Aurora Universe's topics - tribe.net

New home for The Bright Empire + my first e-novel

2005-03-12T02:01:17Z

I've moved to a new and better host. Better design, faster downloads. And the stories have embedded pictures.

http://brightempire.com/

New at the site is Part One of "Homecoming," the first story by my fiancée Velvet Belle Tree. Since my last post here, I've also added first stories by Jordan Taylor and Charon MacDonald.

And at both Fictionwise.com and ebookad.com, you can find my first e-novel. WHILE THE EVIL DAYS COME NOT.

Hope more people join the tribe....

-- Brantley Thompson Elkins

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New Story, Newe Collaborator at The Bright Empire

2004-11-03T13:49:10Z

And now for something completely different at The Bright Empire:

http://brantley.ubergirls.org/Stories/Companions/Companions.html

"Companions," posted today to mark my birthday, is the first story of my own to appear since "Twins" May 26 (Another, "The Amulet Of Raja," should be up soon at Supergirls, Inc.; it was written for a contest there.). I think you'll find it worth the wait, for a number of reasons.

To begin with, "Companions" is the first fruit of the new Canonical History of the Supremis that was posted at AU: Other Worlds in September:

http://velorian.org/auow/au_history.htm

Specifically, it is set during the era of the Companions, Velorian women who were sold to the rich and powerful on other worlds to earn the foreign exchange that was needed to bring to their own world the technology it could not otherwise have afforded. The trade in Companions was a shameful one to our eyes, and yet the stories of the Companions themselves could be inspiring -- wherever they and those they served could see beyond the letter of their indentures.

This is such a story. It is about love and respect and understanding , between Liz'bet and the Molinas who hold her Indenture: Gabriel and his son Esteban. They are men of their time and place, and yet somehow they are able to transcend their time and place through their love of Liz'bet. Not all Companions are as fortunate in their Indentures, as witness Ju'lette. But together, these two Companions save those they have come to cherish as they save the world called Nova Iberia when the Arions come. And Liz'bet, although she may never realize it, will change the course of history….

And don't worry, you'll get your Velorian sex and exhibitionism fix, along with some hot picts -- some from Ultragirl and Redwulf with manips by Shadar.

"Companions" is also my first story to be with the collaboration of Velvet Belle Tree, a writer new to the Aurora Universe and yet already at home in it. It was Velvet who fashioned the image of the Scalantrans for the first time ever in AU fiction. Several other scenes here are her work, in whole or it part, and she has also copyedited the entire story and made a number of invaluable suggestions. It is my fervent hope that she will work her way up to writing stories of her own, as well as contributing to mine.

But the origins of this story go back to long before I knew Velvet, long before Shadar and I collaborated on the Canonical History. They go back to a reference Shadar made in "Alisa's Story," posted July 29, 2003 -- a sequel we wrote to ORDINARY VELORIANS -- before ORDINARY VELORIANS itself had been completed:

<<Alisa Liddell wasn't religious like the Christla -- her record would have flagged that -- but she acted as if she were. Durgin had no problem with that. This mission was to be a first penetration of a new hole, and an anomalous one at that. There wouldn’t be any off hours to play around with once they got close to the singularity. First penetrations were incredibly dangerous.>>

What would a strict religious sect like the Christla be doing on Kelsor 7, a world of science and secular humanism? It was one of those curveballs that Shadar likes to throw at me. In this case, I was thrown for a loss at first. But then I thought of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit theologian who strove to reconcile Christianity and Evolution:

<<My starting point is the fundamental initial fact that each one of us is perforce linked by all the material organic and psychic strands of his being to all that surrounds him… If we look far enough back in the depths of time, the disordered anthill of living beings suddenly, for an informed observer, arranges itself in long files that make their way by various paths towards greater consciousness … there is an absolute direction of growth, to which both our duty and our happiness demand that we should conform. It is [the human] function to complete cosmic evolution … Christ is realized in evolution.>>

Obviously, I couldn't make the Christla followers of Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955). But the same idea could have inspired them, and I imagined that this would have been the result of a devout Catholic community suddenly exposed to the reality of the cosmos and cosmic evolution -- which could easily happen if a world were settled by the Galen or their Surrogates with abductees from a Catholic country. But these abductees would need to have an intellectual tradition that could accommodate and adjust to the new knowledge thrust upon them. Jordan "Ultragirl" Taylor, who would later supply some of the images for "Companions," had recently studied Thomas Aquinas in college, and that gave me the idea that the intellectual ancestor s of the Christla would have been Thomists.

Yet at this point, I hadn't really thought of a story about them. The whole business of the Thomists was going to be merely part of the background of a story about Alisa Liddell called PASSION PLAY, in which -- although she could never become a convert -- she would be influenced by the Christla philosophy. I had already suggested that there was a spiritual (as opposed to religious) side to her in THRONE OF THE GODS -- this well before I ever heard of the Christla -- in the communion scene where she tells Amsul and his companions that "the dead are not lost to us." That phrase came to me from THE X-FILES, but I later learned that in a literal as opposed to a metaphorical sense it has been used by the Church as reflected in "Companions."

It was only with Shadar's innovation of the Companions that I knew I had the basis of a story that would account for the origin of the Christla. And to make that happen, I knew I had to begin that story in a time and place -- medieval Spain -- that would be compatible with both true intellectual history and the imagined history of the Aurora Universe. I also knew that I would have to do enough on-line research to make the background plausible (Of course, Shadar himself had to make the models for Liz'bet and Ju'lette plausible as true Vels through Photoshop!).

Google proved invaluable in many details, from period Spanish foods and drinks and recipes that survived among the Nova Iberians to models wearing medieval dresses to extracts from the Bible, the works of Thomas Aquinas and Catholic liturgy. Manuel's prayer and homily are derived from the Psalmus Hungaricus, a variation of the 55th Psalm (which, for some reason, is the 54th in the Catholic Douay Bible) used in Hungary after the Ottoman conquest to covertly protest Turkish oppression.

Naturally, "Companions" turned out to be about a lot more than that, but stories grow in the telling, and this one is about people -- about ideas, to be sure, but not in the abstract: only as they move people. It is about Liz'bet and Ju'lette and Gabriel and Esteban and Manuel and Almeida and Alfonso and how their lives come together in a time of crisis that will test all of them.

-- Brantley Thompson Elkins

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AU News #2

2004-08-25T10:48:38Z

Welcome Tommy. I hope that things may liven up here a bit, nows that we have a new member. Maybe YOU and the rest can tell us what YOU want to make the Tribe more worth your while.

A lot has happened since we last had a new member. For one thing, the Aurora Universe Writers Group (AUWG) has its old name back, but at a new address:

http://aurorawritersgroup.tripod.com/

This is your portal to all the AU sites with stories and other features. Naturally, there have been new stories, such as McCLOUD'S DAUGHTERS and EARTH 2050 at Shadar's site (Aurora Universe: Other Worlds) and SLEEPING BEAUTY and TWINS at mine (The Bright Empire). AK (Julie of Velor) keeps coming out with new episodes to her ongoing serials. And Tarot (Alternate Histories) Barnes has written an origin story for the AU, BEGINNINGS, that is so good it's now beins sold at eBookAd.com (So is one of my stories, A NIGHT WITH SUPERGIRL:).

Check it out!

--Brantley Thompson Elkins

brantley.ubergirls.org

posted in Aurora Universe - 1 reply

AU News #1

2004-08-24T20:05:07Z

It's been quite a while since anybody posted anything, but I see that we actually have a new member. That's as good a reason as any for an update.

Two things going on.

First, six members of the Abintra Universe Writers Group (Myself, Shadar, Tarot Barnes (Alternate Histories), Lisa J. Binkley, Ed Howdershelt and AK ("Julie and Friends:) are taking part in creation of a promotional CD with a sampling of our works. Tarot is editing the files as I write this. The CD will be sold at cost (about $5) through Cafe Press, the same company that is handling other AU merchandise; there's a listing for that here already. We're hoping to reach out to people who aren't regular visitors to our sites, so if any of you have any ideas.....

The second thing is that Shadar and I are jointly involved in writing an AU family saga called ORDINARY VELORIANS. The first four episodes were written by Shadar when he was still calling himself "Sharon Best," and posted at his old site, since taken down, but are now availble at my site under the AU Lives! link. We have both written sequels -- "Alisa's Story" (at both our sites) was a collaboration, "Shore Leave" (at his) is his own work, and "Pictures of an Expedition" and "Terms of Enhancement" (at my site) are my own ("Throne of the Gods" is related, but not part of the family chronicle.). I'm working now on episodes to bridge the gap between the original serial and the sequels, and hope to have the first of these up next week.

--Brantley Thompson Elkins

http://brantley.ubergirls.org

posted in Aurora Universe - 2 replies

Turning professional

2004-03-20T12:46:36Z

Just uploaded a photomanip by VagabondEye for the "cover" of a story soon to be uploaded to eBookAd.com, one of a number of sites devoted to marketing e-books. It's just an attention getter, really; a revised version of one of my free stories, with some ancillary material about the Aurora Universe.

But I'm working on a novel, WHILE THE EVIL DAYS COME NOT, that will be sold through Fictionwise.com -- where Ed Howdershelt and Jolie Howard (Lisa Binkley) already have best sellers. Like Ed's ENCOUNTER IN ATLANTA, it stars superheroine model Mandi Steele (mandisteele.com), who has approved the concept. I hope she'll approve the finished text when I have it ready.Otherwise, I'll have to change the name of the heroine. But it will be a great read. Trust me.

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About The Bright Empire

2004-03-05T01:52:43Z

I’m Brantley Thompson Elkins, and I was one of those whose stories were left homeless when the old Aurora Universe site was taken down. But thanks to Greg, webmaster of ubergirls.org, I have my own site, called The Bright Empire (http://brantley.ubergirls.org), plus the editing tools to go with it, and all of my stories are now posted here, along with some essays and other material.

I'm also hosting stories by Joe Haley, another AU exile, and even classic Sharon Best AU fiction and reference materials – some available nowhere else, even at the restored AU archive and download links. I have begun a gallery of erotic superheroines, small thus far because I'm very finicky about picts, and am in the process of adding picture links to stories.

My stories thus far are all set in the AU, more or less (given that different writers have different takes on the AU), the version Shadar (formerly Sharon) now calls Generation 3. "Throne of the Gods," was the first to be set offworld as opposed to here on Earth. I’m working on another called "Sleeping Beauty," a sequel to "Mundane Secrets of the Yo Yo Brotherhood." That too is set offworld, although the original story wasn’t. My most recent works include "Pictures of an Expedition," a prequel to TOG; and "Terms of Enhancement," a sort of sidequel. For all stories, present and future, the usual word of caution for a site such as mine: these are for mature readers only. If you're not 18 or older, please be gone. And if the Church Lady or her ilk stumble across my site, let them be gone too!

The Bright Empire takes its name from a passing reference in the work of Cordwainer Smith, one of my very favorite science fiction writers. But it relates perfectly to the essence of the Velorian Enlightenment and its Protectors, whose beauty and valor bring light and hope even to the darkest corners of the universe. It is a vision that I think may be of greater significance than even its original creator realized. It may be erotic fantasy in large part, and yet it is also a fantasy of female empowerment. A few of my women friends even consider it feminist, although I have never made such a claim and hesitate to do so now.

Anyway, forget about theories. The Bright Empire is about what I like. So let’s just say that I like my superheroines to be beautiful and sexy and powerful and intelligent -- and benevolent. You won’t find me writing dominatrix fiction, or the kind where the superheroines deliberately or accidentally kill men while trying to have sex, or engage in wanton vandalism. And you’ll never find me writing the kind where the superheroines are stripped of their powers and raped or otherwise abused. I think women are wonderful, and should be treated as such in fact and in fiction.

The strange tale of how I came to write in this genre is told in "A True Story about a Fictional Story," an introduction to "Throne of the Gods." Further notes may be found in "Behind the Stories." I offer my gratitude to all who have helped with my writing and with this site, including Greg for having provided me a home under the umbrella of übergirls.org, Random for the home page banner (which features the smart and sexy Mandi Steele), my fellow superheroine fiction authors and superheroine manip artists for advice, assistance and encouragement; and, yes, Sharon Best (who as Shadar now hosts a new version of the AU): my first muse and mentor and honored as such whatever ups and downs our relationship has gone through since.

posted in Aurora Universe - 4 replies

Links to the Aurora Universe

2003-11-05T05:21:08Z

http://velorian.org/auow/index.htm
http://archives.ubergirls.org/AU3/
http://sginc.ubergirls.org/

posted in Aurora Universe - 4 replies

What is The Aurora Universe?

2003-10-07T22:19:31Z

I was surfing the 'Net (if people still use that phrase) looking for comic book and fanatasy stories.
What I stumbled upon was The Aurora Universe. I found stories involving a sort of SciFi-Star Trek-Super Hero-Mutant group of Characters. Most of these characters seemed to be woman. Some of the stories were erotic.

These Aurora Universe stories also seemed to be written by several different authors. I like things that start on the Internet and evolve into a viable community (in this case a writer's society).

Many of these stories are accompanied by Graphics of beautiful women. In a truely Comic Book Heroine vein.

This is what interested me in The Aurora Universe.

An open-source novel?
An online comic book?

I don't know, but I like it. I hope you will too.
Perhaps you will describe what you think The Aurora Universe is to you.

posted in Aurora Universe - 2 replies

Feedback, feedback, feedback!

2003-10-01T11:30:41Z

Welcome, Sophia.

Hope we writers (Shadar and myself) get some feedback from you and the others. Not just flattery, mind you, but intelligent comment and constructive criticism.

It's what writers live for. You'll understand if you become writers yourselves!

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The Aurora Works

2003-09-26T03:24:35Z

Now that I've join a few people together and banded them by the tales of The Aurora Universe, what is some of your favorite stories?

posted in Aurora Universe - 1 reply

AUOW Update

2003-09-24T13:28:47Z

I've just added a couple of new stories to the Aurora Universe. See the Writings section. Stories are Commandant's Wife and Feline Imperative.

The Commandant story is a 'heart of the AU' type of story. Not a long read but hopefully fun.

http://velorian.org/auow/

Shadar

posted in Aurora Universe - 2 replies

A short history of the Homo Sapiens Supremis

2003-09-17T14:00:07Z

http://archives.ubergirls.org/AU3/short_history_of_velorians.htm

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