Connecting the past of Astra to the present
A humble request
Hi friends! Today I come to you with a request, but also some updates!
First off, let’s start with the request. You see, last November to December I posted The Trial of Isolation parts 1-4. This was my first serial! A lot of you found me and subscribed to me during this time which was really cool, but since then, my subscriber count has more than doubled! This is so awesome and unexpected BUT because of that we have a small issue.
You see, the next story (it should be two parts) will be a sort of epilogue to Isolation. You certainly could read it without reading Isolation, but I don’t think it will have the same impact. Now I recognize in the world of short stories and flash fiction, asking you to read another serialized story before reading a different serialized story can be a big ask. That’s okay! You don’t have to! But I think Isolation is a pretty solid story that’s worth a read (though I’ll admit my editorial skills have improved significantly in the past 6 months so you may find slightly more mistakes), with really important implications for the world of Astra, so maybe give it a chance.
So all that being said, travel back in time, about 700 years before Akashi’s story, and see a different war, from a different perspective in The Trial of Isolation…
Trial of Isolation Part 1
Centuries before The End, there was an event that risked triggering the apocalypse much sooner. This is now referred to by historians as the Trial of Isolation. In this time, the fabled Valley of Reclamation had to make a choice that became a turning point in their history. The Valley was an isolated city-state nestled between deeply forested mountains.…
Trial of Isolation part 2
When Vey stepped into the council chambers, Cherize and Dantly stood guard outside the doors. As her confidants, they were bound to go where she went, and further yet, as her closest friends they were bound by their love for each other. Cherize was Vey’s life partner by tradition. The Valley thought very highly of the bond between civil servants and the…
Trial of Isolation part 3
The ship jetted over the barren war-torn landscape towards the front. Vey went on for hours about her knowledge of the outside world. She was a walking encyclopedia on everything, and she wanted to be sure her companions knew. At first Cherize listened on with curiosity, but as time passed, she began to drift away. She barely slept the night before and …
Trial of Isolation part 4
Days passed. The negotiations lasted from sunrise to sunset each day. By the end of the moon cycle, Vey’s tired weary eyes gleamed with pride. Sandsum was defeated, and Caminala had begun saying yes to anything put in front of her - which Lady Vey took as a sign of victory on her part. Dantly had continued sending his regular nightly updates to the counc…
Trial of Isolation: A retrospective
Hi friends, I wanted to take this week to discuss and break down my little mini serial that went out over the past 4 weeks or so. I want to talk about some of the history behind it, some of the pitfalls I had in the process of writing it, and things I just generally want to address. This will be fairly informal and laid back compared to my usual post, s…
Alright now that all that’s out of the way, next week will be a sort of epilogue/connecting story that will link this ancient time in Astra’s history to the modern story I’m telling. This linking story will be two parts and will be known as The Master Protocol. Stay tuned next week for part 1!
After that I have a loose upcoming schedule…
First, we will have a sci-fi today post
After that, we will have a story based on the sci-fi today post. I’m pretty excited for that!
Then I will be sharing Marrow Chronicle Episode 1: Mrs. Stone in Marrow Falls.
Then I believe I will start to serialize the next part of Akashi and Celie’s story in A Peacekeeper’s Oath.
Beyond that…
The Dragon Mother’s Chosen may or may not come out one of these days… maybe.
The beginning of The End will be coming soon and that should be pretty cool.
I’ll be sporadically sharing episodes of Marrow Chronicle every now and then.
There will probably be some fun horror stories mixed in there. A lot of people have been waiting to a sort of sequel to On Your Shoulder, and I have some ideas in mind for that that I think I will be utilizing in the near future.
Also, I’m almost 2 months away from having been on substack for a year! How cool is that? Gosh, how time flies. Thank you to everyone who has been so kind and supportive during all this. You would not believe how much this has helped me overcome my anxiety, sharing my work, and motivated me to improve my writing and editing skills. I’m very proud if you couldn’t tell.
With all that being said, please check out The Trial of Isolation and stay tuned next week for part 1 of The Master Protocol!
See you on the other side…
Looking forward to this!! I was one of those readers who stumbled across the Trial of Isolation and subscribed, and your writing has gone from strength to strength since then so I'm excited about this next part!
I’ve been meaning to catch up on my reading! Just curious are you also considering writing a summary of the work so far so newbies can jump right in with a bit of context?