Ed robot:

He is made up of bits from other projects. You can see the biceps and legs are bits from a Zoid Hellcat, the torso and head are from a tabled RTS robot character. You can see a spinner of this guy in my demo reel on my youtube channel.

Also:

I had a Hummer in my files. I ended up remaking it since it was extremely poly heavy. I think only the doors and hood hinges are from the original model. Everything else I redid.

That's it for now. Maybe someday I'll do an art book like Anne McCaffrey did. You know, toss stuff from this, PRI, the Federation, AD, Alive, all that into a book or 2. Maybe. Maybe someday. Maybe. :)

Princess Rescue Inc!

I received PRI, Princess Rescue Inc from Mechmaster a bit over an hour ago. I've made the corrections he suggested, caught a couple bugs, and I've added the scene and page breaks.
In other words, trucking along, full steam ahead!
You may see me publishing this book by tomorrow.

Look for that cover this weekend. (It takes a day for Amazon and B&N to process the manuscript before publishing it)

Write up:

   Eugene Ryans had it all. Money, fame, power. He had created a multibillion dollar company from almost nothing and turned Ryan's Future technology inc into one of the forefronts of technological innovation.
   He had it all, yet he gambled it all on a crackpot idea that Earth had it's own wormhole.
   He'd proven it too, and now he was in for the adventure of his life. No, he wasn't going to sit back and let others go in his stead, he was going to be on the forefront of this grand adventure.
    To move mankind one step further closer to the stars.
    He'd found adventure all right, all that and more as he found his team cut off, trapped in the middle of an invasion.
     Princess Deidra and her younger Sister Zara were having a series of bad days. When the neighboring kingdom of Duluth suddenly invaded they found themselves on the front lines and swiftly in danger. But will the dashing Gaijin save them? Save them from the wilds of their world, the invaders, and more importantly, themselves?
                        Princess Deidra isn't so sure she wants to be saved!


This book was written around the time of New Dawn and the others. I sat on it, then did a rewrite early last year. Gord, Jacob, and Mechmaster each had a go at it, so hopefully the editing isn't going to bother the haters too much. (wishful thinking I know)

This, btw is NOT a sequel to Bootstrap Colony. That is coming later. (Way later) This is a stand alone book... for now. Though I did leave some threads in it for future sequels and prequels. :)
Think of it as a reboot of the basic Bootstrap adventure concept. I wrote it as 1 part what if, and 1 part dream scene I needed to get out of my head. lol

Oh, and for Adam:

This is the map I created for the book. :) I was going to improve it, but I thought I'd leave it for now. It's mostly legible.

-And I just checked, yes I created a bunch of simple maps for Bootstrap Colony years ago. Very simple maps. No I didn't create any for First Steps, though I did create the 3D model of the scene for the cover art. :) I'll look into posting both sometime... unless I forget. (feel free to nag me if I do forget)

Edit 9-6-2013: and it's live on Amazon! B&N to follow soon. (Out of my hands)

Federation Aliens part 1

    Well, I was going to work on the 2.0 version of Jethro's armor, but I ran into a snag, Inspire 3D doesn't want to be fixed. I can't reinstall it either because it's ancient (32bit 1995-7) and I have Windows 7 64 bit... which refuses to let me do it! GRR

    So, I'm working on ideas for a work around. But since I didn't want to spend my day surfing and hemming and hawing about this or that, I decided to throw this together I modeled these over the past couple of years, plus a ton more I haven't gotten around to rendering yet. I've been rendering stuff for a while before summer hit, I thought I should put them together as a show and tell.

    There are a lot of aliens in the Federation (Wandering Engineer) Universe. Some you have seen, some I have mentioned, some I am going to mention in future works. Here is a look.
I based a lot of the models on concept art I found on the web. Credit for the design goes to the original artist, I just took the idea and ran with it, throwing my own ideas into the mix as I went along. All models were made in Sculptris. Most of the textures are placeholders I dropped onto the base mesh to keep me from going insane. (or more insane)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-A4JIU494

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Firefly and RIP

Okay, finally an update on Firefly.
I've taken some 'artistic licenses' with the ship. In the book it has smart paint, it's base color is an inky black. Obviously I can't have that on the cover, you wouldn't be able to see it!
So, I went with a more traditional pallet. Shrug.

Getting all the pieces to fit was a pain. I finally called a halt on adding detail. The good news is, now I've got Firefly done for both covers. (Jethro 2 and another) Plus, these parts are now in my library so I can model other ships like the North Hampton class cruiser...

You have no idea how tempted I am to do a flyby movie of this ship. Just a quicky, but I know I'd want more. Stuff with the turrets moving, etc. lol No, no, not happening now. Maybe after the heat breaks and I'm in a good mood. I dunno.

EDIT: OOPS! I forgot to add the turret image I did. DUR!

I am looking ahead beyond modeling Jethro's armor to the cover of 13 Degrees of Separation. I am so not looking forward to it now. There are 14 scenes (1 for each story plus the scene with Trinity watching them) so there are a lot of models and scenes to do. UGH! I think I bit off more than I can chew with that one!

In other, sad news:
Rest In Peace Snowflake. 12 years ago I was there when my sister and nephew picked you out at Petsmart's adoption center. You were a bit hard to get to know for the first few years but after a while you warmed up to everyone and became a mellow, lovable cat. We will miss you.

On a roll...

    Just a quick note, I just finished roughing out the 6th short story of the week... the final one for 13 Degrees of Separation!

    Yup, I started Monday by passing Jethro 2 off to Gord, then went on to work on the cover art for the book. I roughed out the Skyhawk/Warhawk in Inspire 3D, worked on Pirates Bane a bit, but then I got sidetracked by taking dad and the family out to a steakhouse for dad's 63rd birthday, and then a short story got stuck in my head and just wouldn't go away.
    One thing led to another and I ended up first roughing it out... and then writing it out. It is in the Founding of the Federation timeline. (The First Steps series I have yet to get back to) When I had it roughed out I picked up on another story in that time period I had half finished and finished it. Then I jumped to the Gottenburg timeline and finished 2 stories there! Finally today, I finished the last 2 remaining stories in the Wandering Engineer timeline, (despite having to listen to dad snore through 9 hours of Barrette Jackson) thus finishing 13 Degrees of Separation! I even got all the stories in the manuscript, the front matter, and most of the back matter! It's all ready to go to Gord!

Wow! Cool! I am so on a roll! lol WOOT WOOT!

   So, I am so psyched! And no, not because it is my 13th book. (Yes I know, I have 8 published and now 4 in the pipeline. There is another....GRRR Go away Yoda!)

    Any who, I really am pretty jazzed. I'm going to go hit the Ice cream and kick back. Tomorrow is another day. Dad's actual Birthday. :)

EDIT: I forgot to mention, Mechmaster is down to 80 pages of Princess Rescue Inc. Since he's off for the next 10 days he (and I) are hoping he'll get the rest done... and get more of his climactic battle to his Dalek comic done. (I know, ambitious) Well, anyway, here's hoping!
Gord just told me he's half done Jethro 2! Cool!

Hopefully next post I'll have more to show regarding the cover of Jethro 2!

Woot Woot!

Finally! After a couple months of work I have just finished the first rough cut of Jethro 2 First to Fight! YES!
It wasn't easy writing about a cat with a certain feline "helper" of my very own.

(yes I know it's horrid picture, the lighting is low and what can I say? My camera phone is only 2meg)
Now I have a few things to tidy up before I can pass it on to Thomas, Gord, Jacob, and the other guys. :)

1: I need to finish adding my notes. I've got 2 and a half pages (front and back) of notes to add. Some of them are from Thomas who related to me stories of when he was in the corps. :)
Problem:

A certain furrball has a thing for paper and pens. He loves sitting on them and holding them hostage.
(Yes that's a roll of TP in the corner. Don't ask.)

2: I've got a bit of light reading ahead of me, I want to add a few more things to the book. A little um... more detail?

I've already been pecking at the NCO guide and the Light infantry guide. The Making starships and Stargates was a little disappointing. I've got some notes in the Energy weapons book. The alien book I skimmed twice but I have my own aliens really. :)

3: I've got a consistency edit to do. I need to make sure I've got the names of people, places, and things right, plus the names of weapons, tech, and what not within shouting distance of what I had before. Always fun.

4: I do a quick editing pass of my own, first with a spell check, then mostly with 'Find', looking for the usual culprits.

5: Add the Appendix, Author's Afterward, and clean up the other stuff. Oh, and add another sneak peek. :)

Then I can pass it on to the guys and turn my attention to the cover art....

That is if a certain someone will let me. lol

I am hoping I'll have this all done and off to Thomas by the first, but don't quote me! lol The family is out of school and making plans for the next week. I am playing things by ear. Then there are the birthdays... sigh

Still, I am a bit giddy and in an awesome mood. YEAH!