[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.]

I’m just gonna go ahead and blame Jon, Charles, and Mark. In that order. You know what you’ve done. And if you don’t, I’m talking about someone else. Honest.

Background: a bit of erotica, as previously mentioned.

Except…

So on Monday, Jon wanted to talk about playing something like squad level Warhammer 40k. Like, 3-6 minis total. Sure, why not? I have about 20 old Marines and the same number of Eldar, presumably First Edition, as one of the marines is still on a sprue with a 1993 copyright date printed on it. (I sold all my armies in 1997 when that rules change rendered my Guard Army irrelevant unless I immediately spent $1,000. Fuck that noise.)

Then: As I’m wandering on Etsy, Charles points out that he has subscriptions for places like HeroForge and could take in stl files from them. So I went and got silly. Devilbunnies riding on Dire Lynx cavalry, because you can do that. He pulled the files because he had monthly credits built up that he hadn’t been using. (Gave him $20 yesterday for filament and headache costs, because he’d gonna print me an team.)

Then: Talking to Mark last week. He’s another writer. We talk every month. Tell him about the Devilbunnies, because by then (less than 48 hours) I already have thoughts on world-building for these Bunnies. Towards the end of the call, he wonders aloud if there was space for some sort of quarterly erotica magazine in a manner similar to BSQ and TRM. (He had forgotten me asking him the same question 18 months ago. But it was a good question.)

Get off the phone with him and one of my novel series ideas that I’ve dabbled on but never bothered writing down suddenly locks in with Devilbunnies, but not cavalry. Still, good idea, but the original novel I had intended wouldn’t have had any sex until about the start of Act Two. You can do that in a novel, but if we’re a magazine, then it’s serialized fiction and the readers will have…needs. And…expectations.

So to do it, everything has to start with a really solid In Media Res. (Starting in the middle of things, with no background. No setup. Dropped right into the action. Like, literally starting with a gunshot before you introduce the cast. Kinda the opposite of most epic fantasy fiction these days, where you get 10-15,000 words of Joe Normal puttering in the Shire before Galdalf arrives.

BSQ has a word limit of 20k, because I have to read them. TRM and MCM cap at 10. This forces the action to be more actiony and less drag, because you ain’t got time to exposit.

Wandered down to the bookstore yesterday for a coffee, with about an hour of free time before the game. I have a fun portable writing rig that is a second-hand phone with no Sim card and a bluetooth keyboard that pairs. Turn the phone sideways, deploy the kickstand, and write. No surfing. No nothing. Just words.

Wrote some more when I got home after dojo. Have roughly 2200 words on the new story as of now, which means I better be a quarter of the way done. Think I am, because I’m forcing a hard 10k cap on myself for this as an exercise. And to hammer on the In Media Res portions.

And having fun, which is the important part. I have mentioned that I dropped the hammer in December, specifically shelving several projects so I could do the thing I love, which is writing.

So Cole is generating some new erotica. I have no idea if Mark will come through with a new magazine, or if I might have to do it myself. (Not sure how much blackmail I have on the boy.) Or I might just write 10k serials and put them up for sale everywhere. People occasionally stumble over Cole and buy his books, so anything is possible.

Meanwhile, Red Branch 6 crossed 40k this morning. Right at the top of the final dogfight between a pair of identical, experimental Soviet attack fighters based on something like the F-104 Starfighter. Maybe the thing that inspired Kelly to build it, but he had to tell everyone it was something else. Dunno. Complicated caper of a theft, stealing both the aircraft and helping the designer defect. If you have read (READ) the novel Firefox, you will see elements here. (The movie is a lot better, but does a lot of things differently that were left out for running time and because they bogged the story down.)

If you wanna read some erotica that’s really more spicy romantic, lemme know. If you know anyone who writes erotica and might be interested in a project like this one, send them my way?

Every single time you push the publish button, that might be the thing that catapults you to the stratosphere. Alien monsterfucker erotica might be the thing. I’d be okay with that, though it might be a little weird to have Cole suddenly bigger than Blaze.

But I’m a capitalist pig, and them nickels spend.

Y’all have a lovely Tuesday.

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.]

Having kind of a hard morning getting motivated, but I’ll go make more coffee shortly.

Yesterday kinda took all my spoons and it’s gray and rainy out there.

Working on Red Branch. As noted elsewhere, I enjoy the research and writing, so I’ll keep doing them regardless of how everyone else likes them. #2 came out this week, with 3 and 4 on preorder and 5 in the can. 6 is maybe about a third done. I’ll dive deeper into how it came about next year when it gets published, because that requires its own full blog post or newsletter.

One major project coming up right now is to catalog and organize all the short fiction I have written to date. Been doing the monthly patreon for a lot of years (Late 2019, I just went and looked). That’s a lot of stuff. Issue 31 of Boundary Shock Quarterly comes out July 1. Issue 10 of Thrill Ride comes out June 1. Several other side projects like Blaze Ward Presents.

It adds up to a lot. I have been slowly assembling them into collections to publish, but then 2024 happened and I fell off that wagon after getting Trevor and Harper out. Back to work. Have identified as many as a dozen potentials to do, some of which will be a bit (the first six Beckett Fernsby, with #6 coming out in BSQ this summer for instance). Laima and Brother Jon, but I’m not sure if they are “done” to a resting point.

But lots. And get them out earning rent instead of moldering in a trunk. So that’s my project this summer. With Heather and Ollie filling 9-10 months of the 2026 publishing schedule, I need to find 2-3 things to fill in the rest. That might be this, dropping several collections all at once.

Not a lot of news past that. Did karate last night and kinda stiff and sore this morning, but that was leaving a lot of it on the dojo floor yesterday. Getting better. Sensei likes my progress. And helping some of the young’uns (got 11 year olds transitioning in with some experience but a new start).

Reminder that I’m still planning to be at WorldCon this August. If you were tuckerized into Knight Errant (the first A’Zedi Survey Corps book) then I want you to sign my copy at some point.

I will also be at the Enumclaw Beer Walk on June 7, obviously in Enumclaw. Talking to the folks at Superstars about possibly being involved next winter. News when I know.

Past that, I just keep banging the rocks together. That’s really all that matters.

The only thing in the world you control is your attitude, after all.

What’s yours like?

🙂

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.]

Broke out the mower over the weekend and cleared the lower meadow. And got a new blade coming for the brush cutter because the old one is a little U-shaped now from all the rocks around here. Will do some serious mowing in a few hours when it gets warmer, but it currently 58F outside.

And it’s summer, so I was bleeding yesterday. Machete and blackberry bramble. I will win. Just takes patience. Then mow the shit out of it once I get it knocked down far enough.

Having a pretty nice week. A little grumpy, but nothing out of expectation or control. The usual, coming up on June 1, when I tend to reset my life on an annual basis to keep from falling into the same old same old.

WorldCon (World SF Convention) will be in Seattle in August. As usual, a bit of a shitshow as the fools in charge decided to use AI to handle panel programming. With SFF writers, who are among the hardest hit tranche. I know a lot of folks who are so pissed they have withdrawn from participating, but I will be there. If nothing else, I want a front-row seat of the stupidity, as it might manage to be the last WorldCon. Been expecting that since I went to my first one a decade ago and at 45 I was in the younger half of the participants. (As opposed to ECCC, where I was in the oldest 20%).

Writing is going well. Had to spin up new worlds for BSQ, and been thinking about how I extend them. You’ve read the four Brother Jon stories by now. Signy 01 will be in the next BSQ, and I’ll drop 02 with it in July. Got another Laima/Forever City story written for June.

Wrote the next Beckett Fernsby story (08) for a future BSQ, but might be done on those themes for now and need to just write loose stories for Volume 2, with Vol 1 being 1-6 when we get there next year.

Also have started a new caper team for a future issue of Thrill Ride Magazine. Boston is a bit more caper in the sense of light-hearted and a touch silly. Riordan is more inspired by the Parker books by Donald Westlake writing as Richard Stark. Darker. Meaner, if you will. And a twist on the usual, with a four-man team rather than the classic Sentai of Five. Dortmunder (also by Westlake) always said that the best crew fit in a sedan. Considering that he was writing in the 60s and forward, that’s 4-6 people, but I went with four, once I knew how to arrange the job. Have space to bring in ringers for future jobs.

One of the joys of editing Boundary Shock Quarterly is that all the various themes have forced me to explore sub-genres I would have never gone after in my usual writing, where I tend to stay in military space opera/space adventure. And make most of my living.

Expanding my horizons.

Similarly, Thrill Ride Magazine forces me to write hard, sharp, fast, and high-energy, because the rule is under 10,000 words, where BSQ caps at 20,000. Generally, that means 4500 words of setting and dialog, and 4500 words of action.

That’s it. Since my natural length if you handed me a blank piece of paper is closer to 25,000, I have to keep things under control.

And I will keep putting the short stuff out in collections as we go, as well as writing longer. Chace Haig needs more novels. And I have a couple of other folks now that can go there, with Boston, Riordan (eventually) and Rory. Not sure when I will publish Gator, but it’s in the can. Maybe fall. Maybe next year.

Hope y’all enjoy Brother Jon. New spin on things and I’d like to expand him sideways into bigger things as well. As usual, the limits tend to be time and space to write, rather than ideas to pursue. I will die of old age with ideas that never bubbled up to the top to be written. Hell, I could triple my word count in any given year and not run out, so tell all your friends to buy my books so I can afford the kind of staff that would require.

Everyone would win.

🙂

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.]

Drizzle and coffee and that damned flicker who likes to tap on the sliding glass door because he’s lonely or thinks me chasing him off is the greatest game in the world.

But you know how woodpeckers can be.

Just now finished that last bit of Ollie, Book Three that I had had to put aside last year about this time when my world kind of collapsed in on itself.

The Lost Year.

I’m in a lot better shape mentally and emotionally than I was this time last year. Writing is going well. I’ve put aside several projects, but have picked some of them back up and grinding forward.

At this point, I have completed Heather 4 and Ollie 3. Both have one more novel each to complete their arcs, which brings me joy, because I want to get those done after they’ve been hanging out there for so long. Got a lot of old stuff coming out of the trunk this year. More next.

Anti-Stodgy bitches because I want to start new projects. Colossus, which is coming soon. Red Branch 6, because I’m having fun learning history. Scattered Tribes and The Inheritors.

So much to do.

Hadn’t expected Ollie to end on me quite this sharp, but emotionally it fell perfectly into that last cliffhangar. That’s why they all have to drop in sequence, because they each end on that drop, rather than solving some important step on the longer road. More of a trilogy feel, with two Act Twos in the middle.

Karate Monday nights continues to be fun. Learning a whole bunch of new things,and being able to help teach, because I’m a lot deeper into the curriculum than most of the others at this point (they all have belts in Isshinryu, including a couple of black, but this is new material to them).

Gonna take a break here and figure out what to write next. Probably something short for one of my various projects. Always need new things.

Details next week. (FILM AT 11!)

heh.

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.]

Having a morning. Did finish Heather’s War #4. Then been editing and trying to catch up with all the things I have let slide a little because emotionally overwhelmed right now.

Trying not to bite anyone. So far so good. Today.

New roof on the barn and one of the tiny houses last week. Spring yardwork starting up, but that’s the brush cutter. Don’t have time today, so the blackberry gets another day respite to grow.

Not sure what next story I start tomorrow. Or if I take a day off. Need to write a Thrill Ride Story. And a Boundary Shock Quarterly story. And more Patreon shorts. Got several novels planned, including next Red Branch. Those fill me with joy, so I’ll keep writing them.

Next year, it looks like Heather and Ollie will fill 9 or 10 months of publishing. That’s a need to finish Ollie 3, then write ends of both. With maybe an Extra Ollie, depending on how 3 closes. Needs about 20k and I’ve reread them up to date.

Got more Marrakesh planned. Got the Colossus series to start. Got Scattered Tribes to extend. Got a lot. A little frazzled today when the reminder went off to write something here, so not a lot of details. Crazy Week just keeps plowing along.

Hope yours is copacetic.

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.]

Happy Tax Day to all who partake. Or something like that.

Still getting used to Tuesdays, since they are not nearly as focused busy as Mondays tend to be. Usually have a Shadowdark game Monday afternoon, then go straight to the dojo for class.

And it’s weird in class, because Sensei has a lot of students, but right now only one person lines up above me. And she’s the other Sensei, with a Fifth Degree in Isshinryu. But I’ve just spent eight months digging in deep to GoJu, so I know that form better and am usually the other half of demonstration. Last night, had a dozen folks, but they were an even mix of white, orange, and purple, so all ranked below me at green. There will be some brown and other black showing soon, but this school is just getting warmed up.

And I’m learning lots. Newsletter later will talk about that in a little deeper detail. New thinking. New moving. New everything. On top of the years I’ve spent elsewhere, which have served me well getting here.

Writing front: I’m above 40k on Heather 4. Goal is 65, and I am in the middle of one of the major set piece battles that cover things as shit starts disintegrating. Lots of moving parts in this one, as I have three separate villain threads tracking and half a dozen major folks on Heather’s side.

After some thought, I am planning to finish and drop all four Ollie books next year (got 2.9 done right now and know how it goes) and all five Heather. Not exactly sure the sequence, but they will be even-odd so I have space to get ready and deliver them. That’s nine months covered. Want to circle back to more Marrakesh, once I have brain space, plus more Maddox (coming in June+) to extend that universe.

And I want to write more Scattered Tribes, as I’ve gotten amazing feedback from #2. (y’all have read #1, minus continuity edits and such.) And, as noted, I have a new swords and sorcery and starships universe spinning up, with #1 coming in Boundary Shock Quarterly in July. Kinda excited about where it will go, based on some of the crazy ideas I have had so far.

Red Branch 2-4 are coming shortly. #5 is done and being edited. And I’ve been digging deep into #6, so that might be the next novel project to get me a gap from epic military space opera for a bit. Gotta keep changing things up so the prose doesn’t get stale. Gotta keep myself interested more than you. That’s the secret.

WorldCon (SF and Fantasy convention that awards the Hugos) will be in Seattle in August. I’ll be there. If you are in the A’Zedi Survey Corps books with a Tuckerization, I demand that you make yourself available to sign my copy. And I’ll sign yours. Preorder links coming soon, but I’m not sure when paper becomes available.

Past that, it’s a nice day outside and I have some yardwork that needs doing. Not mowing yet, because dandelions feed early bees, but the fun never ends around here.

What are you doing this spring to get ready?

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.]

Tuesday Monsoon.

Like, crazy stupid around here. Staying in. Just made soup. Might have coffee in a bit.

Been editing Boundary Shock Quarterly. Knew this was going to be a difficult issue. “Sword and Sorcery and Starships,” Ended up with only about 45k words submitted and a couple of those stories I might have rejected if I’d had 100k.

Instead, I asked the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ to write me something. And I am spinning up a new universe as well. (Knew I might need it. Been planning for a couple of weeks.)

Start with Norse mythology, which folks in the US know reasonably well after all the Thor and Avenger movies over the last 15 years. I went kinda deep into a lot of corners I’ve never really explored, and ended up creating a new universe that takes our world (early 23^rd Century Earth, as it were) and going to a spot well after Ragnarok, when Midgard has been almost destroyed and the Nine Realms have been chunked off in pieces. Got a Dune vibe going, but instead of Paul we’ll have Signy Muirgen. And with most of the gods slain, the main backstage villains will be Thrud (Daughter of Thor and Sif), Gnoss (daughter of Freyja), and Skathi, ex-wife of Njord and occasionally booty call of Odin.

Calling it The Inheritors, for the three gods present having Mjolnir, Gungnir, and Gram. Really more of an Iliad tone with how the gods interact with humans, mostly just influencing things for now, but I’ve been building this to be at least as big as Scattered Tribes in scope. And about as dark.

And hey, every time you push the publish button, this might be the story that catapults you into the stratosphere, so I’m ready if more Epic Magic Space Opera is the thing that people decide that they need.

Because what exactly is a god? The Norse delve into that one pretty deeply, so I have hooks I can use to draw on for stories. And because I’m setting it after Ragnarok, I can do pretty much anything I want, using only those folks who survived. Or the ones who were so minor that they didn’t appear in any of the great stories. (Most of the Vanir, it seems, went home either before or after the battle, rather than dying there. Twilight of the Aesir and death of most of the giants, rather than complete destruction of everything, if you will.)

Having fun. About 6k into the first story. It will be in BSQ 031.

Hopefully, you’ve all gone out and bought BSQ 030/Fading Empires, so you have Brother Jon #1 that sets things up. The series makes a hell of a lot more sense in that case, though I’ve tried to keep things mostly coherent.

Other than that not a lot going on. Dojo last night where we’ve moved from Monday morning to Monday night and Sensei has brought over a big chunk of his former Isshynryu folks to start learning GoJu. I know this curriculum better than they do. They’re more experienced at other things.

Gonna be fun. Gonna be new.

What are you doing to break the anti-stodgy?

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.

Need your help.

Recently saved several boxes of vinyl albums from being tossed into the dumpster. Long story I can explain when someone needs details.

Got four boxes of albums. About 70″ shelf width. A few albums I know. A bunch of bands I’ve never heard of. Lots of dance.

Obscure bands like “Shall Not Pass” and “Distant Hawaii.” Several that have only some sort of ink stamp of a pineapple on one side. Like nothing to ID them.

I’m trying to find a DJ to rescue them. That’s where you come in. Had one, but it fell through because he has just downsized from a studio to a closet. Want someone to inherit them and give them a good home. Happy to talk inventory with someone, but don’t really want money.

Mostly, don’t want all this stuff landfilled, which was the threat then, and likely ends up there if I can’t rescue them, because even Half-Priced Books will throw up their hands at some of this stuff.

Seattle.

Not shipping unless someone pays me a lot. Happy to send pics and info.

Find your DJs for me and forward this to them.

blaze AT blazeward DOT com

thx,

b

[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.]

Just sent the April Newsletter. Now on to the sausage making.

Or something.

Got a gallon of Blueberry rum on the counter, slowly finishing fermenting. Started with two quarts of blueberry juice from the store, and a jar of molasses. Let that run for a couple of days, then found some vanilla beans that had been mostly dried out flavoring brown sugar and tossed them in as well. Bubbled like hell for a couple of days. Week in now and probably killing it Thursday, give or take, so that it can rest, then be distilled down into a half-gallon or so of darkly flavored rum.

I usually split the carboy in half and distill one and pour all the alcohol into the second. Given the yeast I used, we ought to be around 15% ABV starting, so maybe close to 60 proof when done and ready to backsweeten, because I like ports more than I do dry wines.

Will be nice as a thing to sip come summer.

Finished Red Branch 5 last week and have gotten 14k into Heather’s War #4 so far, targeting 65k. This is the one where shit gets a little dark, because I’ve set up a three-sided civil war, into which troublemakers are adding their own, deadly mischief. Knew when I started that it would be five novels worth of story. And that 4 would get the dark one, before things started to turn into something better.

And a transition, because I have whole generations of characters I intend to explore from here, as the Republic, Empire, and others evolve slowly over time.

I have a buddy who wants to write one of those grand, multigenerational epics like James A. Michener did in his illustrious career. I’ve never been that ambitious, but the various Republic of Aquitaine series will probably fall into that category, because in the chapter I just wrote it was Date of the Republic April 23, 418. For comparison, Auberon starts Date of the Republic June 26, 392. If my math is right, that’s twenty-six years so far, and I have another year or so here, then two more series behind that, taking me forward probably another twenty to twenty-five years from here, or around Republic 440.

Can’t talk much about those characters. Well, I can, but I’m four novels ahead of the rest of you, and the name Veronika Provst won’t make any sense, except when I tell you that she’s Tom Provst’s oldest granddaughter. And eventually, you’ll meet Kati Weigand, youngest child of Casey and Vo.

Did I mention BIG?

Spring coming. Lots of books coming, so I’m putting out a lot of things to try to clear the trunks and start earning rent here. More Chace Haig and some Pizzafarmer coming, in case you haven’t gotten your preorders in.

Just hit publish on the latest Boundary Shock Quarterly (Issue 030: Fading Empires) and expecting more stories from my Syndicate. Editing on the latest issue of Thrill Ride, with 010 (“Fast Cars”) coming in June.

Make sure you are signed up for my various newsletters, because I’m not on facebook hardly at all anymore and not much on Bluesky, either, so you gotta hear it direct from the horse’s mouth.

https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/newsletter/

https://thrillridemagazine.com/newsletter-signup/

And remember to keep banging the rocks together!

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.]

There is news. Good, even. Uplifting, in my case.

Some of you are paying attention and remember that I transitioned out of doing Kung Fu last summer over issues and found a GoJu Karate dojo teaching a compact curriculum focused more on budo than keiko (sports) or kenko (health and fitness). And I have several years of experience in Kung Fu, going back a ways. Three and a half to most recent. About three in the 90s when I was living in LA and studying with a bunch of Vietnamese folks. And a background in dance which helps with movement and knowledge of three-dimensional space.

I started as a White belt. Everybody starts in white. Instead of the usual 5-10 color/ranks to black that many American schools had adopted, this sensei has culled things down as tight as he thinks can convey the art itself.

White, Green, Brown, Black. That’s it. And only Black, rather than 10 grades of black belt that often become pecking order bullshit for folks that never really got over themselves.

Yesterday, I put on a Green Belt. Kinda jazzed about that. Working towards Brown, which is likely a year away, as he’s planning on making some changes to the dojo this summer and opening it up to a handful more students, all of whom are new to GoJu, like me, but have studied other karate forms for a while. I’ll be behind most of them in many ways, and ahead of them in others, because all the kata are new to them, even a reduced list. All the grapples, takedowns, controls, and breaks will be new to them. At the same time, they are all students who know how to punch, kick, and block. Know how to learn.

Gonna be an adventure.

Based on conversations with my sensei, I have started a new book that will effectively turn into my black belt thesis. A “What Have I Learned?” kind of thing that I might only ever put a single copy on my shelf, or maybe I make it generally available. Dunno. I might teach someday. And I might not. Don’t have to know at this moment, but writing it all down will force me to really organize it into a compact form for communication, and I’m pretty good at that.

Follow this space for more as we go.

Deep into Red Branch #5. Might finish it this week or over the next week. 41K now, targeting 50-55. That last major confrontation is just ramping up.

Probably Heather after that. And some other things. Little slow ramping up this morning, but I’ve been going like hell for too long. Sat in a coffee shop yesterday and wrote pure rant as an essay that will likely never see the light of day, because most of you aren’t ready for that sort of thing. (If you have to ask, that includes you.)

Going into Seattle later today to meet with someone, but all I know is an ask for coffee. Will go. Will find out. Will go from there. Will get back to writing.

Still having fun building up the thing that will turn into Colossus this summer. Still planning Holden #3. Got lots to do, including a few old projects I intend to finish and publish next year.

Hope your tuesday makes sense.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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