Well, Double Twist has ended with Chapter 195 of The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins. Now it's on to Book 5: Double Team, starting Tuesday 8/18. Without any conscious intention on my part, the final chapter of the story will post on December 19, so 'Happy Yule!' That, by the way, will be just two weeks short of two years that I've been posting this story with a chapter every three days.
I should mention that I began writing this volume in June of 2019, about two weeks before I started having heart problems. By the time I finished it near the end of August, I was literally writing for fifteen minutes and sleeping an hour, then writing for another fifteen minutes. I know there could have been more to this story and I might still write another volume. But at the time, I just wanted to make sure I finished the story before I died. I did. And I'm not dead yet. I have a lot more stories to tell.
As many have anticipated, this new volume covers the two years of Jacob and Cindy's National Service which proves to be unlike anything they had ever imagined.
It's a whole new world now that Jacob and all his pod except Cindy have graduated from high school. The National Service can't wait to have Marvel and Hopkins on the road as a deputation team, talking about life in the service. They are on the road as soon as school is out, even though they won't be inducted for two more months. But not everyone is happy with their message of reform and some will stop at nothing to make sure it won't be heard.
Starting Tuesday!
Is that all? No, of course not. Watch for J-Hop's short novella to appear on Monday. It's based on a fandom of Thinking Horndog's Swarm Cycle universe. No, it's not a Swarm story. It's a fan story. My Sex Slave will post on Monday. Remember, author name: J-Hop.
When Donna told me she wanted to have a baby, I was all for it. But how to get her ready for the big event? She liked my writing and got turned on when I wrote sexy things. I dug in the back of my memory for a series on SOL called 'The Swarm Cycle' and decided to write about getting a sex slave concubine at a Confederacy pickup. Except we weren't in the Confederacy and there were no aliens about to gobble up Earth. No pickups. What was I supposed to do? This is the first of my stories I've really let anyone but her see. Wish me luck. -J-Hop
Oh, yes. That sets the stage for my first entry into the Swarm Cycle later this fall. My new story, Pussy Pirates, is now in the hands of proofreaders. A lot of them. A couple will make a final scan for canon violations but there will be a lot of eyes looking for spelling and syntax errors. A couple will probably spot check my info on weapons and ships, but I think I got all the comments corrected previously.
Let me tell you, this story owes a lot to the other Swarm authors who are quite a community. Omachuck, Zen Master, John Lewiston, Frostfyre, Kenn Ghannon, starfiend, Anne N. Mouse, Duke of Ramus, akarge, ElSol. There are more than 270 stories on SOL in the Swarm Cycle and I've read them all-most two or three times. I started working on this story back in early 2018 at the urging of a couple of authors. I don't think they knew how I'd screw up their universe!
Most of the Swarm Cycle stories record how the Confederacy picked up people with high CAP test scores and sent them out to colonize other planets and to take the battle to the Sa'arm. But there were those who promised to defend Earth. Different groups formed and were either ineligible for extraction or just refused it. The Einherjar, Earth Defense Force, The Maquis, The Jackass Company, and all the world's militaries. Into this group, I've injected the Pussy Pirates, game developers and porn starlets who have refused extraction to participate directly in Earth's defense. This is their story.
Also in the hands of my editors is The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic. I'm getting ready for a release of this story very soon. I'm just waiting for the last few chapters to get back to me from Old Rotorhead and Pixel the Cat. It's hard to believe these guys have been keeping me on the straight and narrow for over seven years and have caught more errors between them than I'd have thought existed. As soon as these last few chapters have been proofed, I'll start posting the story.
A tool of the great circle at Carles Castlerigg, the Cauldron Ops, was broken when the Vagabond Priest cast it against the altar stone in Ritual Reality. Now Wayne Hamel, the Props Master, is surrounded by four witches, all devoted to protecting and teaching the high priestess's daughter, Serepte Allen. But dark forces stand in the way of forging Serepte into a new cauldron. They must first find the missing player and release Serepte's father from his long imprisonment Behind the Ivory Veil. All it takes is A Touch of Magic.
So, that's the update from my recliner in the heart of a nudist resort in Idaho. I'm working on still more new stories and rewrites. Love this sunny weather.