Home of Rex Havoc, Space Adventurer and other assorted Geekeries.
The ever-lovely Mil has been feeling pretty crap of late, more so than usual. It’s really weird. Sort of a sickness. In the morning1.
I don’t know what it is. The thought of food makes her nauseous, and even odder, she’s getting bigger. I wouldn’t call her fat, but there’s definitely some tummy on her.
We went to the doctor to get an opinion, and they sent us for some scans. Scan A clearly shows some sort of growth:
More!
About a year ago I began writing a story for my daughter Amelynne, using her toys as characters.
It took me about 3 months to write and 9 months to type it up, and I’ve finally got something to show for it. Right now it’s still a work in progress, as I need to read it through a few times with Amelynne and make sure she’s happy with it. I also need to add some illustrations.
HTML version
EPUB version for iBooks
MOBI version for Kindle
I’d be interested to know what you think. Let me know if you notice anything wrong too.
This tutorial is for people with a grounding in InDesign already. You should know the basics of creating a new document, adding Paragraph Styles and manipulating text. I’ll be covering the “gotchas” I found creating an eBook from InDesign. Creating an eBook in InDesign will give you the option to export as EPUB, PDF and HTML all from the same source, with minimal changes. What follows is my preferred flow.
Regular readers might want to tune out now. Go read an old Rex Havoc or something.
Before you start you’ll need Calibre. Calibre is a “swiss army knife” for eBooks. It converts to and from all sorts of formats. To keep the code as pure as possible though, I only use it for the final conversion from EPUB (eBook format) to MOBI (Kindle format), which is not currently possible straight from InDesign.
Rex Havoc punched the bear in the face.
After what seemed like an eternity in “training”, it felt good to be out and in the thick of the action again. Just like old times.
As he rounded the bend, a cyber-wolf bared its teeth and Rex calmed his mind, reached down and summoned his power. Directing it downwards as he sprinted forward, he unleashed an almighty kick that sent the wolf spinning side-over-side into the bushes beside the mountain.
Of course, being living creatures Rex couldn’t actually bring himself to harm the bear or wolf. As he lashed out at them he was actually holding back, easing their troubled captured minds and reversing the bio-engineering the island-dictator had subjected them to. Then in the guise of violence, he was gently moving them out of the way.
Watching through his monitors, Doctor Van de Nippal would see Rex wading through his animal forces and never suspect his true powers. Plus Rex was having fun.
Rex backhanded the hawk that swooped at his head.
Only last week I published the Time Diversion story arc from Rex Havoc’s adventures over on Amazon. Today I’m uploading the first ten chapters of the main story up on Amazon too!
Amazon wouldn’t let me offer it for free, so I’m offering it here too for anyone to download as Mobi for kindle, ePub for other eReaders and iDevices and PDF for everyone else.
Space Flight 704: Final Flight of Xarnash is available in ePub for iPad and eReaders, mobi version for Kindle, and PDF
Of course, if you have a Kindle, and need a quick way to get your Rex fix, you can visit Amazon and purchase it there.
Thank your for reading. Please take it and tell your friends.
Space Flight 704: Time Diversion is also free for a limited time on Amazon
Hey Rex Fans, have you always wanted to read Rex Havoc adventures conveniently collected for you in book form? Are you TIRED of visiting The Geekorium for your Space Flight 704 needs? Do you think,‘I wish there was a version I could read on my Kindle every day’?
No?
Just me then?
Well despite your interest or lack thereof, Rex Havoc is now an eBook! For the next 90 days, Space Flight 704: Time Diversion is available on Amazon for one dollar! If you own a Kindle, you could be reading it right now — isn’t that exciting?
Space Flight 704: Time Diversion collects the stories in the recent Time Diversion arc, before Rex became an enigma, when Jones was still an ally, and before The Professor was cruelly bombarded from space by a death ray. Included is a table of contents that makes it easier to follow the story in chronological order. Of course the story is free here on The Geekorium, but buying it from Amazon will give you a warm glow, and something to read on the bus.
If you’re still not convinced read these 5 Star Reviews.
A ripping space yarn of the Old School variety, this action-packed short story harks back to the golden days of Flash Gordon serials with tongue firmly in cheek. Both wonderfully amusing and butt-clenchingly thrilling, not a sentence is wasted that doesn’t thrust the story forward like a rocket ship.HugePedlar
and
I look forward to what happens when I actually read it.Zombie_Plan
After 90 days I’ll be offering the eBook in other formats too, but how many formats I offer will depend on how much interest I get with the version on Amazon. So if you’d like to see an iBook version, or one for Android, or just a DRM–free version you can buy directly from The Geekorium, tell your friends and followers about Rex Havoc’s eBook adventure!
Now go out! Be fruitful and multiply! Wrong command set! Go and tell people! Buy it! Stop using exclamation marks!
The fool!
The Ortrix was gone, slipped further out of his grasp. That idiot Mondex had botched the operation from the outset.
Jones sneered. He should have known not to trust someone who had failed so many times before. But desperate times take desperate means. It had taken six months, and half his fortune to track down the device he’d given Mondex and the imbecile had lost it, killed some time in the past.
When Rex had returned from the casino planet without the Ortrix it took every ounce of composure Jones could muster not to scream at him, or push him out a window. Then to insult him further the oaf couldn’t remember what he’d done with it!
He would have suspected treachery except he knew Havoc was an idiot without a treacherous bone in his body.
So he’d sent Mondex back to collect his prize before Rex could lose it and the moron had failed him. Likely gotten himself killed by a hover-bus. Now he was down a time travel belt, and one all-powerful superweapon.
To make matters worse, he had known of another time-travel belt — secreted away in The bumbling Professor’s lab. To assure his success, he’d blown up the lab and duplicate belt with it, just to ensure no one could stop him. He’d also spent another small fortune on that blasted memory device he’d used on The Professor. Six months wasted. He’d gladly give his fortune over again for the Ortrix, but to come full circle and be no closer to his goal irked him to no small measure.
Some days it just wasn’t worth plotting doom.
“Do we dare?”
The Princess Anrianna looked at Rex with shock at his suggestion.
Rex had an impertinent smile on his lips and his eyes sparkled.
“Of course we dare! I know how it ends.”
The pair had escaped the Sultan’s planet in the fastest ship they could steal from his extensive collection. They rocket back to base with all the power they could draw from the engines. Rex had been uneasy. They were fast approaching the time of his most recent memory and they didn’t know what might happen to Rex when his time came full circle.
On approaching the base, Rex had sent his security code ahead to initiate landing protocols and was baffled when they were rejected. He wondered for a second if this was what it felt like to not exist.
Before he could worry further, his comm-board lit up and he heard his own voice through the ship.
“Unidentified ship, this is a private communications channel. Please identify yourself.”
Rex was gob-smacked, and a glance at the Princess told him she was gob-smacked too.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, shock overcoming tact.
“I mustn’t be,” he replied, shock overcoming eloquence.
They conferred, ignoring the insistent summons of the comm. It was decided that The Professor must have discovered the secret behind the anomaly and reversed the paradox. It helped that as the comm chimed and bleeped and past Rex left increasingly desperate pleas for a response, Rex remembered being on the other end.
“I thought it might be you,” he said to Anrianna, “When I returned from… wherever I was… The Professor and I couldn’t piece together where you were. Our hail to me today became the seed of my worry for you.”
“But it turns out I’m safe with you after all.”
The memories of the next three months started to make sense and he realised they had some time to kill between now and the next anomaly. He remembered he had missed the Princess terribly, but also remembered how much more he’d loved her when he’d found her safe in the past.
He loved her.
“Let’s blow this joint and see the universe. Just you and me. Neither of us are due back for three months.”
Anrianna looked at Rex. Her look said she thought he was mad.
It also said she loved him back.
Rex awoke to a stunning headache.
Rex awoke to brilliant darkness.
It was as if he had woken up after a night at a tavern with The Professor. The world still spun an lurched around him, although the cold steel floor underneath him was perfectly still.
It was as if he were floating in the depths of space yet in the centre of a sun. Coldness, warmth, life and death covered him, wrapped him like a cloak and he gasped for breath and found he had no use for it.
He remembered nothing, felt as though he might recall something and tried to understand it.
He remembered death, felt as though it might be familiar and tried to understand it.
He remembered meeting himself, excitement welling up within as they prepared to go after Mondex. His future self had said Mondex was after him, but that was all he could remember.
He remembered running with himself, fighting for his life with Mondex. He and his future self had split up, but when he found Mondex he had been alone.
What had happened?
He’d been shot!
Why couldn’t he remember?
That son of a bitch!
And where in space was he?
Now where was he?
A voice spoke to him, comfortingly familiar.
A voice spoke to him, oddly familiar.
“Rex!” exclaimed The Professor, “where in blazes have you been? And why in space are you naked?!”
You have cheated death. This is where your soul resides when you are not visiting the mortal plain.
“Stop shouting man!” pleaded Rex, holding his head in his hands as he sat up. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
“I have to go back! I need me! I mean, future me needs me! And the Princess!”
“I see you’ve been hit too,” said his old friend, “I’ve just come from what’s left of my lab, and I can’t remember much beyond the night you left for the Shebat game three months ago.”
You are quite correct, although not for the reasons you think. This is not the last time we will meet, but you are not to know of this. It is not your time.
“Three months!” Rex felt himself go cold and warm and felt his mind on the edge of madness.
Before he could respond, Rex felt himself dragged from within the cold/warm cloak and felt his mind give way to madness and terror.
“Who did this to us?”
Rex awoke to a stunning headache.
The Professor awoke to a hole where his lab should have been.
And no eyebrows.
For a few moments he sat dazed against the corridor wall where, if the pain in his head was anything to go by, he’d been tossed when his lab had been destroyed.
While he waited for the ringing in his ears to subside, he tried to figure out what had happened. Could it be sabotage? What else might explode?
He wondered if it had been something he’d been working on, but try as he might, he could not recall the last thing he’d been doing. In fact, he found he was having trouble recalling anything at all.
The last thing he could remember was… witnessing a spacetime anomaly with Rex, just before Rex’s big Sheebat game.
That was it. That was the last thing he could remember. Looking up his records of the anomaly he was shocked to discover three months had passed since then.
Had the anomaly done this then?
What in space was going on?