Category Archives: Personal

Mid-week update a new Kickstarter project

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Because, ya know?

Y’all been listening to me go on and on about the Corsac Fox kickstarter (and it funded with nearly $4000 in the end, so thank you), and now I have more news. Just wasn’t quite expecting it to come up so soon, and figured I should break and chat. (Plus, another midmonth newsletter this weekend, I suspect, to help carry momentum.)

Long-time fans will remember me talking about a thriller/action-adventure project I got into with ML Buchman last year. (And yes, it is all my fault.)

The Thrill Ride Magazine just went live with their kickstarter earlier this week. What Matt’s doing is trying to get funding for a full year of issues ($5,000 for 4 quarterly themed things, following my old Boundary Shock Quarterly mode, since it’s my fault), and went KS.

I was lucky enough to place four stories, one in each of these issues, so I have a large vested interest in his success, because I’ll get paid for it. That’s where you come in.

He’s offering all sorts of extras as part of the kickstarter, including a bunch of novels and things from the various authors involved. As of this moment (pause, check) we’re at $3,300 of his $5,000 goal with two weeks to go. (I spent more time finishing Corsac, obviously, and am now pivoting.)

  • Honor
  • Unlikely Partners
  • No Western White Males
  • Betrayal

The first three have a rolling series of short stories from me about my new Five-Woman-Band, led by a former Afghan Women’s Platoon combat veteran, a bitcoin billionaire who cashed out at one of the peaks, an actress, a music video director, and a scrounger. All women. All ethnicities, backgrounds, and styles. And three of them are women long-time friends might recognize (heh).

And those ladies will be back for more. I’m hoping that we clear the funding hurdle and I can start writing for Year Two themes, because this is a project I believe in enough to have been there from the start, egging Matt on and helping in any way I could, from the moment I convinced him to actually do it. (Again, all my fault.)

The last story, Betrayal, involves an English wheelman (car guy) hired to help steal a cherry-red Corvette Stingray that is a replica of the original from Mark Hamill’s movie Corvette Summer. And Boston will be back for more as well, because I had so much fun with him and Rollins.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to back the kickstarter.

THERE ARE NO THRILLER OR ACTION-ADVENTURE SHORT MAGAZINES CURRENTLY IN EXISTENCE.

We looked. None. Matt’s creating a new thing in the universe. But he can’t do it alone.

That’s where you come in. I’ll keep writing Fatima and Boston, but I want them to be in the larger context of creating a whole new pillar of income by helping launch a successful magazine.

I’d like your help in doing it. (And you’ll see a similar plea for $$$ in the newsletter I’ll send out this weekend, because most people need a little extra prodding.) Totally worth it, because I won’t publish these various stories before 2024. Maybe later, if we can get the magazine up and going, and I keep writing enough to generate collections of said shorts before pivoting to novels.

So take a few minutes and a few bucks and let’s launch The Thrill Ride Magazine into the stratosphere.

Thanks

-b-

20230116

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[As usual, two 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.]

Got a nasty review from someone on Last Stand over the weekend. Posted the essay that should have accompanied Book One, but got left out. (My mistake.) Should help clear things up.

Still a little bemused, because in her mind, Nathan Fillion was the heart and soul of the show. And he is an amazing actor.

Go back and watch the show now. With eyes set in 2023. Captain Reynolds is an asshole to everyone. Literally everyone. Given the number of folks with guns, in a real western someone would have shot him dead and considered the galaxy a better place. The essay has more details.

I doubt she’ll buy book two, but that’s her loss. After #1, I went off on my own tangent that had nothing to do with slavers bemoaning their loss of property. Because that was EXACTLY what the people fighting the American Civil War ANNOUNCED their purpose was.

Go google the “Cornerstone Speech” by Alexander Stephens before you hit reply, then you can get back to me. I’d really like you to identify yourself as a potential slave owner.

Anyway…

Monday.

The crew working on the heat pump and air cycler was here Thursday and I kicked them out Friday night at 9pm because they had a long drive to get back to their office. They were not successful. They did order new parts this morning, and will pick them up from their supplier tomorrow on the way down, so hopefully I will have heat by tomorrow night.

I’m still counting forward from October 27th as my last “normal” day, given all the crap that has occurred since then. Oh, and I have a new well pressure tank, plumbing, and controls as of last week, so that part went well.

Today is a holiday, so folks are rediscovering that black people would like civil rights. Some of them find that offensive. I like it when those folks out themselves as well, because that means they are so toxic that there is nothing I can do to save them, justify them, or would ever want to associate with them again.

Story:

I’m writing Heather Lau’s Zerzan story: Warlord of Yaumgan. A little over twenty thousand words in. Aiming for about 80k at this point, depending. Lots of backgrounding and updating that needs to happen, as it takes place three years after the end of the Kosnett books.

At the same time, it is a continuation of the same. The arc of empires and the sins of the fathers. What is the most ethical solution to any problem.

Circling back, slavery was legal and considered moral at the time. One only has to read the bible on the proper way to treat your slaves to see that.

At no point was it ever ethical. And there is nothing you can do to make it so. If you aren’t willing to treat all people as people, then you have a problem. And an ugly one.

I’ve made it a point to identify toxic people over the last several years and expel them from my life. Got no time for it, and don’t want to be in their area arguing with them.

My father always said, “Never argue with a fool. Bystander can’t tell the difference.”

So it’s Monday and I have no sufferance for fools today. Hopefully your day is going better.

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 two 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.

20230109

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20230109

[As usual, two 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.]

News, according to the second law of thermodynamics, is bad. Entropy, you see?

Monday.

The Fabulous Publisher Babe™ got up way early for an appointment in Seattle. I got up with her and am working way early. Or was. Power went out about fifteen minutes ago. Just came on long enough now for me to power the laptop back up and start typing, after resetting a couple of clocks and blowing out the kerosene lamps. (Made the mistake, after several days, of putting them away last night. Might just leave them out forever at this point.)

Bomb cyclone winds out there over the last several hours. Like sustained above 30mph and gusting to 60. If you know where I live, the geometry of the Cascades makes sense with the weather I get.

Monday.

Might go out for breakfast in a while. It is 657am as I type and my usual joint opens at 8, but looking at the outage map, they have had no power for a while, so I doubt that they are opening this morning. Might look at options in town. Or something else. Dunno.

Won’t say I’m emotionally fragile, because that’s the wrong end of the spectrum. Frustrated (yes, I will admit to being a control freak. Still the least of the four of us in one group, which amuses me and the various wives.) PTSD when the power blinks, because it has been so bad this year.

Previously, power would go out for a bit. Or a few hours. I’ve had two gaps of 21+ hours in the last two weeks. Double plus ungood. On top of the shorter outages, like ten minutes here when I was about to start writing a new novel.

2023. Gonna make some changes, but it will take me time. Chalk that up to my LAST NORMAL DAY being Oct 27, 2022 (reminder, today is Jan 9). And today is not normal.

The Fabulous Publisher Babe™ has determined that Saturday will be her crafting day. The last two have been dedicated to finishing a really cool quilt she started a while back, using material from her dad’s old shirts she stole out of his closet when he died. I do Tai Chi et al on Saturday mornings, so usually haven’t been writing afterwards.

Been trying to make up word count the rest of the week, generally aiming for 5,000/day instead. That has been stressful. Too much to do, with all the other crap. PTSD.

So my new plan is to write 4000+ each day, five days per week. Might write more. Might not. 90-100k per month, instead of 120. I would like to enjoy life, and I’m not really doing that much right now, but all of that is external. And makes this control freak grumpy.

But, in the interests of Anti-Stodgy, I spent Sunday way up north, training with a karate sensei I have known for several years, learning an Okinawan Spear/Pike form that he had to adapt some, because my long-pork boar spear weighs twice as much as his hooked pole, and had edges where his is something like a sai or jitte on the end of a stick. Went well. Learned it quickly, because I was a dancer, once upon a time. Been practicing it at home, plus I have a video of myself doing it.

Next weekend, will go further up north and show Hawk, then work with him on the form we’ve been creating, adding in new elements and figuring out what we’ve been missing.

Monday.

Words. Writer-brain wants to go ahead and start Heather Lau’s series now. A fan who has been ready the previous series and sending me typos and corrections wondered if I have given Zerzan short shrift with the way I ended Yaumgan.

Instead, after a certain passage of time (and I reread the necessary chapters last night to be sure of my timing), Zerzan will descend into a civil war and cause all sorts of damage that will require the Warlord of Yaumgan to sort out.

This will be her story.

And a lot of unexpected faces will show up, at least for cameos. After I finish posting this, I’ll be starting that, with occasional breaks to write all the other things that I produce in a normal month (newletters and short fiction).

Last Stand will start hitting readers in about 14 hours, so I’m looking forward to how folks like Tessa and the gang. Finished #10 last week. Will write 11 and 12 this winter/spring. First Readers have been pleased.

More later, when my humor improves.

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Windy 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 two 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.

Kickstarter: And First Stretch Goal hit!

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Yeah, off schedule, because advertising kinda requires I mention things several times, in order to motivate you to buy. (I’ve read the books and seen the math.)

We funded on day one. And have now hit the first of a bunch of possible stretch goals for prizes and cool stuff I could do. You should sign up. And maybe bring some friends. (heh)

And there are a few high-level backer options.

Name a starship in a big cast of them. Be a walk-on part in a future novel. Be a villain in a future novel.

This is going to have a long cast list (people as well as ships) and I’m open to letting you have a chance at immortality.

Plus, in the Add-on section, I’ve consolidated a bunch of series down into cheap blocks, in case you needed to get caught up. Now’s your chance.

20230102

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20230102

[As usual, two 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. New Year. New me. New something. Trying to make it as mundane as possible, because I’ve had about enough. All the warm, friendly exterior is about ground off at this point, leaving all the hard, sharp, and pointy bits that nobody has really gotten to see in a long time.

Honestly, not even Donna, my first wife, let alone Fabulous Publisher Babe™, though she knows.

[Sidebar story on that: We were at a writing thing, and they had us all go around the room: standing up, giving our name, and saying where we were from. One of the folks up front takes my future wife aside and tells her that FPB should run a background check on me. Just from that little. The Babe smiles at her. “I already know what I’d find.” Told you I married another great one.]

Hoping shit settles down. Gotta replace the heat pump and air cycler entirely, because not even Lennox can figure out why it is acting like that, so I have stumped everybody. At the same time, the well tank is leaking, and that’s another expensive replacement coming up.

I would greatly appreciate all of you telling all of your friends to buy my books, because I’m about to write an ugly check. Like, way shitty.

Brighter side, I’m hoping to launch the Corsac Fox Kickstarter in a few weeks. I have a script for the video I need to record. The story itself to polish and insert some art. Then get approval and launch.

There will be links. And hype. And pleas for you to tell everyone.

Ten years ago, before I met Fabulous Publisher Babe™ the first time, I had ideas for two grand space operas. In those days, there was no such thing as writing for money, so I was planning to turn them into a couple of science fiction RPG campaigns for my crew.

Then things went a little sideways.

Story Arc #1 turned out to be “The Science Officer.” Most of you are familiar with how that turned out. And continues to.

Story Arc #2 was, at the time, called the “Lone Gray Wolf” in my working notes. (And I still have those notes in a file, but they are long past relevant at this point.) It turned into “Corsac Fox” when I started world-building for writing a novel series.

The original idea literally spanned about forty years in my head. Epic, in the context of kid at the start and old man at the end, with a lifetime of crazy adventures in the middle, continually building to greater and greater operatic tones.

And now, I’m about to Kickstarter Corsac Fox #1. I’ve got #2 done already. And plans to write #3 in the spring. No idea how many novels this first block of stuff will require. Feels like six, but that really only gets me to a certain spot barely a quarter of the way to my original plan.

Watch this space for more news.

Went shooting this morning. Very briefly. Like 31F and 30mph winds meant I shot three rounds (3×12) and called it good, because I was shivering and that makes it hard to shoot accurately.

Came home and wrote. About halfway through Last Stand #10. Already have #11 and #12 mapped in my head, then we’re done with “Season One” and cover every month in 2023 with a Last Stand novella.

Plus other stuff. LOTS of other stuff. Like two Pacific Force Action/Adventure novels (both up for pre-order). Some Urban Fantasy. Three Derlyth (Occult Detective, all dropping in May). Two Corsac Fox. Three Marrakesh. The second of Kincaide’s War. Still gotta write the next Science Officer novel (#13) but the rest listed here is done.

Hoping to do Kickstarters for both of the Corsac Fox novels. (All of them, as a matter of fact.) And offer certain things for backers that other folks get to pay a premium for later, like art and secondary origin stories of some of the major characters. And whatever other crazy stuff you folks can come up with for a wishlist.

Right now, I’ll hype January projects, because those are barely a week away. Time flies, ya know?

Last Stand #1: Lost Dreams

Fugitive

Hope your holidays were less interesting than mine. (The Chinese covered this.) And remember, you made it this far, so all those [redacted] who tried to stop you have failed.

Surviving is often winning. I can testify to that, given some of the things we don’t talk about in polite company. (aka You’re buying the beer if you want to hear it.)

Happy Monday. Happy New Year. Go knock ’em dead.

Also, the January story (Bellerophon: Origin) is not going out tonight. I have to GM what should be the last bit of an undead dungeon crawl and that’s one thing too many, so you are getting it tomorrow night.

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 two 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.

20221226

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20221219

[As usual, two 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.]

[EXCESSIVE PROFANITIES HERE!!!]

Got up Saturday morning and the furnace went out while I was in the shower. Thermostat is directly across the hall, and I’ve grown paranoid about looking to make sure it is on. It wasn’t.

Called the service and was on hold for a while as the poor woman at the call center was overwhelmed. Eventually, the tech who has been out here the most times called back, apologizing that they were closed until Tuesday, but they’d get the Lennox folks (the heat pump causing the problems) involved.

Then, because I had paid attention and asked questions, he walked me through unwiring the heat pump from the circuit (five wire nuts joining three sets of multi-color cables together) so that at least the furnace would work.

So I did have heat all weekend, even as the rest of the week sucked.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I lost power. Several hours Thu. Two hours Fri. Just long enough to trigger some PTSD Sat.

Friday night, I was attempting to cook a grilled cheese sandwich. Ended up finishing it on the flat-topped fireplace, on a marble tile explicitly put there for this sort of thing.

Friday morning, I lost water in the middle of the shower. I’m guessing that the pipes had turned to slush overnight (got down to 18F around here), because by the time I got up to the pumphouse to look, I had pressure again. Still turned up the space heater in the pumphouse, which I have to reset every time I lose power for longer than 10 seconds.

So it’s been a mostly bad week. Christmas was quiet. We spent Sat and Sun cooking. Upside down pineapple/banana pancake pan cake. Cookies. Bisque. Pudding. Had a ham for Xmas that was part of a pig we bought this past fall, loading the freezer up with chops and such.

I live a privileged life, that I can have an eighth of a cow and a quarter of a pig butchered every once in a while. And the hydroponics that let me harvest my salads, some days.

But I’m a little frazzled and fragile right now.

It did, however, bring me an interesting revelation. Science Officer #12 came out this month. Captain Navarre. Writer-brain explained that I can only write the Season Two/Rising Storm storied when I am angry.

And, bubba, I’m there these days, so there might be #13 soon. Possibly #14 as well, as I have them all outlined roughly. (About a paragraph each, covering 50-70k words. Not even a blurb, but enough emotionally.)

I was about 3,000 words into Last Stand #10, but had to stop yesterday. Literally ran out of words, so I opened a new file and attacked a blank piece of paper.

Five thousand words of Eclipse poured out in about three hours, so obviously I had been writing the wrong story. Got another 2500 this morning after breakfast and before I stopped to write a blog post for you folks. No idea how long it is, because I am just typing as fast as I can take dictation at this point.

Many folks will assume that I have thinly veiled Batman, but they are wrong. Bruce Wayne is like the fifth or eighth such Black Mast detective hero like that, but the one that survived and became the best known. I’m actually somewhere in the center of a triangle with Batman, Sandman (Wesley Dodd) and Dr. Midnite on the points.

And there wasn’t really a lot of difference there in those days. We know Batman, because the others went out of business, bankrupt, and eventually got bought by the company that would become Detective Comics (DC). Same thing happened with Superman, who inherited the “Fortress of Solitude” concept in almost exact detail from Doc Savage, written by “Kenneth Robeson.”

There is nothing original in literature, except how you tell a particular story. And I have a fun one on my hands, mostly because all that anger has to come out somewhere.

Finished Stephanie #6. And maybe Season One, because it wound itself down perfectly for a break, but I didn’t realize it until I was on the last half-page. Probably will take a break after Six, then pivot to one of the other characters in Cole’s stack of people to write. Want to keep that penname fresh. Do that by dropping something every other month, at least until I can build up a deep enough catalog.

It will be 2023 shortly. I have a LOT of Action-Adventure coming out shortly, with Marcus in January as the b-side, and Pacific Force in Feb and Mar. Also, I hope to be part of a new Thriller Magazine that will come out in the spring with four issues scheduled. Not certain, but I think I have placed three stories, and maybe four. Fatima and Boston, new characters for folks to enjoy.

Hope your holidays have been less stressful than mine. I’d like things to settle down some around here, so I’m not rolling gators at one moment, and walking on eggshells the next.

What did you get for Christmas?

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 two 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.

20221219

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[As usual, two 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.]

After a game of “Stump every tech who works there” and having five different folks come out over the course of two weeks, I have heat again. (I don’t do wiring, but apparently the ground from the heat pump ran all the way back into the house, through the boards, and to the main furnace ground. Tech put in a different wire that ran 10” and everything suddenly ran fine.)

And heat is good, as it started snowing last night late. Got several inches, then about half melted this morning. Except that it just started up again a few minutes ago. Fat, slow, feathery flakes, meaning a lot more is likely coming.

Yuck.

But the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ has a 4×4 pickup, so we’re not stuck at the top of the hill. Not sure when I’m going out, except that I have to GM a dungeon crawl tonight.

Anti-Stodgy update: Went to breakfast with Hawk yesterday, then spent all morning and after lunch at the park nearby, working out a series of moves and maneuvers for a spear form. Not Tai Chi, because much more focused on how to kill four people who have surrounded you, while surviving. We worked out the first four sections yesterday. I worked out four more last night, but haven’t gotten them polished yet. Guessing we end up with 10-12 sections, once we throw in an appendix or two.

And I don’t hurt this morning. Did last night, but took a hot bath and then rubbed some Vitamin E cream on my spine muscles. That stuff is useful for softening scar tissue, so I figured that it might also help with the damage I did yesterday, and to keep such tissue from forming. Seems to have done the trick, because I took an advil before bed, and nothing since.

And I have a boar spear combat form that will be useful for balance, strength, and rotation as I grow older. Still looking for Yari forms. Sensei Johnson’s gone until January, then I hope to learn an Okinawan fishing spear form he knows. And maybe reach out up my Sifu’s lineage to his Sifu, for our schools “Tai Chi Spear” form. (think ¾” dowel rod about 5’ long, rather than 1.5” killing spear. Way different weight and technique.)

Finally, words.

Finished Ollie #2 today on one hell of a cliff-hangar. As intended. Only have a rough idea where #3 picks up and goes. Not sure if the series runs four or five or longer. Doesn’t really matter right now, except setting up for emotional payoff, and I’m not there yet. Will drop them all back to back, one of these days.

After talking to a fan who has been sending me edits and corrections on Jessica and Phil, I reread Winterhome and Petron last week. Needed to remember how the series ended, so I can set up who to bring back for Heather.

Because I’m deep into planning Warlord of Yaumgan. And got a lot of surprises planned, but not gonna ruin the fun just yet. Another big cast beast, like I do. EPIC space opera, like I like. Heather, who has always been one of my favorites. And a bunch of friends, both new and old.

But first, some erotica. And another Last Stand novella, to stay ahead of everybody. Maybe some short stuff for you folks.

Dunno. Don’t gotta know. Just gotta keep writing and having fun.

You having fun?

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 two 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.

20221212

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20221212

[As usual, two 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.]

Well, here’s hoping this Monday goes better. Furnace died two weeks ago. Guys are out today (just arrived) for the fourth time to try to trace why the furnace is fine and the heat pump is blowing fuses like crazy. At least I’ve had heat for the last week, but would prefer not running the furnace all the time to have it.

Fingers crossed.

Words. Just about 67k into the second Ollie novel. Target 80, but I might come in higher, so 100 is acceptable. First one was 80, so in range.

Slow burn novel. No gunfights. No space battles. Lots of xenoarchaeology asking difficult questions that none of the older alien species remember the answer to. (It’s been 20,000 years in one case and 40,000 in the other. Humans only climbed up on the Web 4,000 years ago.)

Dunno how long the series runs. 4-5 feels right, given 80-100 per. And I’m cliffhangaring this one and probably the next one, so I have to have them all done so I can drop them sequentially, month over month, instead of with gaps where folks might come after me with pitchforks.

How did you like reading Gunderson and meeting some of the old-timers in capes? Planning to send you the Bellerophon origin story for New Years, and then go back and explore Eclipse and Mr. Eclipse. (She might be more fun.)

Weather around here has finally gotten better. Was out gaming Friday night and had to drive through some crap to get home. Seven climate zones running like stripes across my path from there to here. Two of them were snowing with accumulations of 1-3”. Three raining. Two dry. And all had been dry when I’d gone south five hours earlier.

Skipped Tai Chi Saturday morning because I didn’t want to deal with black ice. Good choice, too, because there was a huge windstorm all night and neither I nor the kitty slept worth a damn. (Never operate heavy equipment like cars when you are that tired. Even the coffee barely helped.)

Should wrap up Ollie this week. Then either Stephanie or Tessa. Tessa #1 is up for pre-order and a couple of you have already First Readered it, so I’m kinda excited.

And thanks to everyone who has already had nice things to say about Captain Navarre. I can’t help but flash back to that one gentleman who complained about Buried Among The Stars that the tree-roos were the most interesting characters. And how he expected that folks who were trying to stop a war would be killing more people to do it.

Because violence solves all problems, obviously. (Dumbass.)

It is not, however, always the best solution to most of them. Like stopping the next Great War that might engulf Javier’s galaxy about the time he’s retired and living back on Altai.

Unlike the Jessica Keller+ era, I don’t foresee writing series that pick up things after Javier and explore the Rising Tide. It will come. Things like this are not the result of a single actor or action. All Javier will do is cement his place in history by trying, and even succeeding on a small scale in a few places.

Mostly because Suvi will be there to make sure everyone remembers him.

On Jessica, I have started deep diving planning into the series that comes after First Centurion Kosnett. Heather Lau’s story, as it were. The War with Zerzan, because Empires never willingly cede ground, morally, ethically, or physically. They must grow or die.

And worse, they know that Yaumgan are the last vestiges of the Zerzan Monarchy. The mob will not be swayed, regardless of what Unification Commissioners might desire.

Especially ones that understand just how terrible Phil Kosnett could have been. And what his successors will do if provoked.

That’s Ground Control. And a couple of friends who will surprise and delight you, even as I map out a whole new cast of heroes and villains. At least as big as Kosnett. Possibly giving Jessica a run for the money, because Heather has always been one of my favorites. And it lets me set up some of the things I’ve wanted to do for a couple of years, where I get to eventually explore Casey and Vo’s kids, and this new galactic civilization they will grow up in, where Jessica is a War Goddess and Phil is the Explorer Extraordinaire!

Hope y’all are having even half as much fun as I am. Got a lot of new things coming over the next twelve months, and don’t want you missing any of 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 two 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.

20221205

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[As usual, two 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.]

Winter.

I got a new standing desk, so I’m no longer looking into the kitchen when I write, but out the window at the wife’s barn. It snowed last Wednesday. LOTS. Still have some 4-6” of icy stuff on the ground, slowly melting as it has been a little above freezing during the days.

But (and this is the ^fun^ part), the furnace died on Wednesday also. Fortunately, I designed the house well. A single duraflame log in the flat-topped fireplace stove keeps things warm. That’s been useful.

Got lucky and a cancellation meant that the gang came out to fix it Thursday morning. But it turned out they didn’t have the right parts, when it was determined that the control board on the heat pump outside was bad/fried. They came back Friday morning first thing and I had heat again. And Cameron is a cool dude. The whole shop have been great to work with.

Because when I got back home Friday afternoon, it was dark again. (I have a computer panel on the wall for a thermostat.) Called the on-call folks after hours, and explained the situation to Mitch. He suggested a few things, based on me having been paying attention to Cameron when he worked. I was not aware, but my furnace has both a breaker (like in your circuit box on the wall) as well as a 3 amp automotive fuse. That fuse had cooked.

Cameron had put a meter on it early on and found it putting 17 amps through. I went to the auto parts store Saturday and got some more fuses. Blew a 3 amp immediately, so obviously, I have a power/ground issue somewhere. (I don’t do electrical work. Anything else, maybe.)

It’s 1030 am as I write. Tech due 12-4, and has been updated with all the everything. Hopefully, they can find the fault and fix it, because I paid for the more expensive repair the first time and it had been going great. But I got a power surge somewhere.

So I’ve been running through the duraflame logs (plus something called a Tacoma Log, which is not as good, but WAY cheaper). House is okay. I’m just stressed.

Put it this way. By the end of yesterday (the 4th of December), I was two days behind on word count. Slowly chopping away, but stressed. And having a pair of techs in the house soon means my mind is not focused on the writing.

Snow outside don’t help, unless it is melting faster. Just checked the outside thermometer, and it suggests 40F right now.

Yay.

Words.

Hope y’all enjoyed Gunderson. I could explain all the bits and pieces that it hints at, but that’s a three beer conversation, and you’re buying. (heh) I do plan to explore them all in a series of superhero and superagent short stories, going forward.

Still banging away happily on Ollie, book 2. At about 37,000 words, of a goal of 80k. Just introduced a character who is a JTD Mark 3 Assassin droid. Looks like a butler. Two-gun killer. He’ll appreciate it.

Story has little physical violence (so far). Lots of emotional. And the double-crosses keep stacking sideways, as different groups show up to ask what the hell Ollie and crew are up to, and how they can either get rich, or stop him from getting where he intends to.

Messy, which is my goal. This is a messy series, asking complicated questions and not offering pat answers.

Mostly, that’s writer-brain working out a lot of stuff on this side, before shifting over into some intended mega space-battle opera. Wanna start Heather at some point. Soonish, too. Simply got too many more RAN stories to tell, and not enough years to tell them in. (Hell, I can’t wait until I get to the point of Casey’s kids as grown-ups, because I have some fun planned there, as well.)

I figure Ollie takes me about 2 weeks more to finish. Then I will write a novella at the end of the year, either Stephanie or Tessa. Then more. And more.

And you folks, because you support me: What series would you like to see extended or whatevered, as I plan out 2023?

I am on track to publish something like 29-32 books next year, including BSQ and BWP, but also all twelve Tessa and a ton of things getting dumped out of the trunk. And I have had some interesting thoughts on the third (of five) Giles/Taft Station book, so that will happen at some point soon. So more RAN. More of this and that.

What is your favorite series of mine? Almost all of them are set up in such a way that I could extend them, including Star Dragon, Star Tribes, and Longshot Hypothesis. That’s my thing. Bring the story to a plateau, then rest. Phil Kosnett is the successor to Jessica. Heather will be Phil’s. Dunno who hers is, as that’s a matter of how long her arc takes in personal-years. Maybe Junkyard. Maybe someone entirely else.

What would you ask Santa for? 🙂

Hope your Monday is off to a better start than mine. I’m abiding, but that’s about as good as today gets.

Shade and snowy weather

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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If you’re reading the free version (which is published two 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.

20221128

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[As usual, two 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 snow. Not much and not bad. Monsoonerated all night, so warm, but the temperature dropped early in the predawn when the wind started coming off the mountain.

Got breakfast. Skipped shooting.

Had fun on the drive, though. From my place down to Enumclaw (south about 15 miles or so), you pass through seven distinct climate zones, divided off by peaks and valleys to the east as the Cascades ripple. At my house, it was slightly drizzly when I left. Then I hit the next zone about two hundred yards down the road and it was snowing wet and sticky. Then clear. Then rain. Then snow again. Then rain. Then clear.

I can almost mark the spots in the roadway with a can of spray paint, having driven them enough times in the winter to figure them out.

Got back here through the reverse, but it was snowing slightly at my place when I arrived. That faded out after an hour and I had sun. Cloudy now.

Never dropped below 34F, though, so not particularly worried. Just know that a La Niña year is going to average colder and wetter than usual. Have already brought the kitchen camping gear in from the barn, in case of power outages. Can always cook on the flat-top fireplace in the living room. (I designed the house exactly for those sorts of situations, and there is a granite tile with a tea pot there.)

Did strenuous Tai Chi this weekend. Sifu wanted kick drills, which means down and back several times, doing different things. I hurt. And was exhausted, but that’s the leftovers from the COVID, which really messed with my endurance.

Still, I’m still in better shape than most of the men I know my age. (Bagpiper doesn’t count, because he’s a fireman and runs three miles most days, on top of equipment work.) And, I’m down in weight as I’ve been working on losing it. Weighed 202# Thursday, Friday, and this morning, in spite of the holiday, which means that getting down to 195 is within reach in not too long.

This is after being around 215-220 for too long.

[And snow just started to fall again. Or gropple. Very chewy rain. Something.]

Working on Chen Pan Ling Thunderstick, which is a short-staff/cane form. Sifu Nathan is designing a longsword combat form for me, using the compass rose, since too many Asian martial forms tend to be down and back exclusively.

Also starting to look for some spear/yari/naginata forms for upper body strength and flexibility. Wanna stay strong and limber into my 90s. Again, most Asian forms tend to use a bo (stick) instead of a spear. Think drum major, where the shaft is extremely light and thin. I’ve got a European boar spear, with a 1.5” shaft and a flanged head.

Sifu Stone said it was only good for sticking pigs. I reminded him that long pork qualified.

So I’m working on flexibility and endurance. What are you doing to stay in shape as the kids start challenging you?

Books: I’m done with the Bellerophon short/origin story and now about 16k into the second Ollie novel. Xenoarchaeology Space Opera, asking really big questions and challenging galaxy-wide assumptions about things. Book One started as a collection of short pieces some of you have read, before being collected and extended to an 80k novel. Book Two target is the same rough length. Will take me a good chunk of December to finish. After that, more Stephanie, more Tessa, more superheroic fantasy.

Novel-wise, I’m not sure what’s next. Have the first two Corsac Fox novels done. #1 was originally going to go up for a Kickstarter today, before we both got sick. New schedule is January, but I need to check closer and finish off a few things. Have a couple of other open series beyond Ollie that need to move forward. Taft Station #3 (of 5) has been whispering to me, as has Air Pirates #4. Corsac Fox #3. Marrakesh #4, but I’ve written those three since summer, so I can take a break. Those are not part of a longer epic thread, so I can drop them as I write them.

Science Officer #12 is coming out shortly. I need to write #13, but at the moment, these feel like “Every December publish one” projects. At least until I have some spare time to write more of those because I’ve finished some of the other series or written them far enough ahead.

January, I’m dropping two projects. The first Last Stand (Lost Dreams), which is the shiny space western adventure that’s filling the calendar next year (nine done so far). Also, Fugitive, which is a semi-historic action/adventure spy piece set in 1977 (I call the category discopunk, for various reasons). Need to write more about Marcus, but that requires some serious research, because they are set in the “real world” and the late 70s, so I need to make sure I have the details more correct that I normally have to worry about in SF.

Feb and March will see a pair of Pacific Force novels. Again, action/adventure (not quite thriller, as it were), this time set in 2018, so I can control the calendar and events, and don’t get surprised. Five man band sort of thing, where the team are private mercenaries saving the world from criminals out to destroy it. No more advanced tech than “Tuesday after next” but I’ve had fun, because they are set in the “present tense” and let me find a spot on the map to play.

Put Buckaroo Banzai, Batman, James Bond, and your favorite Anime Senraku (I grew up on Battle of the Planets) in the corners, then connect them with two lines. That’s Pacific Force. Have gotten pretty good comments from my First Readers, so I’ll write more, assuming these sell worth the effort.

I have so many ideas that writer-brain simply won’t bubble up ones that aren’t going to make me money. Four diehard fans won’t cut it, regardless of how life changing it might be for them. (You are somebody’s favorite author/artist/being.) If Pacific Force or Marcus generate traffic, I’m more likely to circle back. If not, then I’ll throw other spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

Planning to put some serious cycles into planning and maybe starting Warlord of Yaumgan next year, since I’ve opened up some space in my writing calendar. And more Marrakesh. And a few other things.

Because I’m having a lot of fun. Hopefully, you are too.

What’s been your favorite thing of mine lately? Or your favorite bit of doggerel from one of my stories? Always interested in which bits stick with folks.

Lemme know.

Also, I ^think^ I have gotten all the server issues resolved. Blogs scheduled a couple weeks ahead seem to be working out. If I have not responded to an email you sent me lately, go ahead and poke me, because it might have gotten eaten by the machines. (I can explain everything to a nerd, but there was a weird DNS issue in the middle of all that.)

Hopefully, you’re turkey day went well. (Or whatever you did to celebrate the end of summer and the impending holiday season.)

Chat more soon,

b

West of the currently snowing 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 two 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.