Adventure Beyond the Stars – Written for Readers Who Want More

Category: Forging the Chain Breakers

  • Trolls, Dragons, and Progress

    Trolls, Dragons, and Progress

    Artemis Rising is #228 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #379 in Steampunk Fiction, and #680 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. Four customer reviews now, but I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Celestial Accord isn’t ranked yet. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review, thanks Michele! If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    You can get autographed copies of both books at the Arlington Farmer’s Market Saturday.

    I’m trying out another route to building up a following and creating content. The two are definitely intertwined. I bought into a course that helps content creators leverage AI tools to build content. That could result in a number of things – AI generated video where Walter or Eleanor or one of the other characters invites people to read the stories. AI generated audio books. Even AI generated audio books with AI generated visuals for YouTube. Although, if I do the YouTube videos, I might should just do the first 10k-20k words in a book…

    I had one of those huge ah-ha moments this week. Getting AI to write things, create images, make videos, etc. depends on prompting the right AI. AI prompt writing is a skill (small ah-ha), specifically a mental skill. Since AI is all about improving the quality of mental skills, AI can help you write better AI prompts (MAJOR ah-ha). Talk about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. I learned how to get ChatGPT to default to asking me clarifying questions when I give too vague a prompt. I learned how to get ChatGPT to identify the critical elements of a good AI prompt. I learned how to get ChatGPT to write a fill-in-the-blank good AI prompt. I learned how to get ChatGPT to analyze a logo/image/etc. and suggest how to write an AI prompt to recreate it (which you can then edit to get the variation you want). It was awesome!

    I realized that I hadn’t come up with a jam flavor to go with the third book, Forging the Chain Breakers. Moon Apple, based on Hasid’s moon apple cider, was for Artemis Rising. Bolivian Peach, based on the mocochinchi drink the Bolivians have for the Presidents’ Ball, was for Celestial Accord. I was planning an orange jam like the one Mirim made and took to the Moon, for Selene Unchained. This evening I decided to use our State Fair of Texas award-winning Peach Butter as the one for Forging the Chain Breakers. After all, since the State Fair of Texas started in 1886, an 1891 Peach Butter could, potentially, also have won a ribbon at the State Fair of Texas…

    I had an idea for a cool addition to the way liftwood works. What if one of the styles of liftwood craft that was being used for racing craft and military craft was to cover the skin of the craft with liftwood scales that could be electronically “steered”. An AI cogitator interprets control inputs into variable lift outputs on each scale allowing for far greater maneuverability. Theoretically, any point on the ship could be the point that is pushed in whatever direction. When there is a significant change in the liftwood output, the rapid change in gravity effect would make the scales appear to ripple. I also thought it would be cool to make it so when the scales are inscribed in a certain way, they absorb radio waves – making them radar absorbent. Voila, Stealth coverings… It would also put Tesla further on the road to beamed power (or deciding beamed power isn’t practical). I think Walter and Eleanor will encounter scales at liftwood island, but won’t have enough information to make a system until they see it in practice on Venusian interceptors. Yes – green scaled, long cylindrical shapes that fire lightning at enemies. Why wouldn’t lizardmen ride “dragons” into combat…

    My cover people are finding it difficult to find stock photos of powered armor. Surprise, surprise. I used came up with four possibilities and sent them to GetCovers.

    I’ve decided to not number the chapters in the manuscript document. The reason is that I use Atticus software to do the biggest part of my formatting – essentially the typesetting. Since Atticus automatically numbers chapters, it is easier to leave them unnumbered instead of deleting the chapter numbers after importing the manuscript from Word.

    Selene Unchained chapters this week:
    Lunar Atrium – Beraht’s vision added
    Dark Rituals – Beraht’s vision added
    Laughing Pastures – completed
    Zafir Takes a Hand – started
    The Beginning of the End – started, actually there are a number of chapters between Zafir Takes a Hand and The Beginning of the End, but there were some pieces of the later story I wanted to nail down before continuing in order.

    Selene Unchained word count is 34,767, not counting Dramatis Personae (1,227 words).

    If you want to get early access to Book 3 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising or Celestial Accord on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Celestial Accord Complete

    Celestial Accord Complete

    Artemis Rising is #1,992 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,154 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), and #5,464 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. Four customer reviews now, but I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    Book Signing Saturday 10-2 at the Downtown Arlington Farmer’s Market – both Artemis Rising and Celestial Accord will be available.

    Michael, my line editor, finished this week. I should have the modifications integrated into the master manuscript by the end of the day Wednesday. I’ll integrate the additional map and family tree and get updated versions of the book on Amazon before the end of the week. There will probably be a couple of days delay to the release, but it will be better because of that.

    The complete Selene Reborn series is now visible on Amazon. The publication dates for books 3 and 4 may change, the covers certainly will, but it allows the whole series to be seen.

    Isaac finished beta reading Forging the Chain Breakers. Thank you! I have his comments integrated now. I also started putting Selene Unchained (book 4) out for Beta Reading.

    The first copies of Celestial Accord came in Friday. See me at markets on the weekends to get a signed copy.

    I received the map of the American Commonwealth from Tomas. It will be added to the next printing of Celestial Accord.

    I have the final family trees from all four artists – let me know which one you think should go into Celestial Accord

    Final Family Tree from Olha Maksymtsiv:

    Final Family Tree from Adnan Thana:

    Final Family Tree from Reyhane Hoseyni:

    Gresham Family Tree f

    Final Family Tree from Nadee Diwakara:

    Selene Unchained chapters this week:
    1: An Air Car Ride – minor modifications
    6: A Sorceress, A Marine, and a Spy – minor modifications
    7: Elisha and Mirim Return – minor modifications
    8: Selene Revealed – begun
    9: Contemplations – may need revisions
    10: Kepler Cluster – may need revisions

    Selene Unchained word count is 17,268, not counting Dramatis Personae (975 words).

  • Celestial Accord, Forging, Double Eagles

    Celestial Accord, Forging, Double Eagles

    Artemis Rising is #2,059 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,550 in Steampunk Fiction, and #5,120 in Alternative History. Still at 3 customer reviews. I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.

    A Copy Editor has been chosen for Celestial Accord and the manuscript will be headed that direction in a couple of weeks. Chances are we’ll be finished by October and it can be published by Halloween. OK, so that is 4th Quarter, not 3rd Quarter or mid-2025, but it will be better for the wait, I promise.

    The Shadowy Man needed some bribe money. Being a child of the late 20th Century living in the early 21st, I immediately thought of a Franklin, a $100 bill. Thing is, $100 in 1891 was the equivalent of about $3500 today. There were $100 bills, but they were used like bearer bonds are used today – they exist, but you won’t see them in the cash drawer of a retail business. Next thought was a Jackson, a $20 bill. They existed, in fact they would occasionally show up in retail commerce. This was because there was a law that the US government had to buy a certain amount of silver every month and the government printed special bills to make the purchases. They weren’t really common, however. What were common were the various gold coins. A double eagle was a $20 gold coin and these were what tended to show up in circulation.

    In the 1780’s John Fitch engaged the services of Henry Voigt to help him invent and build a steam engine to power a water craft. The reason he had to develop his own steam engine is because Britain had a technology embargo against its former colony and wouldn’t let the Watt steam engine be exported to the US. That first steamship in the US was the Perseverance.

    In 1891, Patrick “Pat” Tiernan was Sheriff of Galveston County. Richard H. Tiernan was the only deputy sheriff listed in the 1890-1891 directory. I guess there’s nothing like keeping it in the family…

    Learned some things about Old German names. Adal means “noble”. Beraht means “bright”. Gunda means “battle”. Hart means “hard, firm, brave, hardy”. Gar means “spear”. Learned Nikkal was a goddess married to the Moon in the ancient Levant. There was an ancient Arab moon goddess known as Al-lat (literally the goddess). The Arab female name, Hala, means “moon’s halo” representing ethereal beauty. The Arab female name, Mayar, means “glow of the moon” representing radiance and warmth.

    Charon, the largest moon of Pluto, has features such as the Spock, Kirk, Uhura, Skywalker, Organa, and Vader craters. I guess they ran out of gods and old dead guys…

    Finished Forging the Chain Breakers this week:
    37: The Marine Council (most of Military Pow-Wow moved to chapter 40)
    38: Once More Into The Cave
    39: Gaisarix Roll-Out
    40: Military Pow-Wow
    41: Plans for Selene Unchained
    42: The Baron Raises The Stakes

    Forging The Chain Breakers final word count is 72,567, not counting Dramatis Personae (2,629 words). Developmental Editing scheduled for February.

    Selene Unchained chapters this week:
    Prologue: Zafir Needs a Replacement
    1: Planning to Break the Chains – started

    Selene Unchained word count is 1,600, not counting Dramatis Personae (295 words). Developmental Editing is tentatively scheduled for March because Sandra is such a professional.

    If you want to be a beta reader and comment on Book 2 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Finalizing Celestial Accord

    Finalizing Celestial Accord

    Artemis Rising is #1,964 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,356 in Steampunk Fiction, and #4,795 in Alternative History. Still at 3 customer reviews. I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    Discovered that John Browning invented the guns and Matthew Browning sold them. Kind of like how Eleanor and Walter divide the work. I went back and rewrote the parts with the Browning brothers.

    My editor, Sandra, returned the rewrite of Book 2, so I tied up Forging the Chain Breakers and started working on integrating the edits instead. I have them all integrated now. Title is now “Celestial Accord”. I have an order for a new cover from GetCovers.com. I have a request for copy editing on Reedsy. Release by the end of September if I’m really, really, lucky. Chances are it will be at least October instead <sigh>.

    Forging the Chain Breakers chapters this week:
    36: Browning Assault Rifles
    37: A Military Pow-Wow – started

    Forging The Chain Breakers word count is 65,912, not counting Dramatis Personae (2,506 words)

    If you want to be a beta reader and comment on Book 2 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Aeroports, Firearms, and Selene Reborn

    Aeroports, Firearms, and Selene Reborn

    Artemis Rising is #1,845 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,043 in Steampunk Fiction, and #3,818 in Alternative History. Still at 3 customer reviews. I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    I needed a place for the New York City aeroport on Staten Island. The Edison Aeroport takes up the shore of Staten Island from the Tottenville Station to Mill Creek and from the shoreline to the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad. I also had to figure out how an aeroport would work. They wouldn’t have long runways and terminals like modern airports because they don’t have heavier than air aircraft and the passenger and cargo access such aircraft have. Especially since this is Steampunk, we decided that liftwood cargo ships, passenger ships, and military ships would all dock at towers. Gantry connecters would come out and connect to the ship and provide just the right amount of external power to keep the ship steady on the tower. Stability arms would come out to pre-designed hardpoints and lock in place to hold the ship steady in high winds. Passenger tunnels would extend to passenger hatches. Cargo ramps would connect to cargo hatches – all sorts of connections and complex machinery with plenty of gears…

    I got to thinking about where Aeroports, especially Aeroports with significant military forces, will be in 1900. I decided they would be Galveston, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Staten Island, New York; San Francisco, California; London, England; Antwerp, Belgium; Le Harve, France; Bremen/Bremerhaven, Germany; Genoa, Italy; Vienna, Austria-Hungry; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Moji, Japan. It’s going to increasingly suck the farther down that list the city is…

    In 1891, the British military used the Lee-Metford rifle chambered in .303 black powder. It weighed about 9.5 pounds, was almost 50 inches long with a 30 inch barrel. It was magazine fed from an 8 or 10 round magazine and had a rate of fire of about 20 rounds/minute.

    My initial thoughts about Defender Marine firearms: Major Regdar and Walter visit Ogden Utah to talk with John Browning about designing weapons for the Defender Marines. Their electromagnetic guns are kludgy, prone to break, and not known for their accuracy. They do, however, have a very good design for a reloadable magazine. Walter encourages Browning to use the new smokeless powder and a magazine based on the lunar one for his design. Since this is about 3-7 years earlier than IRL, Browning’s automatic and semi-automatic weapons are developed earlier as well. Jagers at first carry a rifle similar to the Remington Model 8 (invented early) with a 20 round magazine. It is later replaced by an improved version similar to the M1 Garand, again with a 20 round magazine. Trolls at first carry a version of the M1895 Colt-Browning Machine Gun with a 30 round magazine, later a 100 round drum magazine. Later replaced by a version of the M2 (Ma Duce), with a 100 round drum magazine, although it can also be belt fed. These may have a cooling circuit designed by Nikola to cool the chamber and barrel using something like the cooling coils of the freeze cannon.

    I got a new notional picture for the Troll troopers armed with their .50 Browning Assault Rifles. It is the picture that will be used for, at least, Forging the Chain Breakers, although it may also be the notional background picture for Selene Unchained. I like the Troll much better, but I like the old Moon background better. My guess is the GetCovers folks will probably make something even better – they have every time so far…

    I’ve decided that when Walter and Eleanor go to the 1891 Cornell graduation to recruit engineers, they will offer five work/study opportunities to work for Gresham Aerospace and study engineering from the Crystal Keep. Three of the engineers, Juan Almirall, Robert Burwell, and Oren Heilman will go on to be the foundation of the engineering team for Gresham Aerospace. Two, Clarence Cory and Warren Meeker will become the initial Earthborn faculty of Crystal Keep University – Galveston. Cory was the real life first professor of mining and electrical engineering for UC Berkley. Meeker was the real life longest serving faculty member of the Iowa State University College of Engineering.

    I’ve decided that I will only have the first four or five books be a real series. Artemis Rising will be directly followed by Book 2 will be directly followed by Forging the Chain Breakers, maybe Antarctic Honeymoon will be next, but I might jump directly to Selene Unchained. All the rest of the planned books I’ll try to make stand-alone. They share a setting and characters, but I’m going to aim to make each one stand on its own without the reader needing to read another book to understand what’s going on. I’m not sure how to organize that on Amazon. I may just say they are Victorian Interplanetary stories and not put a number on them and make the first 4-5 books the series Selene Reborn. What do y’all think?

    Current titles with votes:
    The Moon’s Secret Envoy -2
    The Moon’s Surprise Envoy -1
    A Celestial Accord – 2
    Moon Comes Down – 1
    Selenites Path – 2

    Chapters this week:
    28: Galveston Aeroport Company
    29: Aero Reconnaissance
    30: Completed Sanctum
    31: The Trolls Seize Fire
    32: Facing the New Council
    33: Military Update
    34: Where Will it Fit?
    35: A Beginning and a Milestone
    36: The Browning Order – started

    Forging The Chain Breakers word count is 61,959, not counting Dramatis Personae (2,472 words)

    If you want to be a beta reader and comment on Book 2 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Galveston City Company

    Galveston City Company

    This is just too big a learning to be part of the standard weekly blog – so it will get one all its own.

    During the time of the Selene Reborn books, the Galveston City Company still had a huge amount of influence on the development of Galveston because they owned virtually all of the undeveloped land in the city.

    It all starts with Michel Menard, one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence and, among other things, a location surveyor. The surveys most people are familiar with are boundary surveys – what are the boundaries of a tract of land. A location surveyor would go to a tract of land and identify improvements and geographical features that could add value to the land. He performed this service for Juan Seguin on a tract of about 4,605 acres on the east end of Galveston Island. The exact details are unknown, but Seguin gave title to the land to Menard in 1834.

    In 1836 Menard petitioned the government of Texas to have the Mexican land grant confirmed. Since the early Texas Congress was notorious for being… chaotic, it isn’t surprising that it wasn’t until 1838, after the Texas Congress had time (and some coups) to get itself organized before they officially deeded Galveston Island to the Galveston City Company consisting of Menard and 9 other early luminaries of Texas and Galveston.

    For the next 71 years, the Galveston City Company would sell and/or donate land to guide the growth and expansion of the city of Galveston. In 1891 when Gresham Aerospace is trying to get large tracts of land for their half-mile long aethership factory and such, In addition to getting permission from the City Council to build over where streets are supposed to go, they would need to buy all, or most, of the land from Galveston City Company, Archibald Campbell, agent and secretary.

    This is not the way I’ve ever heard of anything going. I guess it is kind of like master-planned communities now days, but without a detailed master plan to start with and with decades of incremental development instead. I think it is interesting that a Communist could make a case that the Galveston City Company is an example of central planning done right since they controlled, or at least influenced, the development of Galveston into a well-organized, prosperous, philanthropic community. Of course a Capitalist would point out that it was a private, for-profit enterprise, not a government agency, that did it…

  • Bricklayers, Foundries, and Future Plans

    Bricklayers, Foundries, and Future Plans

    Artemis Rising is #336 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,639 in Steampunk Fiction, and #1,258 in Alternative History. Still at 3 customer reviews. I need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    Thomas Lucas, who lives across Broadway from Gresham Castle, may be an alternate builder for at least the upgrades to First Hangar. Information about Thomas Lucas IRL.

    If you haven’t sent a reply with feedback about the title for book 2, please review the list of title suggestions and hit reply.

    Not as many chapters this week. Two reasons, Deborah and I spent several days celebrating our 39th wedding anniversary. It takes longer for us old people to celebrate things – that’s my story and I’m sticking to it… Also, what the Shadowy Man is getting up to will be talked about more in this book than originally planned. That means adding some pieces in some of the already completed chapters.

    According to the 1890-1891 Galveston City Directory, page 179, David Fahey was proprietor of Uhrig’s Cave saloon, 2102 Market on the corner of 21st Street. Residence same. That is more than enough to inspire even a half-way decent writer to create a setting for the Shadowy Man to pump the bricklayers for information.

    John Locke (h) – Bricklayer in Galveston. Roomed with Fannie Stone. I added that he was from Eastside London because I wanted the Cockney accent. His friends were John Lipscomb (h) and George Blake (h) both historical bricklayers that I decided were Galveston natives.

    Historically in 1891 there were three foundries in Galveston. One, Lee Ironworks, part of the C. B. Lee & Co. complex, was right near the railroad depot and was the run by the Alderman for the 6th Ward (Northwest Galveston), Charles Lee. Guess where Walter and Company got the steel plates to cover Nike and Artemis…

    I’ve had a couple of questions about plans for future books. Those plans have changed a lot since I sat down to write Artemis Rising almost a year ago now. Currently, as of the changes made this morning, the plan looks like this:

    The Rise of the Selenites (Series):
    Artemis Rising
    [Book 2 – please send your title suggestions]
    Forging the Chain Breakers
    Selene Unchained

    The Adventures of Walter and Eleanor:
    Antarctic Honeymoon – may be book 4 of 5 in Rise of the Selenites
    Secrets of Kilimanjaro

    Others:
    Flight of the Phoenix
    Beware the Wrath of Magi

    Ideas that may become books:
    Return to Mars – A Walter and Eleanor adventure
    Getting a Clue – A Walter and Eleanor adventure
    Old Ones In England – A Walter and Eleanor adventure
    Fish People of the Amazon – possibly a Walter and Eleanor adventure
    Secrets of the Sphinx
    Floating Cities of Venus
    Dark Side of Mercury
    Secrets of Ceres
    Bombing Iapetus
    War of the Worlds – may be a series
    War in Heaven – may be a series
    Emory Upton in Mexico
    The Rise of Amir Al-Jalil
    Mike Powell on Mars

    Plenty of untold stories and all that assumes I don’t get enough feedback from readers about wanting more story somewhere not covered by this list…

    Chapters this week:
    Shadowy Man additions
    2 Chapters split (additional 2 chapters)
    27: Preparations for the Council
    28: Galveston Aeroport Company – started

    Forging The Chain Breakers word count is 48,947, not counting Dramatis Personae (2,183 words)

    If you want to be a beta reader and comment on Book 2 chapters, write a nice review for Artemis Rising on Amazon or Goodreads, and email me that you’ve done it.

  • Atlantis, Angels, and Power Crystals

    Atlantis, Angels, and Power Crystals

    Artemis Rising is #1,435 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,579 in Steampunk Fiction, and #3,813 in Alternative History. I got a 3rd customer review, still need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    I had another couple ideas for a name for Book 2. “Selenite Surprise” or “Surprise Visitors” Let me know what you think.

    NASA 1118 78.3F

    Had some discussion about potentially adding Atlantis to the stories in the future. Maybe using the Sahara Eye. Major question to be resolved is how to destroy Atlantis so it is at least similar to the Plato story. One minor question would be how much metal reinforcement do they need? If they build in a Classic Greco-Roman or Gothic style, none. If they use steel like we do – the steel would probably be rusted to nothing and those structures compromised. If they use a more corrosive resistant metal (titanium, aluminum, special alloy) they may still be in place. Something to consider.

    Something else that will show up earlier is how will the Selenites gain support among the communities under the control of Zafir? What if the Selenites are able to disguise themselves sufficiently to carry word of the coming freedom to everyone. Among other things, Angels are messengers. What if the people under Zafir’s control end up entertaining ‘angels’ unaware?

    If Old One tainted leukos crystals are purple-black (like a UV light), and Moon leukos crystals are usually colorless or pale yellow, would Martian power crystals be red? After all, the reason Mars looks red in real life is the massive amount of iron oxide in the surface dust. Come to find out, Corundum (aluminum oxide crystals) with trace amounts of iron and tungsten make blue sapphires. Rubies come mostly from chromium traces. Of course that doesn’t mean I have to make Martian crystals blue…

    I discovered that in real life, while Gresham Castle was being constructed the Gresham’s lived just behind the house on the south side of Avenue I between 14th and 15th. It is listed as the Thomas Chubb house on the historical landmark plaque out front of it. That is Edward and Vickie’s house in the story.

    I also looked up what the major ports were at the end of the 19th Century. They were the ports of the “Northern Range” in Europe. That’s Le Harve, France; Antwerp, Belgium; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Bremen/Bremerhaven, Germany; and Hamburg, Germany.

    Chapters this week:
    21: American Commonwealth Military Council – added before 22
    22: At This Meeting of the Board… – completed
    23: Grey Wednesday
    24: Galveston Aeroport Collusion

    Forging The Chain Breakers word count is 45,808, not counting Dramatis Personae (1,831 words)

  • Book 2 With Editor

    Book 2 With Editor

    Artemis Rising is #1,224 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,368 in Steampunk Fiction, and #3,293 in Alternative History. I got a 3rd customer review, still need a few more to get Audible to take notice – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    Submitted the new book 2 to Sandra, my editor. It may be a while before she can get to it. She’s a very good (and popular) editor. It’s better for her to have the manuscript and wait to get the time than have the time and be waiting on the manuscript. Hopefully I’ve fixed the issues and we can get this published by the end of the month or early September. Still need a good title for it. I did have another idea: Cutting In at the Presidents’ Ball. What do y’all think?

    Started working on Book 3 which is now Forging the Chain Breakers. Since I was able to pick up a lot that was edited out of either Mirim for the WIN or Antarctic Honeymoon, I’ve made a lot of progress by just touching up chapters picked up from the cutting room floor, so to speak. Chapters 1-21 are essentially the same as chapters written earlier for either Book 3 or some other story. 21 had extensive changes to the final board meeting.

    Chapters this week:
    Preface: Sinister Success
    1: To Business
    2: Gresham Steamship Company
    3: Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade
    4: Financial Setback
    5: Firearms and Electromagnetic Weapons
    6: I Guess Your Budget Is “Yes…”
    7: Tea, Bolivia, and Pilot Training
    8: But First, New York
    9: A Preacher, a Feminist, and a Sorceress Go To Tea…
    10: 15 Union Square West
    11: Breakfast At Tiffany’s
    12: Dinner Plans
    13: Winchester Repeating Arms
    14: Coltsville
    15: Preparing For Dinner
    16: Dinner At Delmonico’s
    17: What’s Next?
    18: Engaging Management
    19: Talk With Browning
    20: Gresham Steamship Board
    21: At This Meeting of the Board… – in progress

    Forging The Chain Breakers word count is 41,143, not counting Dramatis Personae (1,695 words)

  • Party Crashers

    Party Crashers

    Artemis Rising is #993 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,158 in Steampunk Fiction, and #2,655 in Alternative History. There are still just 2 customer reviews – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so.

    I’m getting some readers in Kindle, so that is encouraging.

    As I mentioned last week, the rewrite of “Mirim for the WIN” is so major, the book will be getting a new title and cover. I’m currently considering “Selenite Party Crashers”. I plan to send the new version of the manuscript to Sandra for editing by the end of the week.

    The problem with “Mirim” was that there wasn’t enough conflict/setback for the story to be very interesting. In an effort to avoid that problem in the future, I reviewed the plan for the future books with an eye toward what the conflicts/setbacks would be for each story. That changed the focus of the stories some, changed the timeline a lot, and spurred a change in the book titles and order. There are now eight books in the immediate series with “Beware the Wrath of Magi” being added.

    A pleasant side effect of the reorganization was that the planned books aren’t as intertwined. Instead of “Antarctic Honeymoon” being next, “Forging the Chain Breakers” will be next, focusing on military and political preparation for freeing the Moon. Bad news – Plan A will be delayed until at least 1893, maybe much later if the Robber Baron has anything to say about it. Good news – Plan B may have the Moon free by the end of 1891…