Stellar

For Konstantin, the events of chapter 10 are more about being in the right place at the exact right time. The information he had secreted away was world-changing, but it needed the perfect conditions to exert the full pressure of that information. It needed the right people present, a large enough audience and conferred legitimacy from authority figures. The Military Succession was everything required, and he used those circumstances to perfectly defame the enemy. The offering of this position to Konstantin should not be a big surprise, in some ways, either. For the loyalist senators, having someone like Konstantin in command would be infinitely preferable to Quân. Anyone who is NOT a corporatist would be saving the situation from their worst nightmare. Similarly, even some of the corporatists figured out that, as politicians, they could be finished if they supported Quân's cause. Given he had just been explicitly linked to both genocide and terrorism against the federal government, publicly endorsing him by vote would be very uncertain. Yet, the very biggest part of this has been missed entirely. While it was Konstantin himself who took the fight to the corporatists, it was the military leadership who thrust it home. As has been stated in a few places, the military tends to favour the realist ideology; the philosophy that 'the alien enemy is the most danger and we must be united against it.' To this end, though still officially neutral, the armed forces support realism in spirit. And what did they get to do here? They got to reject the two establishment candidates and force the senators to give them an independent realist-aligned person, a free-thinking individual instead of a factional puppet, as their head officer. What's more, he is someone that appears to have a moral centre and the will to act. Kerensky is just as much an opportunist in this situation, and when the narrative returns to Earth again you may get some insight into the actions of others in this scenario as the aftermath unfolds. NB: no-one is getting blame for the Sharpe virus itself. What Konstantin is saying is: you (MFM) are responsible for setting this into motion. You may not have created the virus, but you were too greedy created the conditions for these aliens to do what they do. Your greed led to all this death and destruction.

I must say, I actually feel a bit embarrassed reading this review. Not in a bad way, it is just that there is so much glowing praise that I fear the experience of reading the book cannot compare with the quality of the review. Yet I think that may be my own author's bias more than anything; I am a perfectionist and despite it being a completed book, there is so much in Hidden Sunlight that I see as needing improvement and revision. Rob, thank you for all you have said in here. I appreciate so much, biases and all. Thank you too for taking the time to tell me. It's meaningful that you let me know!

The next chapter or two will be almost totally absent Konstantin and Earth. Shay's arc will be heavily involved, but also Yugan and others are not to be forgotten. I don't know about a Christmas present but I will be trying for some time before New Year is all wrapped up.

I think this would not be an often-used tag, but the list from memory has several tags that are quite specific and not so generalised or broad. So, maybe there could be cause to add it. I don't know of any particular restriction why this couldn't happen so who knows -- perhaps the admin are open to expanding the current story tags? Not sure if this is something that will be touched on with the oncoming software upgrade or not.

I should apologise for missing this review; I was sure I had responded to all of them, but evidently not. In any case ... yes! Chapter 9 is an exposition connecting-the-dots part of the story. A lot of information is being matched up by those on Earth, while Berchande is still recovering from the arbiters' wrath. Shay is always learning more about what's going on, and as he grows more aware and more accustomed to what he will need to do, his self confidence is growing to match that. Though, of course, he is still human, and has Mira and the Brotherhood men to keep him grounded when things start to go crazy. Will Yugan ever meet him? Well, I would turn that around and say: do you think it is realistic that they can achieve what is needed *without* meeting? It is no spoiler to say that the way in which Shay is linked with Yugan is not the same as his connection to anyone else who shares the quantum magic, including Mira. Answers are still needed, and many of those might not be possible until the two meet face to face.

Aww, thank you! That's how I want it to be; equal parts interesting as the component parts of the story. So I am glad that is coming across. I am always one to caution patience when it comes to the potential consequences of character growth. Part of the journey is the characters making choices, sometimes under heavy pressure and sometimes the 'wrong' one, and then later dealing with the repercussions of said choice. This is where Shay is at now, and he is a sensitive and analytic individual, so rationalising this is not easy. I'm really happy - seriously - that you take such enjoyment. I hope to continue to evoke that as the book moves on.

So far, chapter six probably remains as my favourite from Veil of Shadow. Mira is joyful to write because of how he is and his personality is the easy winner.

It is quite reasonable and straight-forward to condemn him for killing in this manner. Yet, this crime, insofar as one considers it a crime, is centred around the fact that he killed people who were employed to experiment on both of them without regard for their status as human beings. They were complicit in this and would have also been complicit in the deaths of both boys at the end of it had Shay not acted. Shay condemns them, considering their complicity as guilt enough to act on his hatred and he is totally correct in doing so -- NO-ONE there had his well-being at heart, and he knew that. So, while he was in one way acting as judge jury and executioner, in another sense he was repaying with his own form of vigilante justice for the unarguably criminal things done to him. So, what is good and evil here? I would certainly be cautionary about describing anyone as lost or corrupt.

Veil of Shadow has four distinct narrative arcs once it gets moving. Yugan's story is very enjoyable for me to write; much more so than the shenanigans on Earth. I suppose I am just as sceptical about human nature as Konstantin and Shay are. Aliens are refreshingly different.

Veil of Shadow has four distinct narrative arcs once it gets moving. Yugan's story is very enjoyable for me to write; much more so than the shenanigans on Earth. I suppose I am just as sceptical about human nature as Konstantin and Shay are. Aliens are refreshingly different.

Veil of Shadow has four distinct narrative arcs once it gets moving. Yugan's story is very enjoyable for me to write; much more so than the shenanigans on Earth. I suppose I am just as sceptical about human nature as Konstantin and Shay are. Aliens are refreshingly different.

One should *never* underestimate the Russian and his ability to make history. He has lived for decades on Lucere, so he is largely immune to the pettiness of Earth's political infighting given the chaotic survive-or-die of his upbringing. Even with the Brotherhood giving him the aid needed to stick a knife into MFM, he is still a figure willingly set apart from the maelstrom of human nature he has become involved in. No wish to take sides and fight with other people, even as inevitable as that might be. So indeed, how will Konstantin react to this? Do you really think he could say 'no'?

Thank you so much! Veil of Shadow is a bigger undertaking than Hidden Sunlight, so I hope you won't be disappointed with how it goes. Konstantin is a hell of a guy! If anyone can do it, he can.

Thank you You will see plenty more of our boys the next chapter, so stay tuned!

You will definitely find out more about the alien ship next chapter; there will be plenty of Shay and Mira, as well as revisiting Yugan, Elia and Nyx. It should also be faster too! I'm so sorry about the big wait

hey! I'm glad you enjoyed it Chapter 11 won't take quite as long to get done, thank goodness.

Chapter 10 has been released!

Stifling a yawn, Kenji leaned against the machine's frame as the drink vendor brewed him a coffee. It hummed and whirred, the glossy metal surface vibrating slightly as it went through the ministrations. Bleary, dressed only in his civvies, he waited somewhat impatiently for the cup to drop neatly into the receptacle. When it did, he plucked it from its holder, and walked through into the command centre. There were plenty of other Brotherhood tech ops busy in their varied tasks, but his corner o

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday Cele!

happy birthday!

Ahh! The guilt! I'm not entirely happy about how slow this is to produce, although I am glad you are enjoying it. I intend for both Hidden Sunlight and Veil of Shadow to become books at some point. That was a thing I wanted to achieve in 2014 but it doesn't look like it will happen this year.

Ahh! The guilt! I'm not entirely happy about how slow this is to produce, although I am glad you are enjoying it. I intend for both Hidden Sunlight and Veil of Shadow to become books at some point. That was a thing I wanted to achieve in 2014 but it doesn't look like it will happen this year.

Thank you.

happy birthday!