Category Archives: Science Fiction

20221212

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20221212

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

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

Fingers crossed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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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.

20221128

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

Woke up to snow. Not much and not bad. Monsoonerated all night, so warm, but the temperature dropped early in the predawn when the wind started coming off the mountain.

Got breakfast. Skipped shooting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lemme know.

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

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

Chat more soon,

b

West of the currently snowing Mountains, WA

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

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

20221121

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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.]

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!

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.

20221114

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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.]

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,

b

West of the freaking cold 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.

20221107

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20221031

[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.]

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,

b

West of the SNOWY 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.

20221031

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20221031

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

Happy halloween, to all the folks getting fake blood and candy all over themselves!

Woke up this morning to news that my gaming group were all COVID positive. One guy went home Wednesday night after the game feeling a little yuck. More yuck by Thursday. Rest of us came down Friday or Saturday.

Best part? I’d scheduled my Covid booster for last Friday, plus a flu shot. Did both without knowing that I was probably positive. At least this morning I can taste and smell things just fine. So back onto the couch after I write this and probably miss a third day of writing. A bit grumpy on that part. (Okay, way past a bit, but shit happens.)

Been talking to a couple of you about stories I’d sent out monthly, because my list got corrupted and I don’t know what you saw over the summer. Then, late last night, I remembered a short story I wrote a while back and buried. You’ll be getting that next month.

I set up a warlock character for a dnd5 game that never happened. GM wanted some depth beyond Murderhobo First Class, so I took the time to write a backstory, figuring that I could extend it later depending on the campaign. Campaign never happened (see above) so I forgot about it. Going to look it up today or tomorrow, but it should be good.

Last week, I finished Last Stand #8 and rolled right over to #9. Kind fun, because I already know what #11 and #12 will be, so I only need to come up with one more story for “Season One/2023.” And I have a long list of options. Like 30 or something silly.

Going forward, I had planned to get #9 close to done today, then finish it tomorrow (15700 of an expected 22000 right now). From there, I am going to write the next Harper story, but with a twist. Like the previous two stories you folks have read, it will be a grift that goes terribly wrong, but in a good way.

Eventually, they’re going to start calling her Lucky, because she always lands on her feet. This story will set her up for a series, finally, but a fun one. It will be in the issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly called “Tramp Freighter Captains” and will build on all the research I’ve been doing around comedy, because it will push the edges of farcical silliness.

(Still trying to figure out how to break the fourth wall in the written word without being too obvious. Every single show or movie I have watched so far does that. Some character will give the camera a look. Maybe a roll of the eyes. Maybe a put-upon sigh. Something. Sharing the joke with the audience. Will figure it out.)

If my math is right, that story is due to myself April 1, so it will come out in July, with the first two cleaned up and as a “Harper Starter Pack.”

After that, writer brain announced that it wanted to write another Gunderson story. Okay, sure. Why not? This one will extend the story beyond Blackmailers (Gunderson Case Files, Volume 1) and I think puts us at #10. I’d have to count, but it might be enough for a Vol 2 by word count, with a couple you’ve never read.

Or I might need to write 1-2 more. Or make this one kinda long. It is an category that I’m not sure what to call, because it has elements of paranormal and fantasy and science fiction in a private detective sub. If any of you are experts on fiction genre categorizations, I’d love your thoughts.

I’ve been standing long enough, so I’m going to load this, schedule it, and go back to bed.

Cheers.

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the rainy 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.

20221024

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

Fall has finally made it to the Pacific Northwest. Rained like hell on Saturday. Sunny and cold yesterday. Monsoonerating this morning when I got up. Went and got food. Skipped shooting. Will do Tai Chi and Cane form later. Came home and wrote.

I have been exhausted. Just worn down to a nub. Not sure why. Have had a hard time braining some lately, so I suppose a touch of mental instead of physical. Feeling old somedays, but that’s friends, not me. Know a writer who is just about twenty years older than me. Early seventies. Heard him talking about how he had reached a point where he had slowed down, mentally. Wasn’t as certain that he could write a full novel and have it all work. Have it all in his head and get it down on paper.

That he might have to finally retire from that thing that had been his joy for more than thirty years. Hope not. The man’s awesome, both as a writer as well as a person. We need more of his art in the world.

And it’s part of the reason I write at the speed I do. As I explained to someone a while ago, the only person I’m competing with is death, and he’ll be along for me soon enough. I’ve only got another forty or fifty years, and I’d like to be mentally productive for as long as I can.

David Drake finally admitted defeat and retired recently. Another one that the years had caught up to.

Like Elton John, I plan to have a lot of product in the trunk, ready to be delivered, if not already out somewhere.

Writing: finished the fifth Stephanie Machesky erotica and set up the sixth. Then I wrote a story for my upcoming Cyberpunks anthology (Boundary Shock Quarterly 022. Spring 2023). Less a gun fights and car chases story and more a meditation on the nature of wealth in an uneven future, where a few folks will control most of the world. (Worse than they do now.)

After that, I started the eighth Last Stand novella. Its all done but the epilogue at this moment, and I’ll write that tomorrow.

Not sure what comes after that. I don’t currently have a short story in mind that you folks haven’t read yet, without going back and looking through the stacks. Easier if I just wrote something new. Watch this space, because I’ll have one more blog post next week before November’s story goes out.

English Paul sold his house and is in the process of moving to SoCal. Somewhere in the Temecula/Hemet region, though I don’t think they actually have a new place lined up yet. It does mean that music gets a little weirder, but I did get all the equipment set up and now I need to learn the software. (Reaper is what those folks use to capture vocals and mix things, so I get to figure out how that goes together and record a few things.)

Also teaching myself new things musically. I never learned an instrument that could play chords, so this is all new to me. Slowly getting there, but that’s fine. I have some awesome friends I can ask when it comes time to make real songs, instead of the melody and lyrics I can kinda do now.

What are you folks up to? And what crazy new thing have you done lately?

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the rainy 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.

20221017

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

Monday. Went and got food. Skipped shooting. Wasn’t sure why I didn’t want to until just now. Freaking exhausted. Then Fabulous Publisher Babe™ pointed out that I’ve been going like hell for more than a week now.

And I have.

Last Tuesday, recorded vocals for the next song. Had to kind of crash that into the schedule because English Paul is going to be moving to Los Angeles in the near future, as his wife got a fabulous new job down there.

Which, in turn, led me to ordering a lot of hardware that I will need, to record such things here in the future. Will be headed to the post office box later today to pick everything up, as it should have come in over the weekend in various dribbles.

I have a song I want to work on, as I teach myself music. The only instrument I ever learned was voice, so I didn’t get exposed to all those other things that instrumentalists take for granted. (I had to stop Paul and back him up several times when he lost me while explaining his processes. And he did that a lot.)

For you, what book might you recommend for me to learn the basics of music theory and composition?

I don’t learn visually, so please don’t suggest I go watch 70 hours of youtube videos. (Seriously, I had a question once and some jackknob suggested that somewhere in those 70 hours would be the answer, because he was a busybody and intellectual bully who didn’t know anything about astrophysics, but was unwilling to admit it. I don’t talk to him anymore.)

Slight off-topic grumble. Sorry. Really BAD coffee at the place. I mean, the worst you can get around here. The asphalt I drove in on probably tastes better. There is a reason I drink light roast, freshly ground beans I pull out of the freezer.

After this, I will also write the Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter and send it out. As noted, the last week has been kind of a blur of rolling gators, so today is going to be at a somewhat slower pace.

Doesn’t help that I’m Gamemastering a group of lunatics tonight, so I have to save up spoons for that, too.

Writing side, I finished the fourth of the Thriller Shorts for Buchman’s new Thrill Ride magazine he’s hoping to start next spring. Had a lot of fun. Introduced an entirely new character set, and played with the theme of Betrayal in a couple of ways that hopefully none of you will see coming.

Then I and Cole wrote the fifth Commander Stephanie Machesky space erotica novella. #4 should be out December. The goal is keep these going every other month. #5 is actually a part-one, so I already know what shape #6 will take.

Figure one of these days I will have enough mass over there to have fans. A few folks have been reading them, but not nearly enough to quit the day job.

With Stephanie done, I pivoted back over to the cyberpunk future.

Owen mentions his buddy Geoff in a flew places. This is the first Geoff story, and will come out as part of Boundary Shock Quarterly in the spring. (Deadline at my end is Jan 1. Pub in April) These are all part of a larger, richer universe that will form the background of the rock opera Paul and I will be writing. (I’ve already started the lyrics to a couple. And I have the love triangle story in my head that will come after this. Owen and Nigel (and Bash) will be there. As will Xavia, Djinn, and Rutger.

Gonna be fun.

I have a stack of things on my To Write list that will keep me busy for the rest of the year. A short story prequel to the Corsac Fox series, that will go out to everyone who backs the kickstarter when it comes in December. More Last Stand novellas. More Stephanie erotica. More Marrakesh. More Science Officer.

And more stuff for you folks.

Anybody have a sub-genre of SF that they’d like to see me tackle more of with these shorts? Happy to oblige. At some point, I’ll be putting out a lot of short fiction, about half of which none of you have seen yet. (heh)

More words today. More words tomorrow. Cruising along towards the end of the year.

Hopefully, your Monday is more energetic than mine it. (Or not, depending on your needs.)

Shade and sweet water,

b

West of the foggy 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.

20221010

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[Obviously, two weeks lag if you aren’t reading this from Patreon. See details at the bottom.]

Having a good Monday so far. Went to breakfast. Went to the archery range. Even shot pretty well. Did some Tai Chi Chuan and some cane form. Let’s call it something approximating normal. I’d like that, after all the craziness of the last several months. A flow.

Met with Sifu and seniormost student for class on Saturday. Hadn’t seen Eldest Brother in a while, so it was good to catch up on his life.

We three were alone at the end after everyone else departed, so I mentioned the possibility of creating a new open hand/closed fist form (Can you call it Tai Chi Chuan if it’s not Chinese Lineage? I doubt it.) for a set of aliens in the coming Corsac Fox series. They both thought that was pretty cool. I might make a serious effort because the CPL 99 for puts a lot of stress on my left knee, which I’d rather not do after nearly tearing it several years ago (might have microtears, dunno).

The goal of Tai Chi is to still be limber and flexible (intellectually and emotionally as well as physically) when I’m ninety. Thirty-seven years. Open mind, open body, open heart, because I read a study the other day about how the mind starts to shut down and prune after about you hit forty if you aren’t actively working it. Television really does rot your brain, and you turn into that old fart yelling at the kids to get off your lawn.

Then I asked Eldest Brother if he felt like creating a new sword form for me to practice. I studied English Longsword as well as English Quarterstaff, back in the day, which are both radically different than equivalent Chinese or Japanese weapons. Takes me a bit to adjust to using the cane like a sword, when my hands want to grip it like a quarterstaff. Especially with one double block in the second section that leads into a horizontal chop, when I would step forward and punch someone in the face with the far end of the cane.

Again, moving uphill instead of downhill. Looking forward to two new martial arts in the world, because there is simply not enough art in the world today. You should do something about that. (Yes, you!)

Let’s see: Last week, I finished the third Derlyth novel. All are dropping in June, 2023 as part of a set. Not a trilogy, because I already have notes for #4 and #5 already, but I want to shift back to some SF for a while.

Always writing different things to feed the muse.

Derlyth is Occult Detective by genre. London, 1924. Magic. Demons. Shenanigans. And Augustus Dexter Derlyth is a thief and a bit of a necromancer by trade. Not a nice guy. Still a hero, but that’s circumstances and blackmail more than anything. Tremendous amounts of voice. Rich characters.

Better, I hung out with some friends on Saturday and one of them recently got hired to create an rpg game engine and setting for someone. He’s going to look into the contract itself, but he thinks that he retains the Intellectual Property rights to the engine, so I might hire him to create a 20th Century Urban Fantasy rpg for Derlyth and friends. Probably worth a kickstarter project in 2023, if the books do well.

And I wouldn’t mind if they exploded.

Every time you hit the publish button, there is a one in a million chance that you capture the cultural zeitgeist and become JK Rowling or Suzanne Collins. With that in mind, I often counsel writers to make sure that they enjoy some sub-genre before diving into it. In this case, what would happen to my SF if suddenly I was expected to kick out several Occult Detective novels every year to feed a USA Today bestselling series? (Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.)

I’d write them. And spin things off. And on. And explore the 1920s with magic. And maybe do prequels for Derlyth as a young man (he was born in 1877), plus explore the world when he’s an older gentleman, in the vein of Henry Jones, Sr. against the Nazis.

Because it would be a tremendous amount of fun. When we get there, remind me to ask everyone who they would cast as Derlyth, Captain Digby, and Lady Claudette to make movies. I have images in my head, but not names that I would hire if I suddenly were making movies based on these books.

But it would be awesome. And I still have the greatest job in the world, when you get down to it. I’m paid to make shit up and entertain people.

Does it get any better than that? Dunno. Stupid amounts of money would probably help, so you should tell your book club about me. Or go form a book club so you can read my books and analyze them. At my current writing speed, I’ll stay ahead of a one book/month club for several decades. (I just finished novel #84, and that doesn’t count 30 or so novellas worth exploring.)

Heh. Just heh.

Anybody else ever have moments where they break out in maniacal laughter, because things are going well? I highly recommend it sometime.

Hmmm, past that, I started the fourth Thriller story yesterday. NOT a Fatima story, because there was no easy way to shim in a story to the theme required, without a lot of unnecessary twisting. Instead I started someone else. Hoping he’ll be fun, because he’s an a-typical hero. No guns. Tall, skinny Englishman who’s a wheelman by trade. Oh, and a thief. The story is the aftermath of a caper, when the guy who put the job together decides to kill everyone else so nobody can talk later.

Whoops.

Beyond that, I have the fourth Stephanie Machesky (EROTICA, you’ve been warned) novella done and ideas for the fifth, which I’ll write soon. I have a list of “Done by Dec 31” writing projects to get to, in no particular order. More Last Stand. More Punk Rock Opera. More Space Adventure and Opera in existing series.

I have also been thinking deep thoughts about comedy. As noted elsewhen. Written comedy loses a lot of the visual elements of vaudeville, including the fourth wall breaks where the main character turns to the camera and shrugs.

But I also have some silly fun planned with a series intended to be humorous, without being comedic in nature. (First rule of comedy: never punch down.) Working on a bizarrely silly setting and a main character who will likely be my “straight” person captain in the middle of things, with a wacky cast of misfits chewing the scenery around them.

Went back after talking to the Ambassador last week for an hour and realized that I have written a lot of things that were light and funny, so I have it in me. Just gotta pull out a setting that can be funny all by itself. Also been watching comedy tv, but avoiding family sitcoms. Got season one of WKRP in Cincinnati and been watching old episodes. Get Smart and McHale’s Navy are both on reserve at the library. Might see if I can check out Futurama at some point.

What else should I be watching or reading as I expand my horizons?

As with the open hand forms, the goal is to stretch the mind. Become a better person and a better writer.

And have a lot of fun.

Check y’all next week.

b

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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.

20221003

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[As usual, you’re watching this two weeks later than folks on my Patreon feed. See below for details.]

Fall might finally be upon us. After one, final taunting, I have not seen any presents from Jimmy-Jack in the yard. Thus, he has fertilized things sufficient. I always worry, because he’s about thirty, and that’s old for a retired racehorse. In the past, other neighbor Randy would call and ask if he could park a flatbed in the yard, so they could bring up a backhoe.
I do not know how many dead racehorses are buried up there, but if and when that woman finally dies and her kids want too much for the land, I’m looking forward to telling prospective buyers. The answer is more than I can count on one hand. Hell, I figure it would take about $30-50k to clean up all the shit, crap, and leftovers up there. She has been there for more than fifty years, and there are a dozen dead cars to go with the buried horses.
This summer, my fear was that I’d come out and there’d be a dead horse in my yard. And that Randy would have to find a space down here to bury him, instead of hauling him back to the top of the hill for internment.
Normal people do not have migratory horses in their lives.
Monday. Went shooting this morning. Did well, even. 35#, 28” Martin Jaguar takedown recurve in a guitar case. 30 yards, which is just out of range for a short-bow, according to Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. (80/320’) Shooting with Disadvantage
Followed that up with CPL 99 Tai Chi. Knee has been hurting randomly from where I nearly tore something several years ago while roofing. Stretched it as far as you can without a tear, though there might be a small one. Expect I’ll have to have something done at some point. Tai Chi has a lot of weight shifting onto that left knee and aggravates it. Might have to find something else. Or invent a new form for my aliens and do it in the morning. As one does. (Taunting Lucas, as it were. Hi, M…)
Didn’t hardly write this past weekend. Tai Chi Saturday, and feeling yucky enough in the afternoon that I took a nap. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ did as well, so we might have caught a hint of something. Fine after sleeping.
Sunday, got a few words done, then friends came over and gleamed my apples and grapes fully. And, then the Babe had a friend over and they resinned the tiles for next summer when we redo the bathroom at the main house. Then a double date for a late lunch.
Soft weekend. Ramping back up. Hoping to fall back into something of a rhythm. Published two anthologies as well, so that was a lot of last minute crazy shit to handle.
After the Fall
BSW 020: New Worlds, New Civilizations
Starting to read the next Boundary Shock Quarterly as folks are getting in late. (I offered to charge late fees with one of them, just as a prompt. We’ll see what he says.)
Next issue is the Pirate issue, and I have no idea what I’m going to get. Also invited several new folks to submit, some of them from After the Fall. Always looking for SF writers I can add to the Syndicate. Know lots of writers. Not many of them are into SF. If you got friends or a fan base, give a yell.
Past that, about halfway through the third Occult Detective novel in the Augustus Dexter Derlyth series. Ongoing, and no idea how far they will take me. I do already know the rough plot of #4, so if folks end up liking this series, I’ll be ready to follow up. Dropping all three of them in June 2023, so mark your calendars if you are into Occult Detective stuff. London. 1924. Magic. Nuff said.
Will keep banging on Derlyth. Not sure after that, but I have a lot of shorter stuff I need to write before the end of the year. Have a third Fatima and need a fourth, but it might be straight thriller with a new character set.
Also, I have been researching comedy. I rarely write intentionally funny things. And find that a lot of humor tends to not age well. Watched Blaze Saddles front to back over the weekend. Watched Airplane last week, again credits to credits. Both times, it struck me how dated some of the references were, and how few people would get some of the jokes today. Physical humor and slapstick is universal, but subtle things require set up.
Sat down with the More Than Complete Hitchhiker’s Guides To The Galaxy Omnibus that I’ve owned for thirty years and not read in at least fifteen. Again, comedy, but it stands a little better, because SF and you have to explain everything instead of assuming a society and culture like you do with “modern” genre/fiction.
Have several old television comedy shows on dvd on order from the library. F Troop. McHale’s Navy. Get Smart. A few others. I wanted to look at things that were NOT family sitcom. Instead, these tend to be Found Family, and revolve around something at work, instead of semi-disfunctional families. At some point, I’ll dig into Cheers and few others, to see what I can draw from the past.
Question for all y’all:
What comedy television over the last decade or so would you recommend.
Not a family sitcom. Not a dramedy (MASH did both serious and comical in its time, growing more serious as they went.) Preferably SF (and I’m given to understand that Oroville is more of an homage to Star Trek than anything, and that the suits initially made him make it a comedy, which he moved away from later.) Also, I don’t want a kid’s show, because I want adults, instead of coming of age, teen angst, etc. Finally, it has to be available on dvd. (Not interested in downloading illegally. If folks like Disney don’t want to let me watch their shit on disk, I won’t watch it, because I am not in the mood to go to town and sit in a coffee shop to watch tv.)
Past that, what have I missed that I should make up for now?
Shade and sweet water,
b
West of the Mountains, WA
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Thank you so much for being my patron and for funding these essays!
If you’re reading the free version (which is published two weeks after the Patreon version), please consider joining the ones who do pay at https://www.patreon.com/blazeward. It’s only a buck and helps keeps the lights on around here.