As the craft sailed through the stars, Rylan kept to himself whenever he could despite having made a few friendships among the crew. Since there were plenty in the group who thought he had sabotaged the platform the captain kept him from any real duties. So he tended to keep himself busy using the gym equipment that had been unpacked once the ship exited the atmosphere. He was getting dressed after an intense workout when he heard the captain’s announcement. “We will be dropping into the Latrian system in an hour. Once there it should take another couple of hours to enter planetary orbit. Landing crew report to shuttle bay one to prepare.”

Rylan smiled as he quickly finished getting dressed and then promptly reported to the shuttle bay. It had taken two and a half weeks to get to the first stop on the journey. When he arrived at the shuttle bay, he was greeted by Marcus, who still distrusted the technician...

I love crafting stories. It is a transcendent experience for me, to craft tales that people genuinely enjoy reading. Unfortunately, keeping up the pace I that I want to is not always entirely smooth sailing. I knew there would be plenty of small expenses to keep this dream alive and I fully embrace them. But for anyone who has found my site and enjoyed my collection of flash fiction, short stories, reviews, thoughts and musings, I will ask you to consider helping me to keep the lights on and the content coming...

Harrison & Sylvia is finally ready for publication. The particular journey has been a long yet wondrous one. Ever since these characters sprang to life in my mind, their stories have been lurking in my mind just waiting for me to transcribe them. And now that I have finished penning these tales I will be publishing these twelve short stories once a month throughout the year. These stories will detail the lives of Harrison and Sylvia and how they meet. Come read the beginning of their journey...

Bethany was having an outstanding day, soaking in the last moments of her family’s beach vacation. On their final day, she took one last walk along the shoreline. Bethany took comfort as the waves lapped up against her legs and the salt-laden wind nipped at her unbound hair. It felt like the world was holding its breath, precious and fleeting, when her bare foot stepped on something hard. Heart racing, she bent down and unearthed whatever her foot had struck.

When the object broke through the wet sand, her breath caught as she found a pair of sunglasses. The frames were unusual but absolutely striking. She lifted the solid frames from the sand, letting the incoming waves wash away the clinging grit. She glanced around the empty beach, then peered through her prize to see if they fit. When her vision didn’t blur, she smiled, enjoying the beautiful view through the tinted lenses.

She rubbed the lenses dry with the edge of her shirt before she put them on again. She turned to walk back towards her parents and noticed a strange man off to her right...

As Crucible of Gold came to a close, the British detachment led by Laurence and Temeraire managed to help appease the Tswana dragons by claiming the French dragon transports, the Polonaise and the Maréchal, allowing them to go home. After that Laurence was approached by Gong Su, Temeraire’s cook that Laurence hired way back during the events of Black Powder War. The cook revealed himself to be a servant of Prince Mianning, the heir-apparent to China. He presented a letter to Laurence and suggested that Laurence should return to visit his adoptive father to discuss Napoleon’s ongoing conquest. And of course Hammond, ever looking to improve the relations between China and Brittain agreed that they should go.

Now with everything that Laurence and Temeraire have gone through, it is hard to imagine what Naomi Novik might put them through in Blood of Tyrants. However within moments of cracking the book the new struggles are painted vividly as Laurence awakens on shores of Japan with no knowledge of himself...

Tarian marched through the dense forest, his detachment trailing behind. Upon entering a small clearing, Tarian retrieved his radio. “Everyone on me, I’ve found a clearing, and I want to regroup.” As a series of confirmations rang out, he switched his radio to another channel as he leaned against a tree. “Kel, has your team found anything?”

“No luck in our sector,” Keldon said, his voice weary, “I think it’s time to call the search.”

“Negative, we need to keep looking, Kel.” Tarian pushed off the tree and peered through the foliage, catching hints of his people...

Once upon a time, two neighborhood friends, a boy and a girl, spent every free moment playing in the woods behind their homes, even when snow-covered. The forest felt far more familiar than home, thanks to their countless hours spent there. Its silent beauty always hid a faint, mysterious edge beneath the snow. Their parents only had one rule regarding this favored playground. They had to stay close to their homes.

Unfortunately, today, both children pushed the boundaries of their familiar domain with excessive zeal. While they were investigating, they eventually came across a stream flowing through their snow-topped forest playground. The girl turned toward her friend. “Where did this stream come from..

Marcus let his eyes drop to the vast array of sensors for the colonization ship. He had gone through these checks numerous times before, and they were always the same when the ship was coming to a new planet. When the great ship entered the system, the long-range sensors had registered five planets in this system. Of those five planets, one was too close to the sun to support life, while three were gas giants. But the second sphere from the sun was the only suitable planet for colonization, so the ship automatically set a course for the world. When they got close enough the ship’s sensors indicated that the surface wouldn’t need to be terraformed, which was a pleasant change from the last three planets.

Now that the ship was entering planetary orbit, the loneliness of the bridge was being erased with a vengeance. The ship’s automation was only designed to operate during the long stretches of space between planets...

Rylan looked at everyone around him, they were preparing for the launch of the ship. They had been training vigorously for the last three weeks since no one had any idea what to expect, so those who had been volunteered for the mission were being readied for anything. Those in charge had even decided to alter the purpose of the mission, slightly. Their primary goal was still to discover what had happened on Laria but it was decided that to help prepare those on the mission that they should investigate two planets that were on the way to the Larian system.

So two worlds were chosen, Latria and Medicia. Thanks to the comprehensive Larian library they were able to plot to each planet. Also thanks to the library they knew where each platform was located just in case the lack of communication was more than just an inherent system failure. Which was a thought that Rylan was being forced to abandon with each passing day...

After reading the first issue of Jonathin Quackup of the Planet Weralt, I was eager to pick up the next book in the series. But I wanted to wait and savor these books like an excellent steak. So I waited to read the second book and instead thumbed through the first book multiple times to extract all the beauty and depth of that book. Yet it was time to move onto the second book in the series. So I opened the book on my Surface Book and found a comfortable place to consume the story and artwork.

Just like the first book, the second one was intriguing, and it captured my attention. Letting my eyes soak up the cover my mind was ready for action and my mind was prepared for the promise of knightly action...

Pausing backstage, Ryan pulled the bagged letter out of his coat. Forensics had examined the thing already, but he never wanted to contaminate the evidence. He quickly reread the mismatched letters, yearning for some new insight. Unfortunately, it revealed nothing new. Ryan considered the morning’s private courier delivery to the station. However, a fellow detective had identified it as another dead end.

Despite coming up empty, a bomb threat kept his investigation alive. The top brass considered this to be a top priority, given the percentage of the precinct pulled into the frantic search. By the time he arrived on the scene, the initial search had already been performed, revealing nothing. However, the note specified where they searched and when the bomb was to detonate. The letter additionally forbade the police from evacuating the site or nearby structures. Failure to comply would cause a premature detonation...

Once upon a time, a young girl woke on Christmas morning, a broad grin stretching across her face as she bolted from her bed. She flew down the stairs, stopping before the glittering Christmas tree. The little girl ignored the presents under the tree, locking her gaze on the hanging stockings packed with goodies. She picked up her stocking and found a thread trailing from its edge into a nearby closet.

She eased the door open and followed the thread inside. Her intuition told her she’d reach the opposite wall, but the space stretched on, as if no end existed. Her mind was befuddled when her foot stepped into a puddle. She kneeled and confirmed the water was real...

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 spotted a lot of the people wearing a black armband with a series of red dots running along the center of it. The child shifted her gaze from the metallic corridors of her home to her mother’s left arm and found the identical band on it. “Mommy, why’s everyone wearing the same armband?”

Cassandra halted and then took a knee so she could look into her daughter’s eyes. “Our matriarch is sick, Samantha...