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Monday. Went and got food. Skipped shooting. Wasn’t sure why I didn’t want to until just now. Freaking exhausted. Then Fabulous Publisher Babe™ pointed out that I’ve been going like hell for more than a week now.

And I have.

Last Tuesday, recorded vocals for the next song. Had to kind of crash that into the schedule because English Paul is going to be moving to Los Angeles in the near future, as his wife got a fabulous new job down there.

Which, in turn, led me to ordering a lot of hardware that I will need, to record such things here in the future. Will be headed to the post office box later today to pick everything up, as it should have come in over the weekend in various dribbles.

I have a song I want to work on, as I teach myself music. The only instrument I ever learned was voice, so I didn’t get exposed to all those other things that instrumentalists take for granted. (I had to stop Paul and back him up several times when he lost me while explaining his processes. And he did that a lot.)

For you, what book might you recommend for me to learn the basics of music theory and composition?

I don’t learn visually, so please don’t suggest I go watch 70 hours of youtube videos. (Seriously, I had a question once and some jackknob suggested that somewhere in those 70 hours would be the answer, because he was a busybody and intellectual bully who didn’t know anything about astrophysics, but was unwilling to admit it. I don’t talk to him anymore.)

Slight off-topic grumble. Sorry. Really BAD coffee at the place. I mean, the worst you can get around here. The asphalt I drove in on probably tastes better. There is a reason I drink light roast, freshly ground beans I pull out of the freezer.

After this, I will also write the Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter and send it out. As noted, the last week has been kind of a blur of rolling gators, so today is going to be at a somewhat slower pace.

Doesn’t help that I’m Gamemastering a group of lunatics tonight, so I have to save up spoons for that, too.

Writing side, I finished the fourth of the Thriller Shorts for Buchman’s new Thrill Ride magazine he’s hoping to start next spring. Had a lot of fun. Introduced an entirely new character set, and played with the theme of Betrayal in a couple of ways that hopefully none of you will see coming.

Then I and Cole wrote the fifth Commander Stephanie Machesky space erotica novella. #4 should be out December. The goal is keep these going every other month. #5 is actually a part-one, so I already know what shape #6 will take.

Figure one of these days I will have enough mass over there to have fans. A few folks have been reading them, but not nearly enough to quit the day job.

With Stephanie done, I pivoted back over to the cyberpunk future.

Owen mentions his buddy Geoff in a flew places. This is the first Geoff story, and will come out as part of Boundary Shock Quarterly in the spring. (Deadline at my end is Jan 1. Pub in April) These are all part of a larger, richer universe that will form the background of the rock opera Paul and I will be writing. (I’ve already started the lyrics to a couple. And I have the love triangle story in my head that will come after this. Owen and Nigel (and Bash) will be there. As will Xavia, Djinn, and Rutger.

Gonna be fun.

I have a stack of things on my To Write list that will keep me busy for the rest of the year. A short story prequel to the Corsac Fox series, that will go out to everyone who backs the kickstarter when it comes in December. More Last Stand novellas. More Stephanie erotica. More Marrakesh. More Science Officer.

And more stuff for you folks.

Anybody have a sub-genre of SF that they’d like to see me tackle more of with these shorts? Happy to oblige. At some point, I’ll be putting out a lot of short fiction, about half of which none of you have seen yet. (heh)

More words today. More words tomorrow. Cruising along towards the end of the year.

Hopefully, your Monday is more energetic than mine it. (Or not, depending on your needs.)

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the foggy Mountains, WA

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