Book 9 is now online. Sorry for the slight delay; the forum was down this Sunday (again).

Yay, finally! (stupid forum)

Hoping to read about your ideas about your book soon

And now for a few thoughts on book 9

While the Seraphim technology had been acquired in book 8, I still did not want to just “level up” the ACUs right away. I wanted the Alliance to work for it first. While the previous books had focused on pilots, commandos, assassins, their families and the like, no book had truly focused on one of the pivotal part of any military; the support staff.

Engineers, technicians, analysts, tacticians and the like are often given a silent if not invisible role in a war unless something goes wrong (in which case they get blamed) and I wanted to fix that. The inspiration came from an episode in Full Metal Panic “Is Narashino Burning?” where Sousuke explains that engineers are an essential part of any military and that their dedication is the only reason why people like him can even be on the front line.

While Tie and the Chimera node had been briefly exposed during book 7, it was only here that I focused on Slate who would take on the wackiness instead of Bagby. An analyst part of the support theme that I was focusing on; Slate would instead have a whole new set of quirks, including paranoia, asocial behavior, a peeping tom personality, a dependence on the quantum network (much like some people experience internet dependence) and more. The character (and most of the node) was inspired by “L” from the series Death Note. For those curious, his “peeping tom” aspect was the result of watching too many UEF soap operas in the hope of finding “secret messages” imbedded into them.

Instead of using Desjar, I focused on Weisman (since again, reader pressure kept me from killing Desjar…. ). I focused on his past and created his role as a “duelist” based on a few multi-player games on Seton’s Clutch. I always found those games fascinating because the point man has the role of either holding back the enemy or piercing the early line of defense.

While I am not a duelist by far, I experienced both Weisman’s greatest success and his greatest failure. I had a game where I single handily held of the very large tier 1 land armies of three players with a judicious use of walls, tier 2 point defense turrets, a few units and my ACU. I also failed catastrophically as the rear man, failing to produce experimentals or advanced units and watching the front line crumble while being (rightfully) blamed for it. So yeah, actual inspiration from the game.

While I drew on the series Battlestar Galactica to create the character of Aurium, I created Ferguson from scratch. I wanted him to be a man who would have his own kind of deep faith, one that would unsettle even a member of the Illuminate. There were multiple hints that Ferguson had actually met Arnold and Desjar and I had plans to make a short story about it. In it, both Ferguson and Aurium were rescue pilots.

Part of the mini-story involved the pendant that Ferguson gives to Weisman in the end of book 9. It was actually a pendant that a civilian gave Ferguson before he flew back to the front line to rescue Aurium (who had crashed). While on the way back, Ferguson’s transport gets critically damaged and he utters a prayer before going through a last mad dash through an underground pass which gets them to safety behind their line, but they still crash. Aurium was to pull Ferguson from the burning cockpit, the fire having severely damaged his piloting hand and melting the pendant beyond recognition. The melted pendant then became the new symbol of Ferguson’s personal faith. That was the mini-story in a nutshell.

Then there was the matter of the Exiles that were brought on the Titan. While I did create a love triangle, I knew from the get go that I did not want it to work. I wanted Melissa and Foil’s relationship to be the exception and not the rule. Otherwise, everything worked exactly as planned and my only regret was that Tamias’ name looked a bit too much like Thalia which I considered confusing at times.

It also allowed me to introduce readers to two types of technologies; the Illuminate’s healing technology (which I made almost alien since it was so advanced) and their power suits (which I would later take advantage of). While the Assumpta had the monopoly on plasma blades and other cutting things, I wanted the Illuminate’s suit to be more than just a flashy fashion statement.

For those wondering, the “immortality” effect of the quantum engine was introduced for two reasons. One, it would explain why the Seraphim had such long lives and why they counted the passage of time in “lifetimes”. The second was that it would allow me to explain why memorable characters could be far older than they seemed in other books. More specifically, it would explain why Bagby would still be around when Dostya’s clone would be maturing (and I had plans to introduce her clone not long after I felt “cheated” from her death in Forged Alliance).

A few other notes:
- The part where Brian explains the results of a core failure is actually taken from my mandatory annual reading book at work (on how a small percentage of failure would cause massive problems in different sectors).
- I actually had to do a lot of research into space travel to make some of this stuff believable.
- When Slate gets cornered in the Titan and says “excuse me… please”, I had the same scene from the movie Hancock playing in my mind.
- The scene where Ferguson talks about his medal in his office and says “the medal says I saved a senator” was inspired by a similar scene in the original Karate Kid 2 (*puts hand on chest* “this say you brave” *motions towards medal* “this say you lucky”).
- The scene where Slate says “He’s in good hands” before slamming his hand to wake himself was inspired by a long ago quote in Darkwing Duck “oh please, I know this like the back of my hand” *looks at his hand* “wait, what’s that?”
- When Bagby said he “broke his F5 key”, it was in reference to many posts and gifs showing readers pressing the F5 key while awaiting the next chapter.
- Although it was only implied in the end, yes, Hex-Five leaked the information that led to the Titan’s destruction and Clarke’s death (the opening movie in Forged Alliance).
- If you read Chapter 8’s beginning again, you’ll see that it was full of innuendos (purposely set there to confuse readers).
- When Weisman’s ACU nearly explodes, the quantum surge allows him to see the Princess who is still in transit between the quantum realm and her mortal shell.

Onward to book 10!

Then I'll just start pressing F5

*clear throat*
i think you mean



also i saw you go ahead and write that mini-story if you have the time, would be awesome, and wouldn't hurt


edit: lawl the gif broke

Enjoyed reading the thoughts on the book. I also appreciated the nod towards "K-19 The Widowmaker." Being a wannabe submariner it is one of my favorite sub movies.

I don't think that I would have to write that mini stories, to be honest. I have work, dancing and now a gf in the picture, yay!

YAY I'm happy for you.

But that's no reason to start slacking. Where's book 10?

It's online right now

Cool!

And suddenly half a day's been spent on reading a book.

BTW dots, what were your thoughts and ideas when you wrote it?

And now, a few thoughts on book 10:

Although I had set the stage in previous books and the game had set me on this course, the fact remained that book 10 was one of the hardest to write on a personal level. The first chapter was especially hard and still gets me misty eyed even to this day. I knew that readers expected that Dostya would eventually die (because the game said she would), but I had masked her death by first making it appear like the book would just be a crazy day in Bagby’s fun filled life. Considering how sad it makes me whenever I read that chapter, I think that I might have done too much of a good job.

One scene used to deceive readers in the first chapter was with Sandy, the UEF mechanic who had contemplated suicide. I thought it would be interesting to switch current attraction mechanics upside down; to have every Cybran women being “thin as models” not because they wanted to, but because most of their food tasted like crap. In such a setting, actually sporting a few curves would be seen as attractive by Cybrans. Back in those days, I also wished that everyone could just pin their headsets on their chest in real life to tell that they were looking for someone. It looked so much more efficient and boy would life be easier if it was, but I’m getting side tracked .

From that point on, everything that happened centered around Dostya’s death in one way or another:

Once Dostya’s death was confirmed, I thought it interesting that Desjar would be the one to review the pilot’s (you, the player / reader) replay, whichever faction it might be. I liked the thought that whatever happened, the player / reader would not imagine himself being blamed for what happened to Dostya. Desjar would also be the first who, having a deeper understanding of Cybrans, would immediately make preparations for when things would turn ugly.

Those preparations, supported by many others key characters like General Hall, would be the key that would push Fletcher over the edge. In the game, Fletcher betrays the Alliance during the last mission, vying for UEF supremacy in the conflict. That decision seemed all too sudden (and illogical in its execution), hence why I decided to include Fletcher in the book as a loyal officer who had too often fallen on the bad side of decisions made for the best interest of the Alliance.

The confrontation between Slate and Brian where Slate flips out and lashes out angrily at everyone was inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the episode where Anya (former demon) does not know how to express or cope with her grief concerning the death of Buffy’s mother. I thought it appropriate that Slate, as asocial as he was, would feel guilty and try to make things right using the only thing that he knew how to do.

In terms of grieving, I pictured Valerie trying to honor Dostya’s memory in an Assumpta way while being supported by her husband, only to be side tracked by Bagby’s quest for revenge. This book allowed me to give readers a first solid view of how cruel and savage the Assumpta Node could be with the brothel scene. For those wondering, a certain level of inspiration was taken from the Drows from the Forgotten Realm universe and R.A. Salvatores’ work (with less sexism involved and centered mostly on the struggle for station).

Another powerful moment was Vitter’s interrogation at the hand of the Commandos. Since the beginning of the saga, Keith, Queren and Sjet were mostly seen as the “good guys” in the Cybran Nation, but I wanted to underline that while they held on to their humanity, that they were capable of terrible things when needed (and had probably done so in the past). I wanted to confuse readers into thinking that Keith was the only one to go berserk and have a dark side, only to have Queren save Vitter for a far darker purpose and perform an interrogation with Sjet’s joking nature gave way to silent approval. Most importantly, I wanted readers to see things from Thalia’s perspective; of someone with an innocent heart having a moral dilemma to interfere in the name of righteousness or to do nothing to save her friend. This was a dark scene indeed…

While his role was kept silent until the end, Redfog was another character who was impacted by Dostya’s death. I thought it appropriate that this would be one of the rare times where he would be furious and when he would be at a loss to understand how he could be so angry. His attack against the Seven Hand Node would be his way to pay tribute to someone that he would have had a semblance of a human relation with mixed with a certain level of respect.

Meanwhile, I did my best to bring to life my vision of the Seven Hand Node. The concept was to have every pilot have a vice: cosmetic surgery, drugs, power trips, deviant urges and such that only Hex-Five could fill (and use to maintain his power base). Amongst those pilots was Teco, a Cybran who had fallen into grief, despair and drugs after the loss of his child. I thought it interesting to have that pilot prove almost a match for Bagby, only to have the former transmit a video that showed that Bagby and Dostya had been the ones responsible for giving him his last true and happy family memory. In that way, Teco was illustrated as a twisted version of Bagby, one that suddenly shared his grief over a lost child and struck back at Hex-Five.

Sadly, the game very specifically showed that Bagby would not be the one to kill Hex-Five (the player would) which is why I had Thalia stop him before he could keep going to his death. Then, when Bagby returned to the node, I had him address the champions (you) and cry out with all of his heart to set things right again. That, amongst it all, is what I felt was missing to make mission 5 more heart gripping. So all three Champions would go after Hex-Five, but only one of them (the one controlled by the player) would be the one to catch up to him and finish the job.

The grief did not end there, however, hence the scene with the tree acting as Dostya’s burial ground. I considered many different endings including one where Dostya’s younger brother would somehow resurface with all the drama and conflicts that it entailed. Instead, I opted to have Dostya being the last surviving member of her family to illustrate the fullness of the tragedy and have Bagby truly broken. News of Hex-Five’s demise would be downplayed, leaving the player free to imagine his own appropriate scenario as he played through Forged Alliance’s fifth mission.

The scene that followed was perhaps one of the most powerful moments in the saga; Thalia’s rise to try and inspire everyone like Bagby would have, only to realize that she could not. There was nothing that she could say to unite them all, no words that could truly convey what was needed. I had that frustration rise until it exploded into a single emotion that translates best in a single word: enough!... which is related to the title of the book.

There were many possible interpretations to title “one voice”. It could be Dostya’s messages to each people that she cared, Thalia begging Bagby to stop because she needed him (and saving his life in the process) or Bagby’s plea to the Champions. Another interpretation, one more subtle, was that humanity had finally manage to speak in a single voice; not a word or an ideal, but just a tremor of righteous fury and rage that would unite us all and say: no more!

Although I might have blown through it too quickly, I wanted to illustrate that the final mission on Earth, the one that the player takes place in, was only possible because everyone was attacking the Seraphim’s front line. I wanted players to imagine that while they were fighting off the Seraphim; Desjar, Valerie, Thalia, Kazuo and everyone else was fighting with everything they had just go give them that chance.

While I believed that my work was done, I could not in good conscience leave Bagby broken like that at the end of the book (I felt cheated by Dostya’s death enough as it was). Hence why I created the one thing that could renew Bagby’s hope; a clone of Dostya (like a daughter), brought on by Doctor Brackman and hidden in a similar way as his son. Back then, I did not know how I would use her later, but I had a feeling that she would play a pivotal role (and she did). I felt that this was the only way to make it into a right ending and somehow, I was certain that this was exactly the kind of thing that Doctor Brackman would do.

A few other notes:
- When Bagby sings “It’s the beginning of a brand new day! A day filled with hope!”, the song was taken from the anime series Gantz (which is also very dark).
- The giant that Thalia collides with when she gets back to the node was the same one that ran after Bagby (hence why he felt guilty and let her go, even with her power armor on).
- When I had Bagby say “someone might be in need of a good tutorial”, I secretly fostered the hope that people at GPG would catch on and maybe have Bagby give a tutorial in Supreme Commander 2 (now that would have been awesome while barely requiring any efforts from them). Sadly that was not the case although after seeing the story in Supreme Commander 2, I’m sort of glad that they did not.
- The concept of a pilot being “water crushed to death” was inspired by the movie Abyss.
- The intended recipient for each “small letter” were:

Chapter 2: Desjar
Chapter 3: Valerie
Chapter 4: Redfog
Chapter 5: Queren
Chapter 6: Ell
Chapter 7: Kazuo
Chapter 8: Hall
Chapter 9: Bob
Chapter 10: Brackman

And that’s it for now. More later!

By the way, there might be a big surprise next weekend, but I'm keeping it under wraps for now.

God, I had that exact same thought when I read that section...

And even after the books you still manage to keep us on our seats (whats the surprise?)

i love this scene, my fav outta the whole book prob.

i STILL cry whenever i read the first chapter, hell just thinking about it makes my eyes water. every time i read it i update my msn status to "DOSTYA NOOOOOOO, WHHHHYYYYYY!?!?!" lol

SURPRISE?!?

can't wait lol

And now for the surprise!

Book 11 online!

Book 12 online!

Book 13 online!

Enjoy!

BEST EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER!!!!

Now this is indeed an excellent surprise, and thank-you!

Just to confirm; I did not somehow invent a time machine. I was acutely aware that book 11, 12 and 13 were longer than the others. So instead of releasing each book when they were ready, I kept a time table of 2 week each so that I'd have time enough to complete those 3 books without unwanted delays. Now that they were all done, however, I saw no point in keeping them back

I'll post my impressions on those books a bit later. With Christmas coming in, I"m afraid that my attention is a bit elsewhere at the moment. Have fun everyone!

Have fun with Christmas!

Here are now my thoughts on book 11 at the time:

When I started working on book 11, I did so with the knowledge that Supreme Commander 2 was in development, but with no clear indication of what the story would be like. I took a wild guess that there would be tensions between factions, perhaps leading to a resurgence of the Infinite War but again, I was not sure. So I needed to buy time and I used the student exchange program to do it while keeping the title of the book “the Kidimer Incident” a secret that would only come to light at the very end. My overall plan was to introduce plot hooks which I would later use in book 12.

While I could have held the student exchange program in any of the three factions (and the programs in the other two factions would have been interesting to write), I decided to focus on the Illuminate one. The Seraphim War had already explored the Cybran world a lot and the UEF would have felt a bit too familiar. The Illuminate way of life, however, was still up for grabs. Right off the bat, I knew that I would give the Cybrans a hard time on that one. Cultural wise, I pictured the Cybrans in one corner, the Illuminate in the other and the UEF in between. The UEF would share similar pop culture reference with the Cybrans (because the Cybrans pirated the quantum network) and they would share some traditions with the Illuminate (because some would have been carried over from the “old days” such as table manners). Cybrans and Illuminate, however, were meant to be as culturally apart as possible.

For this book, I introduced a whole new cast of characters:

Kaeden: he was meant to be the equivalent of Marxon, but in a time of peace. He would be constrained by his society’s culture which would include a good dose of sexism. More importantly, I wanted the shadow of Marxon to loom over his shoulders and for his instructors to be afraid that he could follow the same path. I made that association clear enough since many readers automatically linked him to Marxon early on. In Kaeden’s case, however, I made it so that the student exchange program and Melissa’s input would change him for the better, both as a pilot and a human being.

Iole: she would be the pilot born in a traditional setting with a high station who would suddenly find her authority and level of competence challenged by the exchange pilots. Instead of merely making her having a hard time accepting other ways of thinking like Rhiza, I wanted Iole to display some failings as part of her personal relation with Kaeden and her Jealousy with Melissa. I wanted to show that no matter how enlighten The Way was, that people in the Illuminate had their failings and could be as human as the rest of us.

Deana: she was meant to be the curious one; the pilot who was more attuned with The Way than the others, but not in a position to fix things. I have to admit that her role was rather small, but it served its purpose.

Melissa: while she had been shown extensively in the other books, I kept a few surprises in store for Melissa. A UEF born pilot who had been influenced by Cybran culture during the Seraphim War, I quickly transformed her journey so that it would not be merely a vacation between lovers. I wanted her father’s legacy to suddenly become a great responsibility and transform into a level of station that the Illuminate would recognize. This would immediately put her in the spotlight and make her a political rival for Iole. More importantly, I knew that I would put her in a position where she would have to choose between Foil and her duty… and since this book was about introducing tensions before Supreme Commander 2, I did not want it to end well.

Stokes: he was a special case and a joy to play with. I was very familiar with the concept of the anti-hero with Redfog sometimes being cast into that light and movies like Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick being inspirations. With Stokes, I wanted to go with the concept of the anti-villain. While he was conforming himself to the student exchange program on the surface, deep down, he wanted to get an edge on the other factions by learning their weaknesses. He firmly believed that the Infinite War was fated to happen all over again and that he would be there to fight when it did.

He never trusted the exchange pilots from the other factions, but he was willing to work alongside them, even in a near suicidal mission, if it meant exposing their true aggressors for the rest of the Alliance. He risked his life multiple times not to save them because he liked them, but because they needed the pilots and could not afford to lose any. When he tried to self-destruct to kill the Assumpta pilot, he did not do it to save Tie or Foil, but rather only because he knew that he could not escape and that if he died, he at least wanted to drag his enemy to hell with him. In the end, he was still recognized for his bravery and courage, which allowed him to change his views a little bit concerning the other factions. He still remained pragmatic, however, and fiercely loyal only to the UEF.

Anders: aside from playing the comic relief, Anders was to embody the UEF bureaucratic system gone wrong. Eager to bolster its ranks, the UEF would loosen its filters for ACU pilots up to the point where a pilot chosen for the exchange program got in with the sole reason of fraternizing with Illuminate women. In the end, Anders had the skills and reflexes to be a good pilot, but simply not the raw courage that it took to do what was necessary, even if that meant going on a near suicidal mission.

Foil: he was there for Melissa of course, but unlike the others, I wanted him to remain unchanged by the past few years. I wanted him to remain the charismatic leader who was more worried about the fate of the people under him than about the big picture. This would become part of the tension that would be introduced between him and Melissa.

Nial: while Nial had been introduced before, I only developed her character here. I wanted her to fully embrace her Red Skull heritage; being though, funny, loud and proud. I did not keep her character two dimensional, however, and it was shown in the Evaluator’s office that Nial had only embraced her Red Skull heritage of the sake of her little brother after a great tragedy. Deep down, I wanted her to have a secret “girly” part that she would keep hidden and a long lost crush on Foil that she would have moved beyond. While she did fill in for Bagby a bit, I wanted her to push one step further, having a casual attitude towards sex up to the point of terrorizing confused illuminate dancers. Now writing that part was fun!

Tie: drawing inspiration from Shino Aburame (Naruto), I wanted Tie to show a new dimension of the Chimera Node. Instead of being obsessive and compulsive like Slate, Tie would be the mysterious schemer, one with an uncanny piloting skill and acute mind. I purposely wrote it so that he would look like he was up to no good, but Tie was only truly busy playing his own game. He would become Kaeden’s rival, openly taunting and manipulating him for his own end and worse, actually succeeding. Deep down, however, Tie was fiercely loyal to his friends and cared for them deeply, taking Nial’s apparent death very hard and going berserk when it seemed that Foil would meet a similar fate.

All of these characters would set the play for the great drama that would follow. While writing the book, I placed some emphasis on a certain sense of paranoia and suggested to readers that maybe there was a traitor amongst the pilots. This was to put readers in the same frame of mind as the pilot who were fighting alongside allies… or were they? As it turned out, there had not been a single traitor in the lot which caused many pilots to reexamine their beliefs after they almost turned on each other.

I also created multiple love triangles to keep readers guessing: Melissa-Kaeden-Iole, Foil-Melissa-Kaeden, Melissa-Foil-Nial, etc. Only one of those was meant to bear fruits in the long run, but I found it interesting to keep readers guessing as to which way it could go.

Most of the book also helped illustrate the differences between the Cybran culture that we had known compared to the Illuminate: huge rooms, salads instead of nutrients (writing that scene was a load of fun), training methods and such. I especially liked the exchange between the Evaluator and Foil over the rules of the exchange program with Foil quite willing to stand by his position (which to his credit, made a whole lot of sense by Cybran standards).

Although at first it was disguised as a side plot, the Seraphim’s surrender was actually the main “galaxy impacting” arc of the story and the source of the title. The torture session in which the Seraphim clearly admitted that he regretted nothing when it came to invading humanity was simply to show how alien their train of thought was (in which the past is irrelevant). That scene completely obliterated Weisman’s sense of sympathy for the alien…which made the scene with both him and Redfog flying together all the more poignant. I wanted readers to wonder for a moment what they would do in Weisman’s shoes. Would they try to look beyond a human’s train of thought and oppose the assassin or would they merely cooperate and be passive participants in a murder? Overall it was… interesting.

Finally, one of the main themes of the book was how hard maintaining peace actually could be (especially without a common enemy). I wanted readers to realize that stopping bullets is one thing, but achieving true peace takes a lot of efforts, compromises and such. Simply “not fighting” is not enough. In this case, although the pilots had managed to cooperate, Melissa was the first to admit that they had failed with the net result being that their core group of friends had grown apart as a result.

Other random facts:
- The UEF drill sergeant scene was adapted by what I could find on Wikipedia for the US army. So if any of it sounds familiar then there’s a good reason.
- Redfog’s attack of the Seraphim and his cry of “do it” was inspired by Watchmen.
- The ballroom scene was inspired by my own introduction to ballroom at the time (which I have been following for the past two years).
- It may sound silly that Nial did not know how to put on her dress, but I heard first witness accounts that it did happen for a ballroom performance, no less.
- Kaeden kicking Melissa’s show free is also something that I know happened at a ballroom competition.
- The line “that’s it, game over!” was taken from Aliens (of course).
- Ander’s “I’m not dying for them!” was taken from Pitch Black.
- The combat training mission using markers was inspired by paintball games (none of which were that cool, unfortunately).
- The way that Cybrans used square pieces of cloth to make ninja masks is actually a read one that I learned from an old Nintendo Power magazine (a long, long time ago).
- Originally, I had the notion of Queren saying: “good soup” in the final scene only to have Bagby to tell him to shut up, but I decided to keep his first official words for later instead.
- You guys can’t begin to imagine the amount of test to make sure that a tier 3 army could be slowed down by a tier 2 army. It took hours upon hours of sandboxing before it could be believable.

And this concludes book 11. I’ll be working on my feedback for book 12 and 13 next.

It always takes more effort to slow a T3 army with a T2 army, than you originally think it'll take.

If you are defending, and If your attacker is Cybran.
Well, at least you have shields on your side.

Given, that the defender has effectively the advantages of: picking the terrain, and time. I would postulate that one would see a whole lot of the 'big' T2 units (stationary artillery, tactical missiles, etc...); though the enemy army being mostly loyalists just might nex the tac-missiles option.