While Sailing East (Book 5) sits and I cogitate over it, just so you don’t think I’m doing nothing, I’ve thrown 10k words into book 6 – given that it got the lion’s share of what I’d written before splitting book 5 into 5 and 6, it means that it is half way or more written already… maybe… I’m finding the section I planned to add to the beginning to replace what became Sailing East (book 5) is growing in length, indeed it becoming much longer than I originally planned.
Hmmm… we’ll see how it goes in next few weeks.
On another note – Happy Xmas to all of you. I am not a Christian but I don’t subscribe to this Happy Holiday crap. Sorry. Stupid, irrational rubbish. The holidays set for the period around the 25th of December are an inheritance from Christianity. No other faith celebrates then. It is ridiculous to change it to Happy Holidays when the only reason for the holiday is the Christian celebration of this day. The holiday is Christmas… sorry that’s where it comes from and that is what it is. I don’t believe in the Christian Mythos myself but that is irrelevant.
You can imagine what what happy if they tried to change Ramadan to Happy Fasting Month…….
Same thing – moronic. Sorry but it is.
So happy Xmas. 🙂
rhodanblog 
Well a another book in the series is a better prezzie 😉
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Spot on with the ‘Christmas’ thing…have fun & thanks for the updates.
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Where can I find a link to maps for the books? Book 4 left me confused as to where everyone was and where they were going.
Thanks
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https://imperium.ahlfeldt.se
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I am always sad and worried about people that aren’t Christian and have heard and not accepted. I believe that many non-believers have not been exposed to GOD’s Truth in a way they can understand so they are exempt from the fate of deniers.That is my hope. I enjoy your writing. Thank you Sir.
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As it happens my father was a lay minister int he Church of England and my mother taught Sunday school…..
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I have been at the “edge of death”, got the “grand tour” and I can say from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE that “organized religion” is HORSECRAP THAT HAS NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH GOD AND IS, IN GENERAL, A STINKING ABOMINATION OR WASTE OF TIME AND EFFORT!
meh!!
Folk need to get their heads out of the millennia of mistranslated twisted politicized congame garbage that’s’ the “Bible”, and recognize Jesus for just being a Human Being not a “sparkly super being!”
And just a Human Being, he is is far more wonderful and precious than the “god being” lie that Paul and others afters spun him into for their own power and profit
and folk should just simply “love one another”!
I could go on at length but “God Botherers” have no freakin’ CLUE, none, of what the reality is or how horribly they have twisted the truth and dance on the edge of actual perdition (which is nothing to do with flames batwings, magic and all that garbage, heaven and hell are literally 2 sides of the same coin, God does not ever punish you make your path in this life and it’s all about compassion, enlightenment..or the lack there of)
Sorry, 2 millennia of horrific garbage, theft, apocalyptic mass murder, in the name of a wonderful wise man….demanding our tiny insignificant planet is “super dooper one and only!”
it’s just…infantile cowardice, egotistical BS 😦
I like reading about an alternate world where reason compassion and using scientific knowledge wisely results in a better world 🙂
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Anyway on the actual topic…
I’m looking forward to Arturo’s folk maybe using steam powered “Katyushas” 😉
Dynamite works very well in rockets…one of few reasonably safe ways you can use it in a military setting
stand off “probe” linked to the fuse, wood or metal (or both) probe, 1′ or more long extending from warhead so it detonates above ground for best effect
helix of notched steel wire thick notched every same dimension along (10mm or more) to serve as fragment and support of warhead,
thin metal case to make it waterproof (helix provides main support inside)
wool insulation inside the helix to keep dynamite warm and reduce thermal damage to the fragmentation jacket
Result = cheap effective shredder 😉
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I’ll consider it .. in book 6 they get mittorapido hand cranked multi-barrel guns and are working on mortars although having some problems – Arturo is after all describing an archaic weapon he has no idea of how it really worked to people of the early 5th century trying to turn is vague description into a usable weapon….
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No worries, sir! 🙂
rockets were one of the earlier and effective weapons, just the fear effect would be useful!
Hale, Congreve being way before even Katyusha’s, and from Arturo’s spacer background…well I thought that’d be apropos 😉
Gatling guns and related devices are always fun to read about, like the Mitrailleuse 🙂
Stay well! 🙂
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“HWACHA”!
Damn knew I had forgotten something 😛
the ancient Korean mass rocket system, the forerunner to the Katyusha/Calliope, that’s very do-able for Arturo & Co 🙂
hm, for improved Hwacha or, maybe other rockets, maybe make venturi by stamping them out of a thin steel tube, maybe with spiraling flute punched into the metal to give a spiralling exhaust output to balance thrust,
coating internal with a wash of fire clay…or stamping clay into them and baking the clay, or, maybe use “Aerolite”?
the ceramics take heat/erosion better than steel
less on an issue with black powder but it’s one way to do it
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in case you hadn’t noticed he is trying to stick to weapons that are not easy to duplicate in large numbers without a large industrial base – rockets are easy copy in numbers with small iron works and such like – machined rifles not so much
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Ah, good point sir, trying to keep enemies from getting them too? 🙂
Hale rockets: thin steel case, base plate with drilled holes offset at angles
are much trickier than a Hwacha rocket to manufacture especially since you need large numbers.
Katyusha/Calliope projectiles are even more advanced, unlikely to be produced by Arturo’s enemies but would also mean the Republicans wouldn’t have them in huge numbers
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