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[Special Note: The new website is now live. As a result the links throughout this thread are invalid except for the latest posting to the thread. All of Roland’s stories can now be found at Roland]

Roland, I wanted to take this moment and let you know that I am a big fan of your story. My appreciation for your characters grew when I went back to read their story back when they were part of the CSU.

 

Granted a reader does not have to have read the Unit series from the CSU, it will add a little bit of shine to the characters. What I like is how alive you make the characters and you can easily evoke emotions from your readers. I suspect the same is true for yourself as you write the chapters and scenes. This is a mark of a good writer. Thank you for the time and effort that you put into your stories and I am always looking forward to the next chapter.

Edited by Zach Caldwell
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  • 5 weeks later...

New Beginnings follows the adventures of Adam Casey, Logan Hayes and their family as they find them stuck in a universe very different from the one that they know. This family of, mostly Genetically Engineered Super Soldiers, suddenly find themselves with out the support and equipment they are used to. How will they handle have nothing that they are used to, yet still try to live up to their creed to help abused children?

 

Chapters 1 - 10 posted.  http://www.castleroland.net/library/author/roland

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Okay, can you all please get some writers that don't pull you right into their story and hold you there!! Now I have another story to sit waiting on updates to find what happens next. Especially want to know what becomes of the developing relationship (not that kind) between Juan and Adrian. I see a very special bonding between two kindred, warrior spirits and I have feeling Juan is going to need Adrian as much as he needs his dad, Joe.

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Roland, I have not read any Clan stories and this is my first one of Adam and his group. I have enjoyed the story so far but do have a question for you, if you follow the discussion. If you have dealt with my question in the Clan UnIverse, I apologize. The boys have been Augmented. But you really can't Augment emotions, can you? These characters are still boys and young men. Have you or are you going to explore what happens if one of them can not handle a situation and "childly" does something? Part of growing up is learning how to deal with emotions and situations and these kids my be able to handle guns, fighting, etc, but want about greed, anger, envy, jealousy and emotional hurt? Teenagers go through enough during puberty, would being Augmented make it better or worse?

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hey there!

 

Okay, so i have not had much of a chance to deal with this here, since they have only been here less then a week.  but yes.  and funny you should ask this, but in the mini series coming up, you will see that happening a few times, especially at the end. 

 

I would say more than that, but that would give to much away!  LOL

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Holy smokes! The author Roland is the Emperor! Was I presentable when I posted? Did I have any spinach in my teeth? If the Emperor didn't like what I posted, would he order me thrown into the dungeons? What is the proper form of greeting? Full prostration on the floor, half abasement, deep bow, knee on floor, curtsy?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Roland,

 

Started this story and I'm two chapters in. I was a little lost at first because I have had no exposure to the "clan" stories, but...I have to say I love it! I know I'm at the beginning of the "new beginning", but wow, what fantastic characters. And you write action sequences that just zip along and carry the reader wherever you want them to go. I actually felt myself get up on the edge of my chair when the team went to rescue the family in Vegas. I am a huge Robert Ludlum fan - I think I read everything he ever wrote. One of the reasons I loved his work was the balance between character development, relationship development, and suspenseful action. You seem to strike a similar balance that I truly appreciate. Just when I was getting overwhelmed with names and descriptions and who was with who and why, an emergency takes control of the narrative and I get to learn who these characters are by their actions. That is brilliant writing - letting the contextual action illustrate who a character is - and this reader loves you for it. Your chapters are long, and I have had to read them in multiple sittings, so getting back to where I was has left me re-reading portions of the story. And I don't mind it one bit...I catch more the second time through! I hope I can get through this story before JFA commences. So looking forward to it. Well done!

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Jack.. thank you so much for your kind words.  Really i am kind of at a loose with how to respond, i mean, i love your writing, and to hear that from an author i love is just.. wow. 

 

I know that it's said, that no author actually thinks they write well, and it's certainly true for me.  that's why when ever i hear someone say how much they liked something i wrote, i have this little voice say that thier just being nice. 

 

either way, thank you so much, and i really hope i can keep it up in the rest of the posted chapters.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Roland,

 

I have finished reading the twelve chapters currently posted, and I have yet to start JFA. Before I do, I wanted to share my thoughts on this story so far. As I said in my first post, the action sequences bring the characters to life in such a magnificent way. I understand who they are and what motivates them more from what I "see" them do than even what they say. Brilliant! Two of the characters were so important to me as the reader: Adrian and Mary. Adrian because he was the first present day "normal" that was allowed to understand and interact more fully with the augments, in his case Juan. The scenes where we learn how a 10 year old boy has the heart of a warrior and expects to die in battle - wow, can't say I've ever been taken on that particular emotional journey before. The mental images you paint with your words describing a boy instructing a man in the ways of combat and weaponry and the heart behind it all are so unique and special. It was in these interchanges between Adrian and Juan that I started to deeply care for these characters. It was superficial before. 

 

Mary and Logan. I have to admit I was confused by Logan until he singled out Mary and began to show her who he really is, and most importantly, why he is that way. As I read this part, I realized as a reader I was feeling much like Mary must have felt, trying to make sense of what her "eyes" were seeing that didn't register with what she knew was normal. I felt very much like a "normal" myself, and a little left out of the game because I too couldn't quite get my head around all that I was "seeing." In other words, as a reader, I appreciated the inclusion of Mary. I remember actually saying to myself as I read the chapter, thank you Roland for giving me this character so I can finally understand what is happening.

 

I likened this story earlier to some of the writings of Robert Ludlum. I'm sure there are other authors who are a better match to this "genre", whatever it would be called. I don't really know. Action, Sci-Fi, Fantasy? What I do know is a I love this story, and I really want more of it. I will switch over to JFA in a day or two and catch up with everyone on that, but please - I hope that there will be more to this story.

 

Now for something that I would love to see happen, but I may be asking for something that you as the author have no intention of doing. I would love, love, love for there to be more moments between the characters that explore and reveal their true feelings for one another. What is missing for me is the romantic side of these characters. Adam and Logan, I know they are lovers, but only because you say so. There is very little in their interactions that would show me that. To tell you the truth, at this point in the story I can't imagine why they even like each other. The closest you've come to what I'm talking about is with Runt and Khan. When Khan picks him up and carries him away, clearly overtaken with passion - that was amazing. I was smiling big and actually almost cried (I cry at sappy, happy stuff at the drop of a hat...grin). The parents, Janet and Joe, show some interaction between them. It would make these characters seem more real, more human, more "normal". I think that it would add to the tension you've created in the idea that these are not-so human humans. Plus, given their ages, you could explore how they discover and begin to understand their emotional side as they mature into adulthood. 

 

The other idea that I thought of several times as I was reading was what happens when one of these characters, say Adam, becomes an adult? What impact does it have on his character and purpose in life when he is no longer a "kid" helping kids? Will the kids he's trying to help trust him? Will the other augments continue to lean on him as their leader? Will Adam and Logan drift apart or come closer together over time as their differences perhaps become more pronounced as they get older? I think right there you have the makings of a whole new series.

 

All of that was my long winded way of saying, "Loved it!"

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Jack,

 

Again thank you so much for the kind words.  we really don't get a lot of feedback for the stories, so a lot of times we're kinda guessing at what the readers like and don't like.  so it's really good to hear from someone about it.

 

The scenes with Mary/Logan and Adrian/Juan were somewhat difficult to write.  I mean i know in my head why the kids do what they do, what makes them tick, etc.  but to bring it out in the story, was not easy.  although, now that i did it once, it will be much easy for me to show different aspects of characters personalities.  Honestly one of the things i love about Juan, and yes.  i know it's terrible to say this, but he is my favorite.  anyways, the thing i love about him the most is he is so diverse, there are so many layers to him.  i am actually looking forward to showing them.

 

Right now, what i am working on is taking some time to take some of the more two dimensional characters, and flesh them out some. 

 

As far as the characters becoming adults.  Boy, i would really have to think on that one!  lol  I have been writing these characters for over 10 years, and they haven't aged much.  It's kind of hard for me to imagine them growing up, but it's something i want to think about.

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I had no idea you have been writing these characters for such a long time. I forget that I have only been writing for less than six months so I guess I think that's a similar time frame for other writers. I can certainly see how my suggestion of having them be older would be tough. Almost like the simultaneous joy and pain of watching your real child grow up. My guess is, though, that you would nail it if you tried

And I'm not surprised Juan is your favorite. You write him with a palpable tenderness and love which comes through clearly in the story. He and Logan are my favorites. (Logan because of all of them he's the one I think I'm most like...grin.)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Always late to the party! I'm re-reading "New Beginnings" for detail rather than simply immersing myself. After 2 chapters I realized that Roland has done a pretty damn amazing job of bringing new readers "up to speed" on his characters and their situation, transferred mysteriously as they were from the CSU. Impressive.

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  • 6 months later...
...

Now for something that I would love to see happen, but I may be asking for something that you as the author have no intention of doing. I would love, love, love for there to be more moments between the characters that explore and reveal their true feelings for one another. What is missing for me is the romantic side of these characters. Adam and Logan, I know they are lovers, but only because you say so. There is very little in their interactions that would show me that. To tell you the truth, at this point in the story I can't imagine why they even like each other. The closest you've come to what I'm talking about is with Runt and Khan. When Khan picks him up and carries him away, clearly overtaken with passion - that was amazing. I was smiling big and actually almost cried (I cry at sappy, happy stuff at the drop of a hat...grin). The parents, Janet and Joe, show some interaction between them. It would make these characters seem more real, more human, more "normal". I think that it would add to the tension you've created in the idea that these are not-so human humans. Plus, given their ages, you could explore how they discover and begin to understand their emotional side as they mature into adulthood.

Jack, Roland's Unit stories in the CSU do offer a lot of character interaction at an emotional level, including (but not limited to) Logan and Adam.  (The Unit, and Camp Bam-Bam, would be the main stories leading here.  I believe early in Nightfall might be where the RU branch takes place)  Those stories seem to be "canon" here as well, at least up to the point we see them in the RU.  IMO they do provide exactly the types of narrative and background you would love to see.  Although Roland has done a great job of making the RU to be able to stand alone, you're missing the first act if you don't read his CSU stuff, particular concerning those things you sense might be missing.

 

One awkward thing about reading the CSU is that there is a lot of overlapping story points amongst the various authors, more so than even here.  I would generally categorize the CSU as gay young adult fan fiction, whereas the RU would be gay young adult science fiction.  At least to the point I have read, there are no Vulcans, Starfleet, Dr. Who, or Bruce Wayne here.  (I haven't read Multimapper's stories here yet, but it would not surprise me to see his half-Vulcan character Xain show up, though.)

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I've read New Beginnings Book 1 and JFA now, as well as the first stories by Darkstar, Eric Aune, and Ken Barber.  It's probably clear from my previous post that I'm enjoying this take on the Unit.  Not explained as of yet  how they got to the RU.  There was one hint in a paragraph concerning "Big Logan"s search in the astral planes, and I'm hoping you flesh that out later.

 

Carrying on from Jack's point, there is some emotional-level stuff that has not been addressed yet (I haven't gotten to Book 2 though).  I remember a slight mention of Chang's loss of his partner Korris, but was there any mention of Juan's loss of Koth and their kids?  While those relationships have nothing to do with the RU going forward, they are still huge losses that these core UNIT folks will need to face up to.  For now, I'm chalking it up to "too busy to cry".

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There seems to be no separate forum for New Beginnings Book 2, so I'll post here.  I've just completed the four chapters currently available.  As usual with Roland's writing, it is a very enjoyable read.  Two other stories are moving in synchronized fashion here, the last few chapters of Dawn's Early Light and Changing Connections.  As the various parties get ready for the liberation of the Walt Disney World prisoners (you guys are evil), it is interesting to watch each group gets ready.  Weaving together the story lines by different authors in a cohesive manner has got to be a lot of work!  Heck, for all I know, some of the other RU stories are weaved here too, but I have not yet read them.

 

I know the Veterans Day Massacre in Washington DC has major import, and I understand the strong desire of all parties to rescue the Army cadet who took the video.  It is hard for me to fully grasp, though, the greater import of rescuing him during an operation designed to possibly rescue hundreds or thousands of kids.  Would he even want that?  I.e. imagine he in one room and three younger kids in another. The rescuers probably only have time and resources to get one group out, Which would the cadet want rescued first?  I'm asking because the UNIT and the normal military both seem to be under orders to get the cadet as their highest priority.

 

That issue is probably already well plotted out.  I'm just going to have to wait to see it resolved.   :( If you want readers to chew off their fingernails in the meantime, job well done!

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Wyatt,

 

The Cadet is a priority. Admiral Norris has taken a personal interest in the Cadet and want to see the cadet saved. The Mission to save the cadet is giving to a highly specialized team  not the entire force. News of the massacre is going to get out and having the Cadet alive and well is important. We have to remember a lot of the civilian population in the eastern part of the united states is in the dark (literally and figuratively). They only know as much as Ashwood lets them know. In order to win this war Norris knows he must gather as much proof as possible to show the population what Ashwood is really doing. Trying to fight Ashwood's troops and the population at the same time would be disastrous.  The Cadet is living proof of an atrocity, he is more valuable that rescuing some of the prisoners.

 

I hope this explains it more

 

Ken B

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