In each of the manuscripts we’ve delivered, there have been grammatical errors. It’s not for lack of work on our part, it’s just part of what you sign up for when you produce a work with a hundred thousand or so words. What is unusual is when we actually drop a few paragraphs, which is what has happened with A Matter of Honor at the end of the War Council chapter. Fortunately, I’ve received the reports and fixed the manuscript. For those of you who haven’t received the update and need this information now, I’m including it here. Sorry for the confusion and thanks to both Dave and Gunner for reporting it to me.
Perigen did as was requested and the tip of the blade disappeared into Corget To. Upon seeing this he pulled it out. The first three centimeters of tip showed green blood and a rivulet dripped from the fresh wound on Corget To’s chest.
A collective roar of anger was heard from the assembled elders, who’d jumped to their feet and were gesticulating angrily.
“Brothers, quiet.” Corget To attempted to settle the group and it took him several minutes to do so.
He continued. “The time of war has come for us all. We must once again weave the heavy ropes so that we might pull the doors away from their nest. TeePa was right to do so and he accomplished more than any elder before him. But we will go beyond TeePa. We will pull all of their doors down and march into their grand nest with two hundred nests of our own.”
“It will be as you say!” Perigen raised his club above his head.
“To war!” Another elder, caught up in the moment yelled as he waved his own club in the air.
Corget To watched with satisfaction as the elders of the mountain clans rose, the song of battle calling to them all. He waited until the noise died to a more manageable level and then shouted above the din. “When the moon rises a second time, we will gather for a great battle, one that will be sung about by our ancestors for seasons unending.”
I finished reading the book. Some ideas have been bouncing around my head since I finished reading the previous book.
The way you described conditions/electrical storms on the planet in Tipperary system and conditions in the city where they started trading, I thought that connection might develop into more of a leadership position for Liam and crew, they would provide the steel to protect the city from the electrical storms and environment in general, help develop/modernize the city, make it more productive and better/safer place to be/to live. The city has its own government/council to run the city, so I thought Liam and crew could become the interface between the city and the rest of the Tipperary system (Nuage, Bellirand, Earth, Mars, etc.).
This latest book put an end to that idea. But boy oh boy, did you raise the bar. Now they have not just city, but a whole planet and to an extend a whole solar system. Since they come from mining background, I am guessing they will start some mining in the asteroid belt, at some point, eventually, obviously not in the next book. Some interesting questions popped into my mind:
– Population. By the end of the book they have 700-800 people? Oh did you write that there was about 600 left in the Keep when the siege was relieved? Not really enough for self sustaining colony… Will they go back to Tipperary and buy slave children from Grunholz, something like kids 2 to 4 years old? Recruit something/somewhere else?
-Ophies… Liam going to need his own marines… Something for maybe 2 or 3 books from now, his own Ophi marines?
-The intro chapter to No Quarter was nice, but… Bellirand knows where he has his base of operations and Bellirand has more and better/bigger ships… Once Liam gets fuel, he would need to fortify his position, which means lots of infrastructure, which means larger than what he has now work force.
You can make a point that those ships, that Bellirand has, that have fold space drive are now too valuable since they are the last ships that have this drive, but the mission seems simple enough, send 4-5 of the 11 ships to destroy the colony on Ophi, hunt down Liam’s sloop and cruiser.
Greetings A – Love your thoughts and I enjoyed reading through them. I can’t say I’ll use everything, but I have to admit I do consider constructive exploration from readers and I appreciate the tone of how you presented your ideas. So.. scrape off to Evernote and filed for the idea pile, the most exciting stories are yet to come!
I have to say I had the same thoughts as ananemous. I figured the team would finally get a break before the next major crisis, and start helping Nannandry modernize the city, so they would be able to harvest more of the biological materials to sell.
One thing I missed in AMOH is the on going development of their mining claim/co-op. One thing I was surprised by in Buccaneers is that they didn’t ask for the claims Grunholz had in the belt. I think it would have been more than fair, considering Belirand or their employees were complicit in what happened.
Since they have the locations of other settled planets, I could see Liam and CO. checking them out, seeing how their populations are doing, and maybe, possibly figuring out a way to get some of the less successful colonies to consolidate on one planet, thereby helping increase the population and giving them a real chance at survival.
I have to say I love the books. I definitely can’t wait for Liam and CO. to get the Cape of Good Hope up and running as a surprise for anyone in Belirand that comes snooping. Thank you Mr. McFarlane, and I wish you the best of luck meeting your target goals for 2016. You definitely have one fan waiting with bated breath for the next book.
Hi Michael –
It’s fun to read how other’s speculate about how things move forward. There are big things happening in Give no Quarter that will open up things ever so much more. I wish I could say more.
Thank you for dropping by and your kind words.
Happy Reading – Jamie