Category Archives: publishing

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,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20221226

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20221219

[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,

West of the Mountains, WA

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

I might be crazy (-er)

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And then the cell network collapsed last night around 4pm as the wind started to howl. Power went at 730. EVERYWHERE. Lit a fire and went to bed.

Got up this morning and went down to Enumclaw for breakfast. And actual internet, with the notification from the power company that power should (“should”) come back around 8pm tonight. Maybe.

In between, I have just pushed the prelaunch button for my first ever kickstarter project. FINALLY.

SHOULD go live on Jan 19 (thursday two weeks from now), but I might have to push the actual button manually. Still learning.

However, we’re there. I think. Time for you to get your follow on so you can get in when this happens, as there are things that WILL NOT BE INCLUDED in the regular version released to Amazon et al later this summer. Get it now or don’t get it.

And tell all your friends!

20221219

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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,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20221212

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20221212

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,

West of the Mountains, WA

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20221205

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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 4^th 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

West of the Mountains, WA

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20221128

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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,

West of the currently snowing Mountains, WA

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20221121

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It’s a Monday.

Currently, dealing with a webhost issue that functionally ate everything after about August, so if the website looks out of date, that’s why. Should have it fixed in a few days, but that involves pulling backups and restoring them, which takes time because they are on the wrong web host as we speak.

But, past that, doing good.

Finished the third Marrakesh story (Varfelis Station) last week. Got three of them now, planning to drop them sequentially next fall. More details as we get closer, but having fun with this series and I have it set up to easily run 10-15 volumes if I wanted to. Military Space Adventure of the Week stuff. All are right about 42k words, so short novels. Focused, because I don’t have space to sidequest or meander.

I know too many authors to feel like they aren’t allowed to write a book less than 200k words, but only end up with 50k worth of plot, so they have to introduce all this other stuff that ends up feeling tacked on. Or you can still see the welds when you look at the book.

Frequently, those bore me, because the author drags. Writers often call it the “mushy middle” where they don’t know what is supposed to be happening. That’s a symptom of not enough plot. Also, not enough villain.

Your hero is only as memorable as your villain. Ergo, you let the villain romp in Act Two, almost winning time and again while the hero flees and tries to stay alive.

Eventually, things turn, and that’s the beginning of Act Three traditionally.

Personally, I like to write a slow-burn Act One, where we start in media res and run. Build the tension while building the story. Drag the reader in and hold them under the water.

I have have more than one person refer to one of my Act Two movements as “Scoobie Doo” in the context of that scene where the monster is chasing the gang while they cross back and forth in a hallway, until they manage to run right into the villain head on because everyone got turned around, then flee.

Go zoom. That’s my idea of a good story. Put your foot on the accelerator and only let up when you need to jam the clutch to the floor and shift gears.

At 40,000 words, frequently, that’s what you have. One of these days, I’m going to do a single car chase that’s 40k long, just because. Originally, it was intended to be a movie script, where the main character never speaks. Only emotes, drives, and gets chased. I would have started with the radio announcer doing a voiceover to set the stage, then someone kicks in the door and starts firing. Kinda like Handsome Rob #3.

But never let off the gas for 40,000 words. Heh.

Okay, so then, the pivot to the Gunderson universe. Some of you will be messed up because my two-weeks delayed blog posts are missing, so this is for them. Wrote Gunderson #10 a couple weeks ago. Used it to frame out a HUGE universe, of which Gunderson is only 1955, but it starts in 1925 and culminates in about 2000.

Something bad it coming, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it, so the aliens have to slip in quietly and make a few changes they think will bear fruit in time.

Mostly, that was because writer-brain wanted to write some superhero fantasy. Nobody ever reads those. Even for the big names. But these will mostly start off with folks at the $5 level here on my patreon, so you’ll get to meet Bellerophon, Eclipse, and Captain Sapphire long before anyone else does. And it’s not the Modern Gods universe, thought I might do something silly and figure out how to bridge those together. I do have notes for a couple more White Crane novels, but I’m pretty sure I’ve only sold about 30 copies of that one in the last six years. If you’ve read it, consider yourself among the elite around here. Heh.

Started the first Bellerophon story yesterday. Should finish it tomorrow. Then on to some commercial stuff, writing the second Ollie novel (#1 is Seeking the Gods, so you can imagine our scale in an SF story).

After that, some Stephanie, some Tessa, and then some more superhero, at least until the brain shifts gears into something else. Also have several SF series I need to complete, but that’s why I was getting so far ahead this year, to let me already be working on 2024 publishing targets now.

As noted, if you aren’t at the $5 level, you won’t see Gunderson #10 for a while. Like, whenever I get around to Case Files Vol 2, which is not on the 2023 publishing schedule, as revised after a corporate annual meeting this last weekend. #6 and #8 are out in recent issues of Blaze Ward Presents. #9 nobody has read yet.

Not a lot past that. Gotta sort out server and webhost issues, so be prepared for email to be a little wonky. Not a lot I can do about that. Given certain issues, I’m going to post this to Patreon, then dig up the old one and handload it to the blog, at least until it gets erased again.

Chat more next week,

-b-

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

20221114

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More Update: was no longer contagious by wednesday. And Fabulous Publisher Babe™ stopped having a second red line by Saturday. We’d slept in different houses for two weeks, and the cat was not pleased. But then, she’s a grumpy, old lady (17.5 years old, and grumbly teenager some days).

Proceeding on the third Marrakesh novel, having finished Gunderson #10. Sitting at 23,000 words as I write this, with a target of 42,000, like the previous two. Space Adventure Military SF. Mission of the Week sort of thing, with callbacks and easter eggs related to both the Leary/Mundy books by David Drake and the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian, upon which the Leary books are also inspired.

Drake made some choices that IMO didn’t work out for the series, once he got past about book four. Early decisions kind of locked him in to a path in such a way that I found it harder and harder to suspend disbelief as we went.

I’ve been on his newsletter for maybe twenty years at this point, and I’ve heard him talk about his writing style. The man does amazing amounts of research before writing a novel. Or did, health issues recently have convinced him that it is time to retire from writing, because he doesn’t feel that he can hold an entire novel in his head and do it justice. I have a sad, because I’ve read most of his work. Some of it didn’t work for me, but he taught me how to frame a story about normal people, rising to the challenge, rather than Chosen Ones anointed to save the world.

Most of you know how much I loathe Chosen One stories. Once I know that’s what you’ve done, Epicurus wakes up and starts making annoying sounds. Remember, I’m a trained philosopher here.

If the gods are willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then they are not omnipotent.

If they are able, but not willing? Then they are not benevolent.

If they are neither able nor willing? Then they are neither omnipotent or benevolent.

Finally, if they are both able and willing? Then why does evil exist?

-Epicurus-

Chosen Ones are predicated on gods not crushing evil, but instead throwing teenagers into the grinder to handle it for them. Ugh.

Still, I love Drake. But as my skill as a storyteller improves (still not as good as him, but hey), I can see his choices and disagree with some of them. And he made certain choices different than O’Brian, but it took me this long to understand why I had the entire series in hardcover on my shelf, and had never read the most recent three or four.

I lost the joy in them.

Dunno if he lost the joy. Or painted himself into a corner (my suspicion). Or maybe age caught up with him. He’s roughly twenty-four years older than me, so he’s 77 now. And age does catch up. Another of my favorite writer people is just a wee bit younger and has also said that his most recent novel is his last, for the same reason.

I’ve told my wife and a few friends to drag me aside and have an intervention if I reach the point where my writing goes to crap, because I’d rather quit than turn out junk, which is what these two have had to decide.

Sad. At the same time, they recognized it, and were able to move on. Or retire, or something.

I’m still racing against (a hopefully way-freaking-distant) death, so even if I have to retire at some point, I will have a metric shit-ton of things I can continue to publish after that moment, and they won’t be crap.

Next year, depending on a few things, I’ll be publishing 32 titles. Novella or better, and not counting short stuff. Twelve Last Stand. Three Marrakesh. Three Augustus Derlyth. Two Corsac Fox. The next Kincaide’s War. The thirteenth Science Officer. Some Urban Fantasy. Some Action/Adventure. Lots.

And I still have a lot of stuff out there. Series incomplete, because I need to circle back and write. Oleg. Flight Officer Brannon. Taft Station. Air Pirates of Cyrenaica. Plus existing open series like Handsome Rob.

Oh, and now that #FirstCenturionKosnett is complete, I can [FINALLY] tell you the first title of the next RAN series I intend to write.

Y’all ready?

Warlord of Yaumgan.

Yup. Heather’s next on the list. Plus, at some future point, one of Casey’s kids, when they are old enough to join the RAN. If you paid attention, Jessica is the oldest, followed by fraternal twins Ekaterina and Emmerich, then by Tomas.

And to that one fan who keeps hoping that eventually the Honeymoon Yacht will make an appearance, I’m sorry, but it won’t. Jessica Keller’s story is done, so IF we see her again, she will be an old woman. At the end of the Kosnett books, she’s fifty-four, if I’ve done the math correctly. The twins are born in Imperial Year 187, so if they go off to Academy, it would be Imp. 205, graduating in 209. Jessica, for instance, was born in Imp. 136.

But never say never. I don’t know what Heather’s story looks like fully. I know that it involves a Zerzan Unification Civil War. And an ugly one.

Plus, Ambassador Kosnett is retired and goofing off these days. (Technically, writing, but I’m not entirely sure what yet.) And I would probably have to go find the former coworker who was the inspiration for Heather so she could read about her future self. (I think she would be pleased. Neat lady.)

But that’s neither here nor there. I wrote a newsletter yesterday that goes into a little more detail about what’s coming in my writing schedule. Hopefully, you’re signed up and will see it tomorrow(?) if I remember to send it.

Got a lot of fun planned. Just needing longer than I expected to recover from this fucking covid shit. Wear a mask. I’ve been weak and easily exhausted for two weeks now, and supposedly the most recent mutations are getting worse again, so it’s going to be an ugly winter.

Y’all stay tuned. Got a lot coming.

Cheers.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the freaking cold Mountains, WA

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

20221107

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20221031

Update: I have been sick with a mild, ongoing case of covid for a week and change. Got exposed on Oct 26, and most of the gaming group came down with it over that weekend. I also got my booster and a flu shot on the 28th (don’t do that. It sucks) as I was coming down with covid.

For the last week, I have basically sat at my computer (instead of standing, I rearranged to a desk and chair) and wrote. Way ahead on words, but that’s what happens when you sit in front of a computer for 8 hours instead of 3.

Finally feeling better. Exhausted and no reserves, but the brain is back and the aches and pains are way less. Down to one side of a sore throat that isn’t broken glass anymore.

Still taking it easy this week. Didn’t go anywhere for breakfast. Sure as hell not shooting.

Woke up to snow this morning. Not much more than a footprint. Early this year. The Fabulous Publisher Babe™ is entirely grumpy, but she hates snow. Too many times snowed in while living in Wyoming. Fortunately, all melting off pretty quickly this morning.

Last week, I wrote a long Harper piece. No idea if it works. Might just be a series of vignettes, but it sets her up for some things I want to do later. We’ll see.

I just now finished Gunderson #10, which was something of a sequel to #4/Blackmailers.

Dunno why, but writer-brain wanted to deal with costumed superheroes. And in Gunderson’s context of 1955.

Sat down and thought about many of the old heroic teams from the ’40s, including Justice Society and All-Star Squadron. Already had Miss Lynx, but she’s retired in 1955. Early 40s and too old to be running around chasing down bad guys.

It is a thing. Either the heroes no longer age, or you need to set the team in a specific era and leave them there. For Gunderson, that’s the end of Prohibition and the Depression. Then Miss Lynx comes back after Pearl Harbor and stays until V-J Day before retiring for good.

Historically, superhero comic publishers more or less collapsed in the late 1940s, and didn’t come back for nearly a decade. (End of Golden Age, then the Silver Age.)

In between, you have the McCarthy Era (which should have been called the Edgar Hoover Era, knowing what we do now about that piece of rancid camel shit) and the HUAC. McCarthy gets broken by Welch and Murrow in about 1954, with the quiet help of Ike. Perfect for stories set in 1955.

So I had to create whole new teams of heroes and villains for the 30s, the 40, and then the Patriotic 50s. All of that world-building was there for the story, but not much of it got used here. However, I have it, for any of three sets of stories I might want to explore.

Anybody got a preference for era?

Prohibition ends in 1932, but once folks have a taste for corruption and vice, it is hard to stuff the genie back into the bottle. Then you have the Nazis and “Yellow Menace” of WW2. Finally, the rising Atomic Age leading to space exploration.

And I have a lot of folks to explore, if/when I get there. You tell me.

Writing newsletters and such this morning. Then I think I pivot to the third Marrakesh novel.

Marrakesh is fun, because it is a complicate reaction to something else, in an “I can tell that story better” kind of way. Probably can’t, and it will be different, but the author in question didn’t plan to write a hugely long novel series, and got themselves trapped in space opera, where the stakes had to keep going up, even though the starting point was already high.

Marrakesh is space adventure. Mystery/Mission of the week stuff. Military SF, but not epic opera. Marrakesh itself is a CTT. Cruiser-Tactical-Transport. Big tug with two spaces where modules can be plugged in for missions. Gives the ship flexibility, and gives me a reason to stick them into some of these situations, because in coming up with various modules, I have about a dozen. (Feel free to suggest other modules, because I’m sure I missed some.)

The 2023 publishing schedule is currently off, because covid hit me and the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ to the point that we can’t finish the details of a Kickstarter and launch it in two weeks. We’re both too wiped out. So Corsac Fox will probably run on KS in January. Then go up for pre-order in the summer. Not like I don’t have a lot of stuff ready for next year. I even have Corsac Fox #2 done.

At this point, the only two novels not written for the 2023 schedule are the third Marrakesh (shortly), and the thirteenth Science Officer.

Plus I have nine Last Stand novellas done, two planned, and one open slot to write something.

Y’all stay tuned. Got a lot coming.

Cheers.

Shade and sweet water,

West of the SNOWY Mountains, WA

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

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