This story I originally wrote some years ago, before I wrote my first Dominions novel. I’ve improved a lot since then, so that original 5000 word story was pretty poor‌—‌sentences that I probably thought sounded good at the time, lots of superfluous information, and nowhere near as much subtlety as I imagined.

But I liked the general idea, so I reworked it‌—‌tightened the writing, made the back-story less obvious, and cut a whole section concerning a dog (an often-repeated piece of writing advice‌—‌never have a main character harming a dog. They can to whatever they want to people, but very few readers will forgive violence towards dogs).

I also shortened the title (it was originally To Serve The Community). I’m pleased with this new version.

You can read To Serve by clicking here. I’d love to hear what you think‌—‌just add a comment below the story.