Multiverse 2

Finally! Some air!
(Sorry Ruby, I couldn't resist! lol)

        Anyway, I have finally come up for air. I finished the rough draft of Multiverse 2 Saturday, and just finished the rough draft of the cover art 3 hours ago. I have sent it to a couple of the Betas and Mechmaster to get their take before I post it here.

       There are 11 stories in Multiverse 2.  Plus the sneak Peek of an upcoming book. I hadn't planned on so many Fed stories but... shrug. Oh well. The good news is Multiverse 3 is already 6 story treatments and climbing. lol
EDIT: Here is the cover art.

Here are the M2 stories:

Virus (mix drama sorta scifi)

Fantasy:
Elementals

Scifi:
Survival
Penance
The Santa Brigade
The Pack
Last Assault of the Emperor

Founding of the Federation stories:
Island of Moreau
Bumper and Boomer
The Good Ship USFP Lollipop

Wandering Engineer Story:
Lewis and Clarke (The story that was supposed to be at the end of GP, not the third act like people have talked about)

     Minion Mike and Poon currently have the manuscript. (Mike has been ominously quiet) Jory has already put dibs in for next in line as soon as MM finishes... (So you can pester him Jory, not me!) Poon finished his first pass and is now sending me corrections. If any other Betas want in on this please let me know.

      Okay, let's see... a lot of fires going on in the FB group and in the previous post's comments! Wow. Jory and minion Mike clued me in something was up but I was hunkered down writing at the time. lol I can say a lot of stuff will be seen in future books. Most definitely. And the maddening stuff... well, you'll have to wait and see right? :) Even some of the Betas are breathing down my necks for me to come clean! lol

          Oh, I am aware I owe a couple of snippets. Sorry, as I said, I've been preoccupied. I'll try to skim a few off by this weekend. At least 2. Let's call it that okay? 2? Yeah, that works for me. I'll get around to it. :)

      Future plans:
      I have altered my writing schedule for the next couple of years. (Yeah years, I'm that booked up now! Right to 2019!) Instead of jumping into Jethro 4 Recruiting Drive (which is going to need a rewrite after BL) as I had planned I am instead diving head first into Battle Lines. (It sets up J4) I had intended a time skip but as you know with the events in GP and Bringer of Fire and Light and other stuff things are moving quicker than anticipated.
   I had planned to work on the cover of Multiverse 2 all this week... I'm still in art mode so I think I'll dive back into some more 3D projects while stamping out other fires. I did a couple ships a while back, I need to clean them up and post them here. I also have planned to do some character portraits. Horatio Logan, Admiral Subert, Admiral White, Captain Mayweather, Governor Randall, Sindri, Protector, Cheetahra, and others if I have time. Oh, that Raven guy definitely. I have most of the stuff I need to model and dress them... I think. Hmm... any ideas? Requests?

Ghosts from the Past is going live!

That's right, I am publishing GP now. Finally. :) I just got it back from Goodlifeguide.com

Fleet admiral John Henry Irons has been busy.
    After waking in the Senka system he has crisscrossed the system, having a series of adventures and ups and downs along the way. He's made some new friends and met old ones. He has also made some powerful enemies.
    But the call to war is inevitable. Those who thrive on destruction wish him and the civilization he is trying to rebuild ill will. The boot of oppression is already on a part of the sector thanks to the Nazi like Horathian pirates.
    Admiral Irons must lead a rag tag group of former pirate slaves and military personnel back to one of the few places he hopes will help stem the pirate tide. Once there he'll have to face the politicians, then dig up his one ace, a secret from his past.
But some ghosts should remain buried...

As soon as I get the links from Amazon and B&N I will put them up here. :)

It is up on Amazon. You can thank Daniel for the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Past-Wandering-engineer-Book-ebook/dp/B00RUDQPQ8

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosts-from-the-past-chris-hechtl/1121002589?ean=2940149887255&itm=1&usri=2940149887255

   Thank you to everyone who helped get the book out. Very cool. :) Now I need to get through Multiverse 2 so I can get back to Battle Lines, Jethro 4... but first I need my right wrist and arm to heal again...sigh


Carry on and enjoy reading. :D

    OH! Please, if you have a problem with reading the book (not that I expect it, but you never know with the different devices out there) let me know here or let Amazon or B&N know before you put it in a review! Thank you!

Happy New Year!

First off, Happy New Year!
I passed Ghosts from the Past on to Goodlifeguide.com Sunday. They were on vacation for the holiday however so no movement on the manuscript until after today I am afraid.

I have made some progress with Multiverse 2. I have 3 stories in it, it is just under 100 pages. I am shooting for 300 pages so if it starts creeping up to that mark I'll start dropping stories I haven't finished yet for the next book like I did before. :)
I have also been pecking at Battle Lines. :)

The past several days we (the betas and I) have been discussing various things. We've been working out some of the specs for some of the ships as well as discussing the weapon turrets, grades, ranges, etc.
I finally got around to modeling the Newmann, Arboth, Arboth escort carrier variant, Nelson, and Nelson flight VI refit. (I used my library of RJ001's ship parts for them) I also took a stab at the Derfinger remodel. (I am going to use a model from Skynet and Simon on Renderosity I think) It is insane however, I am still gibbering over the thing. I certainly wouldn't want to go up against it!!

I class the Nelson as a light destroyer and the Arboth as a heavy destroyer. More on that later. :)

Here is the Nelson. I used 4 ships to make this ship. I honestly don't remember if I described it in Fools Gold or other books, and I am too lazy to check right now. lol

The Flight V version (A hasty upgrade during the beginning of the Xeno war) has an appliqué armor shell over the dorsal side to cover some of her vitals. She mounts lasers and gauss weapons not phasers, grasers, or other weapons. She also has 4 missile tubes in her bow, along with 4 fixed lasers and a fixed graser with 4 lasers encircling it. You can't see it well, but there are 2 boat bays tucked into her flanks in the 1st notch.
The weapon like things on either chin are actually emergency thrusters on an armature. She can kick them on to brake or move the armature to maneuver.
The 2 spinal mount boxes in the bow under the shroud are actually her sensors and bow deflector.

Here is the Flight VI version. This is the latest upgrade.

This version replaces her old laser turrets (that lacked integrated sensors) with modern cruiser grade point defense phaser turrets. However the necessary modifications and additional power demand meant the number of turrets were cut in half. She keeps her 4 missile tubes, but gives up the 4 fixed lasers in her chin for an additional graser/laser cluster. She looses some of her magazine space but gains speed since her launchers have been updated.
Her gatling gauss turrets and fixed stern facing gatling have been replaced with modern gauss turrets. They are more powerful and fire at the same speed. They also require less maintenance but do require more power.
The appliqué armor is thicker and modern too. Everything possible was updated. Only the frame and basic shape are the same. SPOILER ALERT! This is the version Antigua and Pyrax will be building eventually. (along with Arboth and other destroyer classes) I believe, checking my notes, there were 2 Nelsons under construction in J3. Both will be Flight V versions with minor upgrades/updates. (It is easier to build a known ship from blueprints than change it mid construction) I'll have all sorts of stuff about the ships later. ;)
The Flight VI version has a wider notch for the boat bay. You can see the difference.

Hmm... I think I'll hold off on the Arboth and other ships since they need a better texture job.

Oh, if anyone asks, in a fight between an Arboth and a Nelson I'd put my money on a Arboth. She has more missile tubes in her bow, is bigger, and has single tube graser turrets to go along with the phasers and gauss turrets. She would chew a Nelson up easily.

Okay, that's it, I'm done for the evening. Ice cream is calling my name! :D

Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone!