| Lo and behold! My novella “Daybreak on Shining Mountain” just appeared this week in Issue #2 of Shrapnel: The Official BattleTech Magazine. I played BattleTech WAAAYY back in 80s and 90s. It’s one of tabletop wargaming’s most venerable properties, as well as having done some amazing video game renditions in recent years, so it’s a thrill to write some fiction for it. “Daybreak on Shining Mountain” is about a lost, forgotten colony, way out on the galactic periphery, going about their business, waiting for some sort of contact with the rest of human civilization. Their FTL communications are down. It takes three hundred years to get a radio message to the nearest inhabited system. But when someone finally hears them and comes to investigate, it’s not who they expect. This is my favorite of my BattleTech stories. Two previous stories appeared in the anthologies Legacy and Kill Zone, one of which was nominated for a Scribe Award last year for Best Short Story. But in this one, I just love the main character. Maki is a spunky, take-no-crap kinda gal who’s very good at driving 60 tons of stomping fury. If only she and her father–who also happens to be her commander–could get along. If galactic, military sci-fi with big, stompy robots is your cup of highly charged particles, grab your copy now. |
