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Three Square Meals Ch. 186 (Placeholder) (Patreon)

Published:
2025-01-01 05:20:48
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Hey everyone,

As most of you predicted, here's the second placeholder.

I really wish that I'd never fallen behind on the chapters, but you all know the reason why that happened.

I'll do everything I can to catch up in 2025. I will make sure that you get every chapter you paid for, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story until we get to the end.

Thank you for sticking with me.

Best wishes,

Tefler

Comments

Hendrix Morton

And 2.... What happened to the weekly updates in December??

J

Thx for the honesty and no lame excuse. Good luck.

JP
>>159932567

Hahahahaha he's been promising weekly updates for years they never happen

Sean McAllister
>>159932567

Yeah these would be nice to have going forward, especially as far behind as Tefler has gotten this past year.

Turttle

That's the last nail in the coffin for me. I wish you and your family all of the best in the new year and good health to all you know. At this point this feels like I'm being scammed. Promise after promise has been broken. You've been so fortunate to have such a forgiving/understanding community. The annoying part is I'll likely never see the chapters I paid for in placeholders, though I've lost $28 on stupider things. It's not about the money anyway.

Jeff

"My plan is to finish 172 in the next couple of days, then write the next two chapters, one of which will be a Christmas themed chapter before the 25th. Then I'll start work on 175 before the New Year. " yea, fuck that we been dealing with this too damned long. I'm not gonna stop subscribing and reading because i actually really enjoy the story, but i went from $5/ chapter to 1$/chapter capping out at $1/ month. Dude has a hell of a story to tell but bullshits more than my 5 year old and my 18 year old combined. Just write your story, collect your money and stop fucking scamming. rant over

Bob M

For me, it is worth $1 max/month to read the latest bull. Placeholders don't cost anything that way, and I've otherwise lost all respect for Tef and his promises

Angle0FGluttony

So I'm curious is there any plans that anybody knows about if he's planning on transferring over more of the books to Kindle and having audio books made And I hear there's a Discord is that a thing or is it not

Cookie

Please forgive my ignorance... but where do i find the placeholder? I don't seem to have an attachment

Garrett

Get help, Tefler. Whatever is going on with you... get help.

John Lakey

Tef, just read 272. It was worth waiting for.

Ron

Now 14 chapters behind. Even if this story is finished he will still have seven months of payment banked that he won’t have to deliver on.

DevilDoc82

The biggest issue I think most of us have is the pure lack of communication except for the end of the month posts and placeholders.

glenn kellogg

So for my $1/month I get two entertaining fictions; John Blake saves the universe in one and then Tefler’s very entertaining reasons why he has to keep milking his scam … roof repairs, gallstones, wife’s job, etc … leaves me wondering what cataclysm awaits our hero for next month’s placeholder. Totally worth it 😂

Big Dude

Happy New Year Tefler. Just one thing for 2025... check in weekly and we are a forgiving bunch. Check in monthly and you get the frustration commentary. Peace to your gall bladder.

This Old Man
>>159938115

Placeholder = a chapter (so he can charge you for it) with no content. You might see Chap 186's actual content sometime in 2025, but 2026 is more likely . . . .

Alex H.

Please make shorter chapters! It will take you a year at least, to work up that backlog. And you would have to post further placeholders to keep the lights on, should you keep to your chapter lenght. Shorter chapters would mean: - We get our dose of epic Sci-Fi more regulary. - You would be able to clear up your backlog much faster.

Who Me

I much prefer shorter chapters - much easier to figure out who is doing what to whom!

Ryan Arends

And that is the end of my patreon support.

Alex Jackson

I want to at least say thanks for the story... great while it lasted. I just have issue with people who say they are sorry.. make promises.. and then repeat the the same things over and over with different excuses. Had enough of that shit from a shitty childhood. I don't want to pay someone to do it to me now.... Now canceling my membership. See ya

BrianM

Thanks for the last part of 172 - some interesting twists in the action.

BrianM

Please DO NOT reduce the Chapter word count. You significantly reduced the average Chapter word count once before and I accepted your explanation as perfectly reasonable at that time. However, subsequent to that I have patiently and willingly supported you through multiple Placeholders and will continue to do so for the next few months based on my expectation that you will eventually catch up with each of the Placeholder Chapters totaling ~ 20,000 words apiece and I expect you to deliver accordingly. Anything less will be a blatant short cut on your part.

Simon Lewis

I’ve read the entire back catalogue of TSM a couple of times now just to feel like I’m getting my subscription value. I was hoping for a mid month update or a Xmas gift but here we are with another third of a chapter and two more placeholders! I’m out. I’ve reported the excessive use of placeholders to Patreon support and hope there is some accountability put in place. Evidently, it is only the creator who has the authority to refund our money. (Shaking my Aussie head after another AUD4.40 charged for a few paragraphs to finish a chapter that has taken at least two months to complete. Effectively I’ve now paid AUD13.20 for one chapter) See you in 2026. #imnotanenabler

Resonant_Vibe

Thank you for the short last part of 172. The story is great, and your writing is compelling, but your business model has turned ugly, and you've turned your fans into victims. Those who have remained subscribers up through 1 Jan 2025 have certainly given you the benefit of the doubt long enough. No one could legitimately argue otherwise. Unfortunately, your long-term choices have not been in integrity. There are alternative financial models for creative authors that will make more sense for you and your fans, than us allowing you to break the rules here, and possibly the law in some places. The current behavior is addict-like, and we have all been enabling you. Many of us would probably be happy to pay more than we already do for your writing, if we weren't being manipulated into pre-paying so far in advance given your poor delivery habits. I downgraded to $1 a month some time ago, and will no longer enable your current business model. I'm encouraging you to explore alternative financial models, by unsubscribing fully, and I'm inviting your other subscribers to search their own hearts to see if they want to keep enabling your addiction to diving deeper into debt to us, or act in kind. That's my intervention. I do hope you recover in spades. Over the next 12-24 months, I'll check in, to see if you've caught up and of course gotten ahead of where you've already charged for placeholders. At which time, I'll resubscribe, and collect the chapters that you still owe us, that we've already paid for. But it makes no sense to me to keep enabling you to get deeper in debt to me/us. So... best of luck, mate.

John the 5th

I'm glad I reread the last 2 chapters. I had forgotten or missed a couple of details. I pray your medical issues are tended to soon. I know a couple of people that had gall issues and they were in a lot of pain at times. Looking forward to the next installment.

Jim Owens
>>160004171

I unsubscribed a few months ago. I only missed 1 chapter maybe 2 tops in 3 months. Pretty sad when other authors I support put out 1 or 2 chapters a week.

Big Dude

Tefler, as I wrote earlier this morning; all these negative comments aimed at you are due to your lack of weekly candor. It's sad because this didn't have to happen. If you kept your word, you'd have few upset on Patreon and you would be raking in upto $1500 more each month. Yet, you don't change your style here. So I ask... do you care about your supporters? I request an answer, but won't hold my breath. To those who think about attacking what I wrote above, take a minute, search my previous comments and determine if I have been totally consistent since 2017.

Big Dude
>>160004171

I think many whom are still here would be paying more for this story and previously did.

Ray Priebe

I asked this once before, received an answer and then backed off. So I apologize in advance. How do I quit this and prevent paying for more placeholders (theft)

Jim Owens

these placeholders are the reason I join up, give my $1 per chapter then leave for 4 or 5 months. I hope he changes his ways, but somehow I think its only going to get worse.

Thomas R

Wow. 145 free chapters on Literotica. I am sure I owe more than I have paid for placeholders. I appreciate the story and hope 2025 is a better year for Tef and his family.

Hendrix Morton
>>160027631

Click on Membership above....Then scroll down to where it sez "Your Membership" As you hover over that a pencil Icon will appear in the top right corner of that box...click that and you will be taken to a page where you can modify your membership or cancel it...

Joe Waldvogel
>>160027631

If you cancel now, you lose 15 chapters you already paid for. Seems like a huge scam to me. He releases the same chapter twice with an extension and then charges another 2 chapters for that. All that is happening is getting prepaid more and more. Further and further behind. With no way for that to change since he won’t release a new chapter at least every 2 weeks or every week to catch up. So 1 chapter a month as he double charges every month.

Joe Waldvogel
>>159999002

He will never catch up. He release one chapter at the end of a month, or part of one and then charges for 2 months. Then a finish chapter and another 2 of the of placeholders. He is now 15 chapters behind and it’s only going to get worse every single month. 1 chapter or have a chapter and 2 more months. At this time, he would have to write 2 full chapters a month just to stick to 15 chapters behind at his pace.it would take over a year with 2 chapters a month and sticking with a single charge a month. Do you see anything like that happening? Or will we see 20 chapters behind that we all paid for 5 months from now. It’ll be worse as I’m sure some of those months will be part chapter with a finish chapter the following month which really means ripping everyone off twice. 1 full chapter in 2 months with 4 placeholders!!!

Joe Waldvogel
>>159932567

It’s only going to get worse. This last chapter took 2 months to finish and 4 placeholders. Did you get your money worth? He is now 15 chapters behind that we already paid for. Every month, a chapter or half a chapter and another 2 placeholders. He is just getting further and further behind as he rips off everyone. I’ve never seen anything like this from an author. Nothing has changed. It’s only getting worse.

Laurel Hodghead

Honestly, I pay to support you, not to pay for specific chapters. Life happens. I appreciate what you put out. Thank you and happy New Year.

Glenn Hunter

This is getting out of hand, i am paid 12 chapters ahead and have followed you for years, but being retired on a limited fixed income.

Glenn Hunter

my patience with these place holders and no chapter delivered has about reached an end. life is real and like you i have been in and out of hospital, but chagrining me for something you have yet to deliver is taking liberties with your patrons. i tried to pause my payments but that also stopped the stories i have already paid for. so get on with it already i love this story but really how much blood will you draw before i keel over!

SP Rupert

What a scam. I’m wondering when the Tefler Crypocurrentcy is coming out so he can duplicate the Hawk Tuah girl’s heist.

Michael56Smith
>>160031653

.... and Tef, start dropping more 'free' chapters again, .... You totally missed the downloading of any chapters in 2024, ..... and only 4 in all of 2023, .... it has been 145 free chapters there forever, .... ;-) ttfn

John Brewer

My $1/mo is the cheapest entertainment cost I have. I gave up on Tefler being a man of integrity but the comments are definitely some of the greatest entertainment so far. Having a chapter of TSM thrown in is just an added bonus. Tefler - Listen to your patrons. We are telling you how to make more money but you are not listening. Oh well, your loss.

John the 5th

I wish all the complainers would post links to their written work so we had more to read between chapters of 3SN.

Xexsu
>>159950630

lol Brother you are asking for a lot. At this point I think this guy is cooked, he's a grown-ass man doing exactly what he chose to do for a living and getting paid very well to do it. So what does he do? He takes out loan after loan from the same people he depends on to pay his bills.....fuckin tragic man. Instead of just coming on here and keeping it real he keeps employing this Wimpy 'I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" strategy.

Xexsu
>>159941456

Honestly, at this point what can he say? He's created such a weird narrative around the reason why he needed immediate funds his roof, health, familial layoffs, etc. Why would you think that he'd now come on here come clean and do weekly updates? It's a nice thought but I highly doubt it would ever happen.

DevilDoc82
>>159941456

I somewhat agree with you. Even being as far behind as he is, I think more communication would definitely help the grumbling. It won't help the scepticism, but nothing other than churned out work will imo.

Jim Owens

I was thinking about the story. I think it's time for xaraxuith to take a break and think things over. The crew really needs to make another trip around the shroud. They need to check on the maliri, see how Lynette is doing, but most importantly they need to see the soul forge of the trankaren planet. Then he needs to show them how to forge better ships from the secret white alloy and start distributing them to all his allies. He also desperately needs to re-animate Faye. While there they should be able to discover some new ship weapon designs that will slice thru the black ships. So many good story arcs await. If only the writer would write. Forget your problems, you already have a viable income stream right here. If you would focus on your writing it would double in size, especially if you would put out 1 chapter a week. Advance the story along. Make use of all this groundwork you have laid. Be good to your audience and you can Increase your audience instead of losing it with empty promises and empty chapters.

Jim Owens

So more plot advancement suggestions. If I were writing this, I would return to the planet, continue going through the records. Discover more information on the white metal and other weapons. Have beanthalis venture to the Astral plane and Discover maelnerak has been hiding out in one of the castles. He transfers his knowledge over to our guy about everything he did and how to re-animate Faye and many other tidbits. Maelnerak has a way to distract the big bad guy for a while or they figure out some way to make him change tactics, giving our hero time to go around the shroud and take care of business. Re-unite with mom and dad and have him join forces, explain to him how to create multiple progenitor grade mates to expand his power so together they can fight big baddie and his minions. Kick some brimorian ass, rescue the guy from the executioner, check on Lynette and her man, hit up the soul forge with niskera, get the new fleets rolling out. Get the maliri under control, capture Gal's matriarch and get the gate code, mobilize Gal's thralls to pick up anyone left alive in the stranded fleets and get them new ships from larenkellars ghost fleet. Set up a defensive grid thruout the shroud to protect against the coming of multiple bad guys. Exterminate any remaining bug problems, deal with the emerging threat in the waste. Gather a few more to the harem along the way. If you can spit out 2 or 3 chapters a month consistently, you can double or more your subscriber base and your wife won't have to work. Since you are having health issues there's no better thing to keep your mind in a good place than writing. Throw yourself into it with conviction and set goals for production that are difficult to reach. Don't make anymore places holders. Blow those out in the first month so it doesn't affect your cash flow. You can do it. It's not like your making shit pay here. $6000 A chapter. You put out 3 a month now, and 2 are blank, that's 18k a month. Most people would be thrilled to make 6k a month and you make 3 times that and still worry about your wife's job, most would not allow their wife to work if they make 18k a month. So get yourself together, stop giving the paying public excuses and start giving us chapters before Patreon throws you off the platform for fraud. We don't want to see that, we just want chapters.

Michael56Smith

--- My plot advancement ideas: -- might a restored and organic Faye help Irillith to rebuild the old 'jacking deck' programing and again make other AI's? -- Need to get Dana to the Star Forges ASAP, ... -- I still think that a Genthalas laid ships keel could give the gang a quick start in making a backup for Invictus, .... -- Archelogy: Learn more Progenitor stuff from Rahn'hagon and from all those easy to conquer former empires, .... find out more about proto nymphs, if they exist, .... and maybe raise a young neo-progenitor correctly, and not to be a naughty Asshat Progenitor, ... they could take on a research team, made up of Terrans and Maliri, .... and maybe a few Grays too, .... -- find / develop an eldritch Elixir that allows John to massively add to his wards by the millions, so, get to work Rachel, ... .... ;-) ttfn

WWODBD
>>160193799

There's a dip every month, and he's only lost 300 subs in the past year counting from monthly peak to peak, despite a steady decline every month. For him, it would be worthwhile to continue playing it this way as long as Patreon will let him.

Dustin Arnold

Once again I join and get the 1 chapter done and leave for a few months.... 12 chapters worth of placeholders....sigh

Jimmyjam

Beginning 2025 with 2 new placeholders as the month ticks over is a disgrace. With now 12 chapters paid for, at $6,575 per chapter (used to be $10K just a few months ago) , Tefler is in debt to this community by $78,900 at current MINIMUM prices. I can only assume that at the start, when the placeholders came in, there was a lot more support, Tef saw the free money and no doubt thought that he could catch up. When more and more people left because of this abuse of trust and support, profits started dipping for every placeholder which means to keep the cash flow up there had to be more placeholders for the suckers like us who stuck around. It's now got to the point where this cant keep going on, I have half a mind to click on that little "report creator" button because this is getting out of hand. For those of us who are still sticking around because we enjoy the story and want to see where it goes, but don't want to be scammed anymore you can limit the monthly charges so that no matter how many placeholders Tef keeps on throwing at us, you'll only be charged once per month at your tier level (please go down to the lowest) but still retain access to all current and future chapters. I've copy pasted the information below and provided the patreon support link. 1. Click the Settings link from the left sidebar navigation 2. Then click on the Active Memberships link from the menubar 3. Click the Edit link for the membership 4. On the following page, select the I'd like set a monthly limit button. In the field that appears, enter the maximum number of times you'd like to be billed in a given month. This number indicates how many times you can be billed in a month, not the total monthly amount 5. Click the Update button to save the change, and your monthly limit will be set up https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/115002984506-How-do-I-set-a-monthly-max-for-my-membership#h_e51dd289-f231-446c-a5d4-61f8044a24b9

John the 5th

I like how people talk about the total placeholders, like they paid it all themselves, Takes some doing, but a bit of a stretch, I'd say.

Xexsu
>>159941456

Right, at this point the only option to change the way he's portrayed is just to churn out owed chapters. But I honestly believe that he'll just keep digging a deeper hole for himself. It makes me wonder if tefler thinks we exist just to be taken advantage of. It honestly would be funny if everyone just systematically dipped out. Because personally as nice as an open line of dialogue would be I don't want to hear about his gripes I really don't, I have my own life with my own problems and the last thing I want to hear from a dude that owes me is how he needs to owe me just a little bit more, which is basically all this guy ever post about minus the half chapters and 90-day breaks in between. It sucks that if I cancel my sub I can't even get what's owed to me unless I pay him again for something I've already paid for.

Michael56Smith
>>160199319

--- Jim. Jim, Jim, .... how the heck did you ever get past grade school math, ..... your numbers are way screwed up, ..... sorry, ... you might get some help and try again, ... ;-l ttfn

Jim Owens
>>160199319

6x3 is still 18 is it not? So 6k x 3 is 18k. I don't see the problem except generally rounding the numbers

Michael56Smith
>>160199319

-- 6 x 2, not 3, .... you exaggerated, sorry, .... two placeholders were the only charges, .... the chapters (or partial chapters) were from older placeholders that were already paid for, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith
>>160091036

-- Thirteen (13) placeholders now, he just completed chapter #172, so #173 thru to #186, that's 13 placeholders, .... -- I wonder if we are still going to get our Christmas themed chapter? ... ;-O ttfn

Jim Owens
>>160199319

Ok, I didn't know if the chapters charged again when they were written.

Jolly Giant

I know you have gone through a lot but I am happy to pay for placeholders to experience more chapters of your writing. Don’t get discouraged and just know you will always have a huge fan in me.

Michael56Smith
>>160199319

-- Good Jim, you now pass Grade school to Jt High Math, .... keep up the good work, ... ;-) ttfn

Unresolved Plots

Tefler mentioned that he is going to try to tie up some loose ends in the story in the upcoming chapters. With that in mind I thought I would write a list of all of the main things I could think of. I'm sure Tefler has his own list, but I thought that this would be a useful exercise in case he has forgotten and missed anything out. List of Loose ends and possible storylines John needs to claim an Aeltari matriarch Faye needs her consciousness implanted into the organic body and for it to be given the spark of life John needs to revisit and access the bunker under the palace on Valadan to find out its purpose and discover any secrets. Could an AI still be present on Kythshara and or the bunker under the palace? Tom Walker’s story arc, The Abandoned arc i.e. will they all be evacuated or will some remain? Athgiloi/The Brimorians/The Nymph Celphna. Will Irillith have an encounter with the sinister program in the Brimorian network? Will they encounter Shanryl and the rogue Maliri when visiting Brimor? The Male Maliri on the remaining 2 border stations Geniya and Genkiri and other planets are presumably are still needing to be evacuated. The 3 border stations waiting to be converted to battlestations and the other 7 cloaked battlestations needing to be crewed and brought online. Males are the obvious choice imo for all of this due to their experience of the stations. How will the Maliri males cloaking technology (and other technologies be used)? The Maliri who were attacked on planet Venkarys need to be rescued and/or given aid. Stranded and damaged Galkiran fleets needing to be salvaged and/or crews rescued. Valeria and the retreating Galkiran’s need to be intercepted and rescued. The Galkiran Dreadnought could possibly be repaired and utilised? The Galkiran Hyper Warp Gate needs to be secured and possibly moved Rahn and Jessica might soon wormhole to Kythshara, could they start to form a better relationship with John? Could Rahn start to aid them using his Dreadnought? Rahn’s Hyper Warp Gate in/near Vulkat space could be secured and possibly moved Sarene, Vestele and Emandra’s continuing mental development along with the other Maliri matriarchs, including the pregnant ones, could be revisited. John’s visit to Faranises planet Eshenestria, which was the promised prize when she won in the matriarch competition is still to happen. A visit to the archaeological site Tashana previously excavated was once mentioned and could still happen. We might learn what made GK think Genthalas is special and why? Valeria and/or Edraele could possibly alert them to investigate further. A return to the Larathyran Empire and visits to the Galkiran and Aeltari Empires could happen soon. Which Progenitor Empire will John attack first when his campaign starts? Sihn’kethas and his Sainketharyn empire, Wael’rakash and his Waelentir empire or an empire with a Neophyte Progenitor? What is the ancient artefact that Sihn’kethas has discovered and will John requisition and use it? Jehanna needs to reconnect with her parents on Earth and Calara with her parents and brothers too A visit to the Star Forges is almost certainly due very soon. Mael, is it possible that he survived? If so then the most likely place is the Niryean Rift. Could a visit there be happening soon? Athena’s arc resolution. Will she be absorbed, given a real body or something else unexpected? Will John visit other Astral Citadel’s and what secrets will he learn from them? The gaps in the cloak breaker network could be filled in and the network expanded. The Outer Rim arc could be continued Tamolith and the Kintark has been forgotten about and might be revisited? Will we see anymore of the Drakkar and their mysterious females. They are the only former race of Mael that are not part of John’s alliance, which is a shame imho.

Michael56Smith
>>160355169

-- Dang it U.P. you had to write your own TSM Loose Ends chapter of Tef's many dangling loose threads, didn't you? -- 1st, Faye, ,,,, Organic body completed in Mael's Lab, ... it needs what memories they have downloaded into her, and then it's John's dangerous mental dive into the deep Astral to get her a Spark of Consciousness (life) that is the key to bringing her back to life, .... And I want to see exactly what abilities Faye will get from Irilith and gained from John, .... I expect it to be something Cyber (overlapping with Irillith's abilities?), ... and I can't wait for her to see her 'Little One' , Daphne. -- 2nd, the Maliri males and all their tech advantages. like stealth almost as good as Progenitor technology, .... they could be a big help installing Cloak tech into the Maliri fleets, ... and maybe be of help for restoring the Lianelis Saivath (cloak breaker) network's holes, ... and they might teach the regular Maliri worlds how to work / live with men again, ... -- 3rd, Dana to the Star Forges, ASAP -- 4th, Dana to fix / upgrade the Wormhole generator to a no Nausea version -- 5th, Dana to start making them the new 2.0 version of their Paragon suits, ... Bigger and Badder suits, .... John to fold the CA over 30 times, ... --- I'll save the other stuff for later, cause Dana is so busy, and this is already too long as it is, .... see ya, ... ;-) ttfn

Erotic Poetic
>>160355169

I’d have never been able to remember all that without rereading this epic saga again from the beginning. Hopefully, these can be woven into the story as the Progenitor wars progress, rather than being an afterthought once the Progenitor battles are over. Personally, I’d like to see at least 10 chapters of story development before the next Progenitor battle scene. The relationship between John and the girls - including Niskara and Tamolith - is the main driver of the story IMHO. Of course there are the other side arcs that relate back to each of them directly: John’s parents : John Athena : Alyssa Tom Walker : Dana The Star Forge : Dana Faye : John & Irrilith & Daphne Celphna & Brimorians : Jade Shannryl & rogue Maliki : Irrilith & Edraele The Enshunu & Unclaimed Wastes : Tashana The Abandoned : Helene Genthalas : Edraelle & Mael’nerak’s legacy I’d love to see all of these woven into the story over the next several chapters. This means Xar’Aziuth will (wisely) need to take a break from attacking John, so that the story can develop among our main characters. This way, both sides can prepare for the upcoming Progenitor/Kyth’Faren wars.

Erotic Poetic
>>160091036

173-186 is 14 place holders, no? Either way, it’s just poor business management. I’ll keep saying it… smaller chapters and side-arc updates will get him caught up. Interactions, polls and artwork will grow his base. I’d gladly pay $5-10/month for consistent content with Author feedback. With the quality of work Teller is known for, he could easily 5X his income if he treated this as a business instead of a welfare check.

ThunderBird Two
>>160355169

Having now lost 5 Progs to the Shroud, maybe X will send a super sneaky one next to gather info? But he will be on a 24/48h return timer, so he doesn't get any ideas (like 4 of them did), which will significantly slow him down. That way the story can still develop, but without continual battels. Maybe the info gathering Prog will put the pieces together and rebel, slowing X down even more?

Unresolved Plots
>>160355169

Fyi Erotic Poet, I purposefully left out the Enshunu/Underworld/The Achonin from my list because Tefler has already said we will not see them again until the sequel.

2ndAndrocentric
>>160355169

ThunderBird 2, yes I have been thinking that rebelling Progenitors will be a thing and wrote a short humorous story about it. I used to write mostly funny small stories set in TSM and posted on a site hosted by Admiral Kester. Then I began to bleed inside both my eyes which slowed my work output as well as pleasure typing to nil. Unfortunately for many here who hated my stories as well as my comments, my eyes have not bled in awhile and my vision is much better after surgeries and whatnots. In any case, please don't cry for me Argentina since Milei has my investments in Pampa and Banco Macro up 45%. Yes, I take my meds....

Hendrix Morton
>>160355169

Sorry to hear of your troubles 2A, really liked reading the stuff you posted over there...Hopefully things are getting better for you, and you can return to posting your witticisms!! They, and you, are missed!

Big Dude
>>160355169

Great commentary you guys. Lots to read and much for Tefler to write for catch up. Now if he checks in weekly, we know he's turning a new leaf regarding his communication with his faithful followers.

Michael56Smith
>>160355169

Hey there T-Bird II, are there any really 'sneaky' Progenitors that Xar'aziuth can send? Ole Aahn'laetar was quite cautious, was that the best 'sneak' that Xar'aziuth can send to investigate? ... -- Now Dana needs to reverse engineer a bunch of Shroud generators, so that they can hide John from Xar'aziuth in all his new empires, keep the mystery going, and drive the Devourer crazy, ... ;-) ttfn

Erotic Poetic

Sadly, I think Telfers followers are down to the die hard fans. With such a phenomenal saga, his base should be growing, not dwindling down to loyalists. Honestly Tefler, put out a poll. You’ve been putting out “partial” chapters that otherwise qualify as full chapters. See if we, the fans, approve of renumbering the chapters &/or scrapping the place holders and starting the new year fresh. You have my vote!! 👍🏽 Commit to posting chapters on Lit to get new patrons, do weekly or bi-weekly updates and post shorter chapters every 2 weeks so you can “feel the love” of your adoring fans again. The truth is, Tefler, we all want to see you win at life and we want the saga to continue. We know you can’t catch up if you continue this way, and everyone loses. Just hit the restart button and do better. We’re all rooting for you… even those of us who’ve turned to complaining.

Mick Peaper
>>160525565

Totally agree, I love the story and want to read the end. At the moment I am not sure if I have enough life left for the sequel. Please do the restart etc.

ThunderBird Two
>>160355169

No idea M, but the ones we have seen all appear to be character archetypes, and there are a lot of Progs to choose from. So one might be a sneaky type. If they can find the shroud generator , they could make an "anti shroud generator " to create a "reservation" for the Krix. But they did seem to be a bunch of bugs supremacists, who needed the exterminator calling

Gubment Cheez
>>160525565

Bruh, what? A full chapter for Tefler is about 100 KB in size. His partial chapters, 30 kb, 75 kb, not even close to qualifying as a full chapter. Renumbering unfinished chapters just to satisfy some unwashed heathens only inflates the final product. Quality over quantity should be the goal here. If chapters come out slower because Tefler's got productivity issues that's fine, I get it. It's this payment for promises, and in particular the 'credit' line that has been established that concerns me and has me restricting my support.

Big Dude

It is January 7th, will Tefler start responding weekly and improve the interactions between author and readers?

EroticPoetic
>>160314866

Can we all agree to scrap the placeholders and replace them with fanfic submissions, polls and contests or SOMETHING, literally ANYTHING that engages the fan base? Otherwise, just charge $3/chapter/month with ZERO FUTURE PLACEHOLDERS ALLOWED. Placeholders are psychologically offensive. We’ve all received over 100 free chapters and an incredible amount of entertainment in-story and in the comments. HOWEVER, empty promises month-after-month truly DO ruin the overall TSM fan experience. Scroll through the archives and you’ll see lots of interaction that made this account such an enjoyable experience.

Big Dude
>>160608598

This is so sad Hendrix. I know Darkstrider reads his comments. I can't fathom Tefler not seeing this and just flipping us off, but it does seem so! Tefler, do you not care about your readership?

Nate
>>160525565

Tefler’s chapters are about 5x longer than his peers. I absolutely support shorter more frequent chapters.

Nate

Tefler, you’re doing great work but I think you’re trying too hard and it’s hurting you. Your chapter lengths are getting longer and longer which is proof that you’re putting in a ton of effort but you are obviously not satisfied with the results. Someone else said you should release the chapters in segments and I completely agree. Maybe 1/3 their current length. Each chapter doesn’t need to be a huge carry-forward of the story. Just needs to differentiate moments where the story is developing. You are doing great, just need to break your project into more manageable pieces.

Woodrobin
>>160314866

The 100 chapters were an investment in building an audience and fan base that were attached enough to the story to want to support Tefler financially going forward. Also an investment of trust in Tefler that he had a commitment to carry the story forward. The steadily increasing placeholder backlog has resulted in a steady erosion of that trust. The long gaps between actual additions to the various plot threads have eroded attachment to the story. If it's months between installments, you can not only start to forget where the story left off, you can just plain forget about the story and author in general. Tefler made a choice to treat his fans as expendable, and as a result has expended most of them. It's as simple as that.

Erotic Poetic
>>160525565

Other authors I follow put out 2 chapters a month - per story line - and charge anywhere from $5-$15/month, and their combined content is significantly less than a full Chapter that Tefler puts out. The stories are far less complex, world building more restricted, and they’re all closer to the beginning of their stories. We’ve gotten used to these huge chapters, unfortunately with 2-4 place holders per chapter. Scrap the place holders, just call the partial chapters whole chapters, and put out more than one per month. Re-engage with the fan base and make the story and community fun again. Right now, we’re getting great content dropped at the final hour of the month (it’s never enough to quite scratch the itch for more) followed by a place holder or two, and an entire MONTH of complaining in the comments. Scroll back through the posting history. This used to be a GREAT place to hang out with other TSM fans… there was fun and excitement, and Tefler’s interaction with fans, occasional guest authors etc, kept this epic saga fresh and fun for years. It would be amazing to get back to that.

Greg Hill
>>160355169

@Unresolved Plots...good stuff! On your final point dealing with the Drakkar; while an official place in the alliance was never spoken of, technically they may still be part of it, due to the fact that they became the Ashanti's new Marine Corps, or at least what was left of the Drakkar did so after that epic battle. And with differing but similar situations for the Kintark and the Abandoned.

AzureReader
>>160725383

@Nate - His chapters are not getting longer. The first several chapters were short but soon ramped up to about 30k each for chapter 60-80. About three years ago Tefler said he wanted the chapters to average about 20K words and has been very good at hitting that target. The past 10 chapter average is 20552 words and chapter 172 was 20899 words. There is no trend up or down in chapter size. What is trending downwards is his writing speed. A few years ago he was averaging 1.5 chapters a month, about 30K words total. He has trended downward since then to 1/3 chapter a month or 7K words. At this point he’s barely clearing 200 words a day average. For reference, your comment from a couple days ago is about 100 words and probably took you 5 minutes to write. That’s half the number of words Tefler can pen in a full day. Making the chapters shorter won’t help unless you go to extremes. Given he’s writing 7K words a month and charging for two chapters he would need to reduce the chapter size from 20K to 3.5K words… to merely deliver what he’s charging for. To catch up on the 14 chapters he’s behind the chapters would need to be 2K words each, which at his current speed he could deliver three chapters. 2K words is barely a 4 page chapter… and it would still take him a year and a half to catch up on 14 chapters. Sadly even these extreme reductions in chapter size wouldn’t help for long. Tefler’s writing speed continues to trend downward. If the trend continues by end of 2025 he may not be able to write as much as you did in your comment in a full day of writing. Something is very wrong… and it’s not the chapter size.

ThunderBird Two
>>160355169

The Drakkar strike me as this worlds space orks. I wonder if there is some future twist concerning their "women", they weren't keen to be reunited with them. The Thralls are space elves, and the Stone men are (very tall) space dwarves.

Michael56Smith

-- I wonder if John will claim the Aeltains by recruiting their Matriarchm Caerthyna, (she's there in the Dreadnaught), or will he make his own new Matriarch like he did with the Galkirans? ... And if he does claim the Copper hued darlings through their existing Matriarch, will he also get all of the remaining (some lost to suicide before he claimed her) of her total Psychic Network too? (millions of newly claimed eldritch batteries for Baen'thelas, (a big power boost), ... all at more than double the eldritch power due to the removal of the Obedience compulsion and the impulse to suicide upon their master's death, ... Fanfiction says yes, the network transfers, but what is Tef's take on things? Oh, I am sure Tef will tell us in the next chapter (#173), .... can't wait, .... ;-) ttfn

ThunderBird Two
>>161032521

I don't think it works that way, but if it does, it may kill him. Remember John sends a little psychic love letter to each new thrall

Michael56Smith
>>161032521

-- Oh yeah, a few million, or even a billion hot 'love notes', .... yeah, that might drain him a bit, .... -- But then, he'll have all that extra Eldritch power, leaking out his ass, ... ;-) ttfn

Big Dude

Darkstrider delivers, nary a peep here.

20 ton
>>161032521

The real problem with the first love note recruiting was a lack of of energy management. The girls may be low now but when Edraele wakes up, hopefully less than 14hours he would have massive amounts. Only Tef is privy to the intricacies of how the connections work. Hope he enlightens us soon. I would love to see him show he isn’t blowing off our patience until the end of the month.

Michael56Smith
>>161032521

yeah, getting to the cleanup at Genthalas, and Edraele's awakening should be in chapter #173, .... and maybe we'll learn Valeria's fate too (runaway). .... and how will all the stranded Galkiran Fleet personnel be dealt with? And will some of the damaged ship components, like Tachyon weapons, be salvaged for Maliri use? ... -- I hope that to prevent the very one-sided battles that happened on Genthalas, John could make the Security forces there a few hundred Tachyon rifles, and possibly some better Armor too, ... (even Eitherite Armor with older Paragon suit shields (less than Progenitor level) would have been a great improvement, .... ;-) ttfn

20 ton
>>161032521

Production from the star forges or sharing the load on the inviticus is the key. With the ability to jump in now that X knows the location of Kyf, some black fleets will need to stay close. They must shut down both portals for outside use to slow attacks. If the forges can be used, designing a drednot destroyer should be high on the list with mass production. High thrust to weight ratio built around a disintegrator that is cloaked and has cloak breaker capabilities. Needs to be done before X is pushed to send multiple Progs to over whelm them.

William Wallace

Hi Tef, you know there is another way to increase your income, you started publishing on amazon. Was the sale so disappointing that you stopped it? Since after chapter 10 you chapters nearly became books, why not use 2 or 3 chapters and publish them as a follow up of the first books you published, you don’t need to have it printed sell them as Epub!

Michael56Smith
>>161425777

you said it Braveheart, .... more books in Amazon, .... he says that he wanted to 'fix'/ edit the chapters before publishing them, .... so, he blames the lack of time, .... -- I am hoping that he will finally remember to drop more chapters to the free sites, ... they have not seen any 'new' work since chapter #145, in April / May of 2023, .... Literotica and SOL are the 'Abandoned' (and no Brimorians were involved), .... help us Tef, .... help us, .... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith
>>161032521

A dozen fleets guarding Kythshara and another dozen fleets guarding the Hyper-Warp Gate there in the Nebula, ... The 'girls' need to repair or replace the AI computer system that ran / runs Kythshare and the Nebula weapons platforms, ,,, all of the fleet vessels aided with being able to see inside of the dense Nebula, and also backed up by Mael's big guns, ... and both protective Armadas are able to come to the other one's aid, ... ;-) ttfn

Michael56Smith
>>160525565

--- And I do Not like Discord, sorry, ,,, I gave it a shot, but it was a big-time time waster for me, ... -- Anthony Kester's Discord site was more enjoyable, ...;-) ttfn

ThunderBird Two
>>161032521

Good point MS, An Invictus MK2 with the cloak breaker tech built into it's sensors would be a game changer, but I suspect John would be loathed to use it due to thrall casualties

20 ton
>>161032521

Did Tef ever say why the Malari never built spider mines out of Chrystal at Genthalas? They were made from alyssum for ease of manufacturing on the ship. The material wouldn’t matter and a manufacturing line could produce volume. No reason not to spread it out as all families would have manufacturing facilities.

Mike Biagio

Eventually John will realise that he has to hunt xaraiuth in the astral plane and build up enough support from all of his girls combined

Jonathan Fowler

We should remember that Tefler is scheduled to have his surgery in January, assuming there are no more delays. This could be soon. It will disrupt his writing. But it may allow him time to think, revise and plan his plots and consider presenting them in the shorter chapter formats that many readers appear to be proposing as a way to catch up on the backlog. I wish Tef the best of luck with his surgery, and a swift and complete recovery afterwards.

mouadh housseini
>>161032521

Valeria will be an excellent addition to the invictus crew. And considering her character it's the only acceptable position after being demoted as matriarch. Also if it happens she will be connected to Alyssa and not the new matriarch

mouadh housseini
>>160355169

And the enshunus barbeque. (Also what is their link to the progenitors. Could they be the remnants of rahn's empire where the males took the power to avoid another progenitor takeover. Maybe even benefitted from the shroud by sheer proximity to Mael' territory. It sounds logical that xaraziut sent the closest progenitor (Rahn'agon) to investigate (also the shroud needs to be investigated and may be reproduced in the new thralls territory blinding Xaraziuth progressively

Michael56Smith
>>161634324

-- yeah, wouldn't that be great, ... Tef back and feeling good, .... writing multiple chapters each month, .... Yay! TSM lives! ;-) ttfn

Big Dude
>>161634324

Jonathan, that may be, but; he could still appear, state the inobvious with the obvious, and satisfy his remaining readers regarding his health and/or mental status. Instead, crickets chirp, owls hoot and coyotes howl. Yet, no lion roars except at the end of the month, and lately it has been a quiet meow. You all know which category you belong. Heh heh heh. Happy New Year!

Michael56Smith
>>161634324

yeah Big Dude, but then, Tef has NEVER been much of a communicator, ... just sayin, .... And it would likely be fairly difficult at this late date for Tef to change his troubling ways, ... ;-) ttfn

ThunderBird Two
>>160355169

Johns dad? I can't help thinking that would be a bad idea though. At best he would act like a dick, at worst he may turn on John. There's something funky going on with Johns two main matriarchs. A's DNA got involuntarily changed when she messed with her ears, and E is acting very strange at the moment. Maybe they are being "turbo charged" by the Keth DNA trap to turn on the Progs?

Garrett
>>160234216

Tefler isn't violating patreon's terms and conditions. You can report it, but they won't take action against him. It'll be interesting to see what he does when this site goes monthly subscriptions only.

SP Rupert

The month is 2/3rds over and no new content. I predict a paid partial chapter and 2 new placeholders for a total of 3 charges for those that have not limited what they allow Patreon to charge them for (I.e. only 1 charged creation post per month) This is fair warning for anyone that wishes to do so. For those that give freely to Tefler, this will be another gifting month from you to him.

Garrett
>>161949301

Blows me away that so many people here think stealing $1 from a thousand people rather than $1000 from one person is somehow acceptable.

Garrett
>>160725383

The obvious truth here is that he's not sitting down to write every day. He's busting out half-assed chapters at the last minute along with a bunch of excuses and place-holders. If he was sitting down every day to write, we'd see multiple chapters a month.

SP Rupert
>>161949301

The amount taken is definitely felonious amounts if a jury would agree to a crime. But someone would have to charge Tefler and the court battle would likely take longer than the current Patreon funding model would be in existence. I do doubt that the outcome for this month will be any different than I stated. It is my hope that people take whatever appropriate actions they deem fit before the end of the month.

Greg Hill
>>161634324

Yeah, the cautionary tales of an ongoing 4 year saga about the woes of a broken-down hospital system...in this case is akin to one of Aesop's Fables. If you catch my drift! I have never seen any other Brit say a hospital procedure took all of 4 years...how can anyone even live with the constant pain of gallstones for that long without getting treatment? not 3 months, but about 3 years now... That's "I...F" you buy into UK health system being that bad! (hint; it's not!) wow!

AzureReader
>>161634324

Is this the surgery he’s had scheduled every month for the past couple of years? Not expecting that to ever happen.

Jim Owens

Is anyone taking bets on this months submission? 5000 words, 10k words, 15k, 20k? Do we get more than 1 chapter(lol).

AzureReader

Tefler’s writing speed has gradually slowed down, but he is pretty consistent. Tefler was doing 10K words/month until very recently. The most recent two 7K posts suggest that may become his new speed. If he posts 7K on January 31 I’d say so. Or he might bounce back to 10K. Rarely does he significantly break from his average speed - like deliver a whole 20K word chapter. Doesn’t stop me from hoping.

patreonpatreonpatreon

At a certain point it's going to have more placeholders than actual chapters left, fun fun

Robert D Hixson

Do the best you can pal and for God's sake, don't sacrifice your relationship with your wife. Thank you for the wonderful story!

Paladin

6 days including today until the end of the month. The current question is…. Will there be an attempt to catch up chapters or a token 1/2 half chapter with 1 or 2 placeholders?

ThunderBird Two
>>162523666

He has had his hospital appointment, and written 2/3 of a chapter, while he was recovering. As such, there will now be 2 full chapters per month. I can dream

SP Rupert
>>162523666

Let’s not kid ourselves. You KNOW what the answer is going to be. Why would it be any different this month?

nig a
>>161634324

And gallstones is keyhole surgery now, in and out same day. It's excuses for writers block

AzureReader
>>162641219

Someone should get Tefler a calendar. His clock only tells two times: “final hour of the month” and “not final hour of the month”.

Jonathan Fowler

Sometimes gallstone operations have complications, and require a lot more than "keyhole surgery." We just hope that Tef's operations is/was straightforward. Now, once recuperated, and having read all the comments, he can churn out anywhere from two to four short chapters a month and be cuaght up ion no time, and have all the fans cheering him on. I like to think positively! I look forward to being pleasantly surprised at the end of this month.

JP
>>162803700

You actually believe he had gallbladder issues?

Garrett
>>162523666

Well, he could always vanish suddenly for six months without a word...

Garrett
>>161565099

Eventually Tefler will realize he actually has to write if we're ever to find out if you're correct.

Big Dude
>>162641219

W^2. Some people are idiots and some people are morons. M56S has both qualities. Carry on!

Jim Owens

So it's the 30th. Are we getting something today? I hope so. It sucks not knowing. You would think someone taking your money would want to entice his customers with some information or anything.

Jim Owens
>>162803700

I wish we all knew the truth of what is going on with Tef. We all love his epic story like an addict loves Crack on free Crack day. I like the idea of staying positive, though it is very difficult. I stayed positive all last year and was proven wrong every single month. So I have shifted to indifference. I also cut my subscription down to the $1 tier.

Khaldian
>>162987856

Tomorrow or the day after most likely. It’s been the last day or the first of the month for posts recently.

Greg Hill
>>162987856

It seems to be a system that he uses...he drops it in the very last minutes of the month, so 2 minutes later he can hit you with the 2 placeholders, before you can drop him for the month, after receiving your already paid for snippet...he holds that snippet as close to 12:00 am EST as he possibly can....what I described is exactly the same every month!

Jeff

Standing by for the 1/4 of a chapter and a double placeholder because his cousins dog has arthritis and he needs to pay the dogs bills and for a home dog nurse to take care of it or some other issue

Michael56Smith
>>162987856

Hey Jim, check with Braveheart, William Wallace, as he has a calendar, ,,, one more day, ... ;-) ttfn

AzureReader
>>162987856

Tefler needs to beat Patreon’s end of month. They are in California and he’s in England and he takes advantage of that. I would expect him to post around 4AM to 6AM London time on Feb 1st, which is still Jan 31st in California. He would probably push it ever further but I think he’s ready to give up by then.

Kris

Everyone geared up for a quarter chapter and two advance charges?

G
>>162987856

Not knowing? By now? Are you crazy? We all know lol.

JP
>>163034677

I'm betting his neighbour's house exploded and he doesn't have insurance to cover the damages to his place.

SP Rupert

Mere hours away from the precharges.

AzureReader

Everyone has several hours set your subscription limit to 1 charge per month. It takes 10 seconds. Do it so you don’t have to waste your breath complaining about 2 precharges. I would never suggest this with any author that charges for two chapters when they deliver two chapters. Tefler has delivered 1/3 of a chapter the past couple months and charged for 2 chapters each time. That’s 6 times more than he’s delivering. It’s in your power to limit it to 3x. This is how you protest the precharges.

Jason Fish

So how does this work? If I cancel my membership do I still get access to all the chapters I pre paid for or I am just screwed? Asking for a friend.

AzureReader
>>163184050

You’re screwed but you can cancel and come back a year later and pick up maybe 3-4 chapters for $1.

Garrett
>>163166872

Only if you don't limit your monthly contribution to 1$. Everyone should do so at this point. The placeholders will only stop when Tefler can't make money from them.

Steve Raulerson

I don't see a membership option for $1 per month, just $1 per chapter. Am I missing it somewhere?