2009 - 2012
I have recently started converting my published works as eBooks, available from Amazon and Smashwords (among others).
SCOUT
Appears in Asimov's, June 2012
Created: April 2011 Sold: November 2011, Words: 5,500
SCOUT is another chapter in my series of war with the mysterious Shardies that originally appeared in Bright Red Star and continued in Glass Box, and Cybermarine. These stories involve the brutal steps humanity has to take to survive the aliens' implacable advance.
Although framed as dealing with conflict in a military setting, these three grim stories revolve around questions of morality and the ethical underpinnings as well as survival and what it really means to be human.
DISTANT SEAS
November 2010
Distant Seas is a compilation of stories arranged as a novel. I added a preface and lead-in so the first story would make more sense. The first and last stories appeared in Baen's Universe (see below) while the center pieces appeared in Analog and elsewhere. Some of these were combined with other Jupiter stories in DANCING WITH DRAGONS, altho parts of this were rewritten for the novel version.
I did this mostly to get my feet wet in ebooks and offered the mash-up at a reasonable (actually ridiculous) price to see what would happen. If successful I might do a POD to have something for the brag shelf.
CYBERMARINE
Appears in Defending the Future, December 2010
Created: December 2009 Sold: February 2010, Words: 5,500
CyberMarine is the third story of the Shardie campaign and describes how the protagonist of Bright Red Star was created, altho he is a different individual. As I am writing these stories the concepts of the Shardie war and the sacrifices humanity must make are becoming clearer in my mind. Eventually I might write the complete story, but not yet, not while it is still in its nascent stage of development.
THE OLD MAN'S BEST
Appeared in Analog, May 2011
Available at Abyss & Apex
Created: Sept 2004 - June 2010 Sold: August 2010, Words: 5,600
Allen Steele and I participated in a Worldcon panel on Beer in Space during which hilarity reigned as puns flew across the panel. Although some of us were prepared with facts these did not get in the way of a lively exchange of ideas. The one I came away with was that gas would be a huge problem. I played with this story on and off the years but could never generate enough enthusiasm to complete it until I caught something on thew web about the Japanese brewing low alcohol beer from soy. Click, and the story sort of wrote itself from there - after which Jerry Oltion's sage advice and corrections eliminated many of my erroneous assumptions about the difficulties to be encountered in following such a simple process.
ASTRONOMICAL DISTANCE, GEOLOGICAL TIME
Appeared in Analog, March 2011
Created: September 2009 Sold: March 2010, Words: 4,000
While driving through the west I was impressed by the geological formations and their representation of Earth's ages. At the same time I considered that when some of these strata were being created the light now reaching us had just left some of the stars. That thought led to examine what stars that might be and how the distance in time was equivalent to the distance in space.
The story was written to reflect my research, but also to convey the immense time and distances involved. Depressingly, it also illustrated that without FTL we probably will never leave our tiny, tiny neighborhood.
I should also note that this story would not have been possible were it not for the invaluable help provided by Dr. Michael Brotherton at the University of Montana.
TEN WINKS TO FOREVER
Appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show #17, June 2010
Available at Intergalactic Medicine Show
Created: February 2010 Sold: April 2010, Words: 5,900
A neat little relativistic thought occured to me while writing ASTRONOMICAL DISTANCE so I quickly sketched out this story and later edited in the story of the poor bastard who took that fatal first step to the stars and then let his emotions and curiousity get the better of him. I wrote this story to convey a sense of the immense distances between the stars and the time it would take, given our relativistic universe, to travel among them. This immensity was brought home to me when I wondered what starlight now reaching us had started out when various geologic layers were formed. I threw in a few ideas about human development and differentiation due to science and environment to indicate the passage of time and then tried to personalize the ideas by focusing on a few individuals affected by winking..
TORTUOUS PATH
Appeared in Abyss and Apex, April 2010
Available at Abyss & Apex
Created: September 2008 Sold: June 2009, Words: 8,000
Tortuous Path is the tale of a young boy approaching puberty and the decision he faces. The tale takes place on an interstellar ship under the control of the Order, of which the protagonist is an acolyte and whose friend is destined for greater things, or so he thinks. The story is also about the clash of technology and tradition.
ENCOUNTER IN A YELLOW WOOD
Appeared in: Analog, March 2010, pg 45
Created: January 2009 Sold: April 2009, Words: 5,000
Encounter in a Yellow Wood arose from a pair of articles in Discover Magazine. The first dealt with phytoremediation as a solution to cleaning up hazardous waste sites while the latter was one on emulating the hydrostatic action of trees with micropipettes. Pairing the two and throwing in a little genetic tinkering, the conflict between preservationists and environmentalists, and mixing these two with a reunited pair of former lovers seemed to make a decent tale.
Postscript: The copyediting of this story was so screwed up that the editor published, in the June 2010 issue, a public apology and, with my permission, placed a corrected copy on the Analog website so readers would not feel cheated.
NO CORD OR CABLE
Appeared in Abyss and Apex, April 2009
Available at Abyss & Apex
Created November 2008 Sold: January 2009 Words: 8,200
No Cord or Cable is a short version of a much longer novelette that had far too many characters and details. The story is basically a retelling of Hamlet, albiet somewhat changed by the circumstance of society and history.
Throughout the story I tried to impart a baroque feeling to the society and the formal modes of speech, most clearly evidenced by Doctor Zg's conversational style. I also wanted to include the scientific view of the growth of the universe from nothingness through expansion, and fading into the infinite long night of heat death - all of which were metaphors for the protagonist's family.
The title comes from Robert Burton's oft-quoted "No cord or cable can so forcibly draw, or hold so fast, as love can do with a twined thread."
THE GLASS BOX
Appeared in So It Begins, January 2009 pg 157
Created July 2007 Sold: May 2008 Words: 5,000
The Glass Box is a grim little tale of one battle in the war with the Shardies that started with Bright Red Star (see below). In this case there is a more compelling reason to rescue a survivor and learn what she knows.
The morality at play in this story and the question it raises is whether truth really matters in the face of adverse circumstances, or even if it matters.
THE WINDS OF MARS
Appeared in Baen's Universe, June 2009 (Also available at Fictionwise
Created February 2008 Sold: July 2007 Words: 23,500
The Winds of Mars is the final novella in the Three Planet Sailing series that started with The Super, followed by Pumpkin, Primrose and Thorn, and Primrose Rescue back to back as a continuous narrative.
Winds was a challenge of physics in trying to figure out how you could sail on a dry, dusty place with almost no atmosphere such as Mars. Interestingly enough I discovered that not only was it possible, but actually designed a craft that could accomplish this feat.
I composed most of this story in my head since my right hand was in a cast for two months.