Into the Fire Part II: To End All Wars (Universe in Flames Book 10)
Page 35
The crowd cheered, applauded, and a few people even whistled.
It was late, but Chase couldn’t sleep. He was watching holo-movies from Earth, similar to those Sarah had shown him on their first date. But he wasn’t really paying attention to them, so he swiped the holo-screen off and walked to Sarah’s room.
He didn’t feel like turning on the light. There was a full moon. It was big tonight and had some orange hues, reflecting a soft, warm glow off of the suspended animation pod.
There she stood, like every other day before it. Tomorrow she would still be there, even though Chase wasn’t sure he would be. This wasn’t a goodbye, they never even had the chance to say goodbye to one another, which made Chase’s suffering all the more complicated.
He stepped forward and delicately rested his palm on the glass of the pod.
“I miss you so very much.”
The moonlight caught his attention for a second before he returned his gaze to Sarah’s beautiful face.
“I might go away for a little while…It’s too painful staying here, seeing you like this everyday. Plus, I’m no good to you brooding and buzzing around day in and day out. I’ve made up my mind; tomorrow I’ll request a ship and travel deep into uncharted territories since no one in the Alliance seems to have a clue how to help you. There has to be someone, out there, that can help you and our daughter come back to me.”
He let his forehead tilt forward until it, too, pressed against the glass. Chase closed his eyes.
“I love you, Sarah. I promise I won’t rest until I find a way to bring you both back.”
THE END
(Stay tuned for the sequel series to the Universe in Flames)
Afterword
Publishing books is an extraordinary but difficult challenge. If you reached this point, I guess you liked my work. Please help me support the book by leaving a review and/or a rating on Amazon. You’ll also be helping new readers find books they want to read. For further information about the Universe in Flames saga, please refer to my website, you can also follow me on my Twitter account or look me up on my Facebook page. I would also encourage you to subscribe to my newsletter to get notified about new publications, be informed about sales and additional content available only through my website as well as some premium free content (like early access to the online Heroic Fantasy series I’ve started writing: The Kyrian Chronicles).
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Thank you for reading and supporting me.
Also by Christian Kallias
New readers, the Trilogy below is the new recommended entry point to the series:
Universe in Flames - First Trilogy (UiF books 1 to 3)
Universe in Flames - Second Trilogy (UiF books 4-6)
Universe in Flames book 1: Earth Last Sanctuary (Free)
Universe in Flames novella 1.5: Ryonna’s Wrath
Universe in Flames book 2: Fury to the Stars
Universe in Flames book 3: Destination Oblivion
Universe in Flames book 4: The Beginning of the End
Universe in Flames book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury
Universe in Flames book 6: Shadows of Olympus
Universe in Flames book 7: Armageddon Unleashed
Universe in Flames book 8: Twilight of the Gods
Universe in Flames book 9: Into the Fire Part I (Released October 17, 2017)
Rewind 717
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A Word from the Author
Hello, my dear reader,
First, I’d like to apologize for the time it took to deliver this last chapter. I know that I told you I would do everything in my power to release the book within 30 days of the last book, but obviously, things didn’t go according to plan.
The preparation for the indie author (20BookstoVegas) convention I attended at the beginning of November, and the time spent there, was the first major delay. Unfortunately, many authors who attended the event became ill with the flu, and I was not spared, which resulted in downtime of nearly two weeks as my flu turned into bronchitis. But, the biggest obstacle was fear. I was so worried about delivering the best final book I could, that more often than not it held me back and paralyzed me from writing at a sufficient pace. The last factor was that this is the longest book I’ve ever written. At one point I wanted to rename it to The Never Ending Story (not really, just an inside joke, of course). Though I did feel as I finished a chapter that there was still information to tell to wrap up the story, and at one point, I felt like I would never manage to finish. In the end, the book clocked in at nearly 107,000 words, which is 13,000 more than any other book I have written.
What matters is that the book is done, and I hope you’re going to enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. I won’t lie to you; at one point I was almost going to split the remainder of the story into two more books. To give you an example many authors are satisfied releasing 50-55,000 word novels so they can release books earlier, on a monthly basis or so. Since To End All Wars is double that figure, it made sense that it would take longer to write. That and the fact that I was both sad and worried about finishing a series that so many people seem to love. I hope you’re one of them, but if you’re reading this, most likely you enjoyed the saga.
I’d like to thank you for your support, feedback, and encouragement throughout these last two and a half years. I couldn’t have done it without you. I don’t know if you are aware of this, I may have touched on the subject on a blog post or my newsletter, but I had a good vision (main plot) of that story for about two decades now.
Once upon a time, I wanted to create an RTS (Real-Time Strategy) video game called Retaliate. And, somehow, that was the birthing place of this story. It was quite different back then, though it had characters with Fury powers on one side and other evil creatures on the other side. The Furies were called Kyrians (that should ring a bell ;) ). Imagine a Starcraft video game but with these types of powers (fireballs, teleportation, shields, healing, etc.). That game never saw the light of day. In fact, when it failed to pass the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) phase with the French publisher Infogrammes back in the ‘90s, I just shelved the whole thing and moved on, with a bittersweet taste of the video game industry as I spent two years on a project that went nowhere. In fact, it turned me off from playing video games for the longest time, too. That is until I played Resident Evil IV, and my love for video games rekindled.
In 2001, I dusted off the video game story and wondered how I could tell it differently. I always loved drawing manga, but I loved colors, so the idea of making my vision in black and white didn’t appeal to me. Therefore, I set out to do a colored manga, a sort of hybrid between manga and comics (another format I’ve always enjoyed, from Spiderman, Ironman, ROM, Daredevil, and one of my later favorites: Spawn).
I created a website and started drawing pages one after the other. But, I didn’t have the skills to tell a SciFi story, and I couldn’t draw ships very well; my skills as a 3D artist didn’t seem good enough back then to pull off a space opera. I still wanted to tell parts of that story, but perhaps in a more Fantasy setting. So I created the Kyrian Chronicles. To some of you, the name might ring a bell since I rebooted them as a book on my website in 2015. I was hoping I could write a chapter every two weeks when I started, which is not that much when I think about it, but all my focus ended up in the Universe in Flames books, and I soon understood that to be a successful auth
or, I would need to become more than just a writer, but a full-fledged entrepreneur and start acquiring marketing skills and actively promote my work. I won’t lie to you; those are not my favorite parts of the job. I’d rather stay behind my desk all day and write stories, but the current setting of the industry makes it unlikely to sell enough books if a certain amount of marketing isn’t taken into account.
I’m still pretty new at all of this, but I can tell you that I have learned so much in 2017 that I feel more confident going forward. I’ve built an ever-growing mailing list, I’ve made contacts and friends with other authors, which in turn helped me grow my readership. And for that, I’m truly grateful. In fact, I’ve even developed friendships with many of them, such as Scott Bartlett, Chris Fox, Rhett Bruno, and Brandon Ellis.
But I digress. The Kyrian Chronicles only had 30+ pages see the light of day. If you’re into manga and would like to read it, just shoot me an email, and I’ll send you a link to download this abandoned graphic novel. It was one more project I had abandoned, and I was beginning to worry that I would never finish anything I started in my life. Then came The Universe in Flames books. Earth – Last Sanctuary was born in 2002 (only the first chapter or two). A few more chapters progressed over the years when I was bored of my daily job or on vacation. It took a burnout (which I think I’ve already covered in previous A Word from the Author) to change everything! In less than two months after losing my job and dealing with the aftereffects of the said burnout, I had the first draft of ELS in the box (around November of 2014). Little did I know that three years later, I would type THE END of the tenth book of the saga. And, for that, I am proud. I started a project, I kept with it, and I finished it. Of course, calling it the end of the project is a little premature. The more I wrote books in the universe, the more it expanded from my original, much smaller-scale story, I thought I would write. And now that I’m ending this arc, I realize that I want to enrich this universe even more.
I’ve always enjoyed mythology, and mixing it with Space Opera was always my goal. There’s a reason my all-time favorite show is Stargate SG-1, as this show also has mythology (Egyptian, Arthurian, and more). The other show I’m fond of is Babylon 5. That’s why I’m considering including a space station in the next arc.
What is interesting with my universe, at least to me, is that since there are immortal beings (Olympians, Asgardians, and maybe some players we haven’t seen yet), I can span an epic story over dozens of millennia. The idea appeals to me. Eventually, I’ll also write the prequel set in the first Fury War. But not right now. I think we’ve just closed the page on the Furies, and we need something fresh going forward; wouldn’t you agree?
Before speaking more about my upcoming projects, I’d like to take a moment to shine a light on some of the plot points I’ve explored in this series that I had no idea would make it into the books when I started (even after having the first book ready). One of them is Artificial Intelligence. Gaia was a spur of the moment thing, an idea that came in fluidly while I was writing Book 3. Little did I know that she would play such an important role. Sacrificing her at the end of this series wasn’t an easy choice. But I hope her bravery and sacrifice was handled well. Gaia was born to give the planet a voice, and she died saving the world she loved so much, our planet. She’s been a very important character, and I can tell you that at the end of Book 3, I had no idea she would have a story for that long.
When I started all of this, characters like Ryonna, Tar’Lock, Keera, and even the entire Asgardian race were not part of my original plan. Ryonna was so much fun to write that I actually gave her her own novella, Ryonna’s Wrath (if you haven’t read it yet, it’s $0.99 on Amazon, or you can get it for FREE on my website). It’s interesting how much a story can take on a life of its own, and I think my pantser style of approaching book writing paid off in spades. I never plotted my books, I knew where it started, I knew where I wanted them to end (and even that sometimes changed), and I just typed away. For that, I have no doubt there might be some slight continuity errors here and there, and sometimes I see them and correct them, but I’m satisfied there are not too many.
As you’ve realized from reading this book, we don’t end the story with fireworks and Ewoks dancing :). Even though I love Star Wars, this type of super-duper happy ending isn’t for me. These people defied the odds for over a year, they’ve been thrust into chaos, fear, and a seemingly insurmountable enemy. They did prevail with their courage and their faith in one another, which helped them do the impossible and defeat not only the Furies, but also the terrifying Spectre Tanak’Vor. But this book is not only about victory, but also about the toll war takes on its warriors. I hope I’ve managed to provide you with a satisfying ending in that regard. The Earth Alliance prevailed, and the Furies have been dealt with, but people had to pay a price. Warriors died, characters that felt real to me, like Gaia, and Chase, most of all, is left with a bittersweet taste from the war he spearheaded for so long. I imagine some of you would have preferred a happier ending for him, but remember, we probably haven’t seen the last of Chase just yet. In what form or shape he may return, I cannot tell you at this point. Perhaps he’ll get his own mini-series of novels or novellas, perhaps he’ll be part of another arc, perhaps both. If you have any wishes about his characters, now is the time to tell me. Don’t hesitate to write me an email and let me know if you’d like to see Chase return and in what fashion (secondary character, cameo, main character again?).
Now, onto a list of things I want to tackle in the near future. First, there’s Earth – Last Sanctuary. While it’s the book that started it all, I’m forced to admit it’s my weakest work. I was super proud of finishing it and even more proud when it sold over 1,000 copies in its first month. But, it’s clear from both the reviews and the conversion levels from Book 1 to Book 2 that not everyone enjoyed it fully. I can’t please everybody, and while the decision to alter my original work wasn’t an easy one, I think it’s necessary. I made some mistakes I’d like to correct. Nothing major, but some rookie mistakes like the red portals or English as the main universal language. I’ve already corrected ELS more than any other book. Those of you who read it in 2017, didn’t read the same version I published in 2015. Not much content has changed, but there are some parts I revised. I have a surprise that I won’t spoil, but there’s something I feel I should add to the story. I hope when it’s re-released in the next few months, you’ll consider reading the definitive edition.
Then there’s the Rewind universe (up until now it is only one book + a short story you can read in Collateral Damage, which is more of a prequel to the Rewind 717 novel). I’ve recently started writing the first chapter of the sequel to Rewind 717. Rewind is a book I need to relaunch as I botched its release back in October 2016. I love this book; I enjoy its protagonist Cole Seeker and his AI sidekick Tanya. Plus, I feel the need to continue this story as well.
I’m also thinking of a project I will probably call the Universe in Flames chronicles. It’s a series of novels and/or novellas that enrich the universe outside of its main arcs. I even have a possible title for the first chronicle, but take it with a grain of salt, as it might change along the way. The first chronicle would be called “The Battle for Midgard.” That alone should give you a couple of clues.
In Book 9 I mentioned I wanted to enrich the universe visually with more artwork. To that end, I’m already hard at work on a Universe in Flames website that will contain all the extras I can’t put into the limited format Kindle files, mostly because Amazon charges its authors delivery fees based on file size (something that doesn’t make sense to me in 2018, but well, that’s how it is), so I can’t possibly add too many additional graphics. In fact, just the few I have in the books already cost me about 15-20 cents per sale. That’s why I think a website you can access on your own time with more content is the right way to go. In time (writing books is still the priority), you’ll get character sheets, information about the diverse races that popula
te my universe, ship specs, and more. The best way to stay informed about the release of these extras is to register to my newsletter on my website.
Speaking of my website, at the end of 2017, I spent some time revamping it. The changes are mostly apparent on the desktop version of the site, and I really recommend you visit it if you haven’t in a while. I’ve added video backgrounds that make the site more dynamic.
So, as you can see, I have many things in store for the future. The most important one, of course, is writing. Something I couldn’t do if I didn’t have such faithful and wonderful readers. I’m humbled and grateful to have the best readership an author could wish for.
I want to take a minute to thank everyone who helps me with releasing better books. Starting with my fantastic production editor and assistant: Paula Lavattiata Lopez. Paula’s efficiency, as well as dedicated work ethic, is the reason why I feel confident publishing books that I’m proud of. But the help doesn’t stop there. Since Book 8, I use a team of alpha readers (Millie C., Rob S., David K., Mike L, David P., Russ B.) who help with proofreading and edits, and I’d like to thank them as well. Thanks also to my ARC Team for taking the time to read the books before release.