Space Opera With a Twist

Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 7)

Happy Solstice

Time has flown by at hyperspeed once again since my last post. In my defense, I’ve been busy writing The Dirty and the Dead (Constabulary Casefiles #3) and as of today, I’m at the 85% completion mark. Barring unforeseen events, I’ll be done before New Year’s Eve. Whenever I reach this place in a story, I tend to get the words out faster and faster (and more importantly, in the right order!)

Here in the Great White North, it’s winter, not just by the calendar but by the weather. We had a few snowfalls already, but the last one the other day seems likely to have laid down this winter’s base coat of snow and ice. Unless the weather forecasters are completely out to lunch, it’ll be a White Christmas in these parts, which is always nicer than a slushy or green one. It’ll be time to moan and groan about winter come January. And we will. It’s a Canadian thing.

What will 2022 look like for this writer? First on the menu, after publishing The Dirty and the Dead, will be the fifth Ashes of Empire story, Imperial Ghosts. Then, another Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, perhaps? And, of course, a fourth Ghost Squadron novel. No slowing down here!

That being said, since this is likely my last post of 2021, I wish you all a Happy Solstice, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. May you and yours be blessed with peace and joy.

Stay safe, fellow humans.

An Experiment

In an attempt to move away from social media, I set up a private forum, hosted on my own domain to interact with readers. There, I’ll post updates on my work, answer questions and participate in discussions. You can read everything on the forum without having to register, but registration is necessary to post something. Call it another little step toward greater independence…

https://forum.thomsonfiction.ca/

Day Two of the Renos

The north wall is done, as is the two story part of the west side. It’s already looking so much better than before. The picture below perfectly encapsulates the before and after. Before is the yellow aluminum on the right and after is the green vinyl on the left. Talk about rejuvenating a house that was built when I was still in grade school.

A Happy New Year to All

Mrs Thomson and I just returned from our regular scuba diving trip to an undisclosed location where the temperature was 40 degrees Celsius higher than it is here in our part of the Great White North at the moment.  Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to the system when we stepped out of the airport.  But we’ve unpacked, our dog is sleeping off two weeks at the boarding kennel beside me, and it’s back to the usual routine.

Tomorrow, I resume work on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night.  The first two chapters were complete, as were the opening paragraphs to chapter three, before we took the great metal bird to more southerly climes.  I’d like to see it in my editor’s hands by the end of March, which isn’t an unreasonable timeline.  Then, it’ll be on with Deadly Intent, the second of the Ghost Squadron adventures.  If you haven’t read We Dare yet, give it a try.  The story is a fast-moving, hard-hitting military scifi story which sets  the scene for the Commonwealth’s impending demise and the rise of empire.

I wish all my readers a Happy New Year.

“Always remember to forget

The troubles that pass away.

But never forget to remember

The blessings that come each day.”

The Day is Coming

We Dare (Ghost Squadron No. 1) is currently undergoing a last round of proofreading, which means it should come out in the next 3-4 days.  Look for it on your favorite retailer’s website by mid week.  Those of you who pre-ordered will get it automatically when it’s released.

In the meantime, I’m making good progress on the detailed outline of Ashes of Empire: Imperial Night.  I expect to start writing in early January, after taking some time off to enjoy life with Mrs Thomson over the holidays.  All things going well, it should hit the shelves in late April or early May.  Then, after that installment in the story of the human interstellar empire’s fall, it’ll be Deadly Intent (Ghost Squadron No. 2) and the ongoing tale of the human interstellar empire’s rise a thousand years earlier.  Simultaneously writing two series which bookend a momentous era in our species’ future history is actually quite amusing.

Watch this space for imminent news of We Dare‘s release.

We Dare will be released on December 18, 2019.

Another Saga Begins

My editor is going through my newest project, We Dare – Ghost Squadron No.1 right now.  This is the first in a new series covering the rise of the empire we saw collapsing in the Ashes of Empire books.  Old acquaintances are back and will prove instrumental in the demise of the Commonwealth and its replacement by an empire that will last a thousand years.  I don’t know how long the series will be, but there is ample room for storytelling because the empire’s birth will take years.  In a nutshell, the series will follow those tumultuous events as seen through the eyes of Ghost Squadron’s Marines.  Here is the teaser for the first installment:

The Marines of Ghost Squadron are humanity’s foremost black ops specialists who strike without warning and vanish without a trace.  They will do whatever is necessary to protect humanity anywhere in the known galaxy.  With the Commonwealth increasingly unstable thanks to venal politicians, greedy financiers, and power-hungry revolutionaries, they don’t lack for missions.

When an undercover Constabulary officer vanishes after uncovering a massive cartel-run human trafficking operation, the Commonwealth’s interstellar police force calls for help from Naval Intelligence.  Because the cartel’s operations could upend the delicate political balance between the older core worlds and the more recently colonized outer star systems, Ghost Squadron gets the job.  Its mission: find the missing Constabulary officer and choke off the growing slave trade bedeviling humanity’s perilous galactic frontier.

Ghost Squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Thomas Decker, spent the last ten years as a Naval Intelligence agent.  His job was thwarting plots and terminating the Commonwealth’s internal enemies alongside his partner, a trained assassin.  Now, with several hundred of the deadliest Marines ever fielded at his back, Zack Decker will change the course of history and usher in a new era.

Humanity’s interstellar empire ended in “Ashes of Empire.”  Witness its birth a thousand years earlier in Eric Thomson’s new series “Ghost Squadron.”

jack5.000x8.000.indd

When will it be out?  I set up a pre-order on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, and Google Play.  Chances are good it’ll come out the week before Christmas.  The release date is now confirmed: December 18, 2019.  If you want to get it delivered the moment it’s released, follow this link:

We Dare – Ghost Squadron No. 1

Happy Birthday Canada!

O, land of blue unending skies,

Mountains strong and sparkling snow,

A scent of freedom in the wind,

O’er the emerald fields below.

 

To thee we brought our hopes, our dreams,

For thee we stand together,

Our land of peace, where proudly flies,

The Maple Leaf forever.

 

(Chorus)

Long may it wave, and grace our own,

Blue skies and stormy weather,

Within my heart, above my home,

The Maple Leaf forever!

 

O, Maple Leaf around the world,

You speak as you rise high above,

Of courage, peace and quiet strength,

Of the Canada that I love.

 

Remind us all, our union bound

By ties we cannot sever,

Bright flag revered on every ground,

The Maple Leaf forever!

 

As sung by Anne Murray

Instrumental version

Lest We Forget

At the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, one hundred years ago, the guns fell silent, ending what had been by then the most murderous war in human history, World War I.  Today, we remember the sacrifice of those who served and especially those who gave their lives then and in all the wars since.

In Flanders Fields

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