Things are tracking along nicely with the end of the world. By this point if you’re dropping in with no background, strongly suggest you start back here . Welcome all TOPCON and Time Eddy visitors–hope that you enjoy your visit! Fort Riley, Kansas 1000 Local (1100 Eastern) Putting off their characteristic whine, the last […]
Writing
B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part IV
If you haven’t been following the story–long story short, the crap has hit the fan for Humanity. Angry aliens are coming to basically turn Earth into one big butcher shop. You can pick up the first part of the story here. This Part begins Chapter 2. So, without further ado… Chapter 2: Recriminations and Reckonings […]
Metal Monday–When Terror Struck the Land
Gettysburg. The name alone brings forth historical visions of desperate fights in wheat fields, bodies heaped before stone walls, and that poor bastard Pickett writing an after action report so incendiary in its rhetoric that General Lee literally had it burned. Whether one thinks that the Union was saved on this day or that Northern […]
B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part III
Part III continues. If you’ve just started following this blog, Part I can be found here. Weather Mountain, VA 0800 Local (0700 Central) “Sir, they’re all here,” Star-Colonel Sir Conrad Bradstock, Knight of the Bath to Queen Elizabeth I, said quietly. The Englishman was massive, especially when one considered the average height of men in […]
Metal Monday–Game of Thrones Edition
I love YouTube. You can find all sorts of great stuff there. Like, say, metal covers of songs you can identify with…like The Rains of Castamere. (“Wait…wait…why do you identify with the Rains of Castamere?” “Because when someone sends you to crush a rebellion, you crush the rebellion.”) Sometimes one just has to be in […]
B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part II
Continuing on with Chapter 1… Fort Riley, Kansas 0625 Local (0725 Eastern) “Jack, what the fuck is going on?” Captain Jason Mitchell, CO of A/2-70th Armored Battalion (FCS), West Point Class of ’03, asked worriedly. The two of them had been in the middle of a conversation when Jack had suddenly stopped and focused […]
B-Sides-Final Fight, Part II
The title pretty much says it all. I’ll do a little more commentary at the end. Let the dogfighting begin… Chapter 2 James saw two MiG-25 Foxbat fighters descend on a damaged B-52 like hyenas on a carcass and cursed, unable to do anything at the moment. One of the fighters pressed its firing run […]
Writing Tips–Some Research
As I mentioned in my writing tips, sometimes research can be a substitute for experience. Going even further, the best research in the world is that done by someone else. One quick way to save oneself a lot of diving and sorting of what sources work the best for you is to find a historiographical […]
Writing Tips: Lines and Characters
I got asked to do a guest blog by Cedar Sanderson for her website. After reading it, she decided to promote this to The Mad Genius Club, where it is now crossposted. So, without further ado: Lines of Departure This blog post actually got started in a conversation about wasp spray. Yes, that’s right, […]
B-Sides-Final Fight Part I
So after the events of The Vladivostok Thing, World War III basically went poorly for the Soviets in my World War III. How bad? Well long story short, the United States and NATO committed to a counteroffensive that speared into East Germany, Poland and Hungary rose up in rebellion, and most of the 1st and […]
Warship Wednesday–Stalingrad Class
The Stalingrad-class (3045) are intended to be commerce raiders / protectors mounting 15 Class ‘A’ railguns with a Class C maser secondary. Projected to be a class of 25 BCs, the recent success of the Constitution-class has caused some analysts to ponder if the Stalingrad order will be curtailed to 15 ships or less. […]
B-Sides and Outtakes– "Armageddon Dawn"–Part I
It was 2003. For two years, I had been working on this great idea for a story where aliens come to Earth, seeking humanity’s help in dealing with a rabid, angry race of cat-lizards that enjoyed eating intelligent species’ flesh and soul. Having been at peace for thousands of years, the friendly aliens had no […]