James-steinhaus - One Day At A Time
More Posts from James-steinhaus and Others
Read Three Story for Free
I currently have up, or I am posting three different stories for you to read free of charge. These stories are on Patreon, Substack and Ream Stories free of charge, so use whichever you prefer. Patreon Substack Ream Stories The first story, I Took a Walk, is up all three places in its entirety. It is a short novella bordering on a short story. I broke it into twelve short episodes and…
A Fall of Ashes: Chapter VI, Sorceress now available
Now in her early twenties, Ashes has become comfortable as an apprentice studying healing, when her mistress sends her on an errand in a far distant town. Little does she realize it is a one-way trip and she will lose everything but what she is carrying. She is a sorceress and has her freedom now, but at a terrible cost. Read chapter IV of A Fall of Ashes, Sorceress, on Kindle Vella or…
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Flash Fiction Submission
submitted a flash fiction today. so far 0-8 on the year maybe this one will be better
Book Signing in the Philippines?
I am exploring the possibility of holding a large, combined, author’s book signing event in Province of Pangasinan on the Island of Luzon in the Philippines in late July if I find sufficient writers interested in it. To attend, you would need to agree to provide your own book, and to sell them on consignment through the group I find that will sponsor the event who will charge a 15% markup on all…
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Donald of Mars: Chapter 4 Stein and Schmidt Construction, now available.
Having received his bonus, Donald makes payments to schedule his use of the construction equipment he needs to build his home. This is the fourth chapter in my effort to show a realistic version of what being a Mars colonist might be like. It is available on Kindle Vella and Patron. I hope you enjoy it.
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Kerric the Mercenary: Episode 7, Run to DeSon
Kerric and his Warcat took the lead. At the edge of DarkGate, he turned Akrus off the road and headed due west. The moment they made it to those dark woods, he said, “Run,” and all Akrus’s anger vanished. He was off as if shot from an arrow.
At home, north of the Black Sand, running was dangerous. There, except for hunting sprints, if he ran, it was in fear, and he was running for his life. It wasn’t until Kerric brought him south of the Black Sand that his war cat had a chance to run full out without fear. Now, only mating and hunting brought his Warcat more pleasure. It was a pleasure Akrus rarely got to indulge in and the perfect reward for being dragged out of his rest.
Like the larger breed of Warcats in the north, the ones his men rode were built for running for days despite that not being a good idea in the north. Except the Tolar, nothing in the south could escape them over the long run, and very few on the short. Only experts here would pick up that this wasn’t the breed you found in the far south in the forest bordering the frozen waste. Those were a patchwork brown, instead of dark brown with black stripes on their hind quarter, and only three-quarters the size of the Warcats Kerric’s men rode. Nor were they as fast or have the endurance of this northern breed.
Yet those southern beasts stilled killed more of their own riders than the northern ones did, making seeing a rider a very rare occurrence in the far south, and nearly legendary this far away from that icy waste. That was, until Kerric, and his band arrived.
Kerric shifted his weight. With a snort, Akrus stopped trying to outrun the others, but kept his pace high enough to make them work at keeping up. They might have longer legs, but Akrus had more muscle. That meant more speed in a run among Warcats.
They hit the edge of the gorge and Akrus leaped from the side to the branches of those massive trees. The others followed. Riding the treetops might be common in the jungles north of the Black Sand but was unheard of here. That shortcut across the gorge instead of around it, as all others had to travel, was why his men would get there before the sun came up, despite having to saddle them before riding out.
Akrus leaped to the next tree, and then the next. Even in the dark, Warcats never jumped to a branch that can’t whole their weight, though sometimes, they bend more than their riders anticipate. That bending and springing back is what the Warcats used to move forward with such speed. It took all the rider’s concentration to stay in those saddles and not one of them could have done so the way Kerric did, without the thigh straps. That springing motion was why in the trees, Warcats move only a little slower than their ground eating normal pace.
Kerric spared enough attention from his own ride to see all of his men having a harder time of it than they should. It was one more sign that they had lost too much of their edge. The gorge was deep and wide, but not so much so that those Warcats could not cross it in half the night.
With well over a candle mark before even the false dawn, his men were on the road to the main keep of DeSon, something that would have been a four-day trip by the road using caravan wagons.
Tantos came out of the woods as they moved closer to the keep. “I found Corman camped on a woodcutter’s track nearing the Aring-DarkGate Road. He’s taking his time and will hit that road early morning tomorrow. If he pushes it, he could make Aring by late night, but more likely is planning another night on the road.”
Kerric nodded and looked over the lands of his prospective employer.
Episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Why Flash Fiction?
Writing flash fiction is a great way to introduce new readers to your writing. They can find out how well you pull them in and make them feel that story and how well you have mastered your craft with a minimum about of time invested. Do you want to take a crack at it? On Substack I just posted in image for a Flash Fiction game, 200-1000 words. Feel free to get involved.…
The Story Behind Kara. A World Building Info Dump.
Here is a summery of much of the world building that went into the Kara stories
Long before I wrote Renegade on Kara, I wrote a very different story about the universe of Kara, and about a high-tech decadent human society finding it. That story eventually ended up with the title Kara Discovered after I tried quite a few other titles. But during its third draft, I abandoned that project and used it for my world building of my next story. I wrote, over and over and over, the…
What I Am Up To
I have three stories that I am putting out in episode form; two science fiction, Vikings of Asgard, and Donald of Mar; and one dark fantasy, A Fall of Ashes. I am making all three available on Kindle Vella, and on Patreon for those outside the United States or that prefer Patreon over Kindle Vella. Vikings of Asgard Vikings of Asgard I started on Kindle Vella over a year ago and have been…
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