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

Twinged my back yesterday, so was in a lot of pain and took stuff. Managed a soft dojo class last night, but skipped the ground work, because that was one thing too many, and I had barely enough spoons to make it home and collapse.

And finished off a (DND) campaign yesterday. Not DND. Not Shadowdark. Home-brewed variant that harks back to Old School Rules (1^st edition DND and AdnD).

All well and good, but I’m taking over as GM in a couple of weeks (break for vacations) so I dug out an OLD copy of Gamma World. Post-apocalyptic scavenging, but I am mixing in a magical apocalypse, future (lost) tech, dragons, and ray guns (if you get really lucky on a dice roll). DnD was always about a better world that fell into darkness at some point (why else lost treasures in ruined keeps?) so it was natural.

Worse, been talking writing with Buchman and had a really strong idea for a cyberpunk fantasy world. And woke up Sunday with no open project, having finished Emmett #2 (of three initially planned, but…) so I sat down and just let backbrain vomit all over the page.

Totally into darkness, starting with a young woman librarian whose job was to narrate us into the world. Having fun, having written one short and started a second. At one point, three-quarters through that first story, I literally hit the “stop here and go invent a magic system” point so that’s what I did for the rest of the evening. Got one. Nice and messy, with social and economic ramifications. Then I needed to come up with new terms for things, because Neuromancer and Shadowrun, while both utterly lovely, are a little too stale for me. Needs originality.

It’s like reading a space opera set in a distant future, and everyone still uses the US Navy ranks from the last part of the 20^th Century. Note, there were a lot of older ranks and systems that didn’t survive WW2, and constant change. And there exist other countries who had done other things.

Those of you who read my military space opera might have noticed that I experiment with things. Next spring, you’ll meet Harri when he gets blackmailed into commanding a ship with the rank of Warden. And he numbers his Steadholders from First down, depending on how many he has.

So, new cyberware descriptions. And a new magic system. Two of them actually, but I’m still working out some of the details in greater depth. And exploring the shorts to set up some larger piece that will be a series of some sort. Not stopping the SF, but writer brain wants to play (obviously) with magic in a contemporary setting. And space opera future, so this is just the next leg of a stool to throw in more cyberpunk.

Hopefully, y’all keep coming along for the ride.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

Got a small part of the elk herd in the yard today, including at least one two-year-old buck (tall spike horns with a single branching into two points on each side) and a calf born this last spring. About a dozen head, mowing the yard.

Got to listen to the owl last night. She sits up in a tall evergreen right by the driveway and announces her general pique at the universe on nice nights. Or that she’s horny. I don’t speak owl and rarely see her during the day except when she’d pouncing on snakes to feed younglings in the spring.

Living room is full of boxes.

Background: The Fabulous Publisher Babe™ (and me, but I’m the mascot these days) host the Rainier Writers group. Due to circumstances, the name, date, and location have changed, so we’ve moved First Tuesday to First Wednesday and meet at the library these days, but it’s a group of mostly young writers learning what they need to know about Indie.

Last fall, I challenged them all to write for an anthology. Seasonal for Winter, but not Christmas. I would edit it. For most of them, their first ever professional publication, so they had to learn about websites, emails, pen names, and all those other things that go with it.

Eventually, we settled on A Sprinkling of Holiday Magic as the title and it is now available everywhere. More importantly, many of the folks involved either do in-person sales events or want to start, so the group ordered 175 copies. That came out to nine boxes of 20 each. The Babe, of course, is in Portland this week, so I got to go pick them up at the post office yesterday. And tomorrow, I’ll go get all of her copies of How To Wake a Sleeping Princess (Green for less spicy, there is also a Red cover edition.)

Then I get to reload the car with Holiday Magic to deliver those to the group Wednesday. Gonna get my workout this week lifting things.

Finished writing Harri 4 last week. It went dark, but that was by design, as I was in a dark and foul mood and needed something to go with it. As previously noted, goal is dropping all of these spring and now summer next year. All run around 22-24k, so novellas that run hard and fast and don’t sidequest anywhere. Still working on other projects, but my humor has been a bit shitty lately and I figure that it’s easier to just run with it than fight, so put aside bright and cheery things to go slaughter shit (on paper, of course).

Back to Emmett this week. Second book about a professional burglar and his Marxist goat partner, facing off against mobster wizards and greek gods.

As one does.

Will generate a third Belle at some point, so I can drop those as well. Then I don’t know. Don’t have to know. Have to write. Don’t know how to not write at this point.

Dunno what other things to cover, so will wrap this and get back to whatever the hell it was I was doing.

Y’all enjoy October and don’t get sacrificed by any witch covens, ya hear?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

Crazy week.

Thursday, Sensei and I spent the morning doing knife disarm experiments. Meaning, one person with training knife, other person not getting stabbed, then taking it away from them. With and without extreme violence, because if you come at me with a lethal weapon, you’ve nominated yourself for a morgue slab.

Also, working timing counts, counting backwards from three. Meaning: Block, Clear, Lock, with additional strikes thrown in. There are also counts of Two, One, Zero, and Negative One, depending on the situation and the circumstances. Ya gotta come to class to learn those, though, as they are Brown Belt-level things we don’t talk about with the White or Green Belts.

That was Thursday. Not a lot of writing.

Friday, got up and got gone kinda early, driving out to Spokane. Roughly 4.5 hours with a gas break and a few potty breaks along the way. Got checked in, settled, then had dinner with two of the step-daughters, one in town from Florida visiting her sister.

Not a lot of writing.

Saturday, I was with the Fabulous Publisher Babe™ at a live sales event at Page 42 Books (northeast of downtown at Foothill and Crestline. Nice place, but nothing I could find to buy. And a I looked.)

The store is small. What they have is a lot behind the building that is covered with gravel and they had 24 vendors set up. Mostly selling books, but a few with crafts and one craft soda lady.

We did not go in with high expectations. After all, northeast Spokane in a weird neighborhood. Small shop. Whatever.

Turned out to possibly be her best ever one-day event so far. Folks came to buy books. Brought bags with them. Even bought my books. She usually has a few of mine with her lot, mostly to represent range.

That’s the secret. Most authors only write in one, narrow sub-genre. If a potential buyer isn’t into that one thing, they keep walking without even making eye contact. I ask, “What do you read?”

“ A little of everything,” is the usual response.

“I got a little of everything here,” and point.

Her usual set-up is Cozy Fantasy, Cozy Paranormal Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, and Quirky SF, to which she adds my Space Opera and Action-Thriller and suddenly I have called their bluff.

Better, I sold to several people on the strength of “Killing Nazis” with both Red Branch and Air Pirates of Cyrenaica. In Spokane, WA, which is among the most conservative areas in the state. (Gonzaga University was about ten blocks away, and while they turn out TOP NOTCH scholars, those same kids tend to be fairly right wing. Or did, when that had different meanings to INTENSE Jesuits. You will get an amazing education from Jesuits. If you survive it.)

Event ran Noon until Five. Tore things down quickly and IMMEDIATELY turned around and drove back to Seattle. Got home around 1030, stopping for a quick burger and a Coke so I had enough caffeine to get home because I drove that whole stretch while she recovered from her day.

Not a lot of writing.

Sunday, she got up and went to the Fairgrounds to be a judge at a Pacific Northwest Barbecue cooking competition. I stayed home and househusbanded. Laundry. Dishes. Cleaning. Unload her truck because she took my car instead.

Got some writing done, but not as much as I would have liked. Still recovering from a breezy and dry day outside and being extremely dehydrated.

Monday, changed my schedule. Not sure what the permanent structure is, but stayed in and wrote instead of breakfast and coffee in town. Still met the boys for game and had a usual afternoon, but changing things up permanently.

If you ever draw a hard line in the sand with me, expect me to fill it with silver and carve runes into it. Just saying.

Now it’s Tuesday, and drizzly. That’s good. I’m about halfway through Harri 4. And greatly expanding my world-building for this universe, such that I might have to explore a whole bunch more books. These are all novellas around 24k, so fast to write, fast to read, and capable of covering a lot of ground, because there is no time for sidequests. If anything, every book is its own sidequest in Harri’s bigger adventures.

Look for them starting in April.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

Happy first day of fall, give or take.

Frantic, frenetic, and frankly ugly start of the week last week, but things got better. Fabulous Publisher Babe™ and I drove to Ellensburg, WA on Thursday as a day trip. She’s researching her next book and setting it there, so we needed to go absorb the ambiance of things. And have lunch. At a place selling a cookie.

Take a sugar cookie. Add chocolate frosting. Stick baby marshmallows to that. Wrap it up for sale, with the added instructions to sprinkle brown sugar on top and hit it with the torch to melt everything into a s’more.

Did.

Yummed.

And had lunch with some friends on Saturday.

MOST of the drama from last week has abated some. Mostly. For now. Expecting shit to explode at some point and I might just have to get fucking medieval on folks when they decide they can get up in my face about it.

Didn’t start it. Didn’t ask for it. Didn’t want it.

Might end it. Brutally. Y’all been warned.

Have several writing projects going at once, but realized that they were tending to be too close to one another, so I put several of them aside (so I could, of course, start others). Wrote a fourth Red Branch short story. These are generally set in the winter of 1951-52 and will fall after Book 6, which is at the copy editor today and scheduled for the spring.

Originally, a buddy was going to do a group kind of kickstarter, and wanted each author to offer short fiction in universe. The project fell through, but the idea stuck, so I wrote a couple. Yesterday, writer-brain realized that the four I have (and one more planned at least) were tending to fill the same slot as Science Officer #9, The Bryce Connection, bridging the end of Season One (you’ll understand when you read the end of Iron Curtain next year) and setting up Season Two. The story I just finished up this morning before this was entirely Alois Voss and the Werewolf Legion and how they will fit into things.

This story got inspired by a modeling group I follow on social media. Guy in Japan posted a Heinkel P-1079A he had assembled and painted. He also did an AI image of the model flying against a nightscape. I asked and received permission to use his original model image for a cover. Cleaned it up. Merged it by hand because the Child Pornography machine is for losers, and made a cover that probably is the basis for what will be the full collection when I drop all of them. As noted, have four. Planning at least one more. No idea what other evil ideas might crop up between now and then, but I’m currently sitting on about 22k words. And my aviation library continues to get weird because I have the opportunity to do the research and the internet to find weird old books, like a book from the 1980s on designing fighter jets. (Seriously. Modern Combat Aircraft Design by Klaus Huenecke, copyright 1987 on the English translation.)

Past that, autumn is upon us. I’m about 6 weeks from testing for black belt, so that’s a weird amount of emotional stress. Physical and mental are fine. It’s the prep work. But it keeps me in shape when most guys are starting that long (or short) slide into irrelevance and death, and I got too much stuff to do first. Plus, if I want to still be writing crazy shit in my 90s, that’s the result of choices I make today. Healthy eating. Good exercise. Good attitude. Creativity.

What are you doing to defeat death’s approach?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

Tuesday.

Yeah.

Had an amazingly shitty week yesterday. Not looking forward to today. Might end up biting someone. Or lots of someones. Most of them got it coming.

Where to start?

Random. Buddy dumped a travel mug of cold coffee in my lap. Didn’t even make the top ten yesterday, but I kinda gotta leave most of them off the page because revenge is a dish best served over ice cream, and I really don’t want a couple of them to see it coming.

Apparently, I’ve been too nice to folks lately and they’ve decided to take advantage of looser boundaries on behavior. Expect some snap back. And maybe a few whomps upside heads.

Won’t say I’m going hunting, because they haven’t gone that far. Will say that running is probably just the best idea.

Nuff said.

Finished Belle #2. Like #1, a little darker than what I usually write. Like, way dark here. Darker than 1. Might be working some of my rage out on paper. Not enough, but some.

Also wrote something entirely into darkness last week that both surprised and pleased me. Action-thriller, with most of the romantic beats in place. Came in just under 17k and I got one of the elders I respect to do a first read on it. He came back with two fixes, neither of them large, that probably turn it into something amazing.

Another person hearing me talk about it made a suggestion that probably turns it into either a five-book series of action novels or a doorstop. Might even split the difference and do a trilogy. Shit only knows. If you like something that is as much about revenge on bad men as it is about romance, give a yell and I’ll let you First Reader it one I make those two fixes.

Started Emmett #2 (of 3). Modern Urban Fantasy with a cat burglar and an awakened Marxist goat. Because. Just getting into it now, but it’s lighter. Hopefully, I can shift lighter, though I might just have to lean into dark and angry today and start some other project.

I normally lean into noble bright in my writing. If I’m asking you to spend hours with these characters, you shouldn’t have to wade through things without a reward. They call it the Beer test, as in, would you invite this character into your living room to have a beer and ask them about the book. Even villains can pass that test, because they have interesting things to say.

Slogging through constant negativity isn’t for me. Probably isn’t for you, either.

When I go dark, there is a reason. And usually a happy-enough ending as a reward.

Maybe I should just start that Sutton trilogy and call it good. She’s angry, but has extremely valid reasons. Sees herself as Nemesis, the greek who handled punishments for a variety of crimes. And buddy, there are a lot of folks out there who think they have immunity.

Impunity.

Freedom, without costs or consequences.

A great many of them need to be taken down the hard way, simply because they have forgotten the unwritten rules. Maybe we’ll even write those rules down, possibly using a bit of force and pain.

But I’m in a really sour mood today and generally staying away from people so I don’t end up biting much.

Much.

And it’s Tuesday. Lukyan warned you.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

20260908

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

Making bread. Got first rise in the oven with the light on and the heat off. Made meatloaf over the weekend and gonna make sandwiches, but almost out of bread. Gotta fix that, ya know.

Autumn has arrived. And possibly the fall, but that’s a conversation for philosophers. (Kids, don’t try this stunt at home, I am a trained (and formerly professional) philosopher.)

Belle #2 is close to done. Probably this week. Thank you to everyone who took a flyer on #1 and gave me good comments. I like to bribe folks occasionally, because it’s not like I only have ONE book I could give away. Asked one guy what to bribe him with and he was up to Corsac 2, so 3 arrived in his inbox this morning.

Things like that make me smile.

Have Harri 1-3 done and ideas for a #4 I am working on. Might write that soon. Might not. Probably should get my shit somewhat together, but I also have short fiction homework so that might be the next couple of weeks.

I am also “writing into darkness” on a thing that is mixing action-thrill with romantic elements. No clue where the story is going, so much as exploring one woman’s inner life as she tries to figure out how to explain to the new boyfriend that she kills people for a living. Not a romance, because I’m not following tropes and structure beats so much as leaning into thriller and character development.

If any of you read romantic action (loosely defined, obvs) and want to first read it, I’d appreciate commentary. No idea what to do with it, but the Muse would not be denied, and I’m about 15k into what is likely 20k when complete. Probably just pub and call it good, unless the ending decides to set up a series or something silly. I have no clue, because exploring discovery writing.

Past that, I gotta read Corsac 8 and prep for a kickstarter in the spring, along with dropping next summer. Same with Emmett and the Goat, but that’s rereading so I can write #2. Might write that next, because silly fun. And silly fun is necessary.

Oh, and before I forget, Part One: I will be at Superstars in February. https://www.superstarswriting.com/ I’m probably back and left side in that image, in the blurry bits. Writers looking for your tribe, you should definitely look at this one. Most such conferences I know tend to be a bit soulless and business-focused. I was utterly ambushed by kindness last year, as everyone was friendly, nice, and wanted to chat about all sorts of cool stuff.

On, and before I forget, Part Two: Sensei set a date. I’ll be demonstrating/testing for black belt in November. More details as we get closer, but he doesn’t set a date until the student is ready, so I think I have sufficiently impressed him. Got other senseis to impress, but that’s the point of testing.

This is the first school I’ve done with tests, but that is a very Japanese thing. Chinese/Vietnamese schools tend to just run along. The instructor will watch you, and then award new rank when they feel you have reached a new level. That’s always been my experience, so this is new, but not unwelcome.

And black just means that I understand the curriculum, and am now prepared to start digging in deep and really learning, because there is a lifetime worth of stuff in there, if you commit to it.

But that describes most things.

What are you committed to?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

Week’s a little inside out, so instead of D&D game on Monday, it happened today. Just got home to the reminder that it’s Tuesday. Also just saw that one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th Century died. Dolly Parton was 80 and when you read the obit, they mention all the things she accomplished. And it’s a lot.

Her and Chuck Tingle have generally set the bar on how a famous creative should behave in public. She was always quiet and gracious, and let her money make the world a better place. Dr. Tingle always has something uplifting to say.

Lessons for people.

Writing: Belle #2 is begun. Working my way into an opening trilogy, but it will be an ongoing series, I think. Dunno. Don’t have to know. Need three of them in order to publish, because fans expect three books in a series before they’ll touch it. Can’t say I blame them, either.

Also writing some Mick on the side, for those of you on the list. Really exploring some of the darker elements of sci fi with him and Andi. Not sure where it goes.

Also started an assassin story. And literally picked a name and started running. Originally, it looked like a flash piece right around 2,000 words, but then writer brain helpfully dropped a romantic subplot on me so it’s going longer. Since I’m planning to explore more rom-com SF at some point (Albert and Jane), it’s worth writing short pieces. Especially if I can mix Thriller and Romance (romantic, basically, with a lot of energy and tension at cross purposes.) If anybody is into that sort of thing, give a yell and you can do a first read pass on it when I get done. Doesn’t FEEL like a novel, but might run into novella land. I am literally writing this one into darkness, stopping occasionally to figure out what happens next, rather than even having an end point in mind.

Romantic shapes things. Action-Thriller shapes things. Figure I can intersect those two and it will work out well enough. The joy of what I do is that I can write something and publish it and if it doesn’t resonate, I keep going. It’s not like I am dedicating an entire year to one project that makes or breaks my career.

Honestly, the worst thing that might happen is that it explodes into the cultural zeitgeist (Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, etc.) and suddenly the world demands that I write a lot more into that weird niche category. At the speed I write, that’s not mind-breaking. Just means less of other things.

And if there is that much money on the table, I’m willing to whore myself out. We all cash that paycheck, after all.

So I never publish anything that I wouldn’t be happy expanding into more. Same goes for all the erotica, as I have started pulling that stuff out of the trunk and publishing it (ask if you don’t know that penname. Not a secret, so much as a solid divide between him and Blaze so folks don’t get confused and angry when they run into adults consentually adulting at one another enthusiastically.)

Past that, finishing up both Ollie and Heather over the next six weeks. Lovely series. Had lots of fun with them. But I finished them a while ago and am kinda ready for them to be off my radar for a while. More Maddox and Doctor Kay, then the Kohahu Trilogy (Daughter of the Shogun), followed by Harri the Merchant. Planning a kickstarter in the spring for Corsac Fox 8, then dropping it in July of next year, give or take. Belle or Scattered Tribes after that, depending.

With that, y’all enjoy your Tuesday and I’m looking forward to September turning things a little more normalish around here.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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

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

The system no longer pings at 8am, so it’s 1030 and I have written a lot of words already. Scattered Tribes 4 (Holden and the gang) is at 72k. Probably 78k give or take. Need to wrap up some things and need space to do that.

Last couple of days have been a little sour, so in addition to doing laundry and dishes this morning, I made cinnamon rolls. Third time with this recipe, trying to figure out why previous iterations were good, but not great. And painful to make, requiring a lot of fuss in the middle to freelance things.

Think I got it, finally. And, because, I laminated the dough this time, though not with butter or spice. Just rolled it out and triple folded it inward to shape it and layer things when it bakes. Doing a third rise in the pan, and that’s working, so the stall issue had been addressed nicely. Hope they work out. Also gonna glaze these instead of the butter/brown sugar/molasses thing my MIL’s original recipe called for. But that’s me, and I don’t have the same taste of childhood as the Fabulous Publisher Babe™.

Working on the side on several Red Branch Shorts for future collection. Finished #3 yesterday. Gonna work on the cookbook next, so I have a novel-length something to do as a kickstarter add-on next spring. Or whenever. Whatever. Something.

Also got other projects in various stages of half-done, like Derlyth 4, which needs finishing. Soon as I finish Scattered Tribes 4, moving on to Belle 2, I think. Get some of that stuff done and see how quickly I can nail down having my 2027 publishing in the can. Currently, I could stop writing and fill 2028, I think, but that’s bits and pieces and series I need to finish/extend so that I can publish book ones I have on the can.

And starting to get back to dropping multiple things a month, but that’s getting all the short fiction collected up. Eva and Nik in August. Laima and Brother Jon coming this fall. (You preordered?)

August. Doldrums, but not the depression I’ve had to deal with in previous years. Mostly just too much to do and a little overwhelmed, but too stubborn to quit. Too mean to die, as the old saying goes. It’s gotten me this far.

What’s a Russian/Ukrainian/Soviet recipe you inherited from a grandma that I should be including in the official Red Branch cookbook?

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

—————————-

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

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