All Comments on 'Starlight Gleaming Ch. 20'

And will read this again when I awake. Thank you TJ. Outstanding!

Love this story and this part ! Always worth the wait.

Once again awesome. Thank you for your time writing an exciting beautiful story. Spent off and on all day reading. Again Thank you

Another outstanding chapter. But don't know when the next will come. May be next year.

so good

As usual the story and the writing are great. Personally I wish you would split your story into smaller chapters and post them more frequently. I find it difficult to follow the thread of the story with such long times between postings.

Unfortunately iI read this posting in the new format which does not allow one to rate the story despite asking the reader to do so, I would have given it 5 stars

I appreciate all the comments. I certainly hope it won't be a year for the next chapter, but it has been nine months, which was four more than anticipated. Last week I was 10+ pages into the next section with I decided to pull it and go with the portion my readers had looked at. (Yes, I now have 2 readers helping catch WTFs, OMGs, and other dire banes to writers.) I was adding the section because I was concerned the ending was too much of a cliffhanger -- which I hate. Like many of you, I have authors I follow, and most writers do 1-2 books a year unless they are doing it full time and then their yearly output might double -- though a handful can crank them out monthly, a feat that is mindboggling to me.

In any event, I plan to work on chapter 21, which should be about this length and also complete Bard's Tale 05. All this is health permitting, of course. And darn it, I broke my glasses last week. I am approaching 60, and while my maternal side usually lives a few decades longer, my paternal has a nasty habit of dropping dead -- like 65 is a perfectly acceptable expiration date.

I have outlined events for the rest of the series, though a few minor events are still being debated -- so that if anything happens to me, the outlines will be posted so you will at least have some sort of closure. I wish I'd started this twenty or thirty years ago. However, it's the life experiences -- and how we handle them -- that make us who we are, and I wasn't ready until I posted the first story here on Lit a few short years ago.

Wishing everyone all the best. Stay well and be safe. Slainté

Most definitely one of my favorite authors! And one of my most favorite stories. Always worth the wait. Thank you.

Your work is great keep working.

Intriguing, exciting and very well written, an epic adventure which is impossible to stop reading once started. Thank you so much for posting your stories, can't wait for the next installment.

The only thing I have against it is there isnt enough story progression happening, 36 pages and I'd guess 26 of them were about kids or being with one of the women, also I dont know what ranji sees in janetta, she's a pig, I mean I'm no saint but she is vulgar, anyway, great action scenes,4/5

Prefect progression as long as you don't abandon us. I have waited years for a good book ending and long ago added you to my favorites. Keep up the wonderful work and hope RL behaves for you and yours.

A fan

Excellent story TJ! Can't wait for the sequel.

I have to agree with KJay15. There was a lot of repetition and waffle about how wonderful Ranji is. The story line was almost an afterthought and did not progress very far.

Great story . 1 thing for me is that i believe calia should have ranjis baby first then have the ones who passed away . at first she took off running when he wanted her to have janettas baby but its fine if she has theres

This line:

"

During the whole evening on the deck, Janetta had been in very good spirits, and it everyone seemed to have a good time.

"

should not have the "it" or alternately should be reworded to:

During the whole evening on the deck, Janetta had been in very good spirits, and it seemed everyone had a good time.

Wonderful, as always!

Working Starlight Gleaming; working on a fifth rewrite of the wedding negotiations, but do have about 40 pages done. I'm contemplating posting this section when it's done since I consider it part of chapter 20.

Some are commenting that not much seemed to happen to propel the story forward, but as some observed, much of this was Ranji spending time with his family. It's only been four months since his release from Sparantzlo, and he's trying to establish routines of family time while working long hours at work. The loss of Yalcamara and Stimmi, too, had a major impact on the senior staff of the 602. As for Calia having Janetta's baby, she probably would have agreed to it, but Ranji had assumed she would agree to it; not being asked really hurt Calia's feelings. Having a baby is a big deal. Janetta, for her part refused the offer, and part of that stems from a bit of snobbery; she's coming to respect Calia (though her growing psychic abilities are causing her a lot of worry). Still, Janetta's a first-generation noblewoman with only a military background. Ranji had an elaborate and extensive home-schooling with tutors overseen by his highly educated parents. Janetta has mostly the minimum education of someone geared to a military career. Janetta is afraid that if she lets Calia act as a surrogate, the child would suffer a stigma from being carried by a slave. Even if Calia is emancipated to being a member of the Guild Caste, she'd still be a commoner. Janetta has had to fight both for her place as an officer and as a fighter pilot. There are many sections of Imperial society that would block or scorn any child born by a surrogate that was not also of noble rank. Ranji, of course, could care less about that. He's very much less about status and birthright and about merit and ability. Janetta, on the other hand, is an officer and noblewoman with a street kid's rough-and-tumble smarts and lack of a robust education. Remember, too, that all of them have been together for only about eighteen months. It probably just seems longer.

Even with two readers, a lot of WTFs and OMGs seem to slip through. 360 pages is a lot to edit it seems. One writer finished their tale, so now I'm only reading for one other writer, so that will give me writing time, health permitting.

Still dealing with health issues. Injections in both eyes in the same visit earlier this week; unfortunately the doctor ended up scratching my eye. Instead of a one-day recovery time, it was three days, and for two days after I could see, I had periods when everything in that eye went blurry.

If you catch errors, feel free to send them along for corrections. I am saving my nickels to get the series professionally edited, but probably not before next year. Health is keeping me at half-time for work, and I'm doing this as a labor of love.

Thank you for your interest.

Could NOT stop reading.. very good character development. Please keep this going has to be in my top 5 series ever on Literotica and #1 if you finish it!

Ryanwood405 -

You will likely then be surprised by what Calia actually does when that time comes. (Cue evil laugh off stage...)

Thanks for your interest. Slainté

So I began reading this story 2 weeks ago, a little each night before bed... And I'm truly disappointed I didn't time it well enough to catch the full story. I've loved this tale, and I'm truly excited to see how you finish it. Congrats on an amazing piece of literature so far, and I can't wait for the end.

As of tonight I finally worked through two sections that had been giving me fits for a while. In between time, dealing with more health issues. Anyway, I'm 2/3 through the expected breakpoint (about 60 pages) as if tonight.

Anyway, I won't wait to finish the novel, but will instead publish SG21 in installments to see how it's received. Thank you for your continued interest. All the best. Slainté

With best wishes for your good health.

Great story. Very well developed; combined with excellent writing

Please give us part of chapter 21.

With Many Thanks

I'm splitting the release of Chapter 21. The first 100 pages (10 lit pages) went to the reader this evening. Depending on my reader, hoping it will be posted by the end of the week. Stay safe. Slainté

It's been a month since we got your message that the first part of 21 was sent for editing. Hope there have not been any complications in the process.Please could you let us know that everything is on track as we need our Ranji/Janetta Fix badly and chapter 20 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger with the new character introduction and upheaval .

I rediscovered this story and had to go back and read the entire thing. Still love it. Glad to see you are working on it again. I spent 24 years of my life as a USAF Aircraft Maintainer and I can see many of the events you describe as being realistic for the Flight line. Safe Flight and Safe return to you. 5stars.

It took a bit of time for the reader to get the story back to me. Not strictly his fault as his computer has been giving him fits and I was unaware. After I did the corrections, I did one more quick pass, saved the changes, copied it to a file format friendly to our hosts, and uploaded it. Hopefully, the number of embarrassing mistakes are minimal.

To Slofred - I've never stopped working on Starlight Gleaming; it's been the health issues that have impacted my output more than anything. I also beta read for two Literotica writers. Still, I appreciate your wishes. Safe Flight and Safe Return to you, too.

To bhojo - I appreciate the interest, but unless you know how I can slip into a pocket dimension where time runs at a much slower pace than here, I'm at a loss as to how you can help. Your sentiments are appreciated, however.

Starlight Gleaming chapter 21 part 1 should be up in a few days. Not much action, but some important reveals take place.

To everyone else, your interest is appreciated. Stay safe. Slainté

Shock writ on their faces, mother and daughter erupted. "What!?"

--

Not described whether Izel is still naked from stripping outside the house or not. Did not describe her getting dressed. She comes into the household apparently naked and people are only shocked because its announced she is getting married to Ranji.

Re: firehorseuk comments

Yes, nudity in the Empire is not taboo. There are some expectations for married women, but as mentioned before, the Empire of Chimorro operates with a caste system. To those who are warriors or priests (noble classes), those below that may be ignored or treated as invisible. Ranji has the Protection Order, but except for a very few pockets elsewhere, it's only a "thing" at High Guard; it's the exception, not the rule. Contrast that with what has gone before. An officer saw Ixma and demanded she drop her trousers and give him sex -- right in full view of any passersby. Women, both officers and enlisted, can live in dormitory barracks that have armed guards and are fenced, but once they leave that protection, they are fair game. In chapters 8 and 9, many of the women Ranji talks to women that reveal they frequently have to give sex to those of higher rank. Nakedness being socially taboo is very much a modern social construct. Public sex with women who are socially inferior is also not unusual. Even in more modern times, wealthy men in Victorian England who wanted to empty their balls? All they had to do was find a whore and a convenient alley to shag in. It's very much that way in many places.

While some states within the Empire were better than others, overall, a wife was her husband's property throughout her marriage, and children were a father's property until age 16. Izel is the widow of the general that Ranji dueled (which, because the general cheated, nearly costs Ranji and LT Terrapan their lives). Killing someone in a duel *was* a way to enrich one's self. Ranji, after Tonca was defeated, inherited all Tonca's property currently at High Guard, including his home, which Ranji had converted to dorms for the single mother veterans that returned to military service. As CO, Ranji also was assigned a separate domicile, which was also set aside for the same purposes.

Dueling could be to "satisfy one's honor." It could also be abused in order to gain wealth, not just in the Empire of Chimorro, but also by knights of the Middle Ages. The famous English knight, William Marshal, who served five English kings beginning with Henry II; Marshal made a lot of money at jousting tournaments. It was the right of knights to challenge each other, and the prize could be armor, a horse, or more.

So, Izel stripping naked and throwing herself at Ranji is unusual solely because she's a noblewoman. She's using the Right of Conquest idea allows the winner of a duel, especially a fatal one, to seize the loser's goods. Since Ranji won the duel and she's the widow of the loser, Ranji could take her right in his front yard (making witnesses much more likely) and thereby become his wife. It was a way to take another man's wife under certain circumstances, and by publicly inseminating her, he would be asserting he is her new husband and indirectly declaring ownership of her. In the Empire, the religious ceremony counts less than if the woman is inseminated and the act is witnessed by others. Modern weddings can be annulled if not consummated, i.e., insemination is consummating the marriage.

A related but despicable practice was the medieval practice by single knights of kidnapping the unmarried daughter of a noble family or a rich merchant and raping her; the *accepted* practice was for the knight to then offer marriage to hide the fact that according to custom, the girl was then considered "damaged goods" and that her loss of virginity had shamed the family (not that she was cruelly violated and the knight need to go to prison). It's not emphasized, but fathers owning their children was a thing in bygone days, and there are still a lot of conservative religious groups that hold to that same idea, and that marriage is simply a transfer of ownership to the new husband. Ever hear the phrase, "Who will give the bride away?" It really is the same idea that the woman is property to be managed and not to have any intrinsic rights of her own, especially to say no. It's still very much an issue in the USA; before Roe v Wade became law, many, many families dealt with child rape by forcing marriage, and if there is parental consent, girls as young as 10 may marry in nearly all US states. The age of individual consent is related, but child marriage continues to be an issue, not just in the US but in many other countries as well. But, I digress.

Something else to consider is that the sexualization of female breasts is a Western European idea. There are plenty of pictures and statues of women in tropical countries going topless. Meso-America, ancient Egypt, India, and more. While customs and circumstances made a difference, there were many tribal peoples across the world where a naken woman was no big deal but men were expected to cover their cock; some South American tribes used a hollow piece of wood and string as a type of codpiece to cover the shaft, but exposing the balls was okay. Medieval men might wear hose instead of trousers, but to cover their sex, they used a codpiece -- and naturally, the bigger the better. Again, I digress.

At the point of Izel's arrival, only Janetta recognizes Izel; Calia is operating on her psychic read of both Izel AND Janetta. As for Zinja and Ixma, of course, they would be shocked; a strange and crazy noblewoman shows up and demands to be married -- to THEIR man? And both Calia and Janetta are somehow okay with that? Stunned is another good descriptor.

Yes, Izel entered the house, naked as the day she was born and she was put into Ranji and Janett'a bed -- still naked, save for the Nu-Skin patch on her lower arm.

For what it's worth, Izel's offer, what Ranji decides to do, and what happens to Izel are discussed in more detail in the next chapter. It's shorter than this chapter; it was also fun to write.

What i find very weird and suspicious is the fact, that even if Ranji has ordered that anyone that enters High Guard war base to be scanned by personnel with scout helmets to detect nano bombs, the priestess still got in and got close to Ranji and his family? How did she do that??