Proteus Art - The Delasian Star System

There was silence as they arrived, simply staring out of the window at the view. In all her life, she had never seen anything like it. She knew where she was in technical terms, the data Koli was imprinting on her mind clearly showing they were in human terms in roughly the same position as Jupiter was from Earth. She looked at her friends as she stood up, Koli releasing her as she dropped down to the floor, even her animated friend deathly silent as she reconfigured herself.

"I don't get what we are looking at," Jo commented in almost a whisper glancing to Joulik who shrugged her shoulders.

"It's an artificial structure," Lyphius commented finally breaking her gaze looking to the readings Koli was gathering. "It's two hundred and fifty million miles across, larger than the orbit of Earth around the sun. Although it's broken with sections exposed, it has an internal surface area over five hundred million times the size of the surface of Earth. There are cities, oceans and more clinging to its inner surface."

"It's a Dyson shell although different," Kat whispered in shock, "I remember a scifi show where there was an episode that featured one. It is a theoretical structure that can capture massive amounts of energy from the star it orbits, but the engineering alone is mind boggling. Samantha, my sister is a researcher in theoretical astrophysics. She was obsessed with the idea. It was put forward by a physicist called Freeman Dyson, although technically this is an incomplete structure."

"You're saying that thing is a world?" Jo stammered in disbelief.

"Not quite an accurate description, but in practice yes. There could have been hundreds of billions of these Avorans living there, but Koli's scans are showing no sign of life, not even primitive," Lyphius said in a dark tone, "Whatever future Koli warned us of killed their whole race."

"The promise of unlimited energy," she whispered as finally Koli broke her gaze, almost jumping.

"I am detecting life signs," she said nervously, "The system is reasonably clean so I can navigate us to them."

"Confirmed," Lyphius said as their mission started to sink back in, "I have five faint life signs in scanning range. They appear to be the Avoran ships."

She watched as a single tear left Koli's eye as she looked at her questioningly, Koli visibly upset.

"You are not seeing what I am seeing," Koli sighed mournfully, "There were tens of thousands of ships here. Their bodies are lifeless floating in space."

"Focus on the living ones," she replied comfortingly, "See if you can talk to them. Tell them that Aurora has sent us and we are about to set up some equipment to rescue them."

"What I said was true Phillipa," Koli whispered, "The Avoran system is a place of wonders and death. So much death."

Read the full story in Proteus Evolution

Proteus Ghosts - Revised Cover

Originally in my head I had this fantastic cover for Ghosts.
Full blown action shot looking up in to the sky as Terrik goes nose to nose with an Apeyron warship, in the foreground Issi Rem hurtling along on her scooter with a pack of Kinar Beasts chashing her as she tries to get to the bottom of all the computer glitches.....
That would really sum up the utterly manic, tense and stupidity of this story. Its buckets of tense fun.

Except, try as I might, I am never going to get there. The fact is Kinars are nothing more than a pencil sketch, I can't find a decent model of a scooter I can use, the Alphian models are still in early development and getting a background for that is impossible.

So... what to do?
On the original cover, I showed Lunar, misted out, but it was all warm and friendly and a bit meh. Creative block again...
So I took my time. I wanted something spooky, ghostly and imposing.
This is the result.
Lots of alien atmospheric work, mist and lightning. Then there is the main elements. There is the ghost of Lunar's physical body and her avatar wrapped in to the image that sucks you in.

I like it... hope you do too!

New Horizons Artwork (spoilers)

Spoiler Alert....

Really... it is a spoiler alert.

If you haven't read New Horizons, this image takes place after the book although it is covered.

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Okay, you were warned.

At the end of New Horizons the Apeyron Fleet is in tatters. Millions of years of decay has seen their proud and frankly massive fleet of ships reduced to less than a few hundred and they don't have the manpower or resources. Tath knows this and proposes a new fleet, one based around Organic Design.

While we get the gist of this, this is what happened after the book, taking place inbetween New Horizons and the upcoming Serendipity novels...

Enjoy the creative insanity...

Modelled and designed in Blender, Rendered in Poser and post work in Photoshop...

Proteus Art, and an update

Eyecandy first...
As you will have guessed at this point, I like to know what I am writing about and while being able to see something in your head is good, actually being able to physically see it in 3D is better.
This is the Harbinger, an Apeyron dreadnought class ship that will make its terrifying appearance in the upcoming Proteus New Horizons.
The two little ships by its side are Apeyron heavy cruisers, just do you get the idea of how big this thing is.

As for an update....
It may seem like things are quiet for me at the moment, but the truth is far from it and I am waiting to see how something works out before making an announcement. Lets just say I have been very busy working in the background.

Proteus New Horizons is currently being written and I have to admit, I have been distracted by other projects. Keep watching as which ever way this goes, it will be huge.

Proteus Book 8 - Evolution now available

The adventure for the Proteus ships continues as the second book of the Natural Selection Saga arrives with Proteus - Evolution

Available from:
Smashwords
Rakuten Kobo
Apple iTunes
Barnes & Noble
Amazon Kindle

Also available at other afflicated retailers priced at $3.99 for the Ebook

The book is suitable for Teens upwards.

Rate 5 / 5 (Kobo)

Here is the Blurb!

"With Loren and Lunar reunited, everyone is overjoyed at the resurrection of the youngest Proteus ship however she is not the youngest anymore with four new wilful and slightly potty new members of the Proteus family to deal with. As Terrik, Koli and Lunar return to Earth with the goal to ease Lunar through her trauma and help Terrik try to find her inner peace, the team on Beletrix is stretched to its limits as Saya and Miras search for suitable new worlds for the Apeyron to colonise.

However when an old foe reappears and threatens the peace they have fought hard to achieve the reckless and immature sisters decide to spring in to action putting themselves at risk facing off against powerful forces hell bent on destroying them.

Back on Earth, what should have been a therapeutic vacation for Koli, Terrik and Lunar quickly turns in to a rescue mission that could have disastrous consequences as the Earth ship Aurora begs Koli to help save her sisters. Knowing the dire warning from the future Koli and Flip must decide if they should undertake this risky mission knowing full well what the cost to the future will be.

Will our young heroes manage to survive their first adventure and will Koli, Lunar and Terrik rescue the stranded Avoran ships while ensuring the future for everyone does not fall in to darkness?"

This second part of the Natural Selection Saga, Evolution follows old and new friends as they get themselves in to a lot of trouble with dilemmas and action abound. For our youngest members of the Proteus Family they quickly find themselves in deep trouble facing a life or death situation as one of the hidden secrets of the Apeyron is forced in to the light of day. Back on Earth, a dark warning from the future comes full circle as the Earth ship Aurora asks for Koli's help leaving them with a terrible decision to make, to travel to the Avoran system and rescue Aurora's sisters or to refuse. This is a decision which Koli and Flip know could very well spell the end of everything!

Also included is another Proteus Unhinged Mini story, One Small Step.

 

Proteus Evolution - Meet the family

Proteus Evolution, the 8th book in the Proteus Series has finally hit the shelves and before I introduce the book itself, I thought I would introduce you to the newborn Proteus ships as well as a few other ships that feature in the book, specifically Aurora's family...

Enjoy!

Norcee is a third generation Titan class ship, although smaller than Miras she is quite frankly massive. She believes she is the groups leader but struggles with her siblings.

Hataka is unlike anything ever imagined by our friends. She is technically a Proteus Warship, heavily armoured and heavily armed. Looks can be rather deciving though as beyond her explosvie and aggressive nature she reads romance novels and is rather girly.

Cenya is not quite what she appears to be, a mini Titan of sorts she is no larger than Terrik or Lunar. She is lazy and can be explosive if you mention she is fat, but get to know her, she is hiding a secret from her sisters. She is seriously smart.

Qidgee is frankly a pain in the ass. She is hyperactive, annoying and plays far too many practical jokes. She is also the smallest and the fastest of the Proteus Fleet. She also tends to get herself in to a lot of trouble.

Corona is an Avoran Repair ship, and one that is highly unique and unusual. The Matriach of the Avoran ships, she cares for Aurora's sister ships Nova, Lumious and Pulsar, as well as the little experimental ship Eclipse. She is very old, fierce when she wants to be but has a good heart.

Eclipse is by my own admission, the Tiny Tim of the Avoran ships. An experimental prototype built shortly before the end of the Avoran civilisation, the technology she carried failed. Abandoned and left in Corona's care, she is very sick and needs a great deal of care.

That's it... fancy meeting them all? Grab a copy of Proteus Evolution.