Tag: Pegasus

Wheelchair Wars: Luke’s Story Section E Part 7

Muddy battlefield with abandoned World War I weapons, helmets, and a tattered flag.

Their dead bodies had almost reached the ceiling. Still, they continued onwards, slithering through the gaps. Luke tried to put the thought of the guns jamming again out of his mind.

A few minutes later, Lisa shouted out, “Stop firing!”

Luke took in a deep breath. Then rhey listened. There was no sound.

The attack is over.

“They sat.”

“What now?” Lisa asked.

“I spoke to Timothy before the battle. Due to the use of nuclear weapons, he will be leaving the planet whatever the result of the battle. There is a tracker on his, and myself and John are to meet him at a rendezvous point, when he leaves the command center. I’d love for you to join us.”

Wheelchair Wars: Luke’s Story Section E Part 6

Soldiers taking cover behind sandbags during intense battle explosions with fire and smoke

They hurried behind the sandpacks and readied their weapons. The thunderous noise made it apparent in what direction they were coming. Still, he told John to keep an eye on the rear. In an urban warzone like this, you need to think three-dimensionally.

This time, there was no subtlety to their assault. It was full frontal and continuous.

The plan worked perfectly. They went into the line of fire. Each one cut down, one after the other.

Luke’s machine grew hot. It needed to cool. Then it stopped. From his training, before becoming a Trooper, he knew that it would take at least thirty seconds. John’s gun fell quite. The heavy machine gun kept firing, but now the horde grew close.

John and Luke took the grenades they had in their pockets and threw them into the oncoming mass.

The explosions rocked them from their feet. All except for Lisa, who kept the heavy gun firing at its targets.

What a woman.

The rest get back to their feet. The grenades had the desired effect, pushing them back.

Luke felt his machine gun. It felt more temperate now. He once more opened fire, with John following suit. The Alachins were struggling now to climb over their dead.

Wheelchair Wars Luke’s Story Section E Part 1

Crew observing holographic galaxy map in spaceship control room

The floor shook as Luke watched the holographic display.  Fighting across the planet was intense. Most of the time though, he concentrated on viewing positions in and around the huge city he was in.

The Alachins had breached the outer two defensive lines leading to some of their forces reaching the soft underbelly of the metropolis, huge residential areas where humans were forced to fight with their hands, feet and teeth. A spectacle too gruesome to watch, he had to flick through them.

“Stop!” John exclaimed. It was an image of five active Troopers shooting a heavy machine gun down a corridor against an oncoming horde of Alachins who were forced to climb over their dead. Three Troopers lay motionless on the ground, a red pool between them,

“What?” Luke asked, his eyebrows raised.

“That is where Yvonne and Lisa are located.”

Luke zoomed out of the location. “They are holding the position for now. They are at a junction of corridors. Another Alachin horde will attack from this corridor shortly overwhelming them.” He pointed to one of the side corridors.

John looked at him. “We must do something. They would for us.”

“Come on, lets go.” Luke said with resolve.

Wheelchair Wars Luke’s Story Section D Part 2

Military checkpoint with soldiers guarding a stone gate labeled The Dragon's Gate

John patted his shoulder and pointed to the ceiling . “I see they have wired the place to blow. Clever.”

Luke nodded.

Two men in green regalia were guarding the machine gun.

A local militia, no doubt.

They walked past it.

“Not too many around, is there? John mused.

Luke rubbed his nose. “They must be inside their homes.”

The next defensive point they reached was more fortified with only a small passageway still traversable in between two battle tanks.

“Would the tanks no be better used outside the city?” John said with a scrunched face.

“They are the obsolete B Class. They must no longer be fully function but their long guns could come in handy.” John replied.

John laughed. “You have been doing your study.”

“Someone has to. I’ve seen enough. Lets head back.”

An hour later, Luke had said his goodbyes to John and was going down the narrow passageway to his room.

“Hello soldier.” It was Lisa.

She was a yellow dress and top.

Wheelchair Wars Luke’s Story Section C Part 2

Military base in a desert with tents, vehicles, watchtowers, and soldiers at dusk

“Come on, Luke lets go? I can’t have you dying looking like a lost puppy,” John said.

“Eh, have you forgotten about the Alachins?” Luke said shaking his head.

“Come on, we won’t be long. you know the actual action is till hours.”

Luke told the other three Troopers at their gun to keep a look out, that they would be back shortly. Then he scampered after John. “Do you know where she is?”

“Of course, she is doing sentry. It’ll only take us a few minutes.”

A sense of dread pervaded the base. The sound of locals chatting gone and fear etched onto every face. John slapped Luke’s back. “We’ll get through this. You look like a ghost.”

“I hope so.” A tear welled in his eye.

They passed by the main control building for the forthcoming battle. Not that you would know from the outside. It had been given the same sandstone appearance as the others. No guards at front, nothing to give it away from orbit.

“This way.” John’s pace quickened as they went back up a rampart.

And there she was. A big smile broke out across Luke’s face and he rushed towards her. They embraced.

Wheelchair Views Audrey (xiii)

Group of armored futuristic soldiers walking on rocky path near a lit Gothic cathedral at sunset.

Audrey’s pupils dilated, and she felt warm throughout her body. Her pain disappeared, and she felt a sudden sense of elation. Any sense of fear disappeared. She was now the queen of this world, and nothing would

Brona turned to her and smiled. “What did you do? I feel so good.”

Audrey motioned with her hands for her to come closer. “I fixed you.” She pulled her closer and kissed her lips, they were soft. Her tongue explored her mouth.

Brona pulled her head back. “What about your boyfriend, Timothy?”

Audrey smirked. “Don’t worry about Timothy, he won’t mind.”

“Now, forward Troopers,” she commanded.

Progress was fast. Each Trooper walked as if ever getting tired was an impossibility. That energy could be created from within, it no longer needed to be consumed.

The convent grew larger. Soon they could see the iron triangle that adorned it from above. But it was broken.

This is an insult to the Emperor.

They reached the large doorway. It did not open even when Audrey’s battle chair emitted the required code.

Audrey addressed her Troopers. “Something has gone seriously wrong. Treat everyone we meet inside with caution. The nuns may have turned their backs on their God.”

Festive Updates: My Creative Projects in Progress

Hi everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the festive spirit. Personally, I love this time of year and having some time off. It’s great to catch up with people, also.

I like giving these updates every six months or so on all my projects. Occasionally, these posts prove really popular. Other times, I’d be lucky if anyone apart from myself reads it at all. Such is life, I guess. First, an update on my longer-term projects.

Wheelchair Wars

This has now been fully critiqued. I am about to employ a successful author to read through it to see how it could be improved. I’m aiming for the stars.

Romance Short Stories

Critiqued, but I need to work through the suggestions and rewrite as appropriate. Hopefully, this will be significantly improved over the holidays

Pegasus

The first draft is complete; the next needs to go through the critique process.

Distant Love

First draft being written.

The blog itself is going quite well. Last year, it received 1,746 views. It’s looking like this year will be more like 2,746. Still, quite a way to go to become profitable, but moving in the right direction.

I have 2,700 followers on Bluesky. Hoping to get that up to the 5k range by next year.

Plenty of things planned for next year, and hopefully, see you there!

September writing update

My dear readers, I do hope life is good. These are exciting times for my writing and this website. Shortly, the website will pass two thousand views with a quarter of the year still to go. This will be the first time it has passed this milestone in a calendar year.

For some background, the limited research I have done suggests that you would need approximately twenty-four thousand views to generate a modest income. Yes, I’m still a long way off, but not as much as I was.

I am now regularly getting visitors from Google searches. Even Bing is sending the odd person my way. This has the capacity to grow exponentially in the future. Interestingly, most of my visitors are now from the US.

Other positive news is that as of today, I now have two thousand, two hundred followers on Bluesky. Bluesky is becoming integral to my overall strategy. The fact that I can now generate AI images to go with posts is of great assistance. It makes them more appealing to click on, I reckon.

Much slower growth on Twitter – ninety-three followers now. I’m wondering if I should go premium, but I haven’t decided yet.

On the writing front, this is my update on each major project.

Wheelchair Wars – Final draft is close to completion. Hope it will be finished by Christmas. I will try to get it traditionally published, but failing that, I will self-publish in the new year.

Pegasus – Work has yet to start on the second draft.

A compilation of romantic short stories – On its second draft.

Long distance Love – I’m enjoying writing this story, and it has some way to go yet.

There will also be more book/TV/film reviews in the months ahead.

Thanks for all your support.

Distant Love (Part 22)

Maeve hears Derek take a large breath. He speaks in a serious tone. “Your ship has no landing gear. To have a soft landing, you will need to initiate the thrusters at certain points as it descends. Even then, it would ordinarily be considered a crash landing.

“I’m going to change the holographic display. You will now see a much smaller ship in front of you and the moon in the distance. Your landing area is marked out, along with the different points on the trajectory you need to take action at.”

The new holographic display appears.

Maeve stares in awe. “I don’t know about. Can you not do it remotely, or maybe get an AI to do it?”

“I’m afraid not. Unfortunately, I will be unable to communicate with you as you near the surface. No AI has been trained on what you are about to do.

It’s up to you, and you alone.”

There is silence. Maeve says, “I understand.”

For the next ten minutes, she watches the ship approach the moon. She launches the thrusters at the first marked point. Then releases.

Derek speaks. She can hear the fear in his voice. “I’m about to lose communications. Best of luck, and I’ll see you soon.”

My Journey as a Writer: Updates and Goals

Hello, dear readers, I hope you are all doing well. A quick reminder to consider subscribing to the website to be kept fully updated. It really is the best way.

So what have I been up to? Well, not too much in the last day or two (I’m so lazy). Before then, I did make some steady progress.

Wheelchair Wars – The reworking is almost complete of my far future dystopia, where people with disabilities are forced to fight to the death for entertainment. I’m hoping to have it published (probably self-published), but I’ll try to look for an agent in the new year. I joined an online writing group, and I think I have significantly improved my writing skills. Like everything I do, I will always endeavor to improve.

Pegasus – This action-packed story set hundreds of years in the future recently came to an end. Like Wheelchair Wars, it will be reworked and published at a future date.

Distant Love – I only started this recently. It is still easy to find Part 1. This is my latest story – a sci-fi romance. I’m still working this one out in my head, not sure how long it will be.

General Overview:

I am on track to get a record number of views this year. I’m hoping to break the 2,000 mark. From research, to be a professional blogger would need an absolute minimum of 24,000 views per year. I’m a long way off, but not beyond the realms of impossibility to do it in a few years.

I now have 1,400 followers on Bluesky. My plan is to try and get over 2,000 by the end of the year. Then drive that audience towards here, along with my Twitter and Facebook followers.

Please don’t be afraid to comment. It would be great to have some feedback.