Travis Starnes

Dissonance Cover

Got this back last night and got excited and launched the pre-order for the book before posting it here, but here is the cover for Dissonance. (On the flip side, having the pre-order set means I have a very hard date I have to have the book done by since it has to be submitted several days prior to release, so expect a lot of chapters this week).

Dissonance - Chapter 44

The next week dragged on. I was barely present at our shows on the weekend, but everyone, except Marco, understood. Monday was my emancipation hearing, and it would determine the course of the rest of my life.

Mr. Eaves didn’t seem worried when I met him at the family courthouse in Asheville, but I’d barely slept a wink all night. I was wearing a suit and tie that Mrs. Phillips had gotten for me, adding to the already unpayable debt that I owed her. She hadn’t asked for anything f...

Dissonance - Chapter 43

More days passed with no further news from either my parents or the reporter about the story on Cameron, who was on complete lockdown at home and not allowed to talk to anyone. So far, as far as I’d heard, he hadn’t been sent off to the alternative school, and was just cooling his heels. We didn’t know if that was because his parents were waiting to see what would happen, maybe hoping the school district would change the ruling, or had sought legal advice, but limbo seemed better than b...

Dissonance - Chapter 42

The hammer came down on Cameron just as quickly as I expected. The next day I got to school and everyone was talking about how both he and the newspaper’s editor, a senior, were expelled that morning as soon as they got to campus. The school resource officer even marched Cameron back out to his car without letting him clean out his locker or anything.

I expected a reaction, especially if they did fire the teacher, but I didn’t expect them to expel Cameron and the editor. For one, th...

Dissonance - Chapter 41

To my surprise, a full week passed without Dad pulling any more stunts. I had to borrow some money from Mrs. Phillips for gas, but after Chef paid us for the previous weekend and getting paid for gigs the next weekend, I had enough money that I could keep paying bills without asking Mrs. Philips to front me the money. I had to work out how to pay bills in cash, or with money orders, but it was at least doable.

Monday hit and I was actually feeling a little less pressure. I was just two ...

Dissonance - Chapter 40

My first stop, once I pulled out of the bank parking lot, was to go see the band. This was going to take some time, even if Chef could pay us in cash, which meant no one was getting paid today. I also noticed my gas tank was low, which was a problem, because I had absolutely no money until I got the cash from Chef.

We didn’t usually practice on Mondays, since we just finished playing all weekend, but everyone was home when I got there. That was the other reason I had to come here firs...

The Depths of Neptune (Imperium #4) - Chapter 1

“It is morning, Commander,” Sophus’s voice echoed in Ky’s mind.

Former Lieutenant Commander Ky, combat and test pilot for the first Terran Empire, opened his eyes. Sunlight was streaming in through the open window onto his face, which his enhanced eyes automatically filtered to keep the sudden influx of light from causing discomfort. He could hear the city outside the royal palace, already in full swing. Saws, hammers, shouts, and animals could be heard in the distance....

Dissonance - Chapter 39

I kept my eye on Linda, Eli, and Ronnie’s social media accounts, but nothing was posted by the time I had to go to school the next day. I know it was a little absurd to expect something overnight, but I was anxious, since I couldn’t think of anything else to do to keep us afloat until I got free of my parents. It was late when I called Rowan and there was every chance he hadn’t even talked to them yet. I’d pressed him as hard as I could about how important this was, and I trusted him ...

Dissonance - Chapter 38

For a couple of days, nothing happened with the emancipation and I heard nothing from Dad. If Mr. Eaves hadn’t confirmed that they had, in fact, been served, I would have started to doubt Dad even knew about it. It really wasn’t like him to sit back and let something just happen. My impulse control, or problems with it, paled in comparison to his. I couldn’t imagine that he heard that he was losing his meal ticket and was just sitting back and letting it happen.

Wednesday night wa...

Dissonance - Chapter 37

Although there was no way Kat could have missed what was going on, what with living in the same house as me and the multiple private conversations I kept having with Mrs. Phillips, she hadn’t asked me about it yet. At first, I just wanted adult opinions and then I almost didn’t want to face what I’d done, so I kept pretending everything was fine. After Mom left, I realized I couldn’t keep doing that.

Things would get a lot more serious very soon, and I needed to face up to that....

Dissonance - Chapter 36

Sorry for the delay in posting.  I got pretty sick this week and it slowed everything down.

After telling Mr. Eaves to file, my first step was to call Chef. He’d put this all in motion and was paying for everything, so he deserved to know.

After I explained everything, including my reasoning for not waiting, Chef asked, “Are you sure about this, Charlie?”

“Yes. It isn’t getting better and it’s almost certainly going to get worse. It will be ...

Dissonance - Chapter 35

It wasn’t our best set ever, but I got through it. The audience seemed to respond the same as always, but they were also used to us by now, so maybe that made it easier to ignore the lower energy level. Marco disappeared as soon as we finished, saying he was going to go start loading the van. I think he still felt embarrassed about almost being talked into backing Dad’s plan to talk me into dropping out of school and then finding out he was also planning on changing the agreement where we...

Dissonance Chapter 34 Correction

Apologies.  The previous sent out version had the text from chapter 33.  The post has been corrected with the actual chapter 34.

Dissonance - Chapter 34

Apologizes, the original posted version of this was from the previous chapters.  This is the corrected text.

I sat in the Phillips home, on their couch, waiting for the police. All Dad had to do was call the sheriff, and they would come pick me up. I might have been a minor, but I was sixteen, halfway to seventeen, and I’d just caused serious bodily injury. Yes, he’d swung first, but I didn’t think that would matter.

The police never came. In...

Dissonance - Chapter 33

I saw Mr. Packer a couple times in the hall over the next few days, and I guess he did get the message, because the smile was gone and he was back to glowering at me. I hadn’t heard anything else from Mom, and surprisingly, nothing from Dad either. While I wasn’t exactly happy, I was willing to settle back into my routine and leave it alone if they were. Soon, I’d have to do something, but the only option I could think of would definitely be considered the nuclear option, and I didn’t...

Dissonance - Chapter 32

We had to beg off our Sunday show at the Blue Ridge. Even though I told him ahead of time this was a possibility, I apologized profusely to Chef. He was fine with it and Willie was good to play, but I felt bad whenever I had to miss an obligation.

We were all just too wiped out by all of the excitement on Saturday and the driving before and after. Even Lyla, who seemed to never be low on energy, seemed like she was ready to crash when they got home.

We were supposed to get our fir...

Dissonance - Chapter 31

As soon as we got in the car, Sydney and I passed out in the back seat. We’d both brought changes of clothes and changed in the school bathroom before leaving, since neither of us wanted to make the drive in what we wore to the dance.

When we finally got to my hotel, I felt kind of bad for Sydney’s Mom. She’d had to drive by herself the whole way, since Sydney and I were out the entire time. I woke up with her curled up into my side, her head tucked into my chest. I’d apparently...

Dissonance - Chapter 30

The only really big problem with Homecoming was my schedule. The dance was Friday night after the football game and I had to be in Nashville by eight in the morning Saturday to set up. We went on at ten, but the event organizers ask for music groups to be there two hours early to check in, so they could move groups in and out quickly. It was almost a five-hour drive from Wellsville to Nashville, which meant we either needed to go up the day before, which Homecoming made impossible, or leave b...

Dissonance - Chapter 29

The next Saturday morning, the sun wasn’t even up when my phone rang. I was exhausted, and almost buried my head under the pillow to ignore it, except I knew it was an important call. All week I’d been waking up at the crack of dawn to call into this or that radio station, listen to the DJs make the same handful of jokes, and talk about our album release. At least on those days, it was only a little early, since I usually got up with the sun to go to school.

Today was release day th...

Dissonance - Chapter 28

I started off Monday feeling at least a little less stressed. I still hadn’t talked to Mom, or even been back to the trailer, since I left to stay with the Phillips, but at least the manager stuff was cleared up. Considering everything else going on, that was probably just as important, since I realized how much I was being distracted from paying attention to my burgeoning music career. Since most music careers die in their infancy, I’d set myself up to lose my entire dream. At least with...

Updated Chapter 27

I just updated chapter 27.  A pre-spell check version got loaded up accidentally.  Please check patron itself for an at least somewhat corrected version.  Sorry about that.

Dissonance - Chapter 27

Saturday my practice with Chef was moved to the early morning, before Chef needed to start getting food going for lunch. I’d tried to beg off completely, but apparently a date isn’t a good enough reason to skip training. Even though I wasn’t going to do any more competitions, both because I hadn’t enjoyed the last one that much and because of possible injury ending my music career, he still insisted I keep training with him, pitching it as valuable to my mental and physical well-being...

Dissonance - Chapter 26

Wednesday, Sydney invited me to sit with them again. Her friends had started getting used to me, so the entire time wasn’t spent being grilled by them about my music and everything, which was a lot better. Mostly, I listened to them gossip about whatever was going on, who was wearing what, who was seen kissing who, and basically all of the things sophomore girls found interesting.

It actually wasn't that different from listening to Rhonda’s friends, except they’d been meaner about...

Dissonance - Chapter 25

The show went well, although I could see Kat giving Sydney the cold shoulder every time her teammate tried to talk to her. At some point, I’d have to talk to Kat about that and figure out what was going on there, especially if things kept progressing in with Sydney in the direction I thought they were progression. For now, since they weren’t being outwardly hostile, I just let it be. If it got bad or if Sydney directly asked for help with Kat, I’d do something, but I just didn’t have ...

Dissonance - Chapter 24

After Dad stormed out, Mom locked herself in their room, only mumbling sorry a few times as she left. Although the ending was different, this was how I remembered large parts of my childhood. Dad getting angry, drunk, or both, taking a few swings at one of us, and leaving for more drinking while Mom found a place to hide, leaving me alone.

Of course, this had ended slightly better than that, since the only hitting that happened after that first slap was dad’s face against the refriger...

Dissonance - Chapter 23

While I had thought about her a few times, I hadn’t talked to Sydney since our impromptu lunch the previous Tuesday, which is why I was surprised when she intercepted me on the way to the lunch table Monday.

“Hey,” she said, stepping apparently out of nowhere in front of me.

“Hey yourself.”

“Did you want to come sit with me and my friends today?”

“Really?” I said.

I don't know what I thought she was going to say, but that wasn’t it. I couldn�...

Dissonance - Chapter 22

Tuesday I actually saw Coach Bryant, but thankfully I managed to get back around the corner before he saw me. It meant I had to go the long way around to get to class and I only just made it before the tardy bell, but that was preferable to dealing with him. At least Harry gave me a wide berth in conditioning, suggesting my new tactic was working. I knew David had been right and eventually he’d feel compelled to do something to save face, but for now at least, he was keeping his distance. 2022-12-16 18:30:05 +0000 UTC View Post

Dissonance - Chapter 21

Monday, I was actually really nervous about going back to school. I had flashbacks to this day last year, where things had gone so wrong; but had led to meeting Hanna, then Chef, then everything else. In some ways, this was still going to be a first. Last year was my first day of school. This year it was my first day back at school, which was an entirely different experience.

This time, I wasn’t just going back, but I was going back after getting a music deal, cutting a recor...

Dissonance - Chapter 20

I was right about the article not bringing a ton of turnout. There were a few new faces, and we were still packed both Friday and Saturday night, but there were less people than the previous weekend for our return show, which was to be expected. That had been a lot of people, friends or fans, who’d come out to welcome us back. I hadn’t expected that kind of turnout two weekends in a row. As it was, we were still at capacity and Chef was happy.

I think Willie might have been happy, t...

Dissonance - Chapter 19

Thankfully, dad didn’t come back before mom got home from work that night. I didn’t know what happened to him, and honestly I didn’t really care that much.

“What were you thinking?” I said as soon as she walked through the door.

Not the best way to start this conversation, I know, but I’d spent hours fuming over this and had worked myself up quite a bit while I waited.

“That’s some way too great your mother,” she said, setting down her bags and sitting in t...