“A splendid fantasy story

...about leadership, war, loyalty … and the meaning of life.”

TO REGISTER AS A USER - use "create account" but also email me with your username. This is to differentiate you from the 10-30 fake user registrations per day I now unfortunately get from spambots. If you've tried to register since September 2012 and had no luck, try again and send me that email.

“This is the tale of Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e, a hero who has known since childhood that he will die at the hands of an assassin, cut off in his prime. He responds by living as intensely and brilliantly as possible, so as to cram a whole lifetime of experience into the short time he has...
The story reads like fantasy; technology is mostly archaic, and there are hints of magic in places. But the background is actually science fiction: the far-future attempt of a world to rebuild itself after a devastating apocalypse.” - Elizabeth Barrette. First review from Author News (site now defunct), second review here.

“***** The best serial I have read so far online… more than once I’ve laughed out loud or gotten watery-eyed.” - Capriox @ Web Fiction Guide

“A meticulous, engaging, immersive tale that balances the epic with the slice-of-life with uncanny skill.” - Michael Thedford in the comments.

“There’s really nothing that compares to this story, you know. How can I read other fiction after experiencing the depth of Chevenga’s life?” - GreenGlass in the comments

“If you want to be challenged as a reader, if you like to read stories that make you think, I can recommend this tale.” - Merrilee Faber @ e-Fiction Book Club

Dear new reader:
Never read my traditionally-published books? The Philosopher in Arms starts here. It is not yet complete, but I post one segment of 1,000-1,500 words every weekday except Canadian statutory holidays and hiati now and then.

If you have read my novels Lion's Heart and Lion's Soul (New York: Baen Books, 1991) before, and want to go straight to the new novel which is the result of the changed ending, delete the epilogue of Lion's Soul in your mind and start reading asa kraiya : beyond the sword here. I actually recommend reading The Philosopher in Arms first, though, since readers of both tell me it's way better than the dead-tree originals.

Because my weblit works interlace with those of Shirley Meier, so that reading either her works or mine end-to-end reveals spoilers for the others, you might want to consider using The Spoiler-Free Guide to Fifth Millennium Online. If you are a true spoiler-hater (as I am!) this is the way to read our works.

Note: this work contains adult material. If you are under 18, please come back on your 18th birthday. There will be lots more to enjoy by then.

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I don't just write... not since I switched from traditional publishing to weblit. I cherish interacting with my readers and do it in many different ways: polls, reader challenges (I throw you all a problem in the story and use the best solution(s)), character chats, livewriting on Google Docs, role-playing with a very special group of people (of whom you could become one) and more. We keep thinking up new ones.

Because the most intense of these are time- and energy-consuming, I'm now offering them to Patrons only, along with premium content writing. For only $4 per month (an amount determined by a poll of my readers), you can become a Patron, and by combining the free content with the premium content and all interaction events, you get the best overall experience of my work. Offerings/opportunities for Patrons happen at least once per month. Patrons are also recognized on the darya semanakraseyeni (ds) page, if they wish (please request in "Special instructions to seller" box). To sign on as a Patron use one of these buttons:

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To email me: hearth at xplornet dot com.