[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

Oh, hey, it’s Tuesday. My system alerts on new email forgot to wake up this morning, so just now seeing something that went out three hours ago.

Whoops.

Been a weird fun week. I have written two new Red Branch shorts that were originally for a multi-author project that has fallen through, but I had the ideas and decided to run with them. Book Six (sometime next spring) is kinda the end of Season One. You’ll understand when you get to the last page. Got about a million notes for Season Two, but the idea of contributing in-universe shorts to a group anthology inspired a lot of sideways thinking.

So, two of the four done. Three fiction and one intended “Your Ukrainian Grandman’s Cookbook” for that taste of home the team no longer gets because they are in the Western Hemisphere. Gonna be a #7 that falls into that same liminal space as Science Officer #9, which was also a series of shorts intended to bridge to a new season of stories.

Because I can. And could write a 3400 word story yesterday at the coffee shop and book store.

Also around the ¾ mark of Scattered Tribes #4, for those of you who remember Holden, Griffon, and Reilly. Planning five and hoping to drop them next fall if all goes well.

And, because I’m a dork and having a lot of fun, I put out a note on social media (both FB and Bluesky) for anybody wanting to First Reader the new Belle’s Fortune series that I finished #1 in in July. Yell if you wanna and include an email to send it to. You might even recognize where I got the idea if you’ve paid attention. (Don’t spoil everyone else.)

Lots of August yardwork. That’s when the grass mostly dies and the blackberries get rude, so I’ve been out with brushcutter and machete. Knock it all down now, so that winter means it is in sad shape and maybe next year I can push it even farther back.

About to start a long set of errands in town shortly. Lots to do. Fun to have. Crazy to share.

As one does.

How’s your summer shaping up?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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