"One Day In A Very Long Dominion War": a fan project anthology has chosen two of my short stories!

 

Earlier this year, I saw that there was a short story anthology coming from the very cool fan outfit, Tranquility Press.  And they had been accepting fan submissions.  Oh, I wish I had known about it sooner, I thought.  Then I saw that the due date was in the future ... I had two weeks left!

I read the prompt: 

We are asking for pieces on events around the galaxy on the 11th of March 2375 – the same day as the baseball match between DS9's "Niners" and USS T'Kumbra's "Logicians." The rules are simple: you can talk about anyone, any group, anything in the galaxy that has been altered by the titanic struggle of liberty against the Dominion: except Primary cast members from any Trek show. We don't want to know what Jean-Luc Picard or Katherine Janeway were up to, we want you to tell us a story we haven't heard before. We want to know about Federation reservists on the ground on Chin'Toka, convoy duty near Minos Korva, or new Romulan fleets working up behind the neutral zone. 

We encourage you to consider stories beyond the front line, Starship crews, Marine Raiders, and Klingon Warriors. One Day in A Very Long Dominion War should be about the people's war too; the Federation factory worker, the Cardassian civilian, the Romulan intelligence attache.

Each story should be between 1500 and 3500 words.

With a burst of creative energy, I sat down and wrote four short stories, finishing them all just in time for the August deadline.  I didn't know if I could submit four ... but I did anyway.  In the end, they chose two.  (In my opinion, the best two.)  That is a huge honor ... there were so few slots, but they gave two to me?  Insane.  I'm very grateful.

Here are one of the judge's thoughts about my two stories, as posted by TP:

"naD tetlh" has an undeniable sense of 'trueness' about it that really left an imprint on me after reading. It's a remarkable, human story that presents as a slice-of-life, but it cleverly sneaks up on you with some great emotional moments. Short but by no means lacking, this story conjures up a great sense of place with economy of description and dialogue. Deft work here, a great 'war-at-home' tale.

"Jolan Tru All Over Again" speaks to my love of cold war spy thrillers, and there's something of a LeCarré feel to this locked-box narrative. It's like a one-act play, an echo of beloved DS9 episodes like "Duet" and "Waltz," with two characters sparking off one another as they fence and dig at the truth. There's no fat on this story at all, it's stripped back, lean and scalpel-sharp, and I enjoyed how it gets into the character of the Romulan and Vorta leads.

I'm not certain when the final anthology will be published, but I'll be sure to keep everyone apprised.  I will absolutely be posting links when it is.  And, when it drops, I will also post my two "leftover" stories: "Loading Torpedoes" and "To Be the First."

So.  Something to look forward to.

Thanks for reading. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing LONDINIUM, Part I: Maps and the first chapter!

 Finding time to write has been the difficult part of getting going for this book thus far.  And when I have a bit of time, I can sit and stare at the screen.  Sometimes I'm just not "feeling it" for whatever reason.  That sucks and there's little to be done for it.

Another obstacle?  What to listen to as I write.  Readers know I listed to the thirteen-plus hours of the Galactica/Caprica soundtracks over and over, totaling thousands of hours, but what to listen to as I write a story set in a modern Roman Empire?  Well, I started by listening to Roman and Greek music (or at least recreations thereof).  Eh.  Then I moved on to movie soundtracks, but those weren't terribly inspiring and I often got distracted thinking about the movies and scenes I was listening to.  I ended up back in the Galactica-verse.  Yeah, I'm listening to Bear McCreary's great music, over and over again, again, as I write.

Longtime readers know I love to map things.  It helps me immerse myself in the worlds I'm building and maybe it helps readers, too.  If nothing else, it shows the readers that I actually put some thought into the bullshit I write.  This time, since I am writing about our world in a different dimension, mapping our world with Roman lines and names on everything would be helpful.  So here you go:

 

Click to embiggen

 

I had to do a lot of reading on Roman history and indigenous languages to understand how the world might look.  Europe was called "Europe," the Atlantic "the Atlantic," and "Africa" to the Romans is what we would call "north Africa."  "Oriens" is Latin for "east" and I chose that for Asia's name; thus also the "Eastern Ocean" aka "Oriental Ocean" ("Oriental" not having been used as a slur in that universe).  Some of the other continent names come from an ancient map of the world by Crates of Mallus.  He called the land south of north Africa "Antoeca" while he also hypothesized a pair of continents on the other side of the world, Perioeca and Antipoda.  Thus, when my Romans went exploring, that's what they called these lands in the "New World."  Australia gets the name "Marege" from the Makassar people of Indonesia, who, centuries ago, spoke of the land to their south as "Marege," the "wild country."  

I had to map Londin a bit, too, so I started with the various police districts and I imagined greater Londin as a bit bigger than the London of our universe:

"Southwark" is a name used in London today, but it's a quite ancient name, so I kept it for the book.  Newfield and Broadhand are based on ancient Roman settlements in those areas and I just translated their Latin names into English.  If you Google "Londinium," you'll likely see a polygon settlement on the north side of the Thames; that's the "Old City" in the above map.  The "New City" is the provincial and city buildings (the governor's palace, the Senate house, magistracy, etc.) that function today on the south side of the River Tames (no "h" in that universe, and it rhymes with "aims").  "LIC" is the "Londin Intercontinental Skyport"; "The Star" is the massive railway and subway (called "underway") complex that got its name because the converging rail lines looked like a star.  "Portaper" is a neighboring city that handles a lot of cargo because it straddles the Tames; name derives from Latin for "port" and "opening."

The story of Londinium is set today, but in a world where the Roman Empire didn't go away.  (I wrote out a very detailed history of the world that I'll probably include in the book as an index.  I did it mostly to keep things straight in my head as ideas came to me and to provide backstory to the various cultures.)  The world is governed from Roma and all people born on Earth are citizens of the Roman Republic.  Londin has been associated with Roma for almost two thousand years.  The Normans never invaded, England never had its own kings or queens, English isn't spoken there ... neither is Italian, for that matter.  The language of the Republic is called "Roma," and it's probably some flavor of Italian, but not exactly.  (This is why some cities may sound Italian to our ears, like "Bonaventura.")  I'm writing in English because that's what I know ... I'm not JRR Tolkien over here inventing a whole new language.  Well, at least not this time.  The people of Brittan are not reserved ... they are wholly different than the people of Great Britain.  That's something I wanted to communicate in this first chapter.  These aren't Brits, so don't imagine them speaking with a Cockney accent or something.  Slang "yes" and "no" comes from corrupted Germanic, "ya," "na."  There's no "OK"; these people are more apt to say "Aye" in its place.  The Republic has existed in one form or another for almost three millennia.  It is ever-present in the people's lives and no one questions it.  It's a different world.  I'm curious if all of this is conveyed.

Read the chapter after the JUMP:

"CAPRICA": Available now!

 

From the author of the acclaimed Lords of Kobol and Colonies of Kobol series ... 

In 2010, the Battlestar Galactica prequel series, Caprica, debuted and was canceled. We saw "The Shape of Things to Come," but what happened next? 

In CAPRICA, read the rest of the story. Follow the Graystones as they try to build a body for Zoe. Follow the Adamas as Joseph rebuilds his life and falls in deeper with the Ha'la'tha. Follow the Cylons as they spread throughout colonial society and are radicalized by the religious teachings of Sister Clarice Willow. And then it happens: revolution. 

The Cylon War ensnares billions. As the colonies struggle to unite in the face of this dire threat, the Graystones and Adamas are torn apart. The Messengers of The One True God work behind the scenes to ensure the survival of the species. And Zoe must make a choice: fight to protect humanity or fight on behalf of her "children," the Cylons? 

There is a Plan and questions will be answered. 

(Note: this book was previously published as part of Colonies of Kobol.)

Get it for FREE here:

Smashwords
Apple Books
Barnes & Noble
Everand
Kobo


In other big news, since it's my birthday, I'm giving away stuff.  My scifi/horror ebooks are now FREE.

Read all about it here.

Thanks for reading.

EVERYTHING* IS FREE!

 

 

To celebrate my 50th birthday, I'm giving away my books.

Yes, Lords of Kobol and Colonies of Kobol are free (as is Caprica), but now my other scifi/horror ebooks are, too.  No longer will you have to shell out the princely sum of 99¢ to read these monoliths of modern literature.

DISPLACED: A Baltimore police officer awakens in his car, sitting atop a chunk of road in the middle of a cornfield. For the next several hours, he fights his way through strange creatures, meets up with odd companions and comes under siege by terrifying beasts. Displaced is an action-packed, sci-fi mystery that will keep you turning the page until the very end.  

DIARY OF A SECOND LIFE: Three hundred years after the end of the world as we know it, young Wess Marin feels compelled to leave his insular community and strike out in hopeful desperation on his own. He aims to stop the menace that still ravages mankind, but on his way, he will encounter terror, both from the living and the dead. Wess finds a gleaming city, but will they help him realize his goal?

8 DAYS: Imagine the end of the world is coming in eight days. What will you do in the time left to you? Now, imagine that the world doesn't end after all. How do you feel about what you've done? Follow the stories of several people and the world as they tackle these questions in the near-apocalypse novel 8 Days.

THE ART OF DEATH: An evil art museum curator has found a Babylonian artifact and performs a ceremony in the light of a Blood Moon to gain eternal life. He needs sacrifices, lots of sacrifices, and he gathers monsters from the world's folklore to do his bidding. Follow his victims as they fight for their lives in one hellish night at the museum. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, and more await you in The Art of Death!

Check out the Scifi/Horror tab on my website for links!  Enjoy!  And be sure you leave a glowing review, too!

* - Not everything is free.  My sexy adult books are not.  Neither are my shirts and posters and stuff on Etsy.  But the other books are.  Feel free to wish me a happy birthday by buying a poster or something.

"CAPRICA" FAQrica! plus an EXCERPT

 

 

Everything You Want/Need to Know about CAPRICA (the book) ...

"Is this fan fiction?"

Yes.  I wasn't paid by Universal to write this therefore I am not charging you to read it.  It's free.

"So did you just pull the story out of your ass or what?"

That's a little harsh, but actually, no.  I didn't.  The fansite Caprica Times published an interview with the last showrunner, Kevin Murphy, after the series was cancelled.  In it, he explained that season two would pick up five years after season one (where we see them in the finale's montage) and feature occasional flashbacks to show how they got there.  Now, I didn't feel like I could do that in my writing because constant flashbacks would get annoying/confusing, but I felt like I could tell a more linear story, showing the five years leading up to the "Shape of Things to Come" montage and then beyond.  A few story beats were also revealed by Murphy, but I won't be divulging those here as they're basically spoilers for the book.  To put it succinctly, I pretended like I was a one-man writer's room for season two and three of the show and Murphy's comments were my instructions.  (Anything that falls outside of his instructions, I guess, does qualify as "pulling it out of my ass.")

"Do I need to have watched Caprica to enjoy this?"

Are you serious?  Yes.  You should watch Caprica.  There are some references and story points that will only make sense if you've seen the show.  I wrote it right after a binge of the series, so I'm sure it'll read well after a binge, too.

"What about Galactica?"

Hmm.  Probably not.  You're OK there.  It'll be enhanced by having watched it, though, I'm sure.

"What about Blood & Chrome?"

You are thorough; I'll say that for you.  "Need to," no.  If you saw it once, that's enough.

And I'll stop you now.  No, you do not need to have watched The Plan before reading this, either. 

"OK, smart guy.  What about Deadlock?  Should I have played the video game Deadlock?

Huh.  You got me.   No, you don't have to have played Deadlock.  A few ships get their names and designs from the game, but no storylines or characters.  The base game starts in year five of the Cylon War and this book only covers the first few years of the war.  There's no real crossover.

 "Maps?  Where did you get these maps?"

I made them.  The "stellar" maps are based on the QMX map released a decade or so ago, which was based on a writer's room document by Bob Harris, Kevin Grazier, and Jane Espenson.  A lot of tidbits about the various colonies come from that document and I used them in writing Caprica and Colonies of Kobol.  The map of Caprica itself is based on the very tiny bit of land visible on the QMX map and a couple of shots from the show.

"Wait a minute ... Colonies of Kobol?  This book isn't really 'new,' is it?"

No, not really.  CoK is an enormous book (over 2,000 pages in Word) so I'm sure that's daunting to potential readers.  Plus, some people might not care about rando characters centuries before the TV shows on other worlds.  There is a hunger for more Caprica, however, so releasing just that portion of CoK made sense to me.  Caprica fans will get a taste of what might have been, and maybe they'll want to try out the rest of my books.

There are a couple of new pages, however.  You can read those after the JUMP.

"CAPRICA": coming June 9!

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the TV series Caprica, on Monday, June 9, I'll be publishing this:

 

I'll be clear right up front: this isn't a new* book.  If you've read Colonies of Kobol (Special Edition, preferably), you've already read this.  This is what was originally published as Book Thirteen in Volume Three.

"So why publish it separately?"  Well, to ensnare new readers.  Colonies of Kobol is huge so many people didn't give it a chance.  Or maybe they just weren't interested in some guy's unofficial made-up history to a twenty-year-old TV show.  (I don't take it personally.)  If, however, it were more inextricably tied to a TV show ... like Caprica ... maybe people would give it a shot.  And, if they liked it, maybe they'll back up and read Lords of Kobol or Colonies of Kobol.

Plus, I see people posting all the time about Caprica, so this might scratch that itch for many.

There's more news coming on June 9, but I'll save it for later.  Thanks for reading.

* - There is one part of Caprica that is new, but I'll post it on the blog for everyone to see when we get closer to the date.

"Thanks, Facebook": Well, this is awkward

I was going to post the "big" announcement today, but I'll save it until Monday.

  

You may recall my post from a few months ago ... the one titled, "Frak Facebook."  Yeah.

To briefly summarize for those who didn't see it: my Facebook accounts were hacked back in December and were locked, I attempted to regain control, Meta wanted me to verify the email address and password that the hacker changed the accounts to and I couldn't (naturally), so they said they couldn't do anything about it.

So, having resigned myself to losing that nice "ety3rd" brand synergy across all platforms, I created a new author page at "ety3rdbooks" and went about trying to rebuild my audience.

Fast-forward to this morning.  Out of nowhere, I get an email ... no images, no links, no nothing ... stating, "After reviewing your appeal, your Page Edward T. Yeatts III has been published. This means it can now be viewed publicly. The Facebook Team."  Sure enough, I went to "ety3rd" and it was visible.  Yes, I had to spend the better part of an hour getting everything reconnected and whatnot, but hey, it's back.  (If I had to guess, today may have been the first time a real human looked at my problem and was able to spot the issues right away.)

So, please, follow me at

https://www.facebook.com/ety3rd/

For everyone who joined me at "ety3rdbooks," don't worry: I'll keep posting there.  Just in case.

Thanks for reading.  (Announcement coming Monday.)