Dan Melson: January 2020 Archives

None of the kids needed sleep. Being operant meant they could easily go several days without, same as me. But after dinner, the ritual was always the same. Baths, and then give sleep a chance for an hour. I had to help Imtara with her bath; at about ten Earth months she wasn't quite coordinated enough to be able to bathe herself safely, but Ilras at two Earth years of age was fine by himself, as were Ilora at three and Esteban at four. Even Imtara was safe enough, she just didn't get clean on her own. Technically, none of them were Seventh Order Guardians yet, but they'd all been operant from conception. It made motherhood so much easier in terms of physical demands that it seemed like cheating.

In terms of mental demands, however, it made parenting natural state kids seem like a cakewalk. Baby Alden wanted to learn, and he wasn't even born yet. In order to keep him safely swaddled, I had to devote two of my para to him full time as an interface between him and the universe. He was already prepared to take at least half a dozen tests for level four competency - about the equivalent of mastering a lower division college curriculum - as well as several lesser tests. The other four shared four more para I'd had to devote to them to monitor what they were doing, help them with their learning, keep them on task, and keep them as safe as I could from outside threats. That wasn't perfect, as I'd found out while carrying Esteban - experiencing a duel in the womb wasn't something I'd recommend for any child. I'm not going write down how many total para I had, but my usual practice of devoting three to Vector piloting left me feeling stretched.

There had been benefits, however. Without Esteban, I'd have been killed by that djhanta who blamed me for his own shortcomings, and I'd gained Fourth Order power as a result of the duel, which had been gradually improved by keeping up with my wunderkind children to the point where my mental prowess was now well above the Natsi Cutoff. Any future children I had would all be operant - not Seventh Order, but operant - even if I lost Asto somehow. I didn't think it likely I'd make the Sixth Order transition any time soon - I wasn't the strongest or best integrated even of the family spouses - but Scimtar thought it was within the realm of possibility.

Publicly, however, I was still only admitting to Second Order. I wore the Second Order gold triangle with a stick figure human when protocol demanded, not the green of Fourth Order. Asto knew my real power, the kids probably knew, and a few of the other Scimtars, notably Anara, Gilras, Helene, and Scimtar himself. As far as the rest of the Empire was concerned, I was still a middling strong Second Order Guardian.
That didn't mean I wasn't Fourth Order in reality, however. The difference between Fourth Order and Second was more than just power. It was like I'd crossed some kind of threshold, and the universe actually wanted to help me exercise my operant abilities. It didn't make much difference to auros, but for all the other disciplines and their combinations, I'd had to learn to restrain myself. It somehow took less in terms of absolute power to achieve the same results, and my integration had improved almost overnight from lowish-middling gold well into the blue range. I wasn't as focused as Asto and probably never would be, but it had sharply narrowed the difference


At the center of everything is Aescalon. Aescalon is a cavern a few tens of miles across. Within the cavern of Aescalon are basically 3 layers: A neutron star perhaps two miles across, an inner cavern, within which the energy coming from the neutron star (and the gravity) is at full effectiveness.

There's a refractive layer between the inner and outer caverns, that contains the vast majority of the radiation and gravity. The net effect is that the outer caverns are habitable for short periods and even normal people can use the outer cavern to walk between the 165 (11 dimensions taken 3 at a time) major outlets. Migurd is the only one of those Realms that has been explored at all in the first book, and mostly limited to the area immediately around Treemount, where an ancient huge gnarled tree named Ygg stands atop (and within) a huge mound of alluvial detritus, from the Scourging.

Every seven days (Migured time) Aescalon is Scourged. It begins when dimensionality tries to exceed 11 within the cavern, and the central neutron star gives out a thus far immeasurable energy pulse which is a major source of mana in the immediate area. During the Scourging, even the outer cavern is scoured down to bare rock. Water and air and dirt and energy emerge from Aescalon into the Connected Realms.

In The Fountains of Aescalon, the protagonist discovered there are many times more smaller tap points than the 165 major outlets.

The final piece of the puzzle known so far is a place called Godshome. It's a very special place and far more energy saturated than even Aescalon. Alexan has a hypothesis he's investigating that Aescalon is an energy shunt between Godshome and the rest of the Connected Realms.

The second book opens with Alexan and Petra trying to come to terms with their newly achived divinity. It turns out the divine ecosystem is every bit the Darwinian nightmare most of nature is - if not worse.

Amazon is not exactly known for organizing things such that the novels show up nice and serialized in the order they're intended to be read. I know because I've had to go looking for works of other authors I knew were available but had difficulty getting them to come up on Amazon's results. Books2Read does a better job, but some of their affiliated retailers do not. All of these books except the Rediscovery '4 novels in one book set' are available for $3.99 or less in e-book or in paperback from all sources.

(Books2Read is an aggregator, which has about a dozen retailers and library services that work with them, including Apple, Barnes&Noble, Overdrive, Kobo, and others including Amazon. You log in and tell them which of their retailers or library services you prefer to work with - and most public libraries work with Overdrive or Biblioteca, which give you a way you can read my books without buying them out of your own pocket. https://books2read.com)

My first published work was the four book Rediscovery series, which introduces us to the Empire of Humanity, Guardians, and the extant technology. It consists of a 'tight' trilogy with a follow-on novel, all of them centering around Graciela Juarez.

1. The Man From Empire Amazon link Books2Read link
2. A Guardian From Earth Amazon link Books2Read link
3. Empire and Earth Amazon link Books2Read link
4. Working The Trenches Amazon link Books2Read link

There is also a four-in-one volume available for a substantial discount, if you're willing to buy all four at once. Amazon set link Books2Read set link. The Amazon paperback is significantly less expensive that the paperback available through the Books2Read retailers, but Amazon required theirs to be in 10 point type due to length, which many people find less readable than the Books2Read 12 point.

The next series I began was Preparations for War, in which Grace's nephew Joe ends up helping the primitive planet Calmena, which will be on the front lines of the next major war, prepare to survive that war. There are three books thus far, and a fourth, Moving The Pieces, will finish the series.

1. Preparing The Ground Amazon link Books2Read link
2. Building The People Amazon link Books2Read link
3. Setting The Board Amazon link (It will be available through Books2Read mid-February of 2020)
4. Moving The Pieces (forthcoming)

The third series I have, also in progress, is Politics of Empire, which also focuses on Graciela Juarez starting about fifteen years later, as she begins her own family with her husband and learns to navigate the dangerous waters of Imperial politics. There are two books out, and I'm planning at least two more.

1. The Invention of Motherhood Amazon link Books2Read link
2. The Price of Power Amazon link Books2Read link
3. The End of Parenthood (working title - forthcoming)
4. untitled thus far

A 'many worlds' fantasy series, Connected Realms, which focuses on Alexan, who is an exile from the Empire of Humanity. There is one book out, a second book in progress, and at least a third planned.

1. The Fountains of Aescalon Amazon link Books2Read link
2. The Monad Trap (in progress)
3. The Bubbles of Creation (forthcoming)

Finally, I have an urban fantasy crossover series begun, with one book out, a sequel planned, and the bare idea for a third. It centers on Mark Jackson, a more or less ordinary fellow from Los Angeles. It's not an erotica book, but it does deal with some things that are sufficiently mature topics that I wouldn't recommend it for people under about 16.

1. The Gates To Faerie Amazon link Books2Read link
2. The Gifts Of The Mother (forthcoming)
3. Untitled


My current work in progress is The Monad Trap, book 2 of Connected Realms. I had intended to get it finished by December, but some of the writing has been more of a challenge than I thought. I'm just over 50k words in, and I believe it will take another 20 to 25k to finish the novel according to plan.

After that, I'm planning to work on The End of Parenthood, Book 3 of Politics of Empire. The events involved have sufficient overlap that I will likely need to write Moving The Pieces, Book 4 of Preparations for War, at the same time.

The project after that will be Gifts of The Mother, Book 2 of Gates To Faerie. I have ideas for at least one novel each out of two new settings and an unrelated novel taking place on Earth just after Imperial assimilation as well, but I'm trying to finish my already begun character and story arcs before starting anything new. I will probably write at least Book 4 of Politics of Empire and The Bubbles of Creation (Book 3 of Connected Realms) before I begin any new series.

 



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The Man From Empire
Man From Empire Cover
Man From Empire Books2Read link

A Guardian From Earth
Guardian From Earth Cover
Guardian From Earth Books2Read link

Empire and Earth
Empire and Earth Cover
Empire and Earth Books2Read link

Working The Trenches
Working The Trenches Cover
Working the Trenches Books2Read link

Rediscovery 4 novel set
Rediscovery set cover
Rediscovery 4 novel set Books2Read link

Preparing The Ground
Preparing The Ground Cover
Preparing the Ground Books2Read link

Building the People
Building the People Cover
Building the People Books2Read link

Setting The Board

Setting The Board Cover
Setting The Board Books2Read link



Moving The Pieces

Moving The Pieces Cover
Moving The Pieces Books2Read link


The Invention of Motherhood
Invention of Motherhood Cover
Invention of Motherhood Books2Read link

The Price of Power
Price of Power Cover
Price of Power Books2Read link

The End Of Childhood
End Of Childhood cover
The End of Childhood Books2Read link

The Fountains of Aescalon
Fountains of Aescalon Cover
The Fountains of Aescalon Books2Read link

The Monad Trap
Monad Trap Cover
The Monad Trap Books2Read link

The Gates To Faerie
Gates To Faerie cover
The Gates To Faerie Books2Read link

Gifts Of The Mother
Gifts Of The Mother cover
Gifts Of The Mother Books2Read link

The Book on Mortgages Everyone Should Have!
What Consumers Need To Know About Mortgages
What Consumers Need To Know About Mortgages Cover
What Consumers Need to Know About Mortgages Books2Read

The Book on Buying Real Estate Everyone Should Have
What Consumers Need To Know About Buying Real Estate
What Consumers Need To Know About Buying Real Estate Cover
What Consumers Need to Know About Buying Real Estate Books2Read

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About this Archive

This page is a archive of recent entries written by Dan Melson in January 2020.

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