Lor Kalkin

First Specialist, Plague Squad
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Cancer

Height: 174 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 1,875
RMP: 5,300
Birthdate: 10475.253

Artifact: Contamination Pump
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 41,250
Dark RMP: 116,600
Artifact Award Date: 10500.001

Residence: Root Palace, Locsard Psychic Academy

When Dark with the Contamination Pump, Lor Kalkin becomes a giant, sickly-purple walking cancer, increasing to 3 meters in height and 3 meters across at the shoulders. He is surprisingly agile for his bulk, however, and is able to direct his potent psychic power to instill rot through unnatural growth by touch or up to a range of 20 meters. His innate discipline enables him to regenerate tissue at an already fantastic rate, but with the aid of the Contamination Pump, he is, perhaps, physically immortal, able to reconstitute himself even after significant loss of body mass.

Jav Holson

Height: 172 cm 
Weight: 73 kg
Gravity Rank: ?
RPP: ?
RMP: 500
Birthdate: ?????.???

Artifact: Ritual Mask
Artifact Rank: 15 (30)
Dark RPP: ?
Dark RMP: 7,500 (15,000)
Artifact Award Date: 10682.031

Category: F-Gene Fighter, Superior Grade
Discipline: 18 Heavenly Claws

Rank: Specialist, Plague Squad

Residence: Planet 1287

The Ritual Mask, though a non-permanent Artifact, gives Jav a number of notable abilities. Like all Artifacts, it augments Jav physically by a factor equal to its rank.  In addition, the Ritual Mask is capable of initiating the Mikai Curse, which cycles up in intensity, forcibly wrenching blood--spilled and readily available or through the very pores of the skin--from all living things in a 200 meter radius. This blood is drawn directly into the Mask until the Mask is satiated and reaches its maximum, doubled potential. So far, Jav has had little success in controlling himself while Dark with the Ritual Mask.

In addition, as a non-permanent Artifact, the Ritual Mask has a finite amount of power and will ultimately fail, taking Jav along with it when it expires--unless he can win the Artifact Competition to be held in 10,688.

Approaching Infinity

A series of mental exercises included as secondary training in a number of martial arts that enables the practitioner to affect the physical world by manipulating space, in a virtual sense, in the mind.  Only those with the F-Gene are able to effectively use Approaching Infinity, or AI, but some psychics have shown a natural aptitude for what Approaching Infinity theory teaches.

The benefits of AI have been most clearly demonstrated in augmenting physical striking power. At the last millisecond before landing a strike, the practitioner visualizes the space between fist and target halving, then halving again, then halving again, and so on as the fist continues on towards its target, ever increasing in velocity and acquiring more and more mass, but never making contact, until finally the practitioner exceeds infinity and delivers the strike with devastating results.

Other uses for AI include movement, both subtle and on a grand scale, reducing the velocity of objects or projectiles, and even being in two places at the same time.

Resuming the Fight

Well, not much to report, except that I have started working again on Approaching Infinity: Book 3 (nearly a year on hiatus for that particular project!).  After two and half months of writing absolutely nothing, I'm totally out of practice.  But I'm hopeful.  Hopeful that it won't take too long to get back into the swing of things and hopeful that I can maintain a consistent pace.  Wish me luck.  Or, on second thought, don't.  It's all me or nothing at all, right?

Anyway...  Onward!

A Confession

I'd always intended to post more regularly.  The last couple of months have been fairly eventful with the 3/11 earthquake and work has been... stressful.

I wouldn't be unique, I'm quite sure, in saying (repeating, in fact) that time is always the enemy.  There's never enough of it--or maybe I'm just pisspoor at using it effectively--so towards the end of February, I started to think I should just give it all up.  The writing I mean.  Of course it's a lot of work.  Of course I want to be able to devote adequate attention to it.  Of course I want to produce something that I find valuable.  Of course I want to share the results with others who may also find some inherent value.  But in the end, there's a whole lot of wanting and not much in the way of satisfaction.

I really shouldn't complain.  I have a job (at least I did before Golden Week...), I have a roof over my head and food to eat (could even spare a little of the latter), I have a wonderful wife and daughter, both of whom I love dearly.  So... what?  I don't really need anything. 

But I want.

Writing is to me, I suppose, what religion is to others.  I don't put on special clothes or chant or anything, but it's that unquantifiable thing--the spiritual thing, I guess--that keeps me going.  The stories have a life of their own in the back of my mind and they always make themselves heard.   The stories may not be good, they may have dead ends, but they speak to me.

It took about two months for me to start rising out of the funk that began at the end of February.   What this means, number one, is that, hopefully, there will be more frequent posting here.  What this also means is that I think I'm going to forgo pursuing the traditional publishing route.  I'm not giving up on my desire to be published, not yet, anyway, but am actively considering alternatives.

King Yellow is on hiatus.  All Things Comfortable, too.  I'm not going to make any promises until I can provide concrete, factual details on the project I've just started.  Updates to follow.

Wow, it's been a while!

Man time flies!  I've been meaning to post for a long time now.  No excuses.  Well, I've got a ton of them, but not a one that's worthwhile.  Couldn't make much headway with All Things Comfortable.  I'm not ready for it yet.  Have come up with an idea for a one shot Shades of Viscain story dealing with the ill-fated Ex(peditionary) Squad.  Have also been working on King Yellow, which ultimately will detail the Viscain Empire's origin.  I'll put something up in the projects section soon.

Watched all of Dexter and was totally blown away.  I know it's wildly popular so if there's something wrong with me for liking it, it's not just wrong with me...

Faye turned 2 and had a great birthday.  See?  She's currently killing us with cuteness.