Stellar

Second chapter up.

What appeared above Dagen's Grace was not something I had personally witnessed before, but the moment I laid eyes on it, I knew exactly what it was. The Herald of Truth. Though the Apostles with it were too small to directly see, the size of the escorted monster was large enough that in orbit it would barely fit behind the palm of my outstretched hand. It's ... enormous. "What in the fuck is that?" Ayize's exclamation came from behind me, muted through a rebreather, a precaut

Thanks for commenting. The flashback provides a recap of the final part of the Tale of Sundering, outlining Dagen's knowledge of the upcoming last stand at Lucere, the splitting of their race to hide it, and his long-term plans to influence humanity in the distant future. Most of this information is alluded to in Veil of Shadow but here it's sharpened from vague legendary description to concrete detail. The information about the xenomorph fleet was left behind in orbit of Callisto, Jupiter's moon, in the middle of the second book. Definitely use the previous work as a reference if you must, because there will be times when specific things are represented that need the prior basis to make sense. Can't make it to the end of a trilogy in any other way, unfortunately. I'm glad you enjoyed. More will certainly be coming as soon as my beta readers are done with it.

The admiral knew what he was doing, and boy did it pay off! Thank you for commenting. It's my pleasure to give you more of it. I hope I don't sound like a parrot at this point with the "like/subscribe" spiel, but please do consider following if you'd like to be kept up to date! Again, I appreciate you reading!

Thanks for your support! Just want to echo that if you're enjoying the chapters, don't forget to like them, and to follow/subscribe to the story if you want to be informed of further updates Thanks again for reading.

The stage is set and the players are on it! Don't forget to give me a like if you enjoyed the chapter, and subscribe to the story if you want to get updates!

The story is now released, and the first chapter is available. I look forward to hearing any and all reactions, and your opinions and insights into what is going on. My updates may be an uneven pace, so I will make zero promises about delivery, but I will try my best. Thank you.

The first chapter of Lucid Truth is out.

Approximately 215,000 years before present day. In the subtle fringes of the orbital space, a ship burst into the vacuum, entering above the untouched horizon of the new world. Its arrival was elegant and lively, the form of it a mirror of its poetic motion. A long symmetrical shape, with perfectly angled geometric quadrants, there was a pleasant appeal to the proportions. Modular through separated segments, it was still connected and unitary; the whole girded in a pale opalescence, th

The end has come. At Earth, a hostile alien armada arrives on humanity's doorstep. At the Dagenith sanctuary world, Shay Andersen and the Mishith prodigy Yugan are facing a monstrous implacable foe. Their struggle to restore and reclaim a lost alien heritage of godlike power has begun, and they must find a way to wield that power -- or witness the loss of everything they love, and the collapse of reality as they know it.

@wildone Didn't get a notification for your mention even though I have them turned on, that's weird. Good thing I saw the post I guess? Hah. If you want to ask about winter temperatures, Australians don't really have much of one to go by On average it gets colder here, because NZ is further south than most of Australia, though where I live (mid North Island) the seasons are fairly temperate and it never gets consistently cold enough to snow. Basically, to experience that you either gotta go to the lower half of the South Island, or to those aforementioned mountains, which, might I add, run the full length of said island. Happy Easter!

Oh, that's wonderful!! I'm actually rather excited to know I have at least one reader from your country, because I have a fascination with Russian history and culture that has no doubt contributed to my choice of characters. I hope Konstantin, and also Kerensky, have felt like genuine reflections of identity to you and not any kind of flat stereotypical caricature.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to let me know. I've been seeing your reactions to my writing, and it's a source of joy to know how satisfying the read was for you. There are few things more gratifying to hear as an author than that. I do wonder where you are from (and how you found my writing, out of everybody on GA). I would love to hear you expand more on your thoughts, but I understand the difficulty in transcribing thoughts from one branch of linguistics to another. In any case, thank you.

A little treat for my Spirit of Fire readers in the form of a Christmas parody that I conceptualised but never posted during December 2018. Hope you enjoy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Fiery Christmas Screenplay by Stellar INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING It is a cosy residential lounge space, with Christmas decorations on the walls. An armchair is in front of a partially-visible fireplace, with a roaring fire. An attractive YOUNG MAN with long flowing red hair reclines in the seat, lost in contemplation. He wears a tone matching red suit and darker red vest, and holds a goblet casually aloft in his right hand. Both elegant and arrogant, he notices and addresses the camera directly a moment after the focus is on him. ARAZIAH Greetings of the season to you, fellow human beings! Araziah smiles in an altogether too-charming manner. It is the smile of an alien attempting to imitate human friendliness with a conspicuous over-abundance of success. ARAZIAH (CONT’D) Since it is now the month of December, and we are fast approaching the celebrated days during which our definitely-human traditions demand a blood sacrif-- He is interrupted by an inaudible URGENT WHISPERING from off-camera left, causing him to glance that direction momentarily before he resumes on a different tack. ARAZIAH (CONT’D) --demand merrymaking and ... good tidings? Araziah is taken aback, the concept unexpected, but he quickly resumes, again. ARAZIAH (CONT’D) Well, anyhow, since we are nearing that time, the cast of Spirit of Fire wishes to offer our positive sentiments, along with a friendly commentary. This election cycle, the lack of popular winners to higher office who advocate fire-based problem solving and draconic-welfare initiatives is appalling, and-- He is interrupted again by further FURIOUS WHISPERING from off-camera left, which he replies to in an undertone. ARAZIAH (CONT’D) Can’t talk about it? What do you mean, politics is in bad taste? Really. What about immolation jokes? Not even just a small one about flame-broiled senators? A crispy-fried mayor? No? Well, that is disappointing. (pause, smile, back to the camera) What I certainly meant to say was: we wish to offer our positive sentiments, along with a friendly reminder. Despite the content of our wonderful tale, with the most handsome and charismatic carmine-haired male lead you could ask for, the subject matter is unfortunately fictional. (pause) Dragons are not, in fact, real. They aren’t secretly hiding within civilisation, they don’t possess incredible magical powers, and they definitely have no interest in conquering the world. So, please continue to go about celebrating your-- ... erm, OUR pointless human traditions to false gods just like always. Pan quickly to reveal the rest of the fireplace. Next to it is leaning another YOUNG MAN with shorter brown hair, dressed in a pale blue evening robe. Both hands are comfortably tucked in front pockets, and between his lips is a pipe, from which a series of bubbles is frothing. Raising a hand, he holds the pipe away from his mouth before speaking. TORSTEN Well, I think we both know that isn’t true. ARAZIAH Nonsense! On my honour as a regular non-dragon human being, it’s all a collection of storybook imagination! These creatures simply don’t exist, no matter how gloriously red they would appear, nor how large their wings are, nor how magnificently sexually attractive they must surely be. There is just no way dragons can be real. (pause, to sip his goblet) Also, what about proof? A distinct lack of credible witnesses makes it difficult to allege that these awesome and undeniably beautiful creatures exist. TORSTEN What about me? I’m a witness! (pause, to blow bubbles) I’m a dragon magnet! I’m telling you, I can’t even set foot outside the house without tripping over a flying murder-lizard! MONTAGE: EXT. FRONT DOOR - MORNING Torsten opens the door, bleary and sleep-dishevelled in a dressing gown, and starts walking to the mailbox. He gets no further than three steps before he trips over a GREEN DRAGON TAIL. Zoom out to reveal a GREEN DRAGON sleeping next to the house, on the lawn. EXT. FRONT DOOR - ANOTHER MORNING Again Torsten opens the door, beginning the same walk. He makes it a half dozen steps this time before tripping over a BLUE DRAGON TAIL. Zoom out to reveal a BLUE DRAGON sleeping on the road, with its tail slung over the front fence and across the front of the house. Torsten clenches his fists. EXT. FRONT DOOR - A THIRD MORNING Yet again, Torsten opens the door and starts the walk to the mailbox. He makes it all the way there, but the moment before he reaches it, a BLACK DRAGON TAIL smashes into the spot like a hammer, wiping out the box and spraying mail everywhere. Zoom out to reveal a BLACK DRAGON in the neighbour’s yard, turning fitfully during sleep. Torsten sighs. EXT. FRONT DOOR - A FOURTH MORNING Emerging from the house, Torsten approaches hesitantly, looking back and forth. He sees nothing, and makes it to a freshly-replaced mailbox and front fence. Retrieving the mail, he is walking back, the journey almost completed without incident, when he trips -- again. From out of nowhere, a WHITE DRAGON TAIL shimmers into visibility. Zoom out to reveal a WHITE DRAGON coiled around the house like a python. It cracks an eyelid momentarily and smirks. Torsten, sprawled on the ground, mail everywhere, glares at it and curses loudly. END OF MONTAGE INT. LIVING ROOM - EVENING Araziah stares Torsten down with a disbelieving expression, before he shrugs, not accepting the story. ARAZIAH Sounds like a trick of the light, or bad weather conditions. Are you sure your defective human senses didn’t just mistake something dragon-shaped for the real deal? TORSTEN No, I definitely wasn’t mistaken-- ARAZIAH (interrupting, forced laughter) Excellent! Hahaha! So, with that cleared up, we’d like to wish you a Merry Human-mas, and a dragon-free vacation! Isn’t that right, Sebby? Pan right to a Christmas display, with seven plastic reindeer seated in front of a sleigh full of presents. In place of the eighth is SEBBY, a short, slim, pretty young man with silver hair and eyes. He is dressed in a close fitting REINDEER ONESIE and is sitting demurely, hands in lap, chest forward, butt stuck out, with a little pair of antlers to finish the look. SEBBY That’s right. He winks at the camera and bites his lip flirtatiously. SEBBY (CONT’D) Nobody here but us reindeer. Zoom to his face, a twinkle of electrical magic flickering in his eyes for just a second. FADE OUT THE END.

Just an update on what's going on with this. Some of you might be wondering why literally nothing has happened regarding the third book in 2020. The only mention of it has been this status update back in August. So, I'd certainly forgive you for wanting to know what's going on. Well, to put it bluntly, I'm not very happy -- for several reasons. So, I should probably be clear about this, as it's a mixture of stuff, but ... fair warning: Because I don't want this thread to be about my personal feelings and situation, I'm going to put it in a spoiler tag below. You can read more if you so choose. If you'd rather skip all of that and just want some basic information, I'll say that I'm going to try and actually get something written in 2021. I think I can promise that much, so that's what I'm going to stick to. In the meanwhile, here's a light bit of Christmas parody in the Spirit of Fire vein to alleviate the mood. It's here in my newly created blog, because I didn't want to publish it as an individual story/fiction entry on the site. Now, more serious thoughts will follow:

I've been seeing all your reactions, and I love that you enjoyed my book so much! Thank you for your kind words. The Spirit of Water does indeed have an awful lot of explaining to do, though getting answers out of a goddess is much easier said than done. With regard to the sequel to Spirit of Fire, if you want to know what's happening with that, then you should check this link here for further information. I asked my readers what they wanted, and this was the result. In the interim, if you enjoy science-fiction, I also have books that caters to that interest -- the Aspects of Dawn series might be worth a look. In either case, thank you for reading!

It is done! Hidden Sunlight has been refined and given a fresh coat of quantum paint, and with this fairly time-consuming task completed -- subtle though the changes may be to some -- the author can rest easy without the nagging perfectionist impulses occupying his brain. With regard to the above quote, I'll make a decision on the sequel in the next day or two.

You might be surprised how small changes can alter the impact and tone of a scene, and the additive effect of a lot of such small things is where the difference in quality comes from. While it may not be obvious to some, from the author's standpoint, there are parts early on in Hidden Sunlight that make me cringe because of how I wrote them. Any time I went back to review the text for whatever reason I'd notice it, and immediately think 'I need to do something about this.' But really, do I need a ploy to make you get into it again?

I have a PSA for any readers who follow my science fiction series. So, as a part of the preparation for Lucid Truth, I want the first two books of the trilogy to be presented at a standard of the highest quality. My readership, on seeing such a statement, might very well pose the question: are these books not already of sufficient excellence for your liking, Stellar? Well, yes, but also ... no. Though Veil of Shadow is, generally speaking, a book that I am mostly satisfied with, the same cannot be said of the first. In a nutshell, my style had matured a lot by the time I started writing the sequel, and as a result, Veil was a much more consistently polished work. By contrast, Hidden Sunlight is particularly amateur, moreso the further back one goes, and this is something that has bothered me. To be clear, I am not talking about the plot nor the characters. The difference comes down to a swathe of little things; grammatical redundancies, spelling errors, formatting blips, and a number of very weird phrasings and badly expressed segments. I love my works and I am proud of them, but I am a perfectionist and leaving my original book in such a state has weighed on my mind for long time. In 2017, right after I completed Veil, I wanted to return to Hidden Sunlight to address the problems in the text. The thing was, in order to do so, I would have to edit the already-existing copy on GA chapter by chapter, which would send out a wave of notifications to everybody following the book. Therefore, I decided not to do it, because I didn't want to be the guy spamming his subscribers like that. My hope was that with the site upgrades, there would be, in the future, a safe way to make that happen without bothering everybody. Now, in mid 2020, I am at a place where I am strongly motivated to act on it because the trilogy ending will be coming soon(ish), and I want the first and second books to be the best versions of what they are, for new readers and old ones revisiting. Recently, I approached Myr to ask if there was a solution for what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, there isn't, but he advised me to go ahead anyhow, and simply let followers know what is going on, publicly. Therefore, here I am. Now, what exactly does this mean? Well, a couple of things. The entirety of Hidden Sunlight will be re-uploaded to GA chapter by chapter, so if you have notifications switched on for author edits, you will receive one every time I do this. I don't want to annoy my readers but there is no other way around this. I am *SORRY* for any inconvenience and irritation caused, but I assure you all I will only be doing this once -- after it's done, it will stay done, and won't need to be repeated! The book should be a cleaner and more seamless read when it is finished, and up to the standard I desire it to be. I'm just going to repeat the first point down here, so people can't say they weren't warned. Once more, for the record: IF YOU'RE SUBBED TO HIDDEN SUNLIGHT, YOU'RE GOING TO GET A LOT OF NOTIFICATIONS WHEN I UPDATE IT. I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE FOR ANY IRRITATION THIS MAY CAUSE. Another question you might have is: how major are the changes going to be? The answer is 'not very' for the greatest part, but the effect of all of this will be cumulative, and not individually significant. In fact, the 'change-log' in a summary form would look something like this: overuse and misuse of ellipses; fixed or removed many of these instances misuse of hyphens/dashes; fixed where applicable a smattering of spelling errors, duplicate words, and grammatical mistakes that had eluded repeated revisions were fixed removal of asterisks used for emphasis and replaced with boldface and italics, a particularly grievous sin present in just a couple of the earliest chapters fixed a variety of sentence fragments scattered throughout the text, though these were concentrated earlier on; mostly representing poorly curated 'stream of consciousness' perceptions of the protagonist. chapter 12: the largest single rework. A significant chunk of it was rephrased and reworded. From the author's perspective, the stylistic choice of the language in this chapter had aged badly and needed the awkward pretentiousness cut away and Mira's elegance reinforced, without losing what made his character unique smaller but similar changes around other scenes in which Mira's perspective was used, specifically in chapters 9 and 16 changed the dead map links in chapter 17 to active ones; the images of Aurum and the Capital Arm will now be properly hosted and (hopefully) permanently accessible added mention of Prasada to the epilogue; a lore omission meant that only twelve of the thirteen colonies were described, with Prasada's fate being left out completely. Ironic, given that it is one of the few colonies that is mentioned multiple times in the sequel. To be clear, the plot of the book has not changed and the vast majority of the text will remain the same -- but as a whole, it will be better when I'm done! If you were thinking of re-reading Hidden Sunlight before the trilogy ending gets underway in earnest, I'd recommend you try it right after I'm done with this. It's also possible I may do a smaller round of editing on Veil of Shadow too, but as mentioned earlier, it barely needs it, outside of some minor housekeeping issues that might not be enough to merit the same treatment. Watch this space; I'll post something here before I go any further with that idea, if I decide to at all. So, finally, out of fairness, I will leave this post up for a little while before I start actually getting into it, and doing the above. For the moment it will stand as nothing more than a notice, but ... you have now been warned! I'll also post again in this topic when the refined version of Hidden Sunlight is fully done, so make sure to follow here if you are interested.

Thanks for reading! I'm very glad you are enjoying it!

Thank you for such a wonderful compliment! I promise I will try my best to give a worthy ending to the trilogy.

Currently, this thread is purely informational; to state the book's title, and that I am beginning work on it. It will be some time before you see the first chapter posted, but I wanted readers to know that it is happening and is out of the theoretical phase and into the planning phase. Simply put, I am now doing something about it actively, and make no mistake, this will be a major exercise for me as there is a lot that I need to conceptualise and organise for this final part of the saga. In the broadest possible manner and without any kind of spoiler, you can expect to see these things feature in the book: a war in space between humanity's fleet and the xenomorph armada a conflict on Earth, as civil society fractures the Mishith of Dagen's Grace rediscovering the origins of their heritage, knowledge of the Sundering, and the ancient past a confrontation with the Herald of Truth the journey of Shay Andersen and those with him, in order to do what must be done the human oligarch Tytos Hartley, what he has been planning, and his quest for power what motivates the Master, the alien intelligence behind the xenomorph threat I am looking forward to sharing this work with you all, and completing what I started many years ago.

Here we come to it, at last. This is the Official Discussion Thread for Lucid Truth, the sequel to Veil of Shadow and Hidden Sunlight, and the series ending to the Aspects of Dawn trilogy.

It's been three months since the poll went up, so I am using the current results as a decision, as it constitutes a majority opinion of those readers that wanted to express one. For further information on what this will entail, please check the new forum post about the upcoming book.

Well, what I write next was put to the popular vote when Spirit of Fire was completed, and the poll can be found here. If you haven't voted in it, you still can! The results of that poll will be made final some time during March, in the next couple of weeks.