20240805

[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.]

Over the weekend, Flight of the Cerberus came out wide. Been out in the store since the 1^st.

Not military space opera. Not as many people pre-ordered. First review was a three-star, probably for that reason. Folks probably want to demand that I write nothing but that, which is a shame. I gotta write other things than giant space battles killing thousands of nameless npcs.

And Air Pirates is a lot of fun. I certain enjoyed writing it. And exploring all sorts of things.

Hopefully, some of you will meander over and buy a copy and say nice things about it.

It’s Monday and I’m hard at work on more Action-Thriller stuff. Third Red Branch, which I have no doubts will also cause certain readers indigestion. Usually, the ones who have somehow missed the entire point of my catalog for the last decade. It happens. Folks are suddenly deeply surprised and offended that both Star Trek and the X-Men are somehow “woke.”

Seriously?

I’m not in their league, but I am in their vein, and if you haven’t realized that by now, I’m not sure I can help you, bubba.

Same same, it is August of a presidential election year, and those are always terrible for sales. People start paying more attention to politics about now, and don’t read as much. Like clockwork, that way, and I’ve been through several such elections as a writer now, so we were prepared to hunker down and ride it out.

Been that kind of year, honestly. Or two, going back to when the furnace died in Jan 2023. Just gotta hold on.

I can control my writing. And lean into it to keep my sanity. Not a lot else I can control right now.

Got a second project that kind of oozed up sideways at me over the last few weeks that’s giving me some physical work to do, so it’s helping me rebuild my physical endurance.

Emotional endurance still not for shit, but it will come back too at some point. Just gotta hold on.

Red Branch #3 should be done next week. Lot of short fiction after that before the next novel, so not sure what I’m writing after this. Mostly, I want to finish off a couple of series so I can put them out and go after a couple of new ideas, rather than writing one-off book ones for you folks.

Sometime soon, the second and third Swordmistress Zhen short stories will come out, for those of you that have read Traveler From the West. Jade Tiger and Angry Ghosts.

Gonna put out a lot of Action-Thriller between now and May, to get ready for a June book show.

Also going to Author Nation in Las Vegas in November. It replaced the 20 to 50 convention, and there are suggestions that I will be giving a talk while I’m there, as well as possibly being on panels.

Film at 11, as they say.

Not a lot past that. Another week, another drachma. Or something.

Just gotta keep one foot in front of the other.

Y’all keep up.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Monday. Crazy Monday. Instead of heading down to Krain Corner, I had to return a bunch of tables and chairs to the rental place in Fife. We had a big BBQ yesterday. Invited a bunch of folks. Put out a sign marked “Art Colony” both at the bottom of the driveway and out on the corner.

Apparently, I was broadcasting on the right frequency, because a pair of ladies saw the sign at random, and decided to investigate. Functionally crashed the party, then discovered their tribe and stayed to be fed and meet a bunch of people.

Utter success as an event. Kinda awesome overall. Still a lot exhausted and recovering, over and above the last month. That means that I have a reminder in my phone to send out the next episode of Scattered Tribes tonight, because the last week had been “go like hell, they might be catching up…” And this week isn’t much better, in the scope of things. Fortunately, all good and fun, just a LOT of stuff to accomplish. It’s 1030 and usually I start writing around 8. Just catching up. And took several days off, so way behind on writing and won’t catch up with it. Maybe at all this month, because I’m not going to stress about it. Got the rest of the year to sustain something, and I’m ahead of where I thought I’d be when I planned 2024.

Writing proceeds. Currently working on Red Branch #3. 10k words in, having finished Heather #3 last week. Still looking for some folks who want to First Reader Thriller instead of SF, because they are different interest fields and not everyone wants to.

Goal is dropping a BUNCH of Thriller Lite next April. The first Chace collection (stories 1-4), the first Chace Novel, three Red Branch, at least one Gator (with ideas towards a second one), plus something SF. Not sure what the SF is.

Currently:

Dec: Science Officer 14

Jan: Gunderson 2

Feb: Corsac 5

Mar: Deadeye 2 (with an updated Deadeye 1 “Moscow Gold” going up shortly)

Apr: Gloryhound (Peter Najjar 1)

May: Corsac 6

Not sure past that. Got a lot of stuff in the trunk to drop out and start earning me money. And working to finish Corsac Block One (7), more Science Officer, Heather, and several others. Not enough hours in the day to write all I want to, and I knew that this year would create production problems that would show up next year in random publishing.

Can’t be helped.

Well, it could, but you need to tell all your friends to buy more of my books, so I can afford more employees around here. Get on that, okay? 🙂

More words shortly. Keep things in motion. This week won’t be all that good, so I need to hold whatever momentum I can. And write more stuff in existing series so that it all flows.

Looking forward to Heather leading to Veronika to Kati to I don’t know who, other than we’d be some thirty years after the end of Kosnett. Jessica Keller might be ancient or possibly dead of old age by then, because I’m tracking all sorts of dates in my spreadsheet as we move through time.

Hell, one of these days Jean-Pierre and Autumn, set some 1500 years after Jessica’s time.

Hope your Monday is adequate. As I told more than one person yesterday: “Your Fu is good, but still, mine is better.”

Heh

OH, AND: REMINDER: The pre-order for Warlord of the Spinward Reaches got nuked by Amazon. If you didn’t get your copy, this is your reminder to go find it.

Amazon

Knotted Road Press

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Woke up to drizzle this morning. Weird.

Usually, the summer rainy season is June. June-uary, we call it. Except that this year June was dry.

Usually, dry and hot starts on July 4 and runs to Oct 1. Have had a couple of wet days in the last week.

I’ll take it. We finished undoing the hydroponics yesterday. Everything is now either in the ground or in pots, depending. So rain today means I don’t have to water.

Gonna turn the shed into a combination of things, depending. Might have a friend staying with us for a bit as they arrange a divorce. Won’t likely know until Thu. My buddy the Piper is in the process of selling his old place, and I reclaimed the bar and a few things from his man cave, because he made the bar from wood recovered from my old barn. It is currently in storage, and when the shed finally gets emptied (yet another person storing things there until they move into a newer, bigger flat), the shed might turn into a combination crafting space/bar. Probably need some neon lights at some point, just for verisimilitude.

Dunno. Things I cannot control. Learning to be less of a control freak. Hard work. Hilariously, though, I am STILL the least control freak of the four guys, when you get us together. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ thinks that’s quite funny.

Health slowly recovering. Or rather, healthy, and almost zero endurance. Gotta work on that next, and it will be a slow churn to get there. Patience.

Writing is going well.

I will finish Heather #3 this week, then rotate over and start Red Branch #3. Gonna drop all of them next spring, so a huge block of thriller, all coming out at once, then start back-filling.

IF ANYONE LIKES READING THRILLER AND WANTS TO BE A FIRST READER, LEMME KNOW. MY USUAL SUSPECTS ARE LARGELY SF NERDS INSTEAD.

Past that, a Monday. Trying to have a normal one. We’ll see where it goes. Hope yours isn’t too painful.

OH, AND: REMINDER: The pre-order for Warlord of the Spinward Reaches got nuked by Amazon. If you didn’t get your copy, this is your reminder to go find it.

Amazon

Knotted Road Press

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240701

[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.]

Health getting better. Doc took a look at what they had done, and how it was working, so doubled up on the steroids.

I have never been on steroids like this. Sleeping was functionally impossible. Nurse agreed and said it was like being on crack or meth. Do not recommend.

After three weeks, I have finally started to heal. And figured out how to get more than 2-3 hours of sleep in a 10 hour stretch.

And REALLY powerful dreams, because I’m never dropping into darkness when I sleep right now. Hopefully, in another ten days, it will be done and I can return to some normal state.

Whatever that is.

Went out to Krain for breakfast. Had to review the entire menu, because there is a chance I have developed a new food allergy and that’s what’s causing this. Per Fabulous Publisher Babe™, many people do at roughly my age. (Just turned 55 two weeks ago.)

So I have cut dairy, eggs, and coffee entirely out of my diet for the next 2-3 months. After that, I’ll add dairy back in first and see if I have a reaction. Probably coffee after that. Then finally eggs.

Got a call in to a dermatologist to get in, but I have no idea when they will get back to me. Presumably, they can run some tests, because in 2 weeks, my skin might be clear and I’ll be back to doing Tai Chi and things.

I have had to stay out of the sun for a month. Haven’t worn socks. Hardly worn shoes. Nothing but shorts. Weird diet. Weird sleep.

New me, whatever that means.

By the time some of you read this, it won’t matter, but there were issues with the Warlord of the Spinward Reaches pre-order on Amazon and they canceled it at the last minute.

Here’s the new link: https://www.amazon.com/Warlord-Spinward-Reaches-Corsac-Book-ebook/dp/B0D8ZWVJWC

It’s live, and folks have been buying it two days early. Get yours now.

WRITING: Crossed 40k on the second Red Branch novel. Silver Eagle. Planning to drop those in the spring, for a June 2025 book fair in Enumclaw, WA (The Beer Walk), along with a bunch of other thriller stuff.

Think I’ll be done this week. Target was 55k, but this feels more like 50 or so. After that, Heather #3 wants to be written. Then possibly Corsac 7, so I can drop a bunch of military space opera next fall and summer.

With the Amazon fuckups, I may lose my ability to put up pre-orders on their platform. Or rather, I have to petition to get it back, but odds are pretty good, as we’ve never done this before.

We’ll see.

Why it matters™: the four books of Air Pirates of Cyrenaica are up for pre-order, but I may not be able to load Science Officer 14/Exile until the last minute, and this might be your opportunity to start looking at one of the other distributors. I’d like Amazon to be a much smaller portion of my overall sales. That means places like Barnes and Noble, Walmart (Kobo is their library), iTunes, or directly from the KRP shop, which is where I make the most money anyway, because everyone else charges me 30-34% and I only pay 1-4% when you buy direct.

Anyway, chaos here. And ongoing. Hopefully resolved at some point, but I’m not holding my breath today.

Hope your monday has Air conditioning, or a solid roof, depending on your geography.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

Spoke too soon. No sooner than I got the foot largely taken care of, something went weird.

Dunno what I caught, but last Saturday, (15^th) I started to break out in a rash. By Monday, it covered my feet, ankles, and thighs. Went to urgent care. He nuked me with prednosone.

Steroid. If I’ve ever been on it before, it’s been decades, so I didn’t know what to expect. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ at least warned me. Stomach all gurgly, which means sleeping upright instead of flat. (you know those acid burbs you get? Now have one wake you up from a dead sleep. Yuck.) And not sleeping worth shit.

Been on the couch for a week. Been nuking things with the steroids. Mostly worked. Not gone, but way down and declining. Spent most of last week sitting down to write, like today. Easier on the body.

And heat activated, so I haven’t worn socks in a week. Hardly anything but shorts, with the AC set to 70F (21C). And sun sensitive, so had to stay inside. Only been out twice in a week.

Grumble.

But getting healthy. Few more days of the drugs, then a few days to recover. July 1 starting point instead of June 1, but physical. Emotional and mental were June 1. Was good. Continues to be good.

Finished Scour 2 last week. Started Red Branch 2 this week. Just hit 13k, after taking the weekend off. On top of everything else, call it a 24-hour cold. Woke up Saturday and there was nobody home. Physically fine. Utterly empty brain. Managed a few words and gave up.

Instead, I spent the weekend bucketing. That’s where I pick a topic on either wikipedia or tvtropes and follow all the rabbit holes down. Shoveling ideas into the bucket. Let them marinate around.

Sunday afternoon, I finally had brain again, because I could start seeing where some of these ideas would go to. How I could use them in various projects.

What it meant.

Got a lot of stuff I want to do over the back half of the year. Lots of Thriller work, because Thrill Ride Magazine next year. Plus the Beer Walk in Enumclaw, in June. I need to walk in there will all sorts of Action-Adventure/Thriller books, because beer drinkers are different from wine drinkers.

And this year has been a mess, so next year will be patchy in terms of output. I still have novels into 2026 or later, but not series. After Science Officer 14 in December (Exile), the second Gunderson Case Files in Jan. Was going to be this year. Didn’t happen. Glad about that. Same with Owen, Pizzafarmer, Eva & Nik, and a few others.

2025, I plan to kind of empty out the trunk entirely. Some random. Some partial series. Mostly get the shit out there and stop worrying about it. SF, Fantasy, Spandex, and Thriller. Lots of stuff. Collections of patreon shorts that many of you have read already. Things previously only seen in BSQ, BWP, or TRM.

Lots of material. Then I’ll have some epic SF stuff for everyone. Hugely epic. Fun, even. Scattered Tribes, on steroids, if you will.

But first, lots of holes to fill in. Stuff to get done and ready for next year, so that I have it in hand when I need it. And can keep various pulses alive on the Amazon bots, because they care and will keep advertising for me.

Need more money. Not everything, but enough to live comfortably. Maybe scale that up a notch to have STAFF. Let them handle crap for me. More time to write. Finish some of these damned stories that won’t leave me alone.

Meanwhile, still working on https://writtenwell.com/ for stuff. Wrote a fun article about assassins the other day. Planning something on Villains this week. Need to wrap my head around a few topics, so I figure it is useful to share my logic with other folks. Somebody will find it useful.

Past that, knocking on with things. Birthday coming up this week and got a few things planned with friends, but mostly quiet.

Head down and writing while I heal.

Catch you next week.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240617

[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.]

At least the foot’s better. Took a week. Since Saturday, been dealing with other issues and down and snarly a bit this morning. Late start, so writing blog first instead of last. Not a lot of material here, mostly because other things to do.

Coming down on the end of the second Scour book. Probably finish it this week. Not sure which of several projects follow on. Probably sidestep and work on creating a bunch of short fiction for now, filling in slots. Got more Beckett planned for future BSQ. Well ahead there for reasons.

As of now, I am also taking over as Managing Publisher of Thrill Ride Magazine, beginning with Issue 09, early next year. I’ve been in all eight issues so far (06 coming later this week) and plan to keep that up. At the same time, I needed to hire an editor to herd the goldfish. Eventually, I plan to make him do everything, but he’ll need a year to get there.

More short fiction to write. Not enough hours in the day for all the stories I want to tell, but that’s the nature of the beast. Saw someone I generally respect comment that he thought the line where artists don’t say they are competing with each other was bullshit, but I wasn’t in the mood to go hammer and tongs with him over it. Finding more and more places where he and I diverge in our opinions, but that’s mostly him getting grouchier in his old age, as he apparently believes that he has found the magic handshake key to success instead of understanding that luck plays a tremendous role opening the door, after which a great many people pull the ladder up behind them. As I suspect he’s doing.

Personally, I find that to be a load of horseshit, but I have also found that many “Big Name Authors” turn into assholes. Or they always were, and reach a point where they stop pretending otherwise. Bill Murray always said that you had about 2 years from the point you got famous to determine how you dealt with it.

Some folks turn into bigger assholes. Good for them. My goal is not to, because that’s usually a symptom of deep unhappiness. I’d rather be happy, thanks.

Had a great Saturday night. Enumclaw did their Beer Walk (Wine Walk is in November) and folks go store to store shopping and drinking. Sold a bunch of books. Met a bunch of fans. Met a bunch of other local writers. Had a good time.

Next year, I need to bring my Thriller/Action-Adventure books, because beer drinkers are different than wine drinkers. All the more reason to write more Chace, more Gator, and more Sasha. And whoever else. Tomorrow night, we’re having the half-year corporate meeting, so I’ll lay out my publishing plans then. (Or she will.)

Got a bunch of individual titles, but not really complete series to drop at the moment. And the back half of the year to write more and fill in holes. We’ll see what we have when we get there.

Hopefully, y’all will stay along for the ride.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

[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.]

And Lords of the Endless Plains came out last night. Hope you stayed up way too late to read it. And a reminder that ebooks are usually available on the first instead of the tenth, if you need your fix early. That’s #3. #4 comes out in July. 5 and 6 are done, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise by telling you the titles. Need to write 7 and then take a break and move the plot forward several years.

Kinda brainless this morning. Did Physical Therapy massage and just got home. Messed up my right shoulder last summer and she’s slowly fixing it. Did something to my right foot (strained pretty good) over the last week and hobbling in a lot of pain, so she worked on that.

Got little brain left and most of it wants to dribble out of my ears.

Still working on Scour 2. Coming up on the halfway point. Having fun going deep into the world and setting, drawing parallels and contrasts for folks. Not sure when these come out as I’d like to have three of them for next year.

Not sure what’s the next novel. Need to write more Scattered Tribes, so I can bring book one to an end. Assuming I don’t just keep banging out shorts and let someone else find the natural break points. Hope y’ll be enjoying things up to this point.

Boundary Shock Quarterly will be coming July 1. Third Beckett Fernsby story (of 6 so far) and need to write more of those.

Been doing a lot of research on early jet aviation. Got a series that starts in 1948 and will be in ’49 for book two. Aviation mercenary company. We’ve talked about the Blackhawk comic as inspiration, but you know me and I went a little crazy with it, as I do. Trying to at least keep the technology roughly accurate, even as I play with politics and such. And history books are a pain in the ass, because the Korean war “just happened” one day. The whole background to the war usually involves a couple of paragraphs on page 1, when it really is a LOT more messy.

But getting there.

Also looking at the next A’Zedi Survey Corps book, so I have stuff for 2025. The slower writing this year will catch up with me next, but shit happens.

Got my foot elevated and it wants to fall asleep, so I’m gonna post this and go lay on the couch.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.