Wonderful, I like that green sky

Almost the same colour of the clouds you see when a really major storm is brewing up...

It is quite an eye-catching piece... Thank you, sweetie

Nice work. I must say, I'm rather jealous (yet in a positive way), of your use of anatomy.

And also, might one ask just WHAT your icon is?

Heh, full credit to the actual artist - I merely write about the characters, it takes people with proper talent to be able to illustrate them like this. Check out Dragonictoni on DA - she is the talent behind the art.

As for my icon - MY TONGUE, LET ME SHOW YOU IT (drinking beer) It is a clip from a short movie made by a European surrealist artist from the 70's/80's

Ahahaha, didn't know that. I'm a little weary, so my brain is slower than par.

Ah, so I see! *takes drink of Dr. Pepper*

I am very eagerly awaiting this 3rd story. The first two were very well written and engaging (In fact the first one made me cry at the end) and I know this 3rd one will not disappoint.

On a slightly different topic, this art looks very much like a professional novel cover. You always find such amazing artists to commission. :)

Aye, this work has been finished to a very high level, actually you're quite right, it would not look too out of place as a cover pic on a sci-fi novel

And thank you very much for your kind words about my writing - being able to elicit strong emotions from the people that read my work is probably the single best compliment I could ever receive. You rock, you know that? Now I just need to get motivated and speed up progress on TCW3, it has been woefully slow.

You're very welcome.

Also, taking a lot of time to write the story means it will be that much better when it's finished. Take as much time as you need. :)

I originally set out a goal to have it completed by the end of this year. Might not get it done that quickly but hopefully worth the wait. Definitely more story oriented than the other previous two, less sex stuff, but hopefully a much better story.
I very much appreciate your support, by the way - thank you

The little sex scenes every now and again in the other two were certainly welcome, but it was the story itself that kept me reading. You just have this amazing way with words.

Oh, and you're very welcome. ^ ^

OMG it's a zerg from Starcraft 2 o_O

No. No it's not.

I know, I was joking

VANGUARD RUSH!

kekekekekekekeke

ZE DEFENSES! ZEY DO NOTHING!

I'm not sure if I would be excited or frightened if I encountered a beast like this in the desert. Trying to outrun it would be futile, so I would probably tried to bribe it with something.

Hmm, knowing them like I do, I would probably be crapping my pants if I stumbled across something like this, no matter what the location

I love the sleek face. this has an old fashioned feel to it. Something out of the 1950's sci fi stuff. :)

Hmm, you are not wrong there, it does rather, doesn't it? Classic feel to it.

First, I'm guessing that's some sort of crash landing, albeit a soft one. ;)

Second... it looks like he wants to eat it. XD

I say NOTHING!

And is very wary of it, although also curious... not having ever seen anything remotely like it before.

Primitive Vanguard with no exposure to technology? Or just no exposure to (what appears to be) Earth technology? ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

Can you at least let me know if this is a "true" sequel? I.e. after the events of TCWII? Will Rangi and Blue-Scale return? XD

I can let you know that while it is not a direct sequel to TCWII it is set some decades after that and directly ties in to events but not characters.

Quite honestly, there will never be another novel featuring Rangi & Blue-Scale... HOWEVER I have had an idea for another short-story featuring those two. Basically as far as the characters go their story has been told for the most part, anything remaining will be more slice-of-life events like "Returned To The Earth".

Sorry

Awwwwww. :C

Well, at least you keep the universe alive, and that's what matters. I love the characters from TCWI, but just because they didn't appear in TCWII didn't make TCWII somehow "worse". I just love seeing what happens to characters on a long term scale... something that I've had since I was a Star Wars fanboy. I think I read at least 60 Star Wars novels in the span of 2 or 3 years in high school...

But there is something to be said for using new characters. TCWII stood on its own and was an excellent story using all-new characters. I have faith that TCWIII will be the same. :)

I guess my main wonder when it comes to Rangi and Blue-Scale is - they're on a spaceship which is going to take, what, 300 years to reach their destination? Do they cheat death somehow, or do they just kick the bucket together a short way through the trip? XD

Part of the reason for moving onto a different set of characters at the end of TCWII has been to allow people to continue the story in their own minds, to come up with an ending that they think is suitable without me explicitly stating what happens and striking a bad chord with what you imagine happens.

Just bear in mind though that the average Vanguard life-span is approximately double that of a human... so chances are, barring any accidents or incidents, Blue-Scale will outlive Rangi Having said that though, all the Ark ships are equipped with cryo-sleep facilities...

But I understand your preference for stories that continue over several novels with consistent characters and the like - those are quite enjoyable it has to be said. Being quite honest with you though, my writing abilities are just not that good - I don't think I could write a series of novel length stories with the same characters without them becoming, well, boring.

Goddamn your choice of names, Lincard. Damn it to heaven!

First you tell us about the third installment, and then you name it after a song in my repertoire... You better hide, before I send you your book's namesake in musical form!


Also, I love the art! You have an uncanny sense for good talent :)

hehehe... well "Horizons" is just a tentative working title at this stage - haven't decided if that will be the final name for it or if I will go with something else. Once I've finished writing it I will have a think about the name some more.

How is work going on your various musical projects at the moment? You've been awfully quiet of late my friend.

I wouldn't say an uncanny talent, I just keep my eyes open for artists whose work speaks to me on some level. Most of them are actually discovered from looking through other people's favorites on both FA and DA.

I know it's not a permanent name, it was just such a good coincidence. I couldn't help myself :P


My music is touch-and-go right now. Working the kinks out of a few HSC performance pieces, composing a piece for the HSC, and trying to retain a number of others I have had to put on the backburner while working on the HSC one.

Doing so left the electric guitars untouched, though, so I recently started practicing on them as well, just picking up random licks that're slightly beyond my current abilities. So all in all, my music is going well enough, but whether or not I'll get the high marks is questionable.

I'm also somewhat active, but mostly on MSN and Skype. School is busy, but I'm almost always on one of the two, so the separation is either in your lack of use, or our hours not matching up. Such is life ;)

Ah, okay... I don't tend to get on much during the weekends any more and during the week I am usually too shagged. But I must jump on sometime and have a proper catch up with you to see where you're at. Will you be posting up any of your HSC pieces once they are complete?

But good to hear that you are at least still pushing your boundaries and working on bits. Music is such an integral part of your life I think it would be a pity if you moved away from it.

The day I move away from music is the day something deafens me, thus forcing me to revert to art/writing!

I recently got another push, when I saw a friend's guitarist play. The guy was amazing, and that tends to inspire me to work on getting to the same place, so I've been learning little tidbits to try and bring my skills up.

I'll definitely post up the HSC pieces, if I can remember to record them once it's all through. You might have to remind me, though, because I'll likely just crash and hibernate once it's all through (late in October).

And it would be great to chat again :) Just send a note my way if you have a solid time, and I'll try to work my schedule around it. Despite having email accounts, FA is the fastest way beyond MSN/Skype to reach me, because checking it is part of my daily routine (to avoid getting flooded with art/journals).

Well here is to your ears then, my friend! Just remember to take care of them - being in the music biz it would be easy to damage them due to high volume levels or something. And yeah, hear you on the inspiration from other people making you want to push yourself - you've got a good attitude about it also. Many people get depressed and aggravated when they compare others to themselves and consider themselves lacking, thinking they can never be as good.

And post up a journal or something closer to the time of your finishing in October to jog my memory, would you? Us old bastards are like goldfish when it comes to memory...

WHAT? MY UNDERPANTS?!

Anyway... Will jump on sometime on Sunday and see if you are around. You don't have to readjust your schedule, I will make the time if I get the chance.

Given the time difference, I'll probably be on from around 4AM onwards (using Oslo time), so hit me up by lunch at the latest, if you want me in any fit state of mind. I have exams on Monday, so I'll likely be getting to sleep around 2PM (again, using your clock).

And I'll see about posting that journal. I'm not so big on announcing the goings-on of my life to the world, but I can make an exception to say "Five days and counting... Trying really hard not to rifle through textbooks out of boredom". If I do that, you might even get a clue as to where I hid your socks. And your sanity.

Please do post that journal, I would love to hear what you have been working on so diligently. Hope your exams went well yesterday, too.

Thanks. Yesterday's exam was a bitch (highest level of math my school offers), but I think I did well enough, given my tutor had trouble spotting some solutions that I couldn't find.

And I wont have too much to show for my year of work besides a shoddy PC game, a shoddier song, and a few polished performances. By the end of my gap year, though, I intend to actually know my way around my own home studio :P

I hope life is going well for ya, despite how busy I gather it is. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor as well!

Flying matress FTW!

Heh, I guess it could resemble a mattress... albeit not a particularly aerodynamic one

XD Yeah.

Awesome looking scene there! Those pointy structures sticking out of the sand look awesome.

Thank you - the artist did an absolutely wonderful job of those, they give the pic a really alien feel to it which is just perfect.

Oooh, I like the style of this. It looks epic, kinda like an old Sci-Fi pulp novel cover. Excellent!

Heh,  v-taar also mentioned something similar about the look and you are both quite right. It does have that feel to it, doesn't it?

Aggggg, you tease us so.....you evil, evil man you.

Awesome tidbit to the 3rd story though, Black-Dune-Runner looks bad ass.

Went through a bit of a massive writers-block and stopped writing for months. Back into it now though so am making progress - this pic actually helped to spur things on, inspiration if you like.

Foreshadowing!

Only a smidgen, don't want to let too much out at this point

Keep that proverbial cat good and bagged Lincard; we need a few good surprises in our lives, now don't we?

This is a fantastic alien landscape; worthy of a book cover from the 70's!

(in this instance, that is praise) :)~<

Heh, I took it as such, my friend. And you're quite right - it does have the feel to it like one of those illustrations you would see on a classic 60's or 70's sci-fi or fantasy novel, the ones with the slightly yellowed pages and dog-eared corners.

Y'know, I love the smell of old books like that as well. Something about it just evokes such powerful feelings.

Your species are so cute! (I know I'm a female version of Hagrid, deal with it.) This looks like somewhere I would go on vacation; pretty, with just a hint of post-apocolypse.

Why thank you, m'dear It is quite entertaining to see the different visions that talented artists come up with when presented with nothing more than a written description of the character and their environment.
Female version of Hagrid? THE PHILIPS LADYSHAVER, IT DOES NOOOOOOOOTHING!!

Ahem. If you go vacationing there, don't look the locals in the eye and remember to sue your travel-agent when you return.

SORRY! I meant to say I'm a female version of Hagrid with TWICE the hair than the real one has!

Oh, and what a vision it is! Perfect spot to set up camp if I do say so meself! *throws a beach towel down and starts applying spf 80 sunscreen. Rolls around in the sand so it sticks to herself,* There! Now I look like a local and noone will mess with me! *Lays on the towel and reads a book.*

Well that would work for a short while before perihelion, in which case you would need SPF8000 sunscreen... then on at aphelion it is so cold the Carbon Dioxide starts precipitating out of the atmosphere as "dry ice snow". Not gonna give too much away but it is a WORMHOLEEXTREME planet, on which many of the characters in my next novel inhabit.

That is the only downside to a lot of sunscreens - it is like covering yourself in chocolate sauce and rolling around in coconut to become a human lammington. Except with sand.

Ooooh wormhole! O_O

Ooooh lammingtons! O_O