Here you have it, part two of the background information on Barnstormers where I talk a little bit about the drones themselves. 

The concept for the barnstorming drones is based on existing remote controlled model jets. If you’ve never seen one of these check out this video (takeoff is at 2:15). The world record for these remote controlled hobby planes is 440 mph (for comparison a Tomahawk cruise missile can travel at 550 mph). 

In Crow’s Gambit traditional GPS and satellite communications don’t exist anymore. Communication with the drone is maintained by “borrowing” cell towers or over-the-air transmissions. This makes communication spotty with limited bandwidth. To account for this the drones use a form of supplemental artificial intelligence that reduces the amount of information needed from the pilot.

Barnstormer drones are crewed by two, a pilot and a RIO (radar intercept officer). The RIO manages the communications connections and maps the route ahead. The pilot and RIO interact with the drone through advanced virtual reality headsets. Often they are not even in the same physical location. 

If you have any questions or comments about the story please let me know! And please Recommend the book or offer a Review. 

PT 

How exciting! I have just added a video book trailer to the Mission 51 home page. When you have a moment, please check it out!  :D

The concept of “barnstorming” in the story has been getting a lot of feedback. So for this, and the next, update I’m going to give a little more background on this hobby/profession. 

The Sylph satellites destroy most things that take to the air. However, they don’t appear to have a problem with objects in purely projectile motion and (typically) do not shoot down birds. How they determine what to target is therefore a mystery but it appears to be based on a combination of size, speed, and altitude. 

Barnstormers pilot drone aircraft that seek to escape Sylph notice. The drones are relatively small, they go fast but not too fast, and they fly very very low. Some barnstormers fly for fun and others for profit. Companies and individuals pay good money to have small packages delivered quickly and often off the books. 

Barnstorming is highly illegal for three key reasons. 

1. Pilots who fly that fast and THAT low tend to be a menace to the public. 
2. When the drones get destroyed by a Sylph weapon (and they do) there is always a danger of collateral damage to the public.
3. And most importantly, the last time humans tried to push back against the Sylph the results were disastrous. Many worry that someday the barnstormers will push it too far and really tick off the Sylph. 

If you’ve enjoyed this update or the sample chapters online please let your friends know. Reviews and Recommendations are just as treasured as Pre-Orders. 

As always, more to come… 

PT 

Time is running out to enter the raffle!

Anyone who is an existing follower of Fortunes of the Space Sloth and who also Follows Crow’s Gambit will be entered. The winner will be drawn on May 30th and will receive the Kindle edition of a writer’s guide by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (e.g. The Emotion Thesaurus).

Enter the raffle and follow Crow’s Gambit by clicking here!

For Space Sloth followers there will be another short story on the way. It is finished and just needs polished a little before I send it out to you.

Thank you greatly for your support.

PT

Greetings and sincere thanks! 

For today’s post you’re going to get a little background on Cassie McIntyre, our main protagonist. Cassie was born a couple years before Net-Day. Her parents were killed when the plane they were on was destroyed by the Sylph on Net-Day. After that she was raised by her Grandfather, a retired NASA engineer. Due to an overactive attitude she was kicked out of her university engineering program and now splits her time between shifts at a sandwich shop and freelancing as a barnstormer drone pilot. 

There is much more to Cassie but I wouldn’t want to spoil too much so soon. As always, more to come. 

PT