Ashley R Pollard

Mission Two is now available and in due course there should be a working World of Drei series page on Amazon (currently up, and sorted).

Anyway, at last Mission Two is on sale.

Blurb

Rendered unconscious by an explosion, Lieutenant Morozova woke to a vision of a crystal mountain. Now caught between life and death, she must not only survive the rigors of war, but also the challenge of the mythical world of Russian legends.

The fourth episode set in the World of Drei universe, "Mission Two," a brilliantly ingenious vision of future war deepens the human story behind those who face an unrelenting opponent.

Go make your day brighter by getting yourself a copy.

For five days Mission One is free on Amazon.

And the sequel Regroup is only 0.99 pence too.

Blurb

Sergeant Sergei Rozhkov chose to face adversity with stoicism. He was Russian and held to a simple truth that everyone dies in the end.

Besides, there was always vodka if things went really bad.

Rozhkov had lost good people in the war. But, he didn't think that the war could get any worse than it already was.

Now, faced with a tank controlled by an artificial intelligence, Sergeant Rozhkov learns that life holds frightening surprises.

Mission One, sequel to Terror Tree, unfolds the setting of The World of Drei series. This is military science fiction that asks, what will humans have to do to survive on the cyber-battlefield of tomorrow?

I'm happy to announce that Break Out, story three in The World Of Drei series is now available to buy on Amazon.

Blurb

Defeated, Lieutenant Morozova and Sergeant Rozhkov get the chance to rest and recuperate. Refitted with state-of-the-art equipment they must be the eyes of a newly formed battle group. The point of the spear.

The third story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Break Out" delivers combat-grade military action revealing how human camaraderie grows in the face of terrifying adversity.

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If you've not yet read any of the stories in this series then all of The World of Drei stories can be found here.

Important Note: If you already have a copy of this series, I've updated the text. If you wish to have the new version, go to your digital library, there you will see on the far right side of the screen, opposite books that have been updated, a button that says "Newer version available."

Very interesting. The character is an AI. Looking forward to more from Ashley. She is a very talented writer and story teller.

I really enjoyed this short story, the writer was able to bring the cold logical voice of the AI into the narrative and tell a story in the first person, which is no mean feat.

the reader is left wondering about the back story of this conflict as we only see it from the tanks perspective as it returns to combat, learning more and more on each occasion.

the first chapter of the next book, that is included has also wet my appetite and I'm looking forward to finding out more about this universe

An interesting POV take on where the future of AI driven armoured combat could go.

Particularly apposite with the recent news that Russia's military has a new armed robot tank (the Nerehta, which can be fitted with a 12.7mm or 7.62mm machine gun or an AG-30M grenade launcher) that outperformed manned vehicles in recent exercises, Colonel Oleg Pomazuev told the Russian news site Military Review, as well as Russia's taking a hard-line on the United Nations' proposed ban of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS).

Work in Progress: four innocent Sheridan and one AMX Takara tank models went into the making of this pile of parts.

I have a plan...

I'm a model-maker. I can't help it, I just like making things. Don't ask me why, I just do. So, given I made models for the combat armour suits in my novels, it stands to reason I will want to make a cybertank.

Ogre, for those who don't know, is a boardgame from Steve Jackson Games that can also be played with miniatures. I have a few models (lots, but let's not go there) and like BattleTech it's one of my go to games.

I tag World of Drei Universe series as #OgreNotOgre for a reason.

But, when I write I want to write in my own universe.

To do so means I need to have in mind a picture of what I'm describing. The picture or in this case model, need not be a precise realization, just good enough to get the idea across to others that my cybertanks are different.

Writing Summary

The last couple of weeks have been chaotic. A combination of real life, weather, and Bank holiday sports, and finally getting the print version of Strike Dog up for sale.

When I'm not obsessing over combat armour suits, I'm generally noodling stuff about cybertanks.

It's one of my passions. I have many like it.

Obyekt 279 was a Soviet era prototype tank designed during the Cold War with the expectation that atomic weapons would be in use. Here's an uncommon picture from the rear.


You can find out more about this interesting design here. I liked this rather nice quote from Wikipedia.

This special purpose tank was intended to fight on cross country terrain, inaccessible to conventional tanks, acting as a heavy breakthrough tank, and if necessary withstanding even the shockwave of a nuclear explosion. It was planned as a tank of the Supreme Command Reserve.

So we stole the divided track feature for the Panzer Jager Mark One that appears in The World of Drei series I blogged about here.


And over on YouTube there's this video.

Now ready for sale, Regroup, sequel to Mission One the second story in The World of Drei series now available.

Blurb

Trapped behind enemy lines when the enemy overran their command post, Sergeant Volkova and the wounded Captain Lenkov face a march across a frozen land. With limited supplies, their situation is dire.

The second story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Regroup" tells the story of human courage against all odds.

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Not much of a writing log this week for lots of good reasons.

Busy doing other stuff: celebrating my birthday–yay me; a morning spent shooting, because we missed out the previous Saturday; PicoCon 35; writing an article for Galactic Journey; getting Mission One out of the door and up an Amazon.

All of this meant that I only spent two days writing, and I wasn't terribly productive on either day. Mostly down to stopping to do research on the fly. I managed 1,444 words, taking 9.75 hours, which was 148 words per hour.

And this week doesn't look to be any more productive due to annual health checks, which start with a blood test and then a couple of other follow-up appointments scheduled. It all eats into my time.

I also provoked my partner into drawing up a cybertank design for The World of Drei series. Original sketch on the back of a napkin lost, as it was used as a napkin. My doodle is above.

Then I remembered a link to a 1950s idea for a Baby Assault tank, which looks rather similar.

Up today, Amazon's KDP comes through in record time is Mission One, the first story in the World of Drei series now available.

Blurb

Seventh Company's Lieutenant Morozova and Sergeant Rozhkov face an enemy that knows no fear, cannot be reasoned with, and does not stop until destroyed. On the verge of defeat, win or die, they must fight.

The first story of a future Russian civil war set in the World of Drei universe, "Mission One" tells of the desperate fight for survival against an enemy cybertank.

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War is the father of us all, king of all. Some it makes gods, some it makes men, some it makes slaves, some free.

Plot Summary

Imagine a future where humans face Artificial Intelligence systems controlling the machines of war.

“Terror Tree” is a science fiction short story that asks the question: What if this goes on?

Includes chapter one of the forthcoming novel Bad Dog.

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And I say that as someone who likes learning new things.  And ironically, as someone who used to do magazine design back in the day with QuarkXpress and Adobe Pagemaker.  Gosh that probably ages me.

These last few weeks have been spent compiling a list of things I have to do to get my book out.  Beside the cover design, there's also the interior layout, which I'm using Vellum to do.  Then there's learning about copyright, another book to read.  In addition, to all that there's the marketing plan, which is just about the most uncomfortable thing I'm having to get to grips with.

All of this has gotten in the way of doing much of anything else.  Hence the lack of updates.  Still, if you want to read the piece I wrote about Gerry Anderson's Fireball XL5 you can go here.