JC Bybee

I wrote this story and submitted it to an anthology.  Unfortunately, it didn't get picked, but here it is.  I will be reworking it before publishing it officially.  Until then enjoy. The Track Meet Ace’s first view of the Pacific Northwest Testing Facility for Exceptional Athletes was impressive. It sat in the middle of nowhere in the eastern Oregon high desert, dominating the landscape for miles around. It looked very much like other arenas she’d seen, just on a massive scale. Huge grandstands, lots of parking and hundreds of billboards for the various sponsors that used the facility. The lower track, the one on the ground, was an eight-hundred-meter oval. Suspended above it with anti-gravity engines were two more. The middle track was four hundred kilometers. The top most, well above the ground to make it easier to protect spectators from sonic booms, was eight hundred kilometers. Each layer was protected by shielding, energy nets, and wind buffers. Since the sun wa

I've been working on some Hero Unit side stories to go into a small collection while Hero Unit 3 is at the editor (yes I have one now, I'm excited).  This work will coincide with my work on Hero Unit 4.  For now, here is a small excerpt from the short story titled The Kidnapping. “Detective Cavanaugh?”   The Fifth extended her hand, “Detective Ace, from New Davenport’s Third Street Precinct.” John took the offered hand and was surprised at what he didn’t feel.   He knew that the Fifth was classified as a Fortress Class, but while her handshake was firm, it didn’t have the restrained crushing, strength he was accustomed to from other members of her classification. “Detective Ace, this is my partner, James Grady.”   They exchanged introductions for the rest of her unit.   When she introduced her sister, he remembered the news story from a few months ago about the terrorist attacks in New Davenport.   That’s when the world had learned that there were two Fifths. “What

Another NaNoWriMo has come and gone.  I didn't hit the goal of 50k words.  I'm not too bummed out about it though.  I finished Hero Unit 3: Fallout, which I've been struggling with for months.  I made progress on a story that I started as whim.  I didn't think it would ever amount to much, but now I'm starting to hit my stride with it, and I like where it's going.  For me, that means my efforts over the last month were successful. The next question is always, where do I go from here?  Well, for starters I have a read through to do on Hero Unit before I send it to my editor (yes I have an editor now).  Of course, I want to continue with my new book, though it requires quite a bit more research than anything else I've written.  The biggest challenge is to keep the momentum I gained during November. Every year I put for the effort to participate, either officially or not, I struggle to maintain that momentum, the drive to finish books.  There are a number o

Well, here it is again, National Novel Writer’s Month.   For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is kind of how I got my start as an indie author.   Five years ago, I decided I was going to “officially” participate.   I registered on their website, I did daily word counts, all to try and see if I could actually do it.   The results of that effort led me to start Hero Unit as a series. Since then I’ve never participated to quite that level, for various reasons, both good and bad.   I think perhaps if I’d dedicated myself better, I would be farther along on some of my works in progress.   Small regrets aside, I’ll never forget what it was like to dedicate so much of my time to writing.   It rarely happens anymore with being a stay at home dad.   This year I made the decision to participate once again.   Now because I don’t work on Sundays for religious reasons, and my wife’s birthday is this month, that leaves me 25 days.   The math is pretty simple, 50k words divided by 25 days.  

Yesterday I made a post on Instagram about Mental Illness.  I explained that I have depression, and that there are days were it gets the better of me.  This post is a follow up to that. I want to make something clear, I am doing okay.  Please don't see this as a cry for help.  This is just me, doing my best to deal with my depression.  It is also my attempt to help others who might be in the same place. Here's a little background on me.  My depression cropped up when I was about seventeen.  Unfortunately I didn't get the help I needed, not because I was ashamed, or because people didn't believe me, or any of the terrible reasons others go undiagnosed.  I didn't know what was happening to me was wrong, neither did my parents, and if other adults in my life did, they didn't bother telling me. That's how I finished high school, suffering and not knowing it.  Luckily, when I was nineteen I served a mission for my church and the symptoms all culminated in m

So recently I've been working on a new project.  Some of my readers will not be overly thrilled with me starting yet another thing, but it's what I have to do at times to keep the ideas flowing. Anyway, new project.  As some readers might know, I'm a big fan of gaming.  When I say gaming, I mean both varieties, tabletop, and video.  My new project is a tabletop game world. Now for those that aren't sure what I'm talking about, let me explain. There are various rule sets for tabletop games out there.  One of the more famous being Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).  There are others, such as the Pathfinder Role Playing game, Savage Worlds, Champions, the Dresden Files, and many more.  With most of these games, you get a set of rules that determine how you play the game.  In general, you have a Dungeon Master or DM, sometimes they are referred to as a Game Master or GM.  They are responsible for telling the story, giving the other players an idea of what is going on.