08/05/08   I finished of all of Chapter 5, Part 1 Chapter 5 Part 2 Mrs. Marret and Part 1 Chapter 5 Part 3 Old times.   Feedback on the novel would be appreciated.   I got some new music from T.J. Congrove. Check it out here!   Keep checking back, there will be more from him soon!   So far NO takers on the Drawing?   I wonder why?   Don't like the prizes?   Please let me know via Contact Outpost 13 page, thanks. 07/28/08   Our First Drawing is up and running. Take a shot at winning one of two prizes now!   If this works out well you will see many more of these kind of drawings.   I'm also finishing up on the final version of Chapter 5 of my novel and will be posting it soon.   I've got to send it to my editor and then I'll be able to add it here. I added a third part to this chapter. I had some new ideas that I needed to add to the story. It also gives the reader more history about humanity and Chairman Sharmov. 07/07/08   Official start date for the first drawing will be 7/26/08 barring no further issues or delays.   Hopefully this will be just the first of many more drawing to come for all my fans and Sci-Fi nuts like myself. 06/23/08 - 06/17/08   I been busy adding a few things and fixing some others too.   Thanks to Artpro631 we've been busy looking at and revamping the site.   What do you think of the new stuff so far? Let us know by going to the Contact Outpost 13 page.   Drawing is coming very soon now. Just have to finish a few promotional ads and the entry form.   Also check out my new SciFi On YouTube and SciFi Arcade page. 06/10/08   I made a few updates. Included are updates of the first 4 chapters of the novel The War and the Meant Empire: Conquest. 05/31/08   I've Been doing a number of updates to the site. I hope you like them.   Added a new section to my Gallery and moved my comics section there.   Thanks to Artpro631 we have some cool updated looks for The Star Crystal Trilogy Ships of the Line.   My next big step is to start the drawing this June or July, so stay tuned. 05/21/08   From time to time I meet other artists like myself who have some really great stuff. However, unlike myself they have little or no means of showing it off.   Sometimes it just they don't know enough about computers, much less how to make their own website.   So I started the Featured Artists section for them and their works I admire on my website!   First off is Jeanne Phillips-Barron , a gal I've know for a long time and whom I have recently been reacquainted with.   I've also got another guy working on some stuff and he will be added as soon as he has his stuff ready. 05/19/08   I hope to start the drawing very soon now. (June-July) I've been working on other odd and end things.   I also have a new contributor to the Outpost 13 site.  He is going by Artpro631 . He's an illustrator with a interest in SciFi and wanted to help me out with my site. I guess we all can always use a little help sometimes. He will also be a featured SciFi artist on my site in a new up coming section just for featured SciFi artists. 04/26/08   Done a little maintenance and updated my forms. (Needed for the drawing)   I've also added a number of new items in my Writer Resources section.  It now has two sub-sections; Useful Writer Resource Links and Writer Tools .   Since I started working full time on my novel I really needed some organizational tools. As a result I found a few, and believe it or not they are free.   Now I have to decide if I want to use some of them or not. If I didn't already have Word and Excel it would be a no brainier. These things are great for any writer not able to get these items.     I've got just a few more things to do (Promo stuff, final setup.) and the drawing will be open. 04/17/08   More Thoughts;   It's hard to make original SciFi.   The tech side was just one of the reasons I think it makes it more difficult.   I agree that staying away from the tech as much as possible is the best idea. However, look at it this way. Someone had to give us geeks the basic ideas to begin with. So thanks to them (star trek for one) most of us have a idea about how some of the tech works. We don't need to know because we think we already do.   So now the rest of us can just talk about the terms and all of the nerds and geeks are happy because they understand. (Travel through sub-space/hyperspace ect.) Now no explanation is needed.   In my Story "Which Came Fist" I felt the need to explain how it was possible to travel through a black hole. However I never talked about how the ship or the AI worked.   Focusing on the story and treat the science tech as the background is probably the best option.   There was a time I felt differently, maybe that was because of Star Trek? I might have thought it was necessary.   Lucus comes along with Star Wars and the story is the most important. The Tech is just window dressing.   Would that have worked without shows like Star Trek? Without SciFi teaching us nerds about how the universe might or does work?   For me I think its got me into the science of things. I watch many science programs. Not for facts to load up in my writings. I do it because I can use these facts for inspiration!   Let's look at it this way.   Titan is a moon of Saturn. Surrounded by clouds. Scientist had an idea about what they might find, but no one new for sure. You could have written a story about it and really use your imagination, because there was little or nothing that said otherwise.   If you were to write about landing on Titian now I'm sure your going to base it all on what we know about this moon, otherwise would anyone want to read it, or take it seriously?   I guess I've read to much Clark. He was always great with taking what we knew and then adding to it.   Now days we know a lot more and there is less to add to them.   Look at the SciFi stories about Venus.   We went form a planet with Amazon woman and dinosaurs to a dead world. One so terrible no life we understand could live there.   I don't think a publisher now days would take a story seriously about aliens on Venus, unless it was a comedy.   One way out of this is to expand your universe so you can escape most of these limits. We still don't know much about other planets in other solar systems, yet. 04/16/08   I've been thinking,   It has become more difficult to do SciFi.   Why?   We have a more informed group that are more mindful of how the universe works. You have to make the story convincing for the average geek or nerd that make up the SciFi fan base.   I can just image SciFi writing a few hundred years from now, where will it go, what will it be like?   Let's face it, 50 or more years ago it was easier to do SciFi.   Prime example, the "Martian Chronicles" by Bradbury. This would get no where past a publisher now days. However, back in its day the idea was feasible.   Most of the main SciFi idea's have been conceived already. Being original in this area is extremely difficult.   Maybe I should write an article about this and do some research?   I tried my best not to get to technical in my Novel. Originally I was going to, but it was just far to complicated. So I'm doing the less then Star Gate method. Just give them an idea about the science, but no or little detail.   Sometimes it's hard to focus on the story if you get all that tech clogged up in it.   In my Short Story "Which Came First" I had to get into the how, otherwise no one would give it any plausibility.   The reason the story stayed on the shelf so long was because all the updated science said you can't travel through a black hole. When I originally wrote the thing the science didn't seem to have an answer.   Then I ran across a possible way and bang I had a way to use the story again. Of course the draw back was I had to explain it.   Good Science really can hold your imagination back. I guess that's one of the great things about Fantasy, there are no limits.   It's kind of like Dr. Who. He can go anywhere and in any time. Science becomes a moot point. The Time lord science is so far beyond us how can you make any arguments? 04/14/08   Finally starting to get things in order. My work area has been redone and now I'm stating to get back to work on the website, my art work and writings.   After I get some items caught up and in order I will begin to organize the drawing and opening it up.   I had submitted a story and some artwork for publication and have been informed that they are and will be published.   The art work has already been published and the short story will be this summer. 03/17/08   Sorry but there is a hold on everything site related at the moment.   The Drawing is also on hold for a little while longer, but  keep checking back. Once I get everything setup it will be active.   I do have 2 animations cooking right now. One is for a gaming clan and the other is of the Carl Sagan.   I recently ordered new components to build a new PC. I'm also redoing my office area and will have a new desk. Once that's done I'll have no more excuses for getting back to work on my novel, other various art projects, and stuff for the site. 02/20/08   I'm still working on a number of projects and will be going back to my novel this week. I recently acquired the services of Darrell Deam to edit my written work. I've also been busy updating my works on this site after his input. Thanks Darrell.   I will also start putting the drawing items together within the next month. There are still a number of related things (New banners and input forms) I need to setup before I can open the drawing. 02/11/08   I'm now on my new host and hopefully no one will notice a thing. All my links and banners should still point correctly. If something is a miss please let me know through my Contact Outpost 13 page.   Got some issues with my intro animation. It's a little big and large so I have a smaller one I'm going to try.   I plan on working on the novel after I finish a little project I started for someone. Since I'm using Carrara now it's taking me a while. I'm still learning how to use it. I can't wait to start making some of my ships in it.     I hope to have the drawing setup and running soon. So keep checking back. I've got to setup some new forms first so everything matches. I thought about using the host's forms, but they don't give me exactly what I wanted. 01/15/08     Part 1 Chapter 5 Part 1 is now ready for reading. Please feel free to let me know what you think though the Contact Outpost 13 form. 01/12/08     Free giveaway coming soon! Outpost 13 will be having it's first of many drawings!     The Winner will get their choice of 2 different prizes!     Keep checking back I've got a few things to work on and soon you will be able to register. 01/02/08   Happy New Year. Its a new year and I've got a number of projects I need to get finished. First is the final Draft of my novel. So for a while that's where most of my efforts will go. I may also take some time out to work on the animation I started to promo this work.   At this point I may finish the Animation project in Bryce, but do new stuff in Carrara. This will be a problem if I can't ever get anything form Bryce into Carrara? Since I can't seem to do so now I think it would be to time consuming to start everything all over in Carrara.