Monday, July 6, 2015

Mass Effect Slipstream Book II - The Life of One

No, I don't get the title.  I do want to go ahead and mention this one, however, as it should be completed in a few days.  You can check it out here, and the preceding book here.

Taking place a few months after the first book, this story starts quite innocently as Finn is given his first mission from the Shadow Broker; to pick up a drell agent from Ilium.  This goes smoothly right up to the point where they try to leave, when security searches Finn and discovers a jewel known as the Creator's Tear in his pocket. After Hikari Goto, member of a thieving gang named after Kasumi Goto, arranges for Finn's escape in exchange for the gem (which she planted on him), Finn discovers the gem being stolen from the evidence room by two quarians from Siren's Call, a musical troop of some renown.  What follows is a glorious chaos of a treasure hunt on the barren world of Tuchanka.  Old faces make an appearance, as well as a few new faces and even some faces one might not expect in this tale.

This series continues to be a blast to write.  The inclusion of the Saints (whose backstory is modified only slightly to adjust for time), the appearance of Glenda Adams, an alternate reality version of Narrator Number One from A Dreamer's Knight, and Tuck, the krogan chef, all have made this quite fun for me.   As a story in the overarching tale, this feels a bit like a DLC expansion; the advancement on the Cerberus plotline is slight, though important.

This, however, brings me to the place this series has in the Elsewhere Universe; not in the same Universe as A Dreamer's Knight (as evidenced by the female Glen, though it should be noted that at the time of this story, there is no Elsewhere Incorporate in Universe B), but in a Universe whose connection would be difficult to explain without massive spoilers.  I always liked the idea of having a second Universe in place, where stories that are good but don't quite fit in with the Elsewhere Universe cannon could be placed, perhaps creating its own unique storyline down the road. 

On that note, let me say that if you like the Elsewhere Universe and you want to make a story or novel set within it, by all means.  I'm building a Universe here ... two universes, with a possible third down the line for reasons that would again be spoilers. It's been my intention to have this all under Creative Commons, though what is and isn't canon in the primary Elsewhere Universe is something ultimately decided by myself and the other real-life analogs of Dreamers (who have asked for the moment not to be named, so I'll simply say Narrator Number Two, Captain Morgan, and Wong Fo-lee ... and myself, Alan T. Tryth, of course).

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