Author's Note and Warning

This is the sequel to Magician's Merger. For those of you who are reading this note who read that novel, thank you. I appreciate it. I learned a lot writing it, and to the best of my knowledge, I received only one destructive, nasty bit of criticism. Everything else was either fair and/or constructive. Thanks again.

I originally intended for my next chunk of long writing to be better planned than Magician's Merger, but I'm just not getting anywhere with it. So once again, I intend to write and post as soon as the rough draft gets its first rough editing. This author's note constitutes your fair warning.

I make no promises. I will post when I post with no guaranteed schedule or frequency. I know that this is bad marketing. I plead human weakness. My blood sugar isn't the most stable, and I've also become prone to anxiety attacks. When my blood sugar is acting up, my creativity is killed; and the more seriously I take something, the more likely an anxiety attack is to strike. Therefore, and I'm warning potential readers right here in front, I intend to take this as non-seriously as I can.

If you are not yet scared off, I'm going to admit right now that I don't have much of a plot in mind. Much like Magician's Merger, the plot is going to grow organically. Such a plan leads to flaws. The plot of Magician's Merger, for example, is unbalanced, has dangling threads, and some false starts. I can pretty much guarantee that Magician's Integration will have some or all of the same problems.

If you are still not scared off, I have no idea how the story will end. It might not end. I might simply keep it as an open-ended serial, as Alexandra Erin is doing with her highly recommended Tales of MU. (Go read her stuff before you read mine. Hers is much better.) I might even run out of steam and leave it a dangling serial sitting here on the Interwebs, abandoned and alone.

If you are still not scared off, I invite any reader who so wishes to be a volunteer copy editor. Just post a comment at the end of the chapter with any mistakes that you see. These include, but are not limited to, continuity errors, typos, grammar and usage mistakes (not in character), misspellings, and bad or confusing punctuation. I am not insulted in the least when someone does this. I feel grateful.

As the above paragraph implies, I feel free to edit, even rewrite, the story as needed once it is posted. Some people disagree with this policy. I disagree with those people.

Readers who are willing to read early postings should be aware that they are basically reading the alpha release. If you want to read the beta release, I invite you to wait a few days from posting. (The release candidate and gold version, however, might never get here.)

If you are still, still not scared off, welcome and thank you.

Chapter 1