Dawn of Chaos is up to approximately 62,500 words, and moving along pretty well, in my opinion. I’m not sure how far through the book I am, unfortunately, but I’m getting to what I consider the main plot this week. Unfortunately, the next two weeks are going to be busy for me, with a fair bit of travel and holidays with family. As such, I’m expecting to get less done each week until after the new year.
That said, I do have something to share, art-wise! Based on the version of the Djinn’s Gift I shared a few weeks ago, I got a 3d view of it from Jonathan M.R. I really like how it turned out, and here’s a perspective sheet, as well as a link to the 3d version. I hope you like it!
Ancient Dreams 
I hope everything goes well for you! I do have one question about the Djinn’s Gift, though…. Where are it’s engines?!? The back view just shows a solid red and gold exterior, with no engine pods anywhere. Are they retractable, like those flip up headlamps? Is the movement system one of those super sci-fi internal propulsion generator dohickies?!? Or maybe the tiny engines are inside those two little darkish bits in the back (because that doesn’t look ridiculous at all, I swear!)?
Just, you know, curious…
LikeLiked by 2 people
I never requested engines on the first version of the Gift, as it happens!
Honestly, I was intending it to be a form of reactionless drive to begin with, but if an artist came up with a sufficiently cool engine setup, I was alright with it. Personally, I think that it’s a combination of magitech, I was happy with that.
But yeah, considering that engines are a glaring weak point in a ship, IMO, removing thrusters is a good idea whenever possible.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, okay, that totally works! I take it then that those white squares aren’t windows, because that would also be a “glaring weak point in a ship” too! ;P Though I am really worried about how big of an affect any damaged to the narrow middle part would have on the transfer of power, life support, objects, or people, compared to a MUCH less cool looking non asymmetrical barbell design… And “reactionless drive” was totally the term I was trying to remember when I wrote “super sci-fi internal propulsion generator dohickies” (I like mine more because it’s more verbose and…um…provocative? Yeah, yeah, whatever works best at making my way look cool and totally on purpose, because it is)! I’ll accept it as the explanation why one doesn’t need to worry about torsional or shearing forces on that same narrow middle section when performing high acceleration maneuvers.
To be clear though, I think this version of the Djinn’s Gift is as smoking hot as she, much better than the previous attempts!
Wait…wait just one cotton-picking-moment here…your on book what…4 of this series?! Everyone’s been flying around this ship this whole entire time, and you’re only JUST NOW settling down on what sort of propulsion system it has?!? Please at least tell me that there haven’t been any space battles in which the ship was damaged such that how the entire thing actually works simply hasn’t been an issue yet!!!
***
On a completely unrelated note, apparently WordPress has figured out the secret to time travel, as the last message that I wrote only minutes ago was apparently posted online 11 hours ago! Pretty neat, now to somehow exploit this for my own gain…
LikeLiked by 1 person
In many cases, I very, *very* carefully don’t explain how a ship is propelled. I mention how it’s powered, but the tonnage? Dimensions? Method of locomotion? I’ve tried hard not to explain many of them. In space combat, I also don’t say the distance between ships very often (the one that I can remember was when pirates were yelping about the ship being less than a kilometer away). As for windows/viewing ports, I consider those less problematic than engines in some ways, since at least they can have armored panels slide over them or the like.
Regarding the narrow neck, that’s just because I like that design style. Sometimes I ignore practicality for rule of cool, I won’t deny it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see, smart then! I’m way too nit picky to ever do that in my stories, but I totally see the advantages to your style, it’s a smart choice for many reasons! Besides, at the end of the day, if it works, it works! And I absolutely agree with you on the ‘rule of cool’ with this design, it’s gorgeous!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been watching my comments here traveling backwards in time from “just now” to “10 hours ago” to “11 hours ago” in less than a minute. I still haven’t cracked WordPress’s time travel mechanics, I but will…and then I’ll rule the world!!!!
LikeLike