Shards Universe

What you see before you is your gateway into the Shards Universe. It is composed of short stories, novellas, novels, and an ever growing body of research. While the characters, events, and technologies are fictional, reality is in the details. Although the planets man will settle in this Universe are fictional, the stars themselves are accurate in location, distance and class. For the true science fiction buff, there is a cornucopia of hidden accuracies.

And yet, for the newly initiated science fiction reader, or even for the casual reader, you will discover a Shards Universe filled with believable characters, engaging relationships, heart breaking tragedy and exciting action. And while the short stories may occasionally have a sad or bittersweet ending, in the novels, good always wins over the bad.

Opus in Red is now restored to its complete length. A veteran of the Terran/Martian wars observes the 50th anniversary of its ending. But not all who served were heroes.

Troublemaker is now restored to its complete length. This one is both exciting and heartbreaking. It also opens the beginning of a very distant, very significant time in mankind's existence. Set in the 32nd Century, it focuses on Renee Goletsuki, a favorite of mine, which will be reflected in the many stories I hope to write about her.

A Piñata For Juanita is now restored to its complete length. A novella three chapters in length, it is both an excellent snapshot of the Shards Universe over eight centuries as well as a moving, bittersweet story in its own right. It takes awhile to read, but I promise you it is well worth the effort.

BIG NEWS! The time has come for me to make an effort to "make it mainstream". Starting with Redeeming The Plumb, I'm going to begin the long journey of finding a literary agent and seeing if I can make it in the world of mass market.

What does this mean? It means that even after I finish Redeeming The Plumb, there will probably be a period of time before it comes out. A year or maybe two. It's hard to say. When it DOES come out, however, it'll hopefully be in wide, wide market.

What about Double Dragon? I love being associated with Double Dragon. I wish them all the best and FULLY intend to remain with them. In the ideal world, DDP will continue to carry all my titles, present and future, in ebook form. They've given me their blessing and understanding in letting me search for an agent and make a try at mass market. Regardless of what happens, I will always consider myself a Double Dragon author, and I'm going to do everything in my power to stay with them even while I spread my wings and take the next step toward mainstream. Your continued support of DDP is a nice way to add to that support.

NEWS! As always, Ravencon was a blast. Many thanks to Allen Wold for having me on his writing workshop for a second year. There were far fewer attendees than the room-packed crowd we had last year, so we were able to spend more time with each writer.

And thanks to Tee Morris for letting me participate in the Monacan High School writers program. I had the joy of teaching a number of the English classes and the Creative Writing class the ins and outs of creating and critiquing fiction.

Coming up: Balticon 42, in just a few weeks. Held at the Marriott in Hunt Valley, this four day con is sure to be a lot of fun. It doesn't look like I'll have a table, but I will have my books along with me. Just ask for a copy and I'll head to our room and get you one.

After Balticon? It looks empty until the fall at the moment. I'm looking over the possibility of padding my convention schedule some, though. Now that the Angel Of St. Thomas web comic is out - it launched to a Tuesday/Thursday posting schedule on January 1, 2008 (TELL YOUR FRIENDS!) - I'll be looking at some anime and web comic conventions to attend as well. At the moment, for the 2008-2009 convention season, I'll be making an effort to attend Albacon (Oct), SheVaCon (Feb 2009), Ravencon, and Balticon 43. I'm still deciding about Philcon, Arisia and I-Con. And I'm looking at Trinoc coN, MarsCon, Capclave, Katsucon, Otakon, Nekkocon, AnimeMidAtlantic, and a couple others. Let me know if you have any favorites!

Redeeming The Plumb UPDATE: *bleh* Soooo.... slooooowww... I've got to admit it: I've been in a writing slump for a while now. This stupid book is 154 pages along (about 45k word length so far) and I've hit a wall. I know what's on the other side of the wall. And I SO want to get there, because it'll be downhill once I get there. But I'm still trying to breach that wall. It's time to stop putting it off and simply start writing/erasing crap ideas until something good springs from the fertilizer... One of the most frustrating things about writing Redeeming the Plumb is that it's my best and favorite work so far. Because of that, I want to get it perfect, which is keeping me from making the mistakes I need to find the best course.

INSIDE THE STORY: As in more than a few of my shorts and novels, I slip in friends' names as a kind of thank you to them for their enthusiasm. There's one name already in there, and I'm putting in another in the second half.

SHARDS

Book One

John Wyeth was a successful man. At nineteen, he graduated at the top of his class at a respected university. By the age of twenty-two, he had survived three brutal years of warfare, serving as commanding officer for a behind-the-lines reconnaissance platoon. Now at thirty-one, he was the Senior Project Leader for the super secret think tank NATech, and he was very good at what he did. Everyone knew and no one doubted that within a few years he would be the Director.

And then he was killed.

Sort of.

SHARDS

Book Two

At the age of sixteen, Abigail Wyeth was thirty-three years old.

Born in the twentieth century, she now lived in the twenty-seventh. Having "died" in 2026 at the age of thirty-one, she was saved from all that and her memories restored in 2676. She had a new name, a new identity, new friends and a bright life ahead of her. All that remained of her past were the training and experiences of her original life…

…and the piercing shards of her false personas that were slowly destroying her mind.

SHARDS

Book Three

Abigail Wyeth was alone. Terribly, horribly alone.

Her friends lay dead. Her new life was destroyed; nothing more than a smoldering crater in the Sahara. She herself lay on the desert sands, seriously wounded and bleeding, utterly alone.

Alone with her thoughts.

The thoughts of a dozen false personas. Six and half centuries of despair, her mind controlled, programmed, used, by others. Thoughts no longer hers. Thoughts that were destroying her mind, racing her toward an inevitable, agonizing death.

SHARDS

Book Four

In this, the final book, Abigail Wyeth has reached the very bottom of her life. There is nowhere to go but up.

And up is where she goes. As things begin to finally, happily come together - her mind as well as her life - there still remains one thing left to do that may yet destroy her:

Face an entity that has survived for six centuries and will do anything - has done everything - to remain in existence and dominate Earth.

PROMISE TIDE

In a world dominated by humans, only the last Pisces can save them.

It is the early 25th Century. A century earlier, Earth had been a thriving planet of eight billion people. Now, with billions emigrating to other planets and a war with Mars that had cost another half-billion lives only thirty years past, Earth’s civilization stands on the brink of collapse.

The Pisces people were genetically altered humans who could breathe both air and water, had incredible strength, keen senses, and above all, a Purpose. Now only Promise Tide remains. And the Purpose to which her people gave their lives.

TAU

Sixteen years have passed since Promise Tide and Christine DuPries united the factions combating NATech into a cohesive unit know simply as the Resistance.

But now the Unbreathable is seeking to find and destroy the Groundfather, the human responsible for the creation of the Pisces three centuries earlier. The Groundfather must be found and saved!

And the two women must hurry before the traitor hidden deep inside the Resistance strikes...

HORIZONS

Winner of the 2003 Draco Award.

"HORIZONS is spot-on. It is written with a style and grace I would expect with someone of 20 years of writing under their belt, effortlessly blending scenes and dialog to weave a complete tapestry.
The characterization is flawless, the imagination untethered... great!"

Evo Terra - The Dragon Page
KFYI 550 AM - Phoenix, AZ

The Science of Magic

Consisting of ten short stories connected by a common thread of race capability, The Science of Magic covers the 110 year span (2950 - 2060) between the "birth" of the homo Magicus (Marks) race and the first trip by a Marks person to Earth.