Can an eccentric financier on the cusp of middle age find the greatness he feels has eluded him by successfully confronting a beautiful enemy leader on the battlefield in a far-off war?
That is the story question.
Welcome to the first of the five serials I promised you when 2022 began: The Fall of the Fated Queen. The first chapter of this first serial is now out, which you can find by clicking here. The second won’t be too far behind it. The third is now in the works. The first two chapters will be free. You can follow the entire serial at my Patreon page.
This is a day of great magnitude for me. I have worked on creating this universe and its mythos since 2008. Now, thanks to your support, I’m finally publishing work set in that universe for the first time!
What’s the chapter about, you ask?
Chapter 1 Synopsis
The Woman Warrior, a World Away
War is imminent in the eastern hemisphere of Mars. Watching from far away in the great city of Sumgin in the southwest, a successful, but unsatisfied 38-year-old financier sees a beautiful commander leading the great bullies of the east. Might this contradiction give him a clue about the one thing that’s always eluded him? Will she be able to show him what true greatness is?
His decision in response to these questions will define the rest of his life. Be sure to click here and join my email list to stay up to date with the serial (and get other goodies besides).
More Background
You saw the story question above. The following sentence highlights the story concept:
What if an eccentric financier approaching middle age thought he could find the greatness he feels has eluded him by attempting to fight in a far-off war and confront a beautiful enemy leader?
Likewise, if I could summarize the story in only one sentence, this would be it:
The Fall of the Fated Queen is about how a 38-year-old eccentric and dissatisfied financier, feeling insecure about his coming middle age, tries to find true greatness by leaving his life of security to fight in a war far from home, where he will need to overcome all temptations of comfort and the familiar in order confront a beautiful enemy leader on the battlefield, who he thinks may have the answer he seeks.
The Fall of the Fated Queen takes place in the generation before the great interplanetary conflict at the heart of The Red War (which is still only a working title for the large epic I’ve been working on for years). Like the other four 2022 serials set in this universe, it will act as a tie-in. The Fall of the Fated Queen will likely be the longest of the five. The 38-year-old financier mentioned in the story question appears again in The Red War.
This story and the others in its universe can be ascribed to both the space opera and military science fiction subgenres, if one had to categorize it. That is what they will eventually be published under in Amazon.
However, I eschew overly technical details and try to focus on the characters and moral questions which matter most, and which readers will always be interested in. This is soft, rather than hard science fiction.
Publication Details
The Fall of the Fated Queen will be originally published as a 15-chapter serial. When it and the other four companion stories are finished, it will be part of a compilation book featuring all five. My aim is to get that out before the end of the year.
You can find chapter one here.
The entire series will be on my Patreon under the $10 tier. The first entry is free. Keep in touch. I will tell you when other chapters become available. The second will likely come next week.
Again, thanks for sticking with me and making this possible. I hope you enjoy the story. Please give me your feedback! It would be greatly appreciated.
PS: I’m looking for an illustrator to do a map of my Mars, and maybe more. What you saw above is just a useful shorthand to get you familiar with the terrain. The actual situation on the planet is quite different.
I’m also looking for more beta readers. If interested, contact me.
