Current Status Update (chapter 96)

97

...but if I'm right...?

GrandPaM

I sometimes wonder whether any of Tefler’s work is autobiographical

Wookey

John, I suspect that if that were the case, he'd post something to let us know that it would be further delayed. He knows that he said it would be out, so I don't think he would do that without telling us.

Evan

or perhaps "induced" him to go there...?

GrandPaM

Thinking wifey told him to go to bed

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

1am London time Tefler....enjoy the sleep in.

Wookey

F5 getting a workout

Wookey

Hmmm

Nickcap

Like you're going to get any work done for the next hour after you get the chapter!

Evan

Should have been on my way to work 10 minutes ago, but it'd be nearly 30 minutes before I could log back onto here to check the chapter.

Jedi Khan

dude, you are late!

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

He said 'perhaps'... :-)

Evan

30 min...ding!

GrandPaM

has it been 30 minutes yet?

Amathew2

There is always tomorrow

isn't it rather late in Tef's day for triggering a release still?

GrandPaM

Few more minutes.

Jedi Khan

Is it time for chapter 96? I am going through withdrawals

Nickcap

Make it 20 and you have a deal.

Jedi Khan

Too late for me. Have to catch it afterwards.

Big Dude

I've just finished! I'll fix a few typos pointed out in part 1, then I'll post the new chapter. Perhaps 30mins? :-)

Tefler

If not posted by 4:15 PST I have to go!

Big Dude

Huh. Tefler *may* miss his self-imposed posting schedule. <shrugs> It happens. It's all good. I'm sure that we'll all still be here waiting, afterwards...<shrugs>

Evan

Patreon would have a riot on their hands if they did that, complete with torches and pitchforks.

Jedi Khan

What would be "funny" is Tefler posted it an hour ago and Patreon is sitting on it! ;-)

Big Dude

I think I may need to replace my keyboard soon the F5 button is trying to escape from all the abuse it's getting on release days

ItWasn7Me

Has anyone tried coaxing the chapter out of Tefler with treats? Crazy, the chapter isn't a dog. I know that, but isn't it a living thing? People are always saying how a good story takes on a life of its own. ...

Jedi Khan

39 minutes?

Evan

Now he's dragging it into English time :S

ChrisW

Sush you.

Jedi Khan

I wonder if Tefler reads these itchy finger comments from us and chuckles like the Pied Piper of Hamelin!

Big Dude

I assume he's got tickets to go and see the new Star Wars, so he can have a look at how people do smaller space battles so he's having the night off :-)

John, thanks for sharing. The film was indeed Awesome. It bodes well for the future of the commercialization of space travel and exploration.

It's kind of ridicilous too, I actually have a 3 hour train trip tomorrow and the smart thing to do would be to save the new chapter so I could read it on the train but my brain (or is it my dick) that's going like nope. Hit that f5 one more time.

Jedi, you know that pressing F5 every few seconds is not going to make Tefler post the chapter any faster, right? Of course I know that Crazy, but it makes you feel better knowing that we can have it the moment he posts it, doesn't it? Good point. Besides, I'm not the only one obsessively hitting refresh. Every other addict on here is doing the same. Cookie Clicker freaks have nothing on us when it comes to clicking repetitively.

Jedi Khan

We all shiver in anticipation. A good idea would be to do a few paragraphs in the area of credits both earning it, setting up buisnesses etc, cooperating with Rachels dad for example. Cheers. And thx Tefler for your great writing.

Scruples44

So we all hope, but instead maybe he's starting an early friday night party and chuckling to himself about us addicts on Patreon. (Not saying he'd be that cruel but these cliffhangers give me a pretty good idea of what a dark, dark man he is..)

I'm sitting here like: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/rfiOm" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/rfiOm</a>

Tefler not responding is a good sign actually! It means he's going through the chapter one last time. Aaaannny minute now....

Apart from the anticipation of Ch 96, there has also been a really cool SpaceX launch today. Check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPHbqY9LHCs" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPHbqY9LHCs</a> especially the stage separation starting around 18:20 and the first stage landing from about 23:00. Awesome.

John Jameson

Wish I had even an inkling of an ETA so I could know if I'm refreshing the page every two minutes for nothing. One hour, four hours... Can I go to sleep or not? I swear this is killing me.

Man, the wait for Ch. 96 is getting to me :D

Sid1712

10 minutes maybe?

ChrisW

So, I was thinking... if Tefler were to post a note here saying that he wasn't going to post chapter 96 until he knew that at least 50 people were actively waiting for it, how long do you think it would take him to get 50 responses? Seconds? Minutes?

Evan

Well now it is the 15th :D

MaydaysSin

It is time to press the submit botton!

ChrisW

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ziock_PVe4" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ziock_PVe4</a>

*drums fingers* (on f5)

Really feeling the withdrawal symptoms when it's only 6:30 p.m and I'm already here spamming F5... Tefler, I need help!

*peeks in* Is Ch. 96 ready yet? *Continues suffering withdrawal* ;)

Nothing yet... Hopefully it'll be done soon!

Tefler

Having just got volume 1 in the post I have just the question for that (non story)

Listen up everyone! We've got a big date coming up soon: Three Square Meal's second anniversary! Let's put our heads together and come up with a way to celebrate! My first thought is to have the community post questions for Tefler to answer in a sort of Q&amp;A/interview post, with the caveat that any story related questions are subject to Tefler's usual "No comment." Basically, what I'm aiming for is a sort of late night TV talk show style interview.

Jedi Khan

I've been offline for the last week or so. Tell me, is this the first or fifth prediction of how the battle will play out?

Jedi Khan

My thoughts on the battle plan: The Invictus and John need to hyper warp straight for Norwood's Dreadnought and have Irillith take it over and just space every freakin body. Have Faye take over some of the escort ships (we know she can--she has done it before). While the Invictus is battling the Dreadnought's escort ships that Faye is not comandeering, the Dreadnought turns on them first with energy weapons until they are neutralized and then hammers the kirrix capitol ships at long range, one at a time, as the Invictus takes out their shields. The shield defeating gauss cannons, main cannons and the photon lasers can attack the cruiser shields while letting the Valkyrie and Raptor work together against them as well as part of a defensive shield for Calara's father and brother. Sakura uses her cryokinesis again to keep the photon lasers on the Valkyrie on ice so she can do continuious fire...making her as powerful as 18 regular Terran Cruisers (6 times the firepower x 3 because of no cool down cycle) all by herself...That means she can take out the Kintark Cruiser shields with one shot each...leaving them vulnerable for the Raptor to kill...leaving a few for John's future father-in-law so he can save face of course. But the Valkyrie just has to take one out using it's badd azz sword...like run up to it head on and duck underneath at the last second and just rip the belly out of the Kintark Cruiser as they pass...gutting it in the process. Now THAT would be bad ass! Then, just as the battle comes to a stalemate, the Maliri fleet pops in on their way to the Trankarans (with a slight detour) and tips the scales against the Kintark...Taking out Capitol Ship shields with their three Nova Lances for the Invictus and Norwood's Dreadnoughts (and the Terran's of course) to pummel them. The Kintark broadcast a sue for a cease fire and Terran High Command refuses. John then takes command and tells all three fleets to stand down. Fleet Admiral Buckingham overrules him and John turns off the power cores to a few upgraded Terran Fleet assets in the field (One of them being Buckingham's ship) and asks the rest of High Command if they might want to reconsider. John and High Command have a come to Jesus meeting with Sakura, Alyssa, and Jade in attendance. Buckie gets out of hand and is dismissed/demoted/forcefully retired. Weber goes with him....and in the process working within their minds, Alyssa finds out about the Nymphs and Jahenna...and she just gets so pissed she mind wipes their asses...right in front of the rest of the Admirals...and when she comes out of her spirit walk she looks at the others and asks who wants to be effin next. After that, the rest of the Admirals all seem to be reeeeeaaaallly cooperative. Of course, Irillith takes Norwood's Dreadnought as a war prize. John takes Norwoods Dreadnought with him to Kinta and has another Come to Jesus meeting with the Emperor...and reinstates the Federalist Government. The Kintark join the Alliance, the Terrans end up not having much choice but to join, and everyone starts joint operations against the Kirrix and massive ship building programs.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

any word from the artist about e-book 2 cover?

David Shmilowitz

But that's so easy, Tefler! Just end it on a punctuation mark! ;-)

Evan

cliff hanger

Old Salt

I love it - a cliff hanger about a

Old Salt

I've written about 27k so far, so I'm well on track for finishing for tomorrow! Now I just need to figure out what scene to end the chapter on... :-)

Tefler

Looks like Tef is to busy breewing our next fix to anser. Hopefully tomorow.

T minus one day

Wookey

The suits don't have the same joints. To my knowledge, though, Tefler has never said how they are articulated. And: just one more day!!!!!!!!!! (laughs maniacally)

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

So... just re-read the part where John and Sakura use their Super Speed in Paragon Armour against Mikaboshi. It suddenly occurred to me that the Armour knee joints would explode under the friction and stress. The Valkyrie has new joints. Did the Suits get some and I missed it? PS: the count down to the new chapter is killing me...

Hey Tefler...(shakily rubs TSM needle tracks on left arm nervously) c...can we get another update on Ch. 96? (visibly restrains the shakes harder)

GrandPaM

Skinni is damn good.

Anthony Kester

Hey Tefler, any luck with Annabelle Hawthorne’s artist Skinni?

Wookey

Because the Ashanath need to 'harvest' the Onyxium from the Drakkar ships and since the Maliri are in the neighbourhood to provide protection while they re-build their fleet it was a convenient bit of timing.

ringill

I totally hear anything that starts with good news everyone in the professors voice

Good news everyone! Patreon changed their mind, they are leaving things exactly as they were! :-)

Tefler

Why not have a ship full of Ashanath with the shapers on hand to armor the ships at the Malari shipyard?

Wouldn't be that surprised, of course they don't know how he does it yet, but that doesn't seem to be too much of a hindrance once they find out. :)

LunarLilith

Any bets as to whether Mishra or Lynette contact John to regain their youth? Perhaps have a chance at a family that they gave up for a career.

I'd be in

Purchased ebook #1 today!

Big Dude

3 days to go.....

Tefler, do you have a Paypal account? I'm sure a lot of your readers would be prepared to make a one-off contribution at the end of the year as a kind of Christmas present for all the entertainment you've provided us in 2017. Heck, I'm on a disability pension but I'm sure willing to toss in $5 or $10. How about the rest of you avid readers?

andrew finlayson

Thank you everyone!

Big Dude

Thanks Roy. Maw is home again and putting the little ones to bed after dinner. I survived! Trust me, it was worse than a Kirrix invasion!

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

No, the Kintark and the Kirrix are on opposite sides of the map, the lucky lizards don't have to worry about bug incursions! :-)

Tefler

I updated ebook 1 and the paperback about a month ago, just fixing spelling mistakes, formatting and font issues, etc.

Tefler

Tefler, As I understand you made some after the fact changes to book1. Have those been published so I can purchase book1 and book2?

Big Dude

To JFL, May all of the powers that be help you and be merciful to you and yours. Give the sick one a vitamin C pill every 2 hours. The body can't store vitamin C and our ammune system uses it for food. It's the closest thing to a miracle cure for the cold that their is.

Roy Meyer

God be with you, JFL. Lock up all the candy and soda, allow them no sugar. Make them sit upon their hands or chase them around the block in the car. Luck be with you! (P.S forget about the third sentence).

Please pray for me! Babysitting my 2 and 3 year old grandchildren! And a sick 13 year old child! I AM GOING TO DIE!!!!! And Pop Pop is almost 60!

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

That would get as much angst as killing off Jade. Besides, we just had quite a few minor character kill offs this last chapter. So those who are crying for blood got their pint already.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

It is a real kick in the nads to those giving 1 or 2 dollars to several creators.

Cody Strong

Please don’t kill the 2 Assassins.

FRsinewave

Might be due to the patreon fee changes

Sid1712

WE seemed to have stalled at 1450 Patrons

Wookey

5 days more or less I guess

wildcat 1986

T minus 5 days.... withdrawal symptoms setting in. When is next Tefler's Addicts meeting?

Wookey

Sorry, to be clear - I want the paper copy, nothing like a good solid book to hold, curl up and love!

Dennis Banfield

So just to be clear - the 'first edition' of book one will stay for ~ one month on Amazon, and then the covers will switch after, denoting 'second edition'. I only ask because I'd love to get book one with original artwork, but living in Canada means I have to order it from the states, and pay shipping/handling/duties. I'd like to avoid paying it twice, but will do so if I have to. Thanks again for the update, love your work!

Dennis Banfield

Tefler, do the Kirrix ever conduct incursions against the Kintark Empire? I was looking at the maps and wondering. After all, there is apparently an intelligence that drives them, and now would be a most opportune time for them to expand in that direction... and wouldn't that make for an interesting turn of events?

Evan

The Brimorians get back those planets the Terrans took?

Big Dude

Something else to think about, at the start of Ch.74 the Kintark Emperor asks whether the Brimorians have kept their part of the bargain. We can make a good guess that they've supplied their sheild technology but what do the Brimorians get out of it?

ringill

Frankly: I am curious how Tefler plans to deal with the new Kintark aggression. It seems obvious that the Emporer has put all his fleet into the effort and has left Kenta, along with the rest of the empire, exposed. I wonder what would happen to that invasion fleet if say, oh, the Maliri sent in a sizeable fleet straight for Kenta and, oh, I don't know, ANNOUNCED their intention to vaporize the system? Thinking those elite guard ships would be recalled in quick order...thus ending the invasion before it gets to Terra. The Maliri would arrive first, of course...and, well, just hold the planet for ransom as they negotiate a peace treaty from a position of power in the relationship.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Dear Patrons: I can see where talking about the new fee processes could really take up a lot of space on all threads (yeah, I know, like I am doing right now). I think it would be good for us to at least attempt to keep pledge issues on the pledge thread so we can still enjoy the fan input on Tefler's woderfull epic? Just a polite request.

PLRus--Founding member of the TSM F5 club.

Very good presentation, concise and to the point. Faye would agree with his logic.

Forbsey

I just stumbled upon this video on [reddit](<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6ZbLxsSVI&amp;feature=youtu.be)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6ZbLxsSVI&amp;feature=youtu.be)</a>

Only reason why i have an account with patron is for your work as im sure quite a few are but we dont pay to help the patron owner we pay to help the writer and if they are worth the investment i dont see how it would make much differnce for a monthly fee vers per chapter as you put out atlest 2 per month and art work along with upto date facts and input so i think you should do somthing that helps you out (art work isnt cheep) and if we dont want to wait a 2 weeks to read the next one most wont care and its easyer to plan a exact expense

It would be great if bonus scenes added to ebooks were noted by page number by someone. I plan to purchase the books but I'm only recently reading this material for the first time (a lot of fun so far!) and don't plan on rereading but certainly want to get at the bonus stuff anyhow.

As others have commented, I'm here for you and your amazing writing. You're the reason I got a Patreon account. I'll go with whatever is most convenient for you (which hopefully also puts more money in your pocket, since you really deserve it).

LunarLilith

"Throw up a monthly selection along side of the per chapter." That would be the simplest solution, but of course you can't do that. :-) I can either set all my pledge tiers to be "per chapter" or "per month", not a mix of the two types.

Tefler

i have a spreadsheet that i can send to you tef. it shows how much you would receive if you adjust to monthly fee's vs keeping it the same.

As I said below (other comment about the payment): We are here to support you not Patreon :) As the math is not in your favor and I doubt you want to cede more of your money to Patreon I would encourage you to re-think youd idea of keeping the per-pledge vs per month. This is the same scam that the banks in the USA used to be able to do where they would re-order your charges on the same day from greatest to least so that you got hit by many overdraft fees vs 1. Do not let Patreon get away with it by charging per transaction :) 35% + 2.9% is a noticeable loss out of the $1 per post. $.35 + 2.9% is far less noticeable if you are at $3 per month. Why dont you let US decide how we want to pay? - Throw up a monthly selection along side of the per chapter. - Work the math such that it would be on average of 3 posts a month. - Start the monthly's at $3, $4, $15, $30 ect. ($1, $1 after Patreon tax, $5, $10 ect) - Id advise against it but $2, if you feel you must because of an occasional 2 chapter month :P Remember Tef, were here for YOU so let us choose how much we value you. I would bet you will be very presently surprised!

Y=2614 (current amount listed for you) X= 1452 (current doners) Each chapter you currently make (this is as a single transaction) 2614(.971) - 1452(.35) = $2029.994 (drop the .004) so $2029.99 (US) patreon is taking 584.006, raised up to the nearest cent. so 584.01. each transaction. this is very profitable for them. not for you

tefler, as far as pay goes, you are the one who's going to be hit financially. you will be charged $.35 per transaction per patreon, on top of the 2.9%. so for those $1 transactions, 3 times? a month. that's [ $1-2.9%-.35 ] = 67.1 (drop the decimal, or 67 cents) per chapter that you will receive. the bill doesn't go to us. it's to you. if you do it as a monthly, the per transaction charge is lower. because the transaction charges will just be once a month vs once per chapter, or posting. ................... y=(pledge $amount) x=(#transactions) (.971y-.35)x .971 is 100% - 2.9% divided by 100. If you change to the monthly billing cycle for the patreons, lets use $2 as the baseline. One transaction at $2 each, for a total of $2 coming from the doners Y=2 X=1 2(.971) - .35 = $1.592, drop the .002, so 1.59. Two transactions at $1 each, for a total of $2, coming from the doners Y=1 X=2 2 ( 1 (.971) -.35 ) = $1.242, drop the .002 so $1.24 per month with two transactions. Each transaction will cost you .35, not us.

Cheers Bigdawg. :-) I must admit I hate it when I read a long story and it never gets finished. It's almost as bad when you read a long story and there isn't a proper epilogue. I did a bit of reading on literotica a few days ago, mainly from the "loving wives" section... Good lord that was a huge mistake! It was so depressing! All these characters marrying their childhood sweethearts, only for her to eventually cheat on him and destroy the marriage. The revenge angles were sometimes enjoyable, but I felt myself getting desperate for some happy endings! :-)

Tefler

Yeah 2017 was an awesome year. Being able to really get stuck into going professional was amazing, and I'll always be tremendously grateful to all of you for supporting me in that. :-)

Tefler

Thank you for all your hard work &amp; for taking time to assuage our angst . So many great stories on Lit either just stop or slowly peter out . As far as I &amp; a lot of fans are concerned this is the greatest story ever from Lit &amp; to see it grow &amp; get even better is very satisfying .Not just in action but your skills as a writer . Looking forward to reading the up coming e-book &amp; Ch 96 &amp; 97 as a Christmas gift to myself .

bigdawguw65

You mean prepay for the year in terms of chapter releases etc? I could probably figure something out, but it might get very complicated if I start doing that for lots of people. For example: The date each person's year starts/finishes. What "pledge tier" you all are. What happens if you decided to switch pledge tier part the way through the year? What to do about Patreon access in case you want to read the patron posts? Unfortunately I can't grant special access to my Patreon site, it's only handled by the pledge tiers unlocking content. There's one guy who sent me a bunch of cash via Paypal, who's basically bought himself several years of subscription! I email him chapters and pictures as soon as they're ready, but he doesn't have (or is interested in) access to the Patreon site.

Tefler

You're welcome!

Tefler

I won't do a printed book 2 straight away. I'll give it a month, so I can fix any errors people spot in the eBook. After that, I'll swap covers, then create the paperback versions for book 1 and book 2.

Tefler

Will do! :-)

Tefler

Tef, you have had a tremendously productive and effective work year and it has only gotten better since we have been able to help you a little with some start up funds to write full time. In 2017, you have dominated your categories of writing and shown that a "brand new" writer can immediately rise to the position of being "among the very best science fiction writers." Have a healthy, happy, and productive 2018.

Mapper

Hey Tef, any way I can just prepay for the next year or so and get it out of the way? I'd like to minimize on transfer fees. Maybe you can create a special tier for yearly subscribers (i.e. fees are yearly but Patreon cost is $0). We can do it on Venmo or PayPal.

Thanks telfer :)

Thanks for the update, Tefler. What's the plan with the printed version cover?

CJ Mora

Awesome keep up the hard work your addicts are counting on you

Mark Hall