One Month

It's January 31st, and I've had a successful month, I would say. A blog post every day (albeit a couple of them after midnight, but they still count), for a total of 31. Different topics, of course, but I'm trying to stick to mainly writing here, with some farm stuff as well. And the occasional rambling topic, because that's part of the fun of blogging.

For writing, it's been the most productive month I've had in quite a while. A book published, and the sequel begun. Another book published, and the sequel almost ready to go already. All in all, that's a darn good start to 2023.

As for farm stuff, it's January on PEI; not much farming going on. Just keeping the birds and bunnies fed on a daily basis, and planning out what we're going to do in the spring with the gardens. So, that's in sort of a holding pattern right now. But February will get busy as we ramp up for the early planting.

What else is going on? Not a lot, frankly. Dannielle is getting her business underway to bring extra money in, and Tanner is excited about starting his first group D&D game ever. I think it will be a lot of fun, for him and the other kids. But we shall see how it goes.

So, a short post tonight to keep things going, and a very satisfying conclusion to January. I hope February will be just as good.

Short Stories vs. Novels

Some people love reading short stories. Some people love writing them. Some people prefer novels; I fall into the latter category.

The online courses I take from Dean Wesley Smith all include a short story submission; you send it, he reads it and gives you feedback. I've sent a few in, but not many. It's just a tough style and structure for me to make work. Some people are fantastic at it, and to those people, I tip my hat. But I like to let my stories breathe a bit. That's not to say I've never written any short stories; obviously, I have. There's a whole anthology of them, A Universe of Possibilities, that I wrote and published. But it's definitely not my preferred style.

The thing about short stories is that you really have to get right to the meat of the story; there's no room for an appetizer, so to speak. There can't be more than a few characters, there's no room for anything but the most basic character development, and things get to the climax almost before there's been time to set anything up.

Now, I'm sure that there are short story writers who will disagree with me, and that's fine; if we all liked the same thing, we'd all eat spaghetti. I know there are people who write tremendous short stories; I just prefer the longer format myself.

Then, of course, there's the middle-road, the novella or novelette. By today's standards of door-stopping megabooks, these are practically short stories. They're usually around 20-40,000 words, which gives them a lot more room to work in characters, development, subplots, etc. than your typical short story. On the other hand, they don't drag on in endless descriptions of scenery, philosophical discussions, or technobabble pseudo-scientific backstory. They get to the point, they just take a bit longer to get there. My Cameron Vail mysteries, such as Final Exam, fall into that category.

But for me, I love the longer format of a novel. The best example of it that I've written would be Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga. It's intended to be the beginning of an ongoing series, but if you ignore the last page of the epilogue, it can stand alone. Now, I didn't fill it with scenery, philosophy or technobabble; I put a lot of action in there, in the spirit of the old pulps. But it's a story that takes time to tell. It wasn't going to fit in a short format, or even a novella. It needed to be big. And it is, at 75,000 words. That's actually shorter than I expected, but as I said, I didn't pad it out with extra weight. It is what it needs to be.

So, what type of story do you prefer? Short, medium, or long? Let me know in the comments. And if you can't decide, check out the books I've linked above to help you make up your mind.

Living in the Twilight Zone

For the past fifteen years, my wife has been an adamant opponent of role-playing games, in particular Dungeons & Dragons. While she never fully articulated the reasons for her opposition, I think it boils down to two. One, it's not meant to be a solo activity, and I admit that I did spend a lot of time when I was younger playing solo D&D. Two, and this is the main one, my wife sees it as a 'nerd' thing. She grew up around the same time I did, when D&D was most definitely NOT the cool thing. On the high school social scale back in the 1980s and early 90s, RPG players ranked below the Glee Club.

And then, she married a writer of fantasy fiction and raised a son who grew up loving fantasy books and movies, especially Harry Potter, which he is really into right now. And she found out, to her horror and confusion, that there is a homeschooling gamers group here on the Island.

And so, after a decade and a half, my wife has finally relented and will allow Tanner and I to play D&D, as long as it's not just the two of us. Which I'm fine with. I'll get to be a DM for the first time in years, I'll get to play with my son, and he's going to have some friends to play with as well. He's already got a couple of friends who want to play, and we'll be having our first game this coming weekend.

But here's the best part: My wife asked how many people should be playing, and when I told her at least four or five players plus myself, she actually advertised the game on the homeschooling group. My wife is actively looking for players for us. Mind. Blown.

So, the question becomes, what version of the game? After all, there have been so many of them. Original D&D, BECMI, five editions of AD&D, countless clones built on the OGL...what to do?

Well, I don't play the newer versions, and there's no way in hell we're going to be buying any new materials. I have plenty of stuff here. I've got almost a full collection of the BECMI line (that's Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortals for the uninitiated), but I've also got the 1E project I've been working on which follows the history of the game and its development. I'd really, really like to do that, especially since it's set in the world of Meterra. Either one will be easy for the players to learn, with character creation taking far less time than it does in the newer versions. Fifteen to twenty minutes, and we'll be ready to go.

I've got a week to decide, but my gut is telling me to go with Meterra and the 1E project. It will be a good introduction for the players, and there's a natural narrative that I developed as I went through the early stages of the project to explain the various changes that happen in the game world. Not to mention, it's a bite-sized chunk instead of a whole world, so it will be easier to get into it.

Decisions, decisions.

To get an idea of what the world of Meterra looks like, check out the first two books in the series: Arrival, and The Devil's Playground.

Working on Book Two...

I'm reading through the second book, or rather the second half of the whole book of Kane, and I'm on chapter 40. I'm running into the part of the book where I had skipped ahead because I didn't know how to write out a certain section and I wanted to keep moving. But then I went back and filled in the missing section, so now I need to review the last few chapters to make sure they fit with what I wrote; it wouldn't do to have two characters meet for the first time when they actually met two chapters earlier. That would be awkward.

I worked on this book back when I was doing a lot of writing in 2020. I actually got this far into the whole book (about eighty chapters or so at the time) by March or April. But I wasn't able to afford a cover artist at the time, and I really wanted to get a professional cover. That will have to wait for now, but I was tired of waiting to get the actual book out. And since I've gotten some very nice compliments on the cover art for Crimson Moon, I saw no reason not to go with that artwork on the book and get it published. It was the same with Apprentice, the Shadowmage book, although the cover art for that is a bit less on-point than I might like.

So, what to do for the next book? I'll need another cover, obviously, and I haven't started looking for it just yet. I hope I get lucky like I did for the first book. If not...well, I'll come up with something.

When I was deciding how to publish the entirety of the story, I debated whether I should cut the book in two or three parts. In the end, I went with two, since the end of Part IV was a natural break in the story. I mean, there are several natural breaks; the first book does cover about forty years, after all, and there are very long skips in time in there. I mean, I could have broken this up into five or six smaller books if I really wanted to, but that seemed excessive.

The thing about writing a book in multiple parts like this is that there are several climactic sequences, not just one big one at the end. There are seven parts to this book, and each one has its climax, followed by a denouement, and possibly an interlude before moving on to the next part. But the whole story is so connected that splitting it up would have taken away from the story's impact.

My thought right now is to get the second book done and published by the end of February (an easy goal to achieve, assuming I can get cover art that fits), and then do a hardcover of the whole story as one book. After all, a hardcover is expected to be thick and full these days.

In the meantime, though, I still have to finish the second book, and there's already one out there to be read. Check it out, and by the time you're done reading it, the next book should be ready to go.

Hardcovers Too?

As I was getting the final work done on getting Crimson Moon up on Amazon, I noticed that Amazon is beta-testing a hardcover option. I haven't thought of doing my books in hardcover as of yet, partly because the option wasn't there yet, and partly because I'm not exactly making the best-seller lists at this point.

Still, now that I know it's an option, I'm going to look into it a bit more closely. I mean, it's great to have my books in paperback, but hardcover? Long-lasting, looks great on a bookshelf...yeah, I could go for that.

Still, before I worry about hardcovers, I'm going to start getting more of my other books into paperback format. I'm going to get Apprentice into that format as well this weekend, and I'm going to see about getting at least one Cameron Vail book into paperback as well.

The issue for me is still cover art; I got lucky with Crimson Moon, but I can't count on finding that kind of artwork for free on the internet on a regular basis. I need to figure out a way to commission the art I need. I would like to use Fiverr again, but you have to be careful with that; I tried to go cheap on one cover, and was that ever a mistake. I'm glad I got greyghost to do the art for three of my books; he did a great job.

And, of course, I have ten more books to get finished this year. So, I'd better get back to work. While you wait for something else, check out my latest release, Crimson Moon, the First Book of Kane, available now in ebook and paperback format.

Crimson Moon: The First Book of Kane

And it's here!

And, as a bonus, it's available in paperback, as well! Same day, too. I was up until two in the morning last night, but...totally worth it.

I mean...what else is there to say? Oh, and that's two this year (yes, I'm counting Apprentice as a 2023 release). Ten to go to reach my goal.

Noble Titles

It's looking pretty good; tonight, I'll be putting the book up on Amazon. There's only one thing I still need to do, though: The book needs a good title.

I mean, when you think about it, the title is really the most important thing about the book. Why? Because it's the first thing, other than the cover art, that people will see. So, it has to be a title that will get their attention when they see it.

Some titles are short and to the point: Final Exam, In the Beginning, The Awakening. Some are longer, more drawn out: Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, A Universe of Possibilities. But either way, the title needs to give someone a reason to want to read an author they've never seen before.

So, what will I call this one? My original idea, back in the day, was simply 'The Chronicles of Kane'. But I've already got the Chronicles of Meterra and the Saga of the Shadowmage. I don't want to get in a rut. Since this is a two-book set (the whole thing would have been massive at well over five hundred pages), I'm thinking I'd like a two-punch pair of titles that go well together.

And, I think I've got it. The first book will be Crimson Moon. The second is Crystal Lilac. Yeah, I like that. That will work.

So, back to it. Time to get Crimson Moon published. I'm getting tingly feelings just thinking about it. And I want the paperback for it done as well; no sense in sticking solely to e-books. Paperbacks are more real, anyway.

Cover Art for the New Book

I have to say, I wasn't expecting to find much available for free on the internet. Okay, let me rephrase that; there's way, way too much out there for free on the internet. But I was looking for a picture that would suit the new book and be usable as both an ebook cover and a wraparound paperback cover. And, lo and behold, I did.

Not bad, eh? It isn't perfect; I'm not going to find a picture like that which includes a picture of a samurai or a ninja or something like that, but still. I like it. And, it will do until I find a suitable cover artist who can do the kind of cover I really want. And no, it won't be an anime cover. I don't do anime.

So, it's time for a final review of the book, and then I'll get it uploaded for publication. I'm planning to have both the ebook and paperback out simultaneously, or as close to it as I can get.

Getting Another Book Ready

I was hoping to get the second Shadowmage book done this month, but that's not going to happen. But I do have another book in the hopper that I will have ready before the end of January. It's fantasy, but a much different one than what I've written before.

This book dates back a long, long time. In fact, it's the first book I ever finished. It was the first book I sent to a publisher. And...it was the book that convinced me that I wasn't going to be a successful writer since I got rejected. I know, I know...I was young and foolish; it was literally half a lifetime ago. But a couple of years ago, I decided to give it another try. Unfortunately, I had lost the manuscript, and I didn't have access to a floppy disk drive to get it back from the saved copy I had.

I wasn't kidding when I said this was a long time ago. Do you even remember floppy disks? Are you old enough to know what they are?

Anyway, I didn't have the original, but I had the story in my mind. I knew it very well. So, I rewrote it from scratch. I had to change a couple of character names that I could not, for the life of me, remember in their original incarnation. But most of it was still there in my mind, so I wrote it again. Not word for word, of course. But I have learned a lot about writing over the years since then, and I think I gave the book a greater weight and maturity the second time around. And, since it was literally twenty-five years since I'd written it, it didn't feel like I was wasting my time or anything like that. It was actually fun.

So, what's the story about? As I said, it's fantasy. But it's got a very different setting. Back in the day, I was a big fan of martial arts and Asian culture, specifically Japanese. And that's what I wrote. A westerner in a far-away land, cut off from everything he knew and having to grow up in a foreign land. It was very exciting writing it the first time, and even moreso the second time. There's a different feel to the magic in this land, a magic that exacts a price from its wielder.

I'm going to release the book in two parts; it's actually seven parts altogether, but I'm splitting it into two books. I debated on making it an actual trilogy, but I'm comfortable with two. I would rather have had it as one book, to be honest, but it would be a doorstopper; it's running at about eight hundred pages. Yeah, it's big. But two parts will work well; there's a natural break after part four that works to split this into two books.

Well, I'd better get at it; there's still some work to be done, and I need to find a cover for it. In the meantime, here's a link to my first fantasy book, Arrival, which introduced the land of Meterra, which is not where the new book is situated. But it's still a fun read, so give it a try.

Generation Gaps

It's tough to be a parent sometimes. Especially when you and your kids have similar interests. Or at least, one of your kids. The oldest one and I don't have much in common except that we're both male. So, that's something, I suppose. And the youngest, being autistic, has that in common with me, although he's much further into his own world than I ever was.

But it's the middle one, Tanner, that mirrors me in a lot of ways. And yet, even our similar interests diverge in key areas. For example, we both love to read fantasy. But it's like pulling teeth to get him to read the classic fantasy books such as Howard, Leiber, or epics like Homer and Gilgamesh. I know, he's a teenager, and they like different things. I know that I loved reading books like that when I was his age, but then, I was weird. Still am, according to my wife.

We also like gaming, specifically role-playing games like Champions and D&D. He's asking some of his friends if they will join in a game with us, which should be a lot of fun. I'm going to be trying to teach them some old-school style gaming. I haven't looked at the newer editions of D&D since 2007, but from what I have heard, they can get pretty wild with the character options. Maybe it's the 'get off my lawn' old geezer in me, but if playing a dwarf or an elf isn't fantastic enough, you're pretty jaded. Fortunately, he does want to play an elf, so we'll see how it goes with his friends.

The thing is, there's just so much out there to see in fantasy fiction, but it has really become formulaic and rote. I mean, everything seems to be either a Lord of the Rings pastiche or a Harry Potter ripoff. The more 'creative' stories are basically mashups of the two big stories. And that's disappointing, because there is so much more that can be done with fantasy. I'm trying to do things a bit different in my writing, but it's tough to get traction with an audience that only knows one or two possible versions of fantasy writing.

Still, it's worth the effort, because we need to break out of the ruts that we've found ourselves in. Science fiction doesn't have to be Star Wars/Star Trek or cyberpunk. Fantasy doesn't have to be kids in a school or an epic quest to find or destroy something. And the genres don't need to be separated and walled off from each other; that's what the pulps were all about, mixing and meshing things together in wild and creative ways that were really entertaining. And yet, for the past forty or so years, no one has known about that sort of writing.

It's time to bring some of that creativity back. I'm doing my part with my newest book, Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga. Take a look, and see if it sparks some imagination in you.

Christmas Treasures

This year, I told everyone I just wanted Amazon gift cards. Why? Because books, obviously. My boss gives all her employees $150 to order on Amazon every Christmas. Weirdly, I'm the only one who actually orders books from the world's biggest bookstore. Everyone else orders other stuff. Go figure. At least she knows who ordered the books.

In addition, I got a bunch of gift cards in my stocking, so I had a great Amazon Christmas. Naturally, I ordered a bunch of fantasy books. Inspirational reading, after all. Some of the stuff I got include an H.G. Wells collection of six novels, two Oz books for Garrett, a twelve-book volume of Lord Dunsany, a short omnibus of Fritz Leiber, the Planetary series of short stories by Stanley Weinbaum, and a collection of Clark Ashton Smith short stories. I also picked up the fourth and fifth books of the Early Church Fathers series, and a couple of books for my Latin course. All in all, it was quite the haul for literary goodness. And, of course, Wells, Dunsany, Lieber, Weinbaum and Smith are all pulp writers. Well, Dunsany and Wells were published outside of the pulps first, but they were incredibly influential on the pulps, and many of their writings were reprinted in the pulps anyway.

And yes, I'm reading these books. I'm putting the Latin to good use right now, and I'm slowly making my way through the Church fathers. They are a treasure trove for any Christian reader, with insights from many different men who all held to the same set of beliefs, and many of whom were declared saints later on. Most of them, in fact.

That's something I need to put on my next list: A book of saints. Learning about them is more important than learning about rock stars and athletes. After all, we don't get to be ballplayers in the afterlife, but we might be saints. It would be a good thing to aspire to be.

Now, I just need to build the bookshelves to hold all of these treasures...

The Marvelous Land of Oz

Published in 1904, The Marvelous Land of Oz was a sequel demanded by fans across America. The first book was a smash success, and Baum had written a script for a play that toured America in 1902. It would also be adapted into several film versions even before the most well-known one in 1939. But fans wanted more.

But while they liked Dorothy, she wasn't the most popular character. As you can see in the picture above (a reproduction of the original cover art), the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman were the breakout stars of the story. Fans wanted to know more about their adventures after Dorothy left, and so Baum wrote The Marvelous Land of Oz in response.

Land of Oz is notable for introducing the Gillikin country, which is the north quarter of Oz; its color is purple. Green, blue, yellow and red were used for the Emerald City, Munchkin land in the East, the Winkies in the West, and the Quadlings of the south. Although she doesn't make an appearance in this book, the good witch from the first book, who met with the Munchkins and sent Dorothy on the path to Oz, is the Witch of the North, so this is her territory.

The protagonist of this book is a boy named Tip, who lives with Old Mombi, an unpleasant practitioner of the magical arts. Mombi isn't a witch, though, since the Good Witch of the North doesn't like competition. So she's a sorceress, a trickster, or what have you. Anyway, she's a nasty piece of work, and when Tip tries to have a bit of fun by building a pumpkin-headed man to frighten her, she uses a magic powder to bring the pumpkinhead to life. She then decides to dispose of Tip, who escapes along with the Pumpkinhead, who he names Jack. So begins another adventure in the marvelous land of Oz.

The Scarecrow, for those who remember the first book, rules the Emerald City, and the Tin Woodman is the Emperor of the Winkies. They don't appear right away, as Tip and Jack have to make their way to the Emerald City first. On the way, they find a sawhorse, which Tip brings to life using the magic powder he stole from Mombi before escaping. Eventually they get to the Emerald City, which is under siege by an army of girls armed with knitting needles. What? It's 1904; things were different then.

The Scarecrow escapes the besieging army along with Tip, Jack, and the Sawhorse, and make their way to the Western land of the Winkies to get the Woodman's help in taking back the Emerald City. More adventures ensue, and yet another new companion joins them, the Highly Magnified, Thoroughly Educated Woggle-Bug. He's a pompous sort with a love of puns, but he proves himself to be quite useful by the end of the book.

The end of the book finds the party seeking the help of Glinda, the Witch of the South, who is searching for the long-lost princess Ozma, who was stolen away by...the Wonderful Wizard himself. Turns out he might have been a humbug, but he had a bit of a ruthless streak in him. Eventually, Ozma's fate is revealed, and everything works out in the end.

I tried to avoid the big spoilers, since this book, despite being 118 years old, isn't nearly as well-known as its predecessor. Which is a shame, because this book rocks. It was my favorite Oz book growing up, and it hasn't lost that position to this day. It's the only Oz book that doesn't feature Dorothy or the Lion, and it introduces a bunch of recurring characters that will stick around for book after book.

Baum really let his imagination run wild on this book, even moreso than with the first one. And he got very creative when he was writing about Oz. The characters are well-defined, with personality quirks and distinctive speech patterns. The action scenes are vivid and well-crafted. The descriptions, while minimal, convey the sense of the fantastic that permeates the entire series.

The art in this, and all subsequent Baum-authored Oz books, is done by John O'Neill after Baum and Denslow, the original Oz artist, had a falling-out. As you can see in the images below, O'Neill's style reflects what Denslow did, but it's definitely its own thing.

Meet Tip and Jack Pumpkinhead.

The Sawhorse and Jack in the Emerald City.

And the gang's all here. From bottom to top: Tip, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Sawhorse, meeting the Woggle-Bug, H.M, T.E.

I can't say enough good things about this book; Baum was one hell of a creative writer, with an imagination perfectly suited to entertaining children with fantastic stories and tales of adventure. If your only knowledge of Oz is the movie, or even the first book, you owe it to yourself and your kids to read this one.

Tool Tales

A long, long time ago, in a province far, far away, lived a man my wife calls 'Dad'. His name was Roy, and he was a very handy fellow. He could frame a house, build all kinds of decorative and practical things for the house and yard, and he had a huge garage full of tools, of which he was justifiably proud.

In that garage hung a sign with instructions for people who might be there to work on their cars, or who otherwise needed to use those tools. The sign read as follows:

1. Glen is not allowed to touch any tools.

2. If you need Glen to get you a tool, see Rule #1.

These rules were put in place after I set a new world record by breaking four screwdrivers and a hammer in the span of two days. Just like people who kill every plant they touch, or politicians who blow every dime of taxpayer money they can find, I was a menace to the tool community. Tables saws had built-in warning sirens that went off if I approached within ten feet. Wrenches would grease themselves to keep me from grasping them. It was a nightmare.

Fast forward to today, and here I am reading books on how to build things on a farm or homestead. I already built a chicken coop, two chicken tractors and a pigpen in the past couple of years; now, it's time to get serious. We've got big plans for this farm, and it's going to require me to not only learn to use the tools, but actually buy my own instead of using my son's collection.

It's crazy where life will take us sometimes. But Dannielle and I have finally got a grasp on what we want to do with this place and how we can make it succeed. I'm not going to spill any beans just yet, although beans will be involved somewhere down the line. So will a wider variety of animals; pigs, chickens and bunnies are just the start.

It's going to be a wild ride; I can't wait to see how it goes.

Bible in a Year

This is posting after midnight, but it still counts.

Doing an annual read-through of the Bible is an interesting challenge. There are a few reading plans out there, some of which are pretty straightforward, where you just start at Genesis and slog through all the way to Revelation. The one I've used for the past six years breaks the Bible up into three parts, reading a section of each part daily; the OT history and prophets, the psalms and wisdom books, and the New Testament. It's worked well, but there are times when it wears a bit thin, and the going gets tough. Particularly when you repeat it every year.

This year, I'm doing it differently. I'm not simply pulling out a Bible and reading it. I'm listening to it instead. It's a podcast by Father Mike Schmitz, available on YouTube, and it's got a great method of breaking down the Bible where the narrative story is the focus. Fourteen books are the main focus of the study: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Maccabees, Luke, and Acts. If you read those 14 books, you get the story of salvation as presented in the Bible.

The other fifty-nine books are being read as well, but in context with the primary fourteen books. The reading plan follows the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, which divides the Bible up into twelve historical periods: the Early World (Gen 1-11), the Patriarchs (the rest of Genesis), Egypt and Exodus, Desert Wanderings (Numbers), Conquest and Judges, Royal Kingdom (1 & 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 1-11), Divided Kingdom (1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17), Exile (2 Kings 18-25), Return (Ezra & Nehemiah), Maccabean Revolt, Messianic Fulfillment (Luke), and The Church (Acts).

I started the podcast a little late; I listened to the introductory posts first, then the first day's readings yesterday on my way home from work. It covered Genesis 1 & 2 and Psalm 19. It's only twenty minutes, but Father Mike had some great insights into how to understand the first two chapters of Genesis and the story of Creation. I highly recommend this, and I'm only going into day two today.

Here's the link to the reading plan: https://ascensionpress.com/pages/biy-registration

The podcast is available on YouTube or on the Ascension Press website. Here's the full playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0QzUlsjD3k3UnRBLz_Y3DYQGv-mQAqy0

Always Learning

There's an old saying, 'when you stop learning, you start dying.' I love to learn. I wasn't always keen on doing new things, but I always loved learning something new. I've gotten better at the 'new things' part (I'm living on a farm and raising chickens and vegetables, for Pete's sake), but that love of learning never, ever went away.

I mentioned yesterday that I'm going to pick up my French again after a whole bunch of years. It should be easy going at first, since I still have the basics buried deep in my psyche. I'm sure it will get tougher as I go, but I'll get it done.

I'm also doing some Latin, which I've done on-and-off for over thirty years, without ever really getting deep into it. It's too bad; that's a lot of years when I could have been reading the classics in their original language. After I get the Latin done, I'll move onto Greek so I can do the rest of the classics.

And of course, I've always loved history. There's just something about history that speaks to me like nothing else does. So, when I found a Youtube series that covers World History, I had to check it out. It's by Crash Course, and it covers 42 lessons from the agricultural revolution to modern globalism. I'm thinking it will be a good homeschooling course, although I'll have to see a few more videos before I'm certain.

Finally, I'm resuming my annual Bible study. I've read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year since 2016. This year, I'm taking a different approach, using Fr. Mike Schmitz's 'Bible in a Year' program. It's a different method, since it involves reading the Bible chronologically instead of from front to back. It focuses on the narrative story in the Bible, from Genesis to Acts, while sprinkling in psalms, prophets and New Testament writings in their historical context. I'm looking forward to it. And since it's podcasts, I can listen to it in the car on the way to and from work. Time saver!

I'm also beginning to study the Early Church Fathers, the successors to the Apostles. Learning about how they understood the teachings of the early Church is an invaluable resource to understanding Christianity as it was meant to be. I've got five books of them on my bookshelf, big thick books with tiny writing that cover the first three centuries of Christian history. It's a great set, and I've got quite a few more books to go before I complete it.

Then there's the gardening and farming that I'm learning about. I'm going to be working hard this spring to get these bigger gardens going. There's a learning curve involved, and I'm doing everything I can to make that curve smaller. We'll see the results in the summer and fall.

These are just some of the learning examples I'm focusing on in 2023. And I'm also going to be doing some teaching. My son, Tanner, and some of his friends are interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons. I'm going to be teaching them how it's done, old-school. Tanner is quite excited, and if all goes well, we might have our first game this weekend. We shall see.

All this learning has a purpose, of course. It's going to help me with my writing, as well as teaching my kids and (eventually) grandkids. And, who knows? They might decide to follow us into a farming life. I certainly hope so; I planted those trees in the back yard for them. I hope they'll get to enjoy them.

Reclaiming my Heritage

Most people who know me have no clue that English isn't my first language. But it isn't; my first language was French. I started speaking French when I was two years old, and English when I was four. My father wanted me to learn French so I could have more opportunities in Canada. I attended French schools until Grade 5; then, we moved to Ontario. I still held onto my French for a while, all the way though high school, but after that I simply never used it. Fast forward over thirty years, and it's barely there.

I can mostly follow a conversation in French now, but I lost the knack for thinking in the language. That's the key to any language, really. You have to be able to think using the concepts and words of that language. You can't just translate in your head, unless you're one of those incredibly rare polyglots.

So, I've decided that this year, I'm going to get my French back. I'm going to do this in a couple of ways. I'm watching some online videos to get my mind trained in thinking in the language again. I'm also picking up my study of Latin. Why Latin? Because it's the most fundamental language of Western civilization, that's why. French is a modified, vernacular form of Latin. French borrowed a lot of words from Latin, almost directly. So, learning Latin will help bring back some of the French I lost, as well as helping me to get some of the French I never learned. Even when I was still top of my class in high school French, my vocabulary was no better than that of a ten-year-old, since that's how old I was when I stopped using it regularly.

Living and working here on Prince Edward Island means coming into contact with quite a few French-speakers. Being able to communicate in that language will help in my dealings with them. Besides, I still love French, and it would be fun to watch Montreal Canadiens games in the correct language again.

So, it's off to French lessons once again. It should be fun; I can't wait to go on this linguistic adventure.

Planning the Gardens

It's that time of the year where preparations have to begin for the spring planting. It's not something I spent a lot of time on last year, but this year is definitely going to be different. We're going to be adding a lot more to our gardens this year, including some new trees and some friendly bugs, such as ladybugs, to keep the pests down. We're not exactly going for the whole 'micro-ecosystem' that a lot of small-scale farmers are looking to emulate, but we are going to do what's best for the soil, the plants, and above all, our family.

The real question we have to ask is, how far are we going to take this gardening thing? Are we going to focus on just growing enough food for the family? If so, I can do that working on a part-time basis in the garden while working full-time at my bookkeeping job. It's not my favorite plan, but it's the most straightforward. On the other hand, with the price of gas threatening to climb into the stratosphere, it might not be practical to drive to work four or five days a week come summertime.

Another option is to join the ever-growing community of market gardeners, people who do small-scale, organic farming and sell it at local markets, to subscribers, or at their own roadside stands. That would mean a lot more of a time requirement on my part, and probably would require hiring some help as well; I'm not getting any younger, after all. And to grow that much food would be a full-time job.

Partnering with a local greenhouse to get some veggies so we don't have to plant them ourselves is another option, although that limits our market share, since we're growing less and buying some from the greenhouse. But there's another option that might work: meal prep. Growing our own food and using it to prepare ready-made meals for people to buy and take home. It's not the most original idea, but anyone who has ever tasted my wife's cooking knows that the quality will be sky-high. She does love to cook, but making a full-time job of it might dampen her enthusiasm.

We have time to decide; this year, the focus is going to be growing as much food for the family as possible; if we sell some of it for extra income, that will be a bonus. And, of course, we will have the meat to sell as well, with chickens and pigs coming to the farm in the spring. Keeping our options open is a good idea.

So, what will we be doing this year? Well, the smaller garden (it was our main garden last year) will be primarily corn, beans, and squash, all growing together to complement each other; it's an old, traditional native style of gardening that we learned about late last year, and we're looking forward to trying it. We're also going to put a trellis between the two gardens to grow peas and possibly cucumbers as well.

The big garden, which was only partly used last year, is going to be the main garden. We've already got two fifty-foot rows of garlic in the ground, hibernating for the winter. In the spring, I'll be planting potatoes in between the two rows of garlic; the garlic helps keep the potato bugs down. I'll also be planting peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, onions, and other veggies to grow not only for ourselves, but for the animals as well. Oh, and sunflowers. Lots and lots of sunflowers. The seeds are great, and the chickens love them. Keeping the animals healthy is an important part of the farm, after all.

So, the plan isn't fixed yet, but we've got some strong ideas ready to go. Over the next couple of months, I'm going to get a proper layout prepared so I can get the gardens off to a great start in the spring. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you'll come along for the ride.

Top Gun: Maverick Movie Review

Well, that was something.

I'd heard about this movie, of course; I'd seen clips online. But I never saw it in the theaters, which is one of the very few movies of the past few years I regret having missed. Thankfully, our son bought it for us as a post-Christmas gift, so the wife and I sat down to watch an overload of testosterone and manliness.

What a great movie.

The first criteria for that statement is that both my wife and I not only watched it, but enjoyed it. Movies that qualify for that are as rare as hen's teeth. But this was a lot of fun for both of us, so it's getting a full five stars on that alone.

But beyond that, this movie shows just how dedicated Tom Cruise is to entertaining the hell out of people. I've seen the videos where the actors trained to actually fly planes, did underwater training, and all sorts of crazy stuff to prep for this movie. And it shows; it's the most believable, realistic aerial scenes I can remember ever watching. Granted, I'm not a pilot. But after watching this, I wish I was.

***SPOILER ALERT BEGINS***

So, the story. It's thirty years after the original Top Gun movie; Iceman is an admiral, Goose is still dead, and Maverick is still a captain and a test pilot, flying a test mission to save a project that is about to be axed for budgetary reasons. He breaks Mach 10, then breaks the plane. The admiral in charge wants to can him into oblivion, but instead he is summoned back to Top Gun to train the best pilots in the Navy to accomplish a near-impossible mission.

I've seen some videos from actual fighter pilots who were watching this movie, and while there are some parts of it that they said flat-out don't work that way, overall they had a very favorable impression of the movie, and confirmed that what we were seeing on the screen was real, not CGI. That's good enough for me.

Maverick dogfights the elite pilots into submission, then tries to teach them how to fly the mission. When all else fails and he's about to be permanently grounded, he flies the mission test himself to prove that it can be done, and in so doing is named team leader. The mission is flown and the team all come back alive, although not before Maverick and Rooster (Goose's son, played by Miles Teller) are shot down and have to steal an old F-14 and dogfight SU-57 5th-gen fighters to get back to the carrier.

Yeah, I skimmed over a bunch of stuff, like the ever-beautiful Jennifer Connelly as Maverick's love interest. The woman is at least as old as I am and is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet. She's come a long way from Labyrinth, that's for sure.

***END SPOILER ALERTS***

This movie was phenomenal; it didn't insult the audience, it didn't preach a message other than 'flying fighters jets is insanely cool', and it was entertaining from start to finish. The music is on point, some of it cribbed directly from the original movie, some of it modifying themes from the original score. The cinematography is gorgeous, the landscapes are beautiful, the planes are sleek and deadly, and the actors were clearly having the time of their lives making this movie. What more could you ask?

If you haven't seen this movie yet, see it. It's awesome. You won't regret it in the slightest.

Winter has Officially Arrived

Well, we knew it was coming eventually. The snow came hard today, but it wasn't all that cold; by the afternoon, it was raining, or freezing rain. No traveling today, that's for sure. Fortunately, we live in the era of 'working from home'.

The best news of the day is that our friends from Ontario have finally sold their house and will be moving here by late March. We're looking forward to having them here. We were actually the first people they called after signing the papers; they hadn't even told their son yet. It's a good feeling to have friends like that, and rare these days.

There wasn't much going on here due to the weather today, but we did get some stuff done in the house. Still, there isn't much to talk about today, so once again this entry is to keep the blogging streak going. Now, back to the writing...

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Okay, just to be clear: This is about the book by L. Frank Baum, not the Judy Garland movie. The movie is great, but the book is better. Published in 1900, it was four years before a sequel would be written; Baum didn't realize at first just how popular the book was until he started getting letters. Lots and lots of letters, from kids wanting more stories about Oz.

The book is short by today's standards of fantasy writing; even with copious illustrations, the book is only 190 pages long. But it packs a LOT into those 190 pages. There are twenty-four chapters, only a few of which are more than five or six pages long. There is an economy of words here, and a lot happens in those twenty-four chapters. Baum gets to the point, and does so in a very entertaining way.

If you've seen the movie, you know about two-thirds of the plot. Dorothy is in Kansas, cyclone hits, house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, good witch sends her to Oz, yellow brick road, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, poppies, go kill the Witch of the West, flying monkeys (did you understand that reference?), bucket of water, return to Oz, Wizard is a humbug, balloon, magic shoes, there's no place like home.

However, there's quite a bit more than that in the book, believe it or not. Not only do the companions have a lot more to do besides sing and dance through the forest, but the return journey to Oz from the witch's castle takes a couple of chapters itself instead of being skipped over to get to the finale. And Dorothy doesn't leave right after the Wizard's balloon takes off without her; she has to go on yet another journey to the Good Witch of the South to find out how her silver (not ruby) shoes work. And that doesn't include the encounters with the Queen of the Field Mice, the stork, the Hammer-heads, and China Town (not that kind of China, the plate kind). All bursting with imagination and wonder, and all within a single book.

I mentioned the book is illustrated. There are at least a hundred illustrations in this book by William Denslow. Here are a few examples; many of them are in full color in the original publication.

She might be a good witch, but she ain't a beauty queen.

Shirley Temple might have been a better fit for the character, at least age wise; Judy Garland was sixteen years old, whereas Dorothy in the book is about seven.

Those are called Kalidahs, with the body of a bear and the head of a tiger. Nasty critters that would make a great addition to a fantasy role-playing game. Better than an owlbear, anyway.

This was the only Oz book illustrated by Denslow; the remainder of the Baum Oz books were illustrated by John O'Neill. I like both artists, but there is definitely something magical in Denslow's work. Even though our cultural identification of the characters is defined by the movie, Denslow's art is evocative and memorable enough to challenge the dominant images of Garland, Ray Bolger, and Margaret Hamilton.

This is a book every child should read. It is one of the all-time classics of children's literature, incredibly imaginative and still inspiring people 122 years later.

But, you know what? The sequel is actually better.

Post #400!

That's a milestone. Unfortunately, blog traffic isn't all that impressive right now. Still, I'm going to keep this streak going; people will stop by once in a while.

Since there's nothing much to talk about, I'll just call this another streak post and get back to writing the book. That's what really matters, anyway.

Collecting the Classics

Old books get a raw deal from a lot of people today. 'Racist, misogynist, homophobic...' The litany is well-known to all. Old books aren't 'relevant' to modern society, we are told. Old writers are out of touch. Readers can't relate to the characters. Not enough diversity or inclusion. Blah, blah, blah.

One doesn't need to read about a character identical to themselves to relate to them. I certainly don't; I can't remember the last time I read a book with an introverted half-French, half-English Canadian protagonist with Asperger's. But I relate to a lot of characters that I've read. Most readers do, regardless of what the character looks like in description. The classics, however, transcend such nonsense altogether. Anyone can relate to them, if they so choose. Anyone can read them and learn from them, if they so choose.

I find the older books simply more entertaining than modern stuff. There are always exceptions to that, of course; there are some great modern books that I enjoy. But they don't qualify as 'classics' just yet.

So, what classics am I talking about collecting? Children's classics, mostly. Things younger boys and girls can read and relate to. Why younger readers? For a couple of reasons. First, they have more time to read than most adults do. Second, they don't worry about 'relatability' or other such modern ideas; they just want to read a fun story. Third, these are fun stories. Adventures that take place all around the world, or even outside of the world. Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz are two great examples of books that kids still love today. The characters are memorable and fun, the stories are exciting and easy to read, and their impact on culture to this day can't be ignored.

I've got a nice list of older kids' books that I've given to my boys to read during the homeschooling years. I'm hoping to get Garrett reading more as he gets older and comes out of his autism. He already loves listening to Alice and Dorothy's adventures. He doesn't care that they're girls; the stories are great. And that's why they are classics.

There are fourteen Oz books written by the original author, L. Frank Baum. Everyone knows about the first one thanks to the Judy Garland movie. But I actually preferred the second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, when I was a kid. Others in the series include Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, and The Road to Oz, to name a few. With each book, Baum expanded Oz and its environs, adding new characters while retaining the favorites like the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman (who appear in almost all the Baum Oz books). Today, there are online communities of Oz fans and lots of information, including maps, flags, dynastic lineages, history books, etc. Oz is more real than some places here on Earth.

I'm starting the third book with Garrett; I'd like to do some reviews on the Oz books as we go through; I'll do the first couple at some point this week, then as we continue through the books. Physical copies, not ebooks. Paper is better.

Breaking the Ice: Enterprise Retrospective

Ah, back to this wonderful show. Breaking the Ice is the eighth episode of the first season. The two concurrent plot lines include T'Pol's marriage conflict and the ship's crew exploring a frozen comet. There's a Vulcan ship in there, too.

The episode begins with the aforementioned comet, and the crew discovering that it contains a rare element that even the Vulcans don't know much about. While Reed and Mayweather go prospecting, the Vulcan ship Ti'Mur under Captain Vanek shows up to 'observe' things. Archer, not being an idiot, knows the Vulcans are there to keep an eye on Enterprise, not comets. But he acts polite and even invites Vanek to dinner aboard the Enterprise.

Trip intercepts a secret message to T'Pol from the Ti'Mur and gets Hoshi to decode it for him, thinking that it's Vulcan spy stuff. It turns out that it's a very personal message involving T'Pol's upcoming nuptials. He confesses to T'Pol that he read the letter, which manages to make her seem a bit emotional (as in, really ticked off at him). But when she goes to Phlox to complain about trouble sleeping, he suggests she find someone she can confide in regarding whatever is keeping her up. She talks to Trip, since he is the only one aboard who knows what her issue is. His advice to do what she wants to do doesn't seem satisfactory, although he does point out that she's the one who asked him for advice, and that just asking shows that she doesn't feel comfortable with this particular Vulcan tradition.

Meanwhile, Archer hosts that dinner with Vanek, which goes about as well as expected. Fed up with Vanek's standoffish attitude, he accuses the Vulcan of spying on Enterprise and walks out of the dining room. Meanwhile, Reed and Mayweather get into some trouble on the comet, and the Enterprise isn't able to rescue them. The Ti'Mur offers to use their tractor beam (Enterprise still only has a grappling hook) to rescue the shuttlepod, and Archer finally bends enough to accept the help and save his crew.

In the end, T'Pol refuses to return to Vulcan and chooses to remain aboard Enterprise. Good on her. The Vulcans leave without her, and the Enterprise resumes its course.

So, what do I like about this episode? It's the first time we see T'Pol really interacting with a crew member in a meaningful, non-business way. And she doesn't know what to do, which is a definite rarity. Like Spock in the original series, T'Pol is the series' rock, the anchor that keeps everyone else grounded. Archer is the captain, but T'Pol is the vital crew member that always has the answers, always has the crew's backs, and has the confidence to step up when needed. Here, we see her vulnerable and uncertain for the first time. She has to confide in Trip, who she really doesn't like much, because otherwise she'd have to reveal her secret to yet another human. It's a great scene, easily the best of the episode and one of the best of the series so far.

What else? The science is typical Star Trek, made-up stuff that sounds neat and 'science-y'. But once again we see the limitations inherent in the humans' first foray into interstellar space as the ship is unable to rescue their stranded crew with the equipment they have on hand. Without the Vulcan ship and their tractor beam, the Enterprise would have lost two bridge officers. Not a good situation.

And, of course, the episode title has a double meaning, as Archer has to deal with a purported ally in Vanek, a man he doesn't much like and who doesn't seem to hold him in high regard either. Vanek's superior snobbery is evident despite his lack of emotion, and Archer's barely-concealed anger keeps the tension running. He does try to 'break the ice' with the dinner invite, which is a nice gesture, but Vanek doesn't even try to meet him halfway.

So, what do I think of this episode? It's not the best, but it's a good episode with some great acting from Jolene Blalock as she portrays T'Pol's uncertainty. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

To catch a glimpse of my own idea of Earth-based space opera, check out my first science fiction book, Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System, available right now in ebook for only $0.99 US and in paperback. It's a fun romp with lots and lots of action, so give it a look!

Writing and Imagination

Writing is the most imaginative art form. Music has a definitive interaction with the listener; you hear the music. Some music can take you to a higher plane; Bach, Beethoven and Mozart are great at that sort of thing, where the music itself is powerful enough to activate the listener's imagination, either through the words or the music. Film and drama are much less imaginative, or least much less interactive. The viewer sees and hears what the director wants them to see and hear, and most of the imagining is done for you.

But writing...writing takes you somewhere else every single time you read. It is the most grounded yet the most fantastic form of art. Its effect is limited not by the writer, but by the reader. Here's an example. If I say, 'Star Wars', most people are going to get a specific set of images in their heads; the Death Star, light sabers, X-Wing fighters, and Baby Yoda floating in a hoverchair, for example. You might get different images than the person next to you, but the ones you do have in common will look pretty much exactly the same as their images. Why? Because the imagining was already done for you by Lucas, or whoever directed the movie you're thinking about. Your mind already has those associations, and they are indelibly etched into your conscious and subconscious mind. They are very powerful images, and that's a great thing.

But writing is different. Unless you're reading a tie-in like a Star Trek novel or something that was made into a movie (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.), in which case the images you get from reading will be very close to what you saw on the screen. There's nothing wrong with that, either. It's a great visual shorthand for people to have that common experience.

But when you're reading something original, such as Abraham Merritt's The Moon Pool, the words themselves will fuel the imagination. Every reader will see Lakla and O'Keefe in their own minds, separate and distinct from what another reader sees. Even the best descriptions (and Merritt does some fantastic descriptive writing) is still only fuel for the reader's imagination. And that imagination can take you beyond anything the writer wanted you to go. The description of the Dweller, for example, is one of the most vivid in the early pulp writings. But if you read that passage to twenty different artists, you'd get twenty different renditions of what they thought it looked like.

And that is a wonderful thing. Writing engages the reader like nothing else can, because all it can do is lead the reader into the world and let them make it their own. It truly is an interactive art form, and that's what makes it so amazing. And if the story is well-written, the reader's mind will fill in any gaps in what is seen in the landscape of the imagination.

To see an example of this immersion, check out my newest book, Apprentice, available now from an Amazon website near you.

Recommended Reading List

I don't think I've done this before, so this should be interesting. I'm going to list a few books that I (hopefully) haven't written about before, books that mean a lot to me and that I highly recommend. Some are very well-known, some...not so much.

I'm going to start with the first fantasy series I read, and still my favorite fantasy series to this day: The Belgariad, by David Eddings. It's a five-book epic fantasy series about a boy who has a great destiny. It's not exactly an original idea, and it's been called all kinds of clichés, but I love it. I was twelve when I first read it. I got the first two books, Pawn of Prophecy and Queen of Sorcery for my birthday along with Asimov's Foundation. I think I read Foundation first, but I really wasn't a big fan of it. But once I was done the first two Belgariad books, I was hooked. I couldn't wait for the next books to come out (they were still not all published yet), and I devoured each one as it was released. These were probably the first books I ever bought for myself.

The series is written for younger readers, but not stupid ones. Eddings had a good vocabulary, and he wasn't afraid to use it. And his world-building was amazing; Each nation is distinct, but believable. There are merchant-princes, Vikings, knights, plains nomads, Mongol hordes, and many others. Eddings spent a lot of time on his world-building before he ever wrote a word of the series, and it shows in the writing.

There is also a sequel series, The Malloreon, which is an admittedly inferior copy of the Belgariad, and two follow-up books after that, Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress that fill in a lot of backstory to the first series. There's also another book called the Rivan Codex, which is his background notes and a treatise on how to write epic fantasy, with an emphasis on world-building that really stirs the imagination. None of these are needed to enjoy the original five book series, but they're good reads as well.

Okay, next up, let's go to less-epic fantasy. D&D gamers are familiar with Appendix N, the list of books that inspired Gygax when he was creating the game. People are now reading those old authors a lot more than they did when I was younger, when you just couldn't find them on the shelves anymore. Thanks to the internet, they're much easier to find. One of those authors is a woman by the name of André Norton, and one of the books she wrote is Quag Keep. This is a notable book because it is the very first-ever D&D book. Now, is it great literature? Hell, no. Norton can and has written much, much better books. But this is a book about a D&D adventure. And it is the very first book that uses the now-common trope of 'gamers sucked into the world they are gaming in'. I mean, it was written in 1978; the Dungeon Masters Guide wasn't even released yet. I'm not sure the Players Handbook was out for that matter. So this is based on the earlier version of D&D, the white-box version.

Quag Keep has a typical assortment of fantasy characters; there are clerics, fighters, mages, elves, and...a lizard man? Well, I never saw that in the supplements to the game. But, that was back in the days when D&D really was a set of guidelines rather than rules. And lizard men were just as popular in fantasy literature as elves were, going back to Burroughs' Pellucidar stories. So, it makes sense to include such a character in a book about the game.

The worst aspect of Quag Keep is probably the ending, which is really, really rushed and breaks the crap out of the fourth wall with an army of sledgehammers. I won't spoil it, but trust me, it's a hell of a letdown after the rest of the adventure. Still, I will recommend the book for its historical value, as well as because the book between the first and last chapters is a fun romp in the spirit of the game.

Okay, so instead of giving reasons why I like these next few books, I'll just list them and let the reader find out why I enjoy them so much.

G.A. Henty, The Cat of Bubastes

H.R. Haggard, She

L. Frank Baum, The Marvelous Land of Oz

David Weber, On Basilisk Station

E.E. "Doc" Smith, The Skylark of Space

Garrett P. Serviss, A Columbus of Space

And, finally, I'll recommend my newest book, Apprentice, available now on Amazon.

Still Going Strong

Well, this is one full week of consecutive blog posts. Not bad for getting things back up and running. I hope this trend will continue over the next fifty-one weeks so I can successfully complete a full year of blogging. Of course, it helps when there is stuff to actually talk about.

The farm plan is still in a rather embryonic state, so that's going to take a bit longer to get hashed out. Writing is going well; I've made sure to write at least something every night, other than this blog post, for the past six days including this one, which is important. I'm expecting good things from this new book, and it's nice to have it off to a solid start, with almost four chapters completed.

So, what else is there to talk about? I'm not doing much in the way of pop culture, haven't been watching Enterprise with my son, haven't even been reading the Amazing Stories magazines. But, there are other things happening in life.

Friends of mine who came for a visit this past summer are almost ready to move out here themselves. They're selling their house, and got a good offer on it today. They're just waiting for some conditions to be fulfilled so they can buy the house they want to get here. Prayers for their success have been flying at our end and at theirs, but any other prayers for their success would be appreciated.

This post is more about keeping the nascent blogging streak going, so I'll cut it short for now; I want to get back to writing the book. I'm still sick as hell, but I'm getting better, and I want to finish this chapter and get the next one started. So, I'll stop here for now.

Planning 2023

So, the joys of a new year. As is my annual tradition, I've spent a couple of days being sick. It happens almost every year around this time, and I can't seem to every break that pattern. It really, really sucks. Especially this part of it, where coughing is torture as my ribs and stomach muscles are in screaming pain from constant contraction over the past few days. Seriously, it hurts like hell.

But, being cooped up in the house like this has its advantages. Thinking about what to do with the farm over the next year, for example. I had some vague goals in an earlier post, but now it's time to start thinking seriously about how this farm is going to generate some income in 2023.

We have four viable methods of bringing in revenue here: Eggs, chickens, pork, and vegetables. Bunnies will be a fifth option if things go as hoped in the spring. We thought we were getting baby bunnies last month, but it didn't pan out that way. We'll let the bunnies do their thing properly in the spring, and see what kind of results we get.

So, here's a quick rundown of how to make money on a small hobby farm. First, the eggs. At current prices, eggs run around six dollars a dozen in the big chain stores like Walmart and Sobeys. We're currently selling ours for four, although five isn't out of the question considering the value we'll be offering. After all, our eggs come fresh from a farm, not an egg factory. At the current rate of laying, we are getting about a dozen eggs every couple of days. Factoring in that we eat some of the eggs ourselves, we're looking at getting about 150 dozen eggs a year, assuming we don't see an uptick in laying. Even at five dollars a dozen, that's only $750 for the year, which really isn't much at all. Either we do get more eggs from our chickens in the summer, or we get more laying chickens. Otherwise, we're not even breaking a thousand in the year, and it costs that much just to feed them.

Meat birds are another money-maker. Our meat birds last year were Cornish Cross, an excellent, quick-growth breed that comprises the vast majority of commercially-produced chicken. They grow really fast; eight to ten weeks from hatching to butchering. They eat a LOT of food in that time, but they are big birds. Our average from the twenty-four we had last year was 6.75 pounds. At four dollars a pound, that's a $27 bird. The chicks are affordable; we can easily buy fifty of them. Raising them free-range saves a bit on food, although they aren't much for eating grass and bugs. Still, at $27/bird, that's $1350 for fifty birds, and that's if we don't cut them up and sell them in pieces. And we can do that at least twice a year, depending on how well the weather holds out. We're going to learn to butcher them ourselves to save money, which increases the profit line.

Next, pork. Our pigs were a great success this year. They were healthy and huge, and brought in enough money to pay for all the expenses incurred in acquiring them last year and still have plenty of meat left over. Selling packages of various cuts brought in about $300 per package, and we sold five packages. That's $1500, or $750 per pig, and that doesn't include the bacon, which we are also going to sell at $10 for half a pound. We got forty pounds of bacon in total from the two pigs, so that's a lot of half-pounds. We're not selling them all, but even half gets us another $400. Our goal next year is to raise three pigs and sell most of the meat.

All together, the eggs, chickens and pork can be expected to bring in about $7500 for the year. That's not a lot, especially since a lot of it will be taken up in actually feeding these animals. But that brings us to part four, the veggies.

Veggies are a big market; people are always on the lookout for quality products. It's not something I can dive into in a short post like this, but I'll be doing some more investigating into how we can make the farm profitable, or at least producing some income. I hope to have more details in a later post.

So, farming is quite an experience, but making a living at it isn't going to be easy. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. And who knows? Things can always change.

The Side Benefits of Writing

I'm sure everyone has heard the old expression, 'write what you know.' But unfortunately, that is a rather limiting statement. I find that a lot of what I write involves things I didn't know. I certainly don't have a deep understanding of criminal psychology or ways of murdering someone without being caught, but I've written four murder mysteries with more on the way. Some things have to be learned to make a story believable and allow the reader to immerse themselves fully.

Of course, with a genre like fantasy, there are no rules; a story can go in literally any direction. Science fiction is not quite the same; a lot of sci-fi writers like to base their work in real-world science. Andy Weir's The Martian is an excellent example of this, in which he had to game out a lot of scenarios on Mars and do research to make them real. Other sci-fi like Star Wars is more on the fantasy side of things, where there are no real rules except the ones the writer makes up.

Now, some fantasy writing will have a realistic component. For example, the second Shadowmage Saga book takes place mostly on a sailing ship similar to the galleons of the 17th and 18th century. I, of course, know absolutely nothing about rigging and sailing ships except what I've read in other books, so it's a learning opportunity for me to get enough information to make the book work, while not bogging down in extraneous details about each individual sail and rope on a ship. No one is going to mistake this book for Horatio Hornblower or David Weber's Safehold series, but it will at least make some sense to the reader, if I do things right.

Other examples from my own books include the research I did on early 20th-century society for The Awakening, the Gilded Age book. I wasn't there, and while I have a lot of love of history and a long track record of studying it, that was a time period that I hadn't spent a lot of time on. But it wasn't hard to get some of the information I needed, enough to make the book work. Same with my 1930s stuff, which I know a bit more about, but I needed geographical details to get it to work.

Research is important for a writer, as long as it doesn't become the primary focus. The point is to write the story, not read dozens of other books to increase realism. Get enough to make the story work, then get back to the writing. In the meantime, you've learned something new, and no day is wasted when you learn something knew.

While you're waiting to see the new sailing ship adventure of the Shadowmage Saga, take a look at the first book in the series, Apprentice, which just came out this week.

Under the Weather

Well, that sucks. I left the island for a few hours to drive Mom to Moncton on New Year's Day, and apparently I picked up some sort of New Brunswick bug while I was there. I feel right icky. Fortunately, the housecoat I got for Christmas is as warm as a volcano on the sun. So at least I'm not shivering.

I wouldn't normally talk about this, but I've decided that I want to make a commitment to blogging every day this year, even if it's just a short one. Besides, there isn't that much to talk about in the world of writing at the moment.

Except, of course, my new book, Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga. It's available now on Amazon at all locations. Check it out, and support indie publishing today!

Gaming with Family

Once upon a time, I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons. Solo, mostly. I wasn't the most social kid growing up, but I really loved immersing myself in a fantastic world of imagination. I wasn't exclusively a D&D kid; I played Star Frontiers, Top Secret S.I., Champions, Robotech, even Teenagers from Outer Space. It was a lot of fun, but there was always something missing.

I tried to play with my family once, when I was twelve or thirteen. I spent a couple of days with them rolling up characters for Basic D&D, and I proudly began to run them through the most famous of modules, the Keep on the Borderlands. Unfortunately, the game didn't go so well; it was my first time as a DM, and I was slavishly following the dice. Half the party died before entering the kobold cave, and that was the end of my time gaming with family.

Fast-forward to sixteen years ago, and my oldest son wanted to play. He was about ten years old. This time I found a few other players, and we had a decent little game going as I ran them through a 3rd edition series, the Shackled City. The game ended up on hiatus as one of the players ended up living several hours away for a few months, but he did come back and we continued on. Kameron, my son, played a young sorcerer and had a great time being part of the group. The other players, despite being twice his age or more, accepted him as one of their own, and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the group dissolved when we moved away ourselves, but I gave them a rollicking finale to cut the series short.

When we moved in with my future wife, she was not a gaming fan. And before long, the gaming was done. It was difficult, but I accepted it. I didn't give it up completely, however; I still had projects related to gaming going on, and some of those projects inspired my writing and the books I have published, including the newest one, the first Shadowmage book, Apprentice. But active gaming was off the table.

Things have changed; there is a homeschooling RPG group here on PEI, and my wife has reluctantly agreed to let our middle son, Tanner, play. Tanner is a lot like me; he loves fantasy (not so much science fiction), and reads voraciously. He's currently into the Harry Potter books which, while not my favorites, have sparked his imagination. And, as I've mentioned before, he loves D&D. He wants to get playing again, and I've suggested he ask some of his friends to join in. A group is always better than solo.

If we can get this game going, it's going to be based on the AD&D First Edition rules. I've had a long-standing project going where I've created a campaign setting based on those rules as they evolved over time. The setting is, of course, Meterra, more or less as it appears in my first two fantasy books, Arrival and The Devil's Playground. In fact, the latter is where the game will be set to begin with, in the deadliest labyrinthian setting I could come up with. He's already terrified, so I must have done something right in the books.

I'm really looking forward to showing him what old-school gaming is all about. It's quite a bit different from what he plays on his Xbox, that's for sure. And, as this is related to homeschooling, he might learn something from the experience as well.

Please check out my newest book, just published this weekend.

Apprentice: Live!

And here it is!

Yes, my long-delayed eleventh book (and first since 2020) is now available. Ebook format only for now; the paperback will have to wait until I either find a better piece of art or can commission one. Still, it's an exciting feeling, and it's got me pumped and motivated to get back to writing. So, without further ado, please click on the link, check it out and enjoy!