Travis Starnes

The Wings of Mercury - Chapter 5

Gual

Gual had changed a lot since the end of the war. From big changes like rail and telegraph lines leading from the coast all the way to Italia, Hispania, and eastern Germania, to smaller ones like the buildings in the villages, which were more like towns than the smaller settlements they had been five years before.

They still showed signs of how rapidly they’d advanced, with older longhouses made of log and thatched roofs next to larger, Roman-style buildings...

Country Roads Concept Art - Character Images

1) Hal Steiner 2) Alina Petrova 3) Quinn Chandler (publicist) 4) Cole Lawson

Center Stage - Chapter 21

By lunch the following day, I felt like a zombie and was very glad I’d called in sick to school. Besides having a very hard time getting to sleep because of how worried I was for Hanna, the house alarm had gone off around three in the morning, just as I finally fell asleep.

Mrs. Phillips, who was naturally even more upset than I was, had been pacing all night and she’d managed to somehow set off the alarm. Because of how they’d set it up, we’d immediately gotten a call from Cita...

The Wings of Mercury - Chapter 4

Ky was again in his quarters, writing out endless stacks of instructions. It had been years since he’d done this, since well before the end of the war with Carthage, and he forgot how tedious the process of transferring all of the knowledge Sophus could give him onto paper could be. It was also a stark realization of how much they had slowed innovation over the last five years, that he hadn’t written this many technical documents in all that time.

He’d done some, as they hadn’t ...

Out of Control - Chapter 2

When I woke up the next morning, I could barely remember the rest of the night. Brandon and I never made it to any other frats and were drinking and having a good time until almost two, when I stumbled back into the dorm and passed out.

Alex was already up and gone by the time I got up. We had our tests to become pledges starting at noon, and looking at the clock, it was eleven forty-five by the time I woke up. I jumped out of bed and almost instantly regretted it. I wasn’t sure if I ...

Center Stage - Chapter 20

Another few weeks went by and I was back to my old routine. Mostly. School, homework, practice. Rinse and repeat. The only thing I missed was that the last time it was like this, Kat was still in school with me and I saw her every day. Now I had to settle for nightly video calls, which just wasn’t the same.

Still, I was actually happy the tour was over and I was back again. After stagnation basically since before I went on The Stage, we were finally working on new music again...

Mortals, Mythlings, and Mischief - Chapter 1

It was my first day at a new school. Always a terrifying prospect even at a normal school. And this one was far from normal.

I stared up at the ornate wrought iron sign arching over the drive that proclaimed itas "Euryale High School". Below the scrolling letters, in smaller but no less elegant script, were the words "For the Education and Betterment of Mythlings".

Looking at the sign, I shook my head. If they only knew who they were letting in through the gates.

Taking a de...

Center Stage - Chapter 19

Thursday, I got home from school and realized that finally, I didn’t have to get on a plane and go anywhere. I finally had a weekend where I could play at the Blue Ridge and just relax for a little while. The house was quiet even though Mrs. Philips’ car was in the driveway. She wasn’t downstairs, so I assumed she was in her room. I had homework, but I was catching up and, since I didn’t have to go on tour, I’d actually be able to spread some of it over the weekend, which meant I co...

The Wings of Mercury - Chapter 3

Factorium

After the busy first day, following the news of the attack on their port, Ky had spent most of the time locked away in their rooms, writing out instructions all day and night.

He’d made the right decision at the time, by not continuing to push military technology forward, considering the devastation left by the war and the state of all of their allies, but as with all decisions, it had come at a cost. Now he was scrambling to make up for that cost.

Center Stage - Chapter 18

Monday, I was back home and the tour was done. Warren was still working out the details of my tour, but it looked like it wouldn’t be happening until the next month at the earliest, or even May. My last tour had been small and mostly made up of bars and clubs, which were able to set things up fast. Warren had been looking at bigger venues and they’d decided to go even larger after the huge bump in popularity I’d had from all Dakota and Alina stuff combined.

These places, though, b...

3rd Unusued Cover Art

For Threads of Destiny, I actually got a third piece of art made as I was trying out illustrators. I liked this least of the three, but I thought I'd share it.

Center Stage - Chapter 17

We weren’t playing a music-specific venue for our final show. Instead, they’d put us in the arena usually used for their professional basketball team, which held twenty-five thousand people, more than even the Hollywood Bowl held. The setup was similar to what had happened at the Times Square show, where the center was a stage with people seated all around and a path to walk out from a ‘backstage’ area that was more where the teams prepared when they played games here.

I’d got...

Center Stage - Chapter 16

“Hey babe, what’s up?” she said, sounding out of breath but in a good mood. 

I’d cut it close for her pool time, so she must have either just gotten out, or someone heard the ringer. I felt bad interrupting her time, especially if she was having a good day, which it sounded like she was. The closer she got to the summer, the less of those she’d been having.

“I’m really sorry to interrupt your training time, but we have another problem.”

“What now?” s...

Out of Control (The Influence Factor #1) - Chapter 1

The bus pulled into the station with a hiss of brakes, the old vehicle wheezing like an asthmatic. I grabbed my duffel bag from the overhead rack and slung it over my shoulder. As I stepped off the bus, I was hit by a wall of heat. Welcome to Magnolia Ridge, Mississippi.

The station was small and rundown, with few people going here and there, mostly locals by the look of it. There wasn’t anyone to greet me here, but at least there was a map of the town, so I wasn’t completely lost.<...

Center Stage - Chapter 15

I didn’t get to see the finished results of all the security upgrades or get the walk-through Mrs. Phillips was getting when they were done, but she said she’d show me them and Isaiah said he’d make sure I understood how everything worked when I got back.

As with the last several weeks, at least those with tour dates, Friday we tended to start fairly early, since they spent a lot more night on the sound check and lighting. We checked it all every night, but if something was going ...

Center Stage - Chapter 14

Monday, I was back in New York, this time for the live taping of The World According To Harlan Nash. Considering it was almost as big as Late Night, the studio was much smaller. I’d always pictured a few hundred people in the audience, hearing the response when they laughed or clapped on TV. Instead, the place held maybe three dozen people tops, which was probably why the cameras never pointed to the audience directly.

I’d taken a late afternoon flight, which got me into the city ju...

The Threads of Destiny - Chapter 23 (Final)

Chapter 23: Return to Avendell

The walk back to Avendell was, thankfully, uneventful. They'd managed to make it back to the barrier without encountering any more of the Brethren. Osric hoped that might have meant they were in disarray after the death of Godfrey and would no longer be a problem, but he knew that was wishful thinking. Jasper had made it clear that Farvale was just a small outpost for the Brethren and Godfrey would only have been in charge of this one area...

The Wings of Mercury - Chapter 2

Three hours later, Ky sat at the head of a long table, Lucilla at the opposite end, and a collection of whatever leaders they could get together on such short notice. Bomilcar, Aelius, Ursinus, Ramirus, Medb, and Cormac were seated along the sides, along with representatives from Scandi, Gaul, and Germanica, all of whom happened to be in the city at this moment, working with Lucilla on a new trade deal that would have the Scandi give up their insistence on dominance of the trade lands in Mere...

Desperate Rendition - Chapter 2

Caracas, Venezuela

It was mid-afternoon when the taxi dropped Taylor off at the address he’d given the man, a run-down bar that looked like its last paint job was a hundred years ago. The driver had checked with him twice to make sure he meant this address, and again as they arrived, suggesting this wasn’t the safest place for a gringo... or really anyone.

Taylor was sure.

The streets were absolutely packed, with people going in every direction, but Tayl...

Center Stage - Chapter 13

I finished my sound check, but wasn’t really present for any of it. While I knew I hadn’t actually done anything wrong, life had taught me, again and again, that didn’t matter. The problem was, I couldn’t see how to ‘fix this’ as Phoenix had said.

Kat and Warren were countering the narrative on social media, but people tend to believe the worst. Especially with something like this.

If I was going to counter this, what I really needed was Alina to come out publicly to d...

Interested in non-standard story

So, I've had some ideas for a series that won't ever go on amazon. I don't usually write more adult stories (like, with active sex and topics that would get my books put in erotica jail, since 1 book means all books on amazon), but I've had a few ideas. I can't promise these will be great stories, but I wanted to have a few books to put other places (mostly a site called bookapy for that kind of content) to widen out where I sell books (I can't put my other books there because of Amazon restr...

The Threads of Destiny - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The Heart of the Temple

They left the skivver city with Blip, who led them down another tight tunnel almost too small for them to fit through. This one sloped downward slightly, as did the last one, but it didn’t go nearly as far. After just a few minutes crawling, they came back out into the ravine.

They were not at the bottom level, however. This tunnel led dropped out on a small ledge, barely big enough for two of them at a time. They were still f...

Center Stage - Chapter 12

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. The sun was all the way up and I blearily noticed the clock said it was half past noon as I slapped the nightstand a few times before finding my phone, which stopped ringing by the time I found it. I vaguely remembered an alarm sometime around nine and shut it off.

The phone started ringing again, and I saw I had nine missed calls, meaning it had been going off for a while before it managed to wake me up. I was exhausted when I rolled into bed...

The Threads of Destiny - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: New Friends

They didn’t continue for long after the doorway. In fact, it looked like everything to the statue room was a big, open landing, and the statue room might have been the entrance to the second floor, opening into the rest of it through the hallways beyond the room with the teleportation rings. Osric hadn’t seen it at first because a good part of the roof had collapsed in this section, making it look like it was another hallway at first.

A...

Center Stage - Chapter 11

Saturday, I was in New York. The first two shows went reasonably well, with a good crowd and no major disasters aside from Vince and Julie still wowing the audience. Word must have been getting around because I noticed a lot of people out of their seats both nights while Vince and Julie were on stage. It seemed like fans had decided that was a good time to make a run for drinks, merch, or the bathroom.

There wasn’t anything I could do about that, and my part of the show had the people...

The Threads of Destiny - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Rings and Guardians

“There are glyphs above it, like the ones in the keep,” Talia said as they began looking at the wall, seeing the best way to take it down. “I can feel the energy from it. I think they’re active.”

“It has to be to help reinforce the wall and keep it up,” Jasper said. “If they were scared enough to brick this up, then they’d want to make sure the wall stayed up.”

“Can we remove them?” Osric asked.

�...

The Wings of Mercury (Imperium Vol II #1) - Chapter 1

Port Amicitiae, Africa

The port commander sat hunched over his desk, poring over the day’s shipping manifests and schedules. The scratching of his pen, one of the Consul’s many inventions and much superior to the writing sticks they previously used, had become almost hypnotic over the hours. When they’d sent him down to command one of the farthest outposts of the empire, Arn had imagined it as the peak of his career since joining the Britannian legions and becomin...

Desperate Rendition (John Taylor #11) - Chapter 1

Valencia, Venezuela

A bullet slammed into the stone wall. Tania Laciter, or at least that was the name she’d been going by until about ten minutes ago, barely ducked behind the wall in time, a shower of pulverized rock splashing across her as the bullet smashed into the stone.

Slamming into the wall, she dropped down and pivoted out, her gun coming up in a smooth, well-practiced motion. The mercenary, or at least that was what Tania assumed he was, closest to he...

Center Stage - Chapter 10

Sunday morning, the first thing I did was call Warren. I would have called him the night before because the stuff with Julie really was weighing on my mind, but it was well after midnight on the east coast before we finished, and it wasn’t anything he could deal with urgently.

“Charlie,” Warren answered. “What’s up? Everything okay?”

It wasn’t that early in North Carolina, but it was pretty early for me, which would account for his concern since I didn’t normally g...

The Threads of Destiny - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Temple

They’d been walking for the better part of two days. Once Captain Lockewood let them go, they’d managed to make it out of Farvale with no additional issues. Cinder had even managed to find them, although where he’d been hiding, Osric didn’t know. They hadn’t seen the wolf even as they made their way out of the city, but as soon as they were out of sight of it and there were no people around, the animal appeared out of the underbrush, nea...