Crucible of Gold begins its tale with William Laurence and Temeraire having fully embraced their lives in Austrailia and are in the midst of constructing a pavilion when their lives are once more altered. This time Arthur Hammond, last seen in Throne of Jade arrives in Austrailia with an urgent message for the once loyal servant of His Majesty’s Royal Arial Corp. The crown is once again in need of Laurence’s dragon, Temeraire, so the diplomat arrived offering the once captain his rank back...

Ever since I came upon Raymond Mullikin’s Kickstarter for Jonathin Quackup: Issue #3, I have been eagerly awaiting the campaign’s conclusion and the arrival of the digital comics that my pledge promised. I received them earlier this week, and I immediately downloaded each and every issue available. Once I had the three books on my computer I opened the first issue and began looking through the book, for my first pass I was not reading the book, rather I was taking in all the images bound within the comic book.

As I took in the images I was confused by the initial panels, based upon the campaign, and ignoring the cover, I was not expecting to see the main character dressed as the wanderer he would eventually become...

Walking down the corridors of the Gemini, Samantha held her mother’s hand with her right and clutched her most precious possession, the doll she had gotten for her birthday, to her chest with the other. As the two journeyed towards the ship’s hospice ward, Samantha noticed a lot of the people wearing a black armband with a series of red dots running along the center of it. The child looked away from the metallic corridors of her home and to her mother’s own left arm and saw that same band there. “Mommy, why are so many people wearing that armband?”

Casandra halted and then took a knee so she could look into her daughter’s eyes as she replied, “The Matriarch is sick, Samantha...

Tarian was standing upon the mostly constructed walls, staring out into the slowly building mass of creatures. There were a few types of monsters swirling about each other in that swarm, but the bulk was what the population had taken to calling Ogres. In fact, it was the constant harrying of the colonists by those Ogres that had prompted the building of the walls as rapidly as possible.

“Tarian, is it me or is that mass still growing?” Keldon asked once he was standing next to Tarian...

As Gregory leaned against the wall of the clock tower, the tears flowed from his eyes as he kept protesting his innocence. But his words fell upon the deaf ears of Rebecca and her partner, Frank. As they were standing next to their car, Frank asked, “Rebecca, are you sure about this?”

“Frank, you saw the same thing I did,” Rebecca answered with the same emotions of a stone.

“Rebecca, this…”

She spun to face her partner shoving a finger into his face as she continued on without a hint of emotion. “Frank, we found him drenched in blood kneeling over the victim...

Rylan was becoming very familiar with all of his counselor’s staff as often as he had been visiting Desmond. So when Rylan caught sight of Desmond’s secretary, he waived at the slight and sociable woman, “Hello Ciara, is Desmond free?”

“He is Rylan, and I’ll check to see if he’s ready for you.”

“Thank you,” Rylan said as he took one of the open chairs in front of the secretary’s desk.

Ciara shifted her gaze to the small device next to her main display, and typed something on it and waited. After waiting patiently for another few moments, she must have gotten a response because she looked back over at Rylan saying, “He’s ready to see you now Rylan...

Ezekiel was standing among his guards, hands zip-tied behind his back, as he thought about how this had happened. He had stumbled upon this conspiracy, and with that discovery, the pool of those he could trust had shrunk drastically. The only reason he was alive, despite being in captivity, was due to his training. His days spent with special forces had transformed him into the living weapon he actually was. Unfortunately, even with that training, he couldn’t handle the sheer number of minions in this conspiracy that had swarmed him in the Rotunda.

As he examined his surroundings, one of his guards said irately, “Stop eyeballing me.”

“Calvin, calm down and relax.” The steely-eyed leader said as he shifted his gaze away from the man and towards Ezekiel. “Our friend here will answer all our questions.”

Ezekiel mentally chuckled at the lofty words, he had ducked into the Rotunda because a senator was being honored in death...

I was feeling a little under the weather for the latter half of last week, so I wasn’t able to write the piece of flash fiction that I wanted to. As poor as I felt I didn’t completely ignore the site, I was pursuing my insights for the posts that I link to on my facebook page. The gold standard for an author, or any creative individual, is unsolicited feedback, be it reviews for my books or comments on my posts. Now my blog is currently not configured for comments, thankfully when I publish a post, I also publish a link to it on my Facebook page. This way I can see any conversations that might be had there. And ever since I posted the first link to that page, I’ve been eagerly awaiting for my first Facebook comment.

I know that I’m still building my presence on Facebook, so I knew going into this that getting an honest opinion would take some time...

Whenever I’m finished with my initial work on one of my stories, be it a short story or a full-length novel, I can’t wait to get feedback on my work. This was true for Dead Man’s Hand, the flash fiction I post on my blog to the other tales that I’ve been busy crafting. So once I finished the initial work on Drawing Thin, I immediately started reaching out to people that I trust to give me their honest thoughts on what I had. In fact, I implored them to tell me where I messed up. Those particular notes mean more to me than the ones that highlight what they think I did right...

“Good morning Lewis.” One of the numerous rodeo clowns said with a smile

“Morning,” Lewis replied as he hurried toward his private locker room. The technicians had certainly taken their time examining all of his cybernetics. He sighed as he transitioned into a run, while he admitted that with this particular bull, Lewis would never have been allowed to skip the examination. He just wished that the technicians had been swifter in their examination.

The bull that Lewis was going to ride was named Metalus. It was the only cybernetically enhanced bull in any rodeo, which was the reason he had to have his own cybernetics certified. He was approaching his locker room when he caught sight of his manager waving him down. Lewis slowed to a brisk walk and once he was within arms distance asked, “Everything okay?”

“Where have you been?”

“Getting my exam,” Lewis replied as he waved his metallic arm in front of his manager’s face...

I remember almost five years ago I bought a computer game called Torchlight from Amazon. A friend had recommended the game, and I decided it was time to give it a try, so I started a game. There are three classes for that game, the Vanquisher, the Destroyer and The Alchemist. I remember hearing that the Alchemist was akin to a mad scientist, at least in the broadest of definitions. So I leapt at the chance to play the Alchemist, and I gave him the name Harrison.

One of the interesting aspects of the game is that your character gets an animal companion right from the start. I chose the feline companion, and I came up with the name of Sylvia, I may have used the random name generator though at this point I honestly can’t remember how I chose the name of that companion...

Keldon was walking down the hill his team had been dispatched to search, and there was still no signs of their missing colonists. Thankfully over the first three months on this new world, the colonists had managed to survive despite the crash and the vicious creatures that have been found on the planet’s surface. From the roaming giant wolves to the swooping dragons, they had run into many animals that seemed to have been pulled out of legend yet somehow existed on this planet. But despite the dangers from the local wildlife they had managed to form a foothold on the world. Crops were beginning to take root in the alien soil, and the remnants of the herds were already replenishing their numbers. And right when things were looking fantastic, three of the more reliable colonists just vanished, as if they had never existed.

Tarian had immediately ordered the search, but after a long week filled with searching that yielded no results, people were beginning to think that they had been caught by the local wildlife...

Tully looked down at his hand and reviewed the note that was firmly attached. He stared at the writing and remembered dying while attempting to save the life a little girl. Unfortunately, that particular memory was still hazy, and the only thing he could remember with perfect clarity was the crushing coldness as the water pulled him under. As a shiver ran down his incorporeal spine, Tully looked up from the address that was perfectly imprinted upon the paper. As Tully stared in front of himself and saw the building that he had been directed to.

Tully was unsure what he should do, the note had an apartment number, but he was not sure it would do him any good. The ghost looked around the street, but he couldn’t see anyone there, a fact that was more unnerving than even regaining consciousness as a ghost...

Fresh off their costly yet crucial victory over Napoleon, the French have been driven off of British soil. While Temeraire and Laurence helped to secure this ever so crucial a victory, those who witnessed the devastation caused by Lien have no desire for Temeraire to remain so close to their borders since Laurence is still to be punished for his treason. Though they no longer wish to risk Temeraire’s outrage so instead of returning him to a wait for the gallows, they decide to lessen the punishment to Transportation, sending him across the world to Australia to live out his remaining days as far away from England as possible...

Ever since the charges that had been brought against Rylan were dismissed, he had been waiting for the meeting that would decide what the planet did regarding Laria. It had been a month since the dismissal, and the various leaders had been unable to contact anyone off world. The population of the planet was divided on what they should do, some wanted to ignore what had happened and just carry on as usual. While the other group wanted to build a ship so they could return to Laria and discover what had happened there, a desire that Rylan shared.

The technician knew that the only way he would be able to find out what happened would be to participate in the meeting. Unfortunately for him that required him to be present, his voice would not be heard if he didn’t show up. The rest of the population was not expected to be there, they had other options to be able to cast their vote...