Michael Formichelli's Blog: Nero's Niche, page 12

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Review

I went into Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) with a little trepidation. As all of you know, I love sci-fi, but I often get a little wary when it's sci-fi that is done tongue in cheek. Sure, movies like Spaceballs have their place, but they aren't what I really watch sci-fi for. Given this, the notion of a talking raccoon and a tree-man who only says one line were a bit worrying for me. (I never read the comics).

I needn't have been worried.

Rocket (the raccoon) has a great origin story which is referenced in the movie and does, actually, explain his existence within the context of a sci-fi setting that could occur in almost any story of the type. Groot (the talking tree-man) is a plant life-form (a concept I've played with before) and whereas he is more fantastical (in that is powers are a bit hard to believe) they fit well with the rest of the setting—I mean, when you have a universe with things like "infinity gems" it's hard to complain about a little magical plant growth.

I'm someone who gets bothered when things in sci-fi don't get explained, especially things that stretch the limits of what I know about science, but GotG delivered and that let me enjoy the rest of the film.

Sure there are still a few problems. For one, why do alien plants have humans on them who have clearly been there for a long time? (This is part of the Marvel Universe in which Earth is the Earth of today + stuff like X-men) But overall GotG had it together and turned out to be just an enjoyable film—with one minor exception.

Gamora.

She's supposed to be the most dangerous assassin in the galaxy, yet we see very little of her being awesome/kicking butt and taking names. I kept waiting for her to open the whupass and it didn't really happen (except for a brief fight near the end which by the time it happened I was convinced she was undeserving of her rep. or that her awesome scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.) Waiting for her to beat a room of 20 into submission proved to be a frustrating exercise, and I left the theater feeling a bit disappointed on this one point.

But that was the only one. Overall GotG is a light, just plain fun sci-fi/comic book movie that I'll definitely be watching again (on dvd).

Oh and I really hope they give Gamora her chance to take out a room or something equally badass in GotG2.

Film Review: The Machine

The Machine is the story of the creation of A.I. by ambitious scientists working for the Ministry of Defense in the U.K. Can you predict the outcome? If you've been reading or watching certain sci-fi stories and heck, if you watched the trailer above, you'll probably think you can. About 1/3 the way through this movie I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen, then about 1/2 way through I got a pleasant surprise. The film veered into largely unexplored territory that had me paying attention until the end.

What makes the Machine different is though it starts in the same place as the films that ask "what happens if we make A.I., ask it to kill for us (a.k.a. defend us), and we can't control it?" it winds up asking the question, "What happens if we make A.I., ask it to kill for us, and it says "no"?" This small twist on the question is what makes this film worth watching. It explores the interplay between man and machine and dares to ask which is more human? Us, or what we create? It does this brilliantly, using both
Though made on a low budget for a film of this type, The Machine manages to deliver action, good special effects, philosophy, and asks what it is to be truly human in a militaristic and mechanized world all without missing a beat. Though the beginning is somewhat cliché, I urge you to get past it and get to the real meat of the film. You will not regret it.

Why My Intended Blog Post for this Week was a Fail

So this week's blog post is a bit of a filler, and apologies about that.

Why is it a filler? Because:

a) I meant to watch "The Machine" this weekend and didn't get to it.

The machine teaser:


b) I'm working on Book 2 of the Chronicles of the Orion Spur (Blood Siren is book 1, and The Golden Mean is in the same universe) and that ate up much of my free time (in a good way).

c) I have a day job, devouring much more free time.

d) Remaining free time spent decompressing with my renewed interest in X-Com Enemy Within (video game).



So all of these things taken together you can see that though I meant to do a review of The Machine this week, I haven't yet. I will though, soon, promise.

A little bit more about item (b) above: I've got book 2 in its 3rd draft now (I'm pretty much settled on the title!), and I've decided to pull a George RR Martin (no, not to take forever to put it or or make it 1000 pages) and reread all of the material about each character before editing their parts, so that's slowing things a bit but in a good way.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the trailers above (check out XCOM, it's awesome if you're into tactical combat games-and yes, the reason aliens are invading Earth isn't as dumb as it usually is in the movies) and I'll have that review up soon!

Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

I very much liked Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011— ignore Tim Burton's 2001 folly). It was a good movie on its own with a high degree of emotional involvement, and provided a great back story to the 1968 classic Planet of the Apes. One of the best things I thought the movie did right was to provide a scientifically plausible answer to how it could be that we got from today's society to one where apes of all kinds rule. The number one best thing it did was to make Caesar, the first chimpanzee with human-level intelligence, into a sympathetic and moving star. Dawn continues that masterstroke of film-making by not only continuing Caesar it's hero, but also by featuring the apes, not the humans, as the main characters.

The movie has some tense ups and downs, and I even found myself tearing up at parts (something Rise also got me to do). The emotional tension is amp'd as we watch Caesar's worlds—the one in which he intentionally created and the one that was unintentionally made in his wake—collide in a catastrophe that threatens both. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is not a story of peaceful apes threatened by aggressive, gun-toting humans, it is Caesar's King Lear. He struggles to maintain a kingdom based on his level-headed and logical philosophies against threats from without and within that unknowingly work together to plunge both apes and humans into total barbarity. The brilliance of this movie comes from its ability to pull us into that struggle and make it our own. I found myself captivated from the start and was sad to see it end simply because I was enjoying the emotional ride so much. I can't wait for the next one (that I hope they're making). This is going to be a must-own for my video collection and I highly recommend going out to see it as soon as possible.

Alien Worlds & Traveling Abroad

Art by Michael Lam 2013First, the big news of course is that Blood Siren 2nd Edition is now available in both eBook (Kindle) and Print! Get the eBook here, and the print version here or here!









—Tying into that, a lot of the things I hear after someone reads something I wrote is "how did you come up with that?" or "how did you build the world for the story?"

I'd like to think of myself as a creative person, but of course, creativity does not come out of a void. One of the things I find that helps is relying on google images for inspiration. Try googling something like "weirdest animals" or "strangest fish" and you'll be presented with a wealth of alien-looking animals and landscapes to blend with your imagination. I have a degree in biology, but though that serves as a basis for already knowing some of the weird stuff out there, with the internet one is hardly at a disadvantage when it comes to access to things of this nature.

Another thing to do for inspiration, if one can, is travel. In the USA we have a wealth of different cultures and environments (deserts, rainforest—yes, there are both tropical and temperate rain-forests in the USA and its territories) to travel to for inspiration without leaving the country. If one can, though, I've found travel abroad to be the best for this (you guys in Europe and Asia are pretty lucky being so close to other cultures and environments).

Kumamoto Castle
Wikimedia Commons- by 663HighlandIn 1999 I landed in Japan and my world changed forever. It was the first time I'd been in an environment where I didn't speak the language and couldn't read. The construction was different from where I'd grown up, and all of this contributed to my feeling like I was really on another planet. Although I did learn to speak the language, and read a little, that feeling of being in an alien world has stayed with me to this day—and I love it.

CS Friedman traveled to an active volcano before writing the third novel in her Coldfire trilogy, and I'm sure the experience lent to the powerful descriptions in that book. When writing, there is no better way to imagine what your hero or heroine might be experiencing on an alien world than to travel to one yourself. I recently traveled to the Carribean for the first time, and already I've got a few ideas both for stories, and how to make some things I've already thought of better.

If it's true that we can't imagine anything that we haven't either experienced in some way or that isn't a mishmash of things we've experienced, then having as many experiences as possible can only improve our creativity and connection to the stories we read and write.

Sample from Blood Siren 2nd Ed #2

Below is part of one of the new chapters in the upcoming Blood Siren 2nd Edition. It centers around Cygni Aragon (featured in Towerfall, which is now part of Blood Siren 2nd Edition). Enjoy the read!

Blood Siren 2nd Edition will be released in Print and eBook formats on July 1st!

Cygni Aragon
(Art by Michael Lam)  





Cygni climbed the stone stairs leading into the block-shaped, fast-crete building at the edge of the Diplomatic District. Her implant ran text across the bottom of her vision informing her that the building was originally intended as a hospital for the workers that built the district centuries ago, but was converted to house consulates of species without official diplomatic status in the Confederation. At present, the Savorchan Tribal Nation and the Nyangari Protectorate shared the building.
The lobby had pistachio-green colored walls and a tile floor reminding Cygni of an old Earth ice-cream parlor. Five-meters on a side and three tall, it was crowded with the number of Nyangari and Savorchans passing through it. The latter species had to crouch as their height was, on average, equal to or greater than that of the room. Beside the giant masses of muscle-and-exoskeletal ivory, the Nyangari were comically short. About one-third the height of the Savorchans, they looked like children running about in black military uniforms with circular red epaulettes.
There were two podiums placed in neighboring corners of the room nearest the entrance to serve as reception desks for the consulates. She headed to the one where a civilian Nyangari sat perched on a tall stool, casually sniffing at the air with the pink-rose-like, flesh-petal nose of her kind. She wore a sleeveless sky-blue dress with a green trim that hung from her shoulders. A belt bound it to her waist with three golden cords tied together in intricate knots. Her mouth-pouch shimmered in the light, accentuating the oily-bronze color of her leathery skin as it hung from a pointed chin to the slight bulges of her breasts on either side of the v-neck dress. Her pointed ears drooped on either side of her narrow head as Cygni met her red-eyed gaze.
“Hello, Cygni Aragón,” the receptionist said in thinly accented Solan with ears cocked forward. The petals of her teardrop-shaped sniffer fluttered. Cygni bit her lip while trying to remember the receptionist’s name. When the moments stretched from the realm of appropriate pause into that of uncomfortable silence, she gave up and had her implant query the receptionist’s for an ID.
“Hello, Haela. How are you today?” she said in Nyangari.
Haela’s tongue slipped out of the side of her mouth. The Nyangari’s smile seemed to indicate she was aware that her name had been forgotten and was hopefully amused by it.
Cygni felt herself blush.
“I have good health, and yourself?” Haela responded, translating the traditional Nyangari response into Solan.
“I have good health,” she said in her own tongue.
“Are you here to see Guror Ithros?”
Guror was Shkur’s military rank—about the equivalent of a junior lieutenant in the Confederate Star Corps. She barely heard his rank outside of her occasional visits to the consulate and it always sounded strange in her ears.
“Yes indeed.”
“And he knows you are here?”
“I messaged him when I got out of the taxi.” Consulate protocol forbade outsiders from placing calls to staff on duty, but messages were considered innocuous enough to be permitted. The protocol was also the reason that she had to engage the receptionist like this. Shkur insisted she observe the regulations about registering guests in person at the podium.
Haela’s eyes lost focus for a moment.
“He’ll be here as soon as he is available.”
“Thank you,” she said. The lobby was devoid of a formal waiting area, so she assumed a place standing beside the podium.
“What is it like?” Haela said, after Cygni spent a few minutes listening to the sound of small and large feet on the tile floor.
“I’m sorry?”
“Being with one of us. I mean—I know, of course, but how does a human deal with the in—”
“What?” She never considered herself prudish, but the receptionist’s directness had her blushing deeper than before.
“Are you not? I assumed you and the Guror were—”
“None of your business.”
Haela’s jaw opened slightly, the hook-toothed bones moving down and away from her skull in opposite directions.
“Have I offended you?” Haela asked.
“Is it normal for Nyangari to talk about things with strangers? Shkur hadn’t given me that impression,” she fired back.
“No—I thought because humans are usually more open about such things—I am sorry. Things have been hectic around here.”
Cygni, despite her embarrassment, felt her instincts piqued.
“Hectic?”
“Preparing for the trip, of course.”
“Who is taking a trip?”
Haela’s tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth.
“The ambassador and a small contingent of warriors was invited to Baron Keltan’s engagement party. I thought Guror Ithros would have told you. He is in the contingent.” Haela shifted her gaze away—Nyangari embarrassment and submission.
“He hadn’t mentioned it. Thank you for telling me, Haela.”
The Nyangari woman looked down at the floor.
“I am sorry to keep you waiting,” Shkur’s voice drew Cygni’s attention. He marched through the lobby dressed in his full military finery; the material of the black jacket shimmered below the red collar. His chest-high body, slightly hunched at the shoulders and thick with the muscles she appreciated, filled it in well. His skin had the look of tough oiled leather, and hung in a regal pouch from his jaw.
“Don’t be.” She leaned down and touched her nose to his. “Are you ready for lunch?”
“What is on the menu today?” His yellow eyes gleamed in the light.
“Come, let me surprise you.” she turned, but felt Shkur’s strong hand on her forearm. She knew what he wanted, and rolled her eyes. “All right.”
He moved in front of her and waited.
“Thank you, Haela.” With a nod to the receptionist, she half-climbed, half-squatted onto Shkur’s back. She knew the sight was ridiculous, but Haela gave no indication of it.
“You are welcome, Miss Aragón.”
Shkur carried her onto the street. She had to hold her legs out straight to prevent her feet from scraping on the ground. A Savorchan passed them on the stairs and paused at the top to turn his domed, eyeless head in their direction. She didn’t think something without eyes could stare before that moment.
Once on the street, she tapped Shkur on the shoulder and he let her dismount. Males carrying their mates was a long-held tradition in Nyangari culture. She didn’t have a problem with it per se, though she had to wonder if it was at least a partially misogynistic cultural practice, but her size made it look embarrassingly ridiculous. It may be normal to Shkur’s species, but it wasn’t to the rest of the city’s population. She was relieved that he let her end the ride so quickly.
“I thought we should try something different today.” She straightened the crinkles in her pants. She was embarrassed enough for one day and was eager to get away from the consulate.
“What do you have in mind?” Shkur asked.
“This way.”
They started walking.
“I do not have very long today. The ambassador has a lot of things to do, and I am needed.”
“You didn’t tell me you were going on that engagement cruise.”
His long, pointed ears twitched, but he did not otherwise react.
“I was going to tell you tonight. We leave in six days.”
“So you were only going to give me six days to say goodbye?” She felt she was being catty as soon as the words were out of her mouth, but realized he deserved a little attitude for not telling her sooner.
“We are coming back. I will only be gone one-hundred-twenty standard days. We have gone longer without seeing each other when you have had an assignment off world.”
“When did you know?” He was right, they had been apart longer, but she didn’t want to give it to him. He should have been the one to tell her, not some receptionist.
“The decision to bring me in the contingent was made two days ago.”
“I’ve seen you since then,” she said.
“At your release from jail. It didn’t seem appropriate or fair to bring it up then. I was going to tell you tonight. Is this why you wanted to meet for lunch today? I was not aware I was going from my office to a battlefield.” He snorted, the many petals of his nose vibrated violently.
She took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts while they walked six blocks in one direction.
“We have past three Nyangari restaurants, a Solan burger shop, and a Cleebian noodle stand. Do you know where we are eating?” He waved his hand in the air.
She stopped walking. She’d allowed her anger to get the better of her and walked right past the place she had in mind for lunch—he should have been the one to tell her, not that receptionist. She tried to calm herself with slow, deep breaths to get her mind working properly again.
“You do not, I see.” Shkur shook his head like a cerberai shaking off water.
“Wait, I originally just wanted to have lunch, but now I want to talk to you about—well—about the Queen Gaia.”
She watched his eyes shifted back and forth, noting the other pedestrians moving around them. Lunch time in the Diplomatic District was as busy as it was in the Corporate District. The streets were crowded with representatives of every species with a tie to the Confederation, including the gray-skinned VoQuana. Their teardrop shaped heads and large, black eyes atop emaciated, human bodies sent shivers down her back.
“What about the Queen Gaia?” His tone shifted to kinder notes.
“My editor won’t let me go on that ship. He’s sending Pawqlan.”
“Who?”
“This air-headed Galaenean gossip.” She waved her hand by her ear to illustrate the point. “All of the key individuals in whatever Baron Mitsugawa got himself mixed up with are going to be on that ship, and my editor sends the air-head.”
“Baron Mitsugawa?”
“The older one. The dead one.”
Shkur looked about the street again. “Perhaps we should go get a table—” he cast about the fast-crete floor of the urban canyon “—there.” His thick, bronzy-skinned fingers pointed to a narrow shop across the street labeled ‘Fried Delectables’ in the five major languages of the Confederation.
“What made you choose that place?” her brow furled.
“I simply made a decision,” he said.
“All right.” She smiled.
They walked over and, passing through the narrow doorway, assumed seats at a wooden table amongst a clutter of its kind just big enough for two. The walls were decorated with freezes in low relief showing a clutter of scenes with which Cygni was unfamiliar. She recognized depictions of Solans, Achinoi, and other species, but could not tell what they were doing. Despite her ignorance she found the darkness of the wood gave the establishment a dim, if cozy atmosphere that was pleasantly enhanced by the smell of spices and preserved meats.
“This is interesting,” she murmured as they assumed their seats. “Have you eaten here before?”
“No,” he said. “We are far from the consulate and I chose it at random.” She looked over at the bar two meters from them. Behind its tall counter a slender Achinoi stood. The leathery membranes connecting the underside of her arms to the outside of her legs protruded from a dark blue garment hanging from her quill-encrusted shoulders. The Mohawk of quills on her head were dyed red and green, giving Cygni the impression that she must be youthful if not actually a juvenile of her kind.
She caught one of her four, green eyes and the woman brought over menus.
“Can I get either of you something to drink?” The woman asked in heavily accented Nyangari. The growls and gurgles that should have punctuated her speech were not annunciated enough, and she sounded like a drunken novice. Cygni guessed she was either new to the language, or just trying to pick it up from the patronage.
Shkur flipped the menu over, scanned down the list of drinks, and cocked his head to the side. Curious, she imitated him and was greeted with a gargantuan assortment of available beverages. Each had the symbol of the sovereignty in which it originated printed beside text that her implant translated into Solan as she read. All of the Confederate drinks were represented, and there were even a few from the Commonwealth and the Empire.
“Wow,” she whispered. In a louder voice she said, “is the inside of the menu like this?”
“We pride ourselves on serving all known species, and on introducing new tastes to the palate,” the Achinoi said.
“That’s great for you,” Cygni said. Her growls and gurgles, she knew, had a much more practiced sound than the Achinoi’s.
“This one,” Shkur pointed to a Nyangari drink, cephur. It was sweet and acidic, similar to Solan orange juice.
“Beer for me.”
“Which one? We have a large—”
“Any one,” she responded.
The woman blinked all four of her eyes and headed back to the bar. Cygni took a deep breath watching Shkur studiously attack the menu’s interior with his eyes. Knowing that he was going to be on the Queen Gaia gave her an idea, one that she refined as they waited for their drinks. She didn’t know if he would go for it, or even if he could, but unless she could change her editor’s mind this was the only way she was going to get on the Green Queen of the Stars as the ship was known.
“Shkur.” She took another deep breath. She suddenly didn’t want to ask him, it was rare her nerves got in her way like this.
His small, yellow eyes looked up at her.
“I—” She licked her lips, knowing if she didn’t force herself now she would hate herself later. “—I want to be on that ship.”
“What?” he growled out.
“The—”
Their drinks arrived.
“What are you having?” The Achinoi woman asked. She held her hands in front of her waist, tapping the red-nail-polish-covered claws together in slow succession.
“I’ll try this—thing. Forgive me, I don’t believe I have the vocal chords to pronounce it.” Shkur pointed to an item on the menu.
“That is brave of you,” the Achinoi responded.
“I want to taste the flavors of your enemies,” he said.
“What did you choose? Something Broghite?” Cygni asked.
“Jaoczari, I believe they are a member species of the Broghite Commonwealth.”
“I know,” she said. The annoyance of his unnecessary explanation was mollified by the knowledge that his face would be priceless when the food arrived. She knew what the Jaoczar ate, and it would not agree with a Nyangari’s tastes. Perhaps it was mean of her not to warn him, but it was also a way to vent some of her residual anger.
“And for you?” The Achinoi asked.
“Klut,” she said.
“Klut? I thought Solans could not digest klut,” Shkur said.
“Don’t worry.”
“The both of you are very brave.” The Achinoi woman headed away from their table and disappeared behind a swinging door at the back of the restaurant.
“The ship, yes?”
“Yes, the ship.” She sighed. The earlier interruption had killed her momentum, but she still had to make herself ask. “I need to be on that ship, and I was thinking—”
“That maybe I could bring a guest with me?” His eyes gleamed. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Be so smug with me.”
“Sorry, I will have to get permission from the ambassador. I believe he will say yes, but—”
“But?”
“But he may want something you won’t like giving.”
“Huh?” She frowned. Fear and curiosity warred in her heart. Curiosity won as it always did. She wouldn’t be what she was if it didn’t.
“He will want details about us.” He leaned back in his seat.
“Details?” Her mind connected the dots. She laughed loud enough it bounced off the walls. “He won’t want to cop a feel or anything? Just hear about it?”
“You are my mate, Cygni. It would be improper to ask you to do anything!” She could tell he was really angry. The petals of his nose vibrated in a certain way when he was.
“I’m sorry, really. I’m sorry. I was just joking.” Mostly, she thought.
“Always joking. Solan women!”
“I’m sorry,” she said in somber tones. The Nyangari ambassador’s voyeuristic desire was amusing as hell, but she didn’t want that amusement to hurt her mate.
He shook his head.
“I will ask if you forgive me for not telling you about the delegation.”
“Done.”
The Achinoi woman returned from the back. In one hand she held a ceramic sphere encrusted with what appeared to be black and red moss, in the other she held a plate of greenish meat that smelled as bad as it looked—klut.
“What is this?” He asked when she set the meal before him.
“What you ordered.”
“I mean—”
Cygni took the plate of rotten meat from the Achinoi and pushed it over to Shkur.
“I’m not hungry,” she said.
He looked up.
“Thank you.”  
“Just ask the ambassador and we’re even.” She winked.



Blood Siren 2nd Edition will be Available July 1st 2014!Check out cygnusorion.com for news!

Free Sample from Blood Siren 2nd Edition!

Coming Soon! Blood Siren 2nd Edition!In preparation for the July 1st release, below is a free sample of what Blood Siren has to offer!2nd Edition will feature:—New Chapters!—Glossary!—Character Information!—New Artwork by Michael Lam!
Enjoy!


—From Blood Siren 2nd Edition by Michael Formichelli(Copyright 2012, 2014)

On Kosfanter the Great Houses made their homes in kilometer-tall towers of varying designs instead of floating arcologies. Ikuzlu’s Galactic Quarter was a sierra of geometric shapes and swooping angles that cast odd shadows on the poorer neighborhoods across the lagoon.The Intelligent Systems tower had four right-triangular sections of dark-blue poly-glass standing at right angles to one another. They supported a large silver egg-shaped section with the wide end facing up and longitudinal electric blue lines tracing from its apex to its nadir. The egg housed the central offices and spacious living quarters of the Cronus family, while the four triangular structures housed the offices and banks of computer servers that made up the Intelligent Systems’ headquarters.
The Cronuses tended to eat in the smaller of two dining halls in the tower. The table seated ten. There was an oval alcove with a crackling fire behind the table’s head. The chamber, modeled in white marble, was lined by domed sconces on two of the four opposing walls. At the end of the table opposite the fireplace was a huge picture window through which could be seen distant clouds over calm seas lit orange, pink, and red by the setting sun.
Sable and Sophiathena were already in the room when Cylus entered behind an artificial servant. The latter bowed and left promptly with its head high in the air. Cylus’ friends rose from their seats and bowed formally to him. Sophi lifted her gloved hands and drew back her hood.His gaze followed her white braids up to where snowy hair framed her narrow, chalky face. Arctic blue eyes regarded him, making him feel like she was studying his appearance for flaws before she smiled slightly and nodded. Cylus had never grown comfortable with her dissecting him like that, but as usual he did his best to shrug it off. She judged everyone and everything around her with those eyes so he knew he shouldn’t take it personally. Others in her past had not been so understanding.
There were rumors that Sophi was really an artificial and not human, but he knew her differently. Her eyes warmed when they were in private, becoming the friendly, beautiful things he liked to gaze upon. She was a full person behind closed doors, full of life and an overwhelming intelligence. It was only in public that she was so guarded.
“Welcome brother.” Sable came around the table and hugged him.
“I’m glad you made it.” Sophi took her turn next. She added a brief kiss on his cheek before stepping back.
“Are you going to be all right?” He gestured towards the window.
“The light is sufficiently dim now, and the glass is polarized to block ultra-violet wavelengths,” Sophi said.
The door behind Cylus opened. He turned and had to hop out of the servant’s way. Black pupils set in white orbs met his eyes, sending a shiver down his back. It was one of the ways the industry marked artificials, making them without iris or skin pigment so one knew who was human and what wasn’t, but Cylus didn’t like the way it looked. If he could, he would have Ben’s pigmentation changed.
“The Baroness Hephestia Cronus, the Baron Yoji Mitsugawa, and Heir-Representative Aurora Cronus,” the servant said.
Those named entered the room in that order. Hephestia and her sister Aurora were both dressed in sparkling evening gowns of silver cloth studded with diamonds around the hem and cuffs. The dress’ cut did more to emphasize Aurora’s round figure than Hephestia’s narrow one, but it did go well with their honey blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes. His former step-uncle, Yoji, had changed into a formal black kimono and still had his hair up in the cue. His dark, narrow eyes were pensive, and his brow showed the lines of hard thinking.
Cylus bowed as they entered, and they returned the gesture formally.
“Baron Keltan, I’m happy to see you here tonight,” Yoji said.
“Please call me Cylus, uncle. The baron thing makes me uncomfortable.” Yoji and the Cronuses were the last living links to his own parents, even if he was no longer technically related to them. Titles were too formal for people so close to him.
Yoji smiled. “Cylus, please sit.”
Hephestia cleared her throat.
“Sorry, my lady,” Yoji said and bowed to the master of the tower.
“Good to see you looking whole again, Cylus. You’re always welcome at my table.” She emphasized “my” and glared at Yoji.
His face broke into a smile.
Cylus waited for them to take their seats before sitting in his. The chairs were high backed, made from native wood and leather, and very comfortable. The table was set with the Cronus’ fine china, glass goblets, and an eight stick candle-holder in the center with twigs of white-berried holly arranged around its base on a red lace doily.
Hephestia raised a bell that was placed near the head of the table and rang it once. A train of servants entered and filled the waiting goblets with dark-red wine. When the cups were full she raised hers and the small silver bells tied into her curly blonde hair jingled.
“To our health, and Yoji’s success. May Zalor fail and the Confederation be saved,” she said.They all drank. Cylus took only a single mouthful of the sweet wine before placing his cup down. He didn’t want to repeat the other night when his inebriated state nearly caused him to pass out in Sophi’s bed. It wasn’t that he thought his aunts would care, but it would be embarrassing if they found him in such a situation.
Hephestia rang the bell again. The servants brought in a large bowl of Greek salad and began serving them in synchronized motions. The second wave brought silver trays bearing courses of dark-green grape leaf rolls, golden-brown loaves of roasted lamb surrounded by a bed of seasoned potatoes and slices of lemon. The scent of garlic, oregano, and well-cooked meat made Cylus worry that he might drool all over himself before the food was even on the table.
“Father, I have a question,” Sable said between bites.
Yoji nodded.
“What did Baron Revenant say to you on the floor before we adjourned? Cylus and I were trying to figure it out but we couldn’t. We’ve never seen him act like that before.”
“I found it odd as well. He told me I had played the card well and that he’d have a response for me soon, but also that he’d do me the courtesy of buying me time to reconsider.” Yoji shrugged.Sable snorted. “In other words he let you know he has something up his sleeve and your move would be ineffective?”
“Something like that, I’m sure.” Yoji nodded.
“It’s still not like him,” Sophi said. She speared a single olive on her fork and placed it carefully in her mouth.
“He hasn’t been known to announce his moves before.” Yoji stabbed the salad and scooped a portion into his mouth.
“He’s got to be up to something. Did you see how uncomfortable that whore, Brudah, was?” Hephestia said.
“Baroness Altair? She wasn’t happy about something, but it couldn’t have been what Zalor did. He didn’t really give anything away.” Aurora signaled the servants to bring bread.
“Maybe her daughter’s decided to help out another of her enemies? Who knows? She’s one of the co-conspirators against the Confederation, and that’s all that matters,” Hephestia said.
“Her daughter?” Cylus didn’t know Baroness Altair had any children.
Aurora glanced meaningfully at her sister. Sophi and Sable were staring at Hephestia along with him.
“It’s not public knowledge, but she does have one. I’m sorry I brought it up, it’s nothing you kids need worry about.” Hephestia pressed her lips together and picked at her food.
Cylus opened his mouth, but caught Yoji’s stare.
“Let it go,” the older man said.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
Sophi and Sable exchanged suspicious looks. Cylus knew then that Sophi was already on the Cyberweb with her implant, looking up whatever she could find on this mysterious daughter. Very little could stay hidden from Sophi once she got an itch to know something.
Silence hung heavily in the air.
Aurora cleared her throat. “You kids might as well know the important parts of what’s going on without hearing the idle gossip of old barons. Right before the war began we arranged for an agent, a mercenary of sorts, to go to Ganymede and infiltrate Brudah’s compound there. Our agent got a hold of some encrypted files that proved to be very interesting reading. We’ve learned a lot from those files, enough to know that Zalor is making some kind of grab at the Premier’s chair, but not enough to know exactly how or when.”
“It’s been seven years, so whatever his plan is, it’s slow, methodical, and therefore very hard to detect. We haven’t learned much more since then,” Yoji said.
“Did it implicate him in my parents’ death?” Cylus said a bit sharper than he meant. All eyes turned to him and he found himself frowning back at them, blushing.
Yoji and Aurora exchanged glances.
“The files implied that Baron Revenant was arranging for some things to happen; a shipment to Cleeb from Sol, funds transferred from various accounts, that sort of thing. The more interesting parts were the people involved. Baron Revenant, Baroness Altair, and Zalor’s little pet, Baron Olivaar.” Yoji said.
“Did any of it imply him in my family’s massacre? Did he make some deal with the Brogh to kill them?”
“Nothing that straightforward Cylus, I’m sorry,” Aurora said, seemingly hugging him with her eyes.
Yoji glanced at Aurora. “There was one thing though, a mention of some cargo being shipped into Broghite space. The dates of the shipment would’ve gotten it there about fourteen days before your family was killed.”
“What was it?” Cylus leaned forward with his palms digging into the edge of the table.
“It didn’t say, just a codename,” Aurora said.
“It’s nothing to go on, Cylus. We haven’t been able to learn anything more about the name or what the ship—” Hephestia said.
“What was it?” Cylus interrupted.
“The codename was Siren. That’s all we know about it. Cylus, I’m sorry. Your parents were good people, your siblings too. I used to bounce Sando on my knee when he was a baby. I feel for your loss but—” Yoji said.
“But what?” Cylus said. Being ten years older than Sable or Sophi, he knew he remembered some of those moments better than they did. He watched as Yoji and his father had talked, laughed, drank together, but that didn’t excuse keeping him in the dark for seven years. He had nothing to go on, nothing at all until this moment.
Yoji abruptly looked confused, like he didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. His fork rang out as it hit the floor.
“Darling?” Aurora said.
He blinked. “Sorry, what was I saying?”
“About the Keltans,” Aurora almost whispered the words.
“Right, so your parents were, were—” Yoji stood up abruptly. “Siren, that was the name, I—ah—”
Sable and Sophi were on their feet.
“Father?”
Yoji moved, heading for the window. Sable attempted to get in his way, but the larger man grabbed his son’s wrist and twisted the boy’s body off to the side.
“Yoji? Yoji!” Aurora was frantic.
Cylus watched the next few seconds as though viewing stars through a ship window in E-R Drive. His uncle moved towards the window, flipping the ornate brass switch on its side as he got close enough to reach it. The window slid up obediently, blasting them all with the frigid night air at a thousand meters above the fast-crete pavement. It was nearly the same smell as the Barony had that morning, wet and briny, a cruel and ironic twist to this moment where he stood powerless and watched Yoji step calmly up onto the window sill. He shook off his family’s groping hands, and placed his foot into the air.
His eyes were vacant like an artificial’s.
Then he was over the edge, and gone.
Cylus’ aunts screamed. Sable dashed to the window, staring down in horror.
Cylus looked over at Sophi. She was standing by her chair, not having moved since she got up. She seemed to feel his eyes on her, and turned her head to meet them. He could tell from her expression she was already thinking, analyzing, plotting as she always did. She was a strange point of calm in the sea of madness that followed.

At some point he remembered suggesting they contact the Abyssian Praetor, Nero Graves.
Be sure to check for news on the upcoming release at www.cygnusorion.com!

Coming Soon: Blood Siren 2nd Edition + Bonus Content!

Blood Siren 2nd Edition is coming!

Cylus Keltan wants nothing more than to stay out of the poisonous bed of greed and politics, but when his surrogate father throws himself from a mile-high window, he is forced back into the corrupt world he swore never to return to. With the help of Nero Graves, a cybernetic agent, he uncovers a plot to cripple the government and deploy an alien super plague with the potential to kill billions known as "Siren."

Can they discover the link between his friend's death and Siren before it's too late?

Art by Michael Lam 2013Blood Siren's 2nd Edition will have a new cover and will soon be available in print as a physical book! I'm very happy to announce that Michael Lam has once again produced a beautiful cover image for another Orion Spur universe work. The 2nd Edition will feature some corrections in the text, 7 new chapters, plus bonus materials at the end.

Blood Siren will now be available through Amazon's KDP Select service. Those with Amazon Prime will be able to borrow the eBook for free instead of purchasing it. The print copy will be available exclusively through Amazon as well.

The Chronicles of the Orion Spur series will continue later this year with the release of book 2 (hopefully around December), and probably conclude next year (or so) with book 3 and/or 4 (not sure if it's going to run 3 or 4 books yet.)

Be sure to check my website (www.cygnusorion.com) for updates!

Lucy- the New Scarlett Johansson/Luc Besson Movie

First:

Happy Memorial Day Weekend in the USA, and if you served or have someone who is serving, or has served and may no longer be with us, THANK YOU!

Second:

For those of you who follow this blog you know every January I do a "what's coming out this year in Sci-Fi" post. It seems I either missed one (not surprising) or this is a late announcement, but there's a new Luc Besson (The Professional/Leon, Fifth Element, etc) movie coming out starring Scarlett Johansson named Lucy.

I don't know much about it yet, save what I've gleamed from the trailer. It seems to be a cross between the Japanese animated film Akira and Bradley Cooper's film Limitless, but that's just what the trailer seems to say. Also, Morgan Freeman is in it (it's like he's the new Gene Hackman—seemingly in everything these days). The one thing that annoys me about this already is the whole myth about only using 10% of your brain thing that just refuses to die. It's not true, you use 100% of your brain, it's just that most of it is dedicated to running your body (breathing, regulating hormones, balancing) and only a portion is used for thinking. I guess if you made a movie about how someone was using more and more of their brain for thinking in a realistic way it'd be pretty depressing. We'd get to see them break down and stop breathing while being smarter... Not a very empowering story I suppose. Anyways...

Judge for yourself:

KSP- One of the Most Addictive Games Ever (for space enthusiasts)

A few weeks ago I broke my ankle and I've been kind of laid up since. I've spent a good chunk of the down time on a game that I had been referred to by a friend some time back, but hadn't checked out until I was more or less house-bound. I should have checked it out sooner.

Kerbal Space Program is probably one of the best games I've ever played, and it's not even in its final release yet. Developed with NASA, it's a game where you design, build, and fly rockets, space planes, space stations, rovers, etc. as head of the Kerbal Space Program—a fictional version of NASA on the alien world of Kerbin.

The physics are all accurate (or close to it), and the space-ship parts are all ones that have really been used or are being used in space programs today. There are even downloadable mods (for free) that can give you the new parts in use by SpaceX and other modern space companies. Want to recreate the Apollo missions to the moon? No problem (Kerbin has 2 moons). Want to simulate a manned mission to Mars? Can do!

Check out the trailer:



On top of being a fun game, KSP has taught me a lot about real life space exploration (and reminded me that space travel is about arcs, nothing moves in a straight line in space—but not to worry, the game has a lot of easy to use and understand helper tools, so what could have been a struggle has turned into a fun way to learn/relearn some of the basics. Where the in-game tools fall short, the KSP Wiki picks up with simple, easily-understood explanations and instructions; there are also a number of fan-made tutorials on YouTube).
The game retails on Steam for $26.99, though buying it now while it's still in development guarantees you'll get the upgrade to the finished version for no further cost (in an age where games usually cost $30-$50 I view this as a deal). Steam also has occasional sales and I've seen the game go for as little as $14.99. In it's present version it's fully playable, with only a few minor issues. The biggest one is a lack of detail on the home world and some of the outer planets from what I can tell, though I'm sure future updates will remedy this. As much as I want Squad, the developer, to hurry up I also want them to take their time to create a quality product since what they've done so far shows so much promise!
I highly recommend it for any space enthusiast! (And if you're unsure there's a free demo you can try!)