Blogs

Musings on Freedom and Capitalism

When some people read Of Pride and Power and wonder, how is this libertarian? Sure, I have private ownership, organic industrial development, and individual choice, but you aren't allowing capitalistic enterprises from forming, i.e. corporations or generational wealth. That's a choice on my part as I don't think long-term, the concept is good for a free-market. Modern capitalism is an innate weak form of economic theory. As the world exists today, prices are rising, land and resources

August 2, 2024

addiction, recovery

Addiction - A Dissenting View

JamesSavik in addiction, recovery

July 24, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 30 is Live

Chapter 30 A closer look at the young preteen Crown Prince Harry Tudor in my story, who is one of those kids that you probably would see tearing apart motors, wires, and circuit boards to create motors. I've met a few kids like him in my life, they are highly solution-driven and look at the world as a puzzle that can be solved. Also, sexuality isn't at the top of their thought process, so I imagine Harry as being asexual. Asexual awakening is an interesting concept, unlike straight, gay, or

May 10, 2024

Toronto the Good, no longer

I'm writing this because I read Edward Keenan's column in the Toronto Star newspaper today. It made me sad, angry and frustrated, with our city, those of us who live here, and most especially with those we elect to care for us and our city. Mr. Keenan wrote so well about how this city was once known as Toronto the Good, and it was at one time that people here cared about each other. Now, not so much, as Mr. Keenan wrote, it is Toronto the Hostile...I'll add Toronto the Uncaring. We give to

April 18, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 29 is Live

Chapter 29 As I noted I'll be on vacation for a bit, I'll leave a few short stories just so folks get some more info on side characters and stories. As for this chapter, it's an interesting culmination of effects. In the 16th century, the forces of the Calvinism Protestants and Counter-Reformation Catholics were very powerful movements that warped society and enforced a lot draconian moral rules. Places like the Netherlands, which traditionally were far more liberal and cosmopolitan du

April 12, 2024

A 'What Am I Doing and Why?' Rant (sort of)

Do you ever wonder what you're doing? Sometimes, I think that I don't think at all. I do things often without enough thought, and then there are consequences to deal with—not always huge ones, but still enough to make me wonder. Lately, I've been telling myself that I need to get up to write and set up a daily routine. I'd get up, but I found all kinds of excuses not to write anything at all. Yesterday, I decided, for some health reasons, to make life more like a job now that I no lo

April 6, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 28 is Live

Chapter 28 FYI, I'll be heading on vacation soon, so I might be a bit spotty for a few weeks in terms of posting new chapters. An homage to the Field of Cloth of Gold is what I consider this chapter to be, where we see a bit more of the sophistication that commercial applications of technology have brought into existence by this point. These are luxuries without modern manufacturing or shipping would only be possible for world leaders that had nation-level resources. Like the historic

April 5, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 27 is Live

Chapter 27 Major internal reactions are happening in this alternative version of English history, especially with the addition of Omegas in the mix. When reading Omegaverse stories, I've always wondered, how would the introduction of Omegas, essentially gay/bisexual men with the ability to have children with other men, affect a society? Then, I considered what would the big religious implications be for dominant belief systems, like Christianity. Due to how I set up my timeline, especially

March 29, 2024

Of Pride and Power Interlude Search for Avalon Part II

Part II I hope readers were surprised with the various revelations and technological advances from the Avalon facility, including the introductions of battle androids with the consciousness of the teenage pages of Camelot's knights. For various readers, I love mechas and I wish they were used more in gay fiction, but alas, it's very hard to incorporate them into your storylines. Adding Mechas, my story is science fiction and science fantasy set at the end of the medieval era; can you imagin

March 22, 2024

Of Pride and Power Interlude Search for Avalon Part I

Interlude Search for Avalaon Part I This was supposed to be a short story, but I had to keep it in my main story as there are too many important facts that cannot be omitted if a reader didn't read this portion of the story. It's too integral to separate from the main plot. However, with that said, it is not directly connected with Eli's main story line of gaining power or fighting against the future factions. Thus, I created my story's first interlude chapter and before I knew it, the enti

March 15, 2024

Gratitude - Good or Bad?

Lately, I've been interested in the psychology of gratitude. As I suffer greatly from depression, I like to try anything that I can to keep those feelings at bay. From what I've been reading, writing down what you're grateful for helps people manage their environment, deal with others, and live in general. So, basically, if you have higher levels of gratitude, your life is better, and in turn, you are more grateful—a neverending spiral of goodness. If you're interested in doing this, it is

March 13, 2024

hammerhead universe

Those Colonials are a Basketful of Deplorables - OpEd BANNED BY InSec

As of this writing, the Agricultural Colonies of Evergreen, New Turin, Ukrainia, Silesia, Moskava, and Luzon have filed an official Article 100 request for representation in the Alliance Senate. Who do they think they are? They are six worlds with populations exceeding five hundred million, with self-sufficient local economies and industry, and the infrastructure required by Alliance law of a Class 1 world. Furthermore, those worlds are the Alliance's breadbasket, feeding billions in the co

JamesSavik in hammerhead universe

March 12, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 26 is Live

Chapter 26 The beginning of the reign: All Hail Aelfric Elias Tudor! Aelfric is an old English-German name with the combination of "Aelf" meaning "Elf, fair people, fair, wisdom", "Ric, meaning "ruler, leader". I chose an English name as a Courtesy title/name to deviate from the traditions of Western Europe, incorporating the Asian monarch titling concept. This kind of reform isn't well known in Western Europe, but later German and Russian monarch did make their version of "Caesar" in

March 8, 2024

Retirement

So, as some of you know, I stopped working on September 1, 2023. I didn't really retire; I can't do that for twenty-fourish years, but I did quit doing paid work. I realize I'm very lucky to have this opportunity. I am grateful to my Husband, Michael, for making that happen. So, what do I do with myself? Not a lot. I spend time at home, looking after the house, and with spring here, there's the garden, which will keep me busy. I've completed a few knitting projects and have started to make

March 7, 2024

Life ... Really?

This morning i was thinking about a conversation i had with a fellow writer last night, about a forum post i read and a newspaper column i read a few minutes ago. Then I thought, what the f*ck? If you took all of those and used them as examples to explain what life is and what living is, no one in their right mind would want to live one. None of it was good news or happy news. My friend's life is hard right now. The forum post was from a writer whose life is painful and difficult due

February 28, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 25 is live

Chapter 25 Going to pause after this chapter as the mid-way point for a week, see you all on March 8th This chapter is the promised Calais Campaign of 1558. Interesting historical footnotes: Thomas Wentworth was in charge of Calais during Mary I's reign and William Grey was a stubborn and capable military commander during the defense of Calais, who would go on to serve Elizabeth well in Scottish campaigns later. As for this story, all the build up of military technology and equipm

February 23, 2024

Relationships

Ghost or ???

So, this is a little odd. I'm not one for making things up or for having hallucinations. I don't use drugs other than my diabetic prescription and never have. My life is fact based. I was a detective for a number of years and a successful one. Where is this going? Here ... I am a night owl. I'm often up to 2 a.m. I enjoy the quiet after the boy and other husband have gone to bed. Last night it seems we had a visitor, or some extremely strange anomaly. On one of our wall units are ti

MichaelS36 in Relationships

February 20, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 24 is live

Chapter 24 The battle has been won and there's a lot of revelations. I want readers to remember that Eli/Eric and Robert/Jack's backstory for how they're integrated into this alternate timeline is just as important as the big players. Reginald Pole died on November 17th, 1558 historically, so this death is only a few months earlier, coincidentally Mary Tudor also died on November 17th 1558, 12 hours before Reginald Pole. However, history would not play out as it once did as Mary is going to

February 16, 2024

Of Pride and Power Chapter 23 is Live

Chapter 23 This is a big chapter when it comes to the results of the long plot threads. Military equipment is now being fully deployed by Eli and Robert. A lot of covert industrialization has been happening as I mentioned in prior chapters, funded by gold stowed away from the national treasury due to the clerical issue of coinage. A shadow economy developed in Western English areas where Eli has direct oversight. Recruitment for troops has also been building for quite some time, via the sho