November is NaNoWriMo. I already have a novel, or at least somewhere between 180,000 and 200,000 words of something that could be a novel if you looked at it funny. Last year I wrote a microversion of it in September. That did spur me to work on it more, but I never managed to find a rhythm that would let me finish it. So, given that the approach of a target every day seems to work for me, I’ve decided that this will be Tadhg Novel Editing Month.
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The fourth and last (to date) finished story in the same series that began with ‘TTCS’, this one is a little different from the others, but the impact of that difference is for you to decide: ‘A City Tale’.

The third story in the unfinished series that began with ‘TTCS’ was written less than a year later, at the end of 1993. Like the previous two, its relative childishness or impressiveness is up to you: ‘Lynner’.

The story I wrote after ‘TTCS’ also felt significant, and came to me in a rush one night. It’s part of the same unfinished series, and like its predecessor might rank either as childish juvenilia or important early work: ‘Rondo’.

About 16 years ago I wrote (the first version of) the first short story that felt significant to me. I’d written stories before, but this one was really mine somehow, and achieved its purpose more fully than any I’d done previously. It’s part of a series, an unfinished series that I’ve written several stories from. I’ve shown them to people, read them at workshops, distributed them in magazines, but for some reason I never put them online. Until now. Childish juvenilia or important early work, your call: ‘TTCS’ (this is the third and last version, from early 1993).

I saw her when we were at the gates. Her auburn hair caught my eye, and I fell in love. I looked away when the Marine Captain fired into the air. The crowd moved back, afraid. But we all remembered: plague. And surged forward once again.
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(This is a continuation from yesterday’s post about what Episode II’s plot should have been.)

The Republic is at war, and has been for two years as Anakin Skywalker, commanding the forces of the Republic, has forced Dooku’s Separatists to the outer fringes and destroyed many of their power bases. The Republic is on a war footing, and Senator Palpatine has consolidated his power, with Padmé Amidala’s moderate faction increadingly isolated in their attempts to curtail him.
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(I had this idea for a better plot immediately after seeing Episode III, but have been prompted to write it down by the Star Wars Blog-a-Thon that’s marking the 30th anniversary of the first film.)

I’m willing to cede Episode I to Lucas. After all, he wanted to make one “for the kids”, right? So sure. He can have Episode I. Including the pod race, the wacky-implausible Anakin fighter pilot scene, and Jar-Jar. Yes, even Jar-Jar. Despite much of the awfulness there, Lucas still did a good job of introducing/reintroducting characters who made for a compelling story.
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Before they got me, I programmed. Software development. I did fine. But I got bored, ennui creeping into my life, my work, my own projects, everything. Everything suffered under a fog of lethargy and angst. I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t seem to do it. So I went looking for more exciting positions.
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Bruce Lawrenceson decided that, yet again, he had been terribly naive.
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I was on the bridge, researching recent Board activity, when the news hit.
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She pushed me into a shuttle nearby and sat me down, then said, “Truder Redmane, I am here to take you back. You have broken your contract of work with Redmane Minerals, and they are permitted to force your return and sequestration for the duration—” [more...]

Lee jumped out of her chair and ran for the stairs. She was sure the man exiting the Governor’s office was Truder Redmane.
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Lee pounded the desk. Reviewing the files from Brivik security, she couldn’t believe some of the things they let slip. Primarily being slow to realize that the “terrorist” who’d started killing guards was Truder Redmane.
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“Three Redmane interceptors, they said we’d committed security violations, want us to power down and surrender.” [more...]

I looked to my right, saw two guards, and walked towards them quickly. One looked at me in time to take my punch to the throat. I stepped closer to get his pistol from his holster, pull up his armor, and shoot him in the stomach. The other guard had his visor flipped up, so I shot him in the face, then took his gun as well.
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I made it onto Brivik, through the spaceport, without incident. Free. On a planet. Real air. Real gravity.
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Looks Good on Paper was far away. Far away, locked inside a secret base in a dangerous asteroid belt under intense scrutiny within a remote solar system. And Shara felt the distance.
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Lee ducked the punch and came back up again with her gun jammed against the contract-breaker’s nose. Her phone chimed.
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I set up the transfer, and had it ready to go. Three hundred million. I looked up at Shara, and said “You know you won’t get to spend it.”
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“We don’t know that it’s him.”
“No, but who else, given blackmail from something that Truder knows and activity at his bases?”
“We don’t have enough information, no matter how it looks, to do what you propose.”
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Shara was in my way.
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“So where is she now?”
“Ops doesn’t know.”
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