Those seeking an explanation should look at the afterward, right down at the bottom. Otherwise, on with the novels.

The King and the Kitchen Maid Series

This projected trilogy is my pride and joy, and something I hope that I will write some day. I feel a lot more possessive about it than a lot of the other works.

1. The King's Thief

"Moth doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal."

Laoise grew up as an orphan in the teeming Old City of Rhens, on the isle of Renna, with it's massed tenements and it's maze of narrow alleyways. Renna is connected to the Long Island by a series of rickety wooden bridges. Of it's working inhabitants, most work on the docks and shipyards which ring the island, or the warehouses, docks and shipyards of the Long Island next door. Others work servicing the trade brought by the shipping - porters, landlords, barmaids, whores. Perhaps Laoise's mother was one of these. Laoise has only the dimmest recollection of her, her first clear memories are of being turned out of her home and having to fend for herself at age 6, presumably, she puzzled out later, after her mother had died.

Laoise became a beggar, and an errand runner, and a petty thief. She lived in packed tenements and gang houses, under bridges and on roofs. Renna and the Long Island were her world. The other islands of Rhens might have been on the moon for all she knew or cared about them. As she grew, Laoise gradually accumulated around her a group of other, mostly younger and less intelligent children. Eventually this formed into the nucleus of a children's gang, the sandpipers - named for their distinctive gang rallying call - with Laoise as it's leader, prepared always to defend her preeminence with her knife or her fists. By the times she was 14 the Sandpipers controlled half of Renna including the vital access to the Long Island. Their vicious turf battles with their rivals, the dolphins(?) were the stuff of legend and threatened the stability of the island's complicated social structure.

In this way Laoise came to the attention of Kyros, the island's feared crime boss. Eventually a settlement was negotiated between the Pipers and the Fins, with Kyros mediating. An uneasy truce was declared and things went back to normal with crime being more smoothly organized in the slums and Kyros receiving his cut as before. When she was 15 Laoise met someone who would change her life completely. In a bizarre and unlikely adventure, she found herself keeping company with Flavius, the King of Rhens.

He captured her, and, working out who she was, he forced her to become his spy - The King's Thief - reporting to him on the activities of the gangs on the island and the doings of Kyros. This entailed frequent secret trips by night to Mara, the royal island, as well as more open trips to all the other islands in the company of Flavius Ariso, the king's cousin and censor, the man in charge of his secret intelligence service.

Laoise was being trained as an agent, able to move around discretely anywhere on Rhens, investigating things for the king, stealing and spying for him. Then Fate intervened again - or possibly the hidden hand of Kyros intervened. Praying at the temple of Fiama - Goddess of Thieves - Laoise received a mysterious summons and an oracle from the Pythoness. Interpreted by a priest, the mysterious poetic oracle was interpreted to mean that if Laoise did not immediately beak off all communication with the king and his men, the kind would die and the country would be plunged into chaos.

Superstitious Laoise immediately severed all links with Flavius and his secret service, providing no explanations, as she had been instructed by the oracle. The King was furious, he ordered her caught, and when this proved impossible, he declared her outcast and put a price on her head and sentenced her to death. Laoise fled back into the shadowy depths of the underworld, being sheltered by Kyros, her gang now becoming formally integrated into his structure as he began to tighten his grip on the organized crime of the island, and beyond, into the city of Rhens.

Laoise's training was put to good use, but now as an agent of Kyros, not of the King. Then the King died. He led a punitive expedition against the southern barbarians and somehow, unthinkably, they managed to kill him. The entire city mourned for weeks, and there was a period of uncertainty and jostling for power among the great families. All this happened over summer, when the nobles would usually leave the city, but in these uncertain times nobody dared to leave for fear of loosing an advantage.

About this time Laoise met Gias Cornellius, the old King's nephew. In fact, he picked her up on one of his trips to the red light district of Renna. Even then he was known as "Falco" because of his eagle eye for pretty women. With him was Publius Flavius, another member of the royal family, and Falco's friend and drinking companion. The meeting was cautiously friendly on both sides, but it was to have far reaching implications.

Gias Cornellius Falco became King, and Rhens settled in to a more prosperous, peaceful era than what had gone before. It seemed that a minor Golden Age had arrived. Meanwhile Kyros grew more powerful and more daring. Laoise was sent on ever more dangerous and profitable ventures. Finally Kyros sent her to rob the King's own palace on the isle of Mara, drawing on the knowledge gained from her time as the "King's Thief."

The mission was a disaster, and Laoise was caught. Her companions were put to death and Laoise was only spared at the last moment because Cornellius Falco recognized her. He made her swear loyalty to him by all the gods, most particularly by the Goddess of Thieves, Fiama. Not knowing quite what to do with her, he handed her over to Publius Flavius, now his right hand man and controller of his household staff. Mystified, Flavius sent her off to work in the kitchens. Thus Laoise entered her second (or is it third, or fourth?) life - that of a slavvy in the great kitchens of the palace. She was treated very badly, but she had already survived far worse.

Eventually her willpower, guts and intelligence brought her to the attention of Edwina, the head cook. She decided to train Laoise in the arts of cooking, and to nobody's great surprise Laoise excelled at it, eventually becoming a master chef in her own right, sought after by the noble families who tried to poach her, but loyal in her oath of service to the king. One night Kyros sent someone to get her out, and bring her back to Renna. She refused, and was declared anathema, to be killed instantly should she ever set foot on her home island again. She had burnt her bridges.

A year later Kyros was dead and Renna was in turmoil once more, with whole blocks of tenements burnt down in the rioting. Laoise watched then burn from the battlements of the palace of the palace on Mara and she cried, to her memory it was the only time she had ever cried, and she couldn't have said why she was doing it.

Then Loaise came to the attention of Cornellius Falco again. He sent for the cook after a particularly splendid banquet, intending to compliment her. When he realized WHO was cooking his meals he was astonished - he'd never thought to ask how Flavius had put the girl to use, if he thought anything he'd vaguely thought that the city guards might have been able to use her specialized knowledge and that she'd been sent off to them.

When he discovered that she was the junior cook in his kitchens, he was flabbergasted (and probably more than a little alarmed, after all, she could have poisoned him). However his alarm quickly turned to affection. He swept her of her feet in a whirlwind courtship, ending by seducing her. His old tutor, Master Caecelius tried to intervene, trying to pay the girl off and send her way, but she refused his offer, hating him for his patronizing, moralizing interference. She dobbed him in to Falco, who pensioned him off, appointing him librarian at his summer villa in Kerry.

Gradually, however, Falco lost interest in her, and one day Publius Flavius summoned her and informed her of her future. He was instructed to pay her generously in gold and send her away from Mara. She was never to see Cornellius Falco again. Laoise took his money, because she was no stranger to hunger and she was afraid. She felt used, dirty. The next day the King's betrothal to Lady Livia of Ariso was announced.

Laoise could have walked right into a high paying job with any of the noble families of Rhens. Instead, heartbroken, she travelled around the rural towns and cities of the empire in the grandest possible style, spending money like there was no tomorrow. She'd spent most of the money she'd been given - a small fortune - when she realized from her lack of bleeding and the sickness she felt in the mornings, and the tight swelling in her belly that she was pregnant.

She was too proud to return to Rhens to ask the king for more money to support her child. For a couple of days she lived in a black depression, wondering what would happen to her. Her funds were running low and she worried about paying her hotel bill. Finally she pulled herself together and went down to the kitchens to ask about getting a job. The couldn't help her, but the cook did tell her about a noble family who lived on the far side of town who needed a cook.

She stepped outside, intending to go there and she stepped right into a mugging. Ultan and Shawna, a young couple were honeymooning at the hotel. She had seen them around once or twice before. They had been set upon by two thugs in the alley outside, Ultan was holding them off with his sword, his wife crouched behind him. The thieves, long knives drawn, were telling him not to be silly and to hand over his purse before someone got hurt. Never loath, Laoise drew her own knife and plunged into the fray. Coming from their blind side, she achieved total surprise, cutting one of the men seriously - probably mortally - before they could react.

Ultan took that as his cue and he attacked the other man with his sword. The thieves fled, clutching their wounds, their fates unknown. Ultan took both women back into the hotel for a much needed drink. He questioned Laoise and listened to her story (or as much of it as she would tell him) with interest. When he heard that she was looking for work he offered her the job of cook at his father's holding, a small place across the mountains. She accepted, and in gratitude for her assistance, he payed her hotel bill.

They left the next day, riding on his farm wagon. The horses were attended by his groom, a small, dark, rather shy little boy called Dorrie. Laoise was dismayed to find how small, how remote and primitive the holding really way, but she'd survived worse so she set about organizing it properly.

After one bite of her cooking, Ultan's father Wolftan? demoted his cook, appointing Laoise head cook and head of his kitchen. Her stomach continued to swell. "What will you call the baby?" She was asked. "Cornellius," she said, "After the King." "What if it's a girl?" "It'll be a boy." It was a girl. She named her Lynessa.

2. The King and the Kitchen Maid

It seems like I've never written an outline for this one, so I'll just briefly make some notes now. I've written nine chapeters of this story when I started to get the feeling that something was wrong. It's been on the shelf for a long while now.

* Lynessa grows up at Ultan's holding, the daughter of the cook. She's taught to read and write. She knows nothing of who her father is. She has various adventures with Dorrie, the mysterious stable boy.

* Ultan's niece Julia comes to visit. Dorrie is revealed as a sidhe, a pooka. (Dorrie is the model for Dugan in The Girl who had No Dreams, although he's rather friendlier here).

* Lynessa meets the traders.

* Lynessa gets sick and she is whisked away by Publius, the King's counsul, and installed as his recognized daughter at Kerry. The king has a problem - No heirs.

* Lynessa has various adventures at Kerry, and suffers assorted humiliations at the hands of a resentful aristocracy. She meets her father and his new wife-to-be... Julia.

* We meet Longinus(?) Prince of Fia, and hostage of the king. I think at this point there will be a murder mystery, with him getting involved with a girl who gets killed in mysterious circumstances.

* The court moves back to Rhens in the autumn. Fetes and festivals. Longinus mourns his slain love.  Lynessa meets up with the traders again and sends a letter to her mother. Ultan's son turns up as well.

* A really nasty family conference at mid winter. Cornelius divorces Livia and locks her away in a tower. He marries Julia. Civil war ensues. Lynessa is betrothed to Julius Nero as part of the settlement, the traditional betrothal time is one year.

* Cornelius goes away to fight the rebels. Finally he reaches a settlement with the rebels and one of the leading dissenting families - Livia's family. Some important rebel is invited to court. Julia falls pregnant - great joy!

* Julius Nero's position becomes less favorable as he falls more into disfavor with the king. The king now has hopes of his own heir again, and he's showing more favor to Livia's family. Talk is that the engagment will be broken off and Lynessa will be betrothed to the heir of Livia's family to keep the peace. Nero is furious.

* Lynessa witnesses Julius Nero killing the heir of the rebel family on a hunt and trying to disguise it as a hunting accident. She doesn't know what to do.

* Later he comes upon her and realizes what she knows. He sends the servants away and rapes her.

* Lynessa runs to her father, who is angry and reproachful. Now she has been ruined and she's useless to him. She'll have to marry J Nero because nobody else will have her now. He dismisses her suspicions about J Nero being a murderer.

* Lynessa calls Dorrie to her and she runs away to Faery with Laoise and Miles - her new husband.

* JN leads a force which abducts Lynessa but the sidhe capture him and kill him.

* Finally Lynessa returns to Ultans to the news: Cornelius is dead, Julia had a miscarriage, she is Queen and the country is in civil war.

3. The Virgin Queen

"I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king." - Elizabeth I

Lynessa, Dorrie, Marcus and Laoise make their farewells of the fair folk and ride out of the Eldwood. Dorrie retrieves Marcus' sword from it's confinment in the tree. "Silly old tree. He didn't want to give it up."

Marcus, Dorrie and Laoise elect to stay at Ultan's. There's a touching re-union. We meet Garrod and his wife. Ultan is getting old. We learn what Owen is up to.

Lynessa goes on to Rhens alone with the soldiers. The leader is a centurion called Marius, a commoner, not one of the great families. He becomes her military adviser and eventually her general.

Reunion with Master Caecelius and Dr Kelly. We learn about Cornelius' death.

Cornelia is crowned. Lynessa has her revenge on Publius Flavius and the Thee ugly sisters. She meets Julia and her daughter.

Julia falls to her knees and begs Lynessa for her life. Lynessa is fearfully embarrassed and confused. She let's Julia go home against the advice of her counsellors. There's a great deal of jockeying for position amongst the great houses.

The man who suceeds in winning Cornelia will be king. All the attractive young noble spunks wind up at court, vieing for her affections. Lynessa plays a balancing act, not saying yes and not saying no. Very Queen Elizabeth I...

Lynessa goes to see Livia, still locked in her tower as she has been for the last fifteen years. She makes a pathetic figure, old and calm and serene. "How much longer must I live in this room, Your majesty? Another five years? Another ten? Perhaps another twenty? Why don't you just have your man draw his sword and end it now. Please, I beg of you - have more courage than your father did."

Lynessa goes against the advice of her cousellors and lets Livia go. She rides south to her family estate near Ariso. There is a minor revolt in the north west. Lynessa leads the legions, they beseige the lord's tower and capture it easily. The lord begs for his life and that of his family and Lynessa grants it - against the advice of her counselors - She strips them of rank and land instead, and orders their castle demolished.

Livia, who's family are virtual undisputed rulers of the south of the country, pursades her brother to revolt against the crown. The entire south of the kingdom - across the hills in the Ariso valley - falls away from Rhens. The kingdom is split in two, one half ruled by Lynessa from Rhens, the other by Livius Something from Ariso.

Lynessa prepares the legions for war, assisted by general Marius. Fia remains loyal to the crown, under King Longinus. The Ariso port is blocaded by Fian ships. The Legions march south and win a decisive victory. The rebel treasury is captured. Lynessa's victorious army besieges Ariso. It looks like being a long seige. Many of the townspeople will die. Livius sends a message offering to surrender as long as he and his entire family are spared and they keep their lands. They will return to the crown.

It would spare the seige. Her counselors, and Marius advise her to reject it - Livius and his sister must both die. Lynessa is torn. Lynessa rejects the peace offer. The seige continues. Many people die. Ariso is captured after a long seige. Livia and Livius die. Their family looses thier land and northern lord are rewarded with southern land.

The soldiers are paid in gold and captured land. The legions acclaim "Cornelia Imperator!" Lynessa returns to Rhens secure in undisputed reign.

Master Caecelius dies. On his deathbed he asks Cornelia is she is proud of her name. She says she is. He says he knows she will do it nothing but honor. He dies. Longinus renews his suit, asking for her hand. Lynessa refuses him - he's just after the crown like everyone else. She tells him that she thought better of him and sends him away. "Get out of my sight." She regrets it almost instantly, but she's too proud to call him back.

Marius, commander of the guards, takes over the palace, comes to her chamber and announces that she is going to marry him - whether she likes it or not. He's going to be King Marius. She refuses, orders him out and tells him he will pay for this with his life if he does not give up and kneel to her at once.

He just smiles and says that it is she that will submit, reminding her that he commands the guards and the armies, and most of all he commands her. "You do not." Marius orders his men to drag her to a small room high in the palace which is quickly stripped of it's finery. "We will see how you feel after you've had some time to think. You will marry me, you know."

"Never." Lynessa spends five days alone, one meal a day brought by a stone faced soldier who won't speak to her. She slowly starts to go mad, talking to herself, not sleeping, waiting, listening desperatly for the soldier to come and bring her food - even though he says nothing and won't respond to her. She tries summoning Dorrie, but he doesn't come. All that iron, she thinks.

She thinks about how Julia would react - with hysterical pleading and scratching at the door. "Let me out! Oh by the gods let me out!" She's proudly determined that she won't be reduced to that. For a couple of days. On the third day she paces. Three steps up. Three steps back. Like an animal in a cage. Three steps up. Threee steps back. Three steps up. Three steps back. I won't crack. I won't crack. I won't crack. I won't crack...

On the fourth day she considers screaming and scratching at the door for something to do. She's prepared to consider anything. She's bored. She's really bored. She considers it seriously, but decides to hold it in reserve - in case it gets boring later. She laughs out loud and says "I'm going mad." She starts to loose track of time after that.

She can't tell if she's in there another three or four days. It seems like forever. She gets into the habit of sitting on the bed, unmoving, unthinking, watching the shadows lengthen and move, for hours at a time. Maybe days. Finally the door opens and it's Marius. "Well?" he asks. "Have you had time to think? Will you marry me?"

"N-no." "Come now." He tries to pursuade her, describing all the wonderful things outside the room. Her life won't be that hard, she will still be queen, she will see Rosheen again, everything will go on as before, only he will give the orders. "No."

He says how he's been gentle with her up to now. He points out that he could have her killed. He points out that he could have Rosheen killed and leave the body in here with her. Would she like him to do that? He only has to call the guard.

"Will you marry me?"

"No."

He gets angry. He's going to give her a little more time to think it over, but she better have the right answer this time because he's beginning to loose his patience. "And don't think of trying to starve yourself, or I'll have you fed." He slams the door after him. Lynessa looks after him, already regretting that he's gone because he was talking to her.

"He's madder than I am." she whispers. She begins to chant it. "He's madder than I am. He's madder than I am..." She only manages to stop when she realizes that she's screaming it at the echoing walls. Silence falls. Nobody comes. She collapses onto the bed and closes her eyes, but she can't sleep.

The next day Longinus and his men arrive. They capture the palace and Marius flees. He rescues Lynessa and brings her out of her prison. She's re-united with Rosheen, who was worried about her. She can hardly believe it's only been a week. It seems like centuries. They get horses and ride after Marius. Most of the legions in the city are loyal to her - they throw down their weapons and swear allegiance to the queen when they learn that Marius has lost the palace to the Fians and Cornelia is released.

They catch Marius on a dusty stretch of road to the north of the city. His horse has gone lame, his men have deserted him. He's alone. He falls on his knees and begs for his life. "Kill him," she tells a soldier. "Ma'am?" He looks at her uncertainly. Marius screams and begs for mercy. He knows names, other traitors. He has money, kept in secret. He will do anything... anything. Only please let him have his life. Please.

"You heard me." Lynessa says. "Draw your sword and kill him." She turns away, unable to look as the pleading becomes screams, which fade into a low gurgling, and finally, mercifully, die away.

She meets Dorrie who apologizes for not being able to come before, and tells her that they'll never meet again.

Lynessa and Longinus ride back to Rhens where they are hailed by troops and citizens alike in a great triumphal procession.

Longinus proposes again, sort of half jokingly. "I'm not going to ask you again after this, your majesty. All these refusals start to get embarrassing for a man, you know..."

Lynessa says yes. "What?" "Yes." "Yes? You're sure?" "Yes." He wraps her in his arms and they kiss. The final scene is a wedding.

All of Rhens is celebrating. "Do you love me?" Lynessa asks. "Oh Gods yes. More than anything." They kiss. Lynessa whispers that she hardly believe's it's possible. "Anything is possible." he replies. "Everything is possible!" Held in his arms, his body close to hers and from everywhere the sounds of celebration and happiness, for a moment she almost believes it might be true.

The End

4. A Jump too Far

<<A voyage of the Far Horizon>>

I had a weird SF dream tonight which I'll share with you as possible novel setup.

Time: The Future

Location: Earth (in fact on a small scout ship, high in the atmosphere of _one_ possible earth.

The main character (Tristen) is a 'jumper', a specialized pilot officer with a special mental affinity with his ship (also called a Jumper). He makes  jumps - trips through hyper space between this world and it's many paralell worlds (rather like Sliders, but we have a ship, hyperspace engine, computers, a helmet with lots of wires coming out of it, and a man with a special talent).

Survey jumping is big business. Find a new world that is _different enough_ to be commercially exploitable, and easy enough to reach, and it belongs to you - you can grant licenses to exploit it. But the world has to be different. The presence of oil, or gold, or an exploitable population aren't enough anymore - these people already have an empire spanning hundreds of such worlds. Now the big trade is in ideas - books, movies, entire cultures, exported celebreties, tourism etc, etc, etc... The key is different enough, AND acessable enough.

Acessability is key. Less than 1% (closer to 1 in 1000) of the population have the jump ability, they are detected in school and given heavy training. There are 100 _standard_ jumps that every Jumper knows about, even if he or she can't do them all. A jumper who can do all 100 is called a Perfect (they are rare - less than 10% of Jumpers),

N jumper who can do some even more special jumps (fractional jumps, irrational jumps, imaginary jumps) is called a God (less than 1% of jumpers.) Our hero is a high functioning Jumper - not quite perfect, certainly not a god - but he's got an edge, that's why he's in freelance survey, at least part time, pissing all his money away on the hope of finding a strange new world good enough to make him a fortune.

He's dating a physicist, a hyperspace theorist. See, the situation isn't quite as _SIMPLE_ as I made out. Sometimes Hyperspace _bends._ (Sometimes it also changes, and whole worlds get lost, but we'll do that one some other time!) His physicist friend believes she's found a sharp curve in Hyperspace that no-one's discovered yet. This is potentially COLLOSAL news. A bend of this nature is called a _node._ I

t's like a shunting yard in hyperspace. Jumps become unpredictable here, and new routes open up.

Once a node has been mapped, it leads the way into whole new branches of different worlds - AND every jump using the routes our hero has mapped will pay him a royalty, so even if _he_ doesn't discover anything of interest beyond the Nexus, he will still get a commission on every jump that leads on to a world that someone else discovers. So he's eager to prove a) that it is a node b) whether there are any interesting worlds beyond it.

Detecting a node is easy - if you know where to look. Few Jumpers spend much time seaching them most are found by accident. Most survey Jumpers spend what time they can pushing back the fronutiers of known worlds, or doing 'tweening' jumps in known but unsurveyed areas that the believe might contain an interesting world or ten. Most of Hyperspace is uncharted. There are infinite, infinite, infinite worlds out there. Humanity only goes to the ones which are _interesting._

You can make a good living flying a commercial jumper from world to world - a milk run. Few jumpers have the inclination or the money to fly unprofitable survey jumps, because 999,999 times out of a million the worlds found won't be any use to anyone. Governments and corporations pay for some survey work, but they take most of the profit, and the pilot only gets a small fraction. He who puts up the money, gets the return. Surveying is an investment for gamblers. A node changes everything. One one world (or several for a _shallow_ node), the rules are different, because Hyperspace is bent.

Jumps made from this world go off in a different 'direction' in Hyperspace. You see, normally jumps are simple and additive. Jumping 50 plus 50 is the same as jumping 100 from the starting point. This is why most jumpers can get away with only learning a few of the jumps. Even jumps are easy, and the most common - every Jumper can do all the even jumps. Odd jumps, prime jumps, these ones are difficult for the pilot to 'get his head around', because each prime jump 'feels' completly different, while even jumps, and multiple jumps 'feel' fundamentally the same. To qualify as a commercial jumper, a pilot must learn _one_ odd or prime jump, in addtion to the fifty simple even jumps. That jump is JUMP ONE (1). It's odd, it's prime, but they practice at it so hard that to Jumpers it's as simple as an even jump. By using jump one, all odd jumps are converted into two easy jumps, making all the difficult jumps easy! 7 becomes 1 + 6. 33 becomes 1 + 32. Jump one is critical.

But a Node changes everything. If you jump from a nexus world, you don't arrive in your expected destination at all, you wind up somewhere else. Because of the additive nature of jumps, however, a nexus opens up a whole new 'direction' - a complete set of infinite paralell worlds - a major discovery, because Jump pilots will flock to your node, moving out, charting the new branch, pushing back the boundaries, and for _every_ trip they make, and every trip anyone following them makes, and on _any_ discovery they make, they must pay you a royalty. It may only be a couple of % on any one jump or discovery but over an infinite number of new worlds beyond the node it all adds up to serious money. So, he goes to the world where his physicist friends believes a nexus might be nearby (this is where my dream started btw), he does a 1 jump, then a 99 jump (proudly - not many people know 99!). Then he jumps -100 to come back to where he started from, only it ISN"T where he started from. One of those jumps was the node - He's rich!!!

So he starts exploring the nearby jumps. And that's when it happens. He finds a world with a human civilization on it (ie - they know and use the jump). The only problem is that their technology is more advanced and powerful, and their _history_ is his civilization's future. This is utterly impossible. Hyperspace theory states that time travel is impossible - it's equivalent to travelling faster than light. It cannot be done. Only he's just done it. And worse, they're onto him. They've worked out he's from the past, they know he _must_ have come through a node (where else could he have come from?), and they know it can only be ten jumps away at most (limited range ship).

That leaves them only a thousand worlds to survey to find it - peanuts - and all the past is an open book to them! He flees back to the past, but then the future ships start following. Now we have serious problems. The futurers think they have the bull by the oysters - once they work out where the hell they are - they don't know which world their past nexus is on - they're flying blind. But it won't take them long to orient once they find a few landmarks - they've got maps - better maps than the pasters. Jumping to the past, they're afraid they will change the future. All they want is to get (kill if need be) this guy, and his girlfriend, so that the future nexus remains secret. Then they can jump through to the future and use the Future Nexus in their own time - secretly, to become immensely, unbelievably wealthy. They can trade with their future corporate selves for free hyperspace survey knowlege - causing a causuality loop, where the information is generated spontaneously. (We know about it because we were told about it. Who told us? We did!) And there is other information that they can trade too - stock market results, futures market etc etc. Their future corporate selves will (do? did?) rule all the universes!!!!! There's only one small problem.

One freelancer jump pilot and his girlfriend stand in their way. (or that's what they think is their only problem. Wait till they start trying the future nexus from their own world - It's the Shee gates all over again!!!)

They try to kill Tristen and his girlfriend and they're forced to flee to an unknown and primitive world, far, far away down the world lines.

*

Notes: I wrote thing before I wrote Night Tales. I'm now working on a new nexus tale now called The Cat People. This outline if very confused, but the central idea is this - OK, you're a trader across paralell worlds, but what happens if you find a jump that leads into the future? The causality implications are very nasty indeed. And if there are infinite possible worlds, why shouldn't one of them look very much like your future? And is it genuine time travel or not?

This story will need a lot more thinking out and action and more emphasis on the other worlds. My view of the Nexus civilization has moved on considerably since this first draft. You'll see more of that when I write up the Cat People story.

*

5. On Thin Ice - The Russian Story

A man escapes from a cold, bitter imprisonment in the north, a siberian style gulag in a communist like country, but this is much more a 19th century fantasy world. Still, think of the great Russian tragedy and you won't be far wrong. His name is Vanya, and he has a companion called Nicolai, a street kid.

He flees south to the border where he's herded into a vast refugee camp for processiong. Things are very hard, probably just as hard as the gulag, almost. He takes up with a woman there called Hannah, a Russian Jewess.

Finally they're packed onto an overcrowded refugee train and shipped south to one of the huge, crumbling uncaring metropolises, think London or Rome. Nothing has been set up to accomodate them, they've got to shift as best they can in a city of festering slums and grinding poverty.

Finally some traditional kind of 'fantasy' evil arises. A vampire or a necromancer or something like that (Actaully I'm now thinking more in terms of a Russian Jewish gang boss and sorcerer, using Golems and other magic). Some kind of dramatic evil crime lord figure. It might be a good idea to have introduced him earlier in the plot. Our hero and heroine battle against him, and loose, I think the woman is killed, and the hero goes seeking vengeance. Then some kind of natural disaster, an earthquake perhaps traps them together in the ruins. The fantasy bad guy is dying, but our hero works to try and save him because "I've seen true evil in the north, and you're just a man in a mask, playing at evil. You don't deserve to die like this."

Maybe he lives, maybe he dies, I'm not sure. The hero and gets rescued.

6. One Day on Botany

Botany, one of the newest human colonies was settled just 200 years ago. It has one large continent (Asia size), and immense world girdling oceans, grey and salty. Although Botany (the continent) was once covered in forests, since the last ice age it has been a desert land, with most of the good land located east of the barrier ranges, with a small pockets in the south and west, and scattered oasis. The rest of the continent is desert or semi-arid, good only for grazing or mining. Although Botany has been settled 200 years, and monitored from orbit for most of that time, there are still places that humans have never set foot - still some surprises waiting to be discovered.


When humans came to Botany the settled in cities east of the ranges, the oldest and largest being Port Botany. Then 100 years ago the ships stopped coming. Some say it was because of a war. Others claim a plague, or interference by an alien race (of which several were known), or an economic depression. Perhaps it was some
combination, the truth isn't known. The star station - Botany Station - failed and was abandoned.

Then thirty years ago everything changed.

The Quant ("Kwant") dominate an expanding star empire that was scarcely known at the time Botany lost contact with human space. Thirty years ago
they re-activated and took over Botany Station and invaded the planet, quickly putting down the ineffective human attempts at resistance. The the name they give to Botany is Shon'tik. (Quant language needs to be developed).The Quant are a strange, cool and distant race to the humans on Botany - not least because to the humans on Botany they tend to appear completely asexual.

The fact is that they haven't had much contact before the invasion, and on the whole they consider humanity to be a low, earth grubbing species, of
little intelligence or worth. They underestimate humans in most cases.

The Quant are a hive species - they have little concept of individual responsibility, they look for groups, tribes, sects or organizations behind
all human events, and favor group punishment for transgressors - despite humanity's preference for individual justice. The Quant/human court system is a wonder of patch up and improvisation, drawing on the legal history of both races.

There are several castes of Quant:

Queens. The queens are essential to Quantar survival and reproduction. There are no queens on Botany - it is not a hiveworld or queenworld, it
doesn't rank highly enough in the Quantar scheme of things. Quantar administration is divided up along feudal lines. At the head of each great House is a Queen. Important Houses will have control several Hive Worlds and thus have "Cadet Branches" headed by their own Queens who are junior in rank to the Great Queen. Physically the queen is probably enormous?

Males. The males are the Quantar aristocracy, it's lords, ship captains and warriors. There might be one or two males at the top of the Botany establishment - if so they tend to keep to the civilized confines of Botany Station. More would pass through the system on their way to other places, some of them might visit the world. Different Quantar Houses control different aspects of the empires by tradition, with long standing feuds and alliances. Males are compeditive and aggressive, and by tradition you only have one of them in any autonomous unit. There's only one male per starship - the Captain. If there were more than one male on Botany then they would head up completely different areas of Quantar administration - One might head the military, another the civil service, for instance.

Neuters. for a Quantar male without connections or influence, the easiest way to get ahead is by neutering. Neuters are trusted by the Quant because they have no personal dynastic ambitions. Thus they work for the interests of their Clan or Family. All of the Quantar 'civil service' are made up of neutered males, as well as their second rank of administrators (both civil and private), diplomats, starship  and military officers.  The higher levels of the Quantar administration on Botany is staffed by neuters. For most of the people on Botany, Queens and Males are a distant legend.

Females. Sterile female workers make up the bulk of the Quantar population. They take the "menial" jobs that no Neuter would care to dirty his hands
with - Computer operators, pilots, drivers, ordinary soldiers and spaceworkers. On Botany, due to the fact that all Quantar workers have to
come from elsewhere, Females are usually found in supervisory or middle management positions, the lowest levels are filled by humans.

Because of their own racial predisposition, the Quant prefer to hire female workers - a fact which has caused major social and economic disruption in
Botany's rather "traditional" society.

"Politics" tends to take place at the higher levels of Quantar society (the Males and the Queens). Although they seem to present a unified face to the
humans on Botany, the Quant are in face split up into "houses" or "clans" based on the relationships between various Quantar queens.
Several tribes are present on Botany, splitting the administration up between them. (Each would have to have a single Male at the head). Although they are important on Botany (they rule the planet) they are not necessarily very important in the Quantar scheme of things. Feuds, vendettas and even out and out warfare are not unknown in Quantar politics.

Among themselves the Quant have a kind of biological telepathy, the workings of which are subtle and mysterious.

Among humans, the Quant have worked to establish an elite corps of synthetic telepaths - people with a radio receiver chip fitted into their
heads which allows them to share thoughts, feelings and images with their cohort (usually a small, fixed number - normally three). The chip also
allows the Quant to keep track of their human servants and control them. Unlike the lower levels of the Quantar human civil administration, men and women are equally represented among the "telepaths". (Who need a special Quantar name.) Admission to this select (and hated) group is involuntary and problematical. A high Quantar neuter or male might pick anyone who has come to their special attention - great athletes, outstanding workers, top students, inventive criminals, resistance fighters, or someone they noticed on the street (although this last would be very unlikely).


The telepaths are the high flyers of Human society on Botany, living in luxury and priviledge, but with no freedom or privacy at all. They can normally be found
performing special, personal missions for the Neuters (and even the Males) high in the Quantar administration. These tasks are likely to include solving any special problems that occur on the planet - particularly human problems. Resistance to the Quantar rule of Botany goes on, particularly in the outback and the ranges. Human
telepaths are often put in charge of hunting down rebels who become too much of a nuisance.

Telepath trios are selected by the Quant for a mix of talents, temperaments and abilities that they think will be useful. The bonding is for life,
although broken trios can have members added, or may be joined, sometimes into quads. They may also be left as duos - it's up to the Quant(s) in charge. Trios with older members normally have a more settled existence in "semi retirement", but they may be called back to active duty without notice if they are needed by "their" Quant or his House. Trios are usually recruited and managed by a particular high ranking Quant, although his close associates (usually no more than three or four) may also be involved.

It is thought that the structure of a small, linked group managed by singe more senior superior mirrors the rank structure of senior male Quant and
the neuters. Rank structures among the Quant are mysterious - since they are telepaths, it can be impossible for an outsider to know who reports to
who. Telepaths can be controlled by their implant. Their Quant controller can send them impulses of overpowering pain, or pleasure, or send them to sleep
instantly. There is no possibility of a telepath attacking a Quant or acting against their interests.It is thought that Quant telepath chips might be able to be shielded, or blocked, or taken out of range, thus freeing the telepath. All attempts at this have failed - provoking quantar amusement, rather than anger.
 
Quantar taxes are widely resented by the humans. Their practice of appointing individual people to almost sole control over geographical areas
or over whole aspects of human life is also resented - especially since corruption often occurs. (The Quant do not understand human concepts of
corruption, they don't care how the administration works, as long as it is efficient. They find human economy and systems of government ridiculously complex.)


Ironically, while the telepaths are hated, it's also understood that they are not corruptible - they don't use money at all - all of their <<material>> needs are supplied by the Quant. They have few possessions - the Quant may and often do move them around from place to place with no notice. Telepaths may also be appointed to judge Quantar/human court cases, when the Quant wish to <<appear>> impartial, or when they think this particular human can bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion..

If a human goes offworld on a Quantar ship, that person would almost certainly be a telepath. No human would ever be brought before a Quantar
queen unless that person was fitted with a controlling telepath device.

Although humans resent the Quantar rule of Botany as a tyranny and an occupation, the Quant see the situation quite differently. They see humans
as terribly backwards, they believe they are improving human education, standard of living and industry through controlled "investment" in
development of the planet. One day they kind of hope Botany might be up to the standards of a Quantar world, somewhere respectable Quant might like to
move to. Somwhere worth claiming as a Hive World for one of the Houses. In their eyes, the human taxes barely pay for the administration and the civil improvements they make.


Transport on Botany tends to be two fold. Humans use maglev trains - laid down originally by the human colony, but renewed and extended by the Quant,
and rugged surface rovers to reach more isolated destinations. The Quant and their telepaths use fliers - Copters or fixed wing aircraft,
some capable of VTOL. Shuttles are used to travel to and from the station.

Botany, despite it's backwater status occupies a strategic piece of "real estate" in space.

You'll just have to imagine this in three dimensions....

                Human Space





                (The Gulf - An area of very few stars)


                    * Botany




     Quantar Space             (The Enemy???)



A lot of heavy space traffic passes through the Botany system, stopping at Botany (Shon'tik) Station, headed not for Human Space, beyond the gulf
(needs a name), but in another direction entirely. Rumor has it that the Quant are engaged with another species in that direction, but what are they
doing out there? Is it a war? Or trade? Or a trade-war? Nobody knows.

Also, off to each "side" of Botany (again, think three dimensions - it's a disc), the Quantar frontier extends. Worlds are being settled, alien
creatures and races are being discovered, first contacts, piracy, feuds are going on - any of these may pass through Botany Station, and a telepath
team may be sent out to deal with problems that occur "out there"...

One day, this is a matter of complete and utter faith at all levels of Botany society, though it may be ten years, or a hundred, the human ships
will come back to Botany. Then there will be a reckoning.

One day....

(See "On Botany Station" for a story set in this universe, although it's a long time prior to events depicted here).

Afterward: Great Novels I've never written

Short stories are harder to write than novels, because a good publishable short story requires you to develop some brilliant original idea or somehow deeply illuminate the human condition in a very short space. I'm not very good at this, not many people are.

If you take a look at some of my shallower shorts, The Great One, for instance, or Junkyard Planet (forthcoming). You'll see, I think that while there's some action and plot, and a satisfactory resolution to the events of the story, and some hopefully believable characters, it doesn't have much meaning, originality or anything profound to say, it's just a short tale without any great depth.

Paradoxically it seems that many novels don't have to be very original or meaningful at all. If you look at the fields I'm mostly interested in - fantasy and science fiction - you can easily point to hundreds of novels which don't really add very much to what's been done before, they are just fairly shallow adventures and characters, entertainment, rather than art. Often a really good short story seems to require that it say -more- than a publishable genre novel.

Therefore, despite thier greater length, genre novels might be easier in some ways to write.

Unfortunately I'm not much good at the novel length. I've written one fan fiction novella and made a couple of novel starts, but I've always failed at some point because I'm not able to work very well by myself in isolation and I find it hard to build believable worlds with the scope that a novel requires.

My best approach at writing novel length words to date has been to join three or four medium length stories together and call it a novel. ;)

Anyhow, the four outlines above are things I've been thinking about for a while, which I hope one day to write. If any of the stories particularly catch the imaigination of any of you writers out there, please contact me. Perhaps we could work on something together? I find that writing as a collaboraton has many advantages, and in this day of the word processor it's a lot easier than it used to be.

Thanks for reading this, anyhow.