Well, I hope you like it.
And that everyone else who’s bought it likes it, obviously. It would be pretty bad if you were the only one who did. 🙂
I figured: it’s Memorial Day (or I think it is). Why not get up at a ridiculous time in the morning to finish getting the book out?
Or maybe I woke up at six o’clock and couldn’t get back to sleep…
Overall, it was an enjoyable read. The post apocalyptic ‘Outriders’ vibe was a good mesh overall. (I suppose Borderlands could apply too, but Outriders is more recent in my memory.) Did you plan for this to be a one-off, or are you thinking you might come back to it when you finish your other projects in the queue? I certainly wouldn’t object to a second book (or more).
The idea is for this to replace the Ultrahumans series which has about one book left before I run out things I can do with it. So, I’m not sure when the next one will be; probably after the last Ultrahumans.
There’s only just about 3 hours between your post and you already finished the book o.0. What kind of wizardry did you employ to manage that. As a dyslectic I’m both impressed and rather envious.
@Tharcion: +1 purchase so that’s a minimum of two!
I’m looking forward to reading it. Though I’ll be taking a bit longer. (thirty pages an hour average isn’t much but it’ll get you there at the end.
To be honest, I read between 2 and three novels daily. My reading wpm is somewhere in the 800+ range, while still keeping about a 70-80% comprehension level. To be honest I wish everyone enjoyed reading as much as I do, and I hope in the future we find a way to help folks with dyslexia and other challenges.
I remember the first time I read a book in a single day. I was a kid (so a couple of centuries ago; believe me, those books were expensive when they had to be hand copied) and it was what would now be called a YA detective story. I was really amazed I’d finished the thing so quickly.
I think I’m slower these days. Then again, I didn’t need glasses to read the text in video games on a 50″ TV back then…
I bought the book yesterday as soon as I saw the announcement. I finished it at 8pm, including dinner. So, yes, it’s a great read, and it contains the cliffhanger-ish “epilogue” we know from the Ultrahumans series.
Even only halfway through the book, it was clear that it couldn’t be a one-off. Biggest hint of all: The main protagonist still thinks she’s straight. No chance to stay this in a Tharcion universe. 🙂
Well, I’ve been playing Outriders. I’m currently playing Mass Effect because Outriders is broken, but Outriders was obviously an influence. i.e. it gave me the idea for the setting. But I wanted to go with a somewhat more traditional superhero concept since, as I said, Ultrahumans will be dropping off the list in the somewhat near future.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. I twigged to H pretty early on but I have to admit that I DID NOT see the other one coming. That was a complete and total surprise. Well done, sir!
No spoilers here! Gotta love it when it comes straight out of left field like that and slaps you silly. Looking back, everything makes sense too! That is hard to do, to keep it in line and keep the surprise from being revealed too early. (I am speaking from experience!) Kudos! Awesome read!
I know! That’s why reading AC Doyle or Agatha Christie is always so mind blowing. I never come close to connecting the dots but it always makes total sense at the reveal.
I probably shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to come clean. I *totally* thought I’d messed that up. Not that you’d figure it out before it happened, but that I hadn’t suggested it as possible before it happens. Doyle and Christie were bloody geniuses; I get lucky sometimes.
Trying to phrase this as spoiler free as I can – I think that it being possible was always there, because it makes sense that it should have happened, and in retrospect it shouldn’t have been surprising that it did happened. At least that’s how I feel about it after thinking on it. Hopefully that will make sense to anyone who knows what’s going on.
Again, working HARD To keep from spoiling. That kind of thing is VERY hard to pull off right. Christie and Doyle made it look easy, it ISN’T!
Looking back through the book, you see hints here and there but they don’t make sense until the final reveal. you don’t even countenance the possibility until the final reveal. I have tried to do that in my own writing and it never works out for me. I either spoil it too soon or it is too confusing to understand.
I’m curious to know: was Mercy’s name chosen to deliberately contrast the fact that circumstances force her to show a distinct lack of that trait, somewhat against her will?
tldr: No. Well, not exactly.
Thing is, in an effort to get around naming lots of people the same thing, I started using a random name generator a while back. Unless I have a specific idea for a character’s name (or the names are going to be entirely fantastic), I’ll even use the generator to give me ideas for the protagonist.
So, with Mercy, I generated a bunch of names and then looked them over to find the one I liked the most. ‘Mercy’ stood out as a good one given what I knew the character was going to be like.
And, yes, Nava (not your average name to find) came out of the generator, though she had some peculiar constraints. Mitsuko came out of a selection. Melissa did too, picked because it sounds like a sweet sort of girl. Courtney was picked because it sounds like a nasty girl in high school. Etc.
Tatsu didn’t because I knew I wanted the ‘dragon’ name.
It depends on the character. Sometimes, the name doesn’t really matter as long as I like it. Mercy came out of a list, but I picked that name from that list because it fitted the character conception.
Long-winded answer to a short question. 🙂
First thing I thought of when I read the name Mercy was the hero in Overwatch. Still reading the novel. I like to take my time and savor the story. Hey, cut me some slack….I’m old.
I’ve never played Overwatch. I wanted to want to play Overwatch, but I hate PvP and squad games. So, I enjoy the publicity videos on YouTube and I might get to like Overwatch 2.
Also, yes, I thought about the Overwatch Mercy a few times while writing Titans.
Also also, you read at your own speed, mate. I do.
I was wondering what happened to all the US Navy subs in that timeframe. The sub base isn’t that far from Hartford and Boston in Groton CT. Electric Boat is there too with a whole lot of manufacturing capabilities. If you ever get over to that area check out the museum at the base.
I like Overwatch. I have also PvPed in Warcraft. I limit my sessions. Normal people can turn into real asshats when they if they play to excess.
I admit to not having considered the subs. After 50 years, I doubt they’d still be operating. I suspect the reactors would have done something fairly bad by then.
Just finished reading and had a really good time with it. The world has a lot of potential and the “outrider” like spin on superpowers makes things interesting.
Though I do have to wonder…
With both Titan and Sign of the Dragon, I noticed that the protagonist are quite powerful almost right from the start. From what I can remember both Fox and and Cygnus (as equivalent characters for the new series) needed a few books of growth to get to the relative level of power of “Engine of Destruction”. Was this a conscious choice to shake things up, or am I just reading to much into things?
In any case. Thanks for the cool story. I’m a bit backlogged with my Goodreads review but I’ll try to mine in the near future.
Well, it wasn’t conscious.
Mercy has some growth in her, but neither her nor Tatsu are likely to get significantly more powerful in the immediate future. Tatsu is likely to remain fundamentally the same for a long time. Her situation may change. Mercy will learn to use her powers better.
Um, the powers are more like ‘video game’ powers than specifically Outriders. Destiny has the same kind of functionality. A lot of JRPGs are like that. I did start writing this because of Outriders, but I took a broader inspiration for the powers. I did want it to feel like a video game world.
I guess videogame powers is indeed more accurate. For the most part I’m a wester-RPG fan so, I’m not all that familiar with those games. But looking at some trailers, I can see the resemblance.
My initial asociation came from one of your urlier post where you mentioned/ featured Outrider specificly. So I kind of made a link from there, to the mechanics in Titans.
Anyway. I’m looking forward to any future sequals, expansions and DLC in this series.
I finally finished Titans a little while ago and really enjoyed it. I too would like to read a story about the nuc subs. Have to think in this timeline they’d have fusion reactors and still have power. Or be beached and used as a multi generation habitats. BTW are you going to update the “what I am working on” section? Still writing UNO?
Witches and Ray-Guns 
And purchased.
Well, I hope you like it.
And that everyone else who’s bought it likes it, obviously. It would be pretty bad if you were the only one who did. 🙂
I figured: it’s Memorial Day (or I think it is). Why not get up at a ridiculous time in the morning to finish getting the book out?
Or maybe I woke up at six o’clock and couldn’t get back to sleep…
Overall, it was an enjoyable read. The post apocalyptic ‘Outriders’ vibe was a good mesh overall. (I suppose Borderlands could apply too, but Outriders is more recent in my memory.) Did you plan for this to be a one-off, or are you thinking you might come back to it when you finish your other projects in the queue? I certainly wouldn’t object to a second book (or more).
The idea is for this to replace the Ultrahumans series which has about one book left before I run out things I can do with it. So, I’m not sure when the next one will be; probably after the last Ultrahumans.
Oke Seriously!
There’s only just about 3 hours between your post and you already finished the book o.0. What kind of wizardry did you employ to manage that. As a dyslectic I’m both impressed and rather envious.
@Tharcion: +1 purchase so that’s a minimum of two!
I’m looking forward to reading it. Though I’ll be taking a bit longer. (thirty pages an hour average isn’t much but it’ll get you there at the end.
Gr Cloak
To be honest, I read between 2 and three novels daily. My reading wpm is somewhere in the 800+ range, while still keeping about a 70-80% comprehension level. To be honest I wish everyone enjoyed reading as much as I do, and I hope in the future we find a way to help folks with dyslexia and other challenges.
I remember the first time I read a book in a single day. I was a kid (so a couple of centuries ago; believe me, those books were expensive when they had to be hand copied) and it was what would now be called a YA detective story. I was really amazed I’d finished the thing so quickly.
I think I’m slower these days. Then again, I didn’t need glasses to read the text in video games on a 50″ TV back then…
I bought the book yesterday as soon as I saw the announcement. I finished it at 8pm, including dinner. So, yes, it’s a great read, and it contains the cliffhanger-ish “epilogue” we know from the Ultrahumans series.
Even only halfway through the book, it was clear that it couldn’t be a one-off. Biggest hint of all: The main protagonist still thinks she’s straight. No chance to stay this in a Tharcion universe. 🙂
Nice, very nice. As stated before it has a really cool Outriders vibe. Please more 🙂
Well, I’ve been playing Outriders. I’m currently playing Mass Effect because Outriders is broken, but Outriders was obviously an influence. i.e. it gave me the idea for the setting. But I wanted to go with a somewhat more traditional superhero concept since, as I said, Ultrahumans will be dropping off the list in the somewhat near future.
Do you have plans for an art dump?
By the end of the week.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. I twigged to H pretty early on but I have to admit that I DID NOT see the other one coming. That was a complete and total surprise. Well done, sir!
No spoilers here! Gotta love it when it comes straight out of left field like that and slaps you silly. Looking back, everything makes sense too! That is hard to do, to keep it in line and keep the surprise from being revealed too early. (I am speaking from experience!) Kudos! Awesome read!
I know! That’s why reading AC Doyle or Agatha Christie is always so mind blowing. I never come close to connecting the dots but it always makes total sense at the reveal.
I probably shouldn’t do this, but I’m going to come clean. I *totally* thought I’d messed that up. Not that you’d figure it out before it happened, but that I hadn’t suggested it as possible before it happens. Doyle and Christie were bloody geniuses; I get lucky sometimes.
Trying to phrase this as spoiler free as I can – I think that it being possible was always there, because it makes sense that it should have happened, and in retrospect it shouldn’t have been surprising that it did happened. At least that’s how I feel about it after thinking on it. Hopefully that will make sense to anyone who knows what’s going on.
Again, working HARD To keep from spoiling. That kind of thing is VERY hard to pull off right. Christie and Doyle made it look easy, it ISN’T!
Looking back through the book, you see hints here and there but they don’t make sense until the final reveal. you don’t even countenance the possibility until the final reveal. I have tried to do that in my own writing and it never works out for me. I either spoil it too soon or it is too confusing to understand.
This worked. Well done!
I’m curious to know: was Mercy’s name chosen to deliberately contrast the fact that circumstances force her to show a distinct lack of that trait, somewhat against her will?
tldr: No. Well, not exactly.
Thing is, in an effort to get around naming lots of people the same thing, I started using a random name generator a while back. Unless I have a specific idea for a character’s name (or the names are going to be entirely fantastic), I’ll even use the generator to give me ideas for the protagonist.
So, with Mercy, I generated a bunch of names and then looked them over to find the one I liked the most. ‘Mercy’ stood out as a good one given what I knew the character was going to be like.
And, yes, Nava (not your average name to find) came out of the generator, though she had some peculiar constraints. Mitsuko came out of a selection. Melissa did too, picked because it sounds like a sweet sort of girl. Courtney was picked because it sounds like a nasty girl in high school. Etc.
Tatsu didn’t because I knew I wanted the ‘dragon’ name.
It depends on the character. Sometimes, the name doesn’t really matter as long as I like it. Mercy came out of a list, but I picked that name from that list because it fitted the character conception.
Long-winded answer to a short question. 🙂
First thing I thought of when I read the name Mercy was the hero in Overwatch. Still reading the novel. I like to take my time and savor the story. Hey, cut me some slack….I’m old.
I’ve never played Overwatch. I wanted to want to play Overwatch, but I hate PvP and squad games. So, I enjoy the publicity videos on YouTube and I might get to like Overwatch 2.
Also, yes, I thought about the Overwatch Mercy a few times while writing Titans.
Also also, you read at your own speed, mate. I do.
I was wondering what happened to all the US Navy subs in that timeframe. The sub base isn’t that far from Hartford and Boston in Groton CT. Electric Boat is there too with a whole lot of manufacturing capabilities. If you ever get over to that area check out the museum at the base.
I like Overwatch. I have also PvPed in Warcraft. I limit my sessions. Normal people can turn into real asshats when they if they play to excess.
I admit to not having considered the subs. After 50 years, I doubt they’d still be operating. I suspect the reactors would have done something fairly bad by then.
Just finished reading and had a really good time with it. The world has a lot of potential and the “outrider” like spin on superpowers makes things interesting.
Though I do have to wonder…
With both Titan and Sign of the Dragon, I noticed that the protagonist are quite powerful almost right from the start. From what I can remember both Fox and and Cygnus (as equivalent characters for the new series) needed a few books of growth to get to the relative level of power of “Engine of Destruction”. Was this a conscious choice to shake things up, or am I just reading to much into things?
In any case. Thanks for the cool story. I’m a bit backlogged with my Goodreads review but I’ll try to mine in the near future.
Gr Cloak
Well, it wasn’t conscious.
Mercy has some growth in her, but neither her nor Tatsu are likely to get significantly more powerful in the immediate future. Tatsu is likely to remain fundamentally the same for a long time. Her situation may change. Mercy will learn to use her powers better.
Um, the powers are more like ‘video game’ powers than specifically Outriders. Destiny has the same kind of functionality. A lot of JRPGs are like that. I did start writing this because of Outriders, but I took a broader inspiration for the powers. I did want it to feel like a video game world.
I guess videogame powers is indeed more accurate. For the most part I’m a wester-RPG fan so, I’m not all that familiar with those games. But looking at some trailers, I can see the resemblance.
My initial asociation came from one of your urlier post where you mentioned/ featured Outrider specificly. So I kind of made a link from there, to the mechanics in Titans.
Anyway. I’m looking forward to any future sequals, expansions and DLC in this series.
Gr Cloak
DLCs… I’m going to have to remember that one. 🙂
I finally finished Titans a little while ago and really enjoyed it. I too would like to read a story about the nuc subs. Have to think in this timeline they’d have fusion reactors and still have power. Or be beached and used as a multi generation habitats. BTW are you going to update the “what I am working on” section? Still writing UNO?
Huh. I’ll get it sorted.