Aurora 4x

Off Topic => Game/Book Reviews => Topic started by: BlackWarder on August 05, 2011, 08:38:40 AM

Title: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: BlackWarder on August 05, 2011, 08:38:40 AM
Quote
In 2139, a network of artificial wormholes has allowed humanity to reach nearby stars, where nations fiercely compete to settle new colony worlds. War is imminent between Earth's top powers, China and Japan, for reasons that no one fully understands.

Neil Mercer, a freshly commissioned officer in the United States Space Force, is assigned to shepherd a senior spy on a covert mission that risks drawing America into the conflict. In a story featuring high adventure, interstellar intrigue and some of the most scientifically realistic space combat depicted in fiction, Neil and his comrades must face difficult questions about duty, citizenship and national interest as they struggle to discover why the war threatens to engulf every nation on Earth.

Through Struggle, the Stars, a novel of 115,000 words, is recommended for fans of Tom Clancy, Patrick O'Brian, and Robert Heinlein.

Hi all just wanted to let you guys know about a new space opera novel out by self publishing author John Lumpkin, i had the honor of seeing it come into being over the last several years and i highly recommend it. Following is a sample chapter, find more about the human reach series here: http://www.thehumanreach.net/index.htm



Copyright 2011. © All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, reposting, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express written permission of the author.
 
          Prologue
 
          The Bluegrass Cat was a modular container hauler, a design that had barely changed in 50 years – a control deck and living quarters at the top and a fusion candle at the tail, connected by a long shaft, which mounted dozens of cargo pods, some of them rotating slowly around the ship's axis. She was long, thin and ugly: a freight train in space.
            Her cargo to Zhuxing, the Chinese colony world orbiting Zeta Doradus, had been precision tools manufactured only on Earth, and she was departing with a load of Zhuxing's native version of blue-green algae. This particular species was neither blue-green nor algae, but the microbes, reddish under a microscope, played a similar ecological role. They were one of the most efficient natural photosynthesizers yet discovered, and, without them, Zhuxing would have been an uninhabitable wet rock. They would fetch a high dollar on some of the colony worlds where oxygen was wanting.
On this run the Cat carried a second cargo, two bored American intelligence officers who had spent the last sixteen days monitoring government communications on Zhuxing while the ship sat moored at an orbital freight terminal.
The Cat's American owners, sympathetic to Washington's interests, provided free, no-questions-asked transit to government agents on some of its vessels. It was a secret arrangement, and a good one for both sides; U.S. intelligence agencies could quietly move around their people to foreign planets without setting up cumbersome front companies or relying on passenger liners, and the shipping line found itself deliciously free of certain regulatory pressures that its competitors faced.
The officers had been picked up from their station on Guoxing, an older Chinese world, three systems upstream toward Earth, and their time over Zhuxing had coincided with a visit to the surface by the Chinese premier. They came away with vast stores of intercepted communications related to his stay. The senior officer, a veteran spook named Donovan, was fluent in Mandarin, and he had gone through what seemed the most promising intercepts, but he had so far come up with mostly dry bureaucratic messages that didn't interest him in the least. The most compelling, in his opinion, was an unedited news recording of the premier giving a fiery speech in a hotel ballroom on the dangers of Japanese aggression. Its vehemence was exceptional; China and Japan, Earth's top two powers by most measures, were locked in a cold war, but it was unusual to hear such a high-level official indulging in what could be only regarded as racist remarks.
The remaining intercepts would be for Earthside computers to decode and analyze in hopes of finding some useful tidbit that would provide the State or Defense or Colonial Affairs department some advantage, somewhere, somehow.
Only the officers had to get it home. Transmitting this much bulk data from a mere freighter through the wormhole communications relays back to Earth had some chance of attracting the Chinese government's attention. The network of artificial wormholes that allowed ships easy travel between the stars also served as the sole communications conduit between them. Buoys on either side of the wormholes received and transmitted vast amounts of information: News, sports scores, love letters and coded government transmissions all had to pass through them. While a starship would take months to traverse the expanding sphere of worlds accessed by the wormhole network, a message could cross it usually in less than a day, bouncing from one buoy to the next at the speed of light. But most buoys had government taps, monitored by software ostensibly looking for threats to national security. Zhuxing was several systems downstream from Earth, and all the buoys in between were under the authority of the government in Beijing. And without the chain of wormhole relays, transmitting a message home from Zhuxing through empty space would require a wait of 38 years.
So the data had to be hand-carried, and now the microbe-laden Bluegrass Cat was among a half-dozen ships waiting in line outside the Zeta Doradus wormhole, located in the leading Trojan point of the planet's second moon. This was the wormhole that initially opened the system to colonization and ultimately led back to Earth. The other two wormholes in the system led to stars further out, where China hunted still more colony worlds for its cramped millions.
          In the Cat's stateroom, the junior of the two intelligence officers, Rafe Sato, reflected that he would never get back the last six weeks, or the twelve more it would take to return to Earth. Rafe, whose roots were part Hispanic, part Japanese and all Californian, had known there would be drudgery on the job; stealing secrets was not as dramatic as the movies would have the masses believe. He'd spent most of the trip out on his computer, taking some refresher courses to keep his technical certifications up to date. After they orbited Zhuxing, Rafe's chief role was to handle the comm intercept gear while Donovan told him where to listen.
          But, damn, this mission had been especially dull.
          Rafe and Donovan's agency had no permanent presence on Zhuxing, and the American cultural mission was all of two people, both surely followed round-the-clock by Chinese security. Nor had the agency had any luck obtaining permission for one its front companies to operate on the planet.
          That leaves it to us, thought Rafe, wondering why this Han bigwig was worth following.
          On the upside, the Hans had been overconfident about their security; the premier and his staff transmitted most of their messages to orbit via microwave rather than laser. Laser comms were almost impossible to intercept without hacking into a communications satellite.
          And Rafe Sato had done just that, for all the good it did. What's the use of a good hack if all you get out of it is garbage?
          Donovan tapped a button on his handheld and inclined his head toward Rafe.
          "Did you read this?" he asked. Rhetorical; he was reading text projected on the inside of his eye.
          "Read what?" Rafe asked.
          "The Japanese are going to settle around Xi Pegasi after all."
          It rang a very small bell. "Xi Pegasi?"
          "It's an old star that's going subgiant," Donovan said. "They found a marginally habitable planet there. It must have been almost covered with ice until a few hundred thousand years ago, just at the far edge of the star's habitable zone. Another microbial-life-only planet, like Zhuxing. Now the star is getting bigger, and warmer, and the ice is melting, and the Japanese are going to colonize it."
          "That's what, the Sakis' sixth planet? How many do they need?" Counting colony planets was at the heart of nationalism these days. After Japan, China had five and Europe had four. The United States had three, plus an Australia-sized continent on one of the Chinese worlds.
          "That's not the point. The planet is going to boil in a few thousand years as the sun keeps getting brighter," Donovan said. "Not a very good place for a colony."
          Rafe thought it over briefly. "Recorded history is a few thousand years."
          "It's still rank foolishness. That's such a short window in the lifespan of a species. Someday, tens of millions will die there if they can't evacuate them all."
Donovan was a decent boss, but he liked to argue for the sport of it, and Rafe wasn't in the mood to engage him right now.
"Well, I imagine they'll figure something out long after we're dead and gone," Rafe said. "But if it will make you happy, I promise you I won't settle there."
          Donovan chuckled. "Fair enough."
"What are they going to call the planet?"
          "Hinomaru. A rather nationalistic break for them, don't you think?"
          Most of the other Japanese worlds had more bucolic names. Hinomaru was the rising red sun on a white field, the Japanese flag.
          "Sure," Rafe said. Humor the boss.
Donovan kept at it. "I tell you, this rush for –"
          He was interrupted by the voice of the Cat's captain on the ship's intercom:
"We just got put on indefinite hold by traffic control. Don't know why."
          This was unusual, and Rafe swore to himself – as if the trip home wasn't long enough already. He switched his handheld to monitor one of the Cat's external cameras, sending its images to his ocular implant. The first camera was pointed at Zhuxing; his vision filled with a startling, beautiful picture of blue oceans, white swirls of clouds, and a great rust-colored equatorial continent, with a patch of green and brown reaching inland from its western coast.
          He hit a button, flicked through three views of nothing but fields of stars, until he found the camera pointed at the wormhole. He made out the guidance rings, an idle robotic ballast tug, and the thin disc of the wormhole itself. He transmitted the image to Donovan.
          There. A small Chinese warship, some kind of corvette, emerged. It had scorches on its hull, and a long rent along one side. Several sections opened to space.
          "Ouch," Donovan said.
          The ship did a quick pivot, almost as if it was looking over its shoulder. After a few minutes, it went back through the wormhole, apparently satisfied the formation of waiting freighters posed no threat.
          Rafe started to speak, but Donovan shushed him.
          A big warship came through. Had to be 20,000 tons. A Chinese flagship.
It too had taken a beating. Its nose was smashed inward; it bore scorches and pitted areas, and one of its main gun batteries was wrecked. Three more warships followed the battleship, two of them also showing significant damage.
"Let's get out a flash message," Donovan said to Rafe. "Then call up Jane's and try to identify those craft." Neither he nor Rafe recognized the ships. They were civilian intelligence officers, not military.
"There must have been some kind of battle," Rafe said. He typed a brief message into his handheld.
Eyeballed Chinese PLA Star Navy fleet entering Zeta Doradus from GJ 2036 keyhole. Several vessels have sustained significant battle damage from unknown engagement. Description of ships to follow.
Rafe hit the send key. Inside his eye, text scrolled: Encoding … Transmitting … Destination network reports all outgoing messages will be monitored and approved for transmission. Do you still wish to send?
He swore and typed in "No." He turned to Donovan. "They already shut down the comm buoy to unmonitored message traffic. We'll have to carry this one home too."
He was right. With a human reading every message going through the buoy, they were risking notice even by sending a short, coded message. They would have to wait until the Bluegrass Cat reached the Solar System in twelve weeks before they could transmit.
Two more ships came through the wormhole. The first was undamaged and had no visible weaponry – a fleet tender, probably. The second, however, was not Chinese in manufacture; it lacked the distinctive forward sphere that dominated Chinese military starship design. Rafe commanded the ship's camera to follow it as it passed by the Cat. It was a long dart of a warship, also badly damaged.
Donovan's eyes narrowed as the ship's side was illuminated by Zeta Doradus. He saw a white field with a red circle, with rays extending in all directions.
Hinomaru. The rising sun.
Donovan touched some buttons on his handheld, activating the comm implant in his head. "Captain, what's the transponder from the last ship through say?"
A pause. "It's coming through as Chinese Star Navy," said the captain, his voice full of queries he didn't have the guts to ask. Donovan cut the connection with him. The camera feed went out; the Chinese authorities had ordered all the waiting vessels to shut their eyes. It didn't matter; he could put together what happened. The cold war between Japan and China had warmed up significantly. The Japanese warship was a Chinese prize.
 
         
Warder
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on August 12, 2011, 02:35:30 PM
Well, that tickled my interest thanks BlackWarder. Just picked it up on Amazon. :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on August 19, 2011, 08:07:33 PM
Just finished this book and can heartily recommend it, its an excellent read all round, looking forward t the follow up. :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on August 24, 2011, 04:31:31 PM
Just finished reading this, and I was impressed, It's like Tom Clancy in space, before Clancy lost the plot, or like the Horrorverse without the good guys being flawless, and having the laws of physics on their side.  Interesting tech, and nice battles.  Warning for regulars on this board, the Chinese in here aren't Steves, they actually get some luck ;)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: sloanjh on August 24, 2011, 08:38:05 PM
Warning for regulars on this board, the Chinese in here aren't Steves, they actually get some luck ;)

LOL
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Kurt on August 28, 2011, 08:36:07 PM
Thanks for this recommendation.  I've been burned too often by these newby authors on Amazon, and as a result I'd pretty much given up on unknown authors.  As a result of this recommendation I went ahead and got this e-book, and am two chapters into the book.  Well worth the 2.99 amazon charges for it.  I recommend it for anyone that is interested in this kind of thing.  

By the way, as I noted above I tried several other of these authors and only two have been worth reading in my opinion.  The first is Mira Grant, who has written Feed and Deadline.  Both are zombie novels, so if you don't like the genre don't bother, but she writes very well, and while I haven't read the second yet the first was an intelligent treatment of the long-term results of a world-wide zombie outbreak.  The second is Ric Locke, who wrote Temporary Duty.  While Loc is kind of rough as a writer, he is no worse than Weber was at the beginning, and the story was interesting and well worth the 2.99 amazon charges for the e-book.  I can recommend both of these authors, and have Deadline in my list to read, and I'm eagerly awaiting Loc's sequel to Temporary Duty.

As I said above I've been burned by several of these cheap-o amazon e-books by previously unknown authors.  Given the fact that the price is usually between .99 and 2.99, it is hard to go wrong, but with most of them I couldn't finish them, they were so badly written.  

Kurt

Edit: By the way, if anyone else has any recommendations on these unknown authors with cheap e-books on amazon I'd be interested in hearing them. 
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on August 29, 2011, 06:12:35 AM
Sounds very interesting. Unfortunately I don't have a kindle :(. I guess it might be time to get one. Also interesting that he chose Through Struggle, the Stars. That phrase is more commonly seen in latin (Per aspera ad astra)

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: ZimRathbone on August 29, 2011, 08:30:40 AM
I always thought that "Per Ardua ad Astra" was translated as Through Struggle to the Stars (like in the RAF motto - originally for the RFC ) though I could well be mistaken (my latin is hazy at its best, and its been a LOOOONG time since I used it)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on August 29, 2011, 09:07:59 AM
I always thought that "Per Ardua ad Astra" was translated as Through Struggle to the Stars (like in the RAF motto - originally for the RFC ) though I could well be mistaken (my latin is hazy at its best, and its been a LOOOONG time since I used it)

Yes, that is the correct translation. According to wiki, Per Aspera Ad Astra means "through hardships to the stars" or "To the stars through difficulties" while Per Ardua ad Astra is "Through Adversity to the Stars" or "Through Struggle to the Stars"

All pretty similar though :)

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on August 29, 2011, 04:25:42 PM
It's mentioned in the book ;), as the RAF isn't the only organisation to use that as it's motto.  Also Steve it's available in various formats through Smashwords (I got it as an epub that I read on my android phone, but there is also an option for pdf)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on August 29, 2011, 05:28:27 PM
You can download a kindle bookreader for the cpu as well I think, but you should give this book a go Steve, especially as your moving into Newtonian movement, this book mixes gates and Newtonian movement for shipping and the politics behind the scenes reads very much like one of your AARs. having said that if you popped out an Aurora novel on amazon i would totally pick that up.. Hint hint? :D
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on August 29, 2011, 05:39:55 PM
You can download a kindle bookreader for the cpu as well I think, but you should give this book a go Steve, especially as your moving into Newtonian movement, this book mixes gates and Newtonian movement for shipping and the politics behind the scenes reads very much like one of your AARs. having said that if you popped out an Aurora novel on amazon i would totally pick that up.. Hint hint? :D

I downloaded the Kindle reader for PC (wish I had known that was available sooner :)) and now I have the book. Looking forward to reading it.

I guess I really should get into the 21st Century and put something on Amazon.  An ebook rather than paper would make things considerably easier. Anyone know how to go about doing that?

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Erik L on August 29, 2011, 06:00:45 PM
I downloaded the Kindle reader for PC (wish I had known that was available sooner :)) and now I have the book. Looking forward to reading it.

I guess I really should get into the 21st Century and put something on Amazon.  An ebook rather than paper would make things considerably easier. Anyone know how to go about doing that?

Steve

I just save Word docs as pdf. Cover art is another matter.
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on August 30, 2011, 12:28:32 AM
Bought it and have it on the Kindle app for my iPhone but I have a few other books to get through before I get around to reading it.

Sample chapter and all these recommendations look good though!
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on August 30, 2011, 05:38:58 AM
Steve: There is a "Self Publish with us" link at the bottom of the page on Amazon, that your best starting place, it appears to have links to the publishing guides and further help.
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on August 30, 2011, 09:45:47 AM
Steve: There is a "Self Publish with us" link at the bottom of the page on Amazon, that your best starting place, it appears to have links to the publishing guides and further help.

Thanks - I'll investigate

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Kurt on August 30, 2011, 07:49:30 PM
Sounds very interesting. Unfortunately I don't have a kindle :(. I guess it might be time to get one. Also interesting that he chose Through Struggle, the Stars. That phrase is more commonly seen in latin (Per aspera ad astra)

Steve

Steve - I currently use my iTouch (a non-phone iPod version of the iPhone) to do all my reading, using either the Kindle app or the iBooks app.  While it is a little small, it is very convenient in that I can carry it anywhere, all the time, so that I always have my books with me where-ever I go. 

Kurt
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on September 16, 2011, 02:25:09 PM
Just finished reading it, was very good, looking forward to more :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on September 17, 2011, 08:29:27 AM
Just finished reading it, was very good, looking forward to more :)

Yes, me too. The PC version of the kindle reader has an unfortunate issue where it doesn't separate paragraphs, which meant it was confusing in places where the action moved from one location to another with no apparent warning :). However, that is a technology issue rather than any issue with the book. I enjoyed reading it.

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on September 19, 2011, 11:30:24 PM
Any recommendations on kindle books similar to this? Or any idea when the next in the series is scheduled?

I got an itch!
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Sotak246 on September 20, 2011, 12:17:55 PM
I just got done reading Battle Earth by Nick S. Thomas.  Good book about a slightly future Earth being invaded by aliens with advanced tech.

Mark Sotak
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: welchbloke on September 20, 2011, 01:25:39 PM
You know that this is the english translation of the latin motto of the Royal Air Force?  I wonder if a request for royalties is in order  ;)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on September 20, 2011, 01:54:48 PM
You know that this is the english translation of the latin motto of the Royal Air Force?  I wonder if a request for royalties is in order  ;)

I think that is alluded to in the novel.
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on October 04, 2011, 11:24:01 PM
I just got done reading Battle Earth by Nick S. Thomas.  Good book about a slightly future Earth being invaded by aliens with advanced tech.

Mark Sotak

I'm reading it right now and would have deleted it after the first couple of chapters if I hadn't paid for it.

I am obviously not a writer but the book just doesn't read right, I find myself correcting some of the sentences to make them sound better and some of the dialogue is just plain wrong.

It is a decent premise for a story, but he should have had 3 or 4 people proof read it first :(
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on January 15, 2012, 04:41:10 PM
I've just finished Star Carrier Book One: Earth Strike (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Strike-Star-Carrier-Douglas/dp/0061840254/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c) by Ian Douglas, its very much along the same lines - as in a sci-fi book of future war more grounded in science fact. No gates this time though. If you enjoyed Through Struggle, the Stars then I daresay this would be worth your time too. Its a three part series, the third book is due out at the end of feb.

EDIT: I should mention that the description on Amazon (and the back of the book) bears pretty much just a passing resemblance to what the book is actually about. It was probably penned by a guy who had heard from some other bloke down the pub what it was about.
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on January 17, 2012, 02:53:10 PM
A completely different and unrelated military SF novel (and its short story prequel) I've just finished Turing Evolved and the short story Military Diorama by David Kitson are really very interesting, AI and VR stuff out the wazoo theyre available free from smashwords  http://smashwords.com/books/view/34627 or his own site http://wwwturingevolved.com/
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: IanD on January 19, 2012, 08:27:34 AM
What’s the general opinion on Neal Asher's Polity novels? I read "Line War" (I think it’s the last in the Ian Cormac arc) at Christmas and enjoyed it. Shame its a little high tech to replicate on Aurora!
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Steve Walmsley on January 27, 2012, 11:49:46 AM
I've just finished Star Carrier Book One: Earth Strike (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Strike-Star-Carrier-Douglas/dp/0061840254/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c) by Ian Douglas, its very much along the same lines - as in a sci-fi book of future war more grounded in science fact. No gates this time though. If you enjoyed Through Struggle, the Stars then I daresay this would be worth your time too. Its a three part series, the third book is due out at the end of feb.

EDIT: I should mention that the description on Amazon (and the back of the book) bears pretty much just a passing resemblance to what the book is actually about. It was probably penned by a guy who had heard from some other bloke down the pub what it was about.

I'm an Ian Douglas fan and reading some of his earlier books was part of the inspiration to create Newtonian Aurora. Even though they are mainly ground combat there is a naval combat element as well. If you haven't read them try the Heritage Trilogy, the Legacy Trilogy and the Inheritance Trilogy. You need to read them in order though as they are a nine book series.

Steve
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: sloanjh on January 28, 2012, 10:28:31 AM
I'm an Ian Douglas fan and reading some of his earlier books was part of the inspiration to create Newtonian Aurora. Even though they are mainly ground combat there is a naval combat element as well. If you haven't read them try the Heritage Trilogy, the Legacy Trilogy and the Inheritance Trilogy. You need to read them in order though as they are a nine book series.

Steve

Interesting factoid:  Ian Douglas is actually a pen name for William H. Keith.

John
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on January 29, 2012, 02:59:49 PM
That explains why I kept expecting Battlemechs in his Marine books..

Matt
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: BlackWarder on February 17, 2012, 06:50:37 PM
Hi guys!

I'm glad that you enjoyed the book, I honestly don't know what's the ETA on the next one, Last I heard John was 15000 words into the next one, that was last August...

Warder
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on February 19, 2012, 03:54:31 PM
Hi guys!

I'm glad that you enjoyed the book, I honestly don't know what's the ETA on the next one, Last I heard John was 15000 words into the next one, that was last August...

Warder

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!  (which is like KHAAAAAAN! only less Orion ;) )
thats the worst bit of reading series when they are being written, having to wait for the next fix^h^h^h installment

Matt
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: BlackWarder on February 26, 2012, 03:45:20 AM
Lol  ;D

A quick update, the current manuscript is currently 38,000 which put it at about 38% completion so if all the stars align just right and the goddes of luck and improvised authors smile on John you can expect the next book by the end of the year.

Warder
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: ollobrains on February 26, 2012, 04:03:27 AM
sounds good
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: BlackWarder on February 02, 2013, 04:36:09 AM
Hi guys!
The The Desert of Stars manuscript is done and going through final revisions and editing and should be out in eBook format hopefully in a few weeks.


To tie you up until then, here's the prologue:


Excerpt from THE DESERT OF STARS by John J. Lumpkin.
Copyright 2013. © All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, reposting, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission of the author.

Prologue




Shanghai, China, Earth


Xiulian’s brain desperately wanted to interpret the rainy nighttime streetscape as a place of anonymity, where not even automated eyes could see what she was about to do. But she knew it was not so: The omnipresent police drones cared little for the weather or darkness. And although the new sniffers State Security were plastering on every streetlamp faced some difficulty in these conditions, they remained a threat, as they might smell her passage and alert a nearby patrol that they did not detect a corresponding radio transmission from her person. But the risk of being seen and fined for an infraction was preferable to the certainty that her movements would be recorded had she brought her identification caster with her.


Still, she gave the streetlamps a wide berth. This was not a part of the city she knew, but her contact had said it was a good place to meet. Shi Xiulian, astronomer, diplomatic adviser, interstellar traveler, mother of two fine boys, and traitor, would have preferred to pass this material to the Americans at an upcoming academic conference in Hawaii, but her co-conspirators had said it was too urgent to wait that long.


The datachip she carried held two things of note. The first was a report she had contributed to, and, more importantly, she was authorized to have. It detailed China’s knowledge of a great barren region of stars beyond those already colonized by the Americans, Japanese, Russians and Indians. China had reflexively concealed this knowledge, but Second Bureau was certain the Japanese had learned of the phenomenon, as well. The Americans, meanwhile, had yet to grasp their future would be confined to a long decline on their paltry three-and-a-quarter habitable worlds, but they would learn soon enough. How they learn it, and who they learn it from, may greatly influence their response, she believed.


Her second document was far more dangerous to possess: It was a list of senior members of the Chinese government, including her, who favored reaching out to the United States to negotiate the sale of some Chinese stars to them, so the Americans would continue to be able to search for new habitable worlds.
And feel no need to take them by force.


Xiulian and her co-conspirators feared that the prospect of finding no more colony planets would be too much for the Americans to bear, and the Japanese could manipulate them into allying in the coming war. A coalition between the technological masters of Japan and the still-dangerous Americans was not one everyone was certain China could overcome, particularly if they could rally other nations jealous of China’s good fortune.
Xiulian’s walk through this unfamiliar part of the city, then, was the first step into opening a backchannel to the Americans, one she hoped would blossom into diplomacy and a bargain that would forestall the coming violence.
And keep my boys from dying. Her elder boy was a lieutenant in the submarine forces; her younger, wanting to emulate his brother, had enlisted in the Army and was stationed on Huashan. The thought of war tightened her stomach, even now.


Xiulian reached the appointed intersection and looked around. She saw no traffic. The rain grew harder, angrier. Why did they suddenly insist I meet with them in person? Why not just a dead drop of the datachip? The Americans are running too many risks.
There. A parked car, across the street, with three, no, four people inside. The driver, a woman, looked Chinese; the others, two men and another woman, did not. Why so many?
One of the men, the fair-skinned one, got out and walked over to her.
“Miz Shi?” he said.
She nodded.
“I’m Gardiner Fairchild. I’m sorry about all the rearrangements, but we have word that you may be under threat. Would you consider coming with us?”
He expects violence, or wants me to believe that. The other agents are for security.
“No, I will not leave my family,” she said. “Are you certain?”
“Someone knows what you are doing. We don’t know who. Please, then, pass me the datachip, and we’ll be on our way. Quickly, now.”
Xiulian reached into her coat pocket, felt the small plastic chip resting in the fabric.


A red-and-blue police flasher cut through the darkness.
“Stay where you are,” a female voice said in Mandarin. Xiulian and Fairchild both looked to its source – a small police monitor drone rising shakily from a low rooftop. Its spotlight pointed at them.
Fairchild put a hand to his face and hunched over, striding quickly back to his car. Xiulian fled in another direction, running, running, running. She heard the Americans’ car hum away.
The drone did not follow her. But she was sure she had been tagged, and the security net would track her every movement.
She didn’t know what to do, but she thought her sons might be saved if she simply went home to await arrest. She threw the datachip into a gutter on the way.
She waited. She called in sick to work the next day – why create a spectacle at her office?
But State Security never came. She went to back to work a week later, wondering if they were watching her to see who she was working with. And as 2138 became 2139, she reflected on the event, over and over, during the rising tensions with Japan, during the initiation of the war she tried to prevent, and she realized she’d never heard a Shanghai police drone broadcasting a female voice before.


Warder
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on February 03, 2013, 02:37:35 PM
Now you've done it,  the twitching's started again!

Matt
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: TheDeadlyShoe on February 11, 2013, 12:34:12 PM
Glad to hear it, was impressed with the first book :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: BwenGun on March 12, 2013, 01:30:59 PM
I must admit I did really like the book.  So much so that I'm here hoping you, BlackWarder, has any word on the eta of the second!  ;D
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: Beersatron on March 12, 2013, 02:31:58 PM
It has been a couple of weeks already, hurry up! :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on March 12, 2013, 04:26:02 PM
It has been a couple of weeks already, hurry up! :)

YEAH!!

What he said!
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: chrislocke2000 on March 19, 2013, 12:39:00 PM
New book is out! Just downloaded it to the kindle.
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on March 19, 2013, 05:04:44 PM
And there is much rejoicing!

yay!

Arrgh and now the kicker,  he's only got the kindle version up atm, nooooo!! have to wait for a better format still!  *sob*

Matt
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: jRides on March 21, 2013, 01:06:28 PM
Thanks for the heads up Blackwarder, been looking forward to this. :)
Title: Re: Through Struggle, the Stars
Post by: boggo2300 on September 08, 2013, 04:51:08 PM
So, er any word on volume 3

He asked with much trepidation?

Matt