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Excerpt from The Monad Trap
"Somehow, I thought there would be more for a god to do." "Why husband, you always seem busy enough," Petra replied. "Those are my own projects, and I know I spend more time than you would prefer on them. But...
Excerpt from The Monad Trap
"Somehow, I thought there would be more for a god to do." "Why husband, you always seem busy enough," Petra replied. "Those are my own projects, and I know I spend more time than you would prefer on them. But...
Excerpt from A Guardian From Earth
When I woke, the light was late afternoon. I checked the clock - almost four. I guessed I'd been out almost twelve hours. As strung out as I'd been, I wasn't surprised. I was pretty certain ScOsh had gone the...
Excerpt from The Monad Trap
"Somehow, I thought there would be more for a god to do." "Why husband, you always seem busy enough," Petra replied. "Those are my own projects, and I know I spend more time than you would prefer on them. But...
Excerpt from The Monad Trap
The Monad Trap is the follow-up to The Fountains of Aescalon, It opens about a year after the events of The Fountains of Aescalon. Alexan and Petra have become Eternals, the second tier of divine prowess, and Alexan pretends to...
Preparations for War Series: The Background
Calmena (Epsilon Indi A II) is a planet filled with humans descended from the Imperial 'Lost Colony' of Earth (Sol III). The Fractal Demons discovered Earth in its barbarous Stone Age state, and decided to see if they could domesticate...
Excerpt from The Monad Trap
"Somehow, I thought there would be more for a god to do." "Why husband, you always seem busy enough," Petra replied. "Those are my own projects, and I know I spend more time than you would prefer on them. But...
Empire of Humanity: "in-rank" versus "in-fact" and Civil government
Service points drive rank in the civilian government as well as ability to bid on government contracts. They are earned in three ways. Members of the Imperial military on active service earn three service points per year, regardless of...
The Locale of Aescalon, the Connected Realms and Major Characters
Aescalon is the cavern linking the 165 major Connected Realms and all the trillions of lesser ones. It is also the portal by which mass-energy penetrates into them. One of the original titles I played with was "Blowing the Bubbles...
Excerpt from The Monad Trap (Book Two of Connected Realms)
"Nay, O Lady of My Heart, I am not disappointed, but happily surprised. The fact it is a happy surprise does not alter the fact it is a surprise. Why does the universe allow us to exist, when it does...
Service Points and Civilian Government in The Empire of Humanity
Service points drive rank in the civilian government as well as ability to bid on government contracts. They are earned in three ways. Members of the Imperial military on active service earn three service points per year, regardless of rank....
Economics and Resources and Scarcity
I just got done reading a bad science fiction novel. Part of the reason it was bad was because the author did not understand economics, being so eager to mock capitalism that he got caught up in things that capitalism...
Character Interview: Alexan From Connected Realms
1. Go ahead and introduce yourself. I am Alexan, Jarl of Ygg in Treemount, on Migurd. 2.Tell us where and when were you born. I was 'born' in the Empire of Humanity as a splinter of an ultsi. I became...
Excerpt from Work in Progress: The Price of Power
"Don't sell yourself cheap, Grace," Scimtar said out loud, short-circuiting my attempt to keep the kids out of the conversation. "Why? My only importance is because I'm married to a Scimtar." All the older adults reacted in disbelief. Scimtar actually...
Historic versus Current Terms for operants in the Empire
Guardian: Originally a natural state (inoperant) human who undertook an exhaustive course of study and physical preparation intended to prepare them to compete with operants. Now generalized to include various level of operant. Modern usage for natural state humans who...
Is San Diego Market Underpriced or Overpriced? - A Thought Experiment for August 2008
Let's do a thought experiment. Any market in any commodity has two components: The demand, or willingness and ability to pay for that good, and the supply of that good. Let's consider the demand half of that first. Specifically, ability...
Stand Alone versus Piggyback Second Trust Deeds
Second Trust Deeds are something few real estate loan officers really understand well, mostly because the good ones don't make much money on them. Predatory lending laws in most states, limiting total compensation and total expenses to a given percentage...
Demands Listing Agents Make That Aren't in Their Clients Best Interest
One of the things I see all the time is notations made on the listing that demotivate buyers agents, or give them a reason not to show the property. This practice has had a drastic fall off of late, with...
Agents "Buying" Listings: Promising the Undeliverable and Hurting Their Clients
Quite a lot of the time when I view a property, I get requests for feedback. Usually it's an automated email. Other times, it's some office assistant who wants to fax me a form which will "only take a...
Don't Let Cash Make You Stupid About Real Estate
There are many ways of suckering real estate consumers, and cash as an inducement to get people to swallow a raw deal is one of the most common. From sellers (usually developers), "free" upgrades are one of the most common....
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