Mother Mars Series What if we don’t just have a wish to settle Mars? To live there? Terraform it. Return it to the planet it once was… Long ago when it supported life… Culture… Cities, rivers, forests, highways and more… What if it’s not just a wish to reinhabit a once thriving world, but a deep need inside of us to go home… Back to Mother Mars…
Mother Mars: Book One: Mother Earth Kindle Edition
Lee Crow: Year 2196. Captain Lee Crow leaned back in his pilot’s chair as Eagle One slid into Moon Base 14’s docking bay with that familiar metallic groan. His fingers flew over the controls, years of muscle memory making the landing look easier than it was. This rustbucket of a cruiser had cost him most of his savings fresh out of college – worth every credit, even if the maintenance fees kept him awake at night sometimes. #SpaceTravel #Sciencefiction #SpaceColonization #DellSweet #SciFi #Amazon #KU #Kindle
The air, once a crisp promise of life, now hung heavy, a suffocating shroud of ochre dust and acrid fumes. Earth, their ancestral cradle, was gasping its last, ragged breaths. Decades of unchecked industrial sprawl, of rivers choked with effluent, of forests razed for short-term gain, had finally brought the planet to its knees. The sky, a bruised canvas of perpetual twilight, offered no solace, only a grim testament to humanity’s heedless ambition. From the viewport of the Eagle Two, Earth was a dying ember, its once vibrant blues and greens leached away, replaced by the sickly hues of decay.#SpaceTravel #Sciencefiction #SpaceColonization #DellSweet #SciFi #Amazon #KU #Kindle
The scent of stale beer, cheap perfume, and something metallic – blood, perhaps – wafted from a nearby dumpster, a symphony of urban decay that was all too familiar. It was the smell of his life, a life he had tried to shed, but which clung to him with the tenacity of a debt collector. He pulled the collar of his jacket tighter, a futile gesture against the gnawing chill that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the specter of his former life….
The true shift in the atmosphere, however, began with Rico. He was different from the other Crows. He moved with a fluid grace that belied the hardness in his eyes, a charisma that could disarm the wary and beguile the desperate. He wasn’t just another street tough; there was an intelligence in his gaze, a calculating depth that Maya recognized from the patrons at the diner who tipped generously but never met her eyes. He was the lieutenant, the sharp end of the Crows’ spear, and he had started to focus his attention on her.#Crime #Hood #UrbanFiction #HoodNovel #Adventure #Drama #Thriller
Hood Rich
The air in the Marcy Projects was a thick, gritty stew, a permanent miasma composed of exhaust fumes from idling cars, the metallic tang of decay, and the ever-present, acrid scent of desperation. It clung to everything, to the cracked concrete sidewalks, to the faded graffiti that snaked its way up the sides of the monolithic brick buildings, and most of all, to the people. For Marcus, it was the only air he’d ever known, the suffocating embrace of the block that had molded him since birth. #Crime #Hood #UrbanFiction #HoodNovel #Adventure #Drama #Thriller
The Dope Man
Silas and Rook began their pursuit not by following the road Murk had taken, but by anticipating it. They knew the syndicate’s network. They knew the patterns of movement, the likely escape routes. #Crime #Hood #UrbanFiction #HoodNovel #Adventure #Drama #Thriller
The Dope Mans Rebirth
He paused, his gaze lingering on Murk for a beat too long. “You seem like a guy who knows how to maintain things, Murk. Keep things… running smoothly.” The implication hung in the air, unspoken but palpable. Rico wasn’t just talking about cars. #Crime #Hood #UrbanFiction #HoodNovel #Adventure #Drama #Thriller
Breakout
The Trap
The air hung thick and heavy, a miasma of stale cigarette smoke, cheap weed, and something else… something indefinably rotten. It clung to the peeling wallpaper, to the stained mattress shoved against the wall, to the very fabric of the room itself. This wasn’t just a dilapidated apartment in Harlem; it was a tomb, a suffocating cage built from neglect and despair. Rose-Lee, her eyes sharp and assessing, took it all in, the grime, the shadows, the sense of impending doom that settled like a shroud. Across the room, Alice huddled beneath a threadbare blanket, her eyes wide and fearful, a stark contrast to Rose-Lee’s steely gaze… #Crime #Thriller #Psychological #Readers #Urban
The sun, a weak, watery orb, struggled to pierce the perpetual gloom of the junkyard. Its rays, filtered through the grimy haze of industrial decay and the skeletal remains of rusted cars, cast long, distorted shadows that danced with the shuffling figures of the undead. This was their sanctuary, a chaotic landscape of twisted metal, shattered glass, and the lingering stench of decay – their home. #Horror #Series #Dystopian #Apocalyptic
snd-ls is a distribution of Bill Schottstaedt’s sound editor SND. Its target are people that don’t know scheme very well, and don’t want to spend too much time configuring Snd.
Swami is an advanced instrument editor for MIDI music composition and a software synthesizer frontend.
Control Applications
Aj-snapshot is a small program that can be used to make snapshots of the connections made between JACK and/or ALSA clients. It is also capable of running in the background, restoring connections while clients and ports appear.
ALSA Patch Bay is a graphical patch bay for the ALSA sequencer API and the JACK audio API. It can use FLTK or GTKmm for the interface and take advantage LASH session management.
gjacktransport is a standalone application that provides access to the JACK transport mechanism via a dynamic graphical slider.
DSSI is an API for audio processing plugins, particularly useful for software synthesis plugins with user interfaces.
freqtweak a frequency domain FX box. This is one of the coolest FX boxes you may ever use.
Guitarix is a simple Linux amplifier with one input and two outputs.
IEM Plug-in Suite is a set of VST-plugins (with a DAW independent standalone-mode) for Ambisonics sound field encoding, analysis, processing and decoding.
Giada is a free, minimal, hardcore audio tool for djs and live performers.
Loopcenter is an easy-to-use live looper with functionality similar to the Boss LoopStation pedal. You can record and overdub at user-set tempos and meters.
SooperLooper a live looping sampler capable of immediate loop recording, overdubbing, multiplying, reversing and more.
Media Players
AlsaPlayer a “new type of pcm player”. Can play mp3s, oggs, cds, among other audio file formats. Thanks go to Andy Lo-A-Foe for releasing the first application with support for Jack!
Aqualung It plays audio files from your filesystem and has the feature of inserting no gaps between adjacent tracks
Data Jockey is a digital disc jockey tool which leverages audio meta-data (both computed and manually added by the user) in order to allow for new approaches in content selection and juxtaposition.
kluppe a gtk-based loop player for files and live-input.
MadJack is an MPEG Audio Deck with an OSC based control interface.
MOC Music On Console is a console audio player for LINUX/UNIX, designed to be powerful and easy to use.
VLC is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.
Baudline is a time-frequency browser designed for scientific visualization of the spectral domain.
Brianalyze is a pretty simple JACK-connected spectrum analyzer
BRP-PACU is a dual channel FFT based acoustic analysis tool to help engineers configure professional sound systems by using the transfer function.
Ebumeter provides level metering according to the EBU R-128 recommendation. The current release implements all features required by the EBU document except the oversampled peak level monitoring. This will be added in a future release.
Jaaa an audio signal generator and spectrum analyser.
JACK demolition a very simple jack client that connects to every input port and squirts undesirable numbers (denomals, HUGE, NaN, Inf etc.) to it.
Jack Meter is a basic console based DPM (Digital Peak Meter).
japa is a ‘perceptual’ or ‘psychoacoustic’ audio spectrum analyser.
meterbridge a nice VU-style meter to watch signal levels on arbitrary JACK ports.
Sonic Visualiser is an application for viewing and analysing the contents of music audio files.
Tap Reverb Editor an interactive tool for room acoustics simulation.
Mixers
jack_mixer is a GTK+JACK audio mixer app with a look similar to its hardware counterpart. It has lots of useful features, apart from being able to mix multiple JACKaudio streams.
JackMiniMix is a simple mixer with an OSC based control interface.
LinuxBand is a GUI front-end for MMA (Musical MIDI Accompaniment). Type in the chords, choose the groove and LinuxBand will play a musical accompaniment for you.
LMMS is a free cross-platform alternative to commercial programs like FL Studio®, which allow you to produce music with your computer.
MusE a MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities.
OpenOctaveMidi is a linux-based classic midi/audio sequencer with a look and feel, users will find in commercial equivalents.
Qtractor is an Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application written in C++ around the Qt4 toolkit.
quincer is a sequencer for composed music with text-editable input.
Renoise is a contemporary digital audio workstation (DAW) based upon the heritage and development of tracker software. Its primary use is the composition of music using sound samples, soft synths, and effects plug-ins. It is also able to interface with MIDI equipment.
Rosegarden a sophisticated MIDI (and audio) sequencer and notation editor
The Non DAW is a powerful, reliable and fast modular Digital Audio Workstation system.
The Non Sequencer is a powerful real-time, pattern-based MIDI sequencer for Linux.
Traverso is a GPL licensed, cross platform multitrack audio recording and editing suite, with an innovative and easy to master User Interface. It’s suited for both the professional and home user, who needs a robust and solid DAW.
Bitwig Studio Bitwig Studio is dynamic software for creation and performance of your musical ideas on stage or in the studio.
Zrythm a digital audio workstation designed to be featureful and easy to use.
Music Notation Editors
Denemo is a music notation editor that lets you rapidly enter notation for typesetting via the LilyPond music engraver. You can compose, transcribe, arrange, listen to the music and much more.
MuseScore lets you notate and compose music easily with your keyboard, your mouse, or a MIDI keyboard.
jackspa is a small utility which will host a LADSPA plugin, providing JACK ports for its audio inputs and outputs.
jost is a host for native linux vst plugins (jack / alsa_seq).
ng-jackspa is a set of simple user interfaces that host a LADSPA plugin, providing JACK ports for its audio inputs and outputs, and dynamic setting of its control inputs. Additionally, the plugin controls can be exported to or controlled by control voltages on standard JACK audio ports.
Soundtank a midi controlled host for softsynths made out of LADSPA plugins.
Synthpod is a lightweight non-linear plugin container.
Clam is a multiplatform software framework for research and application development for the Audio and Music domains.
FAUST is a compiled language for real-time audio signal processing.
GTKIOStream provides allows easy use of JACK within GTK apps and has many other tools for DSP, Audio Masking, FFTs and plotting data.
jackcpp is a C++ class wrapping most of the jack client functionality, a “blocking” interface for jack and a template class wrapping the jack ring buffer.
libjackasyn is a library that allows to access the jack audio server in asynchronous mode.
libjackmm is a C++ interface to the jack audio connection kit.
Praxis Live is an hybrid visual live programming for creatives, for programmers, for students, for tinkerers.
Pure Data is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing.
Qjack allows you to connect Jack to QT very easily.
RtAudio is a set of C++ classes that provide a common API (Application Programming Interface) for realtime audio input/output.
Wine an application that lets you run and recompile Windows applications under Linux.
admin-srb Administration and radioautomation of public radiostations
ARAS is an open source radio automation system, it has been designed to be highly configurable and easy to manage. It uses JACK through GStreamer library, in both playback and recording.
Internet DJ Console is an Internet radio app for making a live radio show or podcast.
Rivendell an audio automation system aimed at professional radio broadcasters.
Simple Recorders
jack_capture is a small program to capture whatever sound is going out to your speakers into a file.
JACK Timemachine an application that constantly records signals coming in on its inputs, waiting for you to press record. When you do it writes the last ten seconds to disk and keeps recording.
meterec is a console based multi-track monitoring and recording tool. Focus on your instrument, not on the software!
QARecord a simple but multithreaded stereo recording tool.
QJackRcd is a simple stereo recorder for Jack with few features as silence processing for automatic pause, file splitting, background file post-processing.
Sound Generators
AlsaModularSynth a realtime modular synthesizer and effect processor. You will need version 1.5.3c or above.
ClockLoop a very simple JACK application for playing back audio loops.
CodeSounding is a java sonification library: the sound produced running a .class (or .jar) is a function of how was structured its source code before compilation. You can therefore produce computer-generated music.
Csound5 is a sound and music synthesis system, providing facilities for composition and performance over a wide range of platforms.
din is a software musical instrument and audio synthesizer.
energyXT2 is a complete music studio. Commercial product with a free demo available.
fastbreeder is an experimental genetic programming synthesiser.
FluidSynth a real-time software synthesizer based on the Soundfont2 specifications.
gAlan a modular synthesiser, drum-machine, sequencer and effects-unit. Version 0.3.0-test1 or above.
Midi Player Pro is the software you need to be able to play any kind of music in seconds with your fingertips. It uses libumidi20, which also uses Jack.
Mx44 is a polyphonic multichannel midi realtime software synthesizer.
Pianoteq is a high-class virtual piano software offering superb dynamics, natural resonances and unique physical parameters. This is a commercial product.
QMIDICurves lets you change the velocity response of any MIDI device (like a MIDI keyboard for instance).
reMID uses the reSID emulation library to provide a virtual SID based synthesizer, controllable in real-time via MIDI. SID was the sound chip used in the Commodore 64 computer.
rtsynth a reliable, if plain, multi-oscillator synthesizer
Sampson is a small, lightweight, no-frills software sampler focusing on drums and percussion.
Simple Sysexxer is a small tool to load, send, receive, save and request sysex data. It can be used to do backups of the memory contents of MIDI devices like synthesizers, MIDI controllers or effects processors.
slat allows you to use your mouse to adjust pitch and volume by waving the pointer over the interface.
SoundPatty is an efficient and fast sound (i.e. record) recognition software.
Synthclone is a Qt-based application that can “clone” your MIDI-capable instruments. It does this by sending out MIDI data that instructs an instrument to emit sounds for a series of notes, velocities, controls, and aftertouch values. It then saves this data as a sample-based instrument that can be loaded by sampler software.
Video Applications
KSubtile is a KDE program which provides an easy to use interface to edit subtitles in the SRT format. It supports moving, stretching and individual editing of subtitles in a file. To help you synchronize with a particular movie we provide GUI con
LiVES is a Video Editing System. It is designed to be simple to use, yet powerful. It is small in size, yet it has many advanced features.
Shotcut is a free and open-source cross-platform video editing application for FreeBSD, Linux, macOS and Windows.
VideoJack a tool that reads video and audio signals from its jack inputs.
xjadeo is a very simple video player that is synchronized to jack transport.
Open Movie Editor is designed to be a simple tool, that provides basic movie making capabilities.
VOIP
Asterisk is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and tool kit. Offering flexibility unheard of in the world of proprietary communications, Asterisk empowers developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions…for free.
I Hear U is a Voice over IP (VoIP) application that creates an audio stream between two computers easily and with the minimal network traffic.
VST
fst is a program by which uses Wine, Jack and Steinberg’s VST Audio Plug-Ins SDK to enable the use of many VST audio plugins under Gnu/Linux.
The Nation 01 Series: The Nation, Book 1 by Dell Sweet:
Bear squatted and peered down at the girl and the boy for a few moments before he spoke again. “What do you think of her hand?” Beth squatted beside him and looked down at the girl. She stood and shook her head. “I can’t tell. It looks like she’s turning. Turns black, you know, but just under the skin… like… like a spiderweb flowing out under their skin. Bad description, I know,” she finished. #Horror #Series #Dystopian #Apocalyptic
3.6 3.6 out of 5 stars 2 ratings There were three books written that were then discarded. All of the collected OutRunner books in one place. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #ZombieFiction #Series
Earth’s Survivors Collection Two contains the complete text from books three and four of the Earth’s Survivors series, The Nation and Home In The Valley. #Dystopian #ApocalypticFiction #Horror #ZombieFiction #Series
The Surge Series Link by Paul Block (Author) Format: Kindle, Paperback, Audio
On October 14th, 2029, the sky tore open. Not with fire. Not with thunder. With silence. For 11 minutes and 47 seconds, every satellite in orbit blinked. Every power grid on Earth spiked, held, and then collapsed into something new. Scientists would later call it a “magnetospheric inversion cascade.” The rest of us called it The Surge. #Dystopian #Apocalyptic #PostApocalyptic #Horror #Epic Epic, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
The Surge: Spark by Paul Block (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Book 01
On October 14th, 2029, the sky tore open. Not with fire. Not with thunder. With silence. For 11 minutes and 47 seconds, every satellite in orbit blinked. Every power grid on Earth spiked, held, and then collapsed into something new. Scientists would later call it a “magnetospheric inversion cascade.” The rest of us called it The Surge. #Dystopian #Apocalyptic #PostApocalyptic #Horror #Epic Epic, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
The Surge: Uprising by Paul Block (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Book 02
On October 14th, 2029, the sky tore open. Not with fire. Not with thunder. With silence. For 11 minutes and 47 seconds, every satellite in orbit blinked. Every power grid on Earth spiked, held, and then collapsed into something new. Scientists would later call it a “magnetospheric inversion cascade.” The rest of us called it The Surge. #Dystopian #Apocalyptic #PostApocalyptic #Horror #Epic Epic, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
The Surge: Purge by Paul Block (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Book 03
On October 14th, 2029, the sky tore open. Not with fire. Not with thunder. With silence. For 11 minutes and 47 seconds, every satellite in orbit blinked. Every power grid on Earth spiked, held, and then collapsed into something new. Scientists would later call it a “magnetospheric inversion cascade.” The rest of us called it The Surge. #Dystopian #Apocalyptic #PostApocalyptic #Horror #Epic Epic, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead Singles These are the individual books in the America the Dead series. This series will include all of the books, published and unpublished by Dell Sweet. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: Before the End Book-01 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Andrea Zurita had been alive for the second time for more than three days. The men who had left her body had done so carefully: Senor Prescott would be very angry to find them on his land: Transgressions had been met with violence in the past, the bodies dumped into the ocean. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: Begins the End Book-02 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition 4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars (8) The virus begins to infect the world starting in Ecuador when it is accidently released. In the United States a top-secret military panel authorizes releasing it on the general public starting in America and then spreading out from there to the entire world, it is soon spreading from several places in the world and the fall of humanity is begun. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: Los Angeles Book-03 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition To leave the city with nine people they were going to need a truck, and that was going to have to wait until they made their way out of the city and all the stalled and wrecked vehicles that clogged the main streets. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: Manhattan Book-04 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition They stank of death, rotted flesh, and corruption. Their chests did not rise and fall. They did not move. Their eyes were partially slitted. It would be easy to believe that they really were dead and had been for some time. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: War at Home 1 Book-05 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition Ronnie’s face was gray. Sweat popped out along his brow. He had seen dozens of bodies inside, just within the small perimeter of light that had come through the open doorway, and what looked to be dozens more just beyond in the shadows. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: War at Home 2 Book-06 by Dell Sweet (Author) Format: Kindle Edition The smell hit them before they reached the woods. “Jesus,” Ronnie said, “What in …” A few feet away, a shriveled corpse, whether man or woman it was hard to tell, but something had been feeding on the body. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: The Fold 1 Book-07 by Lindsey Rivers (Author) The following days were strained. The survivors went about their tasks with a new awareness of their internal conflicts. Bear’s leadership was challenged, not with open rebellion, but with passive resistance. Beth withdrew, her sharp intellect now clouded by her emotional turmoil. . #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
America the Dead: The Fold 2 Book-08 by Lindsey Rivers (Author) The following days were a blur of activity. It was amidst this monotonous work that Billy first saw her… Pearl… She moved with a grace that belied the callouses on her hands, a testament to years of hard labor. #Virus #Plague #Apocalypse #Dystopian #Saga #DellSweet Dell Sweet, Horror, Dystopian, Apocalyptic
Formation: Dire Straits was formed in London, England in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and guitar), his brother David Knopfler (guitar and keyboards), John Illsley (bass guitar), and Pick Withers (drums).
Band Members:
Mark Knopfler: Lead vocals, guitar, songwriter
David Knopfler: Guitar, keyboards (left in 1980)
John Illsley: Bass guitar
Pick Withers: Drums (left in 1982)
Other notable members:
Hal Lindes: Guitar (joined in 1980)
Alan Clark: Keyboards (joined in 1980)
Terry Williams: Drums (joined in 1982)
The Guitar Story
Mark Knopfler’s Guitar: Mark Knopfler did indeed build a guitar from a wooden plank, but it’s not entirely clear if it was a bedpost. The guitar was a Telecaster-style body made from a piece of wood from a local carpenter’s workshop.
Mark Knopfler’s Style
Influences: Mark Knopfler’s playing style was influenced by various artists, including:
Country and blues musicians: Chet Atkins, B.B. King, and Eric Clapton
Rock and folk musicians: Bob Dylan, J.J. Cale, and The Beatles
Learning to Play: Mark Knopfler learned to play guitar at a young age, and his unique fingerpicking style developed over time through practice and experimentation.
Top Songs
Some of Dire Straits’ most popular songs:
“Sultans of Swing”
“Money for Nothing” (feat. Sting)
“Romeo and Juliet”
“Private Investigations”
“Brothers in Arms”
“Walk of Life”
David Knopfler’s Departure
Creative Differences: David Knopfler left the band in 1980 due to creative differences and personal tensions. He went on to pursue a solo career.
Biggest Hit
“Brothers in Arms”: Released in 1985, “Brothers in Arms” was a massive hit and one of the band’s most iconic songs. The song’s themes of war and loss resonated with audiences worldwide.
Legacy
Dire Straits has sold over 120 million records worldwide and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The band’s music often explores themes of love, relationships, and social commentary, with Mark Knopfler’s distinctive vocals and guitar work being a key part of their sound.
