Hey everyone! Work continues forward on Unusual Events, and I thought you’d all appreciate another sneak peek! Today’s look comes from Vacation, a short story about a tour guide and tourist in Alaska. And of course, nothing has gone as planned.
You can read it after the break.
I am exhausted. I’ve spent the last few days touching up and editing the alpha copies of all the stories from Unusual Events, but as I was going over the last of them tonight, a thought struck me. I’ve talked a lot about what Unusual Events is, and mentioned what’s in it, but never, not yet, save to Patreon Supporters (who get their own, special, early looks), have I shown off anything.
That needs to change. It’s time to get a taste of what you’ll be reading before long!
So, with that in mind, here’s a sneak peek at a few paragraphs from SUPER MODEL, one of the stories from the upcoming Unusual Events! Enjoy!
So after today’s well spent day of writing (~4,800 words so far today), I thought I’d give you guys a freebie. Who want’s a quick look at an excerpt from one of the upcoming stories in Unusual Events?
You? Yeah, I thought you did.
But first, just a reminder to go vote for the July Patreon reward if you haven’t already! And then pledge on Patreon if you want to see it!
Now, that said, let’s give you guys a little preview. This is from the short story Ripper (working title), and, like most of the other stories in Unusual Events, it’s part of one of my existing universes. Except you’ve not actually seen this one yet.
That’s right. Ripper is in fact the first real taste many of you are going to get of Shadow of an Empire, a fantasy western that I’ve been dropping little hints about for a short time. It could be considered an introduction to that universe, but let me tell you, those who read Unusual Events and Shadow of an Empire both are going to get a nifty insight into Shadow. Nothing required to enjoy it, of course, but this is sort of like a precursor/side story to the story happening in Shadow.
Right, I’m sure you’re all getting tired of my rambling at this point. Here’s an early, pre-alpha look inside the mind of someone you definitely don’t want to meet in person. Or know.
So earlier this week, I mentioned something that to some of you, probably came off as unusual (har-de-har-har, right?). I was talking about E3, and mentioned that my hopes for an Outpost 2 successor hadn’t been met. Now, I should mention that I didn’t expect any sort of successor to Outpost 2 to be announced—after all, the original game was never that popular, and the developer that produced it is long since gone. That’s why you can freely grab a copy of Outpost 2 and play it: it’s abandonware. Abandonware that, while fun, does display a game that’s rough around the edges.
But I’m still playing it from time to time, despite the sheer brutality and often random cruelty the game deposits on me. I’m not kidding about that difficulty, btw, this game sometimes feels like a roguelike in that it just decides to randomly crush you for no reason other than you finally got a break. I had one game where after several attempts to dodge a lava flow, I successfully relocated my base to a mineral rich area, started to fend off attackers from a rival colony … and then watched as everything I’d ever built was leveled by an earthquake. Should have built more disaster relief centers, I guess.
And yet, every so often I go back to it, for one simple, strange reason: there is nothing like it, nor has been, since the game was released.
In honor of the launch of Beyond the Borderlands, the at long last sequel to a fanfic I wrote quite some time ago, One Drink is now on a delicious, affordable, one-day sale! You can pick up your copy for the low price of free simply by clicking the image to your left there (or above if you’re on a phone) or by selecting the “Books” tab at the top of the page and selecting it there.
If you’ve not checked into it before, One Drink was my first release. It tells the tale of one Jacob Rocke, a paranormal investigator, or “Spook,” licensed by the government to deal with things of an … unusual nature. When a client approaches him in a bar with a story about a ghostly wolf leaping through her bedroom wall and attacking her husband, Rocke knows he’s got a case that’s right up his alley. But when he starts digging into things, he might find that he’s in over … well, if not his, than someone’s head … and that there might be a lot more to worry about than a simple ghost at work.
Settling in at about 100 pages, its perfect for an entertaining afternoon read, and at the price … well, it’s hard to beat free. But grab it quick, because once June 2nd is over and done, so is the deal! Of course, this is June 2nd by Amazon’s clock, so you might have some extra time if they’re running by another time zone.
And if you’ve already dipped your toes into the Unusual universe and have your eye on the standalone sequel, Dead Silver, fret not, and look towards Wednesday.
But until then, enjoy!
No, these aren’t mine. Though if you’re going to read something, I’d hardly be remiss to point out that clicking that little tab labeled “Books” at the top of the page will bring you to two good ones. But no, what I’m talking about here today is Baen having updated their free library sometime last week. Huzzah!
Actually, double “Huzzah!” because not only has Baen made free one book from one of of my favorite authors—Cobra by Timothy Zahn—but two, the second being Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia.
Both are fun reads, though both are very different. Cobra, which I am now rereading, and if I remember properly, is an interesting take on the Science-Fiction Super Soldier trope. It’s not Zahn’s greatest work, nor is it perfect, but it’s fun and it’s free. Monster Hunter International, on the other hand, is exactly what it says on the tin. If you walk into that book expecting something that’s not an international group of monster hunters getting paid to, well, hunt and kill monsters in ludicrous, explosive fashion, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’re looking for a good, old-fashioned joy-ride with orcs, elves, and rocket launchers, you’ll find it between those pages.
You can grab them at the above-linked Amazon pages, or, if you’d rather be more hands on (and browse some other freebies), you can head on over to the Baen Free E-book Library and grab them in a DRM-free format of your choice.
Either way, enjoy! And, in light of some recent discussion about such, don’t neglect to leave them reviews when you’re done!
