Hello there!

  I haven't posted much to this newsgroup, since it seems to lack the traffic of other 
groups.  I have a story that belongs here, though, so I thought I might share it.  It needs a 
bit of explaining, however, so here goes.

  I have been writing for a long time.  As a teenager, I preferred to write stories using 
characters and environments created by other authors.  It saved time and helped cover up 
the fact that I wasn't very creative.

  When I wrote the original version of "Winds of darkness" some twenty years ago, I 
`borrowed' a furry character from a book by Diane Duane entitled "The wounded sky."  
Actually, I borrowed the character's name and species, and little else.  Still, plagiarism is 
plagiarism, and I avoid it altogether these days.

  I rewrote the story about four years ago, expanding and improving it at the same time.  I 
kept the stolen character.  I had since used him in a series of eight short stories and was 
quite fond of my version of him.  But when I decided to post this story on my web page, I 
knew I had to make some serious changes.

  Not only was one of my characters shanghaied from someone else's book, the entire 
environment the story takes place in was none other than Gene Roddenberry's `Star 
Trek.'  Rather than take the easy way out and use Gene's environment and technology 
base, I've restructured my story so that it stands on its own.  Interestingly enough, this 
may have been an improvement.  On the other hand, it has opened the door to numerous 
errors.  Making the environment believable and, more importantly, understandable has 
been the biggest challenge of this latest rewrite.  I'm not at all certain I managed the task 
as well as I wanted.

  Still, whatever errors are present in my work are *my* errors.  And besides, I'm an 
amateur.  This is my hobby.  I do it for fun, and if I get caught up in being a perfectionist 
then it won't be fun anymore.

  About the prologue and epilogue:  The two main characters in this story were originally 
supposed to have been abandoned as children and raised in some kind of government 
orphanage.  I never specified why they were abandoned, or what happened to them 
during this time.  When I did the first rewrite four years ago, I decided to add the 
prologue and epilogue as a way to fill in some of those blank spots.  They aren't really 
crucial to the story, but they helped define the main character's origins.  Moreover, it 
made for a truly touching addition to the story.

  Finally, the story's length.  It is a very long story, as `Net fiction goes, simply because it 
was never written for the `Net.  It starts slowly, involves many characters, and uses lots of 
descriptive narration.  It also ends slowly.  While there is a rousing space battle to 
provide a climax, the events don't stop there.  I let things slowly taper off and wind down 
in a way I felt was more natural and interesting.  Some folks might say I should have cut 
the story down to make it an easier read for `Net surfers.  I prefer to let the work stand as 
is, and let the overall judgement of my abilities come from the whole of my work.

  You may also have noticed that the breaks I made in the story to create `chapters' are 
not very clean or logical.  This is because I wrote the story without such breaks and had 
to create them afterwards.

  Now, try as I might, I am not always able to express myself clearly.  And when writing a 
story, this can cause problems.  So I have decided to clarify a few things about this story 
that I might have missed during the rewrite.

  1:  The Alliance of Free Worlds is a group of planets that have come together for the 
purposes of trade and self-protection.  It could be compared to our United Nations or Star 
Trek's 'Federation.'

  2:  The Interstellar Commerce Council (ICC) is a branch of the Alliance's government 
structure.  It regulates trade between worlds and has it's own space navy (the ICCN).

  3:  The main characters of Redics and T'yonnosh are free agents of the ICCN.  They are 
charged with performing duties that may lie outside the jurisdiction of the ICC but are 
vital to it's continued existence.

  4:  Genemorph is a contraction for Genetic Anthropomorph.  A genemorph is any being 
that is a combination of genetic material from both humans and animals, or any animal 
that has been enhanced with human qualities such as intelligence and speech.  They were 
created during the mid 21st century and proliferated until they became an entire race.  
After humans began colonizing space, genemorphs struck off on their own.  They 
eventually created the Genemorph Confederation, a group of nine planets with goals 
similar to the Alliance but populated almost exclusively by genemorphs.

  5:  Genemorphs are identified by the root source of genetic material for each individual.  
T'yonnosh, for example, is a caniform.  That means he's of canine origin.  Zanth is a 
feliform, so he's of feline origin.  There are many other forms, but none are mentioned in 
this particular story.


  I hope you enjoy this story.  It's been a long time in the making.  And let me know what 
you think.  I need to know what works and what doesn't.


  Wirewolf, the long winded