Stellar

Thanks for your response -- all opinions are relevant, even more so here because I get so few offered. If you want to get updates for anything related to this and not simply rely on happy accident, you can follow the forum itself and/or the individual forum thread, just as you can follow a person's profile or a story they've written. It's a great way to keep informed about your favourite authors and their writing. It's true that I don't do any sort of storytelling by halves, and the scope of Veil of Shadow was ambitious. There were times where writing that second book was extremely frustrating and it did feel somewhat like a burden and an obligation, often for precious little feedback. However, I knew what I was getting myself into when I began the sequel, and abandoning anything when I have invested so much of my energy into it, in spite of difficulties involved, is not in my nature. What I start, I will finish. It is likely the final book of the trilogy will be stressful to produce too, at least in places, but when the time comes I will deal with that as I must -- because I cannot leave that loose end flying in the wind. However, the decision on what to continue with was actually settled in my head months ago (in April, approximately). I am currently writing a fantasy novel called Spirit of Fire and will not return to the Aspects of Dawn series until after is completed. As of this post, there are two chapters available through that link, and the discussion thread for the story is right here on my forum.

When this tale is finished and fully told, it will be shorter than the Aspects of Dawn series, of this you can be assured. This will be true for not just raw word count, but also total number of chapters and average chapter length, unless something very strange happens and the story evolves and twists unexpectedly and dramatically into something much larger than intended. Though the plan I have for Spirit of Fire is more contained than the blueprint that existed prior to the beginning of the aforementioned science-fiction, it isn't impossible that I could be inspired to expand the new book due to inspiration during the writing phase. To summarise the above, it's very unlikely to be close to either Hidden Sunlight or Veil of Shadow length-wise, though it may be longer than I initially have planned and definitely not 'short' by any stretch of the imagination. In terms of how ambitious the plot itself is, the scale of events will be 'epic' and 'grand' in a way that befits a modern fantasy taking place on contemporary Earth. It may not be clear or immediately obvious just how that will come about -- at least, not yet -- but just you wait.

Like my other series on GA, this will have a lot of seemingly unrelated or insignificant stuff going on, sometimes in the background, but the vast majority of those pointed details will be at least relevant and some of it quite important. I do love Chekov's Gun -- maybe a little too much Torsten has had to live with a rather busy working mother for a number of years. He's very capable of taking care of himself and is fairly independent for his age. With regard to the gender of his new charge -- this will stay unrevealed for the time being. Torsten cannot tell and is hardly about to risk a hand in order to find out, therefore the audience won't find out until he does too

Hmm, you never got a notification? That's odd, I'm sure you're following everything you'd need to in order to receive that. At any rate, welcome to the fun!

I'm not sure Torsten would consider it 'cute' so much as 'small and potentially lethal' but that would be mostly because of their first encounter and the mess it made of his front Nonetheless, some form of communication will eventually happen, and as for a name? Well ... you'll just have to see. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you Nero is not a 'good guy' in any clear-cut sense, but he is also not the main antagonist. Without saying too much, he is a sort of subordinate, to others.

Chapter 2 is posted! Go check it out.

Oh, Game of Thrones definitely has some passing relevance here, though I hesitate to get too heavily into dropping pop-culture references because it's mostly just a distraction (and it isn't original!) At any rate, that Voice is rather important, though you shall have to wait a little on the question of identity and motive before it makes more sense. I hope you will stick around for more!

Second chapter is under production Thanks for taking an interest.

Thanks for commenting. I hope you will enjoy it!

I'm glad! I hope you enjoy. I trust you won't be disappointed in how it continues!

Aww! I'm sorry to disappoint, but Book 3 is going to be a while. Spirit of Fire will have to fill that void until I can start on the conclusion to the Aspects of Dawn trilogy. I'd encourage you, and anyone else who is so inclined, so read and review it! I promise it will be a tale worth your time.

Um, sure? Is this a good or bad reaction, or did you just accidentally face-desk onto your keyboard?

Here lies the discussion thread for Spirit of Fire. Any thoughts and questions are completely welcome. Make yourself at home!

A new story is up! Go here to find out about Spirit of Fire and read the first chapter!

Hey Charlie, thanks for commenting! Unfortunately, there is far too much left to fit into the end part of Veil of Shadow. It was intended as a trilogy from quite some time ago, so the story conclusion will by necessity be in the third part, as you've now surmised. However, it may be a while before I revisit this to write Book Three, as I am taking a break from this particular series, but in the meanwhile I hope you'll join me for my interim project, a fantasy novel that will begin posting to GA in the near future. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you liked my books!

I still miss some comments on here with the new GA system, so apologies for taking so long to reply since I didn't realise you had commented! Thanks so much for letting me know you're enjoying it! I hope I've crafted a book that will stand the test of time. There's a lot left to come, so I hope you'll stick around for that.

Thank you, you're very kind. It's my passion I suppose, and it's looking likely that I will write my fantasy novel since that's what the responses seem to want, few though they are.

A break might be a good thing. Thanks for the input! Fluff can be a nice interlude, can't it? Thanks for letting me know. Thank you! This fantasy novel might be fun. We'll have to see. Ah, well, fantasy is as broad a field as science-fiction, but I have something particular in mind. Thanks for your thoughts, Bleu. WELL -- that's a few opinions, but I'm not yet satisfied. There must be more of you out there, surely. Come on, lurking people -- let me know!

So, the second book is done -- finally. I'm in the position now where I don't know what to go on with next. For any author with a smidgen of creativity, the possibilities are basically infinite. However, there are some definite probabilities as far as I'm concerned, and I'd like to lay those down here. Book Three. It's natural that readers would want to know what happens next, since this series is 99% of my GA content. However, it's worth taking a step back to get a balanced perspective. Don't get me wrong, I loved it to bits, but there was a ridiculous amount of work involved in writing a book like Veil of Shadow. It ate three years of my life and was burning a hole in my brain for a lot of that time. So, while I do want to complete the trilogy, I am wary of charging directly into what will be another all-consuming project that will probably take until at least 2018 to be done. Ambivalence is the key word for how I feel about this one. Fantasy Novel. Since some time in 2015 I was making notes for a modern fantasy novel, during the writing of Veil. It would have plenty of action and epic moments, as well as the familiar theme of young gay love, albeit much more troublesome and darker than Shay's fairytale romance. I have a plot, characters and backstory already well prepared. All this one needs is for me to sit down and begin. Miscellaneous Fluff. There's two parts to this one. The 'miscellaneous' bit is a collection of chapter length short stories set in Hidden Sunlight's future that I want to write. It's tangential stuff related to minor characters or events that was not appropriate or required to be part of the series narrative, but for keen fans it may fill in some background blanks and give some more context. If this were a movie, think of it as DVD bonus features with some deleted scenes. The 'fluff' refers to Shay and Mira being stupidly boring and domestic, doing fluffy couple type stuff and spending a lot of time together. Also ... sex. A lot of sex. There have been many times during all the high drama and big events where I just sat there thinking: 'I want to give them a break, so they can watch movies in bed, eat their favourite foods and fuck like rabbits for at least a week.' This is an opportunity for that! Also, this isn't so much an option as something that will be happening in my spare time, but Hidden Sunlight is going to receive a tweak and a polish, particularly the early chapters, so it is more in line with my later style. I was simply waiting for the GA upgrade to happen before I began doing this. SO .... dear readers, what would you like to see? I posed a similar question to this on my profile a month or two back and got precisely zero replies. This is a little baffling, because there are enough people following both me and my books for there to be plenty of opinions. I want to know those opinions! Presumably you are reading this thread because you care, and on that note: PLEASE let me know in this thread what you think, or in a private message if you're shy. Tell anyone else you know that reads to do the same. Vote in the poll I'm attaching to this post. Ask me questions if you want! Just don't stay silent.

Thank you for reading! I think the plot was not done any favours by the serialised nature of the chapters and the long writing time, because memory of detail can easily fade with time, especially when there is so much of it. Nonetheless, I am thrilled you took a liking to the characterisation and the effort employed to make the cast as real as possible, not least of all the main pairing. I can say that *some* of the cast will live to see a happy conclusion, but certain individuals will not. Veil of Shadow was actually quite light on the character death count, but you can bet your ass Book 3 will pull no punches. There is a LOT left to come! Haha, yes! The invasion has begun, the civil war is underway and the Herald has come to finish things, not to mention the Hartley family back in the picture! Couldn't get much worse than that, could it? I am glad you enjoyed Veil of Shadow, though I cannot yet give an sort of ETA on when you will see the sequel begin production. Watch this space.

You know, I have NO idea what you're talking about. None!

I will admit, the dialogue Yugan got as Dagen's reincarnation was unabashed humour -- I could not resist turning it into a joke -- "You are less than six feet tall now and you speak like a fricking weirdo. You have changed, brother." Shay is definitely not a Mishith in stature, and his counterpart knows it. Three years. Three very long years -- I am glad you have stuck with me this journey and been so vocal in your opinion of it. I thank you for that and for when the sequel appears, in advance, for that too.

Oh, he is very much a super-villain! The Hartleys are back! Though, it'd be more accurate to say they never left. They were here all along, in the background, watching and waiting and planning in secret. Thank you!

Thank you! Everything has reached snapping point! The worst case scenarios are coming true all round, but now the plot has been concentrated down to two very important places: Earth and Dagen's Grace. Anyone of narrative relevance is at one of these locations, and in true fashion for the middle book of a trilogy, the situation for the good guys has hit rock bottom. During the third book, we'll be getting so far down that daylight is a fond memory only. Things are going to get rather bad before they get better.