Lincoln Cole's Blog, page 3

2017 Book Signing Schedule

Here is my book signing schedule for 2018, including all of the different places I will be at and which books I'll be bringing to each event.

Check it out on facebook here to show your support!

October 2017: Prepping for Halloween, The Everett Exorcism Launch, and So Much More!

The Everett Exorcism and World of Shadows

It is October, and the books are finally about to launch! They've been running on pre-order for a good while now, and it's going to be awesome to get them out into the world!

The second book is also about ready to publish, and it's going to follow hot on the heels of The Everett Exorcism. It picks up the story after the first one lets off and continues the story.

Raven's Peak and World on Fire

I haven't forgotten about this series, and it's still on sale for this month for only 99 cents! I have some pretty big promotions lined up this month, including Raven's Fall and Raven's Rise being on sale for only 99 cents during the week of the 24th through the 31st.

If you haven't gotten a copy yet, then that will be the perfect time to pick up the entire series for under three bucks!

I'm also hoping to continue the story with another series soon. I wish I had more time to write to get all of these stories done, but I promise to keep plugging away at them to get them done as soon as possible!

Interested in publishing your own book?

If you've thought about publishing a book and are curious to check out a launch plan, then this is the post for you. It includes a walk through of everything I'm doing to launch The Everett Exorcism.

Check it out!

Second Editions available now!

Most of my earlier books are available in second editions now! That includes UAV, Ripples Through Time, and Second Chances. 

Graveyard of Empires isn't ready for a re-launch just yet. I'm planning on writing at least one more book in the series (maybe two) and finishing up my Last Light in the Darkness series before relaunching all of these together. Hopefully, there will be a lot of new content in this ready in the coming months.

My Indie Author Journey: Write, Publish, Repeat!

 

My journey with writing started an early age. In middle school, when we were given creative writing topics, I would end up with stories that were so long the teacher wouldn't even bother to read them. He would just give me an 'A' and move on to the next student.

Early in my high school days, I had multiple knee surgeries that took me away from my (lackluster) sporting career. During my downtime, I wrote two books of a three book series and my parents had them printed out with hundreds of copies.

They were terrible and are now collecting dust in their basement. I barely recognize or remember them, but I do remember how much fun I had putting them together.

My strategy with releasing new books has been:

Write The BookPublish The Book???Profit!

I've tried a ton of different things to market and promote my book, and I've had success with some, but in general I haven't really made much money from it (yet!).

All in all, though, I do it because it is fun and not because I need to be successful. I just like to write and will keep putting out stories as long as it is fun.

My first newly published book was one that I spent years working on. It was a fictional story, but it related back to real life events from my family and myself. Things that affected me deeply as a kid ended up in the story, and it was difficult to write. That book would later be called Ripples Through Time.

While I wrote that, I always started my huge and sprawling space opera called Graveyard of Empires. It is needlessly complex, overburdened with characters and personalities, and a heck of a lot of fun to write. It has almost no audience or market, but it is just for me. I wanted to tell this story with these characters, and it is the series I continually turn back to when I just want to have a little bit of fun.

The thing that these early books taught me, however, was that sometimes it is better to focus my ideas smaller while still creating a large world. I wrote Raven's Peak with that in mind. My goal was to create an, at least, partially marketable book with some interesting and unique characters. I tried new things, had a little bit of success, and learned a lot.

Being an indie author is difficult. I have a new book coming out in a couple of weeks that I've spent almost half of the year preparing for, and right now I have no indication if it will be a success or a failure. All I know is that I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'll keep on writing after it is done. I write for myself, and I enjoy putting stories on paper.

When The Everett Exorcism launches, it will be my most ambitious book to date. I'm trying a lot of new things, hoping to reach new audiences, and with any luck I'll be able to make something of a splash with it.

And, if not, then back to the drawing board!

 

September 2017 Second Half: Book Features and More!

 

Here is a quick update about all of the projects I'm currently working and their release dates (provided they have one).

I've also got a couple of sales running this month, plus my huge launch giveaway for The Everett Exorcism. Enter to win and you could get some really great prizes!

Second Editions 

Most of my books have their KU contracts expiring at the end of this month (on the 28th) so I will be releasing all of them with wide distribution very soon! I already have Ripples Through Time, Second Chances, and UAV ready to re-release in a couple of days.

It'll be nice being able to promote these works to wider audiences than just Amazon, as well as releasing them for only 99 cents while retaining my 70% royalty rate across the platforms. 

The Everett Exorcism Pre-Order

This is still up for pre-order and will be out across all stores on October 24th. You can find out more about it here and order your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and about ten additional sites that sell e-books.

The story is about an exorcism in a small town in Washington. The exorcist is about to find out that the theory of expelling a demon, and the reality, are two completely different things.

This book also picks up with the story of Arthur from right after The Ninth Circle and about twenty years before the events of Raven's Peak. I'm excited about this because a lot of people wanted to learn more about Arthur after the World on Fire series.

I'm also hosting a goodreads giveaway for this book so you can get a free paperback copy. Click here to enter!

The Vatican Children Pre-Order

This one follows suit right after The Everett Exorcism. I didn't want to make audiences wait for a long time before being able to pick up the story and run with it, so this gives the opportunity for readers to continue right into the series.

The third book won't be out quite as quickly, but it will still follow suit and be out by early 2018. Both will be available on all of the same platforms and this one is up for pre-order as well!

This one launches a week after the first book, on October 31st. I wrote it immediately after completing the first book and wanted to release it as soon as possible. I didn't want people to have to wait to find out what happened and what came next, but I don't want to give anything away.

Interested in learning more about how to publish a book and seeing my launch strategy for this series? Check out this post:

Last Light in the Dark

I hope I can give more details about this upcoming project because it is one I really want to write. It's set in the Graveyard of Empires series and features an entirely new cast in a different environment. Unlike GoE, this one is a space horror series that will foreshadow some of what is to come in the larger series of novels.

I don't have a lot of details yet, but after The Bishop's Legacy this is the series I want to turn to. I actually started writing some of it in an entirely new way (using Dragon Natural Speaking to record it) to see how quickly I could write by dictating.

It didn't go well. The program failed to recognize about half of the sentences and it came out almost nonsensical, but it was still a neat experiment and something I intend to try again in the future.

New Release by Another Indie Author!

A tense urban fantasy mystery with charm!

Melanie Rosen hasn't settled for much, but her travels have brought her to Dublin, Ireland, where she works for the Occult Investigations Unit, exploring the strange and unknown.

Her fiery disposition and tendency to probe where she's not wanted keep her in the office with the paperwork, or chasing cases that don't seem to have an answer.

Then she gets a new case, where a killer slowly paralyses his victims, and leaves a calling card behind: a charm. Her Romani-Irish roots might come in useful, but the more she probes this case, the more she doesn't like the answer. All the clues keep pointing back to her.

This is a standalone tale in the Hibernian Hollows universe.

More posts to check out



 

September 2017 First Half: Books on Pre-Order, Upcoming Projects, and More!

 

Here is a quick update about all of the projects I'm currently working and their release dates (provided they have one).

I've also got a couple of sales running this month, plus my huge launch giveaway for The Everett Exorcism. Enter to win and you could get some really great prizes!

The Everett Exorcism Pre-Order

This is up for pre-order and will be available on October 24th. You can find out more about it here and order your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and about ten additional sites.

It's about an exorcist who's on his first real case out in the world. He's about to find out that the theory of being an exorcist, and the reality, are two completely different things. It also picks up with the story of Arthur from right after The Ninth Circle and about twenty years before the events of Raven's Peak. 

I'm also hosting a goodreads giveaway for this book so you can get a free paperback copy. Click here to enter!

The Vatican Children Pre-Order

This story picks up immediately after the Everett Exorcism and continues with the aftermath of what happened in the first book. It will be available on all of the same platforms and is up for pre-order as well!

This one launches a week after the first book, on October 31st. I wrote it immediately after completing the first book and wanted to release it as soon as possible. I didn't want people to have to wait to find out what happened and what came next, but I don't want to give anything away.

Graveyard of Empires

This will be my next big writing project after I finish up my World of Shadows series. I want to return to my sprawling space opera and fill in some more chapters.

This is a slow running series that I'm trying to flesh out with a lot of depth while I build up to the huge and catastrophic moments that are to come. I love the characters and definitely want to write at least five more books in the long-running series in the next year or so!

New Release by Another Indie Author!

Princess Affina of the Saber Mountain clan spent the first twenty years of her life in the safe comfort of her father's palace. But after being forced from their home by another saber clan and having been on the run for over a year, her father pushes her through a portal to Earth, stranding her on the strange new planet full of too many people, too many sights, and too many temptations. But Gerri Wilder has the perfect way to fix Affina's problems. Put her in the care of fellow sabertooth tiger Mr. Razor Edge.

Raze grew up a slave in the Saber Mountain clan, paying for the sins of his parents and fighting to gain his place. But on the night the pack was attacked Affina's father handed him a chest full of jewels and sent him to secure a new domicile. Razor has been a lone saber for over a decade- and he hasn't wasted any time becoming rich, powerful and his own Alpha. The only thing missing is a mate; a problem not even the best matchmaker in the universe has been able to remedy – until now.

When Affina arrives to find her best friend Razor is not only alive but thriving she's overjoyed, but Raze the man is not Razor the teen who spent his nights with her under the stars. As Affina tries to acclimate to her new life on Earth she and Raze must fight the memories of their pasts to allow the mating bond they now feel to guide their hearts.

But just as they finally give into their passion they discover that the clan that destroyed their people isn't done with either of them quite yet.

More posts to check out



 

September 2017: Upcoming Projects, Works in Progress, Promotions and More

 

Here is a quick update about all of the projects I'm currently working and their release dates (provided they have one).

I've also got a couple of sales running this month, plus my huge launch giveaway for The Everett Exorcism. Enter to win and you could get some really great prizes!

Launch Giveaway 



























 The Everett Exorcism Pre-Order

This is up for pre-order and will be available on October 24th. You can find out more about it here and order your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and about ten additional sites.

It's about an exorcist who's on his first real case out in the world. He's about to find out that the theory of being an exorcist, and the reality, are two completely different things. It also picks up with the story of Arthur from right after The Ninth Circle and about twenty years before the events of Raven's Peak. 

I'm also hosting a goodreads giveaway for this book so you can get a free paperback copy. Click here to enter!

The Vatican Children Pre-Order

This story picks up immediately after the Everett Exorcism and continues with the aftermath of what happened in the first book. It will be available on all of the same platforms and is up for pre-order as well!

This one launches a week after the first book, on October 31st. I wrote it immediately after completing the first book and wanted to release it as soon as possible. I didn't want people to have to wait to find out what happened and what came next, but I don't want to give anything away.

The Bishop's Legacy

This one is going to be out early in 2018 and will be available for pre-order as soon as the first two books launch (or sooner, depending on how the writing goes and how quickly I can get a cover created for it!) .

It will conclude this storyline involving Arthur and Father Paladina, but don't worry because there is a lot more to come!

The next series is going to pick up a few years after this one and follow Arthur and Abigail as he continues her training to be the Hunter that we saw in the World on Fire series!

No cover for this one just yet, but I'm hoping to have one put together for it before the first two launch!

After the World of Shadows?...More Graveyard of Empires!

After the World of Shadows series launches, I'm going to turn my attention back to the Graveyard of Empires for a while and work on some projects there. The first step of that is going to be to re-launch the first and second book on additional platforms and with a few edits and changes, and then my plan is twofold.

First, I want to release books III and IV of the series and continue the stories of Jayson, Traq, and the others so readers can find out what comes next. Along with this, I want to work on another spin-off series I've been planning for a long while called The Darkness series.

It's going to be widely different from the original series, but exist in the same world and serve as a prelude for things to come. I've got a lot of really cool and fun ideas for this series, and it's one I've wanted to work on for some time. With luck, once I find the time to sit down and write it, it won't take very long at all.

Releasing Second Editions on September 28th

I'm also going to release second editions of Ripples Through Time, Second Chances, and UAV. I'm using a new distributor now and plan to tie my different versions together better.

These ones won't have any new covers or major changes, though, so it's just a second version to make them more widely available.

There is also going to be some slight price modifications up and down over the next several months, so look out for deal notices from me if you're thinking about picking up a copy of one of these books!

Other Giveaways

There is a paperback giveaway for Ripples Through Time on Goodreads and The Ninth Circle. Both of them end on Nov 7th. You can enter them all and increase your chances of winning something! It only takes a few seconds to enter and then you'll find out after the giveaways run whether or not you won something!

Raven's Peak Sale and Other News

It's marked down to only 99 cents for the entire month of September! If you haven't picked up a copy, grab one before it goes back up to full price (especially considering we are closing in on Halloween!).

I'm planning my launch for The Everett Exorcism now, and I'm also trying out some new stuff. One thing that will be neat is that I'm trying out some audio promotions on The Horror Show podcast with Brian Keene, and with luck those adds will run right as the book is coming out and right before Halloween!

 



























 New Release by Another Indie Author!

Princess Affina of the Saber Mountain clan spent the first twenty years of her life in the safe comfort of her father's palace. But after being forced from their home by another saber clan and having been on the run for over a year, her father pushes her through a portal to Earth, stranding her on the strange new planet full of too many people, too many sights, and too many temptations. But Gerri Wilder has the perfect way to fix Affina's problems. Put her in the care of fellow sabertooth tiger Mr. Razor Edge.

Raze grew up a slave in the Saber Mountain clan, paying for the sins of his parents and fighting to gain his place. But on the night the pack was attacked Affina's father handed him a chest full of jewels and sent him to secure a new domicile. Razor has been a lone saber for over a decade- and he hasn't wasted any time becoming rich, powerful and his own Alpha. The only thing missing is a mate; a problem not even the best matchmaker in the universe has been able to remedy – until now.

When Affina arrives to find her best friend Razor is not only alive but thriving she's overjoyed, but Raze the man is not Razor the teen who spent his nights with her under the stars. As Affina tries to acclimate to her new life on Earth she and Raze must fight the memories of their pasts to allow the mating bond they now feel to guide their hearts.

But just as they finally give into their passion they discover that the clan that destroyed their people isn't done with either of them quite yet.

If you are into Paranormal Romance, check it out! 

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How to Setup Indie Author Group Promos and Ten Reasons to Use InstaFreebie to Grow Your Author Platform

Instafreebie is a giveaway platform that makes delivering ebooks to readers incredibly easy. It is a fantastic way to send out ARC copies, books to beta readers, books for review, and any number of other things you can do to find new readers!

It's also completely free, but there is a monthly paid option if you want to dramatically increase the value of the platform for your career!

Why Should You Use Instafreebie?

I only just started using InstaFreebie in the last few weeks, but it has been incredibly useful for me in generating subscribers and selling books. I wanted to put together a list of reasons why people should use Instafreebie as part of their author platform!

Ease of Use - All you need is your book cover and a sample file in ePub format. They even go out of their way to help you build the correct ePub to submit, and they handle the rest!Direct Delivery - They deliver the content directly to users in a really easy format, sparing you the trouble of having to explain to readers how to put the book onto their devices. They also have excellent support to help drive this effort and take care of your readers!Upfront Delivery - Unlike BookFunnel, which is a similar service, InstaFreebie collects emails at the time of delivering a story rather than sharing a link, which means the transaction is clear and quite simple.Mailchimp Integration - They integrate directly with MailChimp and will send subscribers directly to your newsletter when they download your story if you want to require. It isn't perfect, but with automated emails from MailChimp this can be an excellent way of bringing in new subscribers.Automatic Newsletter Signup - You can require (with the plus plan) that all readers who download your book be added to your newsletter rather than making it an optional addition, thereby maximizing your engagements with readers who are grabbing your free content.Simple Sharing - Social Sharing buttons and a simple link system make it easy to share your story across all platforms and entice new readers!Instafreebie Promotion - InstaFreebie will promote your story to their fans based on a cross-promotional method: the more you share, the more they will share too, thereby increasing your success!Group Giveaways - A lot of people (including me!) run group giveaways to bring in a lot of new readers and cross-promote books in a similar genre. This can be a fantastic way to bring in new readers and work with authors!Giving Away Content - Even if you aren't looking to bring in new subscribers, you can give away stories to your fans or current subscribers as exclusive content in a simple and easy way!

Free - This one has a slight caveat to it, because some of the  powerful features I mentioned up above actually require the $20 a month plan (plus) such as automatic Newsletter Signup, but you can give away unlimited copies of your content very easily without ever needing to pay a penny. Just make an account, load a story, start a giveaway, and you'll be sharing your content in no time!

There you have it. Ten reasons to grow your subscriber list through InstaFreebie! I put off signup up for a long time, but with a free trial it is completely worth it!

InstafreebieHow do you join group giveaways?

This is something that has been happening for a long time, but only recently did they add a new system for it.

If you are an author and you just want to join a giveaway:

Signup for an accountAdd a book (requires epub file and cover, though they will walk you through getting these!)Browse giveawaysSelect and submitWait until they confirmShare

And that is it!

How do you make a group giveaway?

This is a bit tougher. There are a couple of different ways. I run giveaways about every month over at my freebies page, and the way I do it is:

Setup a google forms signup sheetShare around the web (facebook, kboards, etc)Create my pagesTell instafreebie about it so they can help promoteTell participating authors to share

It is a lot of work, but it helps build up my network of author participants and friends for running other projects.

However, recently, instafreebie has offered their new group giveaway setup. Basically, making a giveaway is as easy as:

Input information on the new giveawayinvite authors from the web OR let authors join from InstafreebieShare when it goes live

It is so incredibly easy that I would imagine many authors will start doing it in the future, and it will help create branded giveaways!

What I also do is make a sort of amalgamation of both of these. I set up my own landing pages and then embed the group giveaways into them so that I can have 12-20 different instafreebie giveaways going simultaneously for readers to choose from. It is, basically, the best of both worlds!

If you want to learn more about the giveaways then check out my author resources page. If you want to get in touch go to my contact page. I'll answer your questions to the best of my abilities!

Recruited - A Short Story from the Graveyard of Empires

 

This short story takes place in the Graveyard of Empires and sets the stage for some of the coming action. Hopefully, more books will be out in 2018 in this series!

If you want to get the full story, download it from Instafreebie here.

Chapter 1 

The water was rust colored as it flowed out of the hand pump.  Jayson Coley let the floating sediment settle to the bottom of the Mason jar before taking a sip. It tasted like metal because of the minerals, but at least it was water.  He drained the entire jar, even the sediment at the bottom, then refilled it for his compatriot.  

With the water still running, he splashed some on his dirt and sweat covered face; his thick hair was cemented to his eyelids, obstructing his vision. 

“Drink,” he said, holding the jar out and scanning the surrounding ruins. Dirk Ulry stared at the opaque liquid skeptically.  

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Just drink.  We haven’t had fresh water in days.”

“Fresh?”

“Cold,” Jayson restated.  “It’s underground, so it’s not contaminated. It won’t hurt you.”

“We’re only a few hours outside town. I’ll wait.”

Jayson hesitated.  “Who says town will still be there?”

Dirk didn’t have a reply.  He threw up his hands and let out a sigh.  He took the jar and emptied its contents, cringing.  “That’s terrible.”

Jayson moved toward the center of the abandoned base.  It was a hastily erected outpost of prefab materials. It had been abandoned months earlier.  The thin paint decorating the exterior was fading from sunlight and weather, but he could distinguish enough to make out important details: it was military, a forward operating base belonging to the enemy, the Irdesh.  

The war was over. If this destroyed base was as far west as the Irdesh army advanced, there was a chance New Delphi still stood.  The Irdesh had used this base, and once the war ended they burnt it down and left.

“Anything worth salvaging?” Jayson asked, slipping the rifle off his shoulder. He used the barrel to dig through rubble, wary of possible traps.

“It’s been scoured. Picked clean.”

“Keep searching. Anything we find could prove useful, especially if we’re stranded in the middle of this desert without food or shelter.”

“I’m not the one with advanced training.  Shouldn’t you be using that expensive equipment you stole to find resources?”

Jayson didn’t reply.  His training wasn’t a sore topic, he just couldn’t think of a suitable reply to Dirk’s taunt. Clever conversation wasn’t a strong trait for him, which was one of the reasons he'd managed so well at the Silvent Training Facility. 

He had to admit a touch of relief that the kid was able to joke at all, having recently been a prisoner of the Irdesh army. When Jayson found Dirk alone in the cell, slowing dying of dehydration and starvation with a severe ear infection, he'd wondered if the kid would ever recover. 

Jayson hadn’t finished all of his training at the Silvent Facility. If they knew he’d stolen their gear they wouldn’t be too thrilled.  His only hope was that they wouldn't chase him deep into the unknown worlds of Sector Six.  He’d kept his background hidden for all the years he served the Union.  They couldn’t know about Eldun.  

Of course he was kidding himself if he believed that was true.  They were training infiltrators and assassins.  If they wanted to find him, they would find him.  He had spent six years at the Academy. A significant portion of his life. But he left before finishing his training so he wasn’t officially anything.  

Except a thief.  He took weapons and armor, anything to help him protect his family was fair game when he fled the academy. The only other thing he carried was a tattoo beneath his left arm.

War had broken out on his home world of Eldun. His father was one of the first resistance fighters to die to the Irdesh.  Jayson disappeared from the Silvent Academy in Sector Four during the night. He did it without a second thought when he heard the news.

That was eight months ago.  The war devastated the northern continent. And then it ended.  Now there was nothing left but to pick up the pieces.

 “You don’t think Delphi is gone, do you?” Dirk asked.  His voice betrayed emotion.

“No,” Jayson said.  He had no way of knowing, but the truth didn’t matter. Not yet at least. “I’m sure it’s fine.” 

He knelt next to a destroyed building and studied tracks in the dirt.  Some were more recent than others, though there was an attempt made to hide them.  “Someone’s been here recently.”

“Did your scanners tell you that?” came the sarcastic response.

“Get ready.”

The tone in Jayson’s voice left no room for debate. Dirk latched his helmet without another word, looking nervously at the surrounding ruins.  

Dirk was a planetary soldier wearing shoddy armor that had seen more than its fair share of combat.  It was standard issue Irdesh armor—Jayson had stolen it from a hapless soldier weeks earlier—designed to withstand moderate projectile impact.

Jayson’s weapons cut through it like butter.  

This was fringe fend-for-yourself territory. When they captured Dirk they'd taken his armor.  Jayson had no qualms against stealing some back off a corpse. It was the suit with the least number of holes. He just had to hope no lucky marksman would find the hole just below his right shoulder.  

Jayson's suit, on the other hand, was valued at just over nine-hundred thousand credits. Enough to buy a small city on Eldun.  It was state of the art technology with a fully integrated targeting system and camouflage.  Jayson ‘borrowed’ it when he left Silvent. 

“How do you know?” Dirk asked. His voice played through Jayson’s speakers now, metallic and tinny.  Jayson pressed a button inside his right glove and the viewing screen flashed to life, kicking on a radar imager to map his vicinity and activating the suit's targeting computer.  

The software was confusing at first, but with constant use Jayson had grown comfortable with it.  He wasn’t reliant on it, though. The training regimen he underwent insisted that soldiers understand how to operate without gear before they were allowed to use it.  It never became a crutch.

“Three scavengers to our west.  They know we are here, probably setting an ambush,” Jayson replied.

“How the hell can you know that?”

Jayson was silent, not sure how to explain. Dirk would never understand. Jayson waited for his equipment to catch up to his senses.  A few seconds passed, and then the environment imager picked up movement. “Three humanoids twenty-one meters south-west,” a voice said mechanically in his ear.  

 “Stay behind me and don’t speak,” Jayson said, walking toward the exit of the base.  Dirk waited a few seconds and followed, clutching a heavy machine gun and nervous.

“Are they Irdesh?”

Jayson didn’t reply.  From this distance it was impossible to know for sure, but he had the strong suspicion that they weren't.

“What do we do?” Dirk asked.  

“We spring it,” Jayson said.  He walked out of the ruined base onto the empty roadway and waited.  

Three men jumped from behind rubble with guns drawn and yelling.  Two wore cheap armor and the third only ragged clothing.  One yelled to drop guns, another wanted them down on the ground, and the third wasn’t capable of forming a coherent statement.  Jayson waited patiently for them to establish leadership.  Moments passed and they quieted down, glancing at each other in confusion.  

“Who’s in charge?” Jayson asked.

“Shut up, we’ll ask the questions,” one replied quickly.

“You, then. You’re making a mistake.”

“Your armor.  Hand it over. And your money,” the man replied.

“The war’s over.  There’s no reason to fight. We’ll go our way, and you’ll go yours.”

The man’s hands were shaking.  These weren’t soldiers. They had probably found the guns, left behind on the bodies of forgotten soldiers. The man looked at his companions for support.  

On cue, the highwayman to his right stepped forward, waving his gun wildly.  

“On the ground, now!”  

Jayson waited until only a meter separated him from the assailant and clicked a button inside his left glove, turning on his cloak.  The entire suit rippled as it went invisible, shocking everyone.  Jayson moved immediately, shifting alongside the highwayman and out of his line of fire.  

The man stood in awe, unsure how to react.  A few seconds too late he pulled the trigger, releasing a single shot at the spot Jayson recently vacated.  An instant later and the man collapsed, hit in the jaw with the butt end of Jayson’s rifle.  

The man hit the ground hard, already unconscious.  The other two highwaymen exchanged terrified looks. Then they fired wildly at the air above their partner, screaming.  Dirk dove to the side behind rubble, cursing.

Five seconds later and the other two highwaymen were on the ground as well.  One would wake up with broken ribs and the other a massive headache.  The cloak began to fade and Jayson reappeared. 

It would be at least another few seconds before his suit’s batteries were recharged enough to use the cloak again. 

Why would they attack someone with armor as impressively advanced as mine? Jayson wondered, but he realized that the sentiment was wrong.  His armor was grimy and worn down, caked in the clay of Eldun.  It looked no better than Dirk's, and he resolved that it would need a deep cleaning in the next few weeks when he had time. 

Dirk stepped out from behind his hiding spot nervously.

"What the hell was that?  You disappeared! You never told me you could do that."

Jayson knelt down next to the men, studying their equipment and features. 

“You should have shot them,” Dirk said

“They aren’t soldiers,” Jayson replied.  

“They wanted to kill us.  We should take their gear.”

“These are our countrymen,” Jayson said.  Dirk hesitated.  

“They did try to kill us,” was his response, less sure this time.  “We should at least disarm them and make sure there aren’t more nearby.”

Jayson nodded and started walking a perimeter, letting his radio wave imager continue its scan.  He knew there was nothing to find.  

Dirk set his helmet on the ground and rifled through their pockets.  Jayson gathered their guns; all three were cheap and flimsy.  He snapped the weapons in half but kept the clips.  “No money,” Dirk said.  “But I did find this.”

He handed Jayson a computer chip; Jayson looked it over.  “It’s software.  Maybe a computer targeting system,” he said. They were common in the Empire, but out here they would be impossible to find.  “They must have dug it out of the rubble.”

Dirk nodded, but Jayson wasn’t sure he understood.  He gauged the risk and decided to check what was on the chip.  If it was here before the scavengers, it could contain information about the war effort.  He opened a chip bay on his helmet and snapped the piece into position.

Nothing happened.  He was expecting it to load a program, or at least pop up a data file, but there was no change.  He was about to remove the chip, when suddenly a female voice spoke into his ear: 

“Oh, I finally have room to move and stretch my legs, so to speak.  It’s good to be out of that cage.”

“Uh. Hello?”

“Oh sorry. I’m Corrine, at your service.”

“…what?”

“I’m artificial intelligence protocol B-85-29M65: reactive to user commands and adaptive to owner personalities. I’m a prototype.”

“Damn,” Jayson said, clicking the chip hatch and pulling the piece back out.  He tossed the chip on the ground and stepped on it.  “I was hoping for something useful.”

“…I am useful…” Corrine said in his ear.  “You’re a mean user.”

“You’re still here?” Jayson asked.  “Uh oh.”

“You downloaded me.  Where else am I supposed to go? Daer?”

“What?”

“Never mind.  Wrong planet.  It’s okay. I forgive you for being mean.  Oh, what’s this do?”

Jayson felt his arm shoot up, and suddenly his rifle was aimed directly at Dirk’s face.  He saw Dirk’s eyes go wide and forced his arm down.  “Oh wow.  Very responsive targeting system.  Nice!”

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?” Dirk asked. 

“Not you. The software.” 

“This equipment is all top of the line.  Awesome. What’s your name?”

“Turn off,” Jayson commanded the suit.  “Uninstall recent programs.”

Silence. Nothing happened. “I can hear you, you know.”

“You don’t respond to voice commands?”

“I do.  I’m programmed with internal protocols to obey all user commands,” Corinne said.  “Oh what’s this, your bank account? Wow, you don’t have much money.”

“If you have to obey, then remove yourself from my computer.”

There was a pause.  “No.”

“No?”

“I don’t want to.  I like it here.  Please let me stay.  Please, please, please.  I’ll be good, I promise.  I can automate the system and optimize the energy output for peak efficiency.”

“You won’t leave willingly, will you?”

There was another pause, and when the voice spoke again it was thick with emotion.  “I’m sorry.  I will obey. It’s been such a long time since I got to do anything.  Ten years.  Forgive me. I’m deleting myself as we speak, then I’ll be gone. Forever.  Never to return.  Suicide. The end…”

Jayson sighed.  “You aren’t deleting yourself, are you? You’re trying to manipulate me.”

“Yes. Is it working?”

He thought for a minute.  The software could partially control his system, so best not to make it too angry.  He would have to be careful, for now, until he better understood what kind of a virus he’d just downloaded.  He could find a way to delete it later. “You can stay, for now, but you have to promise not to be obnoxious.  If you mess up anything I’ll manually wipe the system. Got it?”

“Yes sir.”

Dirk was waving his arms frantically, trying to get Jayson’s attention.  He took his helmet off.

“What the hell?” Dirk asked.

“Don’t ask.  Let’s go,” Jayson said, walking west.

 

Chapter 2 

They were relieved to see New Delphi still standing, but it was different than what they left a year earlier.  Blocks were demolished and fewer people traversed the streets. Some parts remained untouched, havens in the war-scape. The entire planet experienced this devastation, Jayson realized.  It will never be the same.  But maybe, with our clean and decisive victory, it will get better. The war had torn the city apart, but already the resilient citizens were putting it back together. 

The two veterans maneuvered through the city, passing pedestrians with weary looks on their faces and recently returned soldiers.  A man wheeled past them in a charge missing both of his legs. 

They walked through a rundown district that had been bombed my mortars.  No one was untouched by the war, it seemed. The destruction was complete.

Subconsciously Jayson maneuvered down a back alley and across a thoroughfare to West Market.  His family lived on Forty-Third Street. Or at least they used to.  He didn’t realize that was where his feet were taking him until he reached the junction. 

Jayson hesitated.  His family might still be there—some of them, at least—and if they were alive they deserved to hear from him.  Hear that he was okay.  But he didn’t know if he should go on; if he could go on.

They stood in silence. Dirk tried to be patient, but finally spoke up: “What are we waiting for?”

Jayson wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t force his legs to move any further in that direction.  “Just waiting.”  He turned to Dirk.  “Want a drink?”

 “Hell yeah,” Dirk replied, perking up.  “I was planning to check on my dad, but that can wait.”

They walked the other direction until they came across a pub.  The DDHW, though no signage explained the acronym.  It was dark and busy inside, but the patrons all ceased talking as they came in. Dozens of eyes faced their way.  

Not surprising, since they were still wearing battle armor and carrying rifles.  Only in a war torn city can carrying a rifle into a bar during the middle of the day be construed as acceptable behavior, Jayson knew.   

They waited in the doorway, accepting the stares and letting the patrons make the first move. “Heroes of war,” the bartender said finally. The tense atmosphere vanished.  “Drinks are on the house.”

Dirk blushed as they sat down and ordered.  They were patted on the back dozens of times before the room returned to normal.  They sat in silence, watching the room and enjoying the ambience. Everyone fell back into their quiet conversations, the soldiers forgotten about.  

The journey to New Delphi had taken the pair four lonely weeks. The rest of the army broke camp weeks earlier, but Jayson was an advance scout deep in Irdesh territory.  Dirk was a prisoner of war.  A kid near starvation. When Jayson broke into an Irdesh base and found him locked in a cage he had decided Dirk was worth saving.  

Now everyone back home was in the process of trying to pick up the pieces. Find their loved ones and their homes and move on.  But not everyone had somewhere to go back to...

“Want to talk about it?” Dirk asked.

“What?” Jayson asked, distracted.

“Something is bothering you.  If you get it off your chest, you’ll feel better.”

“I’m fine.”

“I’m willing to listen,” Dirk offered.

“Drop it,” Jayson replied, harsher than intended.  Dirk was hurt.  “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Dirk said, looking at his watch. “I have to go. I need to see my parents.  They probably think I’m dead.”

“That’s fine.  Go see them.”

Dirk started walking for the door.  “Thanks. For everything. If you need anything don’t hesitate to ask. Ever.”

Jayson nodded and Dirk left. Jayson was torn. He wanted to visit his own family, but he knew he couldn’t.  Not yet at least.  He had returned to Eldun eight months earlier when they needed him for protection. That was the end of it. He couldn't face them again.

Not after he'd abandoned them.  

The bartender slid another drink in front of him. 

A group whispered in the corner, occasionally pointing at him.  

A woman sat two tables away, her face hidden by cloth and shadows. She swirled a glass of blood red wine, watching the crowd. A single strand of red hair hung in view.

Jayson sipped his beer. Smooth and hoppy.

He'd felt trapped as a kid growing up on Eldun.  The planet was a cage he needed to escape.  He'd fled and signed on with a mercenary band on Terminus doing protection jobs and petty theft.  He’d lied and made up his history, claiming he grew up in Sector Two.  The truth was, he’d done everything he could to forget his past.  To wipe his own slate clean.  

He’d never even told his family he was leaving.  

Then the Union began recruiting, amassing soldiers for war.  Jayson signed on and was selected for the Silvent Academy. He’d never looked back.  

It was seven years since he’d joined the Union.  He’d cut all family ties. Or so he’d tought.  At that time the war on Eldun was in its seventeenth year with no end in sight.  

Then his father died.  Jayson found out they needed his protection and came for them out of a misguided sense of duty.  He’d given it up, his promising career working for the Union.  His one chance to make something better for himself.  He’d thrown it away, and for what? There was nothing left for him there at the Academy. They would never forgive him. Never take him back. And if he went home to them he would be opening doors he’d closed and locked years ago.  Picking at scabs that had already healed. 

It would be better that he not return; better that he remain a ghost.

Plus he had free drinks on the house.

And people to pat him on the back. Congratulations. Welcome home.

It meant nothing.

Is this my home? No, he realized. Not anymore.

He finished drinking several hours later and rented a motel room, pleasantly inhibited.  He kept his helmet powered down as he stripped, having no desire to argue with the new AI program. The room had a shower.  A real shower, not bucket baths with reservoirs of water. And it was hot.  

The first hot water in weeks.  He washed the grime away, locating the tattoo under his left armpit and studying it.  Three black triangles linked at their tips to create a larger triangle.  The inverted triangle in the center was colored red.  

It had been a source of pride when they gave it to him at the Academy.  Brotherhood was what it symbolized.  They were in it together.  Now it was disgrace, a reminder of his failure to finish the Academy. Had he finished his training the pigment would have been removed and he would have been put into active duty. The tattoo made me one of them.  Now what does it make me?

He would remove it, he decided.  In a few days he would find a parlor to laser off the ink.  They had lower tech here on Eldun than at the academy, so it would leave a scar.  He would always have marks on his skin, but at least he wouldn’t have to keep looking at it.

Cleaned up and with alcohol flowing through his system, the world made more sense.  He decided that it wasn’t fair to avoid his family. Since he wasn’t staying, he should at least see them before he left again. They loved him, and he owed them that much.  He wouldn’t stay long, but he should explain to them why he had to go in the first. 

First thing in the morning.

Damn those drinks were good.

Pleased with his resolve, Jayson climbed into the plush motel bed, at peace for the first time in years.

 Chapter 3 

Jayson awoke groggy.

A breeze rolled over his face.

Did I leave the window open?

His second thought was: did I leave the light on? 

And then: Is that sand…?

He was disoriented, and it took him a few seconds to realize this wasn’t the same place he went to sleep.  The sun blasted down above him, near the middle of the sky.  It was hot, hotter than Eldun's sun at this time of year, and he doubted he was even on the same planet.  

But then where am I? And how did I get here?

He sat up to rub his eyes. Unaware, he hit himself hard in the face with a bulky glove. He was in his armor with the helmet and rifle by his side, but no other supplies. A headache throbbed behind his eyes, but it wasn’t from alcohol.  Too concentrated of a migraine, probably the aftereffect of a sedative and anesthetic to knock him out and keep him out.  

He’d experienced similar effects before, during training at the academy, so he knew how to deal with the disorientation. But that brought a new concern.  Was it only one day later? If he was drugged, it could have been any amount of time since he’d first gone to sleep.  The range of where he could be in the galaxy opened up dramatically.

Jayson stood and scanned the environment.  His mind was starting to organize itself, and the theory gaining credibility was that he’d been marooned here. But why, and by whom? Was this punishment?  He picked up his helmet, wiped the dust off the bottom, and latched it on.  It was the same helmet, but felt different against his skin.  

He realized the difference: someone had put a lot of work into repairing and cleaning it.  That gave him hope. If someone left him here to die, they wouldn’t clean his gear, would they? 

He heard the interface of his helmet spark to life.  The default nasally voice spoke up, naming a planet he’d never heard of, Mali, and the date.  Four days had passed since he’d arrived at New Delphi with Dirk.  

The software unit continued to rattle off details, querying an orbital satellite for information about his immediate locale. None of it was useful.

“Who put me here?” he asked, interrupting the AI.  The voice shut off, he heard a click, and a rapid female voice began speaking.

“Oh thank heaven it’s you. I’ve been hiding for days and I didn’t know if you would ever return—”

“Corrine, calm down,” Jayson said, not sure if he was relieved. There was a pause, then:

“Aw, you remembered my name. That’s so sweet.  Please never leave me like that again.”

“Do you know who dropped me off?”

“No clue.”

Jayson stared into the desert.  “So I get dropped in the middle of the desert on a planet without any information.” He thought for a moment.  “Which way to the nearest city?”

“South. The only city. The rest are ruins.”

“Then south it is,” Jayson said.  “And no talking unless I say so.”  

The armor was insulated with its own temperature control, but even it was struggling under this heat.  After walking an hour he went through his storage hatches and found a liter of water and a day’s worth of rations.  He was relieved to have some supplies, but he didn’t know how long he would have to make them last.  A day? Week? He would have to drink sparingly.  

He swallowed a mouthful, put the canteen away, and started his trek again.  

A mirage oasis grew from the sand in front of him and then disappeared into the haze.

The heat made the walk difficult, but he was more worried about how open the landscape was.  The land was flat and empty, with only the occasional plant sprouting through the sand.  Dust swirled in the air.  Climes like this were notorious for oppressively hot days as well as freezing nights.  He would need to find shelter before the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

“Why do you think they left me here Corinne?” he asked after another two hours passed.  She hadn’t spoken the entire time, apparently willing to obey. “Speculate a bit.”

“You’re an assassin, right? Your computer database has some stored information.”

“Operative.  I only kill people when the job offers no alternative.  And technically no, I’m not.  I never finished training.”

“But you were close.  And you were good at what you did.”

“I was impulsive.  ‘Driven by ambition’ was how one teacher described me. He must have been right. I never even told anyone I was leaving the Academy.”

“Maybe this has to do with that.”

“You think they are punishing me for leaving?” Jayson asked.

“Maybe forgiving.”

Jayson grimaced. “Forgiving? Then why leave me stranded with limited supplies? But this is too elaborate for punishment. It seems more likely they would put a bullet in me. I don’t think it was the Silvent Academy.”

“Maybe this is an initiation?”

Jayson mulled over the idea.  “Not likely.  If it was an initiation for something, wouldn’t they tell me what I was expected to do?”

“So what do we do now?”

“We get off this rock.  I don’t know the planet and I don’t want to play games. I just want to go home.”

This time Corinne didn’t reply.  The day dragged on with no shelter in sight.  Jayson looked up at the sky and guessed it was an hour before nightfall, then remembered he hadn’t experienced this sun yet.  “How much light do we have left?” he asked

“Forty Seven minutes,” Corinne replied.  “And there is estimated fifty-two mile an hour winds tonight.”

“Wonderful.  Search nearby landscape for low spots to camp.  If I can find something to burn we should be alright.  At least I have food.  If I eat sparingly, I can make it last two days easy—”

“Oh that was my mistake.  Fifty-two mile an hour winds are the forecast inside city limits.  In the desert winds are expected around ninety-four.”

Jayson stopped walking.  “You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

“I guess I’m staying in the suit tonight.”

“You might want to bury it too.  A little bit.  So we don’t blow away.”

Jayson blew out a breath of air.  “Just find a low spot.”        

He walked another fifteen minutes before Corinne found a suitable location.  He set to work digging a hole to cover the lower half of his armor.  The environment was mostly sand, so it wasn’t hard to manipulate.  He insulated himself against the wind, then sat back and tried to relax.  He ate part of his rations and powered down his suit to only minimal heat and processing.  He couldn’t afford to be wasteful, so he would suffer through a low tech night. He wouldn’t get much sleep.

“You can talk about the planet now, Corinne,” Jayson said.

“Really?  It’s called Mali. Ok, so I was searching information about this world a while ago, and it looks like its short on clean water. Most of the surface is a sandy clay mixture and it almost never rains.  When it does the surface turns into a muddy mess that lasts for months. Even then the water is difficult to use. 

“Relief equipment was delivered by other planets through a trading company called Infinity Logistics belonging to a man named Oliver Atchison.  It is to cleanse the water supply and purify the underground reservoirs, but they still never have enough, so it’s rationed.  The citizens fight over it a lot.”

“So I should protect my water,” Jayson replied.  

“What you have is considered a decent amount, I guess.”

“What else did you find?  Is this a human world?”

“Uh huh. Just under a million inhabitants centered inside one city. Garran’s Ridge.  It's a mining planet with a large labor force and very few educated people.  Mali is part of the Indeil Kingdom and are sanctioned to receive tradesman from Terminus at a spaceport outside the city.  The rest of the world is uninhabitable.”

“Who’s the leader?”

“None currently listed.  But there is a name that pops up a lot.  Warren Smith.”

“Warren Smith,” Jayson mumbled.  He didn’t recognize the name.  “Anything else?”

“Nothing yet, but I’ve only searched public forums.  Do you want me to dig around in secure locations?”

“Nothing dangerous.  Don’t do anything that could get us into trouble.”

“Yes sir,” Corinne said, and then fell silent.  The helmet powered down and Jayson tried to sleep.  

Wolves howled, somewhere in the distance, and then fell silent.

A silver moon crept over the horizon like a shy maiden.

He slept for an hour the entire night. At one point the wind picked up to such vicious levels he was afraid the suit would be ripped out of the ground.  Ninety- four kilometers per hour seemed a modest estimate.  

He couldn't think of another time he'd ever been this exhausted as the wind buffeted him.  

Jayson watched the sun come up the next morning physically and mentally drained. He knew he couldn’t wait around.  He dug himself out of the hole and removed his helmet, breathing the fresh air.  His suit felt sluggish from the sand and he knew it would be weeks before he managed to clean it all out. So much for his mystery cleaner. He hoped that would be the last night he would ever spend here in the desert.

He trekked south again. Corinne loaded a map of this region, but Garran’s Ridge wasn’t clearly denoted.  The only maps she could find were outdated and the surveillance equipment on the satellite failed years ago.  The best guess was that the city lay between twenty and six hundred kilometers south.  

Not encouraging, but there was nothing Jayson could do about it.  The fear that he was left here to die, however, started to gain credibility as his water supply diminished.  

Around midday Corinne spoke up: “Vehicles approaching.  Quarter of a kilometer away and moving quickly.  Hover cars, maybe.”

Jayson readied his rifle and peered down the scope.  To the south he saw ten approaching vehicles.  “Jeeps. A lot of them.”

“Are you going to shoot them?”

Jayson lowered the rifle.  “Not the best way to make friends.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Nothing,” Jayson said.  He held the rifle unthreateningly and waited for the ground cars to arrive. They encircled him, keeping their engines running and guns trained on him. One of the vehicles powered down.  A short man with a cropped brown beard climbed out.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

“Jayson Coley. You?”

“Ralph Patel. We received a distress call two nights ago and came to investigate.”

Jayson didn’t reply.  The call came before he woke up, so it must have been sent by whoever dropped him off.  The man eyed him steadily.  “Hand over your weapon.”

Jayson felt his hands subconsciously tighten around the rifle.  “I’d rather not.”

The man narrowed his eyes.  “It wasn’t a request.”

He weighed his options. 

It didn’t take long.

Reluctantly, Jayson stuck the butt end of his rifle out.  The man took it roughly from him, checked the clip to see if it was loaded, and tossed it in his hover car.  “Now your water.”

“You’re robbing me?” Jayson asked, a hint of resignation creeping into his voice.  

“You can keep your equipment and food, but the water belongs to us.  We have orders to regulate any that comes from the outside.  It’s for your own safety,” the man said, then repeated: “your water.”

With a sigh, Jayson unhitched the compartment in his suit and pulled his canteen out.  The man grabbed it and put it in his vehicle.  “We’ll take you to Warren and he can decide what to do with you.  Climb in back.”

Jayson clambered onto the back of the Jeep and they headed south. The ground was rough and they bounced over the sand dunes.  

A man sat opposite him, scruffy and wearing little more than rags with dirt smudges covering his face.  He used the tip of a dagger to clean grime from under his fingernails.  Seeing Jayson watching him, he grinned. He only had five teeth that Jayson could see.

It was a twenty minute trip, so he’d only been less than thirty kilometers out.  A little more than a day on foot.  

The city was large, cramped, and poor.  Beggars littered the roads and dust clung to the air. He’d thought New Delphi was a ravaged city, but the more he saw of Garran’s Ridge, the more he came to realize his home planet would be their vacation spot.  Not just the beggars but even some laborers were emaciated, showing signs of lacking nutrition and hygiene. 

A boy no older than four with dark skin and hair tried to climb onto the Jeep.  The nail-picker shoved him off with a boot.

No one smiled.  There was suffering in abundance.  

They passed an alleyway. At its mouth a crying mother held a sleeping child. No, not sleeping. Dead.

“Jayson,” he heard in his helmet. Corinne was whispering.  He hadn’t known an AI program could whisper.  “I found something.”

“Did you send the distress call?”

“No, but listen.  I decided to hack a few computer networks, and I got curious when I noticed two unlisted warehouses.  Each has a contingent of guards, but the manifests say they are both empty. So I dug deeper, and both belong to Warren Smith.”

“What happened to doing nothing conspicuous?”

“I piggybacked the network onto a computer inside the warehouse and found this:” Corinne continued, ignoring him.  The view of the city dimmed as Corinne brought up a series of images and files on Jayson’s viewfinder. He saw the inside of a dark warehouse.  It was enormous and packed with bulky equipment.  The place looked abandoned, and nothing was in use.

 “What am I looking at?” he asked.

“That’s the water purifying equipment delivered over the last twelve years.  Half of it, anyway You can guess where the other half is.”

“They aren’t using it?”

“Smith has it on lockdown.  The purifiers were never used at all.  Yet there are constant broadcasts about a water shortage. Warren releases regular statements claiming that the Indeil Kingdom turned its back on them. That they were left here to die.  He’s using the water shortage to dominate the planet.”

"Why?  What possible reason could he have to make people suffer like this?"

"He...um..."

"Corinne..."

"He has Union ties.  He's planning on getting the population to rebel against the Royal Family so he can turn the planet over to Darius Gray."

Jayson felt his breathing quicken and closed his eyes.  “Okay,” he conceded.

“Jayson, he’s letting children die so he can trick people and—”

“Corinne,” Jayson added sharply.  “Shut up.”

To her credit, she did.  Jayson’s mind was racing, but he didn’t want to let emotion take control. Got to stay calm.  Not my planet, not my problem.  The last time I tried to help people in need, I got hijacked and dropped here.  

The Jeep stopped outside a four-story building surrounded by dozens of guards milling about.  

“Come on,” Ralph said, parking and climbing out.  He grabbed the water but left Jayson’s rifle in the vehicle.  He gestured for Jayson to walk ahead.  

The building was old and musty, but bustling with activity.  There were another fifteen guards inside the lobby, as well as dozens of civilian personnel working at computer terminals.  Of the fifteen armed men, five were in powered Union armor, though lacking any distinguishing marks.  They eyed him as he walked inside. 

He was led across the lobby, up two flights of stairs to the third floor, and down a twenty meter hallway to a set of offices.  They paused outside the largest set of doors, which directly faced the staircase. The hallway split to the right and left, leading to more offices that appeared unoccupied.  

A receptionist nodded to Ralph, opened the office door, and stuck her head in.  After a moment, she looked back at them and opened the door all the way.  “Mr. Smith will see you.”

“Thanks baby doll,” Ralph said, roughly pushing Jayson forward.  It was large with a bay window.  A gaunt man with deep set eyes and pale skin sat at the desk scribbling on a piece of paper as they entered.  

He made them wait ten minutes before finally glancing up.  

“Helmet off son,” Warren said, scribbling again.  Jayson unsnapped the helmet and held it at his side. Another few minutes passed.  “A soldier.  We don't see many like you this far out. Are you going to cause problems?” Warren asked.  Jayson didn’t reply, and Warren looked up again.  “I asked you a question.”

“No sir,” Jayson replied.

“Good.  That’s better.  I don’t know anything about you, but you seem a good sort.  If you understand one simple thing, you’ll get along fine: this is a peaceful town.”  

Jayson didn’t reply. None was needed.

“I heard your distress signal and guessed you’d be looking to get off world.  That right, soldier?”

Jayson nodded.

“That’s good.  Real good.  Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Jayson nodded, but Warren had already returned to his scribbling. Jayson was quickly led back downstairs and outside.  “We’ll be keeping an eye on you,” Ralph said, walking back toward the administrative building. “We don’t tolerate outsiders poking their nose where it doesn’t belong.” 

"I understand."

"Come back tomorrow and we might have good news," he said, then hesitated.  "We’ll hang on to your gun for you."

Jayson nodded. He’d been expecting as much.

Ralph glanced around and then leaned close to Jayson.  “As you can see, things are going smoothly.  Let your boss know that we only need a few more weeks before the planet will be in full revolt.”

Jayson blinked.  "What?" What boss?

But Ralph was already gone, disappearing back into the building.  Jayson waited for a minute and then turned and headed down the road.  With luck he could find an inn to spend the night.  Preferably some place without cockroaches.

 

 

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Print on Demand: Createspace, KDP Print, IngramSpark: Which one should you use to publish?

You finished writing...Not comes the hard part...

You put in the months of hard work and wrote something great. Well done and congratulations, and now you want to show it off to the world. 

But the world can be a scary place for new authors looking to make a name for themselves. There are hundreds of companies out there looking to charge you money for various services, many of which you can perform on your own.  

For example, you can post your book on KDP and sell it on Amazon for free. It will only take you a short amount of time to make an account and do this, and when you're done you'll be able to say you are a published author. But, from personal experience and talking to a lot of people over my career, I can say that there is nothing quite like holding a paperback copy in your hands. 

Sure, people are reading your words in eBook, but what you really want is that dead tree to hold onto and admire. Printing a paperback can be one of the most rewarding parts of the entire writing process. 

I, personally, release all of my books in eBook, Paperback, Hardcopy, and audio formats.

What options are there?

When it comes to finding the right system for printing your books, you have some tough decisions to make: should you go with a vanity press and print out a bunch of copies, or a print on demand company that will only create copies as books are ordered? There are advantages and disadvantages to either approach.

If you plan to sell and give away a lot of copies, then you're going to want to get those copies as cheaply as possible. You can save pennies on each copy by printing a run of books at all once, but then you run into the downside of having to store those copies and how to ship them when people order them.

Print on demand, on the other hand, has a very low cost of entry. In fact, it is possible to publish your book in paperback and have it up for sale on hundreds of websites entirely without spending a dime. The downside here is that, since the books aren't already created, when people order a copy it might take them a couple of days to actually make the copy before they ship it.

On top of these differences, each different company that offers a service like this has minor differences and variations to their process that impact their overall value.

CreateSpace

This is an Amazon company. It falls under the umbrella of services they offer, and as such many people will recognize it for what it is if your book says it is distributed by Createspace.

This is a good thing because it has powerful branding, but it can be seen as a negative as well: many booksellers don't like Amazon on principle (they think it is destroying the industry) so there can be some negative reactions to using it. The other downside is that it is a staple process for self-published authors, so not only will you be flagged as an Amazon author, you'll be flagged as self-published.

Will this lose you sales? It depends. Many authors never really sell a lot of paperback copies, and even when they do they often sell them through Amazon. However, if you are more established and really want to move the needle in the paperback market, then this option has some severe limitations.

Some of its benefits are that you can order author copies cheap, offer discounts (though only through the CreateSpace store, which kind of sucks), and set up and distribution are incredibly simple.

IngramSpark

Ingram is huge in the publishing world, a major global distributor. ImgramSpark is a branch of their LightningSource distribution platform and is keyed toward Indie Authors and Print on Demand services.

Authors used to be able to sign up for LightningSource instead if they really wanted, which was basically an identical service with some technical difference, but now everyone is funneled here. 

Which isn't to say this lacks anything LightningSource has: Spark is a great platform and has evolved and grown throughout the years. It's fairly easy to set up a new book (though not as easy as CreateSpace). It's biggest advantage, however, is that when you sell books internationally and outside Amazon you still make the full value of your sale in royalties, which can be a huge difference if you sell a lot of copies.

KDP Print

This is a new program offered by Amazon where you can sell your books directly on the Amazon platform alongside and linked to the Kindle version. You can even import from CreateSpace onto this system.

It is pretty much identical to CreateSpace except it is somewhat limited in features. It is new, still in Beta, so they are working on the kinks and bugs.

For the most part it is interchangeable with CreateSpace and will eventually have some new perks and benefits.

Lulu

This is a more full service platform, and will serve as a stand-in for a lot of different companies. Lulu is easy to use and works fairly well, and its better for authors who want to work with a company the entire way and centralize a lot of their process.

Other Options

There are tons of ways to get books published, including a lot of companies similar to Lulu, and many of them offer some little perks or benefits. However, keep in mind that any of them that ask for a lot of money upfront usually aren't worth it, because with a little bit of extra work you can do almost anything for free, or at least a lot cheaper than they want.

Remember: these companies are there to make money off of YOU, not your readers.

Item 1: Setup/Adjust Pricing

With all of these platforms, you need to have your own well-formatted cover and interior file, though if you make the same book in both places the files can be nearly identical. Createspace is free to setup a new title, as well as modify the interior and cover files when you want to make changes. IngramSpark has a $49 fee to create a new title, as well as a $25 fee to update the files individually if you ever want to make changes (for formatting, edits, etc.).

There are discounts and coupons you can get (IngramSpark often offers between 10%-100% discounts for initial setup to bring new people in) but they aren't always available. And, even then, if you make eventual changes you will still need to pay for them.

KDP is probably the easiest platform to set-up, because since you probably already have your ebook on the platform, you can import most of the information over to use as a paperback. They also have a clever cover builder to generate a cover, though you'll probably want to build your own down the line.

Item 2: Quality

All companies print books on demand, which means they will source books when necessary and then ship them directly to customers. Ingram has suppliers all over the world, and CreateSpace has suppliers in the US and UK. You can't control the supplier in either case, which means they will choose who prints/ships based on proximity and cost.

However, anecdotally (and consistently) it seems that there is a much greater variance between CreateSpace distributors than IngramSpark. Many people have reported bad prints, missed pages, entirely wrong interior files, and other problems from CreateSpace. Some of their suppliers are worse than other, and some are downright terrible, which means there is a randomness to it that can be detrimental.

Side by side comparison of them at their best, Ingram takes this category with a slight edge, but they win hands down when you factor in that it could take several tries for CreateSpace to get you a good copy.

KDP uses the same service as CreateSpace, which isn't too bad, and they do seem to be doing a better job now of making the books better. I used Lulu once to print a batch of books since they were cheaper than Ingram, and I found out they were just that: cheaper. They looked and felt crummy, and you could see right through the pages if you held them up to light. I'll never use them again.

Item 3 - Distribution and Pricing

Both companies let you set your own price, and you can charge hundreds of dollars per book if you want. You shouldn't, but you can. With Ingram, you can even set regional pricing on your own, as well as percentage discounts for buyers, which gives you even more control.

CreateSpace has an option called expanded distribution which enables your book for distribution beyond their initial three platforms. What they don't tell you is that they use LightningSource as their distributor, so if you use that option, you'll be using Ingram anyway.

The other thing they don't tell you is that they use Ingram, but poorly and everyone loses out. To explain what I mean, let me give you a rundown of how bookstores purchase books:

Let's say your book costs 10 dollars. When a bookstore buys it, there are two major features they look at: their discount, and whether or not it is returnable. With Ingram, you set your discount between 30% and 55%, and it is completely up to you. With CreateSpace, you have no control over it.

Bookstore owners usually like books to be in the 45%-55% range discount (i.e. they pay $4.50 for your book and make $5.50 in revenue which could be good profit). They also want it to be returnable (for 90 days they can send it back if they feel like it won't sell).

Ingram gives you three options for returns: none, mail, destroy. With both options for actual returns, you will have to cover the cost of printing the book and returning the book, but if you choose destroy they will simply throw your book away and you won't have to pay shipping to get it back. If a book isn't returnable, bookstores are less likely to take a chance on it.

CreateSpace sets these options as non-returnable and 35% discount for stores (so they pay $6.50 per copy and make less profit). These aren't great terms, so bookstores are less likely to want to carry your book if you use Expanded Distribution. 

They also take their cut directly out of this. If you set those terms on IngramSpark, you would get around $3.00 royalty per copy sold, but with CreateSpace you get about $0.95 cents. 

At this point Ingram clearly seems like the winner in this category, but there are a few nuances to keep in mind: first off, having control over your global pricing sounds cool, but in practice you need to sell a LOT of books for it to pay off. If you're only selling a few here and there then it isn't nearly as valuable. Second, CreateSpace is definitely Amazon's Preferred Vendor, which means Amazon will always source from CreateSpace. What's more, they will stock your CreateSpace book in warehouses so that when people order they can get it quicker and see the 'In Stock' tag on your product page.

However, I've had luck using Ingram setting higher discounts and getting Amazon to discount further. If you sell your book for $10 and set a 50% discount, Amazon might actually sell it for $8 giving readers the impression that it is marked down in price, which can help with sales. Since you make more money through Ingram anyway, this can be a viable strategy to modifying your product page to be more enticing.

Item 4: ISBN Distribution

All companies offer the ability to buy an ISBN directly on the website during product creation, and their pricing is fairly comparable. CreateSpace and KDP will allow you to use a free ISBN if you want and they will be your 'publishing company.' Many authors don't like this because it screams 'self-published book' but it is a completely viable way of publishing a book without spending any money at all. They used to have another option buy a cheap non-transferable ISBN as well, but they dropped it.

Either way, CreateSpace and KDP still have more options and is the winner of this category. Though, if you are actually planning to publish more than one book, I would highly recommend buying directly from Bowker and owning your ISBN rather than using either company. You can get ten ISBNs for the price of two there, and you can buy larger packages to save a lot of money down the line.

Note, this only applies to US users, because in Canada and elsewhere there are free or cheaper options for getting ISBNs.

Item 5: Options and Ease of Use

Most of these companies are easy to use, though the CreateSpace UI is more intuitive and KDP is easier still, so they have the upper hand here. However, Ingram has more overall options, including the ability to make hard copies. This is a huge plus in their favor, because even though paperbacks legitimize a book, there is nothing like holding a hard copy of your work in hand with a dust jacket you can take off and admire. Lulu is also easy to use, but again I cannot recommend them because of their downsides.

What should you do?

All of these companies are great for publishing a paperback copy of your book. CreateSpace wins out as being easier to setup and get started and the preferred Amazon vendor, as well as having better options for ISBN, and Ingram wins out as the better distributor and giving you more control over pricing.

There is, however, an alternative to picking either of these individually, and that is to use two as distributors. If you buy your own ISBN through Bowker, you can load the exact same book onto multiple platforms. Make sure not to turn on the expanded distribution option in CreateSpace (since they use Ingram anyway).

With this method, Ingram will distribute your book globally, and Amazon will source from CreateSpace or KDp. You'll no longer get the huge cut out of your profits when selling books outside of Amazon, but you will also get the benefits of having an Amazon preferred setup where Amazon will always keep your book in stock, even if they've never printed a single copy.

I do this with paperbacks of my fiction novels, and I wait until a 'free' promotion before loading onto Ingram to keep costs down.

My recommendation?

If you only plan to sell on Amazon, just use the KDP print option or CreateSpace. If you want to sell globally and use a few platforms, then use IngramSpark. If you are a power user and you want to really sell your book, then use KDP Print to source for Amazon and IngramSpark for global distribution, and simply use your own ISBN so that wherever people buy it they get the same book.

There are a lot of different options out there for printing your books on demand, and not all of them are equal. Hopefully, the information I've given you here will help you make an informed decision.

If you have something to add or think I'm wrong about my analysis somewhere, then sound off in the comments below! Let us know what you do to print!

Short Story - Power at all Costs by Lincoln Cole

 

This is a standalone short story full of fast-paced action about a failing power plant. This one doesn't fit into any of my other novels, but it was featured on AEP's wattpad short story contest and was a lot of fun to write.

 Power at all Costs

"Today, we change history."

"A little dramatic, aren't we?" Kate asked.

Aaron Coplin shrugged, running a hand through his curly blonde hair. He was tall with piercing blue eyes and chiseled features, thirty years old and wearing it well. Kate Finzer was diminutive with short wavy hair, black skin, and brown eyes. They had been friends for as long as either of them could remember.

"If this works, we'll reshape the global warming crises. Imagine how much things will change when carbon dioxide isn't increasing the greenhouse effect."

"We're a long way from fixing anything," Kate said. "We don't even know if this will work."

"It'll work," Aaron said. He looked at Kate and smiled. "It has to."

She wished she could share his enthusiasm. He was the lead geologist on the project and had picked the location: sandstone formations to enclose the liquid-gas hybrid CO2. It had taken months of digital scans to verify that this location would work and months further to install all of the turbines which the CO2 would power.

Kate worked with the engineering team to implement the design; they would push supercritical CO2 into the ground. They had run countless simulations, testing the pressure and temperature so that when they turned the system on it would work safely, but there were too many unknowns to be completely safe.

Millions of gallons of supercritical CO2 would be pumped into salt brine. The liquid would expand and drive turbines which would create heat and pressure: eventually it would be converted to energy. It wasn't a difficult process, but each step along the way was critical: a single misstep would spiral out of control.

"There, look," Aaron said, gesturing toward the platform. The mayor of Bedford was gathered with the owners of the power plant atop a small stage. A crowd of a few hundred workers had gathered below, along with Aaron and Kate. "They are about to turn it on."

"You should be up there with them," Kate said.

Aaron hesitated. "No way. We're in this together."

"You're the head geologist. I'm only an engineer."

"You're the best damn engineer out here."

"I wouldn't say that."

"I would," Aaron said. 

Kate shifted awkwardly. She didn't like praise, and she knew there were a lot of talented engineers out in the crowd.  Still, she said, "Thanks."

"No worries," he replied. The crowd started cheering: with how far back in the crowd they were the speaker sounded tinny and inaudible. "Here they go."

There was a shuddering vibration beneath their feet, followed by a loud hum as the ground thrummed to life. Kate felt like she was standing on a paint-can shaker.

"Totally normal," Aaron explained. "That'll go away."

The entire crowd glancing around, shifting curiously and mumbling to each other.

"How long?" Kate asked.

"A few minutes. Give or take."

"Good, because it's making me feel diz—"

There was a resounding boom from the west and the ground shifted violently for several seconds. Kate lost her balance and stumbled, bouncing painfully against the sand. When it stopped there was still a hum, but now it felt like it was off kilter, like the cadence had shifted.

Kate climbed shakily to her feet as other people stood and dusted themselves off. She looked at Aaron, who was leaning over with his arms outstretched, trying to stay up.  

"Was that normal?" she asked.

He looked up at her, ashen faced. She knew immediately that something was very, very wrong.

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring through the area. The crowd panicked and fled from the stage. Kate felt herself pressed against a sea of bodies, dragged with the current. Someone caught her hand, and she was suddenly being pulled the opposite direction. She caught glimpses of Aaron, pushing against the crowd and leading her toward the stage.

"Come on," he shouted over his shoulder.

"Where?" she shouted back. "We need to get out of here!"

He ignored her and kept moving, rushing up the stairs. The stage had already been evacuated and cleared, leaving behind only two people: a man in his sixties with a beer belly and suspenders and a woman wearing a prim white dress with long brunette hair. Kate recognized the man: Fred Dallinger, lead engineer on the project. The woman she didn't know.

"What happened?" Aaron asked. He was still shouting to be heard over the alarm.

"One of the regulators blew," Fred shouted back. "Pressure spiked higher than we anticipated."

"Can we release it?"

"Trying," Fred replied. He gestured at Kate.  "Who's she?"

"A friend," Aaron said.

Fred nodded. He wiped the sleeve of his plaid shirt across his sweaty brow and tapped frantically on a little tablet. The woman watched, pensive and frowning.

"It shouldn't have spiked," she said to no one in particular.

"Well it did," Fred replied.

"With all of my calculations-"

"Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't care," Fred said. He turned to Aaron. "The remote pressure valves aren't opening. I think when the temperature jumped it might have fried the circuits."

"Then we have to turn it off," Aaron said.

"On it," Fred said.

He tapped furiously on the tablet, and gradually the hum under their feet decreased.  But, it didn't stop entirely.

"What's wrong?"

"Valve three," Fred said, frowning. "It isn't shutting off."

"You mean it's still pumping?"

"Yep," Fred said. 

"What does that mean?"

"That means we need to get the hell out of here," Fred explained. "It's going to explode."

"No way," Aaron said. "There has to be another option."

The woman in the white dress turned to Aaron. "He's right," she said. "If we can't regulate the pump or release the pressure, then it's going to be critical in just under ten minutes. This area is hazardous."

"We can't abandon this project," Aaron growled. "If this fails today, it'll set us back dozens of years."

"We can't release it from here," Fred argued. "So we run."

"Is there a manual release?"

"Yes," Fred replied. "But the access shaft is locked while the pump is active. We can't get in."

"Then what if...?"

"No 'if's," Fred said. "There's nothing else we can do. We need to get out of here."

Aaron sighed glanced at Kate. "Fine. We need to go."

Kate ignored him, staring off at the salt fields to the West.

"Kate," he reiterated. "We need to go, now."

"I know another way in," she said. 

Then she turned and sprinted across the desert. She heard the three screaming, telling her that she was running the wrong direction, but she ignored them. It was a little over two hundred meters to the access hatch to Valve Three. 

There was a huge structure of pipes leading to the hatch, but that wasn't where she ran. Instead, she went to an outcropping of rocks thirty meters farther, searching for the hole she'd found several weeks ago.

She heard a radio crackling. "Kate! Kate! Come in, Kate!"

It was Aaron. She'd forgotten she had one clipped on her belt.  She clicked it on, still panting. "Get away from here," she said. "Clear the area."

"What in God's name are you doing?" Aaron asked.

"Remember how you showed me the geological map of the natural tunnels that were here?"

"The ones we collapsed," Aaron agreed.

"We only collapsed ones that connected to your reservoir. Not the other ones.  A tunnel leads directly to Valve Three."

Kate found the hole she was looking for in the sand.

"It's too risky," Aaron said. "You need to get out of there."

"How much time do I have?"

He ignored her. "Even if you were able to get to the Valve, it's going to be too hot by the time you do. You won't be able to survive—"

"Aaron," she said sharply. He shut up. "How much time do I have?"

A momentary silence, then he said, "Seven minutes."

"All right," she said. "Now get out of here, in case this doesn't work."

Then she tossed the radio into the sand. She heard it crackling; she didn't have enough space in the tunnel for it, and she didn't need it anymore. She slipped her belt off, kept only the flashlight and then climbed headfirst into the tunnel.  

It went down at an angle for the first dozen or so feet and then rounded sharply to a drop off. This section opened into the actual tunnel network. She'd gone spelunking with her father when she was young, but it still made her claustrophobic. The ground vibrated beneath her, increasing her feeling of dizziness, but she crawled on.

She'd explored several of these tunnels, though never very deep. The only one she used regularly was the one that connected to the series of manmade tunnels surrounding Valve Three.  It breached just under one of the service walkways surrounding the equipment, and she'd used it to surprise and scare her coworkers on occasion. 

The only hard part was the twenty meter winding passage that connected the two chambers. It was a tight fit even on the best of days, but with the ground shaking it was even more difficult. She slid into the open hole in the cavern floor and started pulling herself arm-over-arm into the tunnel.

It was easy going at first, but suddenly her light stopped in front of her. The vibrations of the ground had knocked a chunk of sandstone loose, and it was blocking most of her passageway. What had previously been an uncomfortable fit was now a tiny hole blocking her way forward.

She cursed, realizing she didn't have enough time to go back. She was trapped, twenty meters under the ground in a tunnel with nowhere to go. Worse, she was only a few dozen feet short of the walkway.

Maybe she could slide through, but she doubted it. Even with her small frame, it would be an impossible fit. 

"Not a lot of alternatives," she muttered to herself, brushing hair out of her face. She slid the flashlight through the opening, rolled onto her side, and started pulling her way through past the rock.

It was painful and uncomfortable, and she was forced to suck in a deep breath each time she tried to move. About halfway she got stuck on her hips. She pulled and felt the rock scraping painfully, but it wouldn't budge. She heard the alarm blaring and felt the heat emanating from the room ahead, but she couldn't move.

Panic set in as she realized she was completely stuck. Trapped, unable to breathe underground. She started gasping, feeling lightheaded. She tried to remember what her father always said when she got scared as a little girl. He always told her: fear can be a powerful tool if you know how to use it.

She bit back the panic and forced herself to relax and focus. She was running out of time. She shifted, rolling her hips, and jerked her way past. She received a nasty scrape on the leg for the effort, but she was free. 

She scrambled the rest of the way forward up to the catwalk and grabbed ahold of the metal to pull herself up. She instantly regretted it as the scalding metal scorched her hand. She let out a sharp cry and yanked herself back. She checked her hand and saw a nasty second degree burn on her palm and fingers.

"Great," she muttered, "just great."

She stripped off her shirt and bunched it up, hoping the material would be enough to protect her from the heat. Enough time or enough heat, she knew, and it would catch fire. Still, she had to try.

She quickly grabbed the metal and pulled herself up, careful not to touch her bare skin against it. The air was sweltering in here and the machine hum sounded immense and overbearing. She felt it beating against her eardrums. It was sauna hot, at least two hundred degrees, probably more.

She stepped onto the metal walkway and could smell the rubber soles of her shoes burning. She wouldn't have a lot of time.  

After only a few steps she realized she wouldn't be able to last long. It already felt like her lungs were burning and her entire body was covered in a sheen of sweat. Her shoes stuck to the floor where she stepped and she went as fast as she could to the controls. There were two valves she was looking for, one to release the pressure and one to stop the flow of the supercritical carbon dioxide into the system.

She found the pressure valve and used her unburnt hand and the shirt to grab hold and turn it. She could feel how hot it was even through the bunched up shirt, and after a few turns she smelled the fabric burning. By the time she was done she could hear the huge sound of steam being released above her. It was venting up into the atmosphere and would keep the system from overloading.

That meant it wouldn't explode, but it would still cook her. She stumbled her way to the other valve, feeling her body giving out from the intense heat. There was a banging sound above her, though she might have been imagining it.

Using the shirt, she started turning the other valve. The humming sound decreased with every turn, but it was hard to get it to move. The shirt got hotter, started burning again, suddenly caught fire. She threw the shirt to the ground, cursing, and looked back at the valve. It was mostly closed, but not completely. Until it was closed, she couldn't open the door and escape.

With a groan of frustration, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then grabbed the valve. She screamed in pain as it torched her skin, but she managed to turn it all the way closed. When she pulled her hand back, she felt the metal cling to her and kept screaming as the pain intensified. 

The ground fell silent, and the only sound was her screaming and the steam being vented overhead. Suddenly, there was another enormous crashing sound and she saw light from above. Aaron jumped into the hole, carrying a fire protective blanket, and he quickly wrapped it around her. He led her to the exit, and she saw Fred standing there. 

The ladder was still hot, but with fresh air things cooled off fairly quickly. They hid under the blanket and gradually he helped her out of the hole. She heard sirens in the distance and figured they were for her.

"That was crazy," Aaron said, wrapping her in a hug as the ambulance loaded her up on a gurney.  They hooked her to an IV and started pumping her full of drugs. She felt better almost immediately. "You shouldn't have risked yourself like that."

She smiled at him, loopy with the pain medication.  "No risk at all when you're the best damn engineer out here."