The Children of AEIS, the fifth book in my sci-fi series The Chronicles of the Great Migration, now has a cover! I am so incredibly happy with this cover. The artwork for this cover was created by the very talented Jon Stubbington. Definitely check out his amazing work.
Though I don’t have a firm date for release for the book yet, it will certainly be out before the end of spring of 2022. The Children of AEIS is the penultimate entry into this series, followed finally by A Hand to the Stars.
From the back of the book:
In the penultimate entry of the Chronicles of The Great Migration, Alexa Turon, Runner 17, Major Daniels, and their allies must learn the secrets of the mysterious AEIS and the underground city of Lastion if they hope to discover the key to defeat Miranda once and for all. Above, those aboard Manhatsten scrambles to deal with a new crisis from ROAM.
But from the ashes of the Battle for Langeles and the conflict with the Children of Gaia, a new power rises, one unlike any the world has ever known. It has only one goal, to consume.
Last week I posted a sample chapter from Build Better Worlds: An Introduction to Anthropology for Game Designers, Fiction Writers, and Filmmakers. The book is due out this fall and will cover a host of issues in worldbuilding from the perspective of Cultural Anthropology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology and Archaeology. By using the science to compare real life cultures and what core elements exist in them, the book talks about how better to create authentic fictional cultures.
Without further ado, here is the cover for the ebook version of Build Better Worlds. More info and the official release date coming soon!
It’s been quite a while since I did any poetry or artwork, so, here’s some new stuff. I call this one Ache in the Bones
Ache in the Bones
Aching Bones
My bones ache,
And it’s something I can barely take.
But I look at myself and try to break from the heartaches and earthquakes of those woes and worries that I just can’t seem to shake.
Do I enjoy them?
Do I employ my messes to solve my problems and downplay the stresses?
Or do I conjure up more problems and conundrums, unsolvable riddles and endless questions
Do I ignore the suggestions?
See?
I see.
I see what I do,
I know what I’ve been through and am starting to understand the things that I do
To increase my own suffering and the karma that I accrue
Programmed
It’s the underlying program at work,
It’s the ways that I was a jerk,
Or the way that I lurked around my own blindspots to ignore to rot
Most of my life I followed the toxic attitudes I was taught,
Never letting myself see the light,
Instead, I fight
I fight for the right to bury my head in the sand, rather than expand
My mind, or maybe find the things that I hide behind
You just gotta move forward?
What’s forward is back,
How can you choose to move forward when you’re stuck on the wrong track?
You gotta attack those toxic flashbacks if you wanna bounce back from the blackest night
If you ever want to be alright
What happened to me wasn’t my fault
But that doesn’t mean I have to keep pouring salt, on the wounds from the assault
If I just live in default mode and lock it in a vault, how can I ever erode the pain or decode this heavy load?
Healing’s a lot of guesswork,
Like I’m not even supposed to be here, I’m just an innocent clerk
But That’s my party pity, my last attempt being witty
Before I deal with the pain…
But trauma? Trauma is like an oncoming train, and you can’t refrain from standing on the tracks that live deep inside your brain
But it’s just a game, just some lame excuse to frame my history in an event to pretend like some of it was a mystery
Things happen to us.
But we happen to others too.
Recovery from trauma might make you feel pretty blue, maybe you can barely stand the things you went through or the debts you accrued
But that doesn’t mean I can take it out on others,
Others are my sisters and brothers
On the path
And can you do the math? If we keep walking this path, we’ll face the wrath
Of our actions, of our overreactions and we will find ourselves making factions, rather than taking the course that leads to the best actions for all beings
I just got word that my second novel, Upon Stilted Cities: The Winds of Change has been selected to participate in a cover of the month contest over at the All Author Website. You can vote for it, or other covers over at this link.
This afternoon my cover artist Gabriel Perez sent over the final copy of the cover art for the Cover of Upon Stilted Cities: The Battle for Langeles. To me, the cover is absolutely amazing but then, I blew it up on a bigger screen and saw the level of detail he put into this thing. Looking closely you can see Runners battling all over the place. Small skirmishes are everywhere and the details are just insane. If you have not visited this guy’s website you need to check him out. He is, hands down one of the best sci-fi artists around.
Book 3 in the Chronicles of the Great Migration
Upon Stilted Cities: The Battle for Langeles is out October 17th!
I just launched a new serial story on my Patreon page. For those of you who don’t know already, some of my stories are either exclusive to Patreon or early access for Patreon Subscribers.
My new serial, titled Strange Reflections, departs a bit from science fiction and delves into a world of horror and mystery.
A short blurb:
A reoccurring nightmare, a library full of occult books, and a strange underground passage, for Amanda it’s only the beginning.
Loridian's Laboratory 