Gordon S. McLeod's Blog, page 3

Bringer of the Fall, pt. 4

The next day, Ralph spent his after-lecture time pulling at that mental thread. He took his research well beyond the outlines the professor had laid out for him, digging deeply into the events leading up to the fall of all of the most notable historical civilizations. He came up empty on most of them, but on some few, he came upon references that he was certain must be a connection. They MUST!

His deadline for posting was coming up fast, and he gnashed his teeth in frustration. “Just have to k...

Bringer of the Fall, pt. 3

The notes were intriguing to say the least; it’d been a while since he was this interested in the research subjects he’d been assigned. With a glance at the clock and a wince at the time, he packed up the notes and got ready for bed. He’d need to be clear-headed to dive into the historical sources he was going to need to validate what he’d just been handed.

The next two days were spent haunting the campus library, pouring through a surprising diversity of books, from the biological studies of...

Bringer of the Fall, pt. 2

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The clock turned over to 3:00am. Ralph barely noticed; he was totally lost to the Internet, following link after link, conducting search after search. “This has to be it,” he murmured to himself, not even noticing that he’d spoken aloud.

He’d been working his way through the professor’s notes. It was pretty gory stuff; fungal infections that get into food crops. In this case, mainly corn. He’d been mildly revolted to find that some cultures considered the infected corn to be a delicacy, and...

Bringer of the Fall, pt. 1

“Blast it all to hell!”

“You’ll find it, it has to be here somewhere.”

“We’d have it by now if you would just put things back where you found them.”

Ralph rolled his eyes. He’d heard this time and time again, but arguing the point wouldn’t bring them any closer to finding the notes. “You’re sure you actually wrote the notes down this time?” His mentor had a distressing habit of taking notes mentally, then forgetting he’d done so.

“99% sure. Maybe 89%. Yes, I’m sure. Probably. Check under that bun...

An Impossible Price, pt. 3

My Sword & Laser Anthology retreat is over, so I'm back and posting again. Sorry for going away, but I really needed to get my head around that piece!​

He handed the tablet back to Dana and opened the inner door of the delivery compartment built into the apartment bulkhead next to the door. Inside he found a substrate module enclosed in plastic, but with no label, just a note. He plucked the note from the packaging and scanned it.

A gift for you and your A.R.U.W.D. - MS

He grimaced. “It’s from S...

An Impossible Price, pt. 2

Dana gave a half-smile and grabbed a couple of breakfast bars, tossed one to him. “Sorry, I’ve been swamped. There’s nothing better.”

“No problem,” he said, the breakfast bar package torn half-open. “It’s better than I’ve had in a while.”

She studied him while they ate. “So how bad is it?” she asked, voice carefully neutral, between bites.

His stomach roiled a little. Felt like his intestines were knotting. “It’s …”

He wanted to say “It’s not that bad,” but the words died on his tongue. “It’s … a...

An Impossible Price - pt. 1

The hatch sealed shut behind him, cutting off the stream of shrill verbal abuse being hurled at him. Corwin angrily left the habitation block and hailed transit back to his ship.

“How did it go?” The message popped up on his tablet as he returned to the hangar. Aru, his constant companion in the weeks since he’d found himself captaining the Night Star to regain his former life.

“Not as well as I’d hoped,” he replied, trying not to let his own anger into his voice, “but pretty much like I expect...

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 14, pt. 5

It's been too long since I worked on this, I've been buried in other projects, including the audiobook. Had to put something together to actually post here, if only to let you all know that no, I haven't given up!

Minutes passed them by one after another, and Brandon lost count of them before he realized it had been a great many of them since the last time that Rich had found any sign. “Rich, could he have … turned?”

“Turned?” The other man’s voice was distracted, but carried a hint of temporar...

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 14, pt. 4

They passed the road in silence, all intently searching for any clue, Rich’s muttered directions their only indication that they were still on the right trail at all. Before long they found the buildings sitting closer together around them, and of lesser quality.

The streets were dirty, and the buildings dirtier, made of cheaper materials. Shadows lurked around many of the streets, mostly the smaller, darker ones. Most of the buildings were dark, too, but a raucous din and firelight marked sev...

The Diffident Hero - Chapter 14, pt. 3

Rich doggedly resumed his search of the ground for tracks. “Are you going to keep at that all night?” Lena asked, a hint of impatience tinging her words.

“We need to know where he went,” Rich said, in the absent tone of preoccupation.

“We’re never going to catch him if we don’t keep moving!”

“We’ll never catch him if we rush off the wrong way, too,” he said, clearly annoyed.

Brandon broke in. “We do have to know where he’s going, but if we keep moving, you can search on the way. If you don’t see...