Karl K. Gallagher's Blog, page 5

Year In Review

2017 was a good year for my writing. I published the conclusion of the Torchship Trilogy. It’s being talked about for the Prometheus and Dragon awards. I also published four short stories.

Torchship Captain came out in September. I’m going to release a box set of the trilogy soon. The trilogy is eligible for awards. If you’re interested, here’s the links for the Prometheus Awards and Dragon Awards.

My stories are mostly available free on the web:

“Bargain” – flash, mythic fantasy.

“Samaritan” – hard SF about an Amish boy on the Moon

“Clean Up” – military SF in the Ogre boardgame universe

Astounding Frontiers printed one story of mine, it’s available on Amazon:

“The Long Freeze” – pulp adventure (part 2 is here)

Torchship Captain Nominated for Prometheus

Torchship Captain, or possibly the trilogy as a whole, is on the list of ten nominees for the Prometheus Award for best libertarian SF novel. The judges will narrow the list down to the finalists in the spring to be voted on by the membership. Wish me luck. I’m honored to be nominated and glad to have more readers.

Torchship and Torchship Pilot on Sale

To celebrate completing the Trilogy, I’m offering Torchship for free through the weekend. Torchship Pilot is on a Kindle countdown sale, starting at $0.99 and going up a dollar a day. Tell your friends who’ve been thinking about it to act fast.

Torchship Captain Is Out

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Torchship Captain is live on Amazon, both the ebook and paper versions. The audiobook recording is in final edits and will be out soon. Please leave a review on Amazon, good or bad. Let people know what you think.

This is the conclusion of the Torchship Trilogy.

Michigan Long blackmailed her enemies into joining the war against the AIs. Now the secret she used is leaking out and the Fusion is shattering. Caught in the middle of a civil war, she will have to use any weapon that comes to hand—her wits, her ship, her mate.

Astounding Frontiers and Grognard

I have a new story out in Astounding Frontiers Issue 2. Well, half a story. The second half will be in Issue 3. A man wakes up from cryosuspension to find the world has completely changed.

RPG players may want to check out the Grognard Kickstarter, collecting the editorials of the late Traveller RPG designer Loren Wiseman. He was in the table RPG industry from the beginning and had many fascinating insights on its evolution. You can also support at a higher level and receive fifteen years of collected JTAS Magazine articles. Including seven articles by me for the GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars setting.

Torchship Pilot Audiobook Available

The audiobook of Torchship Pilot is now available. Narrator Laura Gallagher did a wonderful job and is now working on Torchship Captain, which will be out in a couple of months.

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Soonercon and Libertycon Panel Schedules

I have out of state cons both of the next two weekends. It’s going to be busy. Soonercon is June 23-25 in Oklahoma City, OK. Libertycon is June 30 – July 2 in Chattanooga, TN (but it’s sold out, sorry!).

My Soonercon schedule:

Writing Outside Your Experience  2:00 p.m. Friday.

The Death Star Is Stupid Physics  4:00 p.m. Friday.

That Boring Ol’ Moon (Moderating)  5:00 p.m. Friday.

Readings: 1:00 p.m. Saturday.

Autographs 4:00 p.m. Saturday.

Koffee Klatch  10:00 a.m. Sunday.

Where Is My Flying Car? 11:00 a.m. Sunday.

My Libertycon schedule:

Fri 01:00PM Stealth in Space

Fri 03:00PM The Future of Military Flight

Fri 08:00PM Reading

Sat 11:00AM Space Debris and the Issues of Satellite Survivability

Sat 01:00PM Autograph Session

Sat 09:00PM Author’s Alley

Sat 11:00PM Mad Scientist Roundtable

Sun 10:00AM Kaffeeklatsch

Sun 12:00PM The Robot Economy Where no Human Has to Work – How might that Turnout?

 

Upcoming Conventions

Several upcoming conventions invited me to be a panelist to talk about rockets and other technical topics.

Soonercon, Oklahoma City, OK, June 23-25

Libertycon, Chattanooga, TN, June 30-July 2

Fencon, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, September 22-24

Torchship Pilot Update

Sleepy Cat Audiobooks has hit a milestone on producing the audio version of Torchship Pilot. The whole book is recorded. Now it’s just editing, which is the hard part.

For the author that also means I have a list of typos to fix that were discovered during the recording. The corrected version is now live on Amazon. While I was at it I decided to add a bit to the start of the novel. For anyone who’s read it already, here it is:

***

Fragment of FNS Terror, Bonaventure System, acceleration 0 m/s2

Michigan Long floated through the corridors of the wrecked battleship. Her spacesuit was recycling the smell of her own sweat into her face. Even in free-fall, hauling out survivors was heavy work.

At a bend in the corridor she braced against the bulkhead. Spreading her hands flat on the wall let her sense any vibrations from survivors banging on their compartments. She was listening for survivors. Not resting from the effort of maneuvering in free-fall. At least the wreck had enough spin to let her rest against the wall instead of having to brace herself.

She felt some vibrations. Not the bang-bang-bang of someone trying to attract attention. This sounded like someone working.

Her radio was set for the standard suit emergency frequency. She called, “Anyone out there?”

“Oh, thank God. I thought we’d been abandoned. This is Chief Donner. Who are you?” The signal was clear. He had to be less than fifty meters away.

“I’m Mitchie Long. Where are you?”

“Corridor Twelve-Golf-Five. It’s blocked. I’ve been trying to get through.”

“On my way. Anyone with you?”

“About a dozen back in the compartment. I’m the only one with a suit. We need to find survival bubbles for the rest.”

“That’s going to be tough. All the ones I’ve seen are full. Let’s clear the block first.” She’d also seen plenty of spacers who couldn’t find a bubble fast enough as their ship was torn apart.

The Fusion Navy might skimp on safety gear, but they labeled everything clearly. Finding 12G5 only took a couple of minutes.

The blockage filled the corridor. A molten penetrator had passed through, liquefying structures as it went. The strands of steel alloy surrounded the hole in the bulkhead, looking like a spider web made of icicles.

“That you, Long?” transmitted the chief.

“Yeah. I see the problem. Hold on, I saw something back there.”

A cross-corridor had twisted and warped in an explosion shockwave. A thick spar was lying to one side, held in place by the wreck’s spin. She hauled it to 12G5.

Some shoving forced it through so Chief Donner could grab the other end. Then they could combine their leverage on the icicles.

After breaking four of them Donner said, “That’s a start on a hole.”

“It’s big enough,” said Mitchie. She squirmed into the gap. The coverall she wore over her pressure suit snagged on a spike. Tugging it free cost a slice in the heavy fabric. It wasn’t the first one she’d gotten on this mission, but at least her suit didn’t have any holes in it.

“Big enough for you,” was the chief’s greeting on the other side.

Mitchie thought it was a fair complaint. He was almost two meters tall. In gravity she wouldn’t even reach his chin.

“That ain’t a Navy suit. What ship are you from?” demanded Chief Donner.

“I’m off a freighter passing through the system. We were called in to help look for survivors.” Which was true, if incomplete. Telling him she’d had a part in destroying his ship wouldn’t help the immediate situation.

“Your accent is funny. What’s your home planet?”

“Akiak.”

“A Disker!”

“Yes, I’m a Disker.” Mitchie kept her voice calm and friendly to de-escalate things. “The Disconnected Worlds won the battle. We’re doing search and rescue. You’re going to a prisoner of war camp, which is better than staying here.”

“Like hell.” Donner pulled a pistol from the holster on his belt.

Mitchie kicked off into the corridor behind him. As she bounced off a bulkhead she considered the decision. Going back through the hole would have been too slow. Pulling her own pistol would have left them both bleeding out through holes in their suits. And trying to attack him bare-handed was ludicrous. So this was the best option.

It just wasn’t a good option. The corridor made a right angle just ahead. A bullet smashed into the bulkhead ahead of her, sending sparks and bits of metal flying.

She bounced through the bend and despaired. The corridor went straight for a  hundred meters with no cover.

There was a hatch. If it let into a compartment with cover she could fight it out there. Or she could use the hatch itself as cover.

Mitchie twisted the dogging wheel with one hand while the other gripped the edge of the hatch, ready to pull it open. The wheel released the hatch just as Donner came into sight in the bend.

The hatch pulled out of her grip. Air pressure flung it open against the stops, hiding Donner from view. Oh, crap. That was a pressurized compartment, Mitchie thought in horror.

Escaping air pushed on Mitchie’s suit with screams and the roar of wind. A Fusion spacer slammed into her, his limbs flailing in panic.

She grabbed the edge of the hatch with one hand. The other shoved on the spacer, trying to push him back into the compartment so the hatch could close. More people bumped into him, pushing back.

Vibration stung her fingers as a bullet struck the hatch. She pulled harder but an arm was caught against a hinge.

The roar of air became a whisper and then vacuum silence. Mitchie cursed in frustration but none of the dying spacers could hear her.

Another bullet struck the hatch. She pulled herself into the compartment, shoving aside more warm bodies. A table was mounted on the floor, now a tilted wall with the wreck’s spin. Mitchie wedged herself behind it and waited, her pistol aimed at the hatch.

Chief Donner broadcast a string of curses over the radio. She didn’t answer. When his helmet poked through the pile of bodies she fired. He twisted to try to spot her. She kept firing until he was still.

Mitchie thought, This war became brutal fast.

 

TWO MONTHS EARLIER

Other Publications

I have some work out through outlets other than Kelt Haven Press.

Cirsova Magazine published my heroic fantasy short story “Squire Errant” in issue 2. They’ve made it available free on the web.

“Bargain,” a dark fantasy flash story is on Daily Science Fiction.

The Castalia House blog is having a debate on Pulp vs. Campbellian science fiction. My contribution analyzes the emotional impact of different sub-genres.

The Discworld Roleplaying Game is out. I posted a end of the world scenario for players.

If you’re a board game player I wrote a multi-player battle for Ogre Scenario Book 2.

For Torchship fans, the Torchship Pilot audiobook is in production. I’ve finished a rough draft of Torchship Captain and started the editing process. It will be released later this year.