Sofya's Choice, Anno Stellae 1912, Anno Stellae 1918: RetroStar Chronicles, #1

By R.D. Ginther

Sofya's Choice

This very short book is really an introduction to the strange and unusual upcoming events, taking place on earth, in this marvelous series called The RetroStar Chronicles. A young woman by the name of Sofya and of lavish means took a husband who was not, although he could boast of his title as Count Lev Tolstoy, (also known as Leo Tolstoy outside of Russia), and of his many lustful exploits. But marrying Sofya turned out to be a turning point in his life, where he went on to even greater exploits. We see that Sofya's choice was not one made exclusively by her, since she was unknowingly influenced by the mysterious alien entity. This fatal choice led to bizarre yet macabre events to unfold, like a domino effect, completely unknown to her, and travelling distances well away from her. Showing us that this alien entity's influence knows no bounds, for now.

 

Chronicle 1

Anno Stellae 1912 volume 1, is the first of this fictional sci-fi series written by R.D. Ginther. This book starts us off with mysterious deaths and occurrences, that cannot be explained, except with the sudden appearance of the Red Star. As you continue on with the series, you will recognize some familiar disastrous events, which R.D. Ginther attributes to this foreign entity. And although this is his lifetime research, take away and interpretation of these events, his insightful rendition is considerably entertaining.

 

Chronicle 2

Anno Stellae 1918 – Still undetected by the planet's species of "tiny creatures," the Alien Star-Jewel, the Red Star, inspires the corporal who will become the wannabe world-ruler Adolf Shickelgruber, the Fascist dictator of Germany. Shickelgruber is obsessed with the theory of Hollow Earth, to the point of appointing a scientist to investigate. The scientist, recognizing the madness in Shickelgruber could lead to the destruction of his family decides to vanish. But before he does a fade out into the jungle, he discovered what the dictator may be looking for, or maybe not?

• Language: English
• Publisher: K.A.Edwards
• Release date: Jan 25, 2025
• ISBN: 9798230942320

Book preview

Foreword - Brief Account of the Twin Earths

At one time, two planets flew together around their modest-sized sun on the edge of their galaxy. Though existing in two separate universes, the Twin Earths were ingeniously connected by a  bridge that permitted people to pass from one to the other and back again.  There was constant commerce and social contact between them.  On both worlds mighty civilizations sprang up long before recorded human history.  The Golden Age, once begun, promised to go on forever.

But a war broke out and slowly spread to the entire universe until it reached the Twins.  Called the War of Heaven, it was so deadly and inescapable, that numberless worlds that would be lush gardens today, full of plants, animals, and highly intelligent human beings, were now desolate hunks of rock and ice hurtling through cold, black space.

The War struck the Twins with similar disastrous results.  Civilized life was destroyed by volcanic and crustal shifts.  But this was only part of the calamity.  The Land Bridge and the continent of Atlantis was destroyed shortly after 10,000 B.C.

Later, Earth's twin was visited, unofficially and fatally,  by a Stone of Fire.  The effect was like that of a most powerful and volatile drug.  Sometimes it killed outright, nipping the victim in the bud.  Other times it stimulated fantastic achievements and growth. But though for a time there seemed to be unparalleled scientific and technological progress, the world was actually racing toward the abyss.  After the collapse of world government, except for the findings of a  lone scientist by the name of Dr. Pikkard, who had assiduously researched the question of the decline and came to some startling conclusions, it appeared that nothing could stop the downward, fatal spiral.  Earth II eventually lost its native sun and moon and had to be moved far out to the Galactic Star Cluster of 3C 295 to escape total destruction with the solar system. The planet came to rest beside a cloud of stellar material called a  Star Cloud.  Unless the cloud ignited into a star, it seemed Earth II would never again know a true Sun again. 

Earth II revived, climbing painfully out of holes and clefts of the mountain rocks to begin anew.  As with all memory of the sister planet, all recollection of the sun and comings and goings between the two worlds across the bridge, were soon lost.  It was a lonely struggle to achieve order and meaning in a corner of the universe where survival was very difficult.

In spite of the severe climate, first the cold and ice, then the burning heat of the deserts and loss of many species in the plant and animal kingdoms, intelligent races fashioned a new life.  Unfortunately, the Stone was responsible for the form it took, though the Stone did its work sight unseen and unknown to the victims.  A second mortal blow was struck.  The civilization collapsed.  Except for Dr. Pikkard, who came to some startling conclusions, it appeared that nothing could stop the Stone from interfering with humanity and inducing  the old downward spiral that had afflicted the planet before the re-location. The decline of culture and technology seemed irreversible, even as another civilization arose, the Bronze Age cultures of  Joseph II’s time.

The chronicles detail how the people of that time met the challenge of the unseen foe, before and after the Re-location of the planet to 3C 295. 

Sofya’s  Choice

Anno Stellae 1862

Chapter 1

St. Petersburg, 100 St. Peter and Paul Street. The young couple, Count Lev Nikolayevich and Sofya Andreyevna Bers, affianced and dressed to the nines, were exclusively permitted the grand parlor of the prospective father-in-law and mother-in-law, while servants looked discreetly in on them from time to time.

Sofya glanced up demurely at her dark, dashing suitor.  As usual, he looked absolutely magnificent!  She was pleased at the effect they must have made on inquisitive eyes—the dimness of the pillared, red velvet-curtained room giving her face, neck and bare shoulders a flawless, pale complexion and a sparkle to her normally hard, dark eyes, and her darling Lev in his magnificent hussar’s uniform. 

Darling Lev, there is something I should tell you before we are married.

Lev looked up from his newspaper, for he was following the latest races following some rather large betting losses in which he had, with bank holdings totally 2,000,000 rubles, also lost the family mansion at Yasnaya Polyana in Tula  (not a brick would be left of it when he returned, if he ever did go back).  He had nothing left to bet now, unless he mortgaged his remaining estate property, the land and its serfs.  Of course, if there was a horse that promised to win back all he had lost, he would stake everything!  Everything!  To the last kopeck!

Had she found out? he wondered, that he had this bad habit?  Surely she knew of his gambling vice.  Surely her friends and even his family, who were well aware he was nearly impoverished,  had informed her!  What could she be divulging now, just three days before the nuptials set to take place in the cathedral.  Women were always coming up with these things at the worst times!  He had only chosen her to find a little peace of  marital domesticity amidst the unrestricted bedlam of  his bachelor vices and lusts—now was she about to take it away?

She gave him a startled look.  Don’t look so at me!  It is nothing so bad as you seem to think! She laughed.  I haven’t been acting like a greengrocer’s daughter, running after men in the streets, or anything like that!  I just wanted to tell you I know all about your—your—"

Lev’s mind raced.  What had they told this innocent, unblemished, spotless lamb?  What poison about him had the old serpents in, camphor-reeking gowns and antique lace and pearl tiaras whispered into her tender white ears?  Surely not—?

He sprang up before she could get the terrible words out.  He was a man, he thought. A man should be man enough to take charge.

He laid a finger lightly on her stuttering lips.  Don’t trouble yourself so much, beloved.  I will tell you myself.  Yes!  I will tell you—everything!  Absolutely everything!

Going first to the doors, and setting chairs against them,  he returned to find his fiancé looking pale and bewildered.

Then he told her all as he had promised—every last disgusting tryst in the gutter with a nameless seamstress, and every last adultery with high society’s widows,  wives and debutantes.  Whose bed and boudoir hadn’t he visited?  It took quite some time too, for  he couldn’t remember them all on the spot, and the names were the most difficult, though he could recall every detail of their bodies. 

When he had finished, glad he had relieved his own horribly burdened conscience and cleared the way for complete understanding between them. He found Sofya looking  not so much shocked as she had at the first dozen or so affairs, but studiously thoughtful and determined. It was a successful move, he thought.  Now he might reward her with a little romance—after all, a little kiss or two and pressing of hands and a few such tokens of affection was expected of them during the courtship period.

His looks, noble title, and reputation did all the work, all he had to do was watch them perform mechanically but flawlessly.  He sat down beside her and began to stroke her hand, the way he always began with society women. A certain worshipful look  in his big dark eyes shining like diamonds between long, curly lashes. A little hand-stroking, seemingly so innocent, was the way to disarm the scruples of  most all women, and ultimately get his way with them, he had found since he was fifteen in a barn with milk maids at the family’s country estate. 

As though it cost her some pain to do the right thing, she grimaced as she pulled her hand away, surprising him for he had thought she would swoon in dead faint into his arms, as most women of her type always did. 

A kopeck for your thoughts,  he said,  putting on his most winning smile that meant he was pleased she was putting up a bit of resistance.

She rose slowly, put her sewing and embroidery basket down, and took a few steps away, turning her back.  "I thank you kindly for telling me those terrible things, darling.  I do so admire your honesty,  it is most noble of you,  though I don’t see it was all your fault as you have made it out.  No, no, no!  Those women, they saw how handsome you are, and so willing to please—"

Behind her Lev was shaking his head. What an innocent!  what a nincompoop she is! he was thinking in amazement.  Nothing he had said had penetrated her skull—the sheer enormity of the evil he had committed, beyond anything committed by any of his hundreds of  friends and acquaintances.  After hearing everything she still believed in his essential human goodness of  heart—when he was proven from Moscow to St. Petersburg the most vile creature alive on the earth!  His name was a byword in a thousand bordellos and bawdy taverns for debauched youth.  What was he to do?  What was he to do with her?

But you see it really was my fault, not theirs, and— he began lamely, the impossibility of his task crippling his normally facile tongue.

She turned around, her face a mask of  perfect control and ladylike composure.  "No, it is not!  You are too much a gentleman, to be taking the full blame.  Oh, I know women’s hearts.  Indeed, I do!  After all, I have one myself!  (and to prove it to him, seized his hand and pressed it to her breast where her evil heart was clanging against her ribs!).

She let his hand go, but he kept his hand right where she had put it.  She did not seem to notice, and went on.

Oh,  Lev, you do not really know us, the weaker sex and our deep, hidden secrets, as well as you think.  There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that one of our kind will not do to gain a man she has admired!  She will even—even.  Then, waving her hand in a manner indicating inability to describe it in words,  she left off, having suggested the most terrible acts imaginable.

Only then did Lev withdraw his hand, in disgust from her ridiculous manners more than anything.

Satisfied with her handling of  her most difficult interview with her suitor so far, she turned her back to him and  took a few dramatic steps away as she had seen it done somewhere on stage at the opera or theatre, paused, then went toward the door, turning to lean on it, sighing deeply.