Thank you so much guys :)
Reviewers
Massive thanks also goes out to our hoard of Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.
You are the reason these stories exist and you have no idea how frikkin’ grateful I am to you.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Readers and FB page supporters
Last, and certainly by no means least, I’d like to thank you for reading this book… and all the others. Your enthusiasm for the world, and the characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode, are the things that often stay in my mind as I flick from checking the facebook page to the scrivener file when I start each writing session.
It used to be that caffeine was my drug of choice.
Now it’s you.
Thank you for being here, for reading, for reviewing, and for always brightening my day with your words of support on the fb page. You rock my world, and without you, there really would be no reason to write these stories.
Thank you <3
E.
PS. Thank you also for all the kind messages of support for Giles after I shared that some folks didn’t like him. It’s truly heart-warming to know that despite his flaws he does have a cult following of supporters after all!
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Ellie-verse: Big decisions and Big Girl Pants
In the author notes to Michael 4 (Dawn Arrives) the other week I revealed some of the plans going on in the Ellie’verse: the new universe I’m writing on my own and with new collaborators, separate from MA, but under his encouragement/ whip cracking.
One of the things that has been a massive learning for me is to walk away from things that aren’t working. If you’ve followed any of my author communications this has been a process for me over the last several months.
Knowing you need to walk away and having the strength to walk away, are two very different things.
As I’m sure you’ve experienced in your own life.
I’ve been going through this not just with people who were close to me in my real life, but also on a work front. I eluded to a collaborator who had been dicking me around for the last four months. Well, I finally had the opportunity and balls to kick that into touch, and though there is a shit load of wasted time, money and energy that has gone into that particular project I’ve finally cut loose. Thankfully I own the copyright on that one and will be able to do a rewrite and release it on my own.
Minus the ego that I was having to manage. Yay!
Another project however didn’t’ work out as well. But in really evaluating the opportunity critically I realized that I’d be giving away all upside potential and doing all but about 0.5% of the work. When I came to my senses I couldn’t believe how I had been so stupid to get into it in the first place. But this is the danger of working with people who we allow ourselves to be hypnotized by.
We buy into their view of the world.
Their distortions.
Their BS.
We (I) overvalue their input, only to diminish our own. I have no doubt the health problems I experienced last year were largely to do with this mistake I’ve been making with a handful of people around me.
2018 has been the turning point where this stops.
I’ve realized that we can’t do what we need to do in this world while we’re being consumed and drained by people around us who only take. We have the energy to sustain one person. One body. Not multiple vampires. And that is reality… regardless of how much we think we feel for them, want to help them, or want them in our lives.
And if they leave, or just fall away, because they’re not getting that constant supply of our life force, then so be it. They were never friends, or partners, or whatever… in the first place. Regardless of what they say, said or promises they made, actions always speak louder than words. And if someone behaves like a douchebag, walks like a douchebag, talks like a douchebag… odds are they’re probably actually a douchebag and were only ever there for the ego hit we gave them and what we could do for them financially in the first place.
I know I’m not the only one who has been in this position.
I know from your messages and comments on the facebook page that these lessons are something we all have to learn in our life time. Some of you wise souls have already learned and assimilated this lesson. You’re probably reading this and nodding sagely, with gratitude that you’re done with this lesson. But at the same time I know some folks reading this are still going through the pain and the cycles that I’ve been describing too.
If you’re still going through it I can only empathize and tell you that if any of these people qualify as a douche, limit your contact with them, so you have the opportunity to see your true value (which is way more than they would have you believe from their behavior towards you). Then set about the important task of deliberately putting good (non-douchey) people around you.
If there is one lesson I can learn from everything that has happened, this would be it.
I pray I’ve learned it for the last time.
Somehow I suspect that I will need the occasional reminder, and I hope I have the consciousness to respond appropriately.
Wish me luck! And may the force be with you.
+++
Ellie the Crown Princess
As you know I’ve had a lot of dental work since I got to the US. Some people blame British dentistry. I blame a bad diet as a kid. I also know that my little brother’s baby teeth crumbled and were super porous because he had a temperature at a critical point as a baby which screwed up the development.
I’m also in two minds about the role of fluoride and build up in the pituitary as a “dampening” device on cerebral functioning.
But I digress.
Whatever the reason I now need a bunch of crowns, so one of the first calls I made after messing about with having the electricity and wifi hooked up was to head down to a local dentist.
After the first examination – which took over two frikkin hours (don’t ask my why so long! It was nuts) – we agreed that we’d work on tooth #13.
Lucky for some.
I was taken in to see the lovely Flora, the lady in charge of bookings, and we looked for a time on the calendar. The next appointment that could work was on my birthday. Since I didn’t have plans, (or many friends in my new location) I booked it.
And happened to mention it would be my birthday.
Flora, without missing a beat chirped up: “Oh, well at least you’ll be the Crown Princess!”
We roared with laughter… so much so other team members walked past the door just to see what was going on.
Super amused, I left the practice with the appointment booked.
Two weeks later I showed up for the appointment and was floored when Laurel on reception wished me happy birthday. It was so sweet and thoughtful. I figured she must have seen on my file.
When I got chatting with her, it turns out she had not only heard the laughter the last time I was in, but she’d also heard the punchline.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
February 21, 2018
First, THANK YOU for not only reading this story, but these author notes as well!
This has been a very hectic week as we dropped a few books, Amazon releases them out of order, a weekend and then we drop four (4) books in a row culminating with THIS book!
For those who follow Ellie on Facebook, you probably know all of the hair issues she has spoken about before. For those who follow Author Shenanigans (a video of two sci-fi authors talking… usually with either me giving Ellie shit, or her dishing it to me) you have heard me probably mention ‘the hair’.
So, here is my take on all of this.
WHAT THE HELL?
So, Ellie has (in my experien
ce) been trying to get her hair to behave and take streaks of color since I’ve known her. In fact, I think she had it blue or something when we first Skyped (or rather Zoom’ed – video call software.)
The problem was I never noticed anything different about her hair. I just assumed the non-blue highlights in the video call were blond or something. I couldn’t tell she HAD any color in her hair.
Over the next couple of months, Ellie would admit she was going to the hair salon, and then she would talk with me. If I didn’t say anything about her hair color either that call, or the next she would say something about it.
The problem? I think she has / had a very poor camera quality on her Windows laptop and it isn’t that I can’t see – it’s the camera not showing up the color…Can I get an AMEN on that?
Mind you, I’m now fifty so it could very easily be that I can’t see
I do remember at the 20BooksTo50k event in November that her hair was a violet, but I guarantee that wouldn’t have shown on my computer screen.
Now, I am assuming that she has the most horrible luck with selecting hair dressers because it seems like they so rarely work out. For various reasons (Ellie letting off some aggravation about her latest hairtastrophy being one of them) she admits to there being a real challenge with her hair that I never took into consideration.
It’s genetic … potentially. Mind you, she TELLS the people this problem and they don’t listen so that sucks.
So, now it all comes back home (to me) that hair follicles are a real bitch and made even worse for certain hair types.
As a guy, I haven’t worried too much about hair coloring until the last couple of years when all of this damned gray hair starting showing up on my own head.
Full disclosure, I’ve bought a product I’m embarrassed about.
Alright, we all know how teenagers could be told to go to the store and buy something for their mom which causes embarrassment. Then, as they get a little older, items which they might be embarrassed to purchase for themselves.
Now, I’ve had that feeling about a two and a half years ago.
Picture this – I’m walking up and down the grocery aisle figuring out what I need to purchase for food and stuff (because I have a memory like a steel trap and don’t need a list, obviously.) I find myself on the hair aisle, and I’m looking through all of the different shampoos.
There is a shit-load of them. Seriously, what do half of these ingredients even do for people? Nutmeg? Peppermint leaf? (Ok, I bought peppermint leaf, don’t judge me. I like the smell.)
Anyway, I come upon the hair color section and there it is!
Grecian Formula for Men.
Four heads are on the cover, starting with a grayish color top left (eyes NOT staring at you) to a dark haired, younger looking man on the bottom right whose eyes ARE looking straight at you.
I carefully looked up the aisle and then turned back to look over my shoulder, down the other side of the aisle.
The aisle is clear.
I did it!
I grabbed that box of Grecian Formula and stuck it into my shopping cart and quickly wheeled away, probably turning so sharply around the corner that the shopping cart went up on two wheels.
So, for someone to go through ALL of the effort Ellie does to get the hair color she desires, is both admirable and astonishing to me and I (at times) can’t understand it. Oh, I completely understand wanting something to stand out, be unique and show a bit of your personality with your hair. What I have trouble understanding (I’m thinking this might be an “x” chromosome thing) is fighting the monster of getting a good hair color change.
I’m just too damned lazy to be bothered by the effort.
So, I APPLAUD you Ms. Clarke for your ongoing effort to beat the hair coloring effort into submission.
Oh, that Grecian Formula box of hair coloring I purchased so long ago?
Never tried it.
Every time I opened the door under my sink, that damned box was staring at me in the face, daring me to fuck up my hair.
I never took the dare.
I’m Trying Here!
The other day, Ellie pings me on Slack to ask a question about a plot point on Ellie book 09. We both had some time, so we drop a Zoom link and start discussing the finer points of enemies, and Sean Royale and stuff.
Then, I have to tell Ellie what a Shotgun Wedding is here in America.
Finally, we nail the whole discussion related to the book plot points and it’s about 8:30 PM on a Sunday night.
Ellie is at a Co-working place and tired. She is a little down on herself for “only” getting her author notes, these plot points and something else done.
On a weekend, Sunday no less.
I reach under my desk and pull up this brown box and pull out a few comics that I had purchased recently to help me take in new stories, ideas, creativity since we need to ‘feed’ that part of our psyche to help continue making stories. Especially because we do SO MANY stories with a rapid release effort.
At the end of the conversation, she doesn’t look very convinced.
Then, she nods her head and tells me that she recognizes I’m trying to help.
Ellie: “Thank you, I see you are making an effort to help me and I appreciate that.”
Mike: (Sensing an opportunity to push his support) “No problem, I’m trying to help here!” I’m grinning, joking a little louder, “I’m trying!”
Ellie: (Completely deadpan, in that damned accent) “Yes, you are VERY trying sometimes.”
Mike: (Grin starting to slow down, and disappear from my face, eyes narrowing.) “Oh… that was good Ms. Clarke, that was VERY good indeed!”
Thank you ALL for reading Rogue Instigator, and now we will jump back to Molly book 09 in the (very) near future!
If you have any questions or comments, please check out our Facebook Pages (links to follow) and if you are finished w/ Ellie’s books, you can search for “Kurtherian” and find more and more and more books from all of us here at LMBPN Publishing…
(But first, finish all of Ellie’s books.)
Take care!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
Books by Ell Leigh Clarke
The Ascension Myth
* With Michael Anderle *
Awakened (01)
Activated (02)
Called (03)
Sanctioned (04)
Rebirth (05)
Retribution (06)
Cloaked (07)
Bourne (08)
Confessions of a Space Anthropologist
* With Michael Anderle *
Giles Kurns: Rogue Operator (01)
Giles Kurns: Rogue Instigator (02)
The Second Dark Ages
*with Michael Anderle*
Darkest Before The Dawn (03)
Dawn Arrives (04)
Ell Leigh Clarke Social Links
http://www.facebook.com/ellleighclarke/
Want more?
Join the email list here:
http://kurtherianbooks.com/email-list/
Join the Facebook Group Here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheKurtherianGambitBooks/
The email list is changing to something…New. I don’t have enough details but suffice to say there is so much going on in The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, it needs to go out more often than “when the next book hits.”
I hope you enjoy this story!
Books by Michael Anderle
For a complete list of Kurtherian Gambit Universe
books please click this link.
Kurtherian Gambit Series Titles Include:
First Arc
Death Becomes Her (01) - Queen Bitch (02) - Love Lost (03) - Bite This (04)
Never Forsaken (05) - Under My Heel (06) - Kneel Or Die (07)
Second Arc
; We Will Build (08) - It’s Hell To Choose (09) - Release The Dogs of War (10)
Sued For Peace (11) - We Have Contact (12) - My Ride is a Bitch (13)
Don’t Cross This Line (14)
Third Arc
Never Submit (15) - Never Surrender (16) - Forever Defend (17)
Might Makes Right (18) - Ahead Full (19) - Capture Death (20)
Life Goes On (21)
The Second Dark Ages
The Dark Messiah (01)
The Darkest Night (02)
Darkest Before The Dawn (03)
*with Ell Leigh Clarke*
Dawn Arrives (04)
*with Ell Leigh Clarke*
The Boris Chronicles
* With Paul C. Middleton *
Evacuation (01)
Retaliation (02)
Revelations (03)
Redemption (04)
Reclaiming Honor
* With JUSTIN SLOAN *
Justice Is Calling (01)
Claimed By Honor (02)
Judgement Has Fallen (03)
Angel of Reckoning (04)
Born Into Flames (05)
Defending The Lost (06)
Saved By Valor (07)
Return of Victory (08)
The Etheric Academy
* With TS PAUL *
ALPHA CLASS (01)
ALPHA CLASS - Engineering (02)
Terry Henry “TH” Walton Chronicles
* With CRAIG MARTELLE *
Nomad Found (01)
Nomad Redeemed (02)
Nomad Unleashed (03)
Giles Kurns_Rogue Instigator Page 20