Category Archives: publishing

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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 the Mondays. But in a good way.

Last week, Jon mentioned the rpg I’d talked about creating, where I’d gone a reasonable distance in. He had a few questions, that turned into a lot of questions. That turned into ideas. Lots of ideas.

Been refining for about ten days. He called this morning about getting coffee, after I’d already gone out for breakfast and come home, but it’s Jon, so I went back down to Enumclaw. Several hours later, I’m finally home and writing.

Did get started on a new Chace story this morning. You might get it next month, or maybe I’ll tease you with a sample of something. Tempted to serialize Air Pirates 1, just because I don’t think more than one or two of you read it when it was available in the store. (Yell if you have opinions.)

So I’m moving suddenly forward on a new rpg. Like we might be playtesting character creation and basic combat in about a week, on the way to modularizing a magic system. Helps that I’ve played so many different engines over the last forty years, so I can pull in pieces I like and know work, while avoiding others.

Starting with fantasy, because that’s Jon’s thing, then on to some space opera or cyberpunk, which requires a slightly different take on the engine. Building some of the parts in now and explaining to him why, which means I have to have it straight in my head.

THEN (to top that off), there was a bit of a surprise on Saturday. I knew something was up, but not what. Three Lakes Martial Arts Academy (Enumclaw) does Saturday morning classes. Martial for an hour, then Chen Pan Ling Tai Chi 99, then open training.

This last Saturday, there were also promotions. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ knew, because she made it a point to go, after not being in class for six months with various ailments. And Jon and Lori (8th and 5th Dan in Isshinryu Karate were also surprise guests. (and old friends, obviously, if I’m making a game with him. Same Jon.)

I got promoted to 4th Ji (gray belt, four red stripes) which represents four years of busting my ass and outworking all the other students.

And Jon gifted me a Jian sword that he had been originally given in the very same hall in 1988. So I have that to do sword form with going forward.

Meanwhile, kinda behind on my writing today, because wonky schedule. But taking a pause on Air Pirates #4 at about the halfway mark (21k) and writing some Chace. Maybe a lot of Chace, just to get it off the list.

Also, pay attention to the newsletter, because I’m trying to figure out how to do a coupon for books in the shop, and then make it a regular thing going forward monthly. Mark does four days at the end of each month (last two+first two) but I think first four might work better, so that the code goes out with the newsletter. Thus, pay attention.

Kickstarter I think is officially done, having sent out download links to the big art files to folks last night.

BUSY, but almost time to break and recover.

How’s your monday? And how do we make it better?

Shade and sweet water,

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.

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Monday. Getting tired of scraping the windows on the car in mid-April. 35F at dawn. Warmest I encountered while out driving to breakfast and home was 41F.

Fuck that noise.

Stayed in. Sun’s kinda out, but I can see the clouds coming off the mountains, looking out my window. That means cold rolling back downhill. Staying in.

Finished Science Officer #13 last week. Quite pleased with where it came out. December. Probably go up for pre-order in July or something, just to build traction.

I have no idea what I am writing for May’s Patreon short. Have given thought to giving you the first few chapters of the Air Pirates of Cyrenaica, just to mess with you.

I have three of them done. And got about 5,000 words into #4 when writer-brain said no. Stop. Now.

Did.

Took a year, and writer-brain explained that I had the wrong ending. And here was the right one.

So this morning I started book four. Plan at present is to drop them all back to back next year sometime. They don’t complete the tale, but complete an arc and I can go back later and add more. Usual for many of my series, where the end is merely the “happy-for-now” moment before something else breaks.

Because I slowed my writing way down this year (and it was a good idea, in spite of getting jittery every once in a while), I might also hold off on releasing Marrakesh until January. Have three of those, all Monster of the Week Space Adventure like the old days. (ST:TOS or ST:TNG for instance, where each story is self-contained and builds, instead of being an ongoing mess of threads to tease out. You’d be able to pick up any one and understand, but starting at the beginning will give you more depth and richness.)

It is April (I’m pretty sure), so I might have a fourth or more by this time next year. Similarly, four Air Pirates means that I have at least half of 2024 in hand, and could fill up a significant chunk of the year while I keep writing ahead.

(I have a list of future episodes for Last Stand that amounts to at least a while second season without working too hard, so that might be a whole year of stuff as well.)

Always concerned about publishing, because the bots reward you for consistency, and I have a streak going back to 2017 at this point. Want to keep that going, but some of the longer projects take time.

Kincaide’s War #2 (Vehicles of Epiphany) is 158k words. Functionally three months of effort at the current pace. Thus, 40k Air Pirates and Marrakesh novels to offset. And 22k Last Stand novellas.

And, hopefully this fall, I’ll pick up the Taft Station series (1 and 2 done) and finish it as well (5). Plus more Heather and the other half of Corsac Fox block one.

Corsac is up for pre-order everywhere, if you missed out on the kickstarter. Folks been enjoying that one, and #2 will kickstarter in late summer, I think. Getting ready to hire Maria to do more alien art for me.

Past that, Monday. Need more coffee. Busy week ahead, mostly unrelated to writing and publishing.

Y’all try not to get arrested. Don’t have time to bail you out today.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230410

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Monday. Been monsoonerating for about 24 hours, so I got breakfast and skipped shooting. Gonna be so far out of practice when the weather finally starts getting nice. That, or start shooting on Wednesday or something. Used to shoot on Tuesdays, but the old farts at the gun range like to do their volunteer work Tuesday morning, and got offended that I wanted to use the archery range. So they literally close the range entirely Tuesday mornings until noon these days. Wankers.

Been focusing on Tai Chi and martial studies over the winter. Know the cane form my school teaches. Learning the sword form (about halfway I think).

I have a friend who is a senior sensei in Insshinryu Karate, (actually, several, but one in particular) who taught me a spear form he knows. I learned it, understood it, then switched hands. His is left handed, and I’m not. Plus, his uses a rattan stick with a gaff hook on the end, one tine forward and one back.

I’m using a Cold Steel Boar Spear that weighs at least twice as much. Three or four times as much as a bo. It does not move quickly. But it does have a stupid amount of heft, if I want to hit something. And a double-edged leaf blade with cross-bar below that.

Boom.

So I have been working on a series of motions that would be form #1. I’m about solid on it, and will demo it for Sensei in a week or three. From there, I will ask all the senior folks I know (a bunch) what I need to add to create a form #2, or to maybe add a second+ section as I go.

All of this is exercise. Upper body strength and flexibility that I’ll need in the future, because I’ll be 54 this summer. Take a lot of pills in the morning for various things, because I’d like to stay like this as long as possible. (Read an article online this morning suggesting pills would be available by 2028 that stopped aging. I doubt it, but at the same time, aging is mostly disease, and if you can delay/correct diseases, how long can you go? I’d rather be this healthy at 90 or 120 than how bad some of my same-age friends are right now.)

Anybody awake? Nobody ever replies, so I don’t know if this is actually being read. What’s the silliest thing you’ve seen this last week that made you laugh or go “awwwwww”?

Story work. Crossed 55k on Science Officer 13. Still feels 60-65, in that I’m close to the end and wrapping things up this week. Dunno what “next” is but will start thinking on that later. Maybe tonight. Got more Chace Haig. Got more Last Stand (“Prophet and Loss” just came out this morning. You finished it yet?).

Almost done with copy edits on Kincaide’s War #2. Vehicles of Epiphany. One more and that’s a trilogy done.

Corsac Fox #1 (“Flight of the Corsac Fox”) is up for preorder everywhere. Gotten some nice comments from folks who backed the Kickstarter and got their versions already.

Not a lot past that. Been busy. Been slow to ramp up today and still not entirely in motion, as of 1pm. Might be getting as far as I can and calling it good.

Hopefully, you’ve got more energy.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230403

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Monday. I did not go shooting, because it snowed last night. WTF? Still had about an inch on the ground and thick drizzle this morning. FTN.

Instead, Fabulous Publisher Babe™ and I went out to breakfast and talked publishing. Mostly around the “Business For Breakfast” books and the Milestone Indie Publishing Newsletter (Non-fiction here: https://www.knottedroadpress.com/browse-krp-books/non-fiction/), and how we can synergize them.

Lots of crossover potential. Milestone articles are usually around 1000-1500 words. B4B books range about 14k+/-. I even have a basic B4B book I need to polish and publish. Handed it to S* the other day to test. “Okay, you have your manuscript. Now what?” and she’s working out all those details. A how-to for young writers needing to go Indie.

And Milestone Year Three is done (I think) and will be coming out as soon as we can organize things and get all the guest authors on board. Watch your inbox for news. Probably May.

Got home and got to work on Science Officer #13. “Dragoon’s Honor” is still my working title, as I strive to be somewhat alphabetical for Season Two. Currently at about 38k words, so halfway. Story coming together nicely. Maybe finish in about two weeks.

After that, I got a list. Last Stand #12. Thrill Ride Year Two (4 short stories due in the fall). Monthly Patreon short, but not sure what I’ll tackle this month and I hope you had fun with Chace, as I’m planning three of the four Thrill Ride stories being Chace stories.

GOT A WEIRD QUESTION for you folks.

Right now, $5/month gets you the new short story at least six months before publication. Maybe more, because I’m kinda lazy about getting those out.

Something some folks over in LitRPG are doing is to release a chapter of a novel each month for their patrons. You folks at the $1 level interested if I did that? I have several novel series partially complete, meaning not coming out in any form before 2024 and maybe later, as I want to get them closer to done.

Alternatively, since I’m writing “slower” this year, I might take that energy that goes into the monthly short fiction and instead focus it on longer pieces that get serialized. For instance, I’ve gotten nice response to Fugitives, but not enough sales to really justify writing more of Marcus’s tale. And in a week, I’ve got the first Dan & Stewey novel (urbanish fantasy) coming out, but I haven’t written the rest of the series yet, because I don’t know if folks are interested in following me over there.

But I could justify it here. Won’t unless you folks speak up, so hit reply and let me know your thoughts on the topic. Want me to dabble on the side with stuff that isn’t Science Fiction? Again, if I’d sped up instead of slowing down, I’d have space to do both.

Instead, I’m sewing (went and bought more jersey fabric yesterday), and learning to play guitar (blame English Paul, his idea, see attached image), while also getting serious with Chinese martial arts and some rpg game engine stuff. And a punk rock opera that I’m about halfway through writing at present. Because I can.

Your opinions matter, especially because y’all so rarely actually say anything. (Sometimes, I think I’m talking to myself, okay?)

Happy to rotate into a new way of doing things, but that means folks might not get their monthly fix of a complete short story, and instead I cliff-hangar your asses on a monthly basis.

Which might be more fun, just so’s you know.

What would entertain you the most?

Vote here

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230327

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Managed to get all the paper shipped for Corsac Fox Book One over the last twenty-four hours. Or rather, Fabulous Publisher Babe™ rocks.

Anti-Stodgy, because we’d never done something like this before, but now we know how difficult it is to drop-ship books out, both paper and hard cover. (Not that bad, actually.) If you backed the Corsac Kickstarter at that level, I figure you’ll see books over the next two weeks. If nothing by May 1, give a yell so we can back track.

Spring continues to unfold. I took the weekend off from writing and focused on martial arts and sewing. I’m creating a (first) spear form that incorporates a lot of things. Plus, I need to go back and watch the videos I took of a black belt in Ishshinryu Karate doing a forms competition recently, to see what things he’s doing that I need to adapt or steal.

They use a bo, which is a staff about 5’-6’ long, and ¾” thick. Made of a light wood, they can move it quickly to block, poke, strike, etc.

I’m using a 6’ pole of ash (much heavier) with a 16” sharpened steel leaf blade with boar tines on it. MUCH heavier. Harder to swing quickly than the bo. Much more deadly when I hit you.

Mostly, I focus on shoulder and upper-body work. Spinning that beast and controlling it is reshaping my torso and keeping me in better shape, which is good since I’ll turn 54 this summer. Anti-Stodgy means learning new things. It also means being healthier than most of you so that I can keep doing stuff into my nineties. Because I intend to.

Kirk Douglass was spry and active until a stroke slowed him down at 93. He still lived another decade. I wanna be like him. Doing Tai Chi contributes. Doing sword, cane, and spear forms contributes as well.

Learning to sew is also good. I finished my first ever clothing project over the weekend (see image of my Ukrainian tunic in purple attached.) I’ve done little things before, but this was pattern to worn, with adult supervision because some of the things were beyond my ability, like attaching sleeves right on the first try.

But I learned a bunch. And spent last night meandering around etsy looking for patterns of things I’d like to wear and make. Hard to do. Partly, that asshole Beau Brummell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Brummell) and his stupid ideas on men’s fashion that still have Western civilization in a chokehold. BORING. DULL. Symmetric.

So I went looking for things with style. Bought a pattern for raglan shirts in long sleeve, which I will chop to ¾ sleeve in the making, because honestly that’s my preferred shirt, if the weather allows. I also have some western/cowboy patterns saved. Vests. Shirts. Jackets. All too complicated for me at this point, according to the Babe, so saved against rising skill.

Found a kilt pattern that looks easy enough, except that I’m not sure I trust it until she looks.

Harder, however, is size.

Discussion on FB this morning about health, weight, and BMI (which I rate right up there with criminal phrenology for scientific basis). I’m 5’10 with what that system considered a “large” frame (can’t wrap fingers around wrist and touch), but I knew that. 48” chest. 38” waist. Vee-shape. And getting worse as I work with a heavy spear in overhead motions to build muscle.

Most patterns tend to stop around 44”. Especially older ones. In ‘Designing for People’ by Henry Dreyfus (https://www.amazon.com/Designing-People-Henry-Dreyfuss/dp/1581153120/) he has a chart showing how people would get taller and larger, both men and women, over the course of the 20th Century. Page 32 in my old edition, with Vetruvian Humans.

We are bigger than we used to be, and I’ve always been built like a tree. Always.

So I have to look for patterns that scale up past me. And better, modern pattern-makers often sell you a pdf scaled to print on poster paper (A0) so I can send it to my print shop, pick up the poster, then cut it out and pin it to the cloth.

If I can find it big enough. Lots of the cool ones I was looking at last night ranged all the way up to “skinny Chinese guy” at their biggest. (I saw one at 38” chest for XL. Yeah, no.)

But I’ll get there. Anti-Stodgy. Make a few raglan ¾ shirts in various designs that are NOT symmetric, thankyouverymuch, then look for more advanced things, like color blocking. Again, nothing that would fit for all the coolness. Might have to buy a really basic pattern for something, then teach myself how to create the parts I need to add. Got the right library, because I am a fashion nerd. (You should have figure that out by now.)

Science Officer #13 is past 20k. Expecting it to come in at about 60k when done. TBD. Got an idea for a fun short piece. Or rather, got setting and character, now got to figure out how her problem works and gets resolved in a way to make it interesting.

More news soon, but mostly just Mondaying my day.

Hope yours rocks

Chat more next week.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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Sent out the Corsac Fox ebooks to everyone last week. Hopefully you got it if you backed. And enjoyed it. As noted last week, I finished #3. Six in the first block/series, I think. At least that’s how it is shaping up.

Also finished the Chace Haig “origin” story you will read in April, as I prep to write a whole series of shorts for The Thrill Ride. Plus at least one more Fatima. That’s between now and December, so I have time.

Closer to home, I started a new novel on Friday. The Science Officer #13. Working Title: Dragoon. I’d say a change of pace, but only compared to Heather and Uly. Lighter, but that’s because those two are darker by their nature. More Space Opera.

Javier is always space adventure. And snark. Sass. Attitude.

I’m about 5000 words in at this moment. Have framed the setting and hinted at issues, without diving too deep into what’s coming, because I want this one to slowly unfold, dragging you deeper and deeper before you realize it.

Like more Science Officer stories, when you think about it. Space exploration, in a galaxy where only Humans achieved anything like technological sentience. No aliens, not counting Suvi and her cousins. Vaguely Earth-based, only in the context of we talk about Earth.

I don’t always, you’ll notice. Sometimes, I talk about a galaxy where folks have been in space for so long that they only have theories as to where they came from. Flight Officer Brannon, for instance, takes place at least thirty thousand years in the future from us. Or eighty thousand. Dunno. Doesn’t matter, because there is no “Earth” at the center of things. Merely peoples in different groupings.

From here, more Javier and Djamila. Figuring we’ll come in around 50-60k. Longer than Alien Seas and Buried Among the Stars. Shorter than Captain Navarre. I think so, anyway.

At some point, I will write the twelfth Last Stand. Been watching as that series slowly starts to gain traction. Folks do not like you challenging their religion, which is weird considering who and what they worship, but that’s not my place. I’m here to entertain.

And readers who get past that variation have seemed to enjoy the series. Three of them out now. Up through six for pre-order. Eleven written. Notes on another twenty or more, depending. Hell, I might just keep putting out another Last Stand episode monthly for years if folks like it.

One of my first readers got back to me to complain as he was sending me back #10, because he was afraid I’d stop at #12 and he’s enjoying these characters and stories too much.

Tell all your friends, including Hollywood producers you know or folks in Japan making anime. I’ll do them a great deal on licensing. This series was always written to be visual. I’ve cast the actors in my head, and they are not the ones you think.

I used Zhanna Zhumaliyeva as my model for Tessa, except taller. (See pic, and drool.) The others follow similar patterns, to the point I have to stop and remember those other character names when someone asks, because I’ve moved so far beyond them in my head.

Past that, not a lot to say. Busy writing. Busy editing. Busy sewing. And martial arts. And music.

Spring is coming up and I’ll be spending less time at the keyboard this year and more time out doing stuff.

What’s your year going to be like?

Chat more next week.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230306

Finished Corsac #3 on Friday. (YAY!!!)

Also got a chance to incorporate some of the Tuckerizations from the Corsac #1 kickstarter, including a fun character in book three.

Originally, I’d hoped to be able to go back and change some of the names of ships in #2, but all the folks that took that level are friends, so I wanted to do something special. Some went into 3. Some will go into 4.

Brighter news: I spent three hours in the coffee shop yesterday loading Bookfunnel libraries for folks, so hopefully everybody got to spend all night reading Flight of the Corsac Fox before they stumbled off to bed too late to get up too early this morning. (Sorry not sorry.)

If anyone had problems getting their files, please lemme know. All new functions and tools at my end, and I’m still learning them. (And hoping I did it right, but I figure I’d have gotten cranky emails first thing this morning otherwise.)

Working on my new spy series character’s “origin” story today. Got about 5k done. Feels like it will come in around 10k. Will publish it at some point, and folks at the $5 level will get to read it in April.

Matt’s already posted the themes for Thrill Ride Year Two, so I’m planning what I’ll write. Gadgets just screams James Bond, which what set me to thinking these thoughts. Adventure and Lone Wolves simply reinforced it, so I’m planning three submissions with Chace, plus a Fatima story for Sisters-In-Arms.

Eventually (like two years from now), I’ll get the rights back to the first block of Fatima stories, which will be a novel-length collection. The goal is to do something similar with Chace, so I have a wide and deep Action-Adventure/Thriller catalog for readers. And I’ll probably end up writing several novels in the genre, if things work out.

I’ve already done something similar with both Harper Morita and Handsome Rob, so the big step is moving it all out of the realm of SF and putting it in the present tense and the modern world.

In fact, I sat down over the weekend to reread some old Raymond Chandler, just because Marlowe has such Voice about him, in ways that few writers did in those days. (Or even today, frequently.)

Voice is when the character has opinions on what they see, instead of merely cataloging the room. Adverbs instead of just adjectives, if you will. Marlowe had catty things to say about everybody and everything, including himself. Chace isn’t that bad, but this origin is me feeling my way through his world. His dynamic. Even his signatures.

And enjoying myself as I stretch into new territory.

Not sure what project I’ll start next. Actually, that’s not true. Need to write a bunch of short fiction. The next Boundary Shock Quarterly (Cyberpunks) is a story adjacent to the Owen Castle you’ve met. He appears, but it’s Geoff, a character based on an old friend.

The story due is “Tramp Freighter Captains” starring Hrothgar, and I plan to write a sequel for the issue after that “Science Fiction Holidays,” except that I’ll be focusing on Diwali instead of Christmas, because I’m expecting to be flooded with Xmas and Hanukkah stories, but I have warned folks that fantasy elements will get them bounced immediately. (Not sure how many of them think I’m bluffing, but we’ll find out. Might end up having to write more stuff myself to fill out the issue. Not the first time.)

Then whatever I send you folks after Chace. Dunno. TBD. Stay tuned.

Got Heather #1 done. Need to write more. Need to write Javier #13. Need to write Corsac #4. Need to write Last Stand #12. (Thank you for the lovely reviews on Last Stand. Some folks don’t get it. Or they are too wound up in the original to actually watch it and notice all the icky bits. I had that discussion with someone the other day, when I asked how long ago they watched the series. Many, MANY years, in her case.)

Hope your Monday is nice. Pissing down rain all morning. Went out for breakfast. Skipped shooting. Will be out of practice and sore when the weather improves, but I’ll survive. And I keep doing Tai Chi and weapon forms indoors, so I’m not in that bad of shape.

From there, back to the writing.

Chat more next week.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230306

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Still occasionally snowing around here. Got some last night, but not even a footprint accumulation, for all the palm-sized flakes at one point. Still 32f this morning, so breakfast and home.

Cheated over the weekend. Instead of taking the weekend off, we had our (North) Writer’s Lunch, so I skipped martial class entirely and started the origin story for my spy. Got about 4,000 words done over the weekend, instead of sewing or music, but that was fine. Back to Corsac Fox this morning. Over 60k. Shaping the final confrontation and battle in such a way that it sets up #4 and #6.

Kickstarter news: I’ve got most of the responses, so I’ll start doing fulfillment this week. Everyone’s getting Corsac 1, Auberon, and Science Officer. The fun will be sorting out all the other things people bought. 100 people, some variable combination of things I have to track and deliver.

Did see the new Dust-jacket-hard-copy of Flight yesterday. That will be going up for printing, and once we have an approved copy, we’ll be drop-shipping most. Do have one friend in Finland who’s getting a copy, but that’s a special case and he overpaid excessively because he knew it would be a pain the ass.

Next time, I might open things up farther, but that’s Canada, France, and Finland, all of whom inquired. Depends on shipping costs. Might be worth it.

And Maria has finished the colored versions of Haydar, Ethir, and Yanouk. Sent her all the hexcodes to do Uly and Dan next, and that’s the color plates. Everyone will get a pdf with “lower quality” plates as part of our stretch goals. About a dozen folks will be getting the “freaking HUGE” files that Maria sent us. (60mb jpg sorts of things. Poster sized, if you wanted to actually print them and hang them. If anyone does, I’d be happy to sign them at some con some day. FYI)

Might finish Corsac 3 this week. Will be close. Also need to finish the spy story (Chase Haig is the character name) and have that ready for y’all next month.

I have also gone back through most of my short fiction that has never seen the light of day. Editing pass. Creating cheap covers, both using Bookbrush and learning Affinity Photo, with free art from Pixabay.com. Writing blurbs. Generating vellum files. Once Fabulous Publisher Babe™ reviews, those will go up for sale on the KRP store and eventually wide.

In case I forgot to mention, www.knottedroadpress.com/shophas all the novels and most of the non-fiction in place. All the short fiction will go up over the next however long it takes.

Amazon et al generally keep 30% of cover price. (Except for the $0.99 books, where they keep 70%), so if the book sells for $5.99, I make about $4.07, give or take. Stuff we sell on the store, at present, we net 100% of the proceeds.

Might drop some prices, but I don’t want to entirely cut off Amazon and the others as sales platforms, because they are also my advertising platforms as well. “You might like…” and “Blaze Ward has a new book out…” sorts of things.

Publishing news: Boundary Shock Quarterly has recruited Daniel Keys Moran as a columnist. (I know, right?) He’ll start “The Once and Future Writer” with either issue 23 or 24. I am still hoping to find someone who can talk about both the history of SF as well as some of the genres, from a scholarly or fandom standpoint, so it you know anyone, hook me up.

Also, because I work with the publishers of Mystery, Crime, and Mayhem as well as The Thrill Ride, they are similarly looking for folks to write about the non-fiction aspect of things, from a scholarly POV. Poke your old professors or nerdier friends and send them my way.

Not much past that. Slow day here as I wind things up.

Chat more next week.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20230227

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Lots of snow last week. Not much of it, but it snowed half a dozen times, then mostly melted off. Got about a half inch left out there in a few places right now. Outside temp reads 40F, which is way better than the 22F it was last week at this time.

Writing all morning after going out for breakfast. We had a footprint of snow here, but nothing even half a block south. Dry road when I hit the bottom of the driveway, though I came back the other way and it was messier.

No shooting. Too damned cold. Too windy. Didn’t sleep all that well, so playing with sharp things less than smart.

Also have to run into town in a little bit and buy a plumbing snake.

Last night, took a nice, hot bath. Then the drains started gurgling and I had water backing up into the sink (but not out), the toilet (same) and both the tub and the shower basin.

Went out in the cold night and popped the lids on the septic tanks. Looks like I have a plug somewhere. Did a few things and got things draining, but we’re still hinky today. Hoping the snake knocks it all loose again and I don’t have to call out a plumber to deal with something.

Also planning to start sending Kickstarter surveys later today. Learning how that works. Looks easy enough, but I’ll have a lot of work doing fulfillment.

On the brighter side, folks should be able to start reading Flight Of the Corsac Fox pretty soon. (If you don’t have a bookfunnel account already and backed, you should just go ahead and sign up for one right now, as that’s how I will do it. Everyone will get books put into their library, so they can download and sideload on their own schedule.)

Writing: Corsac Fox #3 is at 44k. Just past halfway (target: 80k). Multiple threads going, because I have a lot of space to work with. #3 and #4 will be kind of a duology, setting up a problem and mostly resolving it, while foreshadowing the bigger problem. And heading everyone into yet bigger problem.

Today is the 27^th. Calendar says I will be sending out the latest story to everyone Thursday night. Deep Space Sea Monsters. Not sure where it goes, but I had to write it, ya know?

Next little bit I plan to work on, maybe this week, is a one-off dystopian piece, plus a new Action-Adventure/Thriller character that needs an origin.

Matt was successful with the Thrill Ride Magazine’s kickstarter, so it will go out to everyone in March and I’ll even get paid. (Like 1c per word, I think, but money’s money, and Matt will get this in the hands of some big-time thriller reviewers, so maybe someone finds me.)

I know the themes for Year Two, so I have started planning those. Not sure what order I’ll write them, because #5 is utterly a Fatima and Chloe story (“Sisters In Arms”). #6 might be this new character, as it is tailor-made for a James Bond pastiche/knockoff superspy (“Gadgets”) and I had a bit of inspiration this past weekend talking about the end of the Daniel Craig Era as Bond and how they have to recalibrate everything.

I’m guessing they reboot the character entirely, and start with either new stories, entirely ignoring the Fleming et al canon. Some of those stories are horribly dated, considering he published them all between 1953 and his death in 1964, with two published posthumously.

The world of high-tech and seduction has…”moved on a bit” from what Fleming knew, 60-75 years ago.

So y’all might get to see the origin story that will help me flesh out this new character. Then I can turn him loose for Matt for 1-3 short story submissions for The Thrill Ride in the fall, with the next kickstarter running in February again.

Am through 11 of the Last Stand books, with the need to write #12 soon. And I promised a few folks the next Science Officer book, so that’s on the list.

Still adjusting to a world where I’ve removed 30-40k words from my monthly count. However, the sewing is going well. And the music is coming along. I have a friend who is a professional luthier who decided to MAKE me an electric guitar, when I asked if folks had one they’d let me borrow for a year, or sell me cheap.

It is nice to know strange and interesting people. And his wife is also a musician and singer, so I might rope her in for some of the vocals on the rock opera project, though I haven’t more than mentioned it to her in passing, so you folks keep the secret.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Sea Monsters and other projects. And whatever things crop up. I could not do this without your regular, ongoing support.

Chat more next week.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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

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Monday. Weird Monday with the holiday, because the gaming group wanted to do a marathon session. 3pm until whenever instead of 6pm, because they are all off work today.

I’m going to GM. And been yuck all weekend, but mostly recovered. It will be interesting to see how much energy I have. Or if I kill them all off. Heh.

Writing. Still getting used to taking weekends off. At least I was sick and just marinating all weekend. Hit me after I got home from Tai Chi (masked, but I got it earlier, I think). Collapsed and napped, after coffee. Didn’t hardly do anything, but that was the right thing to do.

This morning, banged out another 4500 words on Corsac 3. Aiming for about 80k each, so coming up on a third done. Story moving nicely. Setting things up for the next several novels, as the 6-book structure comes into shape.

Also planning some weird shorts for you folks, inspired by strange art I find on the webs. Something will jump out and light that bulb, so I have to write it. And having to create something for everyone on a monthly basis means that I am pushed to wander off down rabbit holes.

Better, by allowing myself to do whatever, some of them turn into novel projects (Yasmin, Ollie, Flight Officer Brannon), while others will be one-and-done and I don’t have to circle back and do anything with them.

Liberating, as it were, because sometimes I do want to make them bigger (Ollie novel 2 is done, after all, and I have more to tell. Same with Peter Najjar, one of these days.)

In my perfect world, I’d have time and space to write 2-3 million words per year, just to be able to explore all these different ideas. Instead, you’re kinda stuck with what I’ve got.

So, if you aren’t following me on Patreon (see below), you are missing out on about 50 stories I’ve been too lazy to actually publish, but I think I’ll need to do something about that, going forward.

How do you folks feel about me putting all the shorts up on the Knotted Road Press sight for sale?

Shade and sweet water,

West of the Mountains, WA

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

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