The Journal Entries

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

An original set of stories occurring in the same universe, The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales by Elf Mathieu Sternberg (also called "the Pendorwright stories"), follows the experiences of Shardik through several centuries of events. The first story was published in 1990 and the series been updated in the years since. The series contains multiple story-arcs, including several one-shots, and is not necessarily published in chronological order.

Individual stories run the gamut from G- to X-rated, though almost all stories contain a plot of some form.

The entire body of work can be found here. As of early 2021, there are 363 Journal Entries stories.

Not to be confused with Shardik, though the use of the name is probably some manner of Shout-Out.

Tropes used in The Journal Entries include:
  • A God Am I: Subverted. Ken Shardik basically creates an entire world and more than ten different races, taking his fantasies and making them reality (albeit the hard way). He also goes off and manages to save a goddess at the same time. Through all of this, plus the fact that he lives at least 37000 years (the last main-series story has him alive at 37555 Pendorian years after initial decant), he does not like to be addressed as any sort of god. "I'm just this guy, you know? No more or less special than any other interstellar traveller. What I did was so long ago the story is better told by others anyway."
    • However, "oh my fah" has more or less replaced "oh my god" among Pendorians, and "fah" is short for "father," meaning Ken. Ken himself sometimes says the phrase himself reflexively a few times, but almost always lampshades the self-reference.
  • Anyone Can Die: Sort of. The last episode details the end of the universe with all but two (secondary) characters dead.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: AI Fawn, gravitics, ringworld, really too many to list.
  • Beast Folk/Half-Human Hybrid: Some of the races Shardik creates for Pendor are genetically engineered from mixes of human and animal genes.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Pendorians are, on the whole, kind, generous, loyal, smart, creative, and will dedicate themselves to hunting you to the ends of the universe if you try to harm them in any way.
  • Big Brother Is Watching: The quasi-omnipresent Pendorian AIs are depicted as a positive example of this -- they're a fully accepted and valuable part of Pendorian society and there's nothing visibly sinister about them, but their surveillance is nonetheless pretty much complete on Pendor and its starships or embassies.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Despite appearances, most of the Pendorian races have biologies that would not seem alien to a human specialist. But there are some ... borderline ... cases. Like the Tindals, who have tentacles for arms, but are otherwise fairly close to the human model.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: Donna.
  • Driven to Suicide: Dodged a few times, first by P'nyssa, especially since suicide is taken very seriously in the universe.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: In "The Last Journal Entry", Fawn survives the end of the universe billions of years hence and triggers the birth of a new one with the words "Let there be."
  • Everyone Is Bi: Not always, but much more prevalent than the present.
  • Exotic Equipment: Generally averted with the races Shardik creates, as most can have sex with humans without any difficulty.
  • Freaky Friday Flip[context?]
  • Green-Skinned Space Babe: Completely literal with Princess Anlestin, although Ken tends to think of her as 'cute' more than anything else.
  • Humanoid Aliens: Most of the races Shardik created for Pendor, although some, like the Tindals, still manage to be very different from humans.
  • Immortality: Healing Factor through nanotech and other technology, Resurrective Immortality through the use of Brace.
  • It's Personal: Against the entire human race, for a time, due to Donna being shot and killed by human dissenters.
  • The Maker: Shardik.
  • Out with a Bang: Played completely straight in one episode.
  • People Jars: In a far less creepy example than most, Shardik and Fawn grow the initial population of Pendor in what amounts to People Jars, decanting them when they are mature enough to enter the world.
  • Pocket Dimension: Pendor is created and develops in one while Shardik is in Suspended Animation; about a century after he reawakens and opens the ringworld to exploration by the races he created, he opens up the Pocket dimension and moves Pendor and its sun Pin into the greater universe.
  • Porn with Plot: Most if not all of the more adult pieces stay firmly in this territory.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Ken, at least twice:
    • After the second time an assassin tried to kill Ken for buying Earth (and Ken wrongly thought he had killed a close friend), Ken activates the Shaa nanotech supersoldier prototype suite had been carrying for several centuries (and never bothered to get removed or upgraded to a production version). He kills the assassin by grinding his head into his neck, crushing the top of his spine.
    • During the Sinox attack on Llerkin, Ken goes personally to try and rescue the Royal Family. He finds a Sinox capture team at the palace, apparently intent on the same targets. They're wearing environment suits. He's wearing power armor. Ken finds the experience traumatic. Ultimately, the Rampage may not be limited to just Ken. Later references to the Sinox are always in the past tense.
  • Sex Tropes: Just about all of them, including:
    • Asexuality: Seen most often with the AIs, but some other characters as well.
    • Bed Trick: Used once to bypass restrictions on the club they're in.
    • Boldly Coming: Since the entire populace of Pendor would be considered aliens, and they do meet up with Earth eventually, yeah... Just a bit.
    • Coitus Uninterruptus: Seen often at Rhysh, but in other instances as well.
    • A Date with Rosie Palms.
    • Everybody Fornicates: Pendorians do not get married as such, only setting up contracts for raising children.
    • Exotic Equipment: Not present with most of the Pendorian races (though the quadrupeds do require some additional maneuvering), but does occur with the Llerkindi.
    • Fetish: A couple... hundred...
    • Free-Love Future: Most of Pendor, though monogamy is not necessarily looked down upon.
    • Hermaphrodites: The Han. Justified in that they were deliberately created that way to improve their chances of survival on the rather inhospitable planet their makers had landed on more or less by accident before the latter died themselves.
    • Hollywood Sex: Subverted. Most of the characters do in fact have conversations about the preparations (STDs and the like) and the bed conversation typically includes movement considerations.
    • Hot for Student: Explored a few times.
    • I Kiss Your Foot.
    • Interspecies Romance: Uh, duh?
    • The Loins Sleep Tonight.
    • Lust.
    • Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Some of the stories seem to have this as their focus.
    • Rape Is Love: Subverted, to an extent. Used when Kennet returns from being MIA for several years.
    • Zero-G Spot: Used a lot (not all the time due to artificial gravity) during space travel.
  • Stable Time Loop: One of the earliest stories has Shardik going back in time to give Fawn the AI to his younger self and start the whole cycle anew.
  • Suspended Animation: After designing Pendor and the races that will live there and setting its development into motion, Shardik puts himself into hibernation until it's complete and ready to be inhabited.
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