Category: News

‘Space’ Dating Starts Today

Brussels, 2055.001.0000 (Fri 1 Jan). The ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) issued an official statement that the new dating system announced last year went into effect at one second past midnight this morning.

The new dating system has been adopted throughout the European Union and the PRC and USA have indicated they will also be adopting the new system. EU President Bonino stated, “The new dating system is less Earth-centric. Months are tied to times of year that are mainly valuable on Earth. It’s time to recognise that all of us – on whichever EU territory, on whichever planet are all in the same Union and we need a dating system that reflects that. Time of year isn’t useful in space, or on a planet that’s out of sync with Earth’s rotation.”

The system is also a simplification in many ways. It starts with the year, followed by the day number and then the hour and minute numbers. It can also be extended with seconds.

As an example: 11 O’clock in the morning on the 10th of May 2050. May covers days 120 to 151 (or 121 to 152 in a leap year). 2050 wasn’t a leap year so this date becomes 2050.130.1100 in the new system.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.

Gene Therapy for Military Personnel

Brussels, 2054.210.0900, (Wed 29 July). The Defence Commissioner’s office issued a statement today that as of 2054.244.0900, (Tue 1 Sep) all ‘critical’ military personnel will begin receiving Gene Treatment using the Mendel-7 process that was developed at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

“The treatment is intended to reduce susceptibility to cosmic radiation, improve muscle tone, increase resistance to hibernation related complications and arrest aging at a physical peak equivalent to around 20 years of age,” according to Professor Dr. Diana Stolberg (58) of the Karolinska Institute. According to Stolberg, other blanket or even specific gene modifications may be added at the request of the military. She suggests things like improved reflexes and peripheral vision are being researched for pilots as well as a number of classified programs. Stolberg is an internationally celebrated, Nobel prize winning geneticist who has recently wholly been absolved of any wrongdoing around the illegal treatment of one or more ultra rich individuals in Paris in the late 2020’s.

Critics have pointed out that the long term effects of the treatment cannot yet be adequately investigated because none who have received the treatment since the first time it was succesfully applied in 2032 have lived with the modified genes long enough to draw scientifically valid conclusions. Additionally, there is the matter of military personnel not wanting to undergo the treatment on religious or conscientious grounds for which the military is currently offering no exemption.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.

Sunset at 110k+ words!

Sunset, the life story of an important character that features in the Tales of Vatan: Alagariel series, passed through the hundred thousand word (100k) barrier this week. This really a chronological collection of stories that one character in the world experienced and it’s served as a way to give the world and recent history of Vatan more depth and colour.

I generally consider “full book” status to be achieved from about 125k words. At the moment, I feel there are at least  two large sections still to write, as there’s stll more than a hundred years to cover. So, it’s possible that Sunset will end up being a long one. I don’t anticipate two volumes, but you never know.

Belle de Serraient, on of Sunset’s many guises.

Success! The EU Finally Discovers Wormhole!

Brussels, 2051.062.0900, (3 March). The Defence Commissioner’s office issued a statement today confirming that the EU has discovered and claimed a wormhole leading out of Sol system. Further details are scarce, but there are unconfirmed reports from Chinese sources that military action was taken by the EU Navy to consolidate the claim against encroachment by the PRC.

The EU is in an uproar as after years of search and hundreds of billions of euro’s invested, the effort to find wormhole as finally achieved success. In parliament, motions have been entered to name the newly discovered system Europa though a statement by the Foreign Commissioner urged patience while the system beyond is scanned for planets in the habitable zone. This is the sixth wormhole that has been discovered leading out of the Sol system. Professor Frances Delaert of Dresden University stated that “each new wormhole discovery causes physicists and astronomers to scratch their heads harder – so many stable wormholes shouldn’t exist according to any current model of the universe.”

Despite the seeming impossibility of the discovery, Commissioners have been keen to take credit for sticking with the policy to continue funding the ESA and EU Navy efforts to find wormholes. There is a shadow over the whole affair however, as some amateur astronomers have reported what appeared to be nuclear explosions in the part of the Solar System where the wormhole is assumed to have been found.

While what exactly happened may become more clear in the coming days and weeks, it’s certain that the balance of power among humanity will shift if the EU manages to consolidate its claim.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.

Patreon Benefits

I’ve posted a number of Patreon only benefits, like more images from some of the AI Studies and I’ll also always give early access to the next installment of the books that are posted on here for free. Probably, I’ll offer whole chapters as Early Access rather than the by week releases.

Anyone who is a paid member for at least six months out of a year (based on their original subscription date) will receive The Half Elven Orphan as part of their Patreon benefits. Right now, as soon as you qualify you would receive the beta reader version of the book in pdf and epub formats and I’ll make the ‘as published’ version available as soon as its released too.

Next year’s 2025 patreon book will probably be Volume I of the Total War series, Dropship Down. Up until December 2025 anyone who has been a member for a total of twelve months will of course receive both books, as I obviously didn’t launch my Patreon page until September 2024.

Influences: Robert Heinlein

The work of Robert Heinlein, one of the fathers of science fiction has been a big influence on the Total War setting. Most people know him from the book Starship Troopers and the awful movies that are based on it. (My apologies to the movie fans, but if you read the book first, the movie was a grand disappointment.) The book is part military coming of age novel, part political and social treatise, which are all themes that are at least a little present in the Clausewitz series.

Heinlein wrote much more than Starship Troopers. Stranger in a Strange Land tells the story of a human who grew up among aliens on Mars returning to Earth for the first time, giving a point of view of human society that’s just a wonderful exploration of our strange habits. Glory Road is one of my favourites. It’s a fantasy book, essentially and the story told seems to resonate though I never really know why. I think it appeals to everyone’s sense of adventure. The list of Heinlein’s work which can get very weird and even pornographic, exploring all sorts of taboos, is all intriguing. That man’s mind must have been an interesting place.

Here are Amazon links to some of my favourites and yes, I may earn a commission if you purchase through these links.

Starship Troopers
Glory Road
Stranger in a Strange Land

Influences: Dungeons & Dragons

This is the first in a series of short posts discussing what influences my work. Each post will detail either an inspiration or a specific author.

First and foremost, at least when we’re talking about my fantasy stuff, is D&D. I played AD&D for the first time in the eighties and tried a lot of other RPG systems, from modern day things (d20 Modern, Twilight 2000, GURPS), White Wolf stuff, science fiction (various incarnations of Star Wars rpg’s) and some other oddballs. I always deeply enjoyed good RPG sessions and the concept for many of my characters finds its origin in characters I’ve played or wanted to play. Mostly wanted to play, which offers an insight into why I started writing.

The Alagariel series started off as a D&D style adventure story. I wanted to tell a tale that was like my ideal D&D game. It grew into a little more than that, but the first Alagariel like character I devised was somewhere in the early 2000’s. Many of the other important characters are my own PC’s or are inspired by those other people played.

I still wish I had the time for RPG’s and a group of people to play with, but it doesn’t fit into my life right now. Who knows, maybe one day.

The Half-Elven Orphan Starts October 3rd

The first book I will publish will be offered for free on this blog in weekly installments (59 of them at time of writing, which may change a little), starting on October 3rd at 1900hrs CEST. It is a fantasy novel set in the world of Vatan. It is the first book in the Alagariel series and the Tales of Vatan setting.

For future reference, the full title is The Half-Elven Orphan, Alagariel (Volume I), Tales of Vatan. I often struggle with figuring out read orders, so hopefully that helps a bit.

A few disclaimers:

  • There will be weekly installments, but I may choose to offer other work in the same time slot. So, it’s possible that in some weeks, I’ll put up something else on Thursday evening. It’s a highly likely that this book will eventually share its time slot with my first science fiction book “Dropship Down” set in the Total War setting. So it’s possible that it will take two years before the free versions of both books are fully published.
  • For the Half-Elven Orphan I will post a high resolution map of the area where most of the story is set. It will be released on the 9th of October 2024 in a seperate post.
  • The version on here is, initially at least, not the final print version. That said, it has been proof read by a group of people and generally received well enough that I’m comfortable posting it hear without its final edits. Besides final edits, I may still decide to change things too.
  • I may also post this to other online venues.
  • Obviously any and all support is appreciated. At the moment the only way that’s possible is via Patreon.

If you wish to receive the weekly installment to this story in your inbox, please subscribe to the newsletter below.

Breaking News: USA Discovers another wormhole!

Washington DC, 2049.297.0338 (24 October). The United States State Department announced today that NASA, supported by the US Navy, has discovered and claimed yet another wormhole leading out of the Sol System.

NASA states adjoining system hosts several planets in the habitable zone. An unnamed senior US Navy source claimed that there were definitely planets that looked like they were habitable for humans, calling the system “prime real estate”. This is the fifth wormhole that the USA has discovered in the Solar System. An official stated the system on the far side of the wormhole has been named “Independence”. Reactions from the EU and the PRC are best described as lukewarm. Both entities released statements reiterating the need for a proper distribution of wormhole access among Earth’s major powers and called for the USA to relinquish control of the wormhole to the United Nations.

This is an in setting press release for Total War. It is not real.