P. E. Knapp

Will do Myr. Thanks! I have a Romance that I am blowing the dust off of too, but Sci-fi is more my genre. Usually, Sci-Fi is less active and that is OK. It's an acquired taste like Octopus. Not many people try it, but the ones that do, love it.

Glad I tripped over this blog. Easy list of reading for editing breaks @Myr I'm shocked I'm in such good standing in my genres considering the authors I'm writing with! It also gives me ideas for resurrecting my Firefly story. Miss that show. Steampunk looks good too. Another genre I love.

Two interesting 'B' words. Boyfriend and brother. Wait! Don't forget Brat! 😇

A fast note. As I am still in moderation and edit requires the chapter returning to the moderation to be approved. That said: I am posting today instead of Saturday due to complications of schedule. AKA. I can't drive and post at the same time... sorry I don't own a Tesla. Happy reading and enjoy!

Tom was walking with me up to my family’s quarters after Dad split off to head for the offices. Taking Jessica with him, much to my relief. We walked in silence, but I could tell Tom had questions. Which started once we were safely ensconced in my bedroom. “Is that why we had to head over to Endeavor?” Tom asked. “Pretty much. Caitlin Comm’d me last night and filled me in on his issues. I figured he could come out with us tomorrow night instead of Byran.” Tom studied my face before giv

I was busy editing, and my eyes are a little crossed. I didn't remember Janek licking Marc in this chapter and had to look at my final draft. Scratching my head as I looked back through the versions. Then I realized it as a typo. That's when I figured it was time to call it a night. 🙃

If you could believe my local crew is, get this, certified most accurate! I have no clue how they did that but two words come to mind, bovine manure!

OK. Let's direct a little realism into this. Andrew was late because, just like here in the states, the weather forecaster in his region forgot to look out the window and check the weather before reporting it! The only other job in the world you can make so many mistakes and not get fired is to be a politician.

Thanks for the comment! The universe to most people is very large. To my family, it is a very small place when we want to know something. One never knows what is known and what is not. 🙊

Thanks for the synapsis. . . I actually had to read the chapter quick as I thought I posted the wrong one. 😅 Edit: I shouldn't post after midnight. The mind is working, the fingers are not. *Synopsis*

Multiple tones sounded from my wrist before I shut it down and rolled out of the rack. Tapping the control to fold it back up into overhead as I moved over and poured myself a coffee while I punched out a breakfast order on the food dispenser. “You’re up early.” Tom said from the front seat where he was working on his course work. “Had to be to take you to Engineering.” I said as I grabbed my food out of the dispenser and moved up to my seat and sat down. Looking over the Mining Laser

Mark Alexander Low Point Station Alexander Industrials Military Training Facility It took me twenty minutes to change and head down to my next training. The Marines were teaching me how to use the Assault Shuttles so I get another couple of hours training in the simulators. Not the full scale simulator I was in the other day, but individual simulators that mimic the gun turrets and firing stations, as well as the other control stations. The Electronic Counter Measures suite inter

Thanks for the comment drsawzall! Think of it like looking at the morning weather and traffic report. Nothing you can do about it, so you shrug and plan accordingly. It's probably wrong anyway as somebody forgot to look out a viewport. 😇

Spoiler Alert: This is one of those questions that I have to sit and think about how much answer. . . The basic premise was put forth in the Prologue. Anyone can have children as long as they are genetically different. Meaning, not related. The Specialist take the genetic samples and they are mixed with a little scientific voo doo and the final form is the seeded egg. An A.I. can then predict, based on the genetic mix and tweaks made, what the child will look like from birth up to sixteen stanyears old. I used the term Birthed because it sounds better than Decanted. Hence Birthingday. There is greater detail than that, but you'll have to keep reading until book 4 as that opens a whole slew of morality questions that where answered several millennia ago and plot details.

Ugly. That was the first thought I had as my father led me around the Mining Shuttle. Bulky body. Large protrusions for the deployable cannisters that hold the ore. The extra directional thrusters and enlarged volatile tanks, combined with the powerful Fusion Power system, Mining Laser and Ore Capture system. Well. Ugly was being nice. Functional. Was the second thought I had as looked at the Mining Laser under the nose of the ungainly craft. Once a heavy lift shuttle. Now a little prospector th

Oh yeah. Gunny Hartman. *Smiles fondly.* I knew someone like him once upon a time. Truer statements of history have never been said. A history a lot of our generation share. The good old days of the late '70s and '80's. Memories that still cause pain and sadness today. The kindness of some, a very few. The pure hatred from others, just because we were different. The absolute stupidity of even more...that could have helped and didn't. The very, very few you could talk to openly. What you don't know can not only hurt you badly, but get you killed. So, yes. There is going to be bad stuff in your writing and in three stories I've tried to write as sort of a therapy. There are very dark pieces because that is how it was back then. I lost a lot of people I called friends in a 12 year span from '82 to '94. To AIDS, suicide, murder. Before I threw myself into my job and shifted to Europe on assignment for almost a year. Turning away from everyone, in a place where no one knew me, and I knew no one. And I didn't want too. A lovely old lady and survivor of WWII became a friend and helped me learn German as I helped her with English. That relationship reminded me there was more to life than death and destruction. History isn't always written by the victor, sometimes it's written by the survivors. At the end of the day, I wonder if our generation did enough to make it better for this generation through the decades or to help the kids of the '90's that found themselves on the streets. If maybe we should have told our stories decades ago so people would understand better, what we survived. It's easy to sit back now and second guess all my decisions from those days. Enough of my ramblings. Back to the salt mines for me.

I am also sorry to hear that happened to you. I know I am late to the game on this topic, but I lost everything back in 2019. And when I say everything, I mean everything. The SSD gave up the ghost on a laptop that was two years old. That mad screaming person heard around the earth that day was me yelling at the manufacturer. HP. I'll never buy another, and I was very happy with my first two HP Laptops. I lost over 3000 photos, 20 videos, 700,000 words of stories and all of my software. And because I didn't have my original codes from when I purchased the software, I had it purchase it again. Do to the actual SSD dying I couldn't get a recovery of my information. I could recover what few items where not on the SSD, but from this point on I switched to a double back up system. Cloud and an external drive (For use when I know I will not have internet access.) I hate using the cloud, but I hate losing everything more.

Thanks for the comment centexhairysub! I always love a good party and still believe it isn't one until someone *gigglesnorts* their drink. If I remember correctly, I won first snort at last year's Labor Day picnic by simply asking my friend Jay, who was carrying an opened pack of hotdogs to the grill, if his boyfriend knew he was walking around with his wiener hanging out. I got three snorts for the price of one out of that. 😂

Thanks for the comment akascrubber! Hmmm...teens and relationships.... I still remember how stupid I was back then. I wonder if these three will fare any better?

“Hey Marc, what’s the word?” asked Tom, involved working on something off screen. “What are you doing Friday?” I asked. Trying to hide the smile forming on my face. “Nothing. What did you have in mind?” “A 12 hour rental of one of the mining shuttles.” I said as my grin slipped onto my face. Tom’s head perked up from whatever he was doing. “Really? You found the funds?” I gave him a waggle of my hand. “Sort of kinda. I am helping my family train a few pilots and I am g

When I was writing this part, I modeled the flight characteristics of the shuttle after one of the aircraft I knew, once upon a time, the A-6 Intruder/Prowler. Two or three crew depending on the variant. Pilot flew the craft. Bomber/Navigator did everything else and if it was a Tactical Electronic Warfare Platform, the third crewman in the added spot behind the cockpit handled that (Not a position I would like to fly in). Not entirely sure what todays equivalent would be. That same modeling was done with all craft or ships in the books as far as handling goes.

As always. I would like to thank everyone for the comments! They are the fuel that keeps writers going.

If I had a French accent. I believe the proper response is, "But of course."

Hmmm...No air in space. Could that be why?😇

LOL. Yeah. We shall see.😈