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At The Bright Empire....
geekseven wrote:
brantley wrote: Belated post here (the story was actually uploaded May 4) drew 62 hits May 6, versus only 12 the day before. So I guess I do have fans at SWM, even if they never comment.
--Brantley
There's definitely an audience of folks who read but don't post. Whenever I link to one of my Kindle books on SWM, even as an aside, I get a little bump in sales, even if no-one says anything.
Or ghosts. It might be ghosts, I suppose.
If its Kindle, then it's ghosts with a credit card. If its a free no-membership site, then it could be worms (bots).
Shadar
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But while editing Part Three, which centers on Jana and Kevin Galton, first in hiding and then on the run, it occurred to me that I also needed to focus more on their relationship. They've both played the field in the past; sex has been an adventure. But now they have only each other – they have to bond, both to survive and to keep their sanity in face of all that is happening on Tazzi, where they don't even know for sure what is going on because they aren't part of an inner circle, and are helpless to influence events.
www.brightempire.com/First-1.pdf
Of course, they don't even know anything about Mal'kar Klen besides what has appeared on the news feeds, and have no idea that he has seduced Vespyr. Even she hasn't told the whole story yet in Book Two – hopefully Shadar will come through with that, but I've made a few changes to the opening scenes to clarify the basic situation in the aftermath as a chastened Vespyr sets forth on her mission to Velor.
www.brightempire.com/First-2.pdf
--Brantley
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www.brightempire.com/behind_stories.htm
One consequence of the fact that Kevin and Vespyr don't knew the truth about each other is that it changes the equation between Kevin and Jana. Their closer romantic attachment is a matter of not only opportunity but necessity: they are on the lam, under assumed names, and dare not trust or confide in anyone else. Of course, if their dire situation changes, so may their relationship....
--Brantley
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More of "Delphic Obstacles" today. Peter Durgin and Sirren (Jewel) have become an item, and have shared their true names as well as their bodies with each other. But because they have proved their worth to the Begglestrom family during an enemy attack on the family compound, Jonah and his wife Leica want to do right by them. That could mean a bright future for the couple, even if it means arduous work for now. Meanwhile, there is the mystery of just where the atttack came from...
Also fixed a link to "Blind Justice," to which "Delphic Obstacles" is a sequel, in The High Cruel Years.
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It's always summer on Alguna Parte, but it's spring here, and time for another installment of Walking Tall. Patricia Ortiz, home on leave from the Velorian Legion, has saved the Garcia family and the informer Tomas Oriol from attack by a gang apparently sent by the same well-connected businessman who had her Uncle Teo murdered. But she and her kin still have to get the goods on him, and face a threat from an Aurean in his employ. It may be more than she can handle on her own, but can they get Velorian help?
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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Rebooting "Passion Play" today. I thought I'd had done with it last October, but taking a new look I can see obvious things wrong with it. The most obvious was having taken the scenes of the day Alisa Kim'Vallara's daughter Lillith Liddell is initiated as a Protector and putting them in a separate story, "Options," which I have now killed. For some reason, I'd lost track of a draft that had to do with Ari'jis Zor'el's career after Alisa embarrassed him by recruiting him as Sponsor for her own initiation and then leaving him holding the bag; their reconciliation after Velor offers her amnesty is now part of the story, and he has a new role to play besides bringing word to her at Kelsor 7. Other minor changes are in the interest of greater continuity, while keeping references to events fully told elsewhere to a minimum. Yet it's still necessary to go into greater detail regarding events and revelations told here for the first time. Both new material and reminiscences are necessary to convey the overall story arc of Alisa's life.
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www.brightempire.com/Rocky.pdf
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Things are heating up in more ways than one on Delphi in "Delphic Obstacles." Having inadvertently saved the Begglestroms from attack, Peter Durgin and the Aurean Sirren (Jewel) have become lovers and have also been taken into the confidence of their hosts – who have come here in hopes of striking it rich on xintanite, the key element in the manufacture of Vendorian steel. But like Peter and Sirren, Jonah Begglestrom has a past he is trying to escape – a past that threatens the very lives of himself and his wife and family. As the official investigation of the attack stalls, time may be running out... This update includes new picts and edits to the previous text as well as the new scenes.
--Brantley
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I've just posted two more chapters of Walking Tall, introducing a new romantic complication that involves a police sketch artist, and leads into a court hearing in which the Garcia family is defending its homestead and business -- but which is also a setup in its investigation of the murder of its patriarch Teo. But the center of the story is still the returned Velorian Legionnaire Patricia Ortiz, stepdaughter of Teo, who wants to root out the corruption that has overtaken her community and bring its perpetrators to justice. The new chapters end with a cliffhanger, but I think this will be the last before I wrap up the story.
--Brantley Thompson Elkins
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Heart of Darkness was begun by Shadar in 1995. It was one of a number of the stories from his Sharon Best days, including Little Firebug and Dark Supergirl – both now archived here at Superwomenmania -- that defined what is now often called Aurora Universe 2.
But Heart of Darkness was the only one to be continued after I came along. I had begun collaborating with him in early 2003 on completing the story, but that effort was aborted after our update had appeared that March – just before Sharon Best took his vacation, returning as Shadar a few months later.
Off and on since then, I’ve made edits and additions on and off the boards to the 2003 text, with Tarot Barnes also taking part. Some changes have to do making Avalon National Laboratory part of the structure of the Army weapons research system, others with strengthening the backstory. I came up with Engelbrecht, as a malevolent counterpart to Jim Caultron; and Klimenko as a decent man who could come to the aid of Allan and Keith plus an enhanced account of Vickers and the Arion Prime Alya. It was Tarot who figured out how Karalyn should be revived.
It’s been over 20 years since the original conception, and 13 years since the last version at the old Velorian.org site, to which Shadar has recently made substantial edits relating to Caultron’s character in the first part of the story. But there may still be readers out there who long to revisit the AU2 of yesteryear. This version of Heart of Darkness is for them.
-- Brantley Thompson Elkins
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brantley wrote: www.brightempire.com/Heart.pdf
Heart of Darkness was begun by Shadar in 1995. It was one of a number of the stories from his Sharon Best days, including Little Firebug and Dark Supergirl – both now archived here at Superwomenmania -- that defined what is now often called Aurora Universe 2.
But Heart of Darkness was the only one to be continued after I came along. I had begun collaborating with him in early 2003 on completing the story, but that effort was aborted after our update had appeared that March – just before Sharon Best took his vacation, returning as Shadar a few months later.
Off and on since then, I’ve made edits and additions on and off the boards to the 2003 text, with Tarot Barnes also taking part. Some changes have to do making Avalon National Laboratory part of the structure of the Army weapons research system, others with strengthening the backstory. I came up with Engelbrecht, as a malevolent counterpart to Jim Caultron; and Klimenko as a decent man who could come to the aid of Allan and Keith plus an enhanced account of Vickers and the Arion Prime Alya. It was Tarot who figured out how Karalyn should be revived.
It’s been over 20 years since the original conception, and 13 years since the last version at the old Velorian.org site, to which Shadar has recently made substantial edits relating to Caultron’s character in the first part of the story. But there may still be readers out there who long to revisit the AU2 of yesteryear. This version of Heart of Darkness is for them.
-- Brantley Thompson Elkins
This sound like a story in and of itself and I'm still interested in seeing what tha AU2 can produce
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www.brightempire.com/Walking.htm
Patricia will find romance in the finale, probably some time next month. .
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Turns out that name goes back to the 10th Century, when the Rus were converted to Greek Orthodoxy, and is a variation of the Greek Xenia; it is best known today because Mikhail Sholokov used it for the heroine of his novel And Quiet Flows the Don. (Oxana is a more recent variation in Ukraine.)
The ancestors of the Velorians in Sweden were related to and presumably still in contact with the Rus before they were abducted by the Galen, One or more of the Rus might even have gone back for a visit, and gotten caught up, so... Anyway, I figure I'll use the name for a Velorian in Walking Tall. Shadar thinks it might be interesting to have a Velorian looking for her Rus roots,
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brantley wrote: Made a few revisions to the Walking Tall cliffhanger chapter break, to tie in with what I have in mind for the next chapter.
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I'm ashamed to admit that I'd forgotten about the "Brazilian" Supergirl stories. They were probably my favorite of yours.
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