New Short Story (and it's free for all of June!)

Earlier this year, Catalyst started publishing a free short story every month, free in that for the entire month, then would vanish, to be replaced by a new free story the next month. Well, my story is the free one for the Month of June. A tale about how the past sometimes doesn't stay there.....

The back cover blurb: 

A GHOST IN THE SNOW…

Lost in a blinding snowstorm on an isolated mining planet with raiding pirates nearby…if there was ever a worse situation to be in, Leftenent John Meza is hard-pressed to think of one.

The fierce snow squalls on the planet Raman are nicknamed “Ghostmakers” due to their tendency to disappear people and even entire ’Mechs. Despite being caught in one, Meza’s plan is simple: find some cover, hunker down, and ride the storm out.

But when the pirates he was hunting find him, Meza’s suddenly outnumbered, outgunned, and in a world of trouble. His only hope is a faint voice on his comm that was guiding him through the storm…but can it guide him to victory as well?

Note: This free short story download is available between June 1–30, 2025, and contains an ebook file compatible with most ereaders, including Kindle.

It can be found here: The Specter of Winter

Now a few thoughts about this story. This story has been simmering in the background of my mind for years, a story of a Mechwarrior being saved by the past in a way he didn't expect. When John sent out word he wanted stories for the Free Monthly Fiction, and it had to be no more than 5,000 words, I took it as a challenge. Most of my published short stories are twice that long, and I took up the challenge. 

The result is The Specter of Winter is first of several Free Fiction Monthly stories I wrote, small character pieces with plenty of action in them. The others will be doled out over a couple of years, and I really tried to cover different times and places I don't know when or in what order they'll be published in. All I can ask is that you enjoy this one and/or any of the other Free monthly BT fiction.

I'm keeping it short today. You have the rest of June to get my story, because when July rolls around, a new story will be unveiled...

Craig

What have I've been doing for two years?

 

I wish I really had a good answer....

I guess the only excuse I can five anyone who reads this that right before my last post, my mom died. It hurts at such a level I cannot describe it without getting teary.

So, I threw myself into my writing Since then, I have two stories and one gaming article published in Shrapnel, (#12 and #17 for the stories, #19 for the gaming article), had a novella published (Blood Rage), and the longest and the best received novel so far, (In the Shadow of the Dragon. I'll go over the novella and the novel in separate blog posts.

I've also doing some game material when I can, but most of my writing time right now is on the stories,

After all that, I've been writing the first novel of a trilogy about the Wars of Reaving. It is called Poisoned Honor and covers the start of the war that consumed The Clan Homeworlds while the Inner Sphere tore themselves apart in what became know as the Jihad. 

While I am writing the first book, Jason Hansa is writing the second book, Corrupted Honor, and Phil Lee is writing the third book, Shattered Honor. As I understand it, all three books will be out next year.

Now, I'm going to give you a insight into the writing of these books, (no spoilers).

The War of Reaving sourcebook was out go-to document for this this trilogy. It is a densely packed sourcebook, at times a boon to our writing, but also a bane at times. Because it's so dense, it had to be read and reread, to make sure we were getting it right. And it took a while.

While we are writing a trilogy, it's not a conventional one. While there are characters that appear in all three novels, the novels, for the most part, are self-contained stories. Yes, plot points are throughout all three books, but they're more like the Element of Treason Novels in that they have varied sets of POV characters with different stories that happen within the events of the Wars of Reaving. For example, most of my POV characters are not in the other two novels, and there are POV characters in their novels that are not in mine. There is overlaps between each novels timelines, so some events that happen in Jason's novel happen earlier than events in mine, and some of Jason's events occur in the middle of Phil's Novel. But the stories are written to give the reader a solid story without side trips into the other authors' stories.

And content? Without revealing anything, we had a lot of fun

deepening the events covered in the War of Reaving Sourcebook. The Clan Snow Rave's Watch missed a few things, which is understandable, as they were getting out if Dodge at the time. Expect some surprises, and a lot of battles.

I saw an early proof of the Cover for Poisoned Honor, and it's a great cover. I haven't seen the final cover, so I'm not going to reveal it here, but it is a great cover.

As for progress, The first drafts are down or nearly done. I need to start going over Poisoned Honor, which is going to be a long slog, because it's not a lightweight novel. The plot is complex, the POV characters are many, and keeping track of them all was a hard thing to do. I think I'll start Monday and see is there are things and words I can trim.

While that has been going in, I'm, still writing short stories, sent seven in this year, have another I need to edit/rewrite, and about a dozen in various states of completion. So, I am being productive, I'm just not saying much about it. I want to get these out of my way, so I can take the time to plot and pitch more Catalyst novella/novels and work on my own original writing.

So, I'm still here, I'm still writing, and I'm still missing mom. The Writing is helping, but I would be lying if I said I was 100%. But enough of that. I hope you enjoy life with the people you love and let them know where they stand with you every day.

Craig