New Update Schedule and Iron and Ice Chapter!

Due to a recent schedule change, I will now be updating on Fridays instead of Thursdays! However, I will still continue to post updates about upcoming and ongoing stories every week!

StoryShift: Voting on the fourth segment of my story The Oceans Burned came to a close a day ago. In a few days the results will be announced and a few days after that the next segment will be up. Stay tuned for those announcements!

 

Here is the next segment of Iron and Ice! If you’re not caught up, take a look at the archive!

With an exaggerated sigh Dimitri sat down heavily across from Yanin. As expected, Yanin was already wolfing down the food on his plate. Dimitri wrinkled his nose.

“I don’t understand how you can love this stuff so much.”

Yanin glanced up from his plate. “What else is there? If I don’t eat, I die. If this is the only food I’m gonna get, I might as well enjoy it.”

Dimitri stirred his plate with his fork. “ I also don’t understand how you recovered from those wounds so fast. That was a lie, right? What you said to Yulian?”

Yanin grinned. There were pieces of potato in his teeth. “Of course. I’m as healthy as on ox!” He frowned and peered closely at the brown liquid on his plate. “Do you think that’s what this stuff is? Ox meat maybe?”

Dimitri wouldn’t be distracted. “I saw how much blood you lost. There’s no way that was just a flesh wound.”

Yanin stopped prodding his gruel and sighed with resignation. “Okay. I’ll tell you. But only because you’re such a good friend, and because you’re a nosy son of a bitch. That pincer stuck me good, as you saw. It hit my kidney and slid right by my stomach. If it had got me at a little bit more of a right angle, I would’ve been dead in minutes.” He made quick jabbing motions with his fork to illustrate.

Dimitri crossed his arms. “Okay, what about the arm? You definitely broke some bones there.”

Yanin nodded ecclesiastically. “Yep. They’re broke. But slings are so ugly, so I got them to put a cast on my arm while it was straight.”

“You argued with the doctors trying to save your life?”

“I have a very high tolerance for anesthetic,” Yanin confided with pride. “They had to use three times the normal dosage before they got me under.”

“So you’re just going to hope you don’t bang it into anything and leave it hanging at your side for a few weeks?”

“Weeks? I’ll have this cast off in a few days.” Yanin looked at Dimitri with concern. “You really are frail, you know that Dimitri? Here, would you like some of my ox stew?”

“I’m starting to think I’m the only normal one around here and that everyone else is insane.”

Yanin grinned again and resumed eating. In between obnoxious slurps of gruel he said, “But of course we are. The whole world is. Who in their right mind would continuously fight a war for over 500 years.”

Dimitri shrugged and began eating.

Iron and Ice Chapter 1 Ebook Coming, Chapter 2 Continues

It’s been a long time since I updated Iron and Ice, but I have some news concerning that story. I’m going to be making the first chapter, Snow Can Kill available as a free Ebook in the near future! I just have to get a cover prepared for it and then it will be available to read and download on all ereader devices!

For those of you who may not have read the first chapter, I’ll give you a quick synopsis. Iron and Ice is set in a mid-twentieth century Russia that has been torn apart by civil war for hundreds of years. Instead of the unified country we are all familiar with, the disparate groups and factions of historical Russia have been vying for supremacy since the Mongol hordes came and destroyed the medieval Russian kingdoms.

The story follows the warriors of one particular nation-state as they struggle to survive in a war filled with mecha, poverty, and age old hatreds. I’m currently working on finishing the second chapter, Frozen Dreams. Hopefully I’ll have a short update each week until the current chapter is finished.

Frozen Dreams Part 6

 Dimitri could only hear the sound of steel crashing against steel. It was an unpleasant, grating sound. He felt as if that sound had taken over his life, and driven everything else out. He struggled to remember a time when the clash of metal hadn’t been present. Even when he slept, or when he was relaxing, the sound was there, ringing dully in the back of his mind.

The sound of machinegun fire rattling off his armor; the sharp crack of a cannon shell hitting an enemy dead center; the gruesome crunch of two mechs colliding in close combat. These sounds had grown to become the entirety of his existence. Dimitri couldn’t see and he couldn’t feel. All he could do was hear. The sounds repeated, grew in intensity, and threatened to drive him mad. He tried to place his hands over his ears but found that he couldn’t move them. The banging continued. He heard the scream of a saw biting steel flesh.

All at once light burst into the darkness which enveloped Dimitri. He winced and peered at the splinter of white which had appeared above his head. It grew as he watched, tiny cracks appearing at the edges as the strip of white lengthened. The gap widened, and Dimitri could see metal claws gripping the edges. With a groan, the darkness was peeled back and more light spilled in through the hole. Dimitri could see that he was still in his cockpit, although it had been terribly warped by some tremendous force. The walls had been dented inwards, and they were pinning his arms to his sides.

The metal claws released their hold on the steel frame of his ride and disappeared from view. They were replaced a second later by the grimy face of the unit’s mechanic, Igor Hessel. The man had a round, pudgy face that was constantly covered in soot. A bristly mustache covered his upper lip before running down the side of his face and connecting to his sideburns. This bushy facial hair was known to occasionally catch fire in the workshop. Twinkling blue eyes sat between a twisting maze of age line. A leather cap covered his head.

“You still alive in there, boy?”

Dimitri gaped up at the old man’s face for a moment. “I think I am.”

Thanks for reading! In other news, keep an eye out for the third part of The Oceans Burned  on Storyshift! It should be out within a few days!