New World of Drei Story

Mission Two is now available and in due course there should be a working World of Drei series page on Amazon (currently up, and sorted).

Anyway, at last Mission Two is on sale.

Blurb

Rendered unconscious by an explosion, Lieutenant Morozova woke to a vision of a crystal mountain. Now caught between life and death, she must not only survive the rigors of war, but also the challenge of the mythical world of Russian legends.

The fourth episode set in the World of Drei universe, "Mission Two," a brilliantly ingenious vision of future war deepens the human story behind those who face an unrelenting opponent.

Go make your day brighter by getting yourself a copy.

Mission One Free

 

For five days Mission One is free on Amazon.

And the sequel Regroup is only 0.99 pence too.

Blurb

Sergeant Sergei Rozhkov chose to face adversity with stoicism. He was Russian and held to a simple truth that everyone dies in the end.

Besides, there was always vodka if things went really bad.

Rozhkov had lost good people in the war. But, he didn't think that the war could get any worse than it already was.

Now, faced with a tank controlled by an artificial intelligence, Sergeant Rozhkov learns that life holds frightening surprises.

Mission One, sequel to Terror Tree, unfolds the setting of The World of Drei series. This is military science fiction that asks, what will humans have to do to survive on the cyber-battlefield of tomorrow?

Break Out – Now Available

 

I'm happy to announce that Break Out, story three in The World Of Drei series is now available to buy on Amazon.

Blurb

Defeated, Lieutenant Morozova and Sergeant Rozhkov get the chance to rest and recuperate. Refitted with state-of-the-art equipment they must be the eyes of a newly formed battle group. The point of the spear.

The third story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Break Out" delivers combat-grade military action revealing how human camaraderie grows in the face of terrifying adversity.

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If you've not yet read any of the stories in this series then all of The World of Drei stories can be found here.

Important Note: If you already have a copy of this series, I've updated the text. If you wish to have the new version, go to your digital library, there you will see on the far right side of the screen, opposite books that have been updated, a button that says "Newer version available."

Panzer Jäger Mark One – PJM1-M1

Work in Progress: four innocent Sheridan and one AMX Takara tank models went into the making of this pile of parts.

I have a plan...

I'm a model-maker. I can't help it, I just like making things. Don't ask me why, I just do. So, given I made models for the combat armour suits in my novels, it stands to reason I will want to make a cybertank.

Ogre, for those who don't know, is a boardgame from Steve Jackson Games that can also be played with miniatures. I have a few models (lots, but let's not go there) and like BattleTech it's one of my go to games.

I tag World of Drei Universe series as #OgreNotOgre for a reason.

But, when I write I want to write in my own universe.

To do so means I need to have in mind a picture of what I'm describing. The picture or in this case model, need not be a precise realization, just good enough to get the idea across to others that my cybertanks are different.

Writing Summary

The last couple of weeks have been chaotic. A combination of real life, weather, and Bank holiday sports, and finally getting the print version of Strike Dog up for sale.

Inspiration for a Cybertank Design

When I'm not obsessing over combat armour suits, I'm generally noodling stuff about cybertanks.

It's one of my passions. I have many like it.

Obyekt 279 was a Soviet era prototype tank designed during the Cold War with the expectation that atomic weapons would be in use. Here's an uncommon picture from the rear.

You can find out more about this interesting design here. I liked this rather nice quote from Wikipedia.

This special purpose tank was intended to fight on cross country terrain, inaccessible to conventional tanks, acting as a heavy breakthrough tank, and if necessary withstanding even the shockwave of a nuclear explosion. It was planned as a tank of the Supreme Command Reserve.

So we stole the divided track feature for the Panzer Jager Mark One that appears in The World of Drei series I blogged about here.

And over on YouTube there's this video.

Writing Log 2018-03-16

Last week was one of editing and then prepping the third story in my The World of Drei series, Regroup, for publishing. Which turned out to be a proverbial pain to get right, and illuminated some other problems.

My Beta reader, Brian, pointed out that I had used inconsistent spellings for the same term. This happened because transliteration of Russian words are not standardized. So I had to go back and revise Mission One, all because yefréytor and efreitor were the same word.

I had been under the mistaken belief that yefréytor stood for corporal.

Instead, both words are transliterations of senior private. OK, perhaps I should have guessed that, but I had taken my original source at face value. And furthermore, to add insult to injury, the Russian Army doesn't have corporal's. There's no rank between between junior sergeant and senior private.

I made the mistake of not double checking my original source.

Sigh...

Anyway, a book arrived to brighten up this week. GURPS: Russia by John Ross.

I found a copy for a reasonable price of £13.50/$19.00 on eBay. I've seen it offered for exorbitant amounts, so I snapped it up. A cheaper option, for those who prefer, is the PDF. I read that Steve Jackson Games plan to eventually offer all their GURPs titles as POD books. Though this will cost at an estimated $35.00, which makes the copy I found still look like a bargain.

This RPG game supplement is simply stunning. I spent most of a day reading it, and learning stuff. The bibliography is excellent. And for me, I found it most helpful in understanding the way Russia thinks about things.

By that, I mean what stories they tell themselves.

And useful facts. Like after Moscow, Kiev is historically considered by Russia to be one of its the three most important cities. The other two are St. Petersburg (better known to me as Leningrad), and Novogorod.

More to the point, it's a bit of an oops for Russia, since Kiev is now the capital of the Ukraine. For me, knowing this puts a totally different perspective on the current political maneuvering's going on there. And serendipitously feeds into my The World of Drei series.

So, I found myself making notes and planning what to write next, which was all well and good until I found I had two characters with the same name in Break Out. So, instead of writing, I spent a whole day double-checking every name, and constructing a series bible that has all the named characters listed in alphabetical order.

That was headache inducing.

Also, my internet friend, Jason, sent me a bunch of Russian military information too. So I now have a lot more reading ahead of me.

Therefore last week I only managed to write 461 new words, over the course of about two hours, which is 230 words per hour. Too few new words, I know.

Plan

Finish Break Out and send it off to my Alpha reader
Finally finish the editing of Strike Dog done so that it's ready for publication

Regroup – Now Available

Now ready for sale, Regroup, sequel to Mission One the second story in The World of Drei series now available.

Blurb

Trapped behind enemy lines when the enemy overran their command post, Sergeant Volkova and the wounded Captain Lenkov face a march across a frozen land. With limited supplies, their situation is dire.

The second story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Regroup" tells the story of human courage against all odds.

More About The Author

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DE Amazon

Important Note: If you already have a copy of this series, I've updated the text. If you wish to have the new version, go to your digital library, there you will see on the far right side of the screen, opposite books that have been updated, a button that says "Newer version available."

Writing Log 2018-03-02

I've been researching and planning the big battle for my next bit of writing, and as you can see this includes working out the Battalion Tactical Group formation, Takticheskaya Gruppa Batal'onov, for Operation Winter Storm. Why yes, this is the length I go too, to get the details right.

Without whining about how ill I've felt I've been using said sick time to do things I can manage. By that I mean things that don't require me to be in my creative head space, which is difficult to do when feeling under the weather. Therefore, this week I spent a lot of time doing edits on Strike Dog. I read through forty chapters, 60,000 words, tightening up the pacing to address Beta reader feedback that the middle of novel felt slow.

In between, I've been trying to do some research.

Unlike America, the details of Russian military formations is much harder to get to grips with. I don't speak or read Russian, which doesn't help either.

So I have two questions that I haven't been able to answer: 

1. Does anyone what order do units name themselves the modern Russian army, though I'll take Red Army traditions too??

In the USMC it's largest formation to smallest i.e. 7th Company, 3rd Platoon, 2nd Squad.

In the USAR it smallest to largest so it would be 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon, 7th Company.

2. Power armour literally translates as silovaya bronya, but there again literal translations aren't always used, as the words may not mean what they're supposed to mean.

So, does anyone know the Russian name for power armour?  Given the popularity of such things in the media I imagine they might have a unique term.

Went with my partner to see the specialist about her recent health scare, and everything looks good. Also, been to my doctor this week for my six-month routine check-up, which was routine. So double-plus good.

So another week, and because of being under the weather I only managed 3,588 new words, which was 15.5 hours of writing, for an average of 231 words per hour. 

Priorities

Finish the Strike Dog edits. Deadline, end of March.
Get Regroup, part three of The World of Drei out. 

Writing Log 2018-02-16

Not much of a writing log this week for lots of good reasons.

Busy doing other stuff: celebrating my birthday–yay me; a morning spent shooting, because we missed out the previous Saturday; PicoCon 35; writing an article for Galactic Journey; getting Mission One out of the door and up an Amazon.

All of this meant that I only spent two days writing, and I wasn't terribly productive on either day. Mostly down to stopping to do research on the fly. I managed 1,444 words, taking 9.75 hours, which was 148 words per hour.

And this week doesn't look to be any more productive due to annual health checks, which start with a blood test and then a couple of other follow-up appointments scheduled. It all eats into my time.

I also provoked my partner into drawing up a cybertank design for The World of Drei series. Original sketch on the back of a napkin lost, as it was used as a napkin. My doodle is above.

Then I remembered a link to a 1950s idea for a Baby Assault tank, which looks rather similar.

Mission One - Now Available

Up today, Amazon's KDP comes through in record time is Mission One, the first story in the World of Drei series now available.

Blurb

Seventh Company's Lieutenant Morozova and Sergeant Rozhkov face an enemy that knows no fear, cannot be reasoned with, and does not stop until destroyed. On the verge of defeat, win or die, they must fight.

The first story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Mission One" tells of the desperate fight for survival against an enemy cybertank.

More About The Author

Buy This Book

US Amazon 

UK Amazon 

CA Amazon  

AU Amazon 

FR Amazon 

DE Amazon

Important Note: If you already have a copy of this series, I've updated the text. If you wish to have the new version, go to your digital library, there you will see on the far right side of the screen, opposite books that have been updated, a button that says "Newer version available."