Travis Starnes

Dissonance - Chapter 18

The band was excited when they heard about the interview. Marco made a comment that they should have been included, but Lyla pointed out it had been set up by the record label, and they already knew what the deal was with that.

Internally, I winced as soon as Marco started complaining. Not because he was complaining specifically, because that I had gotten used to; but because I realized except for the last little bit of the interview, I’d mostly only talked about myself. I hadn’t pu...

Dissonance - Chapter 17

Brent had, in fact, tried to cancel our show in Lexington as well. Thankfully, Kent, who was incredibly pissed when he’d heard what Brent tried to do, managed to talk to them before they found someone to replace us. Seth had been right when he’d said this just proved that getting rid of Brent was the right move. We were all annoyed at losing the Louisville gig since, aside from when we opened for Linda Chapman, that had been one of the best venues we’d seen for music, but at least it wa...

Thanksgiving Posting

Because of a lot of traveling to see family for the holidays, I'm not sure how much writing I can get done through the weekend.  I should have a chapter posted up tomorrow or Thursday, since it's almost finished, but the next chapter might not appear until next week.

I know posting has been somewhat slower lately, mostly because I can only get so much of a single story written each day.  I should have the outline of the next Imperium book done soon, which will give me somethin...

Dissonance - Chapter 16

As we started the drive to the next city, I made the call to Kent. Although I knew I was right and Brent was just trying to scare me out of getting rid of him, I was still nervous that maybe he wasn’t completely full of hot air. It was one of those irrational fears where you know something isn’t likely, but you worry about it anyway.

Rowan had sent me a text while I was talking to the band, I guess knowing I might need more reassurance that I wasn’t about to make a massive mistake...

Dissonance - Chapter 15

We made good time to Nashville. Brent still wasn’t answering his phone, but we were only a few hours out from the show and would have to start setting up soon anyway, so I had Hanna drop me off at the club before the rest of them went to check into the motel. I assumed I would have to wait around until either Brent showed up or the guys got back and we had to start getting ready for the show.

I was wrong. I found Brent standing outside the managers office, except he wasn’t talking t...

Dissonance - Chapter 14

We left the next morning for the Tennessee leg of our tour. Dad was sleeping in and I’d stayed out late practicing with the band and hanging out with Hanna and Kat, which meant I successfully avoided him since I found out he was back. I understood what both Hanna’s mom and Chef had said about not overreacting until he did something, but I didn’t want to deal with him if I didn’t have to. Since it was such a short stopover, it was easy to just stay out for the day and a half before we ...

Dissonance - Chapter 13

"What are you doing here?” I asked him when I finally got my voice back.

“Is that any way to greet your dad?”

“It is when you should be in prison,” I said, looking past him to Mom, who was sitting across from him.

“He was released from prison,” she said.

While she wasn’t jumping for joy, she didn’t look or sound upset, which actually bothered me more than seeing him there.

“Sit down, sit down,” he said, pointing at one of the last unoccupied...

Dissonance - Chapter 12

We got back to Hanna’s aunt’s house in the middle of the night, so she and Sam were already asleep. We’d been there for weeks and it had been nice getting up each morning, having cereal with Sam, and just enjoying us all staying together. It felt strange that this was going to be our last night and after this we’d be staying in hotels for the remainder of our tour, although we’d be back home for an Ashville gig after Richmond.

I thought we might just slip out in the morning fo...

Dissonance - Chapter 11

It was after midnight when we finally got back to Hanna’s aunt’s house after the show. I’d spent enough late nights with my dad over the years to know this was what our schedule was going to be like; extremely late nights followed by sleeping until noon. Although we’d have to travel some days, none of the cities we were appearing in were more than five hours apart and we didn’t normally have to start setting up till five or six most nights, since we wouldn’t go on until eight or n...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 26

Devnum

Ky waited on the temple steps, his mind running. The battle of Mare Britannicum had been the most one-sided anyone had ever heard of. The Britannians had lost three men, two accidents on the Scandi boat when men fell overboard and one on a lucky shot by a panicked archer when a Carthaginian ship tried to make it to the cliffside in a panic. The Carthaginians, on the other hand, had lost tens of thousands. Two boats looked like they got away, although even with So...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 25

The Kushor

Kanmi watched the last bit of shoreline disappear as they passed the last part of the continent, continuing on towards Britannia, hoping the god of the sea that his ship was named for, was watching over them. Normally they would travel further along the northern part of Gaul until they got to the shortest span between the two landmasses, but that required traveling between the northern part of Iberia and the southern coast of Britannia.

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 24

Oceanus

“Signal those idiots to space out,” Kanmi said, pointing off the port of the quinquereme. “If they can’t keep formation, I’ll have them tossed in the sea and have someone else captain their ships.”

His people had started as a seafaring people, and had sailed circles around the Romans and the Egyptians and everyone else they had encountered; but that had been on the middle sea, which was a tame pond compared to Oceanus, with its giant waves that...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 23

Devnum

“Good morning,” Ky said, looking down at Lucilla as her eyes finally opened. “How are you feeling?”

It wasn’t, in fact, morning, but Ky found something humorous about putting it like that.

“Confused,” she said, looking around alarmed. “What happened at the docks? There was a man coming at me. He had a knife and yelled something and stabbed me and then … I don’t remember.”

“That’s because Sophus put you in a coma … uhh...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 22

Devnum

After four days of sitting silently next to Lucilla, Ky took his first steps out of her room. His guards had arrived a few days before, and were standing watch alongside her guards outside of her room.

After the first day, which had been very tense as Sophus tried desperately to fix her most critical injuries before her body reached a point of no return, things had started to improve. That morning, the AI told him that it was certain now she would live. She...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 21

Southern Ériunia

It was getting dark. The rain had finally let up that afternoon, but the roads were still awful. The army had slowed to a crawl, barely covering a couple of miles every day, and Velius was starting to think they should just set up a fortified camp and wait it out until the roads dried. The only problem with that was, he didn’t want to get hemmed in by the Carthaginians, who could easily surround them. The greatest strength of the legions over the Car...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 20

Devnum

“So what do you think?” Lucilla asked Valdar, the young shipmaster, as they walked away from the docks crowded with workmen.

It was drizzling and the streets were all mush, but Lucilla had insisted they still go out. The rain had started days ago and had been off and on, which meant she needed to take what chances she could to get outside and observe some of the projects. Today, it was a tour of the new ships under construction followed by a visit with ...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 19

Lucilla was once again in the forum surrounded by leaders of various immigrant groups, although this time most of them hadn’t traveled as far. The praetorians had made good progress getting all the people still landing on their shores out of the small fishing villages that couldn’t handle them and to some of the larger cities, where the need for labor was still outpacing its supply.

A sign of that success was also in how many more people were there than had attended before. Part of ...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 18

“How are you feeling?” Lucilla asked, looking down at Hortensius, who stirred at her voice.

“Thankful to be alive,” he said, his voice croaking. “I hear you played some part in keeping me alive while I healed.”

“Only a small part,” she said, knowing he’d understand, since he knew she could communicate with Ky, and he was ultimately the source of the knowledge that helped keep him alive.

“They let me look over this breathing apparatus you had them build. I...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 17

Ériunia

Velius watched the Ulaid troops sacking the city below him and frowned. Although a lot of other Romans had disagreed with the policy, one of the things Ky had done that Velius had been happiest about was the declaration ending sacks of conquered cities and the penalties put in place for those who participated. Conchobar was going to have to lead these people if they managed to conquer the island for him, and people whose homes were demolished, possessions taken...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 16

Walking through the city, the damage wasn’t as bad as Ky had feared, and most of that was centered around the west gate where the bulk of the fighting had been.

Thankfully, despite being where the battle started and, at least part of it, ended, the docks were in good shape. Although the emperor had already decided to keep Devnum as the capital of the empire, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that Londinium would eventually reassert itself as a major center for trade and commer...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 15

Londinium

The sun had been up for over an hour and Carus had spent the entire time staring at the corner of the warehouse ceiling, waiting for the signal to begin the attack. He’d spent the night going to each warehouse, getting the men armored up and ready. Since they didn’t know when the attack would start, all of the legionnaires had been standing ready since daybreak. After weeks of waiting, doing nothing, the men were keyed up, but holding ready to attack was d...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 14

Londinium

Carus made his final round between the three warehouses his men were allocated between, his impatience growing, carrying a crate that he’d been moving from warehouse to warehouse, giving him an excuse to check on his men. The last of the men he had been expecting had shown up two days ago, which should have meant they were ready to launch the assault. And yet, there had been no word from the consul or anyone else since the last soldier came through.

Th...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 13

Outside Londinium

“I think we’re about ready,” Ky said to Ursinus and Auspex, as the three looked at a map showing Londinium, with the positions of their legions and the Carthaginians mapped out.

“So, we wait for Carus to take the wall, and then we attack? What happens if his men can’t take it?”

“Actually, no. The wall isn’t the target. The gate is.”

“What?” Ursinus said.

“We moved siege equipment across from the northern ...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 12

As the sun came up, she was back in the city, still smudged from the ash that had fallen on her for hours. It had been a close thing, but Hortensius’s precautions had worked and none of the other buildings had gone up in the resulting fires. Hortensius was another matter. He’d been unconscious with blood coming from his ears and nose when Cynwrig and Modius dragged him clear of the structure, his clothing scorched black from how close he’d been to the heat of the explosion. He had just ...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 11

Devnum

Lucilla made her way into one of the several smaller amphitheaters that had been springing up across the city as it grew and the new workers began demanding entertainment. The men, and it was all men, already assembled looked nervously towards her as she and her guards made their way down the steps towards the center stage area.

Their nervousness was why she’s picked a place out of the way and small, rather than the large original amphitheater, the forum,...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 10

Outside Londinium

“Consul,” the guard said, in a loud whisper from outside the slightly opened tent flap.

Ky had told them they didn’t need to do that, but this early in the morning, it was probably hard to not react that way on insistence. Most of the men they would guard would be asleep, and even the calmest of commanders could be difficult to deal with when waking them up from a deep sleep.

Ky’s guards knew he didn’t normally sleep, not in the c...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 9

Ériu, Southern Ulaid

Llassar swayed on the back of his horse, watching the ragged army move down the hill below and into an open plain to face their enemy, resisting the urge to smirk at the sudden change of his situation. A little over a week previous, he’d been in a dank dungeon, trying to ignore rats and water dripping from above, and now he was one of only a handful of men on horseback, riding with its commander and his ‘officers.’

Calling this an army ...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 8

Outside Londinium

Ky made his morning stop at the tent holding Bomilcar. The general was recovering well. Ky had been checking with the healers every day after seeing the general and given specific instructions on his treatment. His injuries had been serious, but not life-threatening if treated appropriately, and the healers avoided causing an infection. While they were following some of the new standards he’d introduced to the physicians in Devnum, he hadn’t been a...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 7

Devnum

“It’s cloudy,” Lucilla said. “I can’t really see anything.”

“Could you describe in more specifics please,” Sophus said.

They’d been back in Devnum for two days, and Hortensius had been a whirlwind since their return. He’d already begun working on all of the projects Ky had given him, sending men out to collect the necessary supplies for the gunpowder, begun first casting tests on the canon and started producing the semapho...

The Sands of Saturn - Chapter 6

Londinium

“I don’t care what the governor has ordered. Can you do it?”

“I don’t know,” the ship’s captain said, looking around nervously. “We normally just make cargo runs to ports in Hibernia controlled by our people. If we were only going there, I’d say yes. Aside from the occasional collection of messages for the governor there to forward on to the emperor and his magistrates, he hasn’t paid much attention to our trips since the first voyage...