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Been raining all weekend. Autumn has arrived. Voted yesterday. Washington does everything by mail, so I can make a coffee, put my feet up, and read the voter’s guide on every candidate. Didn’t take long, but I’ve turned into a yellow dog this year. And probably for a few more cycles.
Shit’s gone weird. Not unexpected. Talked about it in a paper I wrote for a political science class in college in 1988. But I also studied meta-history.
At the same time, if you read me, you know I hate bullies. Just flat out will not tolerate that sort of behavior. Don’t miss ex-friends who didn’t know how to read that room.
Grumpy today, so I’ll keep this tight. Finished Beckett Fernsby #7 last week (they started appearing in Boundary Shock Quarterly 025 and will be in most of the next long run, because I’m generally writing to BSQ themes). Wrote a short for Thrill Ride Magazine 011 (technically a fourth Boston story, so issues 04, 09, 10, and now 11). Started the fourth Red Branch novel.
First block was a trilogy. Took a break. Shifting into a larger scope and more fun. Plus a lot more research on things that never get taught in history classes until college and even then you have to be deep into a particular major to see it. Makes me read a lot. A LOT. Currently setting it in Yugoslavia in 1950, so the middle of the Tito-Stalin split and the Informbiro period. Crazy shit, and I have a degree in international relations that didn’t more than wave at this sort of thing in the distance as we drove by.
Also working on research for a new series. Kinda the fourth block of Action-Thriller to finish. Set in the modern. I’m calling it an Assassin Procedural for the moment, because trying to establish a story arc pattern that can be repeated on a grand scale with a new novel each time. Plus, the character I have in mind keeps getting deeper and more interesting as I think about their past and how they ended up with a finger on a trigger and an eye to a scope.
How does one decide to become a killer? Nobody does, except psychopaths and serial killers. Trying to avoid gong there. Mostly. You still have to be somewhat broken to actually do it, and in that crack is a story I can wedge.
Think it will be awesome, just have to get there. Red Branch first.
Hope your monday is going pretty okay.
shade and sweet water,
b
West of the Mountains, WA
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