[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.]

So I looked at the weekly alarm reminder and went ahead and typed. Kinda took the weekend off, but that was trying to figure out the end of the novel. That hit me last night, how to get from where I was to the set pieces I had in my mind, so it started to flow.

Then food hit.

OMG. Food.

Yesterday, we looked at each other mid-afternoon and both decided that we needed to be baking. Result: gingersnap cookies and molasses/cranberry bars. Yum.

This morning, take and bake cinnamon rolls from Krain Corner restaurant, because Shaylyn is utterly amazing. Ate two. Saved two. And got a tub and a half of frosting left, so I’m not sure what trouble I’ll get into next.

Then, the porcheta.

Fabulous Publisher Babe™’s family did a porcheta for Christmas when she was a kid. Take a pork shoulder, slice it open and insert spice rub, then rub and tie and bake.

She has a new religion these days. And a pellet grill.

Start with a pork shoulder. Cut it open to get the bone out. Finish butterflying it all the way out. Spice the inside. Rub the outside. Roll like a pinwheel. Tie off with string.

It went onto the grill about 800 last night. Low and slow all night. Got pulled around 930 this morning, when it got up to temp (about 190F).

Then, the secret sauce. Pull it and put it in a plastic trash bag, then put the bag in a small cooler and close it up to rest for two hours.

At lunch (including brussel sprouts cooked with walnuts and bacon grease), I had a hard time pulling it out of the bag. Then I tried to cut it.

A good, grilled roast has a “Bark” on the outside, like a tree. The bark held. The meat was falling apart.

Basically, we had a pulled pork porcheta. And got two big tupperware bins of meat when I got the remaining five pounds chopped and pulled. Might need to go buy some bread at some point. And cheese. And whatever. Because OMG it is amazing meat.

And will only get better next time, because this was her first porcheta using her brother’s family recipe.

Can’t wait.

Writing: I’m past 40k on the Red Branch Book One (1949, Soviet exile fighter pilot mercenaries hunting escaped Nazi war criminals), and deep into the first half of the final confrontation. Probably wrap up around 55-60k, sometime this week maybe. Maybe not.

After that, I plan to write the first of the A’Zedi Survey Corps books. If you were one of the folks that wanted to be tuckerized, make sure I have your release form, because I won’t include you otherwise. Got too many people interested in this. And the woman who I was originally going to name the ship for changed her mind and backed out, so I had to change that.

Past that, not a lot. Been chatting with folks on phone and text. Largely ignoring the family (most of whom I don’t get along with anyway and won’t go see because I don’t need the stress).

Hope your holidays have been calm and warm and friendly and that you enjoy them.

Chat more next week.

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.

[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.]

I might post next week. And I might not, it being Xmas in the US. Won’t go anywhere. Ordered take-and-bake cinnamon rolls this morning to pick up on Saturday. Shay, because she is an amazing baker, down at Krain Corner, run by her mom forever.

Got out and enjoyed the morning. Having a hard time getting the clutch going this morning. Like, 1500 words in two hours. Mondayness.

Partly, that’s the novel. Act One was Sasha out exploring and learning what the problem was. Now I’m in Act Two and he’s bringing the posse for the big showdown. And I am working slow as I work out all the details. That happens with a new series, because each character needs a voice. Currently, writing the Commissar, who is the Spock to Sasha’s Kirk.

Gonna be fun. And have ordered myself three books for Xmas on the de Havilland Venom/Vampire, plus a two-book series on early jets, US and European respectively.

SO MUCH POTENTIAL in an era few people really know, because every history book I’ve been reading pretty much ends with VE/VJ Day, or begins with the Korean War.

Luckily, I have a background in political science, which meant a lot of history for the second half of the 20^th Century. Kennan and all his ilk. The (impending) death of Stalin. All the crazy shit in 1949 as things are about to bubble over.

Novel is at 25k. Probably 55k by the time I’m done.

Any of you qualify as aviation nerds who can give it a read and point out any mistakes? I’m kinda good on piloting stuff, but a few finer details would be better.

Should finish it by January. From there, I went back to the Maddox notes and started expanding what will become the first Survey Corps novel. It will all make more sense next year when you’ve read Marrakesh, but I gotta stay way ahead of you people. That means Maddox and Padraig both. And a bunch of others.

Working on ideas for the next Science Officer. Thank you to all the lovely folks who have rated it everywhere. Will deliver “E” next Xmas, and keep on that pace. Got other things to write and finish.

And more Spandex going on in the background, because I found a gamer who wants to do Fatecore (Wearing The Cape subrules) superhero roleplay.

I enjoy fantasy, but not a straight diet of it. We used to bounce genres every year or less. Or have two things going at once to keep things fresh. And not just Hack AND Slash, either. Star Wars d6. Villains and Vigilantes. Shadowrun. Hero System. DnD. Earthdawn. Star Trek (FASA). Star Fleet Battles. Mechwarrior/Battletech.

A variety of options. Keeps Jack from being a dull boy.

If you are local to the South Sound and interested, give a yell. In person only. Somewhere between Kent and Palmer. Fatecore system modified. Modern setting adapted by both Don and I to handle things, though I plan on some Noir (30s or 50s) play at some point, heavier on rp and less on smashing.

Last Stand Season One is complete. And you now know who Pastor Mike was. And see where I’m setting up for Season Two at some point. TBD. 2025 or later, because I have 2024 already in the can.

Also, some Light Thriller coming out next year. Chace Haig. Gator. Red Branch. Plus others I haven’t written or finished.

Busy, but it’s the end of the year and I’ve hit my Million Word Target for 2023, so I’m kinda goofing off some now.

What are you doing for the holidays?

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.

20231204

[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.]

Yeah.

New world. New everything.

We’d known two years ago that the kitty was old and going to go at some point. And two months ago, Kiera gave Leah the look that she was maybe done. It came and went quick. Leah’s been more of a mess since then than I have, but they were much closer. And her cairn is where Leah can see her and she can see both houses when she wants to haunt things.

Mostly over the immediate grieving, and down to the sadness that comes from losing someone you love, even after having a long time to prepare for it. I went through that with Donna, having a terminal diagnosis and three years.

Monday is kinda a new start. Or something.

Leah mentioned that we were emptynesters now. So much of everything rotated around making sure the kitty got fed and cared for, even when we took trips. Lots of planning.

Don’t have that now. She asked how I felt about becoming more of a nomad, but that conversation is only sort of started. And I have to cycle back thirty-five years to when that sort of thing defined me.

Not sure what it means. We’re likely to take more road trips. Starting a list of folks we know that we might visit. If you want to be on it, let me know. Not sure when or where or what. December is the recalibrating for 2024, when things change. Not sure which things yet.

Things.

Last week, I finished Corsac Fox 5. Like where it ended. And how it will flow over into 6 and 7, before ending Block One and setting up for a Block Two later.

This week, I’ve started a new light-thriller series. The Red Branch. Set in 1948-49. Main character is an ex-Soviet fighter pilot turned mercenary, operating along the margins of South American law while hunting escaped Nazi war criminals.

This is the project where I’ve been doing all the research on early jet aircraft. And how the Alliance that won World War II fell apart afterwards, before turning into Containment initially with an eye to Rollback later. The Catholic Church went out of their way to help a lot of Nazis escape justice after the way. The Pope utterly loathed communism, and saw those fascists as friends.

Look up Ratlines sometime (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)) and then wander down various rabbit holes.

Messy. But it also creates a fun tension where I can have Russians hunting escaped Nazis. And the lovely folks who ran Japanese Unit 731 and similar things, many of whom also escaped being hung by the neck until dead, may God have mercy on their souls.

Some nasty evil got away with it because the US was much more fascist than communist (even more so in those days than today, but you get the picture). And Peron, while largely a leftist most of the time, got pissed off at the US and some of their bullshit, so I’m pretty sure his Third Way was merely an opportunity to poke Truman and others in the eye.

It’s turning into a fun story. And a series opening where I can play with all sorts of aircraft and stuff.

One of my inspirations was the old Blackhawk comic book I read as a kid. Originally (in 1940+) it was one of the most popular comics out there, often only outsold by Action Comics (Superman) in any given month.

It ran for a long time, too. I found them in the mid-70s, when things had been rebooted and retconned some for the more modern age, before it went on hiatus and got rebooted back into WW2 only.

Setting my story in 48 means jets. And spies. And swirling alliances. And decolonialism rising, though Stalin was still in charge and it wasn’t until Nikita Khrushchev and then Leonid Brezhnev when the Soviet Union got actively into the liberation movements.

Still, messy. All the joys of Action/Adventure/Thriller, with the addition of mercenaries and fighter pilots, so there will be some air battles at some point. Plus, it lets me explore certain technologies that maybe never got exploited, but could have been. (Helps that I asked a couple of aviation experts and will rely on them as first readers when I finish book one.)

Past that, December. Not really all that motivated today. The year catching up with me, after I realized just how much emotional labor I’ve done in 2023. A lot. Heavy.

I don’t have to carry the weight alone, but I need some down time.

Plus, yesterday I found out that David Drake died. Military SF writer who was hugely influential on me as a young reader and person, and later as a writer. Him and Doc Smith, largely, shaped my voice. He’d been ill for the last couple of years, and stopped writing as a result.

And it is sad that he is gone.

Hopefully, I’ll still be writing in 25 years when I’m his age. And doing it well.

Not a lot of news past that. The Anti-Stodgy/Redneck Chef newsletter in a few days. Dragoon’s Honor (Science Officer 13) came out yesterday, along with Preacher Man (Last Stand #12). Hopefully folks have been enjoying them. I have an idea for the next Science Officer (#14, due next December, as I plan on releasing them annually going forward. Probably.)

The new series: Operation Marrakesh, starts in January, and one of my next stories is likely #6 in that series. Plus the spin-off.

How’s your Monday treating you?

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.

[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.]

December. Corsac Fox One and Two available everywhere. I should finish Five this week. Then on to other projects.

No shooting today. Shoulder is getting close to healed, but it was pouring out there. And Fabulous Publisher Babe™ went with me this morning.

She needs a new process. We both do, but her more than me.

In case you haven’t seen elsewhere, Kiera the kitty died last Thursday. I have a blog post with details and pics, so I won’t revisit everything this morning. I don’t need to be crying right now.

Traditionally, the two ladies spent the weekend over here, then went back on Monday morning when I went out to breakfast. She’s emotionally a mess, because Kiera had been her companion for almost eighteen years. I’ve only been around for a shade more than ten at this point. They went to New Orleans for six months together. Did all things.

Until they moved out here, they were generally in the same house at all times while she was home. Only starting to send Kiera over here on Thursday nights was a night to herself.

At least it was pretty quick. And looked generally painless, at least from the outside. Monday night not doing well. Tuesday to the vet, where she got fluids and checkup and was much brighter on the way home. Wednesday, bloodwork showed that her kidneys had shut down. Thursday morning, she had a couple of hours of dying, but mostly laid there and occasionally gasped or made a twitch that she wanted scritches.

We made her as comfortable as we could. Pets so she knew we were there. Letting her know if was okay to go. Got a purr at one point. She could see us.

It was peaceful.

I’m a hot mess. Leah’s far worse. We knew it would come someday. Talked about things that would happen After Kitty, but it still hurts. Still losing a family member. One that I had complete conversations with, always on her terms.

So everything is kinda stuttery today. At least I’m in the final movement of Corsac Fox Five, so I can kind of autopilot. And Five and Six are part of a duology, so I’ll resolve some things then flow into the rest, but not until Jan or Feb, depending.

Some of you have been following The Scattered Tribes Chronicle. Hopefully, you’ve been enjoying Holden and Reilly. I’ll keep writing that in chunks, and eventually publish it all when I have 200,000 words of Book One. No idea how long it is. Long. Epic Space Fantasy Opera. The biggest kind.

And some more Gunderson and adjacent stories coming. Part of the 2000 CE project that flows out of Gunderson #10 and Captain Sapphire.

More news eventually, but this was kinda all I had to say.

How’s your Monday holding up? Able to bite through the ropes so you can escape?

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.

[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.]

Final Monday of the “Going to Grandma’s Sale” over on KRP. You know the trip will be long and dull, whether driving or flying. You’re gonna need books. (And you should lean on a couple of my first readers who are deep into some old stuff that’s never been published, so that you have Christmas books to read. Hint hint.)

Monday. Colder than that.

Because I live just past the first ridgeline of the Cascades, I get weird weather. Going north, I can paint a line in the pavement where it will be snowing on one side and dry on the other. Going south, there are seven distinct climate zones to get to Enumclaw (up on the plateau, as they call it).

Crossed five of them this morning. Wowsers.

38F when I left the house, and mostly calm. Zone 5 going south cuts across from Veazie to Krain (E/W) and was 24F when I got there. Black ice, and I have to go over a hill and a curve. It was an adventure.

Wind came up after that, but it’s coming off the mountains this morning, so likely clear and cold as fuck today and for several. Gonna stay indoors. Friday, we went for a walk at 0630 and 27F. Yuck. Did it Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon with silks on. Much better. Still too damned cold. I need a mall somewhere close.

Writing: Corsac Fox is over 55k. Likely finish it next week. Already planning what to write after that and got several ideas. Always have ideas. Never have enough bandwidth to just write them all, because I’d have to at least double my writing pace and that’s bloody unlikely, unless I get struck by the magic sales fairy soon. (You out there?)

Also, I’ll put this here because I put it up on Facebook.

I’m planning a spinoff series from Marrakesh (Coming Jan-May) that takes one of the side characters off into their own series. I foolishly asked the universe if anyone wanted to be Tuckerized into the new series. The ship is based on the USCG Legend Class. Crew 14 officers and 82 enlisted. Plus associated stuff at base, off base, pirates, prospectors, and whoever else.

I got 35 responses. So far.

Well, shit.

Okay, so I created a Tuckerization Release form. With that many, I need to actually make it a little more formal, so I mailed those out.

If you want to be Tuckerized into the A’Zedi Survey Corps books, email me and I’ll send you one as well. Won’t start that series until January or later, so there’s time. Got a lot of stuff planned for it, so it will run a while, assuming I enjoy writing them.

Not much past that. Thinking thinky thoughts. Trying to stay above water. Having time with friends. Getting ready for the holidays.

Hope you’re having fun.

And remember, Going to Grandma’s Sale

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.

[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.]

Second Monday of the “Going to Grandma’s Sale” over on KRP. You know the trip will be long and dull, whether driving or flying. You’re gonna need books. (And you should lean on a couple of my first readers who are deep into some old stuff that’s never been published, so that you have Christmas books to read. Hint hint.)

Monday. Colder than previous. Had to melt the windows to go out this morning, but not quite scrape them. 0C/32F. Rained so frost. Monday.

Also, getting down to the end of the year. Had our Annual Corporate Meeting last week and looked at what we’d done in 2023 and what we aim for in 2024.

Planning the following:

• Jan-May: Marrakesh 1-5
• Jun-Jul: Corsac Fox 3-4
• Aug-Nov: Air Pirates of Cyrenaica
• Dec: Science Officer

Additionally, one Kickstarter for Air Pirates, probably in March for April delivery. All four books with special editions. TBD

Mistaken Identity and The Coven are both out and getting good ratings. Thank you.

Also, I’ve been having fun with all that research on early jet aviation (Soviet, British, and US) and decided to work yesterday instead of taking the weekend off. Sifu is out of town, so no Saturday classes this last weekend or holiday. Instead, we’re both going to do some marathon writing. Got words done Saturday. And Sunday. And will continue through the end of the month.

At the moment, I have 32k done on Corsac Fox 5 (out of about 75k). And the opening 3k of the new historic action thriller book one. Red Branch is the working series title for now, while I work it out. Kinda planning to write both novels simultaneously, just because they are so different and I’m having fun with both. Thus, the marathon.

If I know any technical aviation experts of the period 1947-1954 who want to be first readers, lemme know. I’m pretty sure I have those details close enough, and I built in wiggle room for the rest. Still, want to be close enough to right.

From there, writing this week. Turkey is in the fridge defrosting. Leg of lamb is going on the grill shortly to roast today. Need to make italian sausage tonight to go into the stuffing Thursday. She homemade a cranberry orange dressing using her grandma’s recipe. I bought a can. Got crescents and cinnamon rolls.

Gonna be a lovely holiday around here. Hope yours is calm and wonderful, unlike mine when I was a kid.

And remember, Going to Grandma’s Sale

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.

[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.]

Ya know what? Still bouncy. Which is way better than morose. Got a new project I’m deep diving research on. Anybody know any experts on jet aircraft from the era 1945-1950? Figured I’d ask. Also equipment and style, but I am doing pretty good there.

It will turn into a new series at some point. Historic Action Thriller with jets, secret agents, Nazis, and trouble. I’m cackling as I research.

More news later.

It is also the first Monday of the “Going to Grandma’s Sale” over on KRP.

We try to do this every year. A sale starting a week and a half out from American Thanksgiving and running through Cyber Monday. The logic is that a lot of folks will take off next week entirely and get a nine-day vacation. Long drives or time spent in airports, you need books.

I mean, you always need books, but especially now. Plus, lots of us aren’t sportsball fans, and would rather sit quietly and read than sportsball. (Me, I’d write.)

Anyway. Twelve box sets for folks to get cheap for the next two weeks. Similarly, we’re looking at doing some sort of big Christmas sale but I don’t have the details yet. It won’t start until Dec 1 anyway, so we’ve got time. And you can always buy a boxed set for a friend as an early Christmas present, then forward them the download code to break up their turkey travels.

On the writing front, I finished another Reilly story (#6) last week. The Scattered Tribes Chronicle is sitting at about 80,000 words right now, and feels like maybe 1/3 to 2/5 done. LOTS of story yet to go, and lots of novels to follow it, so you won’t be bored, I hope.

Mistaken Identity and The Coven are both out and getting good ratings. Except for that one guy who would have given Mistaken Identity five stars but he didn’t like me telling him what his politics should be. That Uly suggesting that Capitalism™ wasn’t the highest possible form of civilization was a sin. Especially when Uly preferred Socialism. (Buddy, you’ve never lived under capitalism, although the modern Robber Baron TechBros would REALLY like to get back to that era.) Mostly, the Khet are using a form of 1950s US Industrialism, but I doubt that most folks have read wide enough and deep enough to appreciate the subtleties there.

And seriously, have you read ANY of my books, pal? I’m not saying I’m a Red, but I’m also not denying a deep, abiding fuchsia, either. I think he prefers the wild west of interstellar rape and piracy of Lacium, which really tells the rest of us WAY more about him that he probably is comfortable explaining. Or maybe he’ll tell everyone over Thanksgiving dinner, because he’s THAT UNCLE.

(I’m the weird Uncle who bought my nieces non-standard toys. The oldest girl loved her firetruck when she was two, by the way, and she turned out to be an amazing lady and badass Nurse these days. So there.)

After that, I spun back to Corsac Fox #5. Esko, you’re gonna love this one. We’re going deep into your ideas.

BACKGROUND: The two Kickstarters offered up “Be a character” or “Be a Major Character” and two of my friends went all in. One appears in both 3 and 4 as one of the Lords of the Endless Plains (you now know who they are), while the other will be a major player starting in 5, and he wanted to contribute an entire new species to what Uly and the gang are up to.

I’m about 10k in at the moment. While I’d love to give you more details, there are two major novels in the way, so you’ll just have to trust me that I’m cackling about where we’re going. And what we’re finding.

And how much I enjoyed taking The Iliad and The Odyssey with me to the Soviet Union in 1991. (I was in Moscow the day Yeltsin was originally elected President. We took off for Leningrad and landed in Petrograd when they voted to undo the name change.)

The Odyssey is a flavor of book four and five. You’ve got about six months to digest both books (I recommend the Fagles translation of the Iliad and the Fitzgerald Odyssey, by the way. Those were the ones I carried.)

Past that, cackling, bouncing, and writing. Probably in that order. Having WAY too much fun for my own good, but that just means I’m on projects I really enjoy and plan to get big and crazy with.

Y’all are hopefully along for the ride at this point. If not, I might have to take hostages. Heh.

Have a lovely Monday, even though it won’t be as good as mine.

Going to Grandma’s Sale

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.

[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.]

Okay, slightly bouncy. Rainy season is upon us.

WHAT? I moved to Seattle for the rain. Gonna be a slightly wetter and warmer winter, if El Nino is correct. That’s the kind of gray days I like.

Finished Heather #2 last week. And a short story about Wardog Charlie that you’ll see in a future issue of Boundary Shock Quarterly. I’m about a year ahead on those on purpose. And trying to push more out.

Last couple of days have been more Reilly. #15 of the Scattered Tribes. Just looked and I’m at about 75k words on that one. And MAYBE halfway for book one. Gonna be HUGE. Having fun.

Out of nowhere, the ancient roleplaying game Villains and Vigilantes came up on my radar over the weekend. Used to play with several groups in the late 80s, then early 90s. Not sure I’ve played in 30 years, looking back, but that’s me moving from LA to Wichita briefly to Seattle.

A 3^rd Edition came out in 2017, after Jack and Jeff got the rights back following a major lawsuit in 2010-13. Ordered a paperback edition that will be here in a week. Then dug out my old rules from 1982 and my notebook of characters from those days.

On the one hand, looking for some players in the South Seattle area to get a game going, because my main group INSISTS on fantasy. (Yawn.) On the other, I reread some of Gunderson and realized that I have four more stories totally 46k, so Volume Two at some point soonish. And some superhero stories in a slightly spun-off world that starts in 1920 and will culminate in something huge, ugly, and a lot of fun around 2000CE. Need to write more stories in the middle. More craziness. More fun.

That’s where V&V comes in. I have the Modern Gods world, but it’s off on its own and won’t intersect this one except for some weird multiverse/Amalgam crossover at some point. And I have a lot of names and themes for heroes and villains, but never really built out anybody except Eclipse and Bellerophon. Obviously, Captain Sapphire needs some, as well as a bunch of other folks. Better, I have 80 years into which to set prep stories, knowing that Gunderson will anchor a set of them in 1955. Because Gunderson.

So there will be some more spandex at some point. Just gotta, and need to do various things as palate cleansers and mind refreshers. Heather is Dark. Holden is sarcastic and mean. Reilly is young. Uly and Dan have a ‘Greater Mission.’ Etc. I need to play from time to time, and superhero generally falls under a subheading of Contemporary Fantasy, regardless of the style.

Past that, I have a spin-off from Marrakesh to write at some point. Only a few folks have read #5/Crossroads to understand what’s up with Maddox Nevin. The rest of you have never met the man. It will be fun. It will be an adventure.

Sixth Marrakesh at some point. First Survey Corps. Fifth Corsac Fox. Etc.

The fun never ends, and I’m going to throw in some more four-color heroes with lantern jaws, strong rights, and a good catchphrase.

Hope your Monday is even remotely as fun as mine is.

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.

[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.]

I think I have mentioned that I messed up my right shoulder. Went to a professional sports therapy masseuse that the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ sees weekly and she took a look. Good news, I didn’t tear anything. According to Suzy, knots on top of knots, from elbow to lats.

She worked on me for an hour. I’ll go back in two weeks and have her do it again, after everything has a chance to loosen up and start getting back to normal.

Took a while to get here. Will take time to heal. But I know that. And am no longer too stubborn for my own good on some things. (you there, stop laughing.)

Mostly took last week and spent some time recovering emotionally from the summer. Some of you know the details. I thought I’d be in better shape by Oct 1, but we’re likely to be most of the autumn, and I just have to be okay with that.

Still got a lot of good things going on. Went for BBQ Friday night with the Babe and the Piper. The folks we met had won the ribs portion of the recent “BBQ, Beer, and Brats” event in Enumclaw. Those ribs were amazing. The brisket was damned good. The Pulled Pork pretty good.

Might go see them again this Friday, as they’ll be back at Headworks Brewing and Pursuit Distillery (same parking lot).

After meat, we pub-crawled. Drank more than I usually do (which is generally one), but we hit three bars. It was good.

Took the weekend off. Recovered. Let the brain kind of ferment and settle.

On the writing front, the second Heather Lau novel crossed 40k this morning. Target is about 70k, give or take, on the way to four or maybe five novels.

Working with someone to be deeply tuckerized as a cat-people species in the next Corsac Fox book. I plan to start #5 in about a month, with various short stuff I need to complete first. Plus setting up the website to start selling my music directly, where I actually earn more than three cents per sale, which is about what I get. (and ONE SALE is better than three months of streaming. If you have music you like to stream, do the artist a favor and buy it so they can maybe make enough money to continue.)

Had another conversation last week with someone who suggested that I should do an “As Read By The Author, with all the profanities included” version of some of my short stuff. Not professional sound engineering. Me, in a quiet room, reading it in one take and then selling those on the website as well.

That someone you folks might be interested in hearing? Some will be things that have never been available for sale, but I plan to start out with The Mirror and The Desert Ring, just to see how hard the process might be. Not like I don’t have the hardware and software to do this.

Also need to record my vocals for Skye. Been lazy, but English Paul needs those in order to do his production work. Also working on cover art for it.

Little things. That’s kind of all I managed this weekend. A bunch of little things, all moved one space to the left. Eventually, they’ll add up, but you don’t always see that at the time.

Still, I’m making progress. What are you folks doing to keep a smile on your face?

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.

[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 this morning and took Fabulous Publisher Babe™ into town for breakfast. And errands first thing. Raining and still recovering from whatever I did to injure my shoulder. It only hurts when I try to lift something heavy with an outward motion, like a bird flapping. And only some of the time.

I’ll get a spot about 2cm on a side, where someone is driving a 30-penny nail into the joint. Someone suggested that my shoulder is slightly out of joint, and suggested some changes.

Step one was to buy an external monitor for my laptop, and put it on a shelf so that instead of looking down at the table when I type (like the last 15 years) I am leaned slightly back and looking straight across.

Upper back and shoulder blades hurt today, so probably a good idea. Nothing like teaching yourself an entirely new way to stand.

Past that, I took the entire weekend kinda off. As in, didn’t turn on my computer except to configure the monitor. No social media. No nothing, except what I could handle via my phone.

Kung Fu for several hours Saturday morning. Then a shower and up north to watch Bubba Ho-tep with a group of friends that do a monthly movie and themed meal event.

Long day out. Then as we’re close to home, a good friend calls and is having a really bad day, so I dropped the Babe off and kept driving south to meet him for an unplanned dinner in Enumclaw.

Except that I didn’t realize that “Witch’s Night Out” was going on, so 16-50 year old witches everywhere. All the restaurants and bars were basically packed, which is a good thing for the town but lousy when I need some quiet to get him back on an even keel.

Eventually, we ate and drank, then walked around the various stalls selling crap, before I headed home. Slept on the couch, because utterly wound up, ate crap, and exhausted, so I needed to be upright. Painful way to sleep, but it let my wife actually sleep, and I knew ahead of time that Sunday would suck.

Brainless. But able to take some more of Pastor Mike’s books to a friend of his and invite the guy to maybe play with my group sometime if he’s interested. Mike had tried to get me with that group, but my Sunday afternoons tend to be the only recovery time I have, so I couldn’t add ONE MORE THING and stay sane.

Then I went by and got more stuff from his youngest daughter to sort out for recycling. And give her money from the most recent batch. My job is helping that household unpack from all the crap they had accumulated. (Mike was a pack rat in many ways. Gonna take a lot of trips, but needs doing and I’m about the only person in a position to do it right now. More emotional work, but I’ll survive.)

On the writing side, the second Heather Lau book is underway. #1 was “Warlord of Yaumgan.” #2 is tentatively called “Ground Control” for now. Already setting up 3 and 4. Probably run about 6 by the time it’s done.

At that point (Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise), I think I am done with the Republic of Aquitaine books as you would understand them. One of the main characters in Heather is the granddaughter of Tomas Provt. Veronika. I’m kinda interested in who she will be when she’s forty (23-25 now) and what Casey and Vo’s kids will be line grown up.

Got notes. And all the things Denis Jež has warned everybody about for a long time. (Hint: Auberon opens June 26, 392 and Heather #2 opens January 11, 417. Lot of time has passed.)

And, one of these days, I still want to write about Suvi and John Pierre Orfèvre, which will take place some 1500 years after Jessica dies.

Not like I’m going to run out of story. Plus, with the exception of Jessica (her story is complete), I’ll listen if enough people demand more stories about other characters, beyond what you’ve got coming.

And Monday. Got several other novels to write yet this year. Corsac Fox 5. Science Officer 14. Some thriller stuff for next summer. The usual.

What are you up to this week?

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.