It’s finally time to debut that new Troubleshooter content I promised a while back for my Patreon Original Fiction tier! It took longer than expected, but I’m trying something new here, and I wanted to put extra care into it.
Starting today, I’m publishing a 5-part serial, Guardian Angel, focusing on Only Superhuman supporting character Koyama Hikari/Troubleshooter Tenshi. In hopes of attracting new readers, I’m offering Chapter 1 to all Patreon subscribers at the $1 level and above, while the remaining four monthly installments will be at the usual $10 Original Fiction level. As usual, the story comes with annotations at the $12 Behind the Scenes tier. Here are the links:
Guardian Angel is actually the self-contained B plot of a planned second Troubleshooter novel (still untitled), but since I’d run out of original material to post on Patreon, I decided to write and publish it as a standalone serial, thereby getting half the novel out of the way while keeping my Patreon alive a while longer. The story picks up a lingering thread from Only Superhuman, but everything the reader needs to know is explained within the serial.
Kari/Tenshi is a character I’ve always been fond of and wanted to do more with, and I felt the tragic backstory I gave her in Only Superhuman was rich with potential. However, now that I’m much more familiar with Japanese culture from my years of watching tokusatsu and other Japanese TV/film, I find that my portrayal of Kari in OS feels a bit naive in retrospect, based on somewhat cliched archetypes (a Japanese heroine who’s an expert martial artist from a Yakuza background) and some inaccurate assumptions. So I wrote Guardian Angel to flesh out Kari and her cultural heritage with (hopefully) more dimension, depth, and authenticity. I even tried to capture Japanese phrasings and idioms as best I could in the scenes where characters speak or think in Japanese, “translated” into English for the readers’ benefit. Thanks to Yumiko Bendlin for consulting on Japanese language and cultural elements, and thanks to Keith R.A. DeCandido and Yoshiko Lane for getting me in touch with her.
The serial is also an opportunity to pay homage to Japanese superhero fiction, much as I’ve done in my Tangent Knights audio novel series. Tangent Knights was an attempt to do for tokusatsu superheroes what Only Superhuman had done for American superhero fiction, to homage it and justify it within a scientifically plausible setting (although TK is for a young adult audience and above, while the Troubleshooter series is for mature readers). It seemed natural enough to use Tenshi as a vehicle for bringing the same kind of homage into the Troubleshooter universe.
My hope is that this serial will generate enough interest to bring in more subscribers for my Patreon. The more readers I gain, the more motivated I’ll be to write more content in the future. So please consider giving this first chapter a try by signing on at the $1 level or above.
Over the past month, I’ve been tooling along pretty well writing Arachne’s Legacy, the third book in my Arachne series — or so I thought. I’ve been focusing on just one of the book’s two parallel plotlines, since I often find it easier to write the A and B plots separately so I don’t have to keep shifting my mindset between them. As of early last week, I was getting close to the climax of this first plotline (I’m not sure whether to call it A or B, since they’re pretty equal), thinking about how to bring it all together… and I realized I’d been so focused on just moving through the outline and putting words to the page that I’d overlooked a problem.
Specifically, my outline for this half of the story was focused so much on plot and new characters that I’d failed to work out the specifics of the returning characters’ personal arcs. I didn’t really have them going on the kind of transformative personal journeys in this book that they underwent in the previous ones, since I’d pretty much resolved their arcs in Book 2 and hadn’t given adequate thought to where they would go next.
So I put the brakes on and reevaluated the story from a more character-driven standpoint, figuring out what the returning leads’ goals and states of mind were growing out of the end of Book 2, and how that would create dilemmas or growth opportunities for them going forward. Then I did a revised draft with that in mind, reworking some scenes and adding more material. It didn’t have too great an effect on the plot structure up to that point, but it did alter a lot of the character scenes and conversations to make them more substantial, and it let me plant some seeds of character growth or conflict that I hope will pay off in the climax.
In particular, the character arcs I set up led me to realize that a few characters needed to end the book in very different places than I’d originally intended. One character has become a more active antagonist than I expected, becoming the initiator of something rather than just being convinced to go along with it. Conversely, a new character I’d put in the outline as a secondary antagonist has blossomed unexpectedly into more of a protagonist in the latter half of the storyline. This is partly because my own opinion of a key element of the story has changed since I plotted it, so I’m more sympathetic to the point of view of the character who’s questioning and challenging the main characters’ goals. It’s also because I realized I had too many new characters, so I conflated this one with a more sympathetic figure in the outline.
Even with the clarification of the characters’ personal journeys and where I intend them to end up, I’m still wrestling some with how I want the climax to play out. It turns out that when I outlined it, I didn’t take the logistics of the situation into account well enough, failing to consider the days of travel time between different locations in a planetary system, so there are matters of timing that are harder to work out than I thought. Nor did I work out specifics for what all of the relevant characters are doing in the climax and how they achieve it.
Well, I guess it’s probably not as complicated as it was to choreograph the climactic action in Arachne’s Exile, which required a whole beat-by-beat breakdown and lists and a map of the battle scene. And this climax is going to be less action-oriented than that climax, or than the climax of the novel’s other plotline, which I haven’t tackled yet. But it still hasn’t fallen into place in my mind. I made essentially no progress yesterday, since I woke up at two-something in the morning because a neighbor was having a party or something, and though I eventually got a bit more sleep, I was pretty useless all day, and I’m still lethargic today. I am inching a little closer, though. Hopefully it’ll fall into place soon.
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Meanwhile, now that I have money in the bank again, I’ve begun buying a few of the things I’ve needed for a while, like new bedsheets and a protective case for my smartphone. I’ve been using a homemade phone case that I MacGyvered from a vinyl bank book sleeve, cutting a hole at one end for the power/USB and earphone jacks. But I hesitated to cut a hole for the camera/light and risk the structural integrity of the sleeve, so I had to take the phone out of the case if I wanted to use the camera or flashlight or put it in my car mount. Also, the vinyl kept coming apart and I had to retape the edges and spine repeatedly, with clear tape overlapping the screen.
So I was glad to finally get a proper phone case. I considered one of those wallet-style ones, which would be similar to the makeshift one, but I decided to go for one of those heavy-duty drop-proof rubber cases with a metal ring on back for holding the phone or propping it up on its side. It works well, and the ring really makes the phone easier to handle. (I’ve long found it bizarre that smartphones are so poorly designed for being held in the human hand.) The case makes the phone a bit wider, so it takes a bit more effort to fit it into the bracket of the car mount, but once it’s in place, the rubber grips much better than the bare metal of the phone, so it should stay in more securely.
However, I’ve had a rougher time with the protective screen cover that came with it. I didn’t get it aligned quite right the first time, so I peeled it off and tried again, which proved a mistake, since it wasn’t as pristine afterward. Also, the very first time I dropped the phone, a corner of the screen protector cracked. At first, I wanted to complain to the makers, but I decided not to. For one thing, I didn’t want to send the whole thing back when it was just the screen protector that broke. Also, I found that replacement protectors tend to be sold in packs of 2, 3, or more, suggesting that they’re not expected to be permanent anyway. And I realized that it was probably my own fault that the thing broke. I didn’t realize it was tempered glass rather than plastic, so I probably bent it too far and weakened it when I peeled it off and put it back on repeatedly in the attempt to align it perfectly. All told, I decided it would make more sense just to buy a set of 3 replacement covers than to ask for a replacement for the whole thing from the seller.
(I also decided to make this one a pickup order delivered to the Amazon center a few blocks away, since my last couple of mail deliveries have been iffy. This’ll be my first time trying that. To make the order large enough for free shipping, I’ve also bought a new wall clock for my bathroom, since the old one died years ago.)
Still on the agenda, for when I get around to it, is buying new shoes, and also a new laptop. But right now I’m mainly focused on writing the novel, and on catching up with a bunch of shows now that I’ve subscribed to HBO Max (after putting Netflix on hold for a few months, since I still have my old stingy habits and don’t want to spend too much at once).
Oh, and I know I promised some new Patreon fiction coming up soon, but I’d like to get this half of the novel finished up first. Hopefully it won’t be much longer.
My newest Star Trek Adventures product is out, and it’s free!
Star Trek Adventures Mission Briefs: Ancient Civilizations
The Galaxy is ancient beyond easy comprehension – on the order of a million times older than Human civilization. Uncounted civilizations have risen and fallen before the dawn of recorded history of any Federation world. While most of their remains have long since vanished, many have left ruins or artifacts that endure to the present. Other ancient societies live on, wielding technologies or mental abilities vastly beyond our own, though not always in a form recognizable to us. The discovery of these ancient civilizations, or their remains, offers immense potential for advancing Federation knowledge, but comes with great peril as well.
This packet presents ten detailed mission briefs you can modify for use as adventures in your Star Trek Adventures campaigns set during the original series or any other era of play with minor modifications. Each mission brief is designed to stand alone, though several are presented with a loose connecting story arc that may be used or disregarded at the gamemaster’s discretion. They may be added to an existing campaign with minor modifications.
These Mission Briefs are a different type of campaign, short, one-page summaries that gamemasters can flesh out on their own. If you’ve bought my previous few STA adventures, you’ve seen Mission Briefs appended to them as suggested followups. Ancient Civilizations is a set of ten such briefs.
Even though the briefs are, well, brief, this was one of my most challenging STA assignments, because I had to come up with ten different adventure ideas, and ideas have always been the hardest part for me. I discuss my creative process on the Modiphius Blog:
This has turned out to be a busier week than I expected. After posting my new Troubleshooter story “Legacy Hero” on my Patreon, I figured I was free and clear to begin writing Arachne’s Legacy (whose similar title is coincidental, and indeed I only just noticed it). After I finished rereading Arachne’s Crime and Arachne’s Exile, I created the manuscript file on Monday evening… though I didn’t really add anything new until Tuesday morning, since the prologue is the short story “Comfort Zones,” which I wrote as a bonus for the duology’s Kickstarter (and reprinted on Patreon) but always intended to be the prologue of Book 3, before I knew it would be included in The Arachne Omnibus. Its inclusion will be redundant for people who have the omnibus, but necessary for those who bought the two books individually.
Anyway, on Monday night, I got an e-mail informing me that a story I wrote and submitted at the end of last year had been accepted! It’s my first sale of a “flash” story, i.e. less than 1500 words, and I’ll say more about it later. It hardly pays anything, but that’s less of a concern for me now than it was a month ago. Right now, the important thing for me is that it’s a chance to get exposure in a new market, an established magazine that will hopefully bring me some new readers.
Then on Tuesday, I got a reply about a couple of pitches I submitted to another new market, telling me they’ve been forwarded for the approval process. Nothing’s been given the go-ahead yet, but it’s a step forward.
And on Tuesday afternoon, I got something I’ve been waiting to see for a while now: the galley pages for my upcoming Analog story “Aleyara’s Descent,” which I sold nearly half a year ago. Assuming the headers and footers are accurate, the story will appear in the May/June 2023 issue of Analog, which means it should probably come out in April or thereabouts. I really feel this is a special one, and I can’t wait for people to see it at last.
So since I’ve been working on the galleys, I wasn’t able to make any progress on Arachne’s Legacy today. But I’m still figuring out how to write the next scene, reintroducing one set of the main characters and their situation. Beginnings are often the hardest parts to crack. I plan to do another proofreading pass through the “Aleyara” galleys tomorrow, and hopefully letting the book simmer for another day will help me figure it out.
Assuming, of course, that even more business doesn’t crop up in the days ahead…
Last year was a slow period for my Patreon Original Fiction tier, but I’ve been preparing some new material that will let me keep it more active over the months ahead, and hopefully bring in some new subscribers or bring back some old ones.
First up, it’s a brand new Troubleshooter story, “Legacy Hero” – a sequel to “Conventional Powers” from the Sept/Oct 2019 issue of Analog, reprinted on Patreon back in 2020. While my previous Troubleshooter stories on Patreon have been character vignettes peripheral to or expanding on parts of Only Superhuman, “Legacy Hero” is the full-fledged next installment in the Troubleshooter series, a nearly 10,000-word novelette focusing on Ekundayo DeMarais, the new Troubleshooter Corps recruit and Emerald Blair’s love interest from “Conventional Powers,” on Ekundayo’s first official Troubleshooter mission, with Emry tagging along as the Watson to her Holmes.
That’s right – “Legacy Hero” is a murder mystery, in keeping with its new protagonist’s role as a detective. When the newest Troubleshooter inherits the legacy identity of Lodestar from the Corps’s director, she also inherits the one cold case that the original Lodestar, Sol System’s greatest detective, never managed to solve: a brazen murder committed by one of three men who shared a common, impenetrable costumed identity as brutal enforcers for a police state, and who have closed ranks for six years to conceal the real killer. Can Lodestar and the Green Blaze find the one clue that will finally crack their sinister shell game?
“Legacy Hero” is available to Patreon subscribers at $10/month, and both the story and its annotations are be available at the $12 Behind the Scenes tier. And I’ll have more new Troubleshooter content over the year ahead!
I’m beginning 2023 in a much better place than I’ve been in for a while, though it’s for a regrettable reason. My late Uncle Clarence, who passed away in early 2021, was surprisingly generous to me in his will, so thanks to him — and to the diligent efforts of my cousins, the executors — I’ve finally been able to pay off the entirety of the crippling credit card debt I’ve been burdened with for more than five years now.
I fell into debt in 2017 when multiple sources of expected writing income were all simultaneously delayed far longer than anticipated. I kept being assured that one or the other would pay off soon, so I didn’t make alternate plans; and I didn’t realize how steep the monthly interest on the debt was getting, so I thought I had more time to spare than I did. Since then, the interest has been so steep that it’s cancelled out any gains I’ve been able to make, so I’ve spent the past five years basically running in place, managing to survive from gig to gig but never making enough at one time to pay down the debt to a significant degree. My GraphicAudio work over the past couple of years helped me gain some ground at last, but that’s on pause at the moment, and Star Trek prose fiction has been reduced to a handful of books a year, so I’m not sure when I might get further work from them. So I was afraid I might backslide again if I didn’t find some new gig to tide me over, and I wasn’t having much luck with that.
So I’m deeply thankful that this inheritance came when it did. I can now afford to wait until things pick up again with contract work — and more importantly, I can use the time to finally focus on some long-delayed original writing. I’m getting ready to begin the manuscript for Arachne’s Legacy, the sequel to Arachne’s Crime and Arachne’s Exile, which I’ve been meaning to get to for more than two years now but never found time for. I’ve already been working on some new Troubleshooter material in recent months, with an eye toward serializing it on my Patreon before compiling it for print, so hopefully I’ll have time to continue that as well. (Just wait, though — now that I want free time to work on my own stuff, I half-expect someone to offer me a contract assignment with a tight deadline any day now.)
It’s also a relief to be able to ease some of the austerity measures I’ve been living under for so long. Already this week, I’ve indulged myself in some better, more varied foods from the grocery store, and it’s been so refreshing to get to do that. (Although one of my current favorite foods is one I discovered while searching for the cheapest foods available: canned refried beans. They’re fantastic on a faux chili dog with chopped onions, dijon mustard, and grated cheddar.) I also have the option now to buy some stuff I need, like new shoes and shirts, a new vacuum cleaner, a new laptop, maybe even a modern TV.
Although my priority at this point is to try to build up some real savings for the future, since after spending five years teetering on the brink, I’d really like to avoid going broke again if I can. With no more interest or late fees, my monthly spending will be considerably less, so hopefully I can finally start making more per year than I spend. (Being broke is really expensive.) If I can save enough, it will give me more of a cushion to tide me over through slow times. And hopefully that will give me more freedom to devote time to expanding my catalog of original work and building a larger audience.
Moreover, being broke has exacerbated my tendency toward depression, and it’s often been a struggle to motivate myself to write. I’m hoping that being in a more comfortable place financially will make it psychologically easier to be more productive. Of course, depression is not that simple or predictable, but removing a major stressor (at least for the time being) certainly can’t hurt, and being able to afford getting some new things and varying my environment more could help. (Though it’d be easier if the pandemic weren’t still around. I’m still not willing to go to the movie theater or any crowded indoor place if I can avoid it.)
Although I want to reiterate how grateful I am to my readers. You’ve provided invaluable assistance in keeping me afloat over the past few years through your donations, autographed book purchases, Patreon subscriptions, and Kickstarter support for my eSpec publications. I’ll do my best to continue repaying your generosity by producing cool stuff for you to read and listen to.
I got my author copy of Tangent Knights 3: Gemini Ascendant, the conclusion of my audiobook trilogy from GraphicAudio, so I was able to listen and add timings to my annotations, which are now up on the site.
You can find the direct link to them on the info page here:
There’s also a new link to an index page giving a listing of all the Tangent Knights’ multiple forms and their respective powers and weapons, with spoilers for the whole trilogy. This was something I made for myself to help me keep track of it all, but now that the whole trilogy is out, I’m sharing it publicly.
I apologize for the delay in sending out the first batch of autographed books from my book sale, but they’re now at the post office, beginning their journey to their buyers. I optimistically say “first batch,” since there are still plenty more books available! Find the full list here:
GraphicAudio is now offering the entire Tangent Knights audio novel trilogy as a single set, and from now through December 11, the entire set is available at a 65% discount! You can get 21 hours of full-cast, fully dramatized audio, the equivalent of an entire season of tokusatsu action, drama, and comedy, for only $23.09 as a download or $41.95 in MP3 CD format. That’s the entire trilogy for close to the price of a single book.
Oh, and if you’ve already gotten the first one or two books, or if you want to try the first one before committing to the rest, the three volumes are also discounted individually, to $8.00 for download and 14.68 for CD.
It’s been three years since my last autographed book sale, since I kind of got out of the habit during the pandemic, and I’ve been pretty busy the past couple of years with writing projects such as the Tangent Knights trilogy. But I’m not too busy right now, since I have very little work lined up at the moment, and I’m still waiting for answers on various feelers I’ve put out. Which means I need to raise funds however I can to help tide me over.
With three years gone by, I now have several books to offer for the first time, including my two most recent Star Trek novels, my Arachne duology, and even my Hub collections, of which I now finally have a handful of print copies to offer. I’m afraid I’m out of nearly all my older mass-market paperback stock. I wish I could offer signed copies of Tangent Knights, but the CD versions are only available as print-on-demand.
Since I hardly have any specific projects lined up, it wouldn’t be feasible to offer a Tuckerization reward like I did the last couple of times, so I’ll just have to hope the signed books themselves are enough of an enticement. But you could always help me out with donations through PayPal, or better yet, by subscribing to my Patreon, where you can read a variety of exclusive short fiction (and a couple of reprints) and behind-the-scenes notes, as well as my ongoing TV and movie reviews, which mostly cover vintage TV, though I’m currently reviewing The Orville. (Indexes: Fiction, Reviews.) I’m also working on something big for the Fiction tier, so now (or soon) would be a good time to subscribe.
You can buy books or donate by clicking on the PayPal “Donate” button on the right-hand side of my blog page. If you’re seeing this on Goodreads, click on the “View more” link below to go to my main blog and you’ll see the button. All book buyers, let me know who to make out the autograph to.
As always, I’ll try to keep this list updated with regard to availability, but if you have doubts (particularly with the single copies), query first. For buyers in the US, add $4.00 postage per book. For buyers outside the US, pay the book price and I’ll bill you for postage separately once I determine the amount.
If you have a PayPal account of your own, please pay through that instead of a credit card. PayPal charges a fee for credit card use, so if you do use a credit card, I have to ask for an additional $0.50 per book.
This sale will continue as long as I have books in stock, and the call for donations is always open. I hope we can help each other out.
Here’s the list of books:
Arachne’s Crime — $15.00: 8 available
Is this a dream… or a nightmare?
The crew of the interstellar colony vessel Arachne is roused from artificial hibernation to face a horrific reality, as an alien boarding party takes them into custody to answer for the deaths of tens of thousands of sentient beings.
But there is more to their trial than meets the eye, and the threads of intrigue weave a tight web as crewmates and friends are divided between those who feel they owe restitution for the actions of the ship’s AI in their defense, and those who refuse to bow down to a judgment they see as persecution.
What future can they hope to build among aliens who see them as mass murderers… presuming they have a future at all?
Arachne’s Exile — $15.00: 8 available
What a tangled web…
When the colony starship Arachne unwttingly destroyed a deep-space habitat of the Chirrn, her crew committed themselves to a lifetime of penance to repay their debt. But a brutal act of vengeance has now forced them into exile in a distant part of the galaxy.
Drawn into a cosmic conspiracy spanning millennia, the colonists learn that the Chirrn’s ancient choices have exacted a terrible toll on human history. Now, their only way to win true freedom may be to carry out a perilous theft aboard an extraordinary megastructure orbiting a neutron star.
Will Arachne and her crew pull off the heist of the millennium? Or are they being manipulated into committing a far more awful crime… one for which all humanity could pay the price?
The Arachne Omnibus trade paperback — $30.00 ($2 off current list price): 9 available
Deluxe trade paperback volume containing:
“Comfort Zones” prequel story (first time in print)
Arachne’s Crime
Arachne’s Exile
“The Weight of Silence” (connected story)
“Among the Wild Cybers of Cybele” (connected story)
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Only Superhuman — $20.00 (20% off!): 14 13 available
In the future, genetically engineered superhumans, inspired by classic Earth comic book heroes, fight to keep the peace in the wild and wooly space habitats of the Asteroid Belt
2107 AD: Generations ago, Earth and the cislunar colonies banned genetic and cybernetic modifications. But out in the Asteroid Belt, anything goes. Dozens of flourishing space habitats are spawning exotic new societies and strange new varieties of humans. It’s a volatile situation that threatens the peace and stability of the entire solar system.
Emerald Blair is a Troubleshooter. Inspired by the classic superhero comics of the twentieth century, she’s joined with other mods to try to police the unruly Asteroid Belt. But her loyalties are tested when she finds herself torn between rival factions of superhumans with very different agendas. Emerald wants to put her special abilities to good use and atone for her scandalous past, but what do you do when you can’t tell the heroes from the villains?
Only Superhuman is a rollicking hard-sf adventure set in a complex and fascinating future.
Library Journal‘s SF/Fantasy Debut of the Month for October 2012!
Among the Wild Cybers: Tales Beyond the Superhuman — $12.00 (20% off!): 2 available
When the line between life and technology blurs, humanity must adjust its understanding of the universe. From bestselling author Christopher L. Bennett comes Among the Wild Cybers, eight tales portraying a future of challenge and conflict, but also of hope born from the courage and idealism of those heroes willing to stand up for what is right.
An intrepid naturalist risks her future to save a new form of life that few consider worth saving.
An apprentice superhero must stand alone against an insane superintelligence to earn her name.
A cybernetic slave fights to save her kind from a liberation not of their choosing.
A seasoned diplomat and mother must out-negotiate fearsome alien traders to save a colony’s children.
A homicide detective serves in a world where curing death has only made murder more baffling.
These and other heroes strive to make their corners of the universe better—no matter how much the odds are stacked against them.
Includes the brand-new tale, Aspiring to Be Angels, prequel to the novel Only Superhuman.
Footprints in the Stars — $12.00 (20% off!): 3 available
To follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before, first we must find them.
Dreaded hope settles over mankind as we stare into the heavens, looking for a sign we are not alone. Fearing we will find it, puzzled when we don’t.
Among the stars or in our own backyard, lose yourself in the wonder of these tales as we humbly posit mankind’s reaction to the awesome certainty that ‘they’ are out there…or at least, they were…
Footprints in the Stars
With stories by Gordon Linzner, Ian Randal Strock, Robert Greenberger, Dayton Ward, Aaron Rosenberg, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Jody Lynn Nye, Christopher L. Bennett, James Chambers, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Russ Colchamiro, Judi Fleming, and Bryan J.L. Glass
Hub Space: Tales from the Greater Galaxy— $8.50 (15% off!): 4 available
The Hub is the most important place in the galaxy — the single point through which all interstellar travel must pass. Yet no one in the galaxy understands how it works. David LaMacchia, an unimportant man from an unimportant planet called Earth, is determined to change that. He’s got no qualifications and no skills. His only friends are a cynical, sharp-tongued space pilot named Nashira Wing and a smugly philanthropic alien named Rynyan, and they both think he’s crazy. On top of that, the powers that profit from the Hub might just be trying to kill him. Still, that won’t stop David from trying to prove that humanity can make a difference to the greater galaxy.
Now the tales of the Hub from the pages of Analog are collected for the first time in one volume, newly revised and expanded! Includes “The Hub of the Matter,” “Home is Where the Hub Is,” and “Make Hub, Not War,” plus exclusive bonus material!
(Note: Print edition has blank spine, as it’s just a bit too thin for spine text to fit)
Crimes of the Hub — $11.00 (~15% off!): 4 available
The hapless heroes of Hub Space return with new jobs, new allies, and new adventures at the heart of the galaxy, in a novel expanded and revised from stories originally appearing in Analog.
Just when cynical space pilot Nashira Wing has finally started to enjoy helping David LaMacchia with his clueless quest to crack the secrets of the Hub Network, he’s hijacked by a crew of kittenish thieves and trapped in the treasure vault of a far older civilization. What he finds there gives Nashira a shot at the score of a lifetime—but changes David’s life in ways that threaten their friendship. To keep the devious masters of the Hub from getting their tentacles on Nashira’s prize, she and David must mend frayed relationships and navigate new ones, all while facing adventures in larceny, sex, bureaucracy, hyperspatial geometry, and radical body modification. Can they come through it all with their hearts, their identities, and their dignity intact?
Star Trek: The Original Series — The Higher Frontier — $16.00: 8 available
An all-new Star Trek movie-era adventure featuring James T. Kirk!
Investigating the massacre of a telepathic minority, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise confront a terrifying new threat: faceless, armored hunters whose extradimensional technology makes them seemingly unstoppable. Kirk must team with the powerful telepath Miranda Jones and the enigmatic Medusans to take on these merciless killers in an epic battle that will reveal the true faces of both enemy and ally!
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Star Trek: The Original Series — Living Memory — $16.00: 8 6 available
An all-new Star Trek movie-era adventure!
While attempting to settle in as commandant of Starfleet Academy, Admiral James T. Kirk must suddenly contend with the controversial, turbulent integration of an alien warrior caste into the student body—and quickly becomes embroiled in conflict when the Academy controversy escalates to murder. Meanwhile, Captain Spock of the USS Enterprise and Commander Pavel Chekov of the USS Reliant are investigating a series of powerful cosmic storms seemingly targeting Federation worlds—unstoppable outbursts emitting from the very fabric of space. Endeavoring to predict where the lethal storms will strike next, Spock and Chekov make the shocking discovery that the answer lies in Commander Nyota Uhura’s past—one that she no longer remembers….
Star Trek: The Original Series — The Captain’s Oath — $16.00: 5 4 available
The saga of James T. Kirk’s historic command of the U.S.S. Enterprise is known throughout the galaxy. But one part of the legend has barely been touched upon until now: the story of Kirk’s first starship command and the remarkable achievements by which Starfleet’s youngest captain earned the right to succeed Christopher Pike as the commander of the famous Enterprise.
From his early battles with the Klingons to the rescue of endangered civilizations, Kirk grapples with difficult questions: Is he a warrior or a peacemaker? Should he obey regulations or trust his instincts? This thrilling novel illustrates the events and choices that would shape James T. Kirk into one of the most renowned captains in Starfleet history.
Star Trek: Mirror Universe — Shards and Shadows — $12.00 (25% off!): 3 available
Fractured history. Broken lives. Splintered souls. Since the alternate universe was first glimpsed in the classic episode “Mirror, Mirror,” something about Star Trek’s dark side has beckoned us, called to us, tempted us — like forbidden fruit on the Tree of Knowledge. To taste it is to lose oneself in a world of startling familiarity and terrifying contradictions, where everything and everyone we knew is somehow disturbingly different, and where shocking secrets await their revelation.
What began in 2007 with Glass Empires and Obsidian Alliances — the first truly in-depth foray into the turbulent history of this other continuum — now continues in twelve new short tales that revisit and expand upon that so-called “Mirror Universe,” spanning all five of the core incarnations of Star Trek, as well as their literary offshoots, across more than two hundred years of divergent history, as chronicled by…
Christopher L. Bennett – Margaret Wander Bonanno – Peter David – Keith R.A. DeCandido – Michael Jan Friedman – Jim Johnson – Rudy Josephs – David Mack – Dave Stern – James Swallow – Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore – Susan Wright
Star Trek: Titan — Přes dravé moře (Czech translation of Over a Torrent Sea) — $12.50 (~20% off): 4 available
As the Federation recovers from the devastating events of Star Trek: Destiny, Captain William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan are ordered to resume their deep-space assignment, reaffirming Starfleet’s core principles of peaceful exploration. But even far from home on a mission of hope, the scars of the recent cataclysm remain with them as they slowly rebuild their lives.
The planet Droplet is a world made mostly of water without a speck of solid ground. Life should not exist here, yet it thrives. Aili Lavena, Titan‘s aquatic navigator, spearheads the exploration of this mysterious world, facing the dangers of the vast, wild ocean. When one native species proves to be sentient, Lavena finds herself immersed in a delicate contact situation, and Riker is called away from Deanna Troi at a critical moment in their marriage.
But when good intentions bring calamity, Lavena and Riker are cut off from the crew and feared lost. Troi must face a life-changing event without her husband, while the crew must brave the crushing pressures of the deep to undo the global chaos they have triggered. Stranded with her injured captain, Lavena must win the trust of the beings who control their fate — but the price for Riker’s survival may be the loss of everything he holds dear.
(Federace se pozvolna zotavuje z ničivých událostí popsaných v trilogii Volání osudu. U.S.S. Titan a jeho kapitán, William T. Riker, přebírají nové rozkazy – mají pokračovat v průzkumu hlubokého vesmíru, aby tak stvrdili, že mírové bádání je stále tím hlavním posláním Hvězdné flotily. Avšak utržené rány se nechtějí zhojit ani tak daleko od domova. Planeta třídy O, přezdívaná Kapka, je zcela pokryta vodní plochou – jediným velkým oceánem. Život by tu vůbec neměl existovat, přesto se mu až neobyčejně daří. Navigátorka Aili Lavena, sama vodního druhu, je ideální kandidátkou na průzkum tohoto ohromného a divokého moře. Když náhodou objeví jeden vnímavý druh, ocitá se na delikátní stezce k prvnímu kontaktu. Jak to tak často bývá, dobré úmysly však přivodí situaci, ze které se Lavena a Riker nemusejí vrátit. Posádka bez kapitána mezitím čelí drtivým tlakům temných hlubin, ve snaze odčinit globální chaos, který nedopatřením sami rozpoutali.)
ST: ENT — Rise of the Federation: Patterns of Interference (Book 5) — $8.00: 3 2 available
The time has come to act. Following the destructive consequences of the Ware crisis, Admiral Jonathan Archer and Section 31 agent Trip Tucker both attempt to change their institutions to prevent further such tragedies. Archer pushes for a Starfleet directive of non-interference, but he faces opposition from allies within the fleet and unwelcome support from adversaries who wish to drive the Federation into complete isolationism. Meanwhile, Tucker plays a dangerous game against the corrupt leaders of Section 31, hoping to bring down their conspiracy once and for all. But is he willing to jeopardize Archer’s efforts—and perhaps the fate of an entire world—in order to win?
Today’s the day! Tangent Knights 3: Gemini Ascendant, the epic conclusion to my tokusatsu-inspired full-cast audio drama trilogy from Graphic Audio, is now on sale as a download (with MP3 CD release to follow in mid-December).
At the moment, it’s exclusively available at the above link, but it will soon become available at other audiobook sites such as Audible and Google Play. I’ll update links on my Tangent Knights page when the time comes. And I’ll update the page with annotations once I get a chance to listen to it myself and add the time codes.
Meanwhile, here’s a larger version of the nifty cover art from Amelia Grace Buff, which is my favorite of the three covers (click to enlarge):
I’m really happy that the complete trilogy is finally out. Tangent Knights is my first novel-length trilogy. The three Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations novellas were written as a trilogy, as were the three Hub stories collected in Crimes of the Hub. A couple of my Star Trek novel series have run longer than three books, but they were never commissioned more than two at a time. And I intend to add a third book to the Arachne duology if I can ever find the time. But Tangent Knights is the first time I conceived a complete trilogy of full-length works, wrote them nearly back-to-back, and saw the entire thing published fairly close together (about 15 months). It’s a milestone achievement in my career.
Although, since the three audio novels run about 7 hours each, that’s comparable to a full year’s worth of 24-minute episodes of Kamen Rider or Super Sentai. So you can see it as a complete trilogy, or as a complete “season” of a tokusatsu series.
Naturally, I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to do a second Tangent Knights trilogy/”season,” and I already have a premise in mind. But whether GraphicAudio asks for more depends on how well the first trilogy sells. So if you haven’t tried out Tangent Knights already, I hope you’ll give it a shot. Even people who aren’t fans of tokusatsu will find plenty of my usual hard science fiction concepts, worldbuilding, and humor, and I feel I’ve rarely if ever written anything with such potent and compelling character drama, or such cosmic scope. I’m really proud of this series, and the folks at GraphicAudio are great to work with. So I’d really love the chance to continue expanding the Tangent Knights multiverse.
In a world where communication with parallel tangent Earths, known as “realms”, has brought a disruptive influx of new beliefs and scientific innovation, college-student and fangirl Corazon Kagami continues to discover astonishing new facets to the abilities she’s unexpectedly acquired in the accident that transformed her into Tangent Knight Caprice, the foremost of a growing ensemble of armored super-warriors very much like the heroes and villains of her favorite tokusatsu shows.
After a very personal betrayal, Malika Ramos, AKA Tangent Knight Gemini, finds herself captive of a powerful agency that polices the multiverse for inter-realm threats. They intend to use her as the means to lethally put down what they see as a threat disturbingly similar to the one that all but wiped out the highly advanced civilization of the Cefal. The menace at hand is Malika’s teammate Cory Kagami, Tangent Knight Caprice. And many of Cory’s comrades-in-arms have begun to suspect the danger is real.
Caprice’s ever-evolving, ever more godlike powers have triggered an intervention that will pit warrior against warrior, as Caprice refuses to turn away from a destiny that may save her tragically damaged family, or lead to horrific multi-versal catastrophe.
Gemini Ascendant will be released as a digital download on November 14, and on MP-3 CD in mid-December. I’m glad the wait for Book 3 will be so much shorter than the wait for Book 2. As you can tell from the blurb, the story escalates to a truly cosmic level this time, and the personal drama and moral and philosophical conflicts reach new heights as well. Plus, as befits a tokusatsu series, there are cool new armors with amazing new powers! I’m really proud of how it turned out, and I really hope it sells well enough that I get to do a second trilogy.
You can pre-order Gemini Ascendant at the above link, and read my non-spoiler notes on my Tangent Knights page here. Cover art and more ordering links will be updated as they become available.
Less than two months after my previous Star Trek Adventures standalone campaign, Better Days, Modiphius has just released my latest campaign:
Star Trek Adventures: Native Soil
Assisting an archeological team on the planet Avalon leads to a shocking discovery and entangles the crew in a momentous cultural dilemma.
Your orders are to assist an archaeological team being led by an old friend of one of the ship’s command personnel. The planet’s original civilization was wiped out thousands of years ago by a radiation burst. Thankfully, the planet is no longer in danger and a new civilization has since flourished there.
The away team provides support at the digsite and are present when survivors of the original civilization are unearthed, held in stasis. This discovery will help answer a great archaeological puzzle, but poses an even greater challenge when the revived ancients make claims to the planet now inhabited by a new civilization.
Avalon is an independent colony and the Federation cannot dictate a solution, but the crew are invited to mediate in an attempt to relieve the impasse of ideals and demands. The away team’s advocates face difficult choices and protests from both sides–can they calm the situation and find a solution agreeable to all parties?
Although this is a standalone adventure, a one-page mission brief provides inspiration for continuing the mission.
This 22-page PDF adventure for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game is written by Christopher L. Bennett, and is set during The Next Generation era with the player characters being the crew of a Starfleet vessel. This adventure also contains advice on adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.
This may be my newest release, but it’s one of my oldest story ideas, which I’ve reworked for various series over the years. I discuss its origins in my latest article for the Modiphius blog:
I’ve got two more STA projects written and waiting their turn, one approved and one still pending approval. They’re both interestingly different, and I look forward to announcing them.
I gave up on modern sitcoms a long time ago. For a while, it seemed like they’d just become formulaic, always about the office or school or a family or a bunch of friends talking about sex all the time. I missed the creativity of sitcoms in the 1960s, when they ventured into sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, spy adventure, desert island survival narratives, or just the general surrealism of something like The Monkees or Green Acres. And when I did occasionally catch a glimpse of later sitcoms, they seemed unrecognizable, these cynical slice-of-life shakycam shows whose humor I just didn’t get.
So when I heard a bunch of good stuff about The Good Place while it was on, I was skeptical and didn’t give it a chance. Once it came to Netflix, I put it in my queue thinking maybe I’d give it a chance eventually, but it just sat there for a while. Now, prompted largely by seeing Jameela Jamil on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and remembering she was in this show, I’ve finally gotten around to watching it…
…and I’m totally blown away. The Good Place might be the best sitcom I’ve ever seen — heck, one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. It’s extraordinarily innovative — it opens with the main character waking up in the afterlife and learning she’s dead, and it goes through so many twists and turns over the course of its four seasons, with escalating stakes until the show’s six lead characters are literally responsible for deciding the fate of all humanity. It’s an all-out sci-fi/fantasy premise like a throwback to the ’60s, but with modern production values and some marvelously inventive visual effects, from the comical to the spectacular. (There’s even an all-out fight sequence in one episode with excellent stunt choreography.) It’s an incredibly smart show, using its premise to explore questions of philosophy and ethics and pairing them with heartfelt and nuanced character development, though it has its share of dumb, crude humor that was less to my taste. (It’s also weird that its cosmology equates “the universe” with just Earth and humans, as though no other life exists anywhere.) The leads are all terrific, with Kristen Bell and Ted Danson as particular standouts.
What struck me the most about it, perhaps, was a paradox: On the one hand, its depiction of the afterlife is a Brazil-like bureaucratic dystopia, a badly broken system in which every human suffers and the entities in charge just go with it because it’s the way it’s always worked. That’s really dark. And yet it’s such an upbeat, optimistic show when it comes to the human potential for bettering ourselves and one another.
So anyway, I spent a lot of the finale bawling my eyes out, because it was sad and beautiful. But it did leave me with some questions about the final system the characters worked out for the operation of the Good Place. Like, why didn’t they consider reincarnation as a viable alternative? Given how much their system of testing and improvement depended on reboots, you’d think it would’ve been a natural fit.
I guess I’ll leave it there. There’s a ton more worth saying, but it’s too much to get into right now. Maybe someday I’ll do a rewatch review series on my Patreon, because it is a show I’ll want to see again. For now, I just wanted to spread the word that the show’s worth watching, though I’m aware I’m probably one of the last people to discover that.
I’ve got something fun for my Patreon Fiction tier subscribers this month. Chapter 4 of my 2012 novel Only Superhuman begins in medias res during an adventure on Pellucidar, an amusement-park habitat run amok. That scene was inspired by an earlier comic book spec script I’d written for Emerald Blair in 1996, when I hoped to do a comics spinoff to the intended novel series. Though the two versions were very different, I’ve salvaged what moments I could from the comic to create an expanded account of the canonical Pellucidar adventure from the novel, a 7000-word short story called “The Baseless Fabric of This Vision.”
But that’s not all — the story is illustrated! I actually did a full set of thumbnail sketches for the comic script around 1998 or so. They’re somewhat more detailed than normal for comics thumbnails, since I got carried away drawing them. They’re still fairly crude, but there are a few bits I’m fond of, and doing this story for Patreon was a way I could finally show them off. (Apologies for the empty boxes Patreon is displaying above and below the images for some reason. None of the ten illustrations are missing, at least not in my page view.)
As usual, there are annotations available at the Behind the Scenes tier as well.
I mentioned in earlier posts how I’ve made some changes to my apartment’s small kitchenette recently. I got a shelf/cutting board to put over half of my stovetop, giving me more counter space, and I got a smaller microwave when I was forced to throw out the cockroach-infested big one, which freed up even more counter space.
I also got a coffee maker for the first time. Since it has a tendency to splash on the counter, and since I was running through paper towels really quickly already, I decided it was high time I restocked on reusable wipes and sponges, which I guess I stopped buying once the pandemic started and I switched to ordering groceries online for pickup. I never managed to find those items on the site before, so I fell out of the habit of buying them. But I finally committed to it and found them.
Which required a bit more kitchen refitting. Now that I had rinse-and-reuse wipes, I needed a place to hang the clean ones so they could dry out. Luckily, I have a second paper towel rack in my kitchen. When I moved in ages ago, I carried forward my father’s practice of using two kinds of paper towels, regular and microwave-formulated (without dyes). And I didn’t like the placement of the paper towel rack in the kitchen, so I installed a second one closer to the sink. Eventually I realized there was no point in using two simultaneous kinds of paper towel, since I could just use microwave-suitable towels for everything. So I stopped using the original rack.
So it occurred to me that if I put an empty paper towel roll in the long-abandoned dispenser, I could use that as a drying rack for the reusable wipes. After the first time I did it, I realized the cardboard roll would get soggy if unprotected, so I rolled some plastic wrap around it, and voila, I had a perfect drying rack. Well, not completely perfect, since it’s above the toaster oven, but I don’t think it’s close enough to be a fire hazard, and I can just put away the dried wipes before using the toaster oven.
Anyway, here’s the upshot of all this. There have been a number of times in the past when I’ve found myself feeling depressed when washing the dishes in the sink. It just made me sad to be be in the kitchen, and washing dishes was a chore that always seemed to drag on way too long. But since I made these improvements, I find that I don’t mind taking more time with the dishes, and I feel more upbeat when I’m there.
So I think these improvements I’ve made in the kitchen have helped me feel better about it. Part of it is just that it’s a change in my environment. I discovered in my youth that I needed to rearrange my bedroom from time to time for my peace of mind, because I got depressed being in the same unchanging environment and needed a fresh stimulus. It’s been much harder to achieve any major change in my apartment, since the rooms’ layout and the available furnishings don’t lend themselves to much rearrangement, and I’ve never been able to afford whole new ones. So it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to make any significant change in my environment, and I think finally getting to make even incremental changes for the better in the kitchen has helped me feel a lot better in there.
Moreover, I think it might feel better because it’s brighter. I remember once in my adolescence when I realized that the big black dresser in my bedroom was depressing me, and I felt better when I swapped it out for the white one my sister had used before moving away to college, which reflected more ambient light and made the room a bit brighter and more cheerful. Here, my old microwave was silver but with a black door. My new microwave is all black, but it’s smaller and positioned differently, so instead of seeing the big black door in my peripheral vision when I’m at the sink, I see the white countertop and wall that were hidden by the old microwave. So I think that might be helping too.
But I think a major part of it is just that I’ve been taking action and solving problems, which creates a sense of accomplishment and gives me more confidence. And I think that’s helped nudge me a little out of the funk I’ve largely been in since the pandemic started, and take some initiative to start trying to improve things in little ways.
For instance, I recently made one more incremental change. I was trying to clear out some empty cardboard boxes I’ve been letting accumulate and take them out for recycling, and I found that one of them was the box my modem had come in, and it still had a bunch of associated cords and filters, as well as a base that you could attach to the modem to mount it vertically. For some reason, I’d never gotten around to attaching it, even though I do keep the modem in that position. I think it’s because I had trouble figuring out how to attach the base, since it seemed to resist clicking into place and I was afraid to try forcing it.
But I finally figured it out. The phone jack is inconveniently far from the computer desk, so I keep the modem on the floor by the bookcase since that’s the only place where the cords can reach both places and still be out of the way along the edges of the room. I have only a strip of cardboard between the modem and the carpet. So it occurred to me that the reason I couldn’t click the base into place was that I needed a firmer surface to push against. I slipped a clipboard under the modem, and voila, the base clicked in easily. It’s a tiny change, but it’s nice to know my modem is now more stable against tipping over. And again, there’s simply the satisfaction of finding the solution to a problem, however minor.
It’s a couple of months late, I know, but I’ve finally gotten around to posting the annotations for Tangent Knights 2: Tempest Tossed. I’ve also updated the main TK page with credits for Book 2, and you can find those and the annotations link on that page here:
I’ve also done something I should’ve done a long time ago: created index pages for the ongoing Mission: Impossible reviews and Godzilla/Gamera/kaiju reviews I’ve done here on Written Worlds over the years, in the same format as the Patreon review index I made a while back. The M:I reviews are still apparently quite popular and still attract comments years later, so hopefully the indices will make it easier for interested readers to search through them. The indices are the site menu at the top, in the Reviews tab under “Written Worlds Blog.”
It’s been a year and a half since my last Star Trek Adventures standalone campaign came out, but my latest one has finally been released! Here’s the official description:
Star Trek Adventures: Better Days
Complications suffered while traveling through the Bajoran Wormhole lead to a historically significant mission to Bajor itself.
Starfleet has directed your vessel to carry out a survey mission to the Gamma Quadrant. It should be a relatively simple exploratory mission but, having left Deep Space 9 behind, your passage through the Bajoran Wormhole causes some damage to the ship which forces you to return to the Alpha Quadrant. Further complications mean that you cannot seek help from Deep Space 9, so you must head to Bajor. But it is a very different Bajor than the one you were expecting to find.
The away team must locate the means to repair their ship, while delicately navigating the unexpected cultural situation on the planet. Difficult decisions need to be made regarding Starfleet directives and the future of the Bajor you find yourself upon. Will the crew be able to successfully infiltrate Bajoran society and find their way home without impacting the timeline?
Although this is a standalone adventure, a one-page mission brief provides inspiration for continuing the mission.
This 22-page PDF adventure for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game is written by Christopher L. Bennett, and is set during The Next Generation era with the player characters being the crew of a Starfleet vessel. This adventure also contains advice on adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.
The summary is a bit circumspect about what’s going on in the game, but you can probably guess. I talk about it more openly in the behind-the-scenes blog article I wrote for Modiphius, which is here:
First off, if anyone was wondering, I was unaffected by the incident at the Cincinnati FBI office yesterday. That’s miles away from me, and the resultant chase went much farther away. Still, it’s alarming that it happened in my city.
Better news: Yesterday morning, I received both my payment from Analog for “Aleyara’s Descent” and a small batch of royalties for my Hub books. I set up a direct deposit arrangement with Analog in hopes that it would help the payment come faster, and apparently it worked, since this is much faster than I expected.
That’s in addition to the modest royalties I got from eSpec Books last week. I wish the Arachne duology were selling better, but I appreciate eSpec’s willingness to stick with a book and give it time to find an audience. Apparently their model relies heavily on convention sales, and they’re only just starting to get back into that after the pandemic shutdowns, so hopefully things will pick up. My editor Danielle let me know at Shore Leave that she’s still open to a third novel, though I’m not sure when I’ll find the time to write it, given my need to line up other paying work. Ohh, I wish I wrote as fast as I did a quarter-century ago.
I’ve been looking over the list of the uncollected stories I’ve had published in magazines or self-published on Patreon, and it looks like I’m getting close to having enough for a second story collection. I think I’d prefer to sell a few more stories first, ideally in the Arachne-Troubleshooter Universe, which would not be strongly represented in a collection otherwise. But then, it’ll probably be a while before “Aleyara” comes out in Analog, and then I’ll need to leave a cushion of at least a couple of months before collecting it. (It would definitely be the centerpiece of the collection, the longest and IMHO the best of the stories I have available.) So that gives me time to try to write and sell some more short fiction in the interim — again, if time permits. Fortunately, selling “Aleyara” opens the door for me to revisit and revise some shelved stories featuring the Biaru, the species introduced in that novelette. That might save me some time.
Ideally, what I’d prefer is to wait until I have enough stories to do themed collections. For instance, I’d like to do a collection of Troubleshooter stories, or do enough fantasy stories to do a collection of those, or that sort of thing. But I just don’t produce short fiction quickly enough. And I don’t know, maybe that’s just my own sense of orderliness talking. Maybe it’s better to do a collection with a more eclectic range of stories and universes, to give readers greater variety and a broader overview of my work. Themed collections could come later, repackaging stories that first appeared separately. I’d like to hear opinions from my readers — what kind of story collection do you prefer?
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My new coffee maker is working out okay, except the same thing happened with the coffee grounds I bought as with the free sample bag — the first cup was nice and mellow, but subsequent ones were more bitter and sour. I figured out it’s what inevitably happens once the package is unsealed and the grounds are exposed to oxygen. Now I know why my cousin Mark insists on using beans and grinder. And why the coffee bags I used before are individually wrapped. Still, I’m getting used to it, and it seems that digging out grounds from deeper in the container helps a little.
The main issue with the coffee maker is that it’s a bit messy. It’s a single-cup maker that drips directly into a coffee cup rather than a pot, so there’s a certain amount of splashing out onto the countertop. I’ve been using my preferred coffee mug, but yesterday I tried using the taller mug that came with the machine to see if it ameliorated the splashing any. It did splash less, but still some. And maybe I’m being paranoid, but I’m not sure whether I should trust an inexpensive ceramic mug made in China to be lead-free. It’s probably safe, but I’m more comfortable sticking with my usual mug. As for the splashing, it just requires me to wipe the countertop regularly, which I should do anyway.
I do appreciate the greater amount of counter space I have in the kitchen now thanks to my smaller microwave and the glass shelf I bought that goes over two of my stove burners. Being able to access the countertop and the microwave even with the dish drying rack deployed opens the door for me to wash dishes more than once a day, which has already proven useful on a day when I had more than one rack’s worth of stuff to wash. The one adjustment is that I have to retrain my reflexes a bit, since I’m often working further to the left on the countertop than I used to, which throws off my aim when reaching for the silverware drawer, and puts me a bit farther from the fridge, so it’s not as easy to hold the door open with my foot (which I probably shouldn’t do anyway).
The oven shelf is nice because I can move it to different positions depending on which burners I need to use. It can be handy as a cutting board right next to the pan. Although I found out recently that it’s not a good idea to use it that way when I’m using both of the front burners, because reaching over a hot pan to cut things behind it is not comfortable or entirely safe. Better to use my normal cutting board for that arrangement.
Let’s see, what else? After surviving Shore Leave without getting sick, and with the government now relaxing COVID guidelines and suggesting it’s time to begin returning to normal life (while still taking precautions to protect those at greater risk), I’ve dared to venture out for my walks around the neighborhood without wearing a mask — though I still carry one in a plastic bag in my pocket just in case I have to go into a public building or something. I realize that having a mask on just for an outdoor walk was probably overcautious, but I’d gotten used to the sense of security it brought me, and I’m still getting used to the feeling of being outside without one. It is more comfortable for my ears, though.
When I got back from Shore Leave the other week, I had just enough gas to make it home, plus a little extra, enough for a grocery pickup a few days later. I figured I’d go somewhere soon after that to get a few gallons, enough to hold me over with my infrequent driving until prices went down more. I discovered that the gas station right across the street from the grocery store had the lowest prices in the area, so I thought, okay, next time I need groceries, I’ll fill up there before my pickup.
It turned out to take two weeks before I needed groceries, and I placed my pickup order last night for between 11-11:30 AM today. So today at 11, I went down to the car, started to pull out of my parking space… and the engine suddenly sputtered and stopped. The electrical system was on, but nothing happened when I pushed on the gas pedal. I was stuck just beyond my parking space with no way to move the car. I tried checking under the hood to see if anything was wrong, but I had no idea what to look for. Mainly it was just performative, in hopes that somebody would see my plight and come to help. Nobody did.
I’d always wondered what would happen if my car wouldn’t start for a grocery pickup, so before I did anything else, I proceeded with my plan for that contingency: call up the grocery store and ask if they could change my pickup order to a delivery order. Turns out the customer service rep had no idea how to do that. She said she’d have them call me back in 5 minutes, but they never called back.
After I had enough time to think, I realized that instead of a breakdown, I might have simply run out of gas. I’ve never run out of gas before, so I didn’t know for sure what it was like, but it seemed to fit what happened, and I knew I was extremely low on gas. Anyway, I went up to let the building manager know about my car being stuck, but she wasn’t able to offer any assistance. I figured all I could do was walk up to the corner gas station with the gas can I keep in the trunk for emergencies.
But there was a new problem. The gas can is very old and I’ve never needed to use it before. I discovered that it was missing the part that sealed the opening. Now, the building maintenance guy was there with a painter, and they graciously offered to push my car back into the space, though it took me a false start or two to realize I needed to put it in neutral. The maintenance man then suggested using a plastic bag under the screw-on collar thingy to seal the can. That worked long enough to get me to the corner station and back, though I felt very uncomfortable lugging a metal can full of gasoline with a makeshift seal into the convenience store to get my receipt from the cashier.
The maintenance man had said that if he was still there when I got back, he’d help me figure out how to pour the gas into the tank. Unfortunately, he wasn’t still there. I tried to create a makeshift seal for the nozzle using the roll of electrical tape from my car’s emergency kit, but it was half-melted and sticky and didn’t hold at all. So I went upstairs for my more substantial role of gorilla tape and used that to make a seal, then tried pouring the gas. Long story short, the seal was imperfect and it took some false starts to figure out how to pour, so I spilled some gas on the ground and on my hand, which was very worrisome. Once I got back to my apartment, I washed my hands thoroughly and changed my clothes. I didn’t think I’d spilled any gas on them, but I didn’t want to take chances.
So I went back down and started the car just long enough to confirm that it was running again after all. It took a few moments for the gas to work through the lines, but then it started! I pulled back out of the parking space and then forward again. Success!
With one problem sorted, that left the grocery issue. I checked the website and found that my pickup order was still listed as ready and waiting. I called up to make sure I could still come in for it, and I had a long wait on the phone, but finally I talked to someone who said yes, sure, it would be available until tomorrow.
What I should’ve done at this point was relaxed and had lunch, then gone in later. Instead, I started out right away. I was in such a rush that I even forgot my mask. I figured I’d be outdoors the whole time and just shrugged it off. It’s the first time I’ve gone anywhere unmasked since the first lockdowns. (I did forget my mask once when I went for a walk, but I remembered in time to go back for it.)
So I thought I’d go to the gas station first and then pick up groceries, but the station was too crowded. I waited in line for a bit, moved into an open space, realized I was facing the wrong way to reach the gas tank, tried turning around and backing in, gave up, and just circled the block and went to pick up groceries. With that done, I drove by the station again, found the lane open, and pulled in to fill up. Since I drive infrequently, I’d planned to get only maybe five or six gallons, then wait until prices were lower to get more. But I found I was unable to shut off the nozzle! The little metal kickstand thingy that holds the lever in the on position wouldn’t disengage until it filled the tank completely. So I ended up paying for a whole tank after all. It’s less than I would’ve spent two weeks ago, but probably more than if I’d waited a few months until the tank ran low again. Well, at least I have the peace of mind that I won’t run out again anytime soon.
So anyway, in this grocery order, I bought a can of coffee grounds to use in my new coffee maker. But I had no sense of the size from the online ordering page, and it turned out to be huge. Apparently they were out of the size of powdered creamer I ordered, since they gave me a huge one of those too (though only charged me the cost of the one I ordered). I had to rearrange my cabinet a bit to make room for it. (I took out the salad spinner I hardly ever use and nested it inside the microwave steamer I hardly ever use.)
So now that’s all settled and I can relax for now. But I guess I’d better buy a replacement nozzle for my gas can, or just a new, more modern gas can, in case of future emergencies. And I do wonder what would’ve happened with my grocery order if I’d needed to take the car to the shop rather than just refuel it.
Christopher L. Bennett: Written Worlds 
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