What happened? Well, G and Bunny, basically. The stress and drama of dealing with G, and the daily needs of parenting Bunny - not to mention the move to San Francisco, the logistics of moving from one place to another to another, and trying to maintain some kind of relationship with TNG, who by now was in his teen years - all of this left me very little time to even hear myself think, let alone indulge in something as frivolous as writing a story. (And I'll be the first to admit, it's a pretty silly story.)
Now that I'm back in Portland and beginning to find the time and quiet to introspect, I'm looking forward to getting back to writing. Not at all sure I will attempt to revisit this story again, but anything's possible. In any case, here's the link to the first 40 chapters:
http://asher813.typepad.com/fiction/
Gilkesh - the humanoid, all-female race native to the planet Shakti.
Shakti - the now-lost homeworld of the Gilkesh.
Kathris - co-queen with her wife Amira at the time of our story.
Amira - co-queen with Kathris.
Joli - Amira's aide and lover. A specialist in alien cultures.
Dess - Joli's best friend. Science and technology specialist.
Planet 138 - native planet of Dess and Joli; a small, remote world whose chief form of entertainment is musical chairs. Scene of a recent rash of unexplained detahs, and a spike in suicides.
Singularity - a doomsday cult founded centuries in our story's past by Qormis.
Sestris - aide to Kathris, and secret member of Singularity.
Lilith - mythical figure in Gilkesh culture, representing creativity and the life-force.
Chief Garris - senior law-enforcement officer and investigator on Planet 138.
Inspector Shihar - Chief Garris' second-in-command and protege.
Khalfid - widow of Lhior, Joli's birthmother.
Miss Orizhend - a schoolteacher on Planet 138.
Dolos (female Fao), K'korz (neuter Fao), D'karnik (male Fao), G'thorop (female Fao) - crew sent to investigate the mysterious, devastating fusion explosion on Fao Colony 12.
En-Qhoi aka Atubis - former warrior turned priestess
Captain Daria aka Captain Death - En-Qhoi's commanding officer in the Kathrite Forces
Baxton Coulich (male human) - recently divorced
Pell Orner (male human) - bears an injury resulting from an unfortunate incident with a Gilkesh warrior a few years in the story's past
Zero (male human) - chief of Earth Intelligence