Fireteam Freelance

Vacation Throwback: Fireteam Freelance

Max Fireteam Freelance, Writing Samples , ,

I saved this one for the weekend because, well … It’s the length of an epic-sized novel. Maybe a little bigger actually.

Yes folks, I’m still on vacation. But I thought I’d take this time to remind (and notify, for some) of a little experiment I ran last year called Fireteam Freelance.

Fireteam Freelance was a full-length, fully free, episodic story set in the UNSEC Space setting (AKA the same universe Colony, Jungle, and Starforge take place in). Taking place right after the events of Colony, Freelance follows a small team of freelance mercenaries on Earth who, after events on Pisces, start getting some odd jobs from a few new clients. An experiment with episodic storytelling, Freelance gives readers a glimpse of what life on Earth is like after the shattering events at Pisces, and bit by bit the team starts to realize there’s a common thread tying all their jobs together …

By the way, I’ll say again that this is free. You can read the whole thing on the site, no fee needed. It was, after all, an experiment. Having seen the numbers on my end, I can safely say a lot of people slept on it, or waited until it was all uploaded and then just kind of never got around to checking it out, but since I’m on vacation, now seems to be the perfect time to once again promote this fully completed side-novel series, especially for those of you waiting on Starforge.

So yeah, hit the jump and find your weekend read!

Fireteam Freelance: The Complete Series

2020 in Review: A Look Back

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Hello readers, and welcome to 2021! That’s right, the calendar has flipped, the months have passed, and we are in a new year once more. Which means, as I tail out of my vacation, that it’s time to take a look back at the last year and take stock. Also, to apologize for the lateness of this post; my staycation has caught up with me. In fact, I feel as though my leaving my warm bed in the afternoon should have been narrated by Attenborough, saying something like “Forced to leave his warm burrow by a dying battery, the creature finally emerges from his hiding place in search of power.”

Anyway, in lieu of a classic Being a Better Writer post today, I thought I’d use today as the perfect time to take a look back at the site and my writing over this last year and see what 2020 ended up as. What came out of 2020. What did I accomplish? What did I achieve? Did I release anything? How did the site perform? How were sales?

You get the picture. So, today, I deliver to you readers a summary of the year past. Writing done, books published, site stats … all of it. Hit the jump, and we’ll get started. It’s time to look at some good from 2020.

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Fireteam Freelance: A Creator’s Look Back

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All right guys, I’ll level with you right from the start.

I wasn’t actually that impressed by Fireteam Freelance.

Don’t get me wrong, there was definitely some gold buried in there. There are some scenes that were absolutely awesome, some great fights, and some good moments of character. But there were also a lot of issues. Oh man were there some ruthlessly brutal issues and constraints. A lot of which I expect most readers noticed. And the further along the series got, the more I tried to break free of those constraints, which helped a little but at the same time … made things a bit messy.

If you’re thinking by now that perhaps Fireteam Freelance isn’t my strongest showing, you’re right. It’s not. It was an experiment. And in light of the entire series being done, while I don’t consider it a failure (after all, it was an experiment, failure is part of that) I definitely see it as one of the weaker things I’ve written.

And a lot of that, I feel, grew out of one rule that I couldn’t escape, by the design and nature of the experiment itself: Freelance being an episodic series. That was the core point of the experiment. To test the idea out and see how it worked. Now, I don’t feel I’ve wasted my time with Freelance, nor do I believe that there aren’t worthwhile moments in it (there definitely are) … But I do believe that the weaknesses of the format really hurt it.

So. you’ve given me your thoughts (and if you haven’t, well it’s too late now). Now it’s my turn to offer you mine. Hit the jump and let’s get started.

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Delaying My Fireteam Freelance Thoughts + Other Updates

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Just a quick update, but I’ve pushed my post on Fireteam Freelance back a few days. It’ll come out next week. Why?

So that there’s more time for readers to post their thoughts to the reader feedback post. A day (less, really) isn’t enough time for most people to respond, and most people react when they hear that a newer, larger post is coming by just ignoring it.

Which isn’t great for a feedback post. I’m still going to write my look back on it today, but it won’t go up for a bit yet.

Meanwhile, the Alpha 2 Reader Call is still open. Axtara could use a few more eyes to give it a quick read. 120,000 words, so a few days worth of decent reading. Nothing big. Head on over to the Alpha 2 call page and comment if you’d be interested. It’d be fast and quick, something you could blitz through on a weekend.

Patreon Supporters, meanwhile, have a first-chapter preview over on Patreon. It won’t be the last either! So if you’re a supporter wondering what the hubbub is about, head on over and get your first look!

Tomorrow I’ll once again start trawling for a cover artist. Plus start looking at timetables for Beta 1 …

Starforge‘s first draft is sitting at 56,470 words. This one’s going to easily be just as titanic as Colony and Jungle, but there’s a lot going on in these chapters.

Anyway, I’m going to get to work now. Hit the links, have a good weekend!

Fireteam Freelance: The Feedback Post

Max Fireteam Freelance ,

Well readers, it was a several month journey getting here.

Work first started on Fireteam Freelance at the end of February. At the time, I had no idea how it would turn out. An episodic series? Posted for free, as it was written, with no editing, directly to the site? This was one of those experimental things that sounded interesting, but there were a lot of question about how it would turn out. Now, six months later and with the last entry in the series complete, uploaded, and posted, and with an audience that’s been following every episode of the journey, it’s time for me to ask: what did you guys think?

I have my own thoughts on Freelance, but I’ll be posting those tomorrow. With this post I want to hear from you readers. Those that read it, those that bounced off of it … the gamut. Freelance was experimental, embracing a lot of things that made it different from my more usual, published stuff. It was episodic, which meant that the content of each episode always had to feature the same elements, unlike a book chapter which could count on a reader having read prior chapters.

Basically, there was a lot different about Freelance, and while I’ve got my own thoughts on its performance, what worked, and what definitely didn’t, I’d like to hear from you readers that spent the last six months following it. I want to hear what you liked about it, but also what you didn’t like about it, what you felt worked or didn’t, and/or even what left you feeling cold.

Because again, Freelance was experimental. An exercise in stretching out and trying something new to see how it worked, to see what I could do with it and what readers would think.

Rather than sell something so volatile and unpredictable (after all, it could fail utterly as a fun product), I decided to make it free and see what would happen.

So anyway, this is your big chance to tell me what you thought. And I’m looking forward to hearing it. As I said, I have my own thoughts on it that I’ll post tomorrow, but for now? I’m interested in hearing what you guys thought and think of the adventure now that it’s over.

Hit this link to start commenting!

Fireteam Freelance Epilogue: Recombinant

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We’re finally here. Yes, readers, this is the final bit to Fireteam Freelance. This … is it. The epilogue lies beyond the jump to save anyone from spoilers, so hit it to get started! Remember, all episodes can be found at the Fireteam Freelance page.

In addition, all episodes of Fireteam Freelance are posted in pre-Alpha, pure draft state. As such there may be minor errors, typos, etc as a result of being pre-edit. But you’re getting it for free, so that’s the trade-off.

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News, Updates, and Musings

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Hey readers! Been sort of a quiet week from me, hasn’t it?

Well, I’ll have you know that’s because I’ve been hard at work on both Axtara – Banking and Finance and Starforge. Even better, work on both is coming along nicely.

Now, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any other news worth reporting, or that you’re about to have Axtara in your claws (or hands, whichever). Right now Alpha 1 is about 76% complete, and I think after it’s finished up, I’m going to do a second Alpha, just to make sure some of the changes and alterations fly true under new eyes. This will delay any release a little bit, but shouldn’t by too much. You’ll still get the book fairly soon.

Plus, I still need to sit down and spend some time finding a cover artist since the one I’d really hoped for wasn’t interested. Which is tricky, as finding artists that can do spectacular portraits of dragons while still giving them very recognizable expression is … tricky.

Still, there’s good news coming out of the Alpha: Axtara is awesome. The readers have enjoyed it quite a bit, and I think it’s going to make quite a splash when it arrives.

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Fireteam Freelance Episode 13: Power Play

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Surprise.

What? Did you think that was the end? No, we still have a few loose ends to tie up. Episode 13 is beyond the jump to save anyone from spoilers, so hit it to get started! A list of all episodes can be found at the Fireteam Freelance page.

A reminder that all episodes of Fireteam Freelance are posted in pre-Alpha, pure draft state. As such there may be minor errors, typos, etc as a result of being pre-edit. But you’re getting it for free, so that’s the trade-off.

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Fireteam Freelance Episode 12: Black Site Bora

Max Fireteam Freelance , ,

This is it! Episode 12 of Fireteam Freelance! The episode is beyond the jump to save anyone from spoilers, so hit it to get started! A list of all episodes can be found at the Fireteam Freelance page.

A reminder that all episodes of Fireteam Freelance are posted in pre-Alpha, pure draft state. As such there may be minor errors, typos, etc as a result of being pre-edit. But you’re getting it for free, so that’s the trade-off.

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Who’s Ready for a Finale? Black Site Bora Premieres Tomorrow!

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Are you guys ready?

Tomorrow the ultimate episode of Fireteam Freelance drops. Black Site Bora, episode 12, goes live at 9 AM, Saturday August 8th, 2020. Seven months after the first episode, Zero, made its debut.

This is a juggernaut of an episode. Weighing in at 23,000 words, Black Site Bora is nothing but action from start to finish as the Adah, Ursa, Owl, and Anvil make their do-or-die raid on a UN black site.

So if you’ve been enjoying the journey of the team so far, this is the episode not to miss. Set your alarm clocks. Get your snacks ready. Catch up on any missed episodes over at the Fireteam Freelance page.

Black Site Bora is almost here.

Hit the jump for more news!

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