alexanderwales posts
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Thresholder, ch 164, Snipe Hunt
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkA note on scheduling: this was supposed to be the Monday chapter, but it ended up going too long, which is why it became a Thursday chapter. The schedule for Thresholder was premised on what I can write in a week, and if I want to stick to it, it really really needs to be more in the 4-5K word count range. This one is ~7,500, and if it had been any longer, I might have ...
Thresholder, ch 163, Collegium
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~The Collegium had a large campus in the city, and a fair bit of what might have been green space if not for the pollution. The trees struggled and the grass was scraggly, but the buildings, at least, were impressive, large stone structures with a few too many gargoyles and grotesques jutting out at odd places. There was something claustrophobic about it, maybe the f...
Thresholder, ch 162, The Fallen City, pt. 2
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkThis was incorrectly posted at ch 161, I had just mistitled the document.~~~~Perry flew up from the hotel room, back in armor for the first time in what felt like forever, though it had only been three days. His sword was sheathed, and he was running dark, every light on the armor shut off as he went up into the air. There was starlight and a thin sliver of moonlight, b...
Thresholder, ch 161, The Fallen City, pt 1
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~The rest of the train ride to Charlonion was uneventful, though that wasn’t to say that there weren’t things to see and learn about.They spotted a caravan of covered wagons on the horizon, and Anaksi pulled the shutters closed for the next few miles.“They’ve been there for centuries,” said Anaksi. “The Long Migration.”“Going where?” asked Perry.“...
Thresholder, ch 160, Dreams of the Otherworld
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~There were three options on the table with regard to the Inspectors.Hiding would be easy with the shelf space. Perry could slip in there, and bring Anaksi with him or let her fend for herself. It would be difficult to know when it was safe to come out, and the shelf space would anchor to the ground rather than the train, which would mean that they’d be abandoning ...
Thresholder, Book 1, now available for preorder, and for you
The fully edited first book of Thresholder is available for preorder on Amazon, and will be published on March 25th. It's going to be on Kindle Unlimited, which means getting stubbed on RoyalRoad. The new version of the story has an extra 30K words, roughly six extra chapters, mostly detailing Perry's time in the first two worlds. It's also been rearranged so that the chapters happen m...
Thresholder, ch 159, A Bath of Light
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~The shelf space had been stocked with clothes for women as well as men. That had been the work of a team that Perry hadn’t consulted with, and they’d clearly tried to figure out from base principles what the full breadth of appropriate clothing would be for any woman that Perry happened to find himself with — which they might have thought was going to be Hella...
Thresholder, ch 158, Verdant Moon
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkSorry for the late chapter, I rewrote the ending and then got mired in editing. So far, I would say the whole "being back on track in terms of output" thing is going well. And I probably could have finished this last night, but I have a policy not to grind away at something when I'm sleepy, because that's where mistakes are more likely to happen.~~~~Perr...
Thresholder, ch 157, Bar Belle
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~Marchand was set up in two places. The body was set up, fully assembled, holding a rifle, in Perry’s rented bedroom. He had instructions to attempt negotiations with anyone who barged in, but to otherwise stay put. If someone approached after being warned away, he would shoot them. The rifle had been set up very carefully, with Marchand’s finger at the ready. Th...
Thresholder, ch 156, Our Town
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~The train was in the station and sitting idle. At some point the day before the engine and the big tank behind it had been moved so that they were pointed the other way, changing the order of the cars so the front was now the back. There were people swarming around the engine, preparing it for its return journey, and Perry could see that the cargo sections were bein...
Thresholder, ch 155, Walking the Line
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkDo you like short stories? I wrote one!That link is a general link to a dumping ground for shorter pieces, the current one is "chapter 13", this is maybe a stupid system.~~~~“Tell me about your people,” Perry said as they walked alongside the tracks.Anaksi was favoring one foot. She was silent, then looked at him, confused. “Why?”“I’m not from the re...
Thresholder, ch 154, Narrow Paths
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~Perry didn’t know what “stop them” meant, but he hadn’t even been issued with a weapon, and barely had control of his horse. He had no clue what kinds of weapons the Yuuks had, especially given the diversity of weapons the posse had.And there was, of course, the possibility that there would be a thresholder among them. There was a possibility that there was ...
Thresholder, ch 153, Life on the Range
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~Perry sat and listened to stories. He’d gone down to the general store and bought a pencil, a whittling knife to sharpen it with, and a blank leather-bound book, then began putting his scrip to work buying drinks for the people who filled the place. There was more than one saloon in the town, he’d confirmed that by walking around, but this was the biggest and th...
Thresholder, ch 152, Strange Company
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~“These are the Duelists,” said Wyatt as they walked down the main stretch of Grabler’s Gulch. Buildings stood on either side of the road, which was plenty wide. They were mostly different shops of one kind or another. A saloon sat at the intersection where one main road met the other, and aside from city hall, it was the largest building in sight, larger even ...
Thresholder, ch 151, Tracked
Normal LinkEdit/Comment Link~~~~Perry came out into a world that was completely dark, and it took two whole seconds for him to realize that he didn’t even have a HUD. He took a deep breath, then another, steadying himself. The urge to take off the helmet was immense, but he had no idea if the air outside was breathable. He called for March, and got no response. There was air, he could feel that ...
Thresholder, ch 150, Epilogue: Release Valves
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkIt's the end of the world as we know it.~~~~Casper dressed well for the confrontation, in a tailored suit that he’d procured from one of the more meticulous libraries and had altered to fit. In his time moving from kingdom to kingdom, helping to organize rebellions and resistances, he usually dressed like a laborer, a man who worked with his hands. Looking and dre...
Thresholder, ch 149, Epilogue: The Wolf and the Lady Knight
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkOne interlude/epilogue chapter left, then off to Book 5, which I am eager to start work on for that fresh world smell.~~~~In the end, the Mettes did have to admit that the Eggys were right, and that differentiation was the way to go. There had been too many moments of confusion, even after they all started wearing color-coded outfits, and if they hadn’t picked names f...
Thresholder, ch 148, The Charts Unfolded
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkOne epilogue and one interlude left, though I might combine them, or not do one. In case you're curious on the distinction, I think an epilogue as being more of a "this work is over, here's what happens after" and an interlude as being "here's what happened with a side character having adventures of their own".(Mild slightly spoilery note: I ...
Thresholder, ch 147, Rebound
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkFor whatever reason, this chapter was hell to write. I am really hoping that the next few chapters are not.~~~~They tested first, before using the device. They weren’t idiots. The only argument against it was that they didn’t necessarily have the resources to do it twice if something blew the first time — the building they had pushed to full power was burning imme...
Thresholder, ch 146, The Flood
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkAnother one of those chapters that, by word count, should probably have been two chapters. This chapter is the third of this "set", the next one will be different, I am only saying this because I think read serially with these unfortunate gaps in publication time, it's not how I would prefer it to be read. Such is life.Book 5 is just about fully plotted out ...
Thresholder, ch 145, Stress Fracture
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkA chapter! Really trying to get back on the horse as far as output is concerned, especially with the holidays coming up, which are always a slow time for me.Have you tried the Worth the Candle webcomic? It's out now!~~~~Mette was hating life.The problem with being in a crisis was sometimes a crisis could drag on for hours, for dayseven. There had been a time on the ...
Thresholder, ch 144, Stopgap
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkThere was originally an author's note here, it got moved to its own post.~~~~The Farfinder hadn’t quite crash landed. It was laying next to a pond with its nose blown off, looking like a giant metal animal that was resting after a fight. From the outside, it was actually rather small, wider than a semi but only about as long. Most of its current interior was extra...
Thresholder Update/Notes
Note: This was originally going to be the author's note for the chapter, but it got long, mostly because it's a bunch of stuff I've been thinking about. This is also public, rather than patron-only, so if you have a comment, no current-chapter details please.I am very tempted to just present this chapter without comment, because I think "writing's not going so well" posts a...
Worth the Candle Update
Worth the Candleis getting stubbed: largely removed from all online platforms to comply with Kindle Unlimited terms. This is for money reasons, and to ensure that the audio books will get made. This means you have a few days to do any archival efforts, such as downloading comments (I have not read many of the comments on AO3 or RR and have no idea if there's anything of value there) or making ...
Thresholder, ch 143, Full Contact, pt 2
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkI have decided that part of the problem with writing is, in fact, Thresholder, or at least writing this part of it. I sit down to write and it's just like "oh, we're doing another complicated fight scene". I love fight scenes, but they require a lot more writing muscle. I read back through all of book 4 the other day, and I think I'm happy with it, b...
Thresholder, ch 142, Full-Contact, pt 1
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkWriting continues to be glacially slow. I worry that I've lost a few IQ points somewhere, or that something inside my brain has snapped and broken, which I don't think is a thing that can actually happen.~~~~The email was massive, but it was low on specifics. Whoever had sent it — apparently one of the Eggys, just from context — had a small window of time to...
Thresholder, ch 141, Expulsion
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkWell, the good news is that the editing for Thresholder vol. 1 is finished. It's about 30K more words, and reorganized so that everything is in chronological order, and I'll have it to you as soon as the copy-editing is done. Aside from the extra world 1 and world 2 stuff, there are some changes to Teaguewater, but maybe less than I thought there would be. I hat...
Thresholder, ch 140, Wag the Dog
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkHey, it's a chapter!I think I'm done with that particular bout of depression, at least so far as I understand my mental state. Got pretty bad there, not going to lie. Now it's just a matter of getting back to full productivity, which ... I think got damaged in the fight. A lot of the unexpected mental health break was just finding dopamine when and where I c...
Thresholder, ch 139, Queensman
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkHey, sorry for the delays, it's the depression. I've been having some ups and downs, and mostly downs. I think part of it is that the depression makes it so it's hard to take joy from anything, and that includes writing, which makes it doubly hard because I'm at an emotional distance and have to evaluate the text I'm writing like a robot. I'm tak...
Thresholder, ch 138, Waiting Games
Normal LinkEdit/Comment LinkMy apologies again for the inconsistency of the chapters, I've been stressed out and depressed. I've been trying to write some side things to get the juices flowing, but I've had some life stuff that's been getting me down, and it's at least partly a mindset issue.In other news, my webcomic Millennial Scarlet is now on Tapas, if you'd like to rea...
