Shaz

After playing with a couple of options, it seems that the best way to post stories may be as links in a sidebar as I've started doing.

This first story is one is a series I started in high school. I will admit right now that the whole series is an exercise in authorial self-indulgence. For example, at one point a friend pointed out to me that some of the characters have names strikingly similar to the ones held by Star Trek characters. Unfortunately, this is true, but, on my honor, I didn't realize it until she pointed it out. Any stealing I did was entirely subconscious. By this point, I was too attached to the names to change them, and so they stayed. (And in my defense the characters who have those names aren't much like their Star Trek counterparts in terms of personality.)

These stories are very short--it typically takes only one or two sittings to write them. I don't worry too much about editing, and I don't go looking for plot holes too hard. They are entirely cotton candy.

With such an introduction, you may be wondering why you should read them. I can give you no reason whatsoever, except that I think they're kind of fun, so maybe you will, too. (Who doesn't like a space pirate, right?) And anyway, it doesn't hurt anyone to have the link up there if you are curious.

Now, if you got through all of that and you're still interested in reading, let me give you a little background about the series in general and this story in particular. The stories are all episodic and pretty well self-contained, although they will sometimes reference previous events in passing. You should think of them as being episodes in a TV show rather than chapters in a novel.

I write these stories in whatever order I feel like, which means not chronologically. The ones that are already written I will be posting over the next little while and those will be chronological. I'll always mention in a post if I ever deviate from that.

Finally, I want to mention now that this particular story is a little bit unusual for the Shaz stories in that it takes place several years before the time frame of the others. In fact, I almost hesitate to post this one first because of that. I'm afraid you'll get the wrong image of Shaz. When you meet him here, he's a teenage mechanic. In all other stories, he's a captain in his mid-twenties. Nevertheless, since I didn't bother to actually frame this story as a flashback, I suppose I must follow some rules and put it in its proper place. Enjoy!