Like the Little Engine That Could we are still chugging along in the Nerdist SciFi Contest. Currently in 6th place (but all it would take is a small group of you to push us into 3rd tonight!). 

This is the second part of a deeper look into the world of Crow’s Gambit. Airpower has played a major role in militaries for a hundred years. However, after Net-Day the world’s air forces were either destroyed or grounded. While some limited, and risky, drone activity is possible weapons systems have shifted back to projectile (kinetic) weapons. In light of the economic chaos countries around the world shut down their air forces. In the United States the Department of the Air Force joined NASA and the FAA in being mothballed and dismantled. 

The new currency for political and military might in the world is naval power focused on surface ships and submarines. The U.S. Navy has grown in size and influence to dominate the military industrial complex and the offices of political power in Washington D.C. 

Thank you again for your support of the story. More to come...

PT

Followers of the Space Sloth, 

Readers have been assigned to the manuscript but there are no other updates from the Launch Pad competition. In the meantime I’d like to invite you to head on over to the Crow’s Gambit page (https://www.inkshares.com/books/crow-s-gambit) and follow along there as well. 

As added inspiration we’ll be having a 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). If you have never looked at these they are very useful and will be a great addition to your writing resources. 

 And hey, you might find the Crow’s Gambit story kind of interesting too!  

PT 

Greetings and thanks for following my story Crow’s Gambit!

For my first update I wanted to start setting the stage of the story’s world. As you probably know from the description on “Net-Day” all aviation and aerospace activities were essentially shut down by the alien Sylph. This had several impacts but the first I want to mention is Economic.

Consider that more than 500,000 people are employed by just the passenger air industry in the U.S. with about 10 million employed worldwide directly in aviation. How would the economies of the world react if all of those people became permanently unemployed over night? Or consider that over 47 million people fly in and out of Las Vegas each year. How would the city hold up without an airport? Net-Day caused devastating economic impacts across industries and entire regions.

Enter Peter Darrow. Wealthy before Net-Day he was able to, some say suspiciously, avoid much of the economic turmoil. By positioning himself in key industries, like railroads, that rebounded stronger than ever he was able to make billions after Net-Day. Taking advantage of weak companies and undervalued stocks he took control of several companies and assets, including many that were once aerospace related. Viewed by some as a sly technology investor others call him a new age carpetbagger.

Through his holding company Darrow Industries, Peter Darrow manages and controls Crow Research Investments and its high tech research hub known as the Crow Works.

More to come...

PT