Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Chapter 10

The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12


Chapter 10: The High Queen of Venus takes control

From my point of view on the bridge of my mothership The Imperial High Cruiser Alpha Two, it looked like the Hey Sunny exploded and the solar system was covered in a spherical shield. 

“Your imperial majesty. We’re reading countless jump points outside the shield. It’s already starting to fail,” helmsman Jones said.

I was still trying to decide who I trusted after the attempted coup but everyone on the ship had been vetted by Hal, and him I always trusted.

“Gwin, my dear. I’m sorry,” Raphael the King Consort, my husband, said. “I know you cared for him.”

“So did you. We were all friends once,” I snapped. It was an old argument, one that I knew hadn’t gotten any easier over the past decade. My husband was the man I was always meant to marry, and I love him, but my first love was Hal, that awkward gangly boy I found stowed away in my father’s ship.

A wave of soothing light erupted as the shield collapsed and I felt calm, something I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced. It felt like warmth and love. I dearly held on to that feeling but it was quickly destroyed by the ships that crashed through the shield.

They were black and oily, the surface seeming to constantly shift as if it was a river or tar. They didn’t fire torpedoes; they crashed directly into the closest ship.

“Open hailing frequencies to the Sun fleet,” I ordered leaning forward in my command chair.

“Open,” the comms officer said.

“Sun fleet. We may have our differences but it seems we have a mutual problem. Are you amenable to a truce?”

The answer came from a lot of their ships at the same time, “Yes. Oh Sol, what have we done?” 

Jones tapped at his console and said, “The fleet is in disarray; they’re arguing about who’s in charge. The Black Sun command ship is only replying with sobbing. I think something happened.”

With a smile, I said, “Hal. That bastard converted them to Sol. That warm glowing feeling was his way of freeing the enemy fleet. Send a wide data packet to them with all our information on the void beasts and the virus they hold.” Hal had managed to fight the beasts once before and if they didn’t rip someone apart, the virus they held killed them horrifically.

I watched as the million-strong Myrddin fleet was torn to shreds. They fought valiantly but for every ten ships they destroyed, another hundred appeared. The void beast ships didn’t fire weapons; they crashed into their opponents and then swarmed them, leaving dead husks behind. 

Gesturing to comms, I ordered our fleet, “Okay people. Hal would say that this is the moment we were all born for. Let’s show these abominations what the sol system and its allies can do. And don’t die.”

The sol fleet did its best to hold off the ships but they were fast and determined to crash into us. I was about to order a retreat when the Sun fleet joined the fight.

“This is Sun Speaker Gerald first converted to Sol from the Sun Fleet. We’re here to help,” The voice was confident and we started to coordinate. The three fleets started working together and I led the charge. The fight seemed hopeless and the enemy endless but soon they started to thin out. 

I was thinking we were in the clear. More than half the Sun fleet was destroyed, the Myrddin counted less than a dozen, and the Sol fleet had lost a third of our people.

Then a planetship appeared past FarFarOut, the furthest human outpost in the Sol system. We’d managed to evacuate them back to Pluto. Thankfully, because the planetship devoured it.

The writhing oiliness of the ships was mimicked in this one, and after the fight, we knew it to be the void beasts that created the effect. 

Raphael gagged at the sight and in a whimper he asked, “What can we do against that?”

Before Hal had gone and done something foolishly selfless, he’d sent me a message that said, “Gwin, I loved you from the moment we met and I don’t blame you for what happened. Sometimes we need to move planets for those we love.” With the message was a schematic for the wormhole generator from The Revenge.

“We need to create a wormhole right in front of that thing and send it straight to Sol.”

“We’d have to be right next to them!” exclaimed Jones. He looked pensive and finally said, “If we used the microsun drive to get out right after we opened the gate, the planetship would get sucked in and we might survive. But it’ll take a few minutes to open the gate.”

“Make it happen!” I ordered. Softer, I said, “We need to do this for our families, our friends, our worlds, and our god.” The crew cheered and I felt sick to my stomach.

As we raced to the planetship, we were almost surprised by a void beast ship that was hiding in its shadow. Powerful weapons blasted it out of our way followed by a voice saying, “Imperial High Cruiser Alpha Two, this is The Revenge and The Warship Ennill, we’ll cover you.”

We fought our way to the planet and opened the gate. The gravity of Sol reached through the gate and pulled the planetship into the sun. We and the other two ships jumped out in time to avoid a fiery death.

I breathed a sigh of relief. There were still some void beast ships but the Sun fleet was making quick work of them. I started to relax when a void beast ship headed toward us.

Just as I was about to order weapons at full power, I heard Hal’s voice in my head, Help us! Please. I then recognized the shape of the ship. 

Under the writhing mass of beasts was the Hey Sunny.

“Target the Beasts on the ship. Prepare a boarding party. I want to rescue any survivors.”

Read Chapter 11 (November 2024)


While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Rescuers Down Under – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1990 film The Rescuers Down Under.

Story

The story set-up made me groan but instead of the traditional love triangle, Bernard’s story was about finding the self-confidence that Bianca had in him the whole time.

The rescuing story was also interesting in it’s conservationist bend and scary smart villain.

Score: 1

Characters

The main characters are just as loveable as before and Bernard’s arc is lovely. The added animals are fun and the humans are extremely clever. Something that is refreshing in a movie with kids getting kidnapped; the boy (like the girl in the previous movie) is extremely clever.

Score: 1

Dialogue

There’s a lot of talking that felt over the top and a little long winded. But overall it was pretty clever. I loved John Candy’s lines and irreverence.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The art is a great blend of traditional and computer animated. Unfortunately, the computer parts don’t hold up as well as the traditional ones.

The music was good and had some nice epic bits.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This is a well-balanced and fun movie. Everyone in the family loved it. Even the 5yo, who said he didn’t want to watch it, was in the room within a few minutes.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic with excellent art and wonderful characters.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Jen and Éric have stories in The Siren’s Song Vol. 1

Hello Readers!

Do you want a free ebook of short stories? What if they include exclusive stories from Jen and I?

The two stories are:

Funky Looking Chickens by Éric

A paranormal military mission goes sideways when they meet up with some strange birds. Things get extra complicated when the team lead discovers his ex-girlfriend on the scene.

Find out how Mr. Therien from The Baker City Mysteries became a Gatekeeper.

A Concert Tail by Jen

When a mermaid wants to go to a concert things seem impossible, but that word doesn’t exist in Westmeath.

Meet some new, and a few familiar, characters from Westmeath, the city featured in the series The Gates of Westmeath and Lucky in Love.

More

There are also plenty more awesome stories in the book.


Enjoy!

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Simply Irresistible – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film Simply Irresistible.

Story

This story is a mess. The character’s motivations are weird, the plot is all over the place, and the magic is inconsistent. There’s a strange surreal atmosphere that makes me wonder if it was meant to be a romantic take on absurdist plays.

Score: 0

Characters

The characters are blandly written and despite a few moments of real romance, the only reason it’s not downright bad is the skill of the actors and how willing they are to lean into the ridiculous.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue when things get really weird is extremely relatable and often hilarious. There are some great banter exchanges but a lot of it is cringe worthy.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography is surprisingly well done with some absolutely fascinating camera angles and stagings.

The score is heavy handed but the songs are nice and nostalgic.

Score: 1

Fun

This was one of my favourite rom-coms when I was in my teens. I’m sure that says a lot about me but I still find it charming and entertaining.

My wife (the romance novelist) was annoyed with the a lot of the film and the rest of the family seemed confused or nervous throughout.

Score: 1

Overall

This movie is a mess but views well if treated as a surrealist commentary on romance and corporate waste. If you like cheese this is a good choice but if you prefer more rom in your com this isn’t for you.

Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5

Twenty years of blogging (11 serious) and 10 years of serial stories

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

I have officially been blogging now for twenty years. My first livejournal post was May 2004. (Wow, was my grammar and spelling bad… it still is but back then it was much worse.) Rereading some posts, it’s a lot of angsty stuff with a little bit of what would become my style.

I blogged on and off until I decided to become an author in 2013. I was told that I needed to have a web presence and a blog was the best way to do it. Not sure if it was, but it’s been worth it in other ways. I’ve managed to write a little every week since then and it’s become part of who I am. Not sure I could stop if I wanted to.

One of the staples since April 2014 has been my Serial Stories. I’m currently writing the 11th annual one (Read Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises) and It’s kept me going when I’ve had trouble writing other things.

The first 5 years are collected in Coffee Shop Between the ‘Verses.

Coffee Shop Between the ‘Verses

Jackie sometimes likes to have conversations with the characters, and as he reads five novellas in the small Ontario town of Baker…

In The Ridiculous Adventures of Felix Felicitous, the grumpy Felix is thrown into an adventure through time, despite his protestations.

In Only Human, Rachel has accidentally signed up for the University of Monsters.

In Wargrave Island, Inspector Riko Dulac has to find out who’s killing all her former high school classmates before there’s no one left.

In Database of the Ageless Kings, Sophia rebuilds an alien ship, only to find the galactic prince still inside.

In Devices of Desire, follow Artemis, Diana, and Ezekiel as they navigate secret identities, demons, and love in the kingdom of Cillian.

Are the characters Jackie is talking with real? Is he just talking to himself? Or is something else going on?

49th Shelf Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses
Indigo Books Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses
Archambault Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses
Amazon Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses
Rakuten Kobo Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses
Apple Books Coffee Shop Between the 'Verses

Not stopping anytime soon

I’ve accomplished a lot over the past twenty years, and I might not be living off my writing yet (You hear that, Universe: YET). I’m happy with what I’ve done so far and I have SOOOO many more stories to tell. That won’t change, even though other things might.

Thank you to those who have been reading since the beginning, and I hope I’ve helped make your lives a little more entertaining.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Ten Years of Coffee!

Hello Coffee Lovers,

Ten years ago, I got the idea of roasting my own coffee. It was born from a combination of wanting to contribute to JenEric Designs sales and find a flavoured coffee that wouldn’t hurt my stomach.

This was the first ever coffee I roasted.

With this first batch, I decided to keep trying, and after figuring out the timing for adding the flavouring, I started roasting enough for Pop Expo 2014. I managed to roast a total of 10lbs.

Look how tiny it is:

We had 3 flavours available that year; Butter Rum, Cinnamon, and Chocolate Hazelnut.

The price we charged at the time was $10 for 125g (a little over 4oz). Shockingly, with better equipment and suppliers, we were able to bring the price down about 8 years ago to $8 for 4oz.

There have been times I’ve considered quitting, but it is something I love doing. I’ll never be able to retire on it, but it’s a fun job.

Overall, we’ve been extremely lucky with equipment, suppliers, and especially clients.

Thank you for ten great years!

Éric

Tarzan (1999) – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1999 film Tarzan.

Story

Not a huge departure from the book but the changes are pure Disney. That being said, it is the Disney animated movie with the most deaths other than Mulan.

There’s a nice slow pace to the movie that despite the brutality of the antagonists is kinda refreshing.

Score: 1

Characters

Rebellious Tarzan, curious Jane, overprotective but right father figure. The characters are all fairly cliché but it works.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue is fun and quotable.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The animation is spectacular and extremely well done. The movement and details are excellent.

The music went hard and is utterly fantastic.

Score: 1

Fun

I’m not a huge fan of kids dying and the beginning really caught me by surprise. It also annoyed me how privileged and innocent all the English characters were.

That being said, the music, pace, and joy in the movie are worth it.

Score: 0.5

Overall

An oft-forgotten Disney classic with amazing music and great visuals. It does have some sad parts but the happy ones make up for it.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

How Éric Plots his Novels

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans,

On Friday, Jen explained how she plots her novels. Now it’s my turn. This is the way I do it mostly. Sometimes I just jump right in, and when I’m writing with Jen we blend our methods.

Step 1: Have an idea

This is the most exciting step. I get a thought about a character, story, scene, villain, mood, or concept, and then I let my mind wander. Sometimes it takes years before I move past this point.

Step 2: Talk to Jen

This is the stage were I get excited and talk to Jen about it. If she gets excited, that’s great, if not then I need to think some more.

Step 3: Write something down

This can take the form of a Proof of Concept (a short story or first 1000 words of a novel), a blurb, or if I’m really excited, an outline.

Step 4: Math and tables

Before I start writing my outline, I start with my numerical goals. I need to decide if I want shorter or longer chapters, length of the book, 3 act structure or 5 act structure like Freytag’s pyramid, possible sequels, first or third person, and how many points of view.

Next, if I’m doing it right, I start making information tables for each of the main characters (I’ll be honest I sometimes do this later during writing. Every time I forget to do it I regret it.) I also like to build the same information for towns or locations.

Step 5: Outline

At this point, I write a list of everything that should happen in each part of the book and throw as much as I can at the page. Then I try to make a list of all the chapters, with who the POV is and place the events I have in the chapters.

I spend a lot of time on the story beats based off the act structure I chose. (I really like using elements from the Hero’s Journey.) Sometimes these are as simple as “needs scar” or “action scene”

This leaves a lot more holes than you’d think. I try my best to fill in as much about the first act as I can.

I also put in an ending for the book.

Step 6: Write while editing outline

No plan runs perfectly smoothly. As I write, I discover what I like about the story and what I don’t, and I need to adjust. I also get ideas for future scenes or plot points and add them to the outline.

In The Mystery of the Dancing Lights, my original outline was completely different, and I realized I wasn’t feeling the plot, so I wrote in the time loop and had to stop writing to adjust the entire outline.

Step 7: Obsessed about the book

I think about the book and daydream about it non-stop and as I do that, I get ideas and plot points. I add those to the outline.

Step 8: Make myself look clever

When I notice themes or have a definite ending, I start adding foreshadowings and more thematic elements into the outline (sometimes I have to go back to add them).


This is the ideal and every book I’ve written has had modifications. I try to follow the rule of “follow your instincts” as much as possible. Just because the outline says something doesn’t mean I’ll do it if I feel it’s not right.

I also spend a lot of time talking to Jen about the book and getting her feedback. If she gets the forehead scrunch or starts to twirl her hair and staring off at a distance, I know it’s not working for her.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric