History Literature / CountToTheEschaton

!!Forthcoming

* ArcWords: "Count to a trillion" is one, the length of time it will take for [[spoiler: Rania's starship to return to earth]]; as is, possibly, "asymptote."

* ''Vindication of Man''

Menelaus Ilation "Meany" Montrose, a Texas-born gunslinger, lawyer, mathematician, and astronaut, [[GoneHorriblyRight goes insane after injecting himself with an IQ-increasing]] SuperSerum, and is cryosuspended during the voyage to the Monument. He wakes to a BadFuture. In little more than 8,000 years, the alien beings who set up the Monument as bait to test younger civilizations' starfaring progress, will arrive and enslave the Earth's population. Resisted by the remaining members of the crew--particularly his former best friend, Ximen "Blackie" Del Azarchel--Menelaus decides to spend the intervening milennia preparing humankind to resist.

* SwansASwimming: Rania is repeatedly refered to as a Swan Princess.

* WakeUpFighting: Menelaus coldsleeps with loaded pistols in his hands for this purpose. [[spoiler: It doesn't help him much in ''Hermetic Millenia'']].

* BrainInAJar: Explicitly shows up in ''Architect Of Aeons''. Menelaus is stuck on the sidelines, of a DuelToTheDeath that he set up, where one of the participants is a "whale-sized" {{Transhuman}} (and the other uses Jupiter as a computer's CPU). Due to events, the Transhuman ends up dying in am messy way, while dropping a 'trinket': [[spoiler:Menelaus' ''original brain'' [[WhamLine kept for sentimental reasons]]]].

* ArcWords: "Count to a trillion" is one, the length of time it will take for [[spoiler: Rania's starship to return to earth]] as is, possibly "asymptote."

* BroadStrokes: Some cultures' versions of past history are...strange. The Witches, for example, believe that Creator/CSLewis and Creator/ArthurCClarke explored the Louisiana Territory in 1492...

* OneHeadTaller: Mentally invoked by Menelaus after Princess Rania's growth spurt: "He hated the fact that the top of her head no longer fit nicely under his chin when they hugged...It seemed obscurely unnatural, as if someone had made a mistake when putting the universe together."

The ''Count to the Eschaton'' trilogy is a HardScienceFiction[=/=]SpaceOpera series in progress by JohnCWright.

* RedHeadedHero: Menelaus.

!!Forthcoming

!!Forthcoming (possibly)
* ''The Concubine Vector''

!!Forthcoming

* StayInTheKitchen: Lady Ivinia explains that this is her place, not councils of war, so she merely effectively orders the men to overcome the foe they face or commit suicide for failure.

* WakeUpFighting: Menelaus coldsleeps with loaded pistols in his hands for this purpose.

* ''The Judge of Ages''(?)

Menelaus Ilation "Meany" Montrose, a Texas-born gunslinger, lawyer, mathematician, and astronaut, [[GoneHorriblyRight goes insane after injecting himself with an IQ-increasing]] SuperSerum, and is cryosuspended during the voyage to the Monument. He wakes to a BadFuture. In little more than 8,000 years, the alien beings who set up the Monument as bait to test younger civilizations' starfaring progress, will arrive and enslave the Earth's population. Menelaus decides instead to shape human civilization over milennia to prepare and resist this fate.

* AncestralWeapon: Some weapons have to become this, because they have lost the art of changing the bloodlocks on them.

* ColdSleepColdFuture

* CorruptChurch: One thing that happened while he slept

* CultureClash: competing cultures from different eras, all woken at once -- many.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Coming out of a cryogenic chamber

* IWillWaitForYou: Menelaus's motive in the second book

* MadScientist: Menelaus tries a very hypothetical experiment out on himself. The effect is very strange.

* TitleDrop: "Counting to a trillion" is a metaphor in the first two books for something true but outside your ability to handle.

* WhiteStallion: Cryogenically frozen for the knights
* WithDueRespect: Menelaus to Chimerae -- he's posing as a subordinate one.

* KnightInShiningArmor: The defenders of the Tombs

* ShoutOut: Too many to list. (What? Never heard of Sir Edward Marlinson??

* StayInTheKitchen: Lady Ivinia explains that this is her place, not councils of war, so she merely effectively orders them to overcome the foe they face and commit suicide for failure.

[[redirect:Literature/HermeticMillenium]]

The ''Count to the Eschaton'' trilogy is a HardScienceFiction[=/=]SpaceOpera series in progress by JohnCWright.

!!Books thus far.
* ''Count to a Trillion''
* ''The Hermetic Millennia''

!!Forthcoming
* ''The Judge of Ages''(?)

!!! Tropes featured
* AbdicateTheThrone: A theoretical solution to their problems, at one point.
* AboveGoodAndEvil: We don't have to teach post humans to be good while we make them.
* AbusivePrecursors: The aliens have yet to show up, but have made their intentions clear.
* AncestralWeapon: Some weapons have to become this, because they have lost the art of changing the bloodlocks on them.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Menelaus watches this trope in action. He doesn't approve.
* BuxomIsBetter: The Nymphs hold to this. And bio-engineer themselves accordingly.
* TheCaptain: Princess Rania also commands the world's only (functioning) starship.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: The princess is deeply involved in her people's welfare.
* ColdSleepColdFuture
* CliffHanger: The ending of ''Count to a Trillion''
* CorruptChurch: One thing that happened while he slept
* CrapsaccharineWorld
* CryIntoChest: Rania possibly invokes this with Menelaus.
* DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes: Coming out of a cryogenic chamber
* DirtyBusiness: Dealing with blighters.
* DoctorsOrders: Menelaus can talk casually with the effective ruler of Earth. When he must be examined by a doctor, he finds it much harder to assert himself.
* DreamingTheTruth: Menelaus. Also Mickey.
* DrivenToSuicide: Captain Grimaldi [[spoiler:At least according to Blackie]]
* DuelToTheDeath: Menelaus's occupation, as junior member of a law firm.
* DueToTheDead: Menelaus's only objection to the absence of religion.
* EasyAmnesia: the Nymphs' Nepenthe.
* EmpathicWeapon: Some last from the days of the Sylphs, though people don't understand them.
* ErmineCapeEffect
* EvolutionaryLevels: Used to soothe the conscience, by some characters.
* ExtremeOmnisexual: Nymphs, throughout their culture; those who do not like it are given a chance to cryogenic sleep to a more pleasing time to them.
** ParentalIncest: A nymph casually mentions that they expect a man's first sexual partner to have been his mother.
* FirstNameBasis: Menelaus insists on it
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Menelaus
* ForcedToWatch: For ''really'' illegal stuff.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Prince Ranier
* GenreSavvy: Menelaus has read SF. He notices certain lacks.
* GreyGoo: Golden goo, to inaugurate a Golden Age.
* GreenEyedMonster: Blackie
* TheGunslinger
* HowManyFingers: TheMedic tries this.
* HumanPopsicle
* IGaveMyWord: Why Menelaus survived.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Oenoe agreed to something to please her beloved, which is why she is in the Tombs
* IWillWaitForYou: Menelaus's motive in the second book
* KingInTheMountain: These legends congregate about the Tomb.
* KnightInShiningArmor: The defenders of the Tombs
* KnightTemplar: REAL Hospitallers show up. (Although the badge described is that of the English Protestant "Order of St. John")
* LoveAtFirstSight: Nymphs can induce this, biochemically.
* LoveTriangle: Blackie, Rania, and Menelaus.
** TwoPersonLoveTriangle: Menelaus, [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Iron Menelaus]], and Rania.
** LovesMyAlterEgo: Rania fell in love with Iron Menelaus.
* MadScientist: Menelaus tries a very hypothetical experiment out on himself. The effect is very strange.
* MeaningfulEcho
* TheMedic: Menelaus can argue with the Master of the World, but not the doctor
* MenDontCry: His mother insists on this.
* TheMentor: Among the Blue Men, a formal relationship
* TheMutiny: Occurs when Menelaus does not remember it, but is crucial to the plot
* MurderByCremation: [[spoiler: What really happened to Prince Ranier]].
* NamedWeapons: The Chimarae practice this.
* NiceToTheWaiter: Larz claims Menelaus is not this
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Menelaus's SuperSerum. He gets called on this by Blackie.
* NotAGame: Menelaus rebukes himself at one point for forgetting this.
* OneHeadTaller: Mentally invoked by Menelaus after Princess Rania's growth spurt: "He hated the fact that the top of her head no longer fit nicely under his chin when they hugged...It seemed obscurely unnatural, as if someone had made a mistake when putting the universe together."
* ParentalSubstitute: Soorm finds one in his story.
* PeopleOfHairColor: Blondies
* PetTheDog: Menelaus at one point concludes that another character can like dogs and ''still'' be all bad.
* PrincessClassic: Wright is, after all, the self-proclaimed founder of the New Space Princess Movement.
* ThePromise: Menelaus makes one very young.
* RequisiteRoyalRegalia
* ReversePsychology: One character argues with Menelaus as if he wants him to do the opposite.
* RoyalBlood
* ServantRace: to be genetically engineered.
* ShoutOut: Too many to list. (What? Never heard of Sir Edward Marlinson??
* SingleTear: Oenoe's story induces this.
* SlaveRace: The aliens' plans for us.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Menelaus swings between "aw shucks" Texanisms and ultrafluent Lawyerese or AntiquatedLinguistics.
* SpringIsLate: Years late.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide
* SuperSerum / PsychoSerum
* TapOnTheHead: Takes Menelaus out, old style.
* TheyHaveTheScent: The dog things invert it -- by howling with frustration, they show they don't have the scent.
* TimeAbyss: To quote the author, the story will be followed to "the year Oh-My-Gosh-That's-A-Lot-Of-Zeroes".
* TitleDrop: "Counting to a trillion" is a metaphor in the first two books for something true but outside your ability to handle.
* TooDumbToFool: Sometimes you're victorious when you can't be smart enough, but can be stupid enough.
* TrulySingleParent: The princess has only a father, though he was not the one to make her.
* UhOhEyes
* UnreliableNarrator: In ''The Hermetic Millennia'', large sections are first-person accounts by people who are not to be trusted.
* VisualNovel: ''Asymptote'' seems to be this.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: And, indeed, your own electronic copy.
* WhiteStallion: Cryogenically frozen for the knights
* WithDueRespect: Menelaus to Chimerae -- he's posing as a subordinate one.
* AYearAndADay: How long Soorm had to serve to sleep in the Tombs.
* YouAreNumberSix: Crewman Fifty-one.
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* PrincessClassic