New Download Alert!

Another quick note:

I've expanded the Downloads page of the blog yet again to include an awesome story by JoelToTheD!  That's right, you can pick up Kill Jill for your reading pleasure.

Rating: A very elastic T, according to Nysa.
Description: Chuck and Sarah's vacation is cut short by the arrival of certain brunette from Chuck's past. Chuck freaks, Sarah sharpens her knives, and Casey sits back and smirks.

Rave reviews: "Love your writing and this chapter is no exception. Chuck needs a whack to the head, though." - AgentInWaiting

"omg! :') i love this chapter please update soon!" - yovis

See?  You need to pick up this book right now. Download it here.

Frea

PS - Spies and Nerds is on a temporary break while I finish up the last three chapters of Fates and quistie64 works on Sound of Music II.

Shakespeare's Birthday! Celebrating with Spoilers!

Today, it's Shakespeare's birthday, and I needed to celebrate somehow since, uh, if you google the famous Shakespeare quote about Fates and being imposing, my story is kind of the first hit.  I kind of feel bad about that since I kind of picked the story title on a whim over two years ago (for the first couple of weeks of its life, Fates was called "The Bunker Story" as all of my stories aren't ever called by their real names ("The Audrey Story," "Smoke," "Isotope")). But since I named Fates after an awesome Shakespeare quote, I've gone on to give at least five other stories either Shakespearean titles or Shakespearean pun titles (including, by the way, the unwritten story of Fates Casey, which would've been called That Men Must Needs Abide).

So...here's the first part of Chapter 63, for your reading pleasure.  This will probably hit the stands on Thursday, maybe.  If I'm feeling particularly magnanimous on Thursday, that is.  Who knows?  I never do.

Have a great Monday, and Happy Birthday, Willy Shakes.  You inspired an entire language in so many ways.  You've certainly inspired me, and for that, I'll be forever grateful. Now, if anybody needs me, I'll be rereading Puck's amazing monologue from A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Frea

A Few Things You May Not Know About Fates

1. Fates was originally a one-shot
2. Fates was concepted in a Fazoli’s, proof that there are indeed narcotics in the breadsticks
3. The first scene written is actually from the second chapter, in which Chuck and Sarah play Go Fish. The first chapter was written to bridge a logic gap, and, oh yeah, explain the whole bunker thing.
4. Jill had an additional storyline after the Lincoln Reveal where Chuck is forced to figure out if he got over her during his time at Project Lincoln or not. This has been cut because Sarah Walker is a badass mofo.
5. Part V’s original title was actually a titan name (possibly Kronos), and a Greek god (Hephaestus) wasn’t supposed to be used until Part VIII. Since roughly 150k were cut off of Fates’s story, plans changed.
6. Fates Sarah was viewed as cold and remote until I wrote To Resist Both Wind and Tide.
7. To Resist Both Wind and Tide was written on a bet about the word-count for Chapter 18 (mxpw bet me I couldn’t finish it in less than 5k. I finished precisely on 5k to the word, making both of us losers. mxpw has yet to pay his part of the bet)
8. I wrote To Resist Both Wind and Tide because it turns out being severely limited in perspective to a man who has self-image/slight depression issues doesn’t really invite the clear-eyed inspection required to see past the world’s most formidable poker mask. And yes, I was tired of people complaining about Sarah being remote. Of course, had I known that this would only lead to a deluge of MOAR SARAH, I may have changed my mind.
9. Just kidding. I adore To Resist Both Wind and Tide.
10. Of my stories: Fortune Favors Fools, Wasted on Us, Training, Lies, and the CIA, and To Sleep, Perchance to Scream were written as gifts, Not in the Stars, He'll Someday Call Her Bunny, and To Resist Both Wind and Tide were lost bets, and What Fates Impose seems to be the result of a waking nightmare.
11. Oscar Wilde is the most quoted chapter quote person. Seriously. The dude has a quote for EVERYTHING.
12. My favorite thing to do under my guise as Moonlight Pilot was to post a chapter of Walker’s Eleven on the same day I updated Fates. In unrelated news, I’ve recently been diagnosed with a severe case of masochism.
13. Walker’s Eleven and Fates both feature absurdist stories about livestock, FBI agents named Virginia Grey, and cute cartoon frog thumb drives.
14. I spelled the German word for rabbit wrong.
15. Speaking of the rabbit thing, that evolved naturally, I swear. I have nothing against our lucky-pawed brethren.
16. Since I’ve started writing Fates, I’ve done Google searches on semiautomatic weaponry, Molotov cocktails, how far can you fall into the water without dying and how, do bullets penetrate water, Speed, all varieties of RPGs, World of Warcraft, every Star Trek under the sun, the Santa Monica Pier, how long a Cessna can stay in the air without refueling, ferries in Greece, and the history of the CIA. To date, nobody has knocked on my door asking about my Internet search history, but I have to figure it’s only a matter of time.
17. My original beta reader swore up and down readers would murder me for Chapter 6, which only mentioned Sarah Walker twice. I laughed, and then realized she was right when Sarah didn’t feature for three chapters in a row.
18. Bryce wasn’t supposed to be in Part V. Then I figured there were a bunch of things I needed to wrap up.
19. I really, really don't have any thing against rabbits.  I promise.