Category Archives: Science Fiction

24240826

[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

Ow.

The barn remodel is coming along nicely, but ow. Up and down ladders. Impact hammer to drive 3” screws into old wood that has dried and hardened to something like concrete. Chop saw. Table saw. Jig saw.

Ow.

I did buy and install a pair of windows. One a transom over the front door, about 8 feet up. The other taking up the back where a horse would come and go. That latter had been covered by a green tarp for as long as I’ve owned the property. (Michael died in late 2006 and I bought the place in 2010. Probably 25 years old at this point.)

Sometime in the next week or two, got a friend hauling a couple yards of gravel as part of a much larger load that he’ll drop here and I’ll put it under the floor to keep critters out. Then build up a floor.

Not sure on the artistic side of things. After emptying out the bay initially, and collecting some stuff from Middle Step Daughter, I have a good deal of hardwood flooring in three different colors, widths, and thicknesses. And woods. Seven long tiles (9”x38” in some metric value I haven’t converted.) Seventy-some 1sqft white tiles.

Next stage is finishing off the Inside Wall™. Inside (touching bay 2), Outside, Front, Back. Inside is made up of raw cut 2x14s that are 12 feet long, stacked against a structural 4×4 and running up. Gaps at the top I’m filling in and then covering this week.

We wandered around the hardware store yesterday, looking at wood, tile, and lights, mostly because wiring and then lights are coming up soon. (Inside wall pretty, then floor, then power, I think.)

At some point, I’ll blackmail my artist friends. Inside wall is probably an art project with leftover hardwood flooring. Other three walls might need art. And I’ll need a hanging sign outside for the whole pub thing.

Still rude to replace an Irish Bar with an English Pub, so we alternatively have called it a Cidery, a Meadery, and a Longhall (9×12’ is long enough for my needs.)

Going to have apples soon, so planning to make cider. Then make hard cider. Then probably applejack, because why the hell not? Same with some mead.

If you wanna contribute art or labor and live close enough, gimme a yell. Battle of Hastings was 14 October, so I’m hoping to at least soft open by then. 6-7 weeks, give or take, so I ought to have most of it done.

I am, however, out of shape, and this will get me back. But ow.

Doesn’t help that I started studying Goju-ryu karate in my spare time. It is also using new muscles and my legs hurt, but I’m enjoying it and moving forward slowly. The goal is always to be able to move and do kata when I’m 90, still flexible in body and mind.

Because once you settle, you’ll start to decompose.

Writing: Wrote most of the B4B draft last week. Got a few holes. Got a few places where the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ is going to write chunks because she’s the expert there. Got too much material, but this will be the basis for a talk I’m supposed to give at Author-Nation in November in Vegas on Breaking Discoverability. 30 minutes plus Q&A. I’m figuring the final manuscript comes up at 30-35k words. Way too much, but space to cover a lot of ground.

After I post this blog, I’ll figure out which of 4-5 short stories I need to write next. Got open slots for BSQ, TRM, and Patreon, so always have something to write. Just in a little pain today and distracted.

Some of you might remember Nissa and the Minefield. That’s going to be extended at some point. Might be next. Would go into BSQ in a year or so. (I forget how far ahead I am right now and am too lazy to go look it up as I type.)

Got two Boston stories done. Figure on two more for Thrill Ride. Maybe more. Maybe Chace.

Got other stuff. Editing Corsac Fox #5 (Lost Tribe) right now. March 2025 release. Then I might write #7 shortly and close off block one.

It’s a Monday, and I don’t have to have all the answers. How’s yours going?

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240722

[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

Monday. It rained yesterday. Not a lot, but actual water falling from the sky. And mid-70s instead of mid-90s around here. Yay.

Today, the marine layer is still heavy at 11am, and the forecast calls for partial sun after it burns off, but only about 72F up in the mountains. I’ll take it.

I’m finally done with all the damned steroids. And physically recovering. I have zero stamina right now, having found the edges of it a few times.

Emotionally, I’m kinda a mess as well. HOWEVER, I have a reminder in my phone that tells me every August 1st to beware of rage and depression issues. I have a few theories as to why it hits when it does.

Today, (August 22) is the anniversary of when Donna died in 2008. Sixteen years. We were married for just over three weeks, because for the first 9 years we were together, she told me in no uncertain terms that if I suggested marriage, she’d toss my ass to the curb.

When she turned that around after she got sick (breast cancer, Stage 4, untreatable, Make your peace with God sort of thing), you could have knocked me over with a feather. We got married in late June. She died July 22.

Yeah.

That was a Tuesday. We did not have the wake that Saturday, because that’s a granddaughter’s birthday, so we did it a week later, which would have been Aug 2.

Hitting that reminder every year (as I’ve been processing things this summer) is probably part of it. This summer has been a trial.

I think I hit bottom last Thursday. Told the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ that August had come early, and she understood. Also told her not to let me make any important decisions.

Not because I would do things I regret. More because I would be painting in molotov cocktails when I did.

PROBABLY not the best idea. Probably.

Then a friend of mine who is an amazing baker handed me a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, still warm from the oven last night. Just had a slice five minutes ago. Gonna ask him at some point to teach me how, because I have never made yeast bread. Quick breads, sure. Nothing that involves rising and punching, so I’ll need adult supervision.

Plus, his looks like a hydra coil of thin ropes, all twisted together. And yes, let me taunt you with how amazing it turned out. But baking is his love language.

Writing: Crossed 35k on Heather #3 this morning. Target 65k, so past halfway and setting up a series of small battles and intrigues that will culminate in something almost apocalyptic in scale.

Still expecting 5 novels in “Warlord of Yaumgan” but I could be wrong either way by one. Depends, because I’m letting this one unfold organically. Jessica was 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2 in organization, plus 2 side stories and the CS-405 trilogy. Kosnett was designed as six novels, sequentially touching each of six cultures and exploring them. Warlord is really the second part of what happened at The Passage at Loong at the end of Kosnett 6, when the Zerzan Unification decides that they cannot live in peace with the Monarchists.

Additionally, I’m doing research for the next two Red Branch novels. If you or anyone you know are experts (or knowledgeable dilettantes) on early Jet Aviation (Second Generation stuff, really, from an advanced and experimental de Havilland Venom through the never-built Lockheed XF-90) and would like to First Reader for technical issues, lemme know. I’ve done a LOT of research, and started accumulating a fun library of stuff (see attached image) for story ideas.

In Indie Publishing, EVERY time you hit publish, you might be struck by lightning, and that book becomes your entire career, so publish something you’d be okay with, if you had to write 10-20 more in that series/universe. I have no idea how folks will react to Red Branch, but I’m having way too much fun reading history and technology of the early Cold War Era. Stuff that kinda gets mentioned in passing, because most history books end in 1945 with the war. From there, they MIGHT mention a war in Korea, before everyone spending volumes on Vietnam or more recent events.

So I’ve had to rabbit-hole my library’s ebook collection in order to find stuff. Yesterday, I walked individually through all 1750 titles in the military section, because they have no filters worth a shit to let me leave off anything ancient, or anything Vietnam, or the US Occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Got about a dozen titles queued up, and currently reading about what happened to everyone at Bletchly Park, after they moved GCHQ back to London in 1947.

Hope your Mondays are getting better. I’m off for a burger in a while, just because.

OH, AND: REMINDER: The pre-order for Warlord of the Spinward Reaches got nuked by Amazon. If you didn’t get your copy, this is your reminder to go find it.

Amazon

Knotted Road Press

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240715

[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

Monday. Yuck. Overrated.

Been hotter than hell around here for too long. I’ve stayed indoors anyways because of the meds, so not a lot of yardwork done and I’ll have to catch up with that, probably starting this weekend. Can’t be helped.

At least I am almost done with the steroids. Been tapering. Got one pill left to take tomorrow and that’s it. Sleeping pretty well this weekend. Still adjusting.

Hardest part is wondering if I’ve developed a new food allergy. We dropped dairy, eggs, and coffee entirely, just to clear the system. In a couple of months, I’ll add something back and see if I react, then slowly work up to the others.

This is what happened to the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ about a decade ago, when it was dairy, eggs, and nightshades, all at once. She eventually got eggs back, but dairy and nightshades still trigger headaches or migraines, so we have to be careful about what we eat. (The rhubarb bbq recipe is fantastic, by the way. Still got a little left and we made both beef and port ribs this weekend with it.)

We’ll see where it is when we get there. Eating a lot of meat and a little bit of salad at the moment. Holding off on making any other changes until I get off the meds and my system can stabilize better. Sleeping, but that’s down to one pill instead of five.

Writing: I don’t remember what I said last week and am too lazy to look it up. Still banging away on Heather #3. About 15k words as of now. At least four in this series, but probably five. Having fun.

Can’t wait to piss off a few sexist pigs when we get there, because looking at the main cast, almost ALL of the primary characters in #3 are female. And I intend to lean into that, because I have several more recurring characters to come in later, most of whom are women as well.

Somewhere, a punk is screaming that women can’t command starships. I presume because they’re icky or something. I wouldn’t have to write this stuff if everybody accepted sexual equality, but SF fans tend to hit both ends, and there are a lot of reactionary thugs out there right now who got stuck in the 1950s and can’t imagine a future like Star Trek existing.

Rant over, but you get the picture. Heather Lau. Rocket Frog. Kira Zaman. Several folks you will meet and fall in love with. Gonna be an adventure.

REMINDER: The pre-order for Warlord of the Spinward Reaches got nuked by Amazon. If you didn’t get your copy, this is your reminder to go find it.

Amazon

Knotted Road Press

I’m just about done with edits on Science Officer #14, titled Exile. It will come out in December.

Past that, having a Monday. Hope yours is better.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240701

[As usual, three weeks lag here, if you aren’t reading this on my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/blazeward). If you’d like your news fresher, and the monthly Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter, all I ask is a buck to help keep the lights on around here.]

And the steroids worked for a time, but failed and my arms are covered with rash. Trying to identify whatever I might be suddenly allergic to, and making some hefty changes in diet, just in case. At least it doesn’t itch too much. Can control. And going to the doctor again in a bit to see what they say.

Writing continues, but things have been difficult. Crossed 26k in the novel this morning. Past halfway, but not really sure where. This one might run short, but that’s fine, as it sets up the next one by exploring the why behind the actions of the various players. And where they go from here, as the scope of the Red Branch’s battles with the Werewolf Legion grow global in scale.

Plus, I have several other story ideas written down to expand into at a later date.

Hoping to finish Silver Eagle sometime next week. Then on to some space opera, but not sure which/what just yet. Got ideas for Javier. And Uly. And Heather. All of which I need to write.

Having options lets me explore instead of locking me into a spot. Sometimes you need that, especially when shit’s just not firing on all cylinders.

Like today.

Think I’ve said enough. Catch you next week.

And the next Scattered Tribes story will be going out Tuesday or Wednesday. Watch your inbox.

shade and sweet water

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

If you’re reading the free version (which is published three weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.

20240506

[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.]

Ye Gads, what a weekend.

Drove down to Portland to see Fabulous Publisher Babe™ and give her some help with our niece (one month out from brain surgery and doing much better). It was also the niece’s birthday yesterday, so cake and quiet party.

Got up this morning and drove back to Seattle. And did all the things around here that needed doing as soon as I walked in the door. Watering plants in her house. Hydroponics. Refill the bird feeders. Get ready for a busy day tomorrow. And Wednesday. Fuck only knows what Thursday has planned, but that’s out far enough I can breathe.

LOTS of rain on the way home. Several errands between Tacoma and the house. Took five hours to finally get here.

Kinda tired. Had some coffee after I got milk at the grocery. Sun just came out here. Apple tree looks amazing (pic). Figs and grapes starting to bud. Pears and cherries bloomed two weeks ago. Looks like a lot of apples this fall. If you like fresh fruit, mark your calendar and remind me in August so you can come out and pic some. Fuji on the left. Honeycrisp on the right.

Corsac Fox percolating along nicely. Just shy of 66k words on an 80k target, so right on track. Except that 6 cliffhangars into 7 as one LONG story, so I need to write 7 over the summer.

Got two projects on my immediate next list, but not sure which I’ll pursue. Both SF. One heavy into romance tropes, but not Romance™. The other is the actual project that I think I shared with some of you several years ago, called Cloning Blues. It bubbled up to the top of my mind and wants to be written. I have another week to worry, so we’ll see. Probably about this time next week, matter of fact.

Gotta see what writer brain wants when we get there. And what is the inverse flip of what I’ve been doing to keep things sharp. Light/Dark. Fast/Slow. Opera/Adventure. SF/Thriller. Something. The key is always going back and forth so I don’t fall into a rut.

This one feels like Old/New, because both of the projects are entirely fresh, rather than Book N in some series, which is what I have been doing lately.

Summer’s coming. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ should be home in a couple more weeks, then plans to bar the door and hibernate for a few weeks, possibly leaving her phone with me to answer so she goes days without talking.

I’m freaking exhausted, but counting down to hopeful normalcy. I am still likely to be a little to bitey for another month, but shit happens. Y’all been warned.

—————————-

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.

20240422

[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 up and been running all over creation for the last several hours. Breakfast. Bank (which is a haul because the closest branch to deposit a check is in Kent now), post office (voted), grocery store, gas.

Busy busy busy. But good. Gonna go north and study some weapon forms with Sensei Johnson tonight. Learning new things. Anti-Stodgy. Hopefully, you are doing the same.

Gotta keep the brain as flexible as the body. Listen to new music. Learn new things. Eat new foods.

Took a quick jaunt down to Portland to see my sweetie last week. She’s taking care of the niece (doing much better) but stressed. Couple days of me around helped. Will go back in another week or so. She’ll hopefully be home after that for the long haul.

Always knew that Jan 1 to about June 1 was going to be stressful. Mostly got past it. Didn’t bite a single person so far, which I will count as a win, all things considered. Writing is coming along, just much slower than normal. At 45k for the month, or about 25k behind my usual pace. Might make it to Pulp 1 (84k). Might not. Shit happens.

Mostly, it will show up in 2025, when I don’t necessarily have a full calendar of novels to deliver. Not sure what I will do instead, but I have several months to write more and maybe fill in gaps.

I have the product in the can, but it’s choppy. Two Giles. Two Heather. Two Shrike. A whole bunch of Book Ones that demand series behind them. At the same time, I have existing series I could extend. A few people have asked about more Last Stand. Ideas for more Marrakesh (it only pauses at 5. It doesn’t stop.) More Corsac Fox. Etc.

But next year might be messy. We’ll see. My job is to keep writing and keep my humor. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead, as it were.

Corsac 6 is coming along nicely. Will pick it up as soon as I post this. Sitting at 23k. Target 80k. Plus this is the sixth of seven in Block One, and I am slipping in foreshadowing of how 6 and 7 will flow, then come to a resting point. Got major plans, but there will be a gap of several years in between (years for Uly and Dan, not you).

Dunno what I write after that. Been researching early jet aircraft again, so there might be the next Red Branch on deck. Those are fun because 1949 was a year of ferment, when everyone was inventing the technology of the future, and jets went from toys to war machines. And there are so many cool designs to work with, because nobody really understood the best way to do things, so they were trying lots of things to see which worked best. Faster, higher, farther, except for the part where some idiot decided that the best way for two jets to dogfight involved getting a running start at one another, and performing a jousting pass with unguided rockets. HIGHLY inaccurate, unguided rockets. 1% hit ratio style rockets.

Guided missiles would change everything, but not for another decade or two. There’s a line in the original Top Gun where the instructor discusses the shitty kill ratios in Vietnam, and the need to train pilots better. The problem was the FFAR and the AIM-4, both of which were shit. And those lovely designers removed guns from the planes. All guns.

Even today, there are guns, because you might need to dogfight. I expect that drones will end the manned combat aircraft in another 5-10 years, and I have no idea if the next generation of UAV will just be intelligent missiles, survey platforms, or flying guns. Probably one of each, plus two dozen other things as needs evolve. Ukraine is a tipping point in weapons technology, much like World War II was.

So I’m thinking about fast planes. Because why the hell not? If any of you are knowledgeable about early jets or aviation in general and want to read Red Branch 1, please yell. I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to be an expert. And I’m likely to start #2 soon.

But for now, more Uly and Dan.

Y’all have a lovely Monday.

shade and sweet water,

blaze

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.

20240318

[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.]

It’s always weird when I’m standing at my desk writing and see a deer walk by out the window behind the monitor. Just hanging out. Chilling. Moved over to the side yard and parked his butt under a tree for a few hours. Two of them, when I looked closer. Ignored me when I went out to do yard work. Ignored the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ when she went back and forth.

Chill.

Obviously, utterly terrified of us. Later, we had to go run errands, and one of the dorks was grazing in the yard. I came around the corner and said hi. He bolted all of about ten meters, then went back to eating.

Seriously.

Things getting more or less back to comfortable for now. Still in the middle of a six-month stretch where things are utterly unsettled, but most of that energy isn’t mine, and my job continues to be hanging cool like those deer.

I am, however, reminded of one of my favorite lines from “The Long Run” by Daniel Keys Moran.

“If you can keep your calm while everyone around you is losing theirs, perhaps you have misunderstood the situation.” (roughly. Don’t want to flip through the book to locate it at this moment.)

Hoping I have not misunderstood. Being the rock against which storms break and tides are thwarted. It’s a living.

Mentioned that I was writing the next Science Officer. #14. Exile. Having fun. Crossed 20k this morning, with only a vague guess how long it is. Should probably go look at previous novels. (Don’t go anywhere.) Okay, somewhere between 55 and 65k, so I am likely around a third of the way done. Writer-brain understood that, because that’s about where I am at this moment in terms of story.

Will keep pounding away at that. Then circle back to Ollie 3 at some point. And get back to work on Ivette (needed to pause because I realized that I was missing critical component of plot and characters and needed to have those before I proceeded. Writer-brain, again.)

Reminder that Boundary Shock Quarterly has a shop now, where you can buy individual issues, as well as sign up for a subscription so you don’t ever miss one. Plus, subscriptions work out to $4 per instead of $5.

I have written six Beckett Fernsby stories so far, ranging from 25-32 only skipping 029 (First Contact) because I wrote the first Wardog Charlie story there. And will write more Charlie stories, because I have a pets issue coming up in a few years (I tend to run 2-3 years out in coming up with themes, then trying to write that far ahead).

Also working on Holden and Reilly some more. Need to keep pushing that out a ways to keep folks entertained. And possibly turn that into Vol 1 at some point, but I have a lot of ground to cover first. Sitting right about 90k, which feels like maybe 2/3-3/4 mark of the opening. Crazy big, but folks backing the Patreon at the $5 mark have been reading their adventures. Hope y’all been enjoying it.

Not a lot past that. Quiet week around here if I’m lucky. Spring, so a lot of yard work to do as things wake up. Still figuring I’ll end up selling the place in another 5-8 years and moving into the city someplace, where the walk score is at least 88. Start saving your nickles if the old farmstead appeals to you.

Chat more later.

shade and sweet water,

blaze

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.

20240311

[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.]

A Monday that almost appears normal. Which is good, because I spent most of last week recovering from a head cold I picked up on the flight from Guadalajara. Then gave to the Fabulous Publisher Babe™. She’s a little pissed about that.

I had a moment in Mexico. Woke up one morning and a stranger greeted me in the mirror. It happens. Not a lot, but often enough to recognize.

Transition.

Becoming someone else.

Someone new.

A fork in the road taken.

2024 is likely to be full of them, when you think about it. This is the year when I simply ride out the storm as best I can sail it.

At present, I am roughly ¾ of the way through Ollie 3, and hit a wall where I had to put it aside. That was getting my head into the place to go to Mexico.

And I am roughly 13k into Ivette 1 (Gunship Commander), and had to put it aside, because I had to stop and rethink the plot that I had, in light of new ideas that came up while I was in Mexico.

That, and I simply had no enthusiasm for anything by the end of last week. That also happens. Think of it as a kind of hangover from the travel, plus being sick. Plus a bunch of other things.

Had to get up Friday morning hollow. Nothing there at all.

I had written notes for future projects while in Mexico. Took my phone with me for that exact reason.

Friday, I had to reach deep and tap a vein of pure rage.

Those of you who have only known me over the last decade or so have never seen me angry. Not even remotely close. Possibly a bit cross, at worst.

Not like the old days.

Not like when I was a machine fueled by rage.

Woke HIM up Friday to get shit done. He did not disappoint. Probably won’t go back to sleep for a few months, because there are situations upcoming where the willingness to go for someone’s throat with my teeth is suddenly a possibility. Hopefully not a necessity.

Shit’s on the table, though.

Got a guy who desperately needs to be popped in the mouth. Maybe a few times, until he shuts the fuck up. And minds his manners. Personally, I doubt that he’s capable of it, because he’s a malignant narcissist who likes to gaslight people.

Still trying to decide if I should bait him into starting something, so that I have an excuse to put him through a wall. Or a window. Whatever happens to be in the way.

Don’t like him. Don’t respect him. Have to tolerate him for reasons. For now.

Other folks involved have identified me as the nuclear option and refused to take it off the table, so they understand.

In Mexico, I simply projected it outwards like a scent, and NOBODY got that close. I could walk through a crowd and folks would shove others to get out of my way.

So he’s in the back of my mind as I work today.

Started the next Science Officer book. Have been drawing a blank for the longest time on what it should be. Letter “E” for those of you paying attention, but nothing past that.

Woke up in the dead of night in Mexico with the opening, which was good enough to get me into motion. Got 8k on paper right now, and just getting started.

Return of the Pirate Clans that we last saw in 7 and 8. ALL of them. At once. Come for Zakhar and Javier. And everybody else.

Gonna be a mess.

Good thing I’m in a rough mood as I write it.

How’s your Monday?

shade and sweet water,

blaze

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.

20240108

[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.]

Oh, hell, there is a lot of snow in the forecast. Maybe a foot coming, without getting above freezing for several days. Not so bad if I lived in town or on flat terrain, but we’re out just past the first ridge of the Cascades going east. (Literally, when I drive to Enumclaw, there is a humpback of hill that separates the two roads for a good stretch.)

And I was talking to L* at the restaurant this morning about the various horizontal weather zones between Enumclaw and Ravensdale: Enumclaw. Birch. Veazie. Deep Lake. Cumberland. Bayne. Kanascat. Reaver. Ravensdale. Landsburg. Hobart. Etc.

I drive to Enumclaw enough to watch each zone hit. Winds and storms coming and going off the nearby mountains, which tend to be escarpments with sheer sides and valleys.

Got home safe. Going out later to do a bunch of errands. Might not leave again for a week after Wednesday, depending. Got better things to do than drive around with a bunch of yahoos who bought Jersey tractors and have no idea how to drive them.

“She bought too much minivan, didn’t she?”

Writing. Took the weekend off. Not feeling well, so slept in a bunch both days instead of Tai Chi. Feeling better. Getting back into the swing.

If you remember the story I did called “The Deeps” I have dug that universe back out and have been taking notes on something in there, but well off to one side. At least I think so. Expanding the universe and the denizens. Mostly deep-diving (literally) into megapredators of the ocean, from sperm whales to sharks to rays to whatever. Things you might find if you go too deep into hyperspace.

Plus, the lighthouses. I was inspired to create this universe from something the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ wrote, about lighthouses visible in various aspects of hyperspace. My world isn’t hers, I don’t think, but got some of the same concepts to explore, and I am looking at exploring it with a series of short stories. At least for now. Stuff you folks will see before anyone else, obviously.

Speaking of short fiction, I started cataloging all my shorts, and realized that I have a shit-ton, so I have been organizing character collections. All the stories about one character, under one title. The Gunderson Case Files, Vol 2 is with first readers, because only you have read 9 and 10. Similarly, Eva & Nik, Trevor, Harper, and Pizzafarmer have all been assembled, so those will go out over the next however long.

And I have more. Maybe short collections (20-30k). Maybe actual collections, where I only ever wrote one story.

Peter Najjar, Flight Officer Brannon, and Oleg Chilikov all turned into Book Ones, so I have to write more of those before I publish them. Got a lot of books in the can to come out as we go. The Maddox Nevin novel I’m working on right now happens to be novel #100. Going to throw a Haydn Party when I finish #105, for all the obvious reasons.

Maddox is at 12k, so really towards the start. Been going slow because I’m feeling my way into a whole new everything. Derived from Operation Marrakesh, but also radically different in tone, location, setting, and concept, so I have to identify those differences and make sure everything is recognizable while changed.

Having fun with it.

Also got by comments from the editor on Thrill Ride Magazine and he’s loved all four of the stories I submitted for Year Two. There should be a kickstarter for them in February, followed by issue #5 (Sisters In Arms) in March. Then three issues where I think I have put Chace Haig stories. The first of those will come out in June, which is when I aim to drop the first Chace novel as well. Hopefully.

Not much past that. Need more coffee to get my Monday in gear.

How’s your 2024 holding up so far?

shade and sweet water,

blaze

West of the Mountains, WA

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I woke up and found Noah hard at work in my front yard, building something he refuses to discuss in any detail as the rain MONSOONERATED down all night. Fall has arrived, perhaps a week early.

Seattle weather is ^generally^ predictable. Dry season usually starts around noon on the Fourth of July, just in time for the fireworks. September tends to be dry and nice, with the rains starting on October 1. Seriously. I’ve been here twenty-six years now, and that’s a thing.

This year was hotter than normal, and our usual “Junuary” wasn’t as bad as it could be. My apples never recovered. I have a Fuji and a Honeycrisp, because that’s a combination you need in order to cross-pollinate. Fuji flowered early with heat. Honeycrisp flowered late. I got five apples from the honeycrisp and none from the fuji. No quince. Half a dozen pears. About a half-gallon of grape juice. Few cherries. Not a lot of blueberries. I have seriously considered cutting down the cherries, but I’ll let the next homeowner deal with them.

Figure I’m going to sell this place by 2030 and move into town somewhere. I’ll be sixty in 2029, and this place is a lot of work. Served its purpose, though. And continues to.

Gray, drizzly, yucky kind of Monday, which puts a smile on my face, because I moved to Seattle for the rains. They hardly get rain here. A horrible, terrible, OMG!!! Pineapple Express might drop several inches of rain over a twenty-four hour period. Trains have to stop because the hillsides slump (poor design and cheap railroad companies).

I’m from Kansas originally. I’ve been outside in storms that dropped several inches of rain in an hour, instead of a day. Knock you on your ass amounts of rainfall coming down. This is a gentle shower, a little too cold to stand out there naked, but about as much force hitting you.

Writing is going well. Finished the Gator novel. Still don’t know what I’ll call it or the series. Gator is good enough for now. Got a block of thriller stuff written now, so I’m ready to make a bigger push next year when the Chase Haig stories come out in Thrill Ride magazine (I hope).

Started the fifth Marrakesh novel this last week. Going a little slow, but that’s how crappy my August and September have been, with a hope that this time next week things will have hopefully finally recovered some. (I’d like a normal week for once, going back to at least May.)

Along the way of working out this plot, writer brain decided to spin off one of the second-tier characters into a new series after this, the so-called Survey Corps Tales that I’ll work on later. It’s nice having an entire universe designed and built. And four full novels completed, so I have things in reasonable detail. Plus, because it is space adventure instead of space opera like Corsac Fox or Auberon, I can shift over and not worry about saving the galaxy every episode.

And it lets me confront an element of military science fiction that most authors get wrong. (And I’m as guilty as the next nerd.) In a real military, officers will frequently be promoted and/or transferred on a regular basis. Call it two or four years, then you move on to something else. It requires a lot of personal and bureaucratic sacrifice to keep a ship’s crew together for a long time, in spite of what the writers of the show or series want.

So I’m taking out one guy who is at that point in his career where he could get a major promotion in terms of responsibility. A minor character in Captain Boru’s narrative, but he’ll become the hero in his own story. As they should. And I’ll widen the overall IP, by being able to tell stories that are outside the realm of many of the others (and series I have) because these will be survey and exploration sorts of things, instead of tramp freighters, pirates, or military warships.

And a much smaller crew, because I’m looking at the new USCG Legend-class boats and working that way. I’ve even gotten permission to tuckerize a friend of mine as the person the ship is named for. (Mad cackling approval, even.)

Coming up, I’ll be working on more Holden and Riley. The next Corsac Fox (with #2 delivered to kickstarter backers and going up for pre-order everywhere. I’ll be starting #5). More Beckett Fernsby. The next Heather Lau book. Possibly the third and final in Kincaide’s War. At some point, the 14th Science Officer, so I have something for NEXT December, with Dragoon’s Honor coming out this year for the holidays.

Lots to do. Two anthologies to complete and deliver this week. Planning for more. More books. More everything.

Mostly, just trying to let it settle down, ya know?

shade and sweet water,

blaze

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.