Today, I have two shorter pieces to share. One is a Gen 1 vignette from E.E. which brings to a close the Spring 2007 year at the Whateley Academy: "Pomp and Conspiracy." The second piece, from Domoviye, is part of our pre-public test of the Gen 0 project... in which we present stories from the greater world of the Whateley Universe that don't require intricate understanding of ongoing plotlines and fill out those parts of the world. Want to know about some of the historical moments of the WU that have been mentioned over the years? Formation of the Syndicate? The Martian invasion? Dr Dad's attempt to steal Pittsburgh? These and a number of other potential stories will be on our list for independant projects by authors who aren't canon (or aren't canon yet). This first story, "A Good Man" gives some insight into the MCO and that organization's reputation and history. 

Enjoy!

For a few weeks in May, if not into the Summer as well, we expect to spend some time with only one release per week instead of the two that we've been doing for the past four months. We're definitely generating more than 20k words per week... but not quite up to the 40k words per week needed to keep up a 2 release per week full time schedule. So for a little while, we're going to build back up a pile of "to be released" materials and then look at alternating in some 'extras' on odd weeks or something of the sort. This DOES mean, however, that some weeks may have a Gen 1 release or a Gen 2 release... or Library... without something from the other group. I'll try not to go too many weeks in a row with stories from just one time frame, but if everyone's writing Gen 2 plots... that might be what you get for a little while. :)

For those of you who missed this weekend's big announcement:

An exciting announcement / update!

While this isn't the first time it has happened, it is still a rare enough event that its worth a front page announcement and lots of kudos from the community. Over the past year or so, one of the community members has written several fan fics that have really resonated with both canon authors and the readership at large. These stories, with only a little advice and support from the canon team have been of high quality and merit recognition as being insightful into the sort of people the canon characters are meant to be... beyond their power sets, and the trappings of the setting. In addition to being the sort of author WE want to read and work with, this community member has stepped in and helped in a significant way with the site move; spending dozens (if not hundreds) of hours assisting with the process of moving stories to the new site.

For these reasons, among others, we happily extend official canon status to Phoenix Spiritus. We are also offering official status as "Hank's author" to Phoenix for all the great work on the stories created as fan fic but which now all sit on the shelves as canon (as they should). But this is a full canon position, so Phoenix is not limited to just writing about Hank... we hope to help P-S to develop a new Fall 2007 freshman to work in with the rest of the ongoing core storyline. There's also a possibility for G2 timeline stories (if the G2 crew is willing)... or external (G0) stories. 

I hope to be able to make more announcements like this in the near future and I know there are a number of authors who we have our eyes on, as we evaluate them for not only their writing talent and skill but also with how well they will work with our team, how committed they are and so forth...  especially once we post our 'formal road' to canon authorship and the various ways for authors to get published here. It's always exciting to see what new authors bring to the table. Be sure to congratualate Phoenix Spiritus in the forums when you have a chance!

And hey... today is tax day! I hope everyone got their taxes done and submitted so the government won't get pissy about it. And they will. There might be billionaires skipping out on paying taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars in offshore tax haven accounts... but by all the gods, if someone living at the poverty line is late filing their taxes for the sixty dollars they owe... they'll send out the flipping black ops teams to hold your life hostage until you comply with all the appropriate tax codes. So before you give in and read this week's story content, make sure you aren't blowing off the IRS to do it. Last thing I need is the tax man coming after me because I distracted you from filing by offering good reading material.

And it IS good. We have the start of a new Kayda piece, kicking off some summer trips. That's from Elrod, of course - "Kayda 8: The Best Days of Our Lives" (Part 1). And over in the Gen 2 arena, let's take a second look at Nagrij's character with Part 2 of "Down the Rabbit Hole."  Enjoy!

It's been an interesting week. I got offhanded compliments from my boss acknowledging something I've been trying to get him to understand for seven or eight years. He hasn't quite grasped the larger ramifications yet... but he's starting to get it. "You get what you pay for." Most people tend to get that with personal consumer goods, cheap products tend to be of lower quality. They don't meet your needs exactly, the fit or taste isn't 'tailored', and they tend to decay more quickly because the materials and means of putting them together is poor. But the idea tends to extend to things on a much larger scale. You cannot expect department store microphones and sound equipment to perform like the stuff you see on Broadway... 

The principle also applies to employing people. You can't pay people unskilled labor wages (or lower, because  the jobs are offered on a contract/stipend level which somehow bypasses hourly minimums)... and expect to get their best effort. Especially some of the skill sets involved in theatre, where you have to be both a craftsman or engineer and a creative/artist at the same time. 

Of course... offhand compliments don't mean I'm going to get a raise or anything... that would be too much to expect *sighs*

Over on this little web presence called The Crystal Hall?

Well... this week, it looks like we're got a couple shorter pieces for you. From Light-of-Fury, we've got a Gen 1 canon piece called "Learning to Hunt." and from Morpheus, Part 2 of his introduction backstory for Bianca "Written in Blood."

Next week (sorry bookies)... we'll wrap up the first of the two Gen 2 intro stories (New York Comes with Calimari) with Part 3. So a re-read of parts 1 and 2 over the weekend to jump right into the conclusion on Monday might be warranted for those who didn't like the parts handled separately. As we then move forward with Gen 2, we might treat some of the remaining parts of Road to Whateley (which is technically core story 1.2, Calimari being 1.1) as noodle incidents until E. E. and Bek have a chance to finish it.

Spring already. Time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you have mutant devisors and gadgeteers building clocks with gravitic propulsion systems to measure the effects of relativity and the flow of time at various fractions of c. But that, I suppose, is beside the point.

For tonight's release, we've got the final bit of Morpheus' "A Glow in the Darkness" (Part 3) and from our Gen 2 authors, we're going to give you a little insight into the backstory of another of the characters introduced in Calimari. That's Nagrij's character, in "Down the Rabbit Hole."

And if that isn't enough, I'll be adding a couple fan fiction pieces to the published section tonight... although a few pieces that have been submitted are going to get bounced back to their authors for another rework, a few of them are ready to go and I've finally had some time to get to them. Be sure to check out the Fan Fiction section for all the newest releases (I'll append a list of them to the front page news later).

Kristin

And here are those Fan Fic pieces. I'm sure that some of you have spent some time reading WU fan fic in the forums or on another site... it is my hope that as we move forward that more of the fan fiction authors will look into getting their completed pieces archived here alongside the other published work. We'll continue to provide a forums area for in progress works and experiments into writing origins or power gimmicks, but as more finished stories are developed... stories that are Whateley stories in everything but their canon status; I think this section will grow rapidly. And from it, I hope to find and recruit more of the good authors hiding in our community to participate in canon story development.

For now, you can find the latest Fan fiction over here in the story section. Today's releases, if you haven't gone looking for them in the past, are:

Phoenix-Spiritus - "So Shalt Thou Show Me Friendship" - A near-canon piece with Hank and Lily.

Pioneer - "Two Become One" (Part 1) - A more divergent origin story using the WU as its setting.

and three pieces from Domoviye - "Never" "How Far" and "A Light in the Dark" - Three separate near-canon origin stories.

Enjoy!

This week, we've got two more really great pieces for you:

From the Original Timeline, we wrap up the end of school year piece from Elrod "Odds and Ends" with Part 3. Did you solve the mystery before Whateley security did?

And from the the G2 timeline, we're going to take a moment in our Road to Whateley trip to flashback to just a few months earlier... before AJ spent time with his mother at Karedonia... with "The Curse of the Dragon Queen"