Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 41

Shadows: Part One

Farraday City Bunker

By mid-morning the rain in Farraday City has increased in strength and in volume. It’s dry in the bunker, but it’s humid, and they can hear the rain pounding the ground above it. Everything feels wet, even though it isn’t.

“Coffee,” CB says.

He steps into the living area of the bunker carrying a small metal tray with three mugs. The mugs radiate heat, steam evaporating into the air.

Jenny sits on one end of a beat-up vinyl couch, wrapped tightly in a blanket, legs tucked up u...

Issue 13: Shadows

Story: Christopher Wright
Cover: Pascalle Lepas
Logo: Garth Graham

... Happy Halloween!

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 03

WHEREIN Tactical Miscalculations Lead to an Unfortunate Overreaction

The bridge was absent its usual cheerful banter as they closed in on the two craft.

“Grif…” Amys kept her voice deliberately neutral. “Since we have the time I’d like to go over a few charts with you.”

Grif almost smiled in spite of himself. She didn’t want to argue with him in front of the crew. “Don’t worry about making a scene, Amys. We’re all friends here. Speak up.”

Amys paused, considering whether to take him up on his off...

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 02

WHEREIN Our Hero, Upon Witnessing a Curiosity, Makes an Unfortunate Decision

Like most Maximilian-class vessels still in use, the Fool’s Errand had originally been a troop transport. Maximilians were moderately successful in that role, but it wasn’t until after the line was decommissioned and the surviving ships were auctioned into the civilian world that they found their true calling as general purpose cargo ships. Maximilians were rugged, reliable ships that could function in planetary atmos...

The First 12 Chapters to A Rake by Starlight

Sometime in mid-July -- a particularly dark month for me, for various reasons -- I was skimming through my manuscript for A Rake by Starlight, the as-yet unfinished sequel to Pay Me, Bug!. I found myself really enjoying the story, which is something I rarely do when I'm still working on it, and was extremely happy with the way the it was turning out.

I also noticed something interesting: while the story isn't finished, the first twelve chapters are solid. As I looked through my work I saw gaps...

A Rake by Starlight - Chapter 01

WHEREIN Our Hero is Distracted by Unprofessional Behavior

Grif Vindh, captain of the Fool’s Errand, squinted through his digital binoculars and frowned. The frown deepened for a moment, then faded with a sigh as he dropped his arm and turned to his two companions. He looked a bit insulted.

“It’s not the double-cross that bothers me,” he said finally. “Well. It bothers me a little. It makes everything more complicated than I’d like. But what really bothers me is that they obviously didn’t put an...

A Rake by Starlight

Book Name: A Rake by Starlight

Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Genre/Story Information: Space Opera set in a setting known informally as The Foldspace Universe. The Foldspace Universe is a shared universe created by Jason Bortz, M. S. Patterson, and myself. Each of us uses this collectively developed setting for our own creative endeavors.

Influences: Harry Harrison, Oscar Wilde

Brief summary: A year after the events of Pay Me, Bug!, the Trade Baroni...

Coming Soon...

The reason everything has been quiet here is because my meatspace life has been incredibly hectic there. But I haven't been idle. Things are happening. Here are two of the neater things that are happening...

First, Curveball resumes publication this month. Issue 12 was a beast to get out of the way, but the gap between 12 and 13 wasn't due to writer's block or anything like that. I was getting a new cover for the year two run. I'm very pleased to show you the cover created by Pascalle Lepas, t...

How Science Fiction and Fantasy Helped Me Conquer My Inner Demons By Being A Total Horse's Ass

Note: This was originally posted on my Google Plus account here. I'm re-posting it to my website because it's relevant, and also because so there. Slightly edited.

My name is Christopher Brennan Wright. I’m a writer. More specifically, and this is important, at the moment I am an unsuccessful writer. I’m trying to struggle on, and get noticed, and “gain traction” just like every other writer in my position. There are no guarantees.

When you deal with something like that, it’s important that you...

The Points Between - Chapter 26

Windows of the Soul

The moment Matthew stepped into the first courtyard, leaving behind the ever-changing passages of the hedge maze, he felt a rush of pure, liberating relief. He’d started to adapt to the maze, but it took effort to push the disorientation aside, to focus on the pressure of Simon’s steady hand on his shoulder, to listen to their footsteps instead of trying to keep track of their progress. The first courtyard was, apparently, outside of the influence of the maze itself.

The foo...