aroslav: Blog

I've put the finishing touches on my new Swarm Cycle story, The Assassin, and have uploaded the first chapter for posting on March 13. I'm very excited about this story as it takes a very different (and non-canon) look at the Confederacy and its AIs.

I read a comment recently that said fan fiction comes in three varieties: "Sometimes fanfic is a love letter to canon; sometimes it's a polite disagreement; sometimes it's 95 things canon did wrong nailed to a door." I think the same can be said about a shared universe like Thinking Horndog's Swarm Cycle. The Assassin doesn't really fit any of those three categories exclusively. It's more like a nudge in the direction I think it should or is likely to go.

Several Swarm authors have engaged me on everything from the shape and origin of planetary militias to the division between Darjee and Tuull AIs to the deterioration of the sponsor/concubine/dependent society. When I looked at the process, for example, of female concubines having a child every two years or so, I thought immediately that a household with four concubines could have 28 dependents (or more with multiple births) under the age of fourteen at a time. All the time! At what point does the population of a planet go from 10,000 to 80,000 to 640,000 to 5.4 million? That geometric progression suggests only fourteen years until there is roughly a 7:1 ratio of children to adults. And at what point do concubines simply get tired of always being pregnant or suckling and just lie down and die? Given potential lifespans of 200 years and fertility for over a hundred, how is any mother going to keep track of who her fifty children are or where? Or the 350 grandchildren?

So, having ranted about my dystopian view of the future, I wrote a story that included the concubines simply overwhelming the sponsors. Roughly the first half of the book is completely consistent with the current Swarm canon. The rest of the book isn't contrary to the canon, but is beyond where the 300 or so stories in the current canon stop. So, it projects fifty years into the future of the cycle.

When I write something 'in the future,' it creates, of necessity, a history in its wake. I didn't want to tie the future of the Swarm Cycle to my view of what happens next, so I've voluntarily listed the story as non-canon. That means I'm not tying all other authors to my view of the future. I'm consistent with the canon up to the point where it peters out at the moment. Then, it's no holds barred as I paint a bleaker (but not hopeless) version of the future of the Confederacy in the next fifty years.

Am I writing anything else? Thank you for asking!

I struggled in the first couple of months of 2021 as I had heart problems again and underwent an ablation and cardioversion two weeks ago. The difference has been remarkable! I've been able to focus again. I spent a good bit of the first two months of this year re-reading the entire Florida Friends series by Dual Writer. Try it. You'll like it. Now I'm writing again.

I'm working on a sequel to Wayzgoose's A Place at the Table, currently titled A Place Among Peers. Not terribly far along yet, but I'm happy to be making progress. And I'm working on a sequel to aroslav's Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain. I'm happy to finally be making progress on both of these. My Tier 3 patrons on Patreon are reading these two stories as they develop. They pay the big bucks to read my mistakes. I'm sure both books will go through a massive rewrite before I release them here on SOL. http://www.patreon.com/aroslav

I started and abandoned two other books near the end of last year as the effects of being in atrial fibrillation disrupted my ability to concentrate. Perhaps when I get these two finished, I'll go back and look at the others to see if they can be resurrected.

During this period, I've also edited/proofread four manuscripts for other authors! I have seriously benefited from the volunteer time of other editors on SOL, so in addition to my professional editing, I've tried to give back a bit to the community.

So, there you have the life and times of aroslav. Still alive and kicking!

I do a lot of updating of websites, Patreon, and blogs on Sundays. It just seems like the right time to get everything up to date. So that's why you always hear from me on Sundays.

What's that? You haven't heard from me? Oh. I must have been dreaming.

In my dream, I told you all about the progress I haven't been making on stories I'm trying to write. I did finish my new Swarm Cycle story and it is now in the hands of editors and proofreaders who are having a good time polishing it up. The story is titled The Assassin and I hope to start posting it as soon as the final comments and corrections come in.

The other three stories I've started since November have all been stalled for one reason or another. Mostly a vague-headedness resulting from being back in A-fib and planning on another ablation later this week. Weather has not been kind, either as I've stayed in the Pacific Northwest this winter and aside from the six inches of snow the past few days, it has been mostly just cold, rainy, and windy. I seldom get out of my trailer. And finally... I got hooked re-reading Dual Writer's entire "Florida Friends" series. It was still too good to put down and I spent a lot of writing time reading.

I'm hoping to get my self focused this week once my heart stops running away from me. I've managed a few words on the sequel to Drawing on the Dark Side of the Brain. I have a couple of chapters written on the sequel to Wayzgoose's A Place at the Table. With luck, this week I'll start making more progress.

In the meantime, it's Fat Tuesday. If I'm not mistaken, that means we get double tacos. Have a great Mardi Gras celebration!

I've been asked, both in email and in comments to collect the multiple story references in Pussy Pirates in a single bibliography so people could check them out after reading the story. I've been a little delayed in doing this as I haven't accomplished much in the past two weeks. But I got that button pushed today.

So, I've uploaded a new "Chapter 28" which is a bibliography of the stories I've referenced. Hopefully, the links, all to SOL stories, will come through as well. There were 13 stories referenced.

This is really a testament to all the Swarm Authors and to the rigorous monitoring the authors do of new material posted so it doesn't violate the "Swarm canon" of things that have gone before. Whenever I explored an aspect that might be near the border, I cited a reference to another author who made that possible. It's a great community to write in.

I've also changed the Bookapy ad at the end of the story. I put the ad up when I started releasing the story because the eBook was complete while the story was still serializing on SOL. The ad suggested that if you wanted the rest of the story right away, to buy the book. That caused at least one misunderstanding after the story was finished. While I'm all too happy to take your money to get the whole story faster than it posts on SOL, I will NEVER post a link to get the end of a story without finishing it here. I changed the wording of the ad so it is more understandable that the complete story has been posted on SOL and is also available as an eBook on Bookapy. If you've read the story here, there is no extended or new material in the eBook.

I'll mention as well that I have released The Hero Lincoln Trilogy in Lazlo Zalezac's "Damsels in Distress" universe on Bookapy. This is part of my effort to make all my stories available as eBooks eventually. It is not a new version of the story, though I may have corrected a few typos in the eBook. If you've read Sleight of Hand, Romancing the Clown, and Going for the Juggler on SOL, the eBooks are simply a means of supporting the author and adding the stories to your home library.

As always, thank you for your support in comments, email, and voting. If you've not yet nominated your favorites from 2020 for a Clitorides Award, now is a good time to do so. Look for the yellow bar at the top of this page!

There's been so much happening in the world today that I'm rather late getting this post together to celebrate the end of Pussy Pirates. I was approached by a couple of Swarm authors four years ago about contributing to the universe but it seemed like an awesome challenge. I started by reading all the 270+ stories currently on SOL in the universe and then doodling notes. Then I read them all again and started writing. It took a few months to get the first draft written and the Swarm authors group was great about reading and commenting on it before I did a complete rewrite. Once that was done, the authors once again read, proofread, and commented. I made corrections and sent the story to my final proofreaders, cie-mel, Old Rotorhead, and Pixel the Cat. I owe a great deal to these guys for helping clean up my messes.

So, now I'm looking at what comes next. I am currently working on two additional Swarm Cycle stories. Of course, there is a continuation of Pussy Pirates planned. This story ends just before the epic battle of the third invasion fleet described in Akarge's Pyrrhic Victory. And just a month later, the fourth invasion fleet arrives and lands on Earth. I'm also working on a story that takes place on a remote planet where concubines outnumber sponsors by many times. It is called "The Assassin."

In the Swarm Cycle, published and accepted stories are considered "canon" and future stories must conform to what has been established. As such, I encourage you to read Zen Master's current offering, "Ending This Mess." This story will certainly affect any future offerings I make in the Swarm Universe. I'm looking forward to contributing again soon.

Until I get one of these stories ready, I have only one story running now, A Place at the Table by Wayzgoose. I'll try to get some more written as soon as possible.

You may not realize that some fans become as dear to us writers as writers become to their fans. And so I am truly saddened to have found out this morning about the passing of one of my most loyal fans and supporters. In addition to being active on SOL, he became a patron of mine three years ago at the "Book of the Month" tier level. I've sent him one of my paperbacks each month for nearly three years.

I received a note from his wife this morning. They had been married for 42 years. She continued by saying, "Thank you for the pleasure you gave him with your work." Please join me in sending your comfort and strength to her.

My last message from him was, "I'm definitely a fan, and I don't want to miss anything." I think, perhaps, that summed up his view on life as well.

Rest in peace, my friend.