Sneak Peek—Stories from The Expanding Universe Anthology #4: ‘Checkmate’ by Jonathan P. Brazee

-

There are 20 short stories in the latest volume of Craig Martelle’s The Expanding Universe anthologies. Today, with Craig's permission, we are taking a sneak peek at the start of Jonathan P. Brazee’s story, ‘Checkmate’. Here’s how it begins:
----------------------------------------------------------------

Winning is everything, especially in war.

“Come on, Lettie,” Jorge muttered as he popped up out of the fighting hole and snapped off a burst at the advancing Valks.
He ducked back as return fire showered dirt and debris over the three in the hole.
“What the hell is taking her?  The damned Valks are closing in!”
“Lettie’s on top of it,” Military Tech 2 Isaac Stein said, gripping his Compton-3 to his chest. 
He raised his rifle over the edge of their fighting hole and blindly emptied his mag, exposing only his hands for a few seconds.  He knew he hadn’t hit anyone firing like that, but hopefully it would give the advancing Valks pause.
“What are you worried about, Jorge?” MT3 Anatasha Dela Cruz asked, only half-facetiously as she pushed up the snakeyes.  “PrimeMil takes good care of us.  Only the best medical care for their miltechs.”
“Easy for you to say.  You don’t have exes and kids to support.  I can’t afford to get zeroed.”
----------------------------------------------------------------

Would you like to read more? 

The Expanding Universe #4 is now available.. However, if you’d like something to read, right now, you can find Volume 1, The Expanding Universe: An Exploration of Science Fiction Genre, Volume 2, The Expanding Universe: Exploring the Science Fiction Genre, and Volume 3, The Expanding Universe 3: Space Opera, Military SciFi, Space Adventure, & Alien Contact! on Amazon.



Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Australian Insects: An Unknown Caterpillar eating Grevillea flower buds

-
Image
So, this little guy nearly bought it when I caught it eating the still-forming buds on my Robyn grevillea, but then I thought I might like to see which particular butterfly was responsible, so I took some pictures and decided to keep an eye on it, so I knew when it pupated. The first shot - caterpillar happily nibbling on flower buds:  Yup - definitely nibbling: And here's another view. Note the little yellow lumps near its back end. Same day, but it was one of those cloudy days with variegated light. And it kept nibbling for quite some time: Stretching out to get the more tasty tidbits, and using its hind feet to keep a firm grip on the branch. Eventually it looped back on itself... ...and headed into denser foliage. It didn't always move in a straight line... How come caterpillars have more feet than butterflies? Eventually, it got into some much thicker growth (well, for a young grevillea, anyway), meaning it was somewhat prot
Read more

PokemonGo Tips - Earning the Berry Master Medal

-
Image
Another relatively easy one to earn, but it takes time. Main tip? Feed Them All. Well, okay, it's a bit more like this: Only the berries you feed to a pokemon in a gym count. You can only feed berries to pokemon in a gym that belongs to your team. You can feed up to a maximum of 10 berries to each pokemon. You can feed any pokemon that belongs to a team member, as well as your own. You can feed your team's pokemon from home, as long as you have a pokemon in the same gym - as last week's post showed. It's interesting, but really annoying if you accidentally feed a golden razzberry to a pokemon in a gym... just sayin'. Sometimes, not having a berry on hand to help catch a pokemon is also annoying - especially when you've just fed all yours to your team's pokemon - so think about that before you go all out stuffing their faces; the medal is pretty, but catching stuff is cool, too. Also, pokemon are little piggies when it comes to berries. And that&
Read more

The Great Publishing Challenge: 6 Down, 6 to Go

-
Image
This month, I nearly didn't make it. I'd gotten sick, gotten distracted by changes in other things I was doing, gotten a little depressed because things weren't actually working, and was in a bit of an overall funk as I worked out how to change direction and get moving again. At the beginning of November I guesstimated I had around 20,000 words to go on it in the 100 or so pieces of flash I needed to write to finish the book...and then the forward and the author's notes on top of that. I just wanted to give it up...but I didn't. I got to work to see if I really could manage not to fail, this time, and still do a good job. This is the result: Great Publishing Challenge : Milestone 6 Book 6: Another 365 Days of Flash Fiction Due: November 20, 2022 Uploaded On: November 18, 2022 Due for Release On: November 18, 2022 Type: A collection of mixed-genre and cross-genre flash fiction of varying lengths between 6-1000 words Content Breakdown:   total pieces-365: Flash
Read more