Artemis Rising is #1,822 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,109 in Steampunk Fiction (Kindle Store), and #5,282 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.
I’ve decided that the way the Defender Marines chose their 12 Recon Marines is they first asked for volunteers. Then they had the 35 Marines who volunteered fight their way through a gauntlet of opponents using exercise weapons that assess when a Jager marine is wounded or incapacitated. Then the five lowest scoring were eliminated. Without time to rest, they fought through the gauntlet again and the five lowest scoring were eliminated. Without time to rest, they fought through a third time and the five lowest scoring were eliminated. The remaining 20 were divided into five groups of four and put through seventy hours of capture the flag combat with a only seven two-hour breaks. Before the capture the flag rounds, they were told that the highest scoring troopers would have the opportunity to choose a partner to team up with in future exercises. After the rounds, the trooper with the highest combat score was allowed to choose any other trooper as his partner. The highest scoring trooper remaining was allowed to choose any remaining trooper as his partner until there were 10 pairs of troopers. The pairs then had to fight each of the other nine pairs of candidates and go through the gauntlet as a pair four additional times. In the end, two of the pairs self-eliminated and the two lowest scoring pairs were dropped leaving six pairs of recon troopers.
Line editing for Cosmic Accord began this week. A slight hiccup – I sent the editor the manuscript for book 3 instead of book 2. He caught that pretty quick and he has the right one now.
Also had some issues with the Book 2 cover. We’re having trouble finding a photo of someone for Ima. This one is too young and doesn’t have the right hair. Maybe for next week.
I did get some modifications for the map in Book 2 and my mapmaker is working on an update of the map for Book 3.
Selene Unchained chapters this week: 1: Planning to Break the Chains – finished, but will be extensively reworked 2: Consulting the Mage 3: Beraht 4: Hala – started
Selene Unchained word count is 7,584, not counting Dramatis Personae (775 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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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)
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)
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…
Artemis Rising is #885 in Steampunk Fiction, #3,063 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #5,415 in Exploration Science Fiction. 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.
Still working on the changes to Mirim. I’m thinking of calling the new book “Moon Comes To Earth” or “Envoys and Ambassadors” unless I can find something better. Mirim for the WIN is just too obscure and Mirim looks too young until you read that she is actually 45 and just looks that young. I need a better title and cover to draw people into reading the blurb. I need a new blurb as well, I guess.
First pass complete for Chapter 21 to the end. Completed the second pass for the full book as well. It expanded to over 86,000 words and from 24 to 30 chapters.
