Stellar

Hi and welcome to GA I hope you find the atmosphere congenial and the fiction to your liking!

I'm sorry I did love the purple too!

Thank you everyone for your kind wishes! It really is an honour to be placed in the company of GA's Signature authors. I have to be truthful though; when I was offered it I was shocked. The step to Promising felt earned and 'fought for' in a manner of speaking. This next step is more intimidating, and a part of me keeps insisting I must do more to prove my worth. In any case, I am up for the challenge, and once again wish to say 'thank you' for the opportunity to appear with authors of such calibre. -Hamish.

Very true! I like the concept this illustrates.

The only problem with this idea is the foundation (that Mira is on the same planet as Shay) is wrong. He isn't. The reason for the micro-singularity was to allow transmission of video in real-time between Earth and the world Shay found himself on. If you recall the first scene of chapter one: Darcy Andrews and Zhou used the same method - a mini-singularity - to transmit their recorded data from Barnard's Star directly back to the probe orbiting Earth's moon. These smaller holes in space-time are big enough to admit a particle stream such as aqumi or digital video data, but not physical objects like a full-sized orbital gate. I could add more to this information, but there is future plot significance surrounding it, so I'll leave it at that for now. Part of Shay's continuing journey will surround the consequences of such terrifying power and how it can change a person - and how someone of that age, no matter their maturity, deals with this. What he did was very cold, but then again: the dark side of this is his power is coveted by *everyone* who knows about it, and he will be persecuted because of this simple fact. Is anything off limits when you have that kind of soulless pressure being put on you?

And here we go! Chapter 5 of Veil is up. Plenty is going on here, the culmination of the last couple of chapters! The turnaround time for this chapter was far longer than I wanted. I wasted a lot of time in mid-late January, so in all likelihood the next one will be quicker. Here's hoping.

Though I was by now quite accustomed to waking up in strange places, the room that I regained consciousness in was not what I expected to see. The modest comforts of the Yakutian apartment, the frosty metal railing of the balcony adjoining Dzerzhinskogo Ulitsa and the hum of Russian commuters moving on the street? All were gone. In their place was a single square room, maybe six metres a side. Plush velvety carpet was on the floor, a rusty red-brown mahogany paneling on the lower wall, topped

Firstly ... it is on the advice of my beta Miss Cassie that I apparently need to promote my chapter releases a little more publicly. This isn't a bad idea and can't hurt, so it is with that in mind that I have created this thread. Of course, if you are a regular reader I would encourage you to follow the stories themselves so you will get notifications delivered. For those that are passersby or more infrequent visitors, I will henceforth make an update in this thread whenever new material goes up. Any detailed discussion of the story content/themes should still take place in the requisite places for Hidden Sunlight and Veil of Shadow, and the same goes for any future works. So keep an eye out! Secondly, (a slightly belated) happy Saint Valentine's Day to everyone! It's worthy of an especially geeky author's mention this year because of the exact date and the thematic significance in Hidden Sunlight's universe of the numbers 2 and 14 in combination. Readers may recall that these numbers spring up in many places in the first book and the relevance of Friday's date -- 14-02-2014 -- is perfectly obvious and unique in that regard. This date sequence of numbers will only repeat once (in 2041) between now and 14-02-2104 - the date the Sharpe virus arrives! I couldn't have planned that if I tried, but the numbers pounced on my autistic sense of pattern-detection and refused to let go! The cataclysm is exactly 90 years away, folks! Please warn your grandkids Happy reading 'til the next chapter post!

Clichés aren't so interesting to me as story telling devices, and the placement of women into 'villainous divider' or the 'perfect mom' role Cia described seems disturbingly commonplace. It's nice to see women portrayed any other way at all, as there is a massive variety of potential for rich character depiction. In Hidden Sunlight my most prominent female character was the smartest in the book and very scientifically minded, while in the sequel Earth has a very shrewd female politician as head-of-government. Breaking stereotypes is always a good thing.

That was almost exactly what I was going to say, word for word! Besides, there's always going to be a market for this stuff, so there's always going to be *someone* lining up to try for the incredibly lucrative enterprise of being the next Anointed One.

The first couple of chapters in particular do have parts to them that I would like to change. The start of the story had only my input (no betas or editors), and lacked a lot of polish. It did the job, but my style and how I wish the portrayal to continue was not fully formed and solidified in my mind. Retrospectively, there is plenty I would want to tweak in chapter one specifically, focused mostly around sentence structure and flow (and yes, also dialogue to a lesser extent.) Later chapters should have all the story elements better integrated! I started to feel more satisfied somewhere between chapters 3 to 5, so the later parts of the story should read properly. Thank you! I am flattered you are enjoying my work so much. I hope the rest of the fiction and first book's ending lives up to your expectations.

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy the plot. Take your time to read and enjoy.

Earth is definitely many layers of lies! The ideological war between the political factions for control of the government ensures plenty of distortion to go around. There is a very religious aspect to the arbiters. If you have ever watched Stargate SG1 (the original, not Atlantis or Universe), the arbiters fill a role somewhat similar to the Priors of the Ori from the show's final season. They are assisting a greater cause and possess enhanced power compared to the 'foot soldiers' of the same. This religiosity is also reflected in their naming of things (at least as it translates into human concepts) and more of that theme will be revealed as the antagonists' culture, such as it is, is revealed. As I write this, chapter 5 is in beta. You will not have long to wait for Shay's presence!

Oh god yes, I am so ready for this. The mid-season 4 finale was exactly what the ending of season 3 *should* have been, right down to the iconic scene from the comics with the Governor and the tank and the whole 'kill them all!' bit. It was fantastic and I cannot wait to see how they spin the second half.

Yugan was and still is a guiding conscience inside that kitten. In actuality, his real introduction was during Chapter One of Hidden Sunlight. He was connected to Shay well before Mira existed, regardless of sharpeling and human form. The long period of comfortable warm darkness in Yugan's 'night vision' was, of course, the 214 years that Shay was in stasis. Yes! You did read that correctly. Yugan's childhood and maturation was more than two centuries. The Mishith are a very stable, much longer lived race than humanity. Mikom, for example, is in her twilight years at the time of the events in Veil of Shadow, though she was born during Earth's 18th or 19th centuries. Wherever Shay is at and whomever has him, I'm sure his pet is with him. After all, it's just a kitten. What possible danger could it be to let him keep this tiny harmless animal? None at all .... right?

Absolutely reread if you feel you must. The truth is in the details, and there are often hints hidden. I trust you will leave that experience entertained and perhaps even enlightened.

I don't 'kill' my characters. They simply die if it happens and live if they live. Though, certain individuals are protected due to my own personal Law of Awesome.

Read on! There is more to come, my friend.

Read on! There is more to come, my friend.

Read on! There is more to come, my friend.

The arbiter is never something to be messed with. Yugan as a character was actually introduced in Hidden Sunlight.

The arbiter is never something to be messed with. Yugan as a character was actually introduced in Hidden Sunlight.

There was little to be found in this terrible place. It was a locker full of boxes, a prison composed of metal and walls. Anger too was hidden in many little crates, and neither of the girls wished to stay long. The damned spirits from their former lives were a dangerous sort, and the girls' exploration was quick, stopping only to ransack the uniform storage for something more comfortable and flexible to wear. Argus Fletcher's food supplies were similarly raided; the two furtively stuffing whate

Happy birthday Krista!

Certain areas of Earth are definitely pre-disposed to supporting a particular ideology. It won't just be the same approximate population-split in views wherever you go! Yugan is plenty important, though the progression of a non-human alien personality is interesting to write. As an author and a human, there are some elements of our perception that are difficult to jump beyond when embracing that character development. Seeing from the POV of someone who is physically and culturally different from us involves some changing of the mindframe. I do enjoy writing the other characters, but I am very much missing Shay's first person at this stage. Everyone is asking for it too! So I guess we are all a little eager for it at this point.