May 1, 2015
A couple of sneak peeks as I ready the eBook editions of the Recon Team draft.
April 27, 2015
The Human Legion Recon Team is recruiting now… [Update: the Recon Team is now operational and closed to new members for this book, but if you add your name below, I’ll add you to the list of interested people for the next book. Thanks.] Renegade Legion, the third Human Legion book is nearly ready for beta readers. Because I spent twenty years arranging beta teams for (relatively) dull corporate database software, I’ve decided it would be more fun to call this a Recon Team. What’s it all about? Recon Team volunteers help by scouting ahead for hazards and highlighting dangers in an early draft of the forthcoming book. If you read a passage and it makes you whistle, curse, or […]
April 26, 2015
Dreams of Victory —A short story from the worlds of the Human Legion — SPOILER ALERT! THIS STORY IS SET BETWEEN THE EVENTS OF BOOK2: INDIGO SQUAD AND BOOK3: RENEGADE LEGION. DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE FINISHED INDIGO SQUAD. Know your enemy. Learn his weaknesses. Use them to crush him. Marine Laban Caccamo closed his eyes and fed a recorded image of his Navy opponent directly into his brain. As he stared at his adversary, he filled his mind with fantasies of victory. Long ago, back when Hecht had been Caccamo’s best friend – before promotions had torn the super-diligent lance sergeant away – the two of them had fiercely competed for everything: girls, food, cards, Scendence, shooting, sprints, endurance contests, […]
April 22, 2015
I wrote the last scene today in Renegade Legion. Not the one that goes at the end (I wrote that last month) but the last one to be written. Now I’m running through some sections that need readjusting or reconnecting for consistency (Such as the dialogue from a character who died in a battle a hundred pages earlier. Oops! That’s just plain disrespectful). And another full read-through. Then I’ve got to lay it out. So still plenty of work before I’m ready to put it out on beta (though I’m hopeful that could be next week) but today is definitely a milestone. Expect posts aplenty in the coming days on betas, trailers, sales, and maybe a short story from a character we’ve […]
April 17, 2015
I’ve been quiet these past few weeks. I have half-written several short stories, Infopedia entries aplenty, all sorts to say and discuss, but I’ve had my head down getting the last few scenes written for the third Human Legion book. I’m aiming to hit that milestone next Tuesday: 95,000 words of action, surprises, tragedy, and maybe a little romance. And plenty of dead fish. I will then give it another round of consistency checks and editing before offering it out to any beta readers who are generous enough to offer to help take a look and tell me all the things I’ve got wrong :-). More on beta reading very soon. But not today because today I’m too angry. It’s […]
March 20, 2015
Trial of a Traitor —A short story from the worlds of the Human Legion — SPOILER ALERT! THIS STORY IS SET BETWEEN THE EVENTS OF BOOK2: INDIGO SQUAD AND BOOK3: RENEGADE LEGION. DON’T READ UNLESS YOU’VE FINISHED INDIGO SQUAD. His reflection in the mirror held a noble countenance with aquiline nose, and thick white eyebrows that hinted at the deep wisdom behind a grizzled brow – the kind of wisdom that can only be accumulated over years of experience. A sharp contrast to his accusers. Yes, Ensign Dock decided, he would be tolerably presentable for what he expected to be his final public appearance. He stepped away from the bulkhead mirror and rummaged in his locker for his wardrobe’s pièce […]
March 20, 2015
Coming soon… Thanks for your patience while I write the third book in the series. Here’s a quick progress update: so far I’ve written 75,000 words out of an estimated 95,000. Now, that probably sounds like I’m 78% through, but writing novels doesn’t work that way. (Not for me, in any case). Those 75,000 words still need a lot of knocking into shape. On the other hand, other than a few remaining questions about the penultimate chapter, I know exactly what happens in detail throughout the book. It’s just (!) a question of crafting the scenes in the best way. So the remainder of the book will be relatively quick to write. I mentioned a while back that I’ll be […]
February 15, 2015
In a galaxy without the convenience of faster-than-light travel, why bother contacting less technologically advanced species at all? Part of the reason in the Human Legion universe is revealed in a new series of articles in the Classified Military Data section, which I’ve reproduced for your convenience here… Category: Politics & History ==Pre-Contact Earth ==ATTENTION! This article was last updated 2572 A.D. and needs to be rewritten in light of recent events.== Earth before contact with aliens: a serene jewel blissfully unaware it was about to be plucked. Well, hardly! It’s easy for us today to believe that Earth was a pastoral idyll before humanity’s first contact with intelligent alien species. We still know little of certainty about that Contact […]
February 4, 2015
Welcome to the first humanlegion.com exclusive story. You can go straight to the first post here. My Extended Death —A serialized novelette from the worlds of the Human Legion— Part 6 In ser last moments outside the Nest, Sentwali activated the throat mike slaved to the battlesuit’s comms unit. Via the transmitter miles above at Betoto Parc, sie sent ser final words to ser pup and, if it was inclined to listen, civilization at large. ——— Dearest Keligomo. My pup. I never told you I joined the crowd watching you board your transport. Never told you how proud I feel that you became a soldier. You are the reason I am here now and I thank you for that. Somewhere, […]
February 3, 2015
Welcome to the first humanlegion.com exclusive story. My Extended Death is told from the perspective of an alien narrator. I’m going to serialize this story over 6 days (at around 17:00 GMT/ UTC) , and then post the lot as a sequence of linked pages. So you can tune in each day or wait until the end and read the lot in one go. (Or neither, of course 🙂 ) You can go straight to the first post here. My Extended Death —A serialized novelette from the worlds of the Human Legion— Part 5 Metamorphosis rebuilds brain and body – as well as creating two fresh pups, of course – but, even before the Dreamtime, the first onset of pregnancy […]