[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.]

Been writing shorts over the last week. Finished Corsac last week. Since then Brother Jon, a Rory short, and Xenia. You’ll get Xenia in Feb, as the other two are committed to BSQ and TRM.

I had not PLANNED to write a historic vampire superhero story. Kinda worked out that way. Part of the 2000 CE story arc that spins off from Gunderson as of the story Captain Sapphire (Gunderson Case File 010).

Worse, there is an open call for “Vampire as good guy” stories that a friend of mine is currently putting together (and yes, it might be my fault), so I plan to write another short for her for it. That will keep me busy for a few days. Same with another Brother Jon story, just because.

I have the start of a Rory novel. It might be next on my list to write. Dunno. Planning 2025 and trying to bounce around a lot to keep my sanity in the same general bucket, so I’ll write another Xenia and then let the muse distract me.

New year. Moving forward. Finished reading for Thrill Ride Magazine 009. Got BSQ 030 to read. And organize both. Hoping to hand off TRM to Jones, this time next year. We’ll see.

Also gotta look at my trunk and find something for August on the SF side. Rest of the year is mostly filled in at this point. Got things to put out. Just gotta get in motion and do them. And finish a couple of other series, which I have space for now that Corsac Fox has reached the first plateau. You’ll see what I mean in October.

Hope your winter is doing well. Mostly a pro forma here to keep things in motion myself and check in. Going to be a busy year, and I need to focus on certain productivity and publishing goals in order to stay in business for the longest term. Last thing I need is to have to go get a job.

Almost feral these days. But the world doesn’t care about us, so I have to push back.

And write.

Lemme know what your favorite short or medium story is? I might write more in that universe. Always writing. Always producing. This year, hoping to scale a few things back up and generate more titles and more fans.

Gotta get there first.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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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. Having just completed Corsac Fox 7 on a Tuesday, and just realizing that, kinda giggling.

This brings Block One to an end and lets me take some time off and work on other projects. Got a lot coming. Natch.

Couldn’t sleep the other night. Bad reaction to a new medicine involved hard insomnia. Couldn’t turn the brain off. Like, went to bed and got maybe 90 minutes of sleep over the next 9 hours.

Laid there and meditated instead. Learned a long time ago that meditation is almost as good as actual sleep.

Had a concept.

Background: Boundary Shock Quarterly’s next issue deadline is coming up for “Fading Empires” and I have a bad feeling about the number of stories I’ll get. (have 5 stories in hand with a deadline tomorrow.)

Meditating brain goes back to a Mechwarrior campaign 30-odd years ago. Big mess of a thing, but the GM had us all create 4 characters. One pilot, one infantry, one mechanic, one whatever. That let us have battles, missions, all sorts of things. Lots of fun.

I have a spook/thief named Brother John. Crazy SOB. Was once tasked by the head mechanic with finding a large laser, a targeting radar, and a replacement knee joint off a Rifleman mech.

Walks out of camp.

Drives back two days later in a flatbed, with those three things on the back.

“Where did you find a dead rifleman to strip for parts???”

“Dead? It was supposed to be dead?”

Long pause.

“John, where did you leave it.”

Brother John points. “Thataway.”

They arrive to find the pilot superglued to the one working leg of his mech, with no idea how all the parts got detached and put on the truck, and I refused to tell.

That guy.

Fading Empires suggested the Mechwarrior/BattleTech universe of 3025, before the Clans.

Spent all night churning up ideas.

Spent the last couple of days filling a new notes document.

Planning to start writing it tomorrow. First of a new universe, but short fiction first. If I get enough words for BSQ, you’ll probably see it first. It not, it’ll go in there. And a lot of depth to play with, digging and exploring certain horror elements and tech ideas I’ve considered.

And Corsac Fox Block One is done. Need to write Science Officer 16 to round out that trilogy. Got ideas for an Assassin Procedural. Got this Brother Gion thing (changed the names to protect the guilty. Pronounced the same).

Going to go start making day-old lasagna for tomorrow shortly. Literally bake it, let it cool, maybe have a chunk, then warm it tomorrow for dinner. Been doing a lot of cooking lately. More recipes of weirdness coming.

But it’s Tuesday, and my 2024 is pretty much done.

See you on the far side.

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.]

Shift to Tuesdays on-going, as I adjust. Had a busy crazy Monday yesterday, so this would have been a Tuesday thing anyway. Xmas eve around here. Monsoons and 50mph winds all night. Kept expecting to lose power, but apparently all the trees got knocked down by the bomb cyclone, so things have generally been stable since.

New Year next week. Close enough, anyway. Lots of new things coming. Most of them are even good. Having a good day. Plans to spend the afternoon with friends tomorrow. Hope you’re doing something fun for the holidays.

You do not have to go put up with terrible people who are bad to you, just because they are family. I don’t even talk to most of my family these days, because they all went crazy and I don’t have to.

You don’t have to, either.

Corsac Fox 7 crossed 80k this week. Still feels like 100-120 until done. Probably a week and a half to get there, but that’s fine. I dropped the hammer on words in December, so I’ll end extra strong.

No idea what’s next. Probably another Laima Ghur story, because I have 3 and promised a 4. Scattered Tribes 2 calling my name. Red Branch 5. Rory the Assassin has a thousand words done or so, but that’s on a reclaimed cell phone and I type with a portable bluetooth keyboard as an experiment.

Been busy all day. And just got home from errands and a walk. Going out to see lights tonight with my sweetie, in the middle of putting homemade cinnamon rolls in the fridge over a second rise so we can bake them in the morning. Probably include her mom’s old recipe next month for folks.

Dunno.

Happy holidays, and that’s really all that matters.

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.]

Shift to Tuesdays in process. Possibly permanently, because I’ve started learning Karate and the sensei has access to a space Monday mornings bright and too fucking early. Easier to shift the blog back a day, but I’ll be a bit getting the mind around it, after years of Monday.

Gotta rebuild the whole schedule. Worth it, but still an adjustment.

And this week, he had something come up for Monday, so I went to his dojo this morning instead. Just got home after stopping at Krain Corner for breakfast, then trying to get my shit together. Might be harder than it seems. We’ll see.

I am a white belt, but only in this art, having studied several others over the years. Would have gone farther in kung fu, but I realized that I was four years in and that teacher didn’t have a single student more advanced than yellow belt. Including folks that had been there for six.

He has a LOT to teach, but seems to believe that a black belt involves learning everything he knows in 30+ years of training. Put it in these terms: I figured I was another seven to twelve years away from earning a black belt, and I’m pretty sure I was his best and most advanced student when I gave up bashing my head against that wall.

Most arts, you might earn a black belt in 3-5 years. I was looking at 10-15. Worse, that teacher isn’t the most organized, so we were starting to learn Modern Arnis. Which is utterly unrelated to his school, but is this shiny, cool, new thing he’s learned, and so everything was going to be stick for a while, when his black belt curriculum doesn’t involve weapons until second-degree black.

Uhm, yeah, time to rethink. Life happens. 2025 is going to be a bunch of changes, so we might as well roll with it.

Corsac Fox #7 just crossed 60k yesterday. Probably 90k to done, which is longer than most and puts it up around Lost Tribe for length. And brings Block One to a nice conclusion that lets me step forward several years for what happens next. ‘Cause a lot happens after this. And I don’t want to spoil the fun, because most of you haven’t even read Lost Tribe yet, to see where we’re going, let along 6 and 7.

You’ll enjoy it.

Past that, not a lot. Holiday brain, because everything churned sideways, but in a good way. Hope your various holidays are lovely and calm, and that 2025 doesn’t end up biting you too hard.

Y’all enjoy your 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.]

Shift to Tuesdays in process. Possibly permanently, because I’ve started learning Karate and the sensei has access to a space Monday mornings bright and too fucking early. Easier to shift the blog back a day, but I’ll be a bit getting the mind around it, after years of Monday.

Gotta rebuild the whole schedule. Worth it, but still an adjustment.

Exile came out last night. Someone stayed up all night to 5-star it this morning, for which YAY! Glad it helps. 15 is done and 16 is next on my schedule in January, dropping both in the fall. HEAVY fall, with Corsac 6&7, then Javier 15&16.

Nice way to wrap things.

Finished a third Laima Ghur story this morning. Another 15k worth of universe exploration, and that gets me January to write more. And more Holden. And more Ivette. And more whatever else.

I’d like to generate 2 million words per year instead of 1, but that’s the amount of story I could tell if I let myself go. Don’t have the space to manage that at the moment.

Supposed to have lunch with a buddy tomorrow to talk RPG design. Have the engine I built a couple of years ago, before shit went sideways there. Probably needs a cyberpunk world with “magic” throw in (in the form of psychic powers, unless I really wanted to lean into Urban Fantasy somehow.)

Would folks play an Urban Fantasy RPG? Someone go ask their kids. And the Buffy fanatics. I wasn’t one, but it kinda fits, thinking about it. And any system better deal with magic at some level. Easier and more inclusive of ALL POSSIBLE GENRES to build it myself. The Engine handles it already, so it is mostly an expression of style and content.

Huh.

Might have legs. Will let you know next week after I talk to him.

Story: Finished Forever City #3. Monarch of the Stars. Because why the hell not? Got a half-dozen more titles to explore, en route to something possibly huge if you folks enjoy it.

Thoughts so far?

Back to Corsac 6. 34k at the moment. Probably longer than usual, so maybe 90. Gotta wrap up a couple of big arcs and bring Block One to rest to set up Block Two. Then more Javier, I think. Possibly Holden after that. And some Action-Thriller, just because. Got ideas for Red Branch #5, which will be a nice resting point for that series. And it might explode.

Every time you push the publish button, pull the lever and hope it comes up all 7s. That’s money. A forever career, if you will. I’d like that.

Sure beats the hell out of putting on pants.

In case I don’t see you before then, Happy Holidays and New Year. I got a lot of new things coming, some of which I’ll tell you about. Some just to improve my humor.

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.]

It’s fucking cold out there this morning. 28F with fog, when I went down to see the Piper and talk with him over coffee. Still defrosting as we spent some time outdoors working out.

Useful, but damned cold. Home now and getting warm.

Because of the holiday, only slowly recovering. Figure making it through November was a win. Stretched about as thin as I can get. Stressed almost to breaking.

Managed to not bite anyone, and I’ll consider that a win, all things considered. Although, truth be told, been a few assholes lately that really don’t grasp the whole “shut the fuck up” part of life and have to have opinions on EVERY topic. Loud ones.

Over on Bluesky, having greatly expanded my network, I have started unfollowing, muting, and occasionally blocking folks. They are not worth my time, even when they aren’t really shitposting fuckups like you find on ex-Twitter.

Just assholes who don’t have anything nice to say at any point.

Maybe, just maybe, learn that not everyone who disagrees with your deeply held instant opinions is wrong? I know, shocking. Maybe, just maybe, learn to shut up?

You’d be amazed what you might hear or even learn, if you aren’t the biggest ego in EVERY room. I know, shocking.

Maybe cold and grumpy this Monday. Maybe done with a lot of folks and their drama. Only warning, and some of those folks will never see it, because they don’t listen. Or learn.

Writing: Sent Science Officer 15 to first readers over the weekend. Will write #16 soonish. Probably by the end of Jan. Planning at this point to drop Corsac 6 & 7, then Javier 15 & 16 to end 2025 and go out big. Got a lot of of things, too.

Folks in the Patreon will get the second Laima novellete later today. If you aren’t there, you’re missing a lot. I’m working on ideas for Scattered Tribes #2, but not sure if Patreon gets it or it just comes out. They read all the parts of #1 over the last 16 months and change. Seemed to go over well.

Not much past that. Corsac 7 is over 20k, but it’s long because I have to wrap up all of Block One, so I’m guessing closer to 100k to finish it. Dunno. Got a story that wants to be told, and you’ll get it eventually.

Hope your monday is warm. Maybe add a dash of rum to the hot chocolate. You might need it.

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.

Lost power last Tuesday at 430pm. Just about the time I was close to recovering from the week in Vegas. Never got that cold around here, so wasn’t as bad as last time. Mostly 40-50F.

Power didn’t come back until Saturday at 5pm. 5 days without the well, because finding an electrician out here who could wire a battery pack and generator switch is apparently a fool’s errand. If I had that, I have a well and toilets.

I did almost pee on a squirrel at one point, walking out to the blackberry bramble. He was hunkered down, then took off when he realized that wasn’t rain.

Another Sunday recovering. Figure I’m about 2.5 weeks of utter chaos at this point. Emotionally exhausted and snapped hard at a couple of folks this morning that had already had enough warnings about being dickheads.

My world is better off without them in it. Done with -isms from assholes, and have expanded my definition. Will be spring cleaning my life. It will be joyous.

And rude.

But buttercup, you’ve been warned.

Finished Red Branch #4 yesterday. The Free City. Set in Trieste in 1950, when it had the potential to turn into something like Monaco. Didn’t, but that was later. And Stalin screwed up there, IMO. Could had materially damaged Yugoslavia at a time when they were pissy at one another.

Anyway.

Started Corsac Fox #7 this morning. That will end Block One, but I probably have 30 novels about Uly and Dan before I finish. And, mind you, I know how the last two novels go, having planned them at the same time I planned Book One.

What I don’t know is how many novels are in between. And how many spin-offs, because I have such a rich and engaging universe here to play in, and a lot of characters who will never get to necessarily shake the pillars of heaven, but are the heroes of their own stories.

Once I finish Block One, there will be time and space to go a little sideways. Maybe some Isann explorations. Or Samuur games. Or Ononguli cattle drives.

Whatever works.

And, with the power out for five days, I ended up with about 20 pages of notes for two other series. Scattered Tribes is one some of you have read. I now have a plot and points for Books 2+.

Additionally, I started a novel in the spring, but had to put it aside when things went to shit. Partly, I kept trying to pull back from crazy big, and that was where the story wants to go, so I have notes on dark gods and pantheonic wars to explore.

Space OPERA.

There will be a dull zone next year, then shit will get crazy, because I also have notes on a new Marrakesh trilogy that will be the start of a Season Two from book six forward.

Now I just gotta find the time to write it all.

Back to the word mines.

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.

20241118

[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.]

Skipped a week, in case you didn’t notice. Also having issues with the damned auto-delivery function not sending out messages on time, so I have to kick it manually.

Got back from Vegas Friday LATE so I could sleep in my own bed and be ready for a whole second event Sat in Enumclaw, where they did the annual Wine Walk. Lots of traffic. Sold a few books. Made a bunch of new friends.

Met a bunch of folks last week. Still catching up on that. And hosted a meetup, was on two panels, and gave a Ted Talk sort of thing that seemed to be well received. There will be a watch party for folks in the spring and an AMA with it.

If I owe you something, email me, because social media is a deep in gators right now as I catch up.

Should finish Red Branch #4 this week. Then some short stuff before I go on to Corsac For 7 (The end of block one) and then I’m not sure. Still catching up this morning because been so damned busy and then trying to regain momentum. Gonna keep this short so I can turn around and write the newsletter I owe you.

Have a good 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.

[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.]

The Anarchist came over yesterday and did a construction consult on the Tiny Greathall. Man was a General Contractor for a long time, before getting a regular job during Covid so he could get laid off and collect unemployment. Except that he was too smart and they kept him. Knows his shit.

Took him five minutes to fix the door latch problem and tweak the frame to hang perfectly. Dude’s magic.

Last week got a lot of trim and molding work done. Painted whiskey shelves and what will turn into a book case for gaming books perhaps this week. Framed both windows. Trim. Need to get to Home Depot and touch table legs so I can build/install both of them, but that might wait until after Author-Nation is done. But I’m really close to moving the bar in. And the fridge. Fix the wiring and install the light fixture. And calling it good enough for now. Little things left that can take all winter to finish.

Kinda excited about all that.

On the writing side, I don’t remember what I told you last week. Finished a Humboldt story. Sets inside the Boston universe, but off to one side because the story is for the Sidekicks Issue of Thrill Ride Magazine. That’s four Boston stories now, and I’m almost a year ahead on TRM stories, which I need because I also have BSQ and that is going to be eight writing deadlines every year. Throw in the need for something short for Patreon, and I’m a busy boy.

After that, I started the fourth Red Branch novel. First one is out this month. Night Strike. Wanted it available for Author-Nation because I’m on an Action-Thriller panel, as well as a historic research panel, and the Red Branch fits the bill. In the Store or Amazon.

Enjoy.

Next week, I don’t plan on posting. I’ll be BUSY all week, and largely taking that week off from writing, because I have to put on the Carnival Barker face instead. He’s fun, but exhausting. And I can’t write when I have to be ON all the time, which I will for a week.

Brighter side, at this moment I am over 900,000 words for the year, with seven weeks to go, so I’ll hit a million and change. Planning to write Corsac Fox 7 next. Don’t expect to finish Red Branch before AN, so Corsac will start around Thanksgiving. Then possibly Red Branch 5. Then maybe Science Officer 16.

Then it’s January or later, and I’ll figure that shit out when I get there.

Have a Monday.

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.]

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

—————————-

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.