The Minion

This is Sylvie. Sylvie is Randy's minion. She is also in his writing group. She has known Randy for a few years now, and had never read science-fiction until gave her a copy of the Omnibus. She has been a sci-fi junkie since, working her way through the whole Spinward Fringe series, all of Stargate SG-1 (that's right, all 10 seasons), all of Farscape, the original Star Wars trilogy (finally), Firefly/Serenity, all the new seasons of Doctor Who, all of Torchwood, and a few others. She is still getting caught up, much thanks to Randy.

She is a university student (some might say a professional student - she has been there for a really long time), currently working on her Master's Degree in Human Development. When she is not agonizing over writing her thesis, she is getting as much creative writing done as she can, in all kinds of genres. She is also, technically, writing about herself in the third person, as she is the voice of Lewis online (see, Randy wasn't lying when he said it wasn't him...).

Lately, she's been helping Randy with proofreading and troubleshooting on the novella, and annoying him until he gives her new pages. She's also keeping an eye on the online stuff, so that Randy does not have to worry about those things and can concentrate on writing and editing. If you are so inclined, you can follow her on Twitter, at the following link: https://twitter.com/#!/ever_light

If you have any questions/comments for her, feel free to send her an email at spinwardfringe@gmail.com (Randy can also be reached at this address).

Expendable Few: a Spinward Fringe Novella

I have "borrowed" the first two chapters of the novella from Randy's network, and am sharing it with all of you. I have put it up on the Goodreads forum, which can be found at the following link:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41338.Spinward_Fringe_The_Official_Group

In case you are reticent to go, here is a teaser (if you want the rest, you will have to go to the forums).

FREEGROUND INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL ONLY
This is a dramatized record of events surrounding Clark Patterson based on recordings made by his Command and Control Unit’s auto-logger, security records, neural captures, military files and action reports. For educational purposes only.
FREEGROUND INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL ONLY


Chapter 1

Oldest Of Friends

“You’ve got to get rid of this contraband before they do a random inspection,” Mary tells me as she looks through three data chips that she knows are as dirty as they come. The small, light gold bits fit in the palm of her hand - easily hidden from anyone but a Freeground scanning crew.
I ship out in sixteen days. That’s why she’s worried; they always scan commanders’ quarters before you ship out. “Can’t believe that’s contraband now,” I tell her. “Especially at my pay grade.”
“Let’s see if I remember,” she says, holding the first of the chips up between us. She’s sitting cross legged on the floor, I’m stretched out on the sofa. “This one is your collection of Valance’s security footage.”

Lewis has taken over the "blog" mwahahahaha

My daily perusal of this "internet" technology has brought to my attention the fact that Randy has not updated his weblog or "blog" (honestly, you humans and your tendency to shorten words...) in eleven days, four hours, twenty seven minutes and forty three seconds. As a reader of his "blog" you might be interested to know that there is a valid reason for this. His minion, or "personal assistant" as he calls her, has been cracking the whip, "encouraging" him to write more words every day. He is quite preoccupied with writing and editing, and as such, you have not heard from him in eleven days, four hours, twenty seven minutes and forty six seconds. On the bright side, his network informs me that he has produced many, many words in that time.

For those of you who might be interested, here is a short distraction from your mundane, human lives. It comes from the goodreads forum, which can be found at the following link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/470069-character-discussion-favourites-requests-outrages-spoilers-allowed

Randy suggested a new version of "rock, paper, scissors," which I understand is a game you play with your hands. Not having appendages, I will take his word for it.

Vacsuit beats Headshot.

Headshot beats Stasis.
Stasis beats Vacsuit.

Hand symbols: Upright V with 2 fingers for Vacsuit. Gun gesture for Headshot, Flat hand (just like paper), for stasis indicating 'flat line'.