Croft Meets Eckle: An Unfortunate Beginning

April has been a travel month. I spent a week in Colorado Springs at the Space Symposium, which was an over-the-top event if ever there was, where I also got to meet my daughter's family. We had a blast. The week after was in San Francisco. It was fun hanging around Pacifica in our favorite coffee shop and hiking our favorite trails. Next month will be very heads-down on work, so it was a nice break.

This is a nice sunset pic I snapped at Ocean Beach:

Peleos (Timeless Keeper Saga Book 3) is still toodling along. I got a little distracted this month with work picking up and a side project to create a multi-voiced TTS (text-to-speech) converter for my books. I wondered if I could make it sound passable enough that I wouldn't cringe at every sentence. It's definitely no replacement for a voice actor (TTSs can't act), but good enough if I want to listen on the go. The different voices per character really do help.

This month's feature is an excerpt from One Man's Trash starring one of my favorite characters who also holds a special place in my heart. Hope you enjoy!

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• Croft Meets Eckle — Excerpt from One Man's Trash
• Book Sales and Events
• Currently Reading
• Other Authors You Might Like

Croft Meets Eckle

Excerpt from One Man's Trash

One of the funnest characters in One Man's Trash is Heckelsnort, a.k.a. Eckle: a stick-bird-looking alien with an odd genetic trait that makes his first encounter with Croft painfully memorable.

After my step-father passed away, I wanted a way to memorialize him and his peculiar sense of humor. What better way for an author to do that than in his books? My step-father was a cockney, born within earshot of the St Mary-le-Bow church bells, who grew up on the streets ducking-and-diving with the rest to survive. Despite that, he was a man of great integrity and easy humor that drew people to him in droves.

Eckle is a small reflection of him, best captured in this brief interaction between him and Croft.

Video walkthroughs of the Truck Stop at the Center of the Galaxy had failed to convey what awaited Croft when he stepped out of the elevator to the Main Ring.

The station was, in a word, enormous. The ceiling soared seventy meters overhead—so high that looking up gave him vertigo. The ring spanned just as far across, having room for several city blocks between. Lengthwise… Croft had read that jogging completely around the Main Ring was a staggering eight-kilometer run. One-quarter of that—the Orange Quadrant—was apparently off-limits, but Croft intended to explore every nook and cranny that wasn’t. Delphian technology was extremely rare and difficult to decipher. To have discovered an entire station of it was beyond every tech geek’s dream.

And so, Croft found the mostly human technology surrounding him disappointing. Buildings, benches, lights, and artwork all smacked of Earthen origin. Croft had hoped to step out of the elevator into a completely alien environment. Instead, he found himself walking in an enclosed version of his home planet. The station had been severely damaged when Zed’s company had discovered it thirty-five years ago. Extensive reconstruction had left little of its original design intact.

But the heaviness in his chest, he realized, wasn’t because of that. Croft had come here with the intention of enjoying the station’s wonders with Maria. To create a shared experience that might bring them together.

Yet here he was, marveling his first glimpse of this alien relic, alone.

How had Maria reacted when she’d stepped off the elevator? Had she gasped? Or had she been too engrossed in her data pad to notice?

Croft swore under his breath. If only the autopilot hadn’t failed, or if he’d remembered to affix the luggage locators, he might be dining with her right now, planning out the rest of their trip on this glorious station.

Instead, Maria was dining with Kaizon.

Croft hurried to a transportation tube. A green arrow pointed left, which he assumed meant it was going spinwise toward the Green Quadrant. He pressed the call button near the loading hatch.

A series of pops and squeaks sounded behind him, which Croft’s ear communicator quickly translated.

“Oi, mate! This tube go to the Green Quadrant?” For whatever reason, the translator had chosen a male voice with a rough, British accent.

“Sure does,” Croft said without turning around, still distracted in thought. He pointed at the green arrow.

“Thanks. You think they’d code these things for races who can’t see color. Blooming owners just assume everyone’s eyes work same as theirs. Those that have eyes, that is. Damned inconsiderate, if you ask me.”

Croft turned to find a large, stick-like figure staring back at him with beady black eyes. Lights glared from its shiny yellow carapace like miniature suns, making Croft squint.

Quick as a whip, the creature punched him in the face.

Croft staggered against the tube, holding his nose. He hadn’t heard a crunch, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t broken.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?”

“Sorry, mate! I didn’t mean to—”

Croft glanced between his fingers, only to see a yellow fist flying at him again. His head smacked against the tube with a loud clung! The world spun. Croft fell to his knees, struggling to stay upright.

“Sorry again! Keep your eyes down, mate, or you might get another wallop.”

“Or you could just stop punching me!”

“Wish it were that easy. I—”

Without realizing it, Croft had met the creature’s eyes again. The yellow fist flew at him a third time. Dizzy or not, adrenaline put Croft on the defensive. He jerked aside and narrowly avoided another wallop. The creature’s fist clanged against the tube.

“Yikes!” It spun in a full circle, cradling its hand. “That smarts something awful.”

“Then stop doing it!”

“Can’t! It’s reflex. My species shows aggression by exposing the whites of our eyes. Unfortunately, you Earthens show your whites all the time.”

Which genius allowed you onto a predominantly Earthen station, then?

“Sounds like quite a tic,” Croft said instead. He kept his eyes down this time, although his good manners nagged him for being rude.

“’tis. We’ve mostly overcome it as a species. Only one in a thousand of us still carry that gene. For those who do, though, the compulsion is irresistible.”

“You’re one of the lucky winners, it seems.”

“Yeah. Sorry again, mate. Wouldn’t have even come to this station if it weren’t for pressing business.” It knelt before him. “Here, close your eyes and let me see the mess.”

Croft did so.

“Ugh. I’m guessing the skin on your cheek isn’t supposed to be split open and leaking?”

“Red liquid?”

“Wouldn’t know. Can’t see in color, mate.”

Croft bowed his head, careful to avert his gaze. Sure enough, blood covered his fingers. “No, it definitely isn’t supposed to look like that.”

Worse, I can’t show up to dinner looking like I just lost a fight.

“Any idea where the medical ward is?” Croft said.

“Not a clue. But don’t you worry, I’ll see you there safely.”

“Thanks, I really—”

Manners once again overrode Croft’s sense of self-preservation. He met the creature’s beady eyes, intending to express his gratitude.

A carapace-covered fist whacked his face. This time, the world went black.

Book Sales and Events

• May 9–10 — Oakland ComicCon. A brand-new event Water Dragon is trying out. Fingers crossed!
• May 31 — Bay Area Book Festival. Last year's festival was very successful for Water Dragon, and this year looks to be the same. Doubt I'll make it to this one, but if you're in the area, there are usually a lot of book stalls to peruse and authors to chat with.
• July 4–5 — BayCon. The Bay Area's premiere science fiction convention. Always worth stopping by for sci-fi fans.
• August 27–31 — WorldCon. World's biggest science fiction convention, this year in the Anaheim Convention Center. I may attend this one.
• October 22–25 — World Fantasy Convention. Another Oakland event. Lots of them there this year, it seems.

Currently Reading

The Lord of the Rings - Audiobook

I haven't read Lord of the Rings since Peter Jackson released his amazing trilogy on the big screen. Andy Serkis' performance is amazing. I also forgot how much they cut out of the first book in the movie adaptation, and how much I enjoy Tolkien's prose. I'm on Book 2 and enjoying every minute.

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