i still haven't finished but wanted to say how impressed i am with your world building. And also your patience, stringing this narrative along so effortlessly. I love imagining Astra. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Jon! I look forward to you making it to the end, but for now I'm honored and humbled that you decided to give my serial a chance and that you're enjoying it. Thank you!
A good ending. But endings always leave something in me. An urge to go back and read it all again, which I probably will. I hope to read the retrospective soon. Thanks for sharing this ;-)
I liked the whole story. Especially the end. The reality that some people will just never accept that they were wrong, and will lash out at anyone challenging their superiority complex. And then the new beginning, because sometimes the best act is to just start over somewhere fresh.
Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed that. It wasn't actually in the original draft and I just felt like it needed to be there so I'm glad it resonated with you! It's been exciting to get notifications after it's been posted of people like you reading even after I stopped serializing. Honestly that's been the coolest thing about serializing: the people who read AFTER. It's a sort of delayed gratification!
I'll have to read the retrospective post now, to learn how you wrote it. It was great to read through it on my own time. I appreciate you having it up on your substack, and I know the feeling of watching likes/views tick up on each part of a serial as you go.
Outstanding, L.L. This left me with the same feeling as the last chapter of a good novel: happy to have read the story, but also melancholy because it's reached the end. Bittersweet.
There are tons of pieces from this that will stick with me for a long time. Akashi's Aunt - she had such a distinct personality, it was "Not mad, just disappointed" in the flesh. The battle scenes - Akashi lying under the insect god with its blood dripping onto him, and also that single image of the rifle shot turning sand into glass as it arced through the storm.
What impressed me most across the whole story? Akashi's growth. You did a masterful job of painting real character change and development - from a child of war, to a veteran of it - while still maintaining that impulsive, rulebreaking core of the character. I said it early on in Children of War, but I'll say it again - his was one of the best character arc's I've seen, on substack or elsewhere.
Thank you so so much. This has all made me so proud. I'm grateful that you've been following along, and I'm so glad you've enjoyed this so much! Thank you and I'll catch you on the next one!
Absolutely incredible I am tearing up again over here but I'm not going to be rage calling you about the cliffhanger like last time 😂 tearing up for the end of reading this!
I'm so glad the landing hit with you! Thank you for following along with this! I've appreciated your comments so much along the way (Not that this means I expect you to always comment, but just know that your comments are appreciated when you feel it right to make them!)
Very well written! I was a little dumbstruck when the people of the Calt became part of the Collective. I suppose that’s what the Collective wanted all along though. “Join us or die! We’ll take your resources either way.” But enter in - Paradia. Hopefully, we’ll get to learn about Akashi’s fate there. Does it pan out to be the Utopian city it is advertised to be, or does the Collective secretly have a grip there as well.
Now, if The Southern Calt is the only part of the story I have read thus far, where should I go from here?
If you're curious about the process of that - I totally skipped the peace negotiations because I wasn't interested in writing them (lol), but I will note that I always saw it as it'd be better to join them as equals than to be forced to join them as servants. And part of that deal will inevitably gut Cain from the inside out, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway! If you want to follow along with Akashi's story from there, I recommend starting 'A Peacekeeper’s Oath'
If you go to my page, the pinned post is the timeline of all the stories in Astra so far! You can read anywhere you'd like, but to continue on with the timeline from where you left off, that's what I'd recommend!
i still haven't finished but wanted to say how impressed i am with your world building. And also your patience, stringing this narrative along so effortlessly. I love imagining Astra. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Jon! I look forward to you making it to the end, but for now I'm honored and humbled that you decided to give my serial a chance and that you're enjoying it. Thank you!
A good ending. But endings always leave something in me. An urge to go back and read it all again, which I probably will. I hope to read the retrospective soon. Thanks for sharing this ;-)
Thank you! I hope its as enjoyable the second go around!
I liked the whole story. Especially the end. The reality that some people will just never accept that they were wrong, and will lash out at anyone challenging their superiority complex. And then the new beginning, because sometimes the best act is to just start over somewhere fresh.
Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed that. It wasn't actually in the original draft and I just felt like it needed to be there so I'm glad it resonated with you! It's been exciting to get notifications after it's been posted of people like you reading even after I stopped serializing. Honestly that's been the coolest thing about serializing: the people who read AFTER. It's a sort of delayed gratification!
I'll have to read the retrospective post now, to learn how you wrote it. It was great to read through it on my own time. I appreciate you having it up on your substack, and I know the feeling of watching likes/views tick up on each part of a serial as you go.
Outstanding, L.L. This left me with the same feeling as the last chapter of a good novel: happy to have read the story, but also melancholy because it's reached the end. Bittersweet.
There are tons of pieces from this that will stick with me for a long time. Akashi's Aunt - she had such a distinct personality, it was "Not mad, just disappointed" in the flesh. The battle scenes - Akashi lying under the insect god with its blood dripping onto him, and also that single image of the rifle shot turning sand into glass as it arced through the storm.
What impressed me most across the whole story? Akashi's growth. You did a masterful job of painting real character change and development - from a child of war, to a veteran of it - while still maintaining that impulsive, rulebreaking core of the character. I said it early on in Children of War, but I'll say it again - his was one of the best character arc's I've seen, on substack or elsewhere.
Congratulations. Take a well-earned bow.
Thank you so so much. This has all made me so proud. I'm grateful that you've been following along, and I'm so glad you've enjoyed this so much! Thank you and I'll catch you on the next one!
Absolutely incredible I am tearing up again over here but I'm not going to be rage calling you about the cliffhanger like last time 😂 tearing up for the end of reading this!
Perfect ending! The disappointment when things back home don't turn out the way he expected, then the offer of a new start - spot on.
I'm so glad the landing hit with you! Thank you for following along with this! I've appreciated your comments so much along the way (Not that this means I expect you to always comment, but just know that your comments are appreciated when you feel it right to make them!)
Thank you for taking me on this journey. Loved every word of this story!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading along!
Very well written! I was a little dumbstruck when the people of the Calt became part of the Collective. I suppose that’s what the Collective wanted all along though. “Join us or die! We’ll take your resources either way.” But enter in - Paradia. Hopefully, we’ll get to learn about Akashi’s fate there. Does it pan out to be the Utopian city it is advertised to be, or does the Collective secretly have a grip there as well.
Now, if The Southern Calt is the only part of the story I have read thus far, where should I go from here?
If you're curious about the process of that - I totally skipped the peace negotiations because I wasn't interested in writing them (lol), but I will note that I always saw it as it'd be better to join them as equals than to be forced to join them as servants. And part of that deal will inevitably gut Cain from the inside out, but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway! If you want to follow along with Akashi's story from there, I recommend starting 'A Peacekeeper’s Oath'
If you go to my page, the pinned post is the timeline of all the stories in Astra so far! You can read anywhere you'd like, but to continue on with the timeline from where you left off, that's what I'd recommend!
Excellent! I will go check that out!