A Reluctant Sovereign is done – Next?

I should have a cover soon. I have one choice already. I probably will do a non-series book next. It’s getting harder to extend the April-Family Law series.
I have a couple books already started. I’ll post openings to see what interests you fans. Here is the first:

The trail was uphill. Not steep enough to call it a climb, but enough to force a conservative pace. The woods were dark with the dense closed canopy of old growth. The trail was not groomed or heavily used and had markers only at junctions. A couple times he’d had to look carefully to make sure he wasn’t branching off on a game trail or a clean wash by mistake. The air was cool but humid and thick with the rich odors of a forest floor piled deep with decaying debris. The logs of fallen trees were hidden under deep green caps of moss and low areas were thick with ferns.

That was fine, Robert had seen enough of bare rocky dirt and clay dust in the last six years to last him a lifetime. There were places he favored in New Mexico and Arizona. Someday he’d get back to them. But right now, he didn’t want anything that resembled the plains of Afghanistan.

His tread was too silent for bear country, but walking quietly was a difficult habit to break. He slipped back into a silent stalk if he didn’t think about it constantly, so he had a bell affixed to his walking staff. He wouldn’t mind seeing a bear, if it wasn’t up close and personal. If a bear or he made a really bad error, he had a Ruger Alaskan in .480 Ruger tucked in a clip holster inside his jeans. He wasn’t sure there was such a thing as enough gun for brown bear, but that was as much as he was willing to carry along all day. There was a single speed loader in his left pocket, full of hot hand loads crimped extra deep to hold the bullets in against the savage recoil, but he had no illusions he’d ever get all five rounds off at a charging brownie.

His pack was nothing after the full load-out he’d gotten used to in the service. He had a light bag and a shelter that wasn’t really a full tent, just a tube for the bag and an over flap and bug screen held off his head by one skinny pole. He was going to overnight once near the summit of this trail and descend about twelve kilometers tomorrow to a parking lot. There would be cell phone service there and the canoe livery in town had agreed to provide him an informal taxi service.

The way narrowed as the trail found a steeper grade between a tall bluff to the left and a drop off easing in from the right. The rocky bluff gradually dropped and became a steep slope of ferns. There was no switchback visible cutting across it so he must be very close to where the trail turned left onto the plateau. The plateau itself rose away to the east, but with a much gentler grade across the top than the trail. He’d camp at the far edge tonight before descending tomorrow.

When the slope to his left was only about ten meters high he came to a partial clearing with a jumbles of boulders and a few fallen trees. The climb was steep enough he decided to take a break. The trail curved sharply to the left ahead, no doubt breaking out on the top, and he’d like his break here where it was shady still. He found a natural seat among the boulders and left his pack on leaning back against it with his feet up on another rock. He reached back awkwardly and fetched his water bottle off the side of his pack and sipped. The wind in the trees could be heard this near the top. He could even see it stir the ferns at the top of the slope, but not feel it.

He listened carefully now that he wasn’t moving but there was no sound of small forest creatures. Once he thought he caught something calling aloud but it was too faint and though he strained to hear it didn’t repeat. He replaced the water and roused himself to finish his climb, easing off the rocks and stretching. He’d gone no more than two steps before the outcry clearly repeated from up-slope, but it seemed a voice, no animal.

He looked up again as a dark figure hurled over the edge, dark and hard to distinguish any details as it tumbled down slope crushing a groove through the perfect carpet of ferns. He watched mouth open in wonder as it rolled loosely into the clearing and fetched up against a log with a thump that made him grimace. It was a woman dressed in dark tight clothing and normal enough except for a certain frail fairy grace. She had the limp sprawl of the unconscious.

A curse pulled his eyes back to the slope again as a larger figure in digi-cam hurled off the top of the rise with even less control than the woman. His trajectory didn’t dump him into the concealing ferns until about half way down the slope and he made much more noise rolling to a stop that missed the log against which the woman had fetched up. The man had a standard issue M4 and hadn’t lost it because it was hung on a harness across his chest. He was visibly rattled and struggled to get to a sitting position although one leg was bent under him awkwardly. He looked wild eyed and tried to bring the rifle to bear on Bob, failing when he fell back on his side and jammed the muzzle in the dirt.

“Easy fella,” Bob pleaded, showing him his palms. “I’m not part of your operation, whatever it is. I’m just a hiker.” The man ignored that and although obviously hurt was determined to bring the rifle up while lying on his left side. The fellow was laying a good three meters away and seeing the wavering muzzle come up again he had no choice but to draw on him. The Ruger only had a two-and-a-half-inch barrel so the flare of unburned powder threw a flame a quarter of the distance to the man. The blast of a full hot load was deafening. He hit right center of mass, but the way the man was thrown back and was still moving told him he had on armor. He probably had a hard breast plate to stop something this heavy.

To his left the woman’s face appeared over the log shocked with eyes wide and tiny mouth a circle. It distracted him for a moment but the soldier who had been flat on his back was digging a heel in pushing himself away from Bob, to get the leg folded under him straightened out, and was up on one elbow already. His grip on the rifle and intense stare at Bob said he hadn’t given up.

Bob took careful aim right up his crotch where there would be no armor and a straight avenue up his torso to vital organs. The muzzle blast was even worse when he was anticipating it and the recoil punishing. The woman looked back and forth between him and the soldier confused.

The crack of a bullet passing in front of his face was so close the shock-wave slapped him. He turned to see another trooper standing on the top of the bluff correcting his aim when a flare of white light burst on the man’s chest and send him tumbling down the same path of crushed ferns marking the slope now. That was weird but he had no time to question it.

The woman looked over her shoulder at him with a euphoric crazed expression and raised two fingers, not in a V but together – keeping score. He returned her regard and solemnly held up one finger and then moved his hand over in a little hop to repeat it, one and one he meant to say. She seemed to find that amusing. There was a scuff and a bruise rising from her eye to her ear. The black gun in her hand was impossibly small but she made no effort to point it at him, which was an improvement on the soldier’s attitude.

“I don’t appreciate being sucked into whatever is going on,” he told the woman. “I didn’t want to shoot this stupid son of a bitch, but he wasn’t going to give up.” He stopped and stripped the body of magazines and unclipped the M4 and made sure the muzzle was clear of dirt. If there were more of them coming, he’s need more than a short-barreled pistol. There were two fragmentation grenades in the man’s vest, he hesitated thinking of the legal consequences, and then jammed them in his own pockets. They hardly mattered on top of shooting a man.

“Are there more coming?” he asked the woman. She had got up if a bit wobbly and was watching him strip the man of weapons and ammo with obvious curiosity.

“I don’t know. Very likely. As you said, they don’t give up easily. I didn’t want to shoot anybody either,” she assured him. “Or I wouldn’t have ran. Why are you taking these things?” she asked of his looting.

“If I have to have to fight with more of these fellows, I need something more than a pistol. This is an excellent weapon and I’ve trained with it,” he indicated the M4. Finding a small radio smashed it under his heel in case it had a tracer in it.

“Why is that all you are carrying then?” she asked reasonably.

“I didn’t plan on fighting anyone,” he said a bit irritated. “I didn’t even expect to see anyone out here. I was looking forward to the solitude, but that is shot to hell and gone for sure! I had the pistol in case I ran into a Grizzly.”

“What is a Grizzly?” she asked with perfect innocence.

That stopped him dead. He looked up at her unbelieving. “If you don’t know what a Grizzly is you have no business out in these woods. A Grizzly is a bear. A carnivore that stands half again as tall as me and weighs as much as fourteen hundred pounds.” He demonstrated what he meant baring his teeth and pulling both hands up with fingers curled into claws. “They can run three or four times as fast as you can and would regard you as a refreshing little appetizer. Would you like to meet one?”

“I’m starting to think no,” she allowed. “I’m not clear on pounds – how many pounds are you?” she asked giving him an appraising look.

“Well, that’s a really personal question, but since we are close enough to be killing folks together, I’m a hundred and eighty-five pounds bare assed naked of an average morning.”

“Seven times your mass?” she asked incredulous.

“Yeah, for a big one. Maybe you’ll luck out and run into a skinny one.”

She looked around the woods with new eyes. She was smart enough to be scared. He liked smart in a woman. She also had her hand back on the little bulge in a pocket that must be her gun. Smart again.

“I’m going to get the other guy’s mags too. You figure to take off on your own or are you looking to partner with me to get out of here?”

“Partner is together?” she asked dubious. “Forever or for a time?” She asked.

“I had in mind until we are clear of this mess. You want to negotiate later we can, but I’d like to be gone from here before a couple hundred of these guy’s close friends show up,” he said nodding at the corpses.

The second soldier he went to strip was burned. He’d never seen a wound like that before. It looked like the man’s chest just exploded. Like he imagined a lightning strike might look. The man had no unit patches or rank insignia, no flag or name tag either. That scared him all over again.

“You want the other rifle? He asked as he stuffed the second soldier’s magazines in his ruck. “You just have a pistol too,” he pointed out.

There was a sudden roar of rotor blades and whining turbines and a huge helicopter passed across the small patch of open sky at the top of the much abused slope, barely clearing the trees. There was a flurry of leaves and twigs from the canopy and he could follow its sound as it slowed and came back around in a circle to hover up over the edge of the plateau. It was a dark dull gray and there were no marking on it. He knew looking into the tunnel of trees by eyeball they were hidden in deep shadow, but he also knew the crew had thermal sensors and could see them glowing like neon on their screens.

He chambered a round intending to go down shooting, but he had no illusions he’d prevail seeing the barrel of a cannon pivot towards them on the helicopters snout. He was looking for an intake duct to send a burst down, hoping to ruin a turbine.

The woman raised her gun faster than him, twisting a knob hard clockwise where the hammer should be. When she squeezed off a shot a mirror appeared in the air around her muzzle. A big round mirror near a meter across. He could see her face perfectly reflected in the back of it, lips a thin line of concentration.

Beyond the mirror an eye dazzling white hot line impaled the helicopter and extended unimpeded into the sky. The vegetation rolled back from the displaced air of that beam like a tank cannons muzzle blast. It made his pistol sound like a .22. The concussion slapped him so hard it hurt.

He watched as in slow motion the rotor blades spun off in various directions. The cabin split in two and was pushed to each side by an expanding fireball. The whole tail section seemed to hang there like it was deciding whether to follow, and slowly rolled over and fell somewhere up on the plateau. They stood together while heavy chunks of machinery fell with thuds, one huge rotor blade going past overhead with a whoosh, followed by shards of burning plastic and twisted shreds of smoking sheet metal raining down all around them, nothing crushing them miraculously. His vision had a dark purple line seared in it like the mother of all flash blobs.

“I apologize for insulting your cute little pistol.” he said very formally and gave her a little bow. They both stood and laughed in manic relief at death so closely avoided. He didn’t offer her the rifle again

“I will partner for a time,” she allowed. “Lead on if you will.”

Short/raw snippet of FL7

“Are you part of the crew?” the young man sitting on the landing pad asked.

“That I am,” Gordon confessed. “Didn’t your boss give you our pix to let you identify us? Werner is usually more thorough than that.”

“I’d appreciate it if you give me a chance to call Werner and verify you have access,” the young fellow said. “Not that I have any illusions I could stop you but I had orders to keep it secure and he probably expects me to do that or die trying. I’m hoping to stay in this job after things get halfway normal so I want to keep him happy.”

He was wearing a Taser and never showed any inclination to reach for it to reassure himself. Maybe he was smart enough to survive in this job.

“No need,” Gordon told him. “There’s nothing in the Silk Road I need until we board again to leave. I’ll just sit here on the other side of this landing pad until my people get bored with the displays and come out. I’m got a big long alien name you’d never remember anyhow, but I’m Gordon. Gordon of Red Tree if you want to remember that,”

Gordon offered a true hand which actually made the poor fellow jerk in surprise. He blushed at his reaction and shook hands with the monster.

“I’m Guy Cooper,” the deputy said.

Gordon smiled really big. To Guy’s credit he didn’t flinch at that.

“When I was younger my clan wanted me to be a cooper and furniture maker. I ran away from home to escape that. I know how to make a barrel but since leaving nobody has asked me to make one. All that training was wasted. Sad…”

“What do you do on the, uh, Silk Road?” Guy asked, glancing over his shoulder. “I’m not surprised they have a very limited need for barrels.”

“It’s a brand-new ship and I’m not familiar with it enough to fly it, though I do know command. I sat the weapons board this trip. It has some new things I haven’t seen before and it’s kind of interesting. The software is crap though. It would be fine for ordering carryout at a taco joint but to manage actions in the heat of battle it would eventually kill you. I’ve made a start on multi-layered subroutines but I’m still thinking on it. I don’t want my daughter’s ship to be hampered by software slower than your thinking ability.”
Gordon paused and looked embarrassed.

“I’m sorry. You triggered something in which I’m interested and I could go on about it until you fall over from boredom.”

“No, that was rather interesting,” Guy said. “A couple of the local news dogs showed video of you guys running to your ship to rush off and intercept an intruder. They weren’t very clear on all the details of who was who but I’m glad we have some people with muscle in case the Earthies come back.”

“Werner knows all the details if you can get him to stand still long enough to tell you,” Gordon told him and smiled.

“Yeah, I see you know the chances of that already,” Guy said amused.

“To tell you the bare bones. There isn’t much of North America left to threaten anybody. Their power in the heavens is broken and their ability to recover ended. There are still ships of theirs that may be a danger but what Central on the Moon hasn’t hunted down there are privateers with a Central mandate hunting them down because they’ll never be paid what the Earthies owe them. Their solely owned worlds and station are fair game too with little left to protect them. My daughter and I discovered this world and the Earthies cut us off our payments too. That’s why she is here to repossess it and see it doesn’t collapse from being cut off. There are plenty of other worlds and stations abandoned to their own devices with nobody having a clear interest or the means to rescue them.”

“But I thought the owner, Ms. Anderson, was a human,” Guy said confused.

“She is but we discovered Providence together. Her folks died here when we screwed up and had a camp that the local Velociraptor analogs overran like the electric fence wasn’t there. That left her owning two shares and me the remaining third. I was the only family left she’d ever known.”

“Oh, torpid lizards. Yeah, we don’t let them get too close to town,” Guy said. “OK, so you are her adoptive father,” Guy deduced.

“Bless you, my son. I had to kill a few thousand Earthies and destroy trillions of dollars of ships before they would agree that was possible. You just arrived at that conclusion without needing it explained in little words.”

“I know we can be asses but don’t make me feel bad for being Human.”

“I’m really fond of quite a few Humans. At least the sort who fled Earth.”

“I didn’t get here by accident,” Guy said. “I get where you are coming from.”

Guy was leaning forward with his pad in both hands thumbing it.

“What ya searching?” Gordon asked. “They don’t make veracity software for Derf.”

“Privateer,” Guy said.

Gordon let him read awhile without interruption.

“Sailing ships,” Guy muttered and continued reading. He looked up Gordon amazed. “I never hear of any of this stuff.”

“There’s a whole bunch of really old video that will amuse you,” Gordon said. “Look up Buccaneers, pirates, treasure ships, and the Jolly Roger in the new web fraction we
brought this trip.”

Thanks, I’ll do that. I like videos, new or old, even flatties,” Guy said.

“What sort do you like?” Gordon wondered.

“Oh, the bodice rippers, romances,” Guy said grinning.

“No kidding?” Gordon said keeping a straight face. “I think I see my people coming out,” he said and excused himself.

Family Law 7 – raw snippet

Lee woke up with Trish in front of her instead of behind. How she moved across without waking Lee was a mystery. Then she remembered she’d been up in the night for a couple of hours. Trish’s muzzle was buried in Lee’s armpit. It was a wonder she didn’t smother.

“Trish… ” Lee said gently. “Goy Trish,” had no impact said normally.

Lee sighed. It took shaking her by her arm delicately and then with increased vigor before her eyes finally popped open.

“If you say you were just resting your eyes I’m going to smack you,” Lee warned.

Trish looked around at the strange room amazed.

“I missed dessert, didn’t I?”

“You were going to miss breakfast if I didn’t wake you up.”

“I read that human teenagers need a lot of sleep too,” Trish said defensively.

“You read more trivia than I’ll ever manage,” Lee said.

“Well of course. You have businesses, and ships, and planets to manage,” Trish said.

It was infuriatingly reasonable.

“Watch out. I have to get up and use the bathroom.” Lee said.

“Me too,” Trish said. “But I’ll run and use the one off the kitchen.”

Lee tossed her clothes in the quick cleaner and took a shower while she was at it. When she finally came out Trish was sitting on a high stool. On the counter beside her was a package of bacon, a bowl of eggs and a bag of shredded potatoes. She was reading a fancy coffee table book with the title: The Complete Home Cook.

“You start the potatoes first because they take longest to cook,” Lee told her. “But all that won’t make a dent if you intend to feed Gandhi and Gordon.”

“Oh. That’s why there were six packages of bacon in the chiller,” Trish said.

“Refrigerator, but I knew what you meant.”

“Do we have truffle oil?” Trish asked frowning at the book.

“You’ve never cooked a meal in your life, have you?” Lee asked.

“They chase you out of the kitchen at home if you actually want to do anything,” Trish complained. “They make you sit across the table from them working.”

“Put the book away,” Lee said. “Those books with lots of pictures on shiny paper are expensive and useless. It would be a shame to get it dirty. I’ll show you what to do.”
Lee got three huge fry pans that barely fit on the huge commercial stove, a cutting board, and a two-hundred-millimeter chef’s knife from the rack.

“I’ll crack eggs and you can slice the bacon open and separate the slices,” Lee said.

Trish held the plastic package on the cutting board with her thumb hanging over the edge, reached across with the knife so close to her knuckles it made Lee’s heart skip a beat. She prepared to draw it back through plastic film and thumb.

Lee reached over and grabbed her wrist, averting certain disaster.

“You’ve never used a sharp knife before, have you?”

“My knife at dinner has some little serrations near the end,” Trish said.

“You were going to hurt yourself,” Lee said. “My fault. I might as well have handed you a loaded gun without asking if you’d been trained to use it.”

“Yes, please,” Trish said. “I’d like you to do that too.”

SURVIVED

I spent 3 days in the hospital. They’d have had me stay another if I wanted but I declined. Too tired and hurting to write a big thing. Later…

“April” audio book available

Since I’m deaf I’d really appreciate feedback on the quality of the AI voice. Sorry dead link is best I can do.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSPKF81M

April on the cheap

From Amazon….
Congratulations! We selected the following title(s) for a Kindle Deal on Amazon.com. Amazon will handle the price updates during this period.

– April (April series Book 1) will be discounted to $2.49 in a Kindle Daily Deal which runs on Feb-07-2024.

I’m working on the April series audio books

No hard timeline. We’re going through and editing things. They want to know for example how to read ISSII = International Space Station II. So you read it ISS2.

Personal events for the author

March 8th I’m going to have a total shoulder replacement. I’ll have a first stage recovery of about six weeks where we need household help and I’ll be sleeping in a lift recliner. Showers and other normal activities will be difficult. Writing will be one of the few things I can do. So I may actually make more progress than when I’m doing shopping, cooking, and laundry.

An unedited snippet of Family Law 7 in progress.

“Good evening. We haven’t met but your private com number was given to me by April. I’m Lee Anderson and resident on Derfhome below you. April and I are friends and are doing a lot of business together. I have an art project I’d like to propose to you.”

“I very rarely accept commissions,” Lindsey told her. “April is one of the few for whom I’ve drawn a custom image. Also, Heather, though that was through my dad. Tell me what you have in mind. It will have to be something interesting that I want to do.”

“I’m going to be striking coins for my world. Providence. I want an image of the flying Derfhome carnivore named the Twool for the coin faces. That’s also the name of a extraordinary vehicle I own and it will be struck on millions of coins eventually for which you’d be known as the artist. That’s advertising of the sort you can’t just buy and whatever fees you wish to charge me for your services.”

Lindsey was irritated with this person. She wasn’t just confident. She was well past that and just radiated arrogance. Friend of April or no, she’d dispose of her in short order. She thought a moment what to ask. A London Good Delivery Bar was about five hundred solars. One of those, no, two of them sounded about right to be an insane demand.

“Yes, I’ll drop everything I’m doing and make your image for a sample of each coin upon which it is embossed and a thousand solars.” She smiled, waiting for this young woman to faint away or erupt in objections.

“That’s fine,” Lee agreed. “I have quite a few images and videos of the creature. Would you like them to work with or would you prefer to find your own sources?”

Lindsey stared at her a moment before it registered that Lee was entirely untroubled by her extravagant demand.

“Your*pix*would*certainly*be*helpful,” Lindsey heard a stranger slowly say with an odd catch to her voice.

“Sweet, here’s a link to my Twool folder,” Lee said. “Let me know if you need any other resources. I understand you work with Heather’s mom, who understand carving and engraving. If she requires a separate fee to help with the conversion of your images to fab files for the dies let me know.”

“I’ll*put*that*to*her,” Lindsey promised, still in shock. She sat frozen staring at the blank screen for several minutes after Lee had disconnected. Finally, she recovered, realized what she’d done, and did the first very difficult step of this project.

“Sylvia! I’m sorry. I’m afraid I accepted a joint commission without consulting you.”

A small unedited snippet of Family Law 7

“You have a courier making a delivery and he insists it must be hand delivered to you rather than leave it at our desk,” the hotel desk informed Lee.

“Don’t send them up. I’ll be right down.”

Lee wasn’t expecting anything and was cautious. She slipped a pistol in her waistband and pulled her top back over it. That and having witnesses in the lobby should do. What she didn’t expect was a Bill waiting patiently with a card held in both hands. She knew there were several Bills at their joint embassy with the Badgers but had never seen one out and about other than the head Bill, Singer. This was somebody else. He was thinner, shorter, and managed to look uncomfortable and nervous. That was surprisingly obvious, although she didn’t have a lot of experience reading Bill faces or body language. The rigid bill like a duck made them tougher for Humans to read.

“Mistress, my leader, Singer, and the head Badger, Talker, send greeting and invite you to a celebratory gathering,” he said. He didn’t introduce himself and gave her a bow so smooth and unconsciously it must be a part of his culture rather than adopted.

Lee took the offered card and read it. The party was this Saturday, only four days away. Her first thought before she read it was that she’d be gone to Providence, but that date worked for her. It said starting at the twelfth hour with drinks and running all day.

“Are you taking our responses back to the hosts?” Lee inquired.

“Yes, Mistress. Verbally or if you wish to send a note, I’ll wait for it.”

“Tell them I’ll be there. Is it appropriate to bring a date?”

“I was told you are Talker’s friend. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t welcome and accommodate anyone you wished to accompany you. We are all being instructed on Badger customs and culture as they are being instructed about ours. I’m aware now that friend means much more to them than it does to us or Humans.”

“I’m glad to hear you have such programs. I had to learn the hard way by getting it wrong a few times,” Lee admitted.

The Bill’s eyes got bigger. Enough to be easy to read. He was surprised not at Lee’s experience but that this important person was being chatty with him.

“Did they by any chance share what this event is celebrating?” Lee asked.

“The Badgers have at long last received all their domestic goods and Talker’s family is in residence. The supply ship brought extra personnel for them, a few Bills, and a race spox for the aliens that I’m told you call Cats. That was a surprise and a separate wing for her use was immediately started.”

“Do you by any chance know why it took so long to get his pots and pans and family packed and moved?” Lee asked.

“May one speak anonymously, Mistress?”

“Sure. We’d say in confidence. Only between the two of us,” Lee promised.

“Talker told them plainly not to send a Voice to replace Singer. He said he was doing quite well and all the Derf and Humans got along with him famously. That was another new English expression I had to look up. He published that as an open letter. They wanted to ignore him but his wife refused to board with a new Bill spox. The embassy staff like her for that before we have even met. The officials debated sending a separate ship just to carry him. The final consensus was that would solve nothing because Talker is so stubborn, he’d send him back or refuse to support him in any way.”

“Ha! Talker has been so corrupted by my influence he might just shoot him,” Lee said.

The Bill bent at the waist and seemed to be choking. Lee finally figured out he was laughing uncontrollably. Then she remembered some of the things she was told about how crude Bill humor ran. Apparently, she made a direct hit on his funny bone.

“We’d have to throw another party to thank him,” her courier told her.

“I predict they’ll start giving all of you lessons on Cat manners and customs with this new person arriving,” Lee told him.

“I hadn’t thought of that, but I think you have the right of it,” he said.

“Here, thank you for your message and the extra information. I always welcome talk about what’s happening and to trade juicy gossip about people we know.” She gave him a silver dollar Ceres and a small bow that was way above his station.

Thank you, Mistress. I will remember that.”

Oops

I did a failed save and briefly had The Long View live with an extra dinkus and an extra blank page. It’s corrected if you bought it that way you can update to get the fix.

The Long View published

It may take a little time to work through their system. Here is my temporary cover.

OK – URL live now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJYL6JZ7

I got my cover from Sarah Hoyt. It will catch up when Amazon propagates it.

Title change

The Long View works much better than Here’s to the Future.

April 14 is done

Tentative title: Here’s to the Future. 122k + words. Out to betas soon and need a cover.

April 14 at 101k+ words – Tiny snippet

“Let’s go have a substantial lunch,” Kawasa said. “I don’t want to appear the sort of boor who loads up on a buffet like it’s his last meal.”

“Now, if I had said that you’d reply that one never knows,” Akari said.

“You know me too well,” Kawasa admitted. “If I fall to misadventure, I guess going out hungry won’t make it much worse. But you do make me rethink it.”

“I have that much influence?” Akari teased.

“My dear, some days I think everything is run by a shadow government of spouses, pulling the reins from behind the scenes. It would explain why the flaming idiots can never come to a decision in one brief meeting. They need to check at home to find out what they believe.”

“If our hosts speak about politics, you should advance that theory to them,” Akari suggested. “I’ll be watching closely to see if it changes how they regard me.”

“You tempt me,” Kawasa said.

Another unedited snippet of April 14

Mike Morse joined the coffee pot crowd at the cafeteria. His status with them went up when he became self-employed. Although they still made ritual fun of Glen for buying into Eric’s lotto, a few secretly bought into Mike’s numbers game. When it became obvious that he wasn’t talking their personal business around that enhanced his reputation too.

Glen sat next to him as was often his habit now if there was a seat open. He’d appointed himself Mike’s buddy. So far it wasn’t often enough to be irritating.

“They said they’re going to put the ball on the big screen if you want to come to watch it here Saturday,” Glen told him

“Ball?” Mike said, oblivious.

“The sovereign’s ball on the Moon,” Glen said. “Do you live in a cave man? If you look at the news and gossip boards that’s the big topic right now.”

“I’d make the case that the Moon people are the ones living in caves,” Mike said.

“I never thought of it that way,” Glen admitted. “Literally instead of allegorically.”

“Why is a ball such a big deal?” Mike asked. “Haven’t you had balls before?”

“No. They dance at the Quiet Retreat but there’s nowhere else to really have a ball. Nobody has bothered to organize that sort of thing on Home. I’m told the Moon queen has a fancy big room that’s suitable. I guess we’ll see Saturday. What changed, why she has a sudden interest I don’t know. Her partners are often seen in public on Home but she stays holed up on the Moon and very rarely comes here. We normally don’t hear a peep out of her. Not that she isn’t a political force to be reckoned with.”

“But they’re going to stream it on video live? On Earth nobody streams things like state dinners live. That’s kind of brave to do,” Mike decided. “If there are people who don’t like her governance and know it’ll be on camera, they might use the event to raise a fuss.”

“I wouldn’t want to try,” Glen said. “She holds court every Sunday and dispenses justice. You can look up all the old court days on video. They post them just like they intend to do the ball. Believe me, she’s a no-nonsense kind of judge. She’s banished people before and she sits with a pistol on the table right at hand. She hasn’t shot anybody but one day she made a note for heads or tails, tossed two guys at odds with each other a coin, and invited them to flip it. Then she’d shoot the loser.”

“But she didn’t?” Mike asked.

“They begged off. Their dispute suddenly seemed less important in the face of a lethal solution. But I took that to mean they were sure she would shoot. Quite a few of the people who bring her complaints withdraw when they see she’s going to resolve their problem and it may not be the way they’d like. There’s no years of appeals and such nonsense.”

“That sounds a lot more interesting than the gossip boards. I may check that out.”

“It’s entertaining and amazing the damn fool things people bring to her court knowing they will be recorded for posterity and freely available,” Glen said.

“You’ve got me interested now. I’ll watch it Saturday,” Mike decided.

Snippet of April 14 unedited

“Of course, dear. Come in tomorrow and we’ll look at some designs and pick something for you. Your measurements are stable so no need to take them again. You’ll be close enough to our numbers that a final fitting can go either way,” Cindy assured April. “I’m glad you didn’t wait any longer. Besides regulars, we’re getting several new customers from Heather’s party. I have reservations for fittings weeks ahead. I’ve even had appointments made ahead for Earthies passing through to the Moon.”

“I should have thought of that,” April said. “We don’t have to do anything with a lot of elaborate hand work. It can be simple but I wanted something new for such a special event.”

Cindy laughed. “I wish she’d throw a grand ball every couple of months. There are plenty of people on Home who can afford new things but the social scene is too thin to motivate them to come in and get new things.”

“You’d be shocked at the number of people urging her to have more of a social life,” April said. “Even her housekeeper keeps trying to get her to engage more.”

“Does she even have appropriate clothing for her own affair?” Cindy wondered. “Not that it’s any of my business but one wonders if she cares about such things.”

“When is Frank going to fit the lunar trumpeters?” April asked.

“Next week,” Cindy informed her. “We’re just waiting on some fancy brass buttons.”

“Have Frank contact her late tomorrow and ask for a time to measure her and show her some choices. I’ll inform her it’s my gift to her and ask her to make time for him. She’s too polite to decline a gift from me, large or small. I admit most have been on the small side. If I simply fetch dessert, she’ll always take a few bites. It’s about time I did something more significant than cheesecake for her.”

An unedited quick snippet of April 14

The Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Taikan, considered the fold over invitation on his desk carefully. The paper was thick and had a faintly shiny surface without feeling slick. It was slightly translucent and had a sprig of rose leaves and a few pink petals embedded. The use of inclusions in the hand-made paper wasn’t overdone. The entire effect was subtle. The English text was in a light green ink that complimented the leaves and the Japanese text was in a color he immediately labeled as Flamingo to compliment the petals. Both were done by hand and the translation was so correct that he couldn’t tell which was the original message and which was the translation. It invited him or his chosen representative to join the Sovereign of Central at a state ball and dinner buffet to celebrate life, friends, and allies. The event would start at 1800 Zulu time on May the sixteenth.

The note left unsaid if he and thus Japan were foremost friends or allies. It wasn’t even tied to any political event or anniversary. That was carefully neutral but wouldn’t deflect certain other nations from condemning anyone attending. Taikan didn’t care to demonstrate cowardice for his nation by turning down such an eloquent invitation. His personal politics were such that he’d enjoy sending a message to the sorts of joyless uzeee naysayers who could be offended by a party.

Unfortunately, there was no way he could alter his obligations to be away as many days as travel to the Moon would require. His deputy, Kawase Toyo, was younger and would travel easier. He called him.

“Kawase, how would you like an all-paid exotic vacation for your nation?”

“Greenland again? Or have you found somewhere as hot as that was cold?”

“How suspicious you are,” Taikan reproved him. “That wasn’t even in the depth of their winter and you were warned to have adequately warm clothing. This is a wonderful assignment, literally a party! Your wife will find it makes up for your previous task.”

“Is her presence requested or is it required?” Kawase asked. “She is as suspicious as me.”

“She wouldn’t want to miss it,” Taikan assured him. “You will attend a ball that is a state function. Come to my office and I’ll show you the invitation.”

Kawase took a long time examining the invitation.

“This isn’t the work of a barbarian,” He reluctantly admitted.

“I’m sure the whole experience will be tasteful and disagreeable to all the parties we wish to irritate by treating the Moon queen with honor and legitimacy.”

Kawase actually smiled at that. “That will make up for any minor hardship,” he agreed.