Another New Year...

Okay, I see that people have actually been visiting the blog despite my lack of activity over the past six months, so I guess I really need to get back to it. And now seems as good a time as any.

So, a quick review of 2023: I published four books at the beginning of the year, then fell off the writing wagon as my work situation drastically changed and I became a full-time farmer. We raised about 125 meat chickens, learned how to butcher them ourselves, actually DID butcher some of them ourselves, and raised five pigs from weaning. Three of those pigs are now in the freezer; two of them are breeders, and will be giving us bacon seeds in the spring. We also got a bunch of chickens and a coop from a homesteader who moved to North Carolina last month, so we currently have about forty egg-laying chickens, two pigs, and three bunnies. And a crap-ton of rats, which stubbornly refuse to die off.

That's 2023 in a nutshell. Now, on to 2024.

So, what are the goals for this year? Well, I have a few. First we're going to be getting a greenhouse in the spring. I'm going to be growing a LOT of tomatoes and peppers for sale, as well as a bunch of other veggies. We're also planning to ramp up our chicken flock, particularly in the meat-bird category; the goal for 2024 is at least 200 chickens. We're also going to get five or six more pigs for meat, since Samson and Delilah's kids will take a year to grow.

Why are we ramping up like this? Because I'm going to be selling the veggies to a local business that will turn all that fresh, naturally-grown produce into meals for people to buy. And we grew our customer base for our meat as well. We're only selling to locals and friends, since we're not a commercial farm. But it definitely provides us with some income.

So, that's the farm. What about the writing? I candidly admit I failed miserably to meet any of my writing goals after publishing that fourth book in April. The switch to farming really upended everything, and I found myself constantly putting off the writing in favor of other things that seemed more important. I'm not going to make that mistake this year; I'm still aiming for ten books to be published in 2024. I'm starting the first one tonight; I don't have anything nearly complete that I can just whip off in a few days and get ready for publication.

I'm also going to take the books I've already published and get them on other platforms besides Amazon. I'm not sure how much work that will take, but if I can add them onto Indigo, that's the main Canadian book seller (like Barnes & Noble in the States). It will certainly increase my potential audience, which can't hurt.

Another interesting development is that my wife finally gave in on playing Dungeons & Dragons. Not that she's going to ever play, but since our middle son wants to play, she finally relented, and we've got a biweekly game going at a local place with some of his friends. I'm the DM, at least for now, and we'll see how long it goes on for. We're starting a new campaign, a conversion of the Shackled City campaign from twenty years ago, converted to 1st edition Advanced D&D. It's going to be a blast.

I'm also going to be more diligent in keeping the blog going; I really wasn't expecting this many people to come see what I've been doing, so it's really great to see some traffic. And I'll have to give people a reason to keep coming back, so it's time to get this done. I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up consistently all year, but I'm certainly going to make every effort. And I plan on doing the A to Z challenge in April again as well, with another writing theme.

One more thing that we have going on: My son and I are going to France next year, April of 2025. It's a school trip, with a strong history theme. We'll be going to Vimy Ridge, Normandy, Versailles, and a day trip to the Netherlands as well to see how much they love Canada there. I can't wait to go; it's going to be amazing.

Alright, it's another new year, another set of resolutions, and it's going to be the biggest year yet for me, for the family, for the farm, and for the blog.

Spoiled Ballot Launching!

As I go into the A to Z Blogging challenge, I'm proud to say that Spoiled Ballot, the latest Cameron Vail mystery, is now in processing to be released in ebook format. It feels good to be getting back to mysteries after several fantasy novels. I've got a couple of other ideas for mysteries that I'm going to develop in the next couple of months, but for now, I'm glad to say this one is ready to go.

Here's a preview of the cover. I'll post the Amazon link as soon as the book is released.

Cover Art Struggles

Man, this one's been tough to find. But I think I have one that will work. It's not ideal, but I'm not in a position to pay for cover art yet, so I'll have to make do with what I can find.

I like it; it's evocative, it's got the night and the water and the city, so it will work. I'll have to cut it down to the right size, of course. But once that's done, I can get this book up and published. The title is Spoiled Ballot, the fifth Cameron Vail mystery. Let's see how it goes.

Looking for a Cover Picture...

Sometimes a great (and royalty-free) picture will pop up, perfectly matching the book cover I have in mind. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those times. Finding a decent picture to fit the newest Cameron Vail mystery isn't easy. I'm not extremely picky, but I want something that evokes the murder scene. I might have to come up with a different idea; I'm limited to what I can grab without having the pay royalties, so there are only a few sites I can get them from.

I'll have to think about it; I've still got another week before the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm sure something will turn up.

Crystal Lilac...Ready to Publish!

Alright, the name issue is resolved; I'm keeping it as it was. It just feels right to me. And with that, the book is ready. I'm getting the cover ready now, and I'll be spending most of the night working on the ebook prep as well as getting as much of the paperback done as I can. Ideally, I want them to come out simultaneously, or as close as possible.

So, Crystal Lilac is the sequel to Crimson Moon, last month's book. It continues the adventures of Kane after he accomplishes his mission in the first book, and leads him into something much bigger than ever before. No, I'm not going to give any details; read the book!

I'll keep this entry short tonight, since I'd rather get to work on the publication. In the meantime, don't forget to read the first book, available at an Amazon website near you.

Cover Art Found!

And it was approved by my art critic, my son Tanner. Although, as he pointed out, this might have worked just as well as the cover to the first book...

He has a point. And I'm just going to take the central part of the picture, obviously. But I think it will work well, at least until I can commission a proper cover. It gets the point across of who and what Kane is, doesn't it?

So, that's the next step completed. Now, I just need my reader to get through it so I can get it ready for publishing.

New Paperbacks!

Well, one new paperback, and one slightly revised one.

Apprentice, the first book of the Shadowmage Saga, will be out in paperback very soon, within a couple of days. This doesn't count as a new book, of course, since I released it as an e-book on New Year's Eve. Also, I did a bit of revision (very little, mostly formatting) to Arrival, the first book of the Chronicles of Meterra.

Why did I do this? Because I'm going to be selling these at the local bookstore shortly, that's why. I'll need a bunch of author copies, but the local bookstore, Coles, has provided me with a consignment contract, and they like the idea of fantasy books by local authors. Mysteries as well, although sci-fi isn't that popular here, apparently.

I'm looking forward to this; the store does book signings for authors, so I'll be able to market the book myself to potential readers who haven't seen my blog or heard of me in any way whatsoever. I've been living here for two and a half years now; it's time people noticed me.

Once I get settled in with the Summerside store and get some sales, I'll be heading to Charlottetown, where there's a much bigger store, Indigo. This isn't a really big island, but once people start reading my stuff, if they like it, they'll spread the word...and they'll buy more books.

Yes, it's all about the money. No, it's about the stories; I love telling them. I love coming up with these new ideas, and I love putting them down on paper. Or pixels; either way.

So, here's hoping it goes well. I think it will, but then I'm an optimist at heart.

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.

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.

What a Way to End the Year!

Well, I wanted to get my writing back on track, and here it is. As of right now, my first published book in over two years is being processed by Amazon. I'm not sure if I'm going to count it as 2022 (since I finished writing and submitting it prior to the New Year) or 2023 (since it won't be approved and ready for sale until then). I'll probably wait to make that decision until I see how well I'm maintaining my yearly goals. Is that cheating? Only if I get caught.

So, what exactly is the book? It's the first book in an ongoing fantasy series. The series is 'The Shadowmage Saga'. The first book is titled, 'Apprentice'. Here's the cover:

It's not the snazziest cover, I know. But it is an excellent representation of the Forbidden Lands, a locale in the book (obviously). Since I have to rely on stock images for the moment until I can afford to pay a decent cover artist (shout-out to greyghost at Fiverr!), this will have to do.

The book is, at the moment, only going to be available as an ebook. I'm going to hold out on the paperback until I can hopefully get a proper cover done up.

So, what's it about? Well, there are a couple of hints on the cover. It involves saving the world, and saving children. Saving them from what? Bad things. Very, very bad things. But don't worry, this is a fantasy aimed at intelligent young adult readers. No sex, no bad language, reasonable levels of violence (and no gory stuff). As you know, I want to write stuff my kids and grandkids can read without needing parental advisory warnings.

The basic idea is this: Jandar, an apprentice to the Shadowmage, is sent on a mission of great importance to rescue some tribal humans from their magic-wielding oppressors. Why him and not the Shadowmage? Because master wizards are always too busy for that sort of thing, that's why. Jandar gets the short-end of the straw and gets to go save everyone while putting his own life in terrible peril. Because if he didn't, then the book would be really boring.

It's not a Harry Potter style book. It's a bit different from my Meterra books as well, although it's very much of a pulp style, with the action being pretty continuous throughout the book. I had the idea for this book years and years ago, and now it's a reality. I'm excited, and I hope you will be as well. I will post the link to the book as soon as it gets approved by Amazon. The book will be available for the very reasonable ebook price of $4.99 US, and it will be available in all Amazon markets around the world.

So, there it is. What a way to end 2022. I feel good about 2023, I really do. It's going to be a great year. Happy New Year, everyone!

Public Domain

As a writer, the idea of copyright and public domain is a very interesting one. The copyright laws as they stand are pretty generous, anywhere in the world. Depending on where you live, your work can be protected from anywhere to fifty years after your death to seventy or even eighty; in the United States, the current law is 95 years from creation. That's a long time to continue to make money off of something you did years ago.

So, let's do some math. I wrote Final Exam and published it in January, 2020. If I live for another thirty years, that means that my heirs will have the rights to that book until 2120. That's thirty-one years before the NX-01 Enterprise launches, for you Star Trek fans. Time flies, doesn't it?

But that's the future; it's time to look at the present, as well as the past. For those living in the United States, anything published up to December 31, 1925 is now public domain. That includes a huge number of silent movies, of course, but it also includes a whole bunch of classic pulp stories. The early Lovecraft, for example, is now in public domain. So is a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff, including the majority of the John Carter and Tarzan books. Or at least, the good ones.

But for those in other countries, the bounty of public domain is even bigger. Right now Canada has not yet ratified the new USMCA act, which will change the copyright to 70 years after death from the current 50. So, right now, anything that was written by someone who passed away prior to 1971 is now in the public domain in Canada. That is a lot of great stuff, including a whole bunch of classic pulp writers.

Now, even for the countries with 70-year time frames, the bounty this year is especially juicy. Because 1950 is the cut-off date for those countries, and that was a bumper crop of deceased super-writers. The following men passed away in 1950, which means that their work is now public domain in the vast majority of countries (excluding the US): George Orwell, Rafael Sabatini, George Bernard Shaw, Olaf Stapledon...and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Yes, outside of the US, Tarzan is now public domain.

One of the writers I admire from the pulps is Abraham Merritt. He is a seminal force in the realm of fantastic fiction, having inspired Lovecraft, Howard, Gary Gygax (father of Dungeons & Dragons, for those who don't know), and many others. And he died in 1943, which means his work is public domain in a lot of countries. His first full novel, Conquest of the Moon Pool, was written in 1919, which means it is public domain everywhere, even in the USA.

So, why am I mentioning this? Because Merritt is someone who deserves to be far less obscure than he is now. Even as late as the 1970s, he was a force in fantasy, with his titles being on the spinner racks and book shelves right alongside Tolkien and Burroughs. But he disappeared quite a few years ago. And I want to help bring this gifted author's work back. So, I've been working on a special project: An Abraham Merritt Collection. I'm trying to get the original versions of his works (the ones first published in the pulps, not the edited versions that came later) into book form. Partly it's because I want to have them in hardcopy myself, but also because I'd like other people to see how awesome he was.

I'll have more details on this in the days to come, but the quick version is that I'm going to publish the first Merritt book, an anthology of his short fiction, in the next few days. That doesn't mean I'm not still writing my own stuff; but this is the level of awesome that I'm aspiring to reach through my own work. And I would like to do my part to make these more available to people. Some of his writings aren't available anywhere that I can find.

So, that's my 'secret project.' I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

New Year Review and Plans

Okay, it's already the 12th of the month. What can I say? I'm on Prince Edward Island now, and time moves slower here. We take our time getting things done. But, it's time for a quick review of how the past year went, and what I'm hoping to accomplish in 2021. Not that anyone really knows what the heck is going to happen this year, because everything is so upside-down and crazy right now. So, naturally, this is the best time to make some big plans.

So, in the past year I published ten books and wrote over 500,000 original words. It's about half of what I wanted to do, but we did move, so that took a lot of time and energy. It's not an excuse, but it did have an effect on my production. Since we got here, I haven't given my writing the attention it needs. That has to change, and it's changing now.

The books I published included four mysteries: Final Exam, Cold Star, The Missing Magnate, and Best Served Cold; two fantasies: Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival and The Devil's Playground; one science fiction book: Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System; a mixed anthology: A Universe of Possibilities a superhero/steampunk anthology: Awakening, and a retelling of the first eleven chapters of the Bible, In the Beginning. It's an eclectic mix, but it was fun. I've got two other fantasy novels more-or-less finished that I need to publish, and a half-written mystery that I need to finish.

So, what are my goals for 2021? Finish the mystery, publish the two fantasy novels, and write a whole bunch more. I'm also finishing up my History degree, so that's going to take up a fair amount of time, as well. My goals aren't going to shrink, though; there's no reason why I can't push myself to accomplish what I set out to do last year. My goal for 2020 was 20 books and 100,000 words/month. That's still possible, so it's time to get it done.

One of the things I want to do is participate in the Blogging A to Z Challenge in April. For those who don't know about it, bloggers simply do a post every day except Sunday during the month of April, with each daily topic following the alphabet. There's a master list of participants, so it helps to drive blog traffic, which is something I would really like to see. I have my post topics figured out; they are related to the fantasy book I've already got published. And I want to get two more written and published before April in the same world, so I've got to get busy. That also means that I'll have to get my Traveller Let's Read series done before then, and I've still got a whole book to go.

So, that's my writing plan for the year: 20 books, 100,000 words per month. It's insane, I know. But I can do it, if I focus and push myself. It's all a matter of prioritizing and discipline. And stubbornness, which my wife can confirm I have in abundance.

Here it Comes!

It's finally finished! Bard Conley's Adventures Across the Solar System is finally complete! I've uploaded it to Amazon, so it should be available tomorrow. I'm very, very excited; this is my first science-fiction publication, so it's a new experience. And, as a quick preview, here's the cover art, as done by the amazing Alex Lechev, aka thegreyghost:

I don't know about you, but that makes me want to explore other planets! So, watch this space, and hopefully, tomorrow night I'll make the official announcement. Oh, and it's going to be in paperback, too.

Indie vs. Traditional

I used to be like most writers, wanting desperately to be published by a real publisher and make money as a best-selling author. But it wasn't until last year that I realized that wasn't the way to go to succeed. Now, if I was being published by a 'real publisher' like Tor or Baen, I'd have more sales, but I wouldn't be making very much money, because traditional publishing doesn't pay very well unless you're one of the big-name authors. Which I am most definitely not.

So, I went indie instead, self-publishing through Amazon (for now; there are other platforms for me to use). Sure, my sales aren't exactly setting records, but it's pretty cool to look at my page on Amazon and see nine books (soon to be ten) staring back at me.

At work, I get to listen (quietly) to music. Since it's available, I use YouTube. Usually I'm playing classical music or video game soundtracks (Icewind Dale's music is just awesome). But over the past couple of weeks, I started playing some indie artists, people who were rejected by the establishment at first, but who made great careers on their own. In particular, I've been listening to Postmodern Jukebox, Haley Reinhart, and Lindsey Stirling.

PMJ is one of my favorites; they take modern pop tunes and remake them in older styles. Trust me, you only think your favorite songs are cool. Until you've heard Bruno Mars' Grenade in a 60s surf rock style, or a slow-burn jazz version of Creep, you haven't heard music. And their version of the Titanic song, My Heart Will Go On, is brilliant and awesome in their upbeat, Jackie Wilson 50s' style. Seriously, check them out. You will have a whole new perspective on music.

Haley Reinhart is linked to PMJ, but I first saw her, as many people did, on American Idol. My wife teases me and refers to her as my girlfriend, but it's not her smoldering good looks that impressed me; there are plenty of beautiful women. No, it was her passion, her voice, and her willingness to take chances and be her own person that made her stand out, and it's an absolute crime that she didn't win. She's the best singer in Idol's history, end of sentence.

I suppose part of the appeal was that the judges were unusually harsh on her, as if they were deliberately trying to sabotage her and get eliminated. But she stuck around until the very end, finishing third. Since then, she's gone on to work with PMJ for several songs, but also carved out a successful indie career in jazz-infused pop music that's her own style, and works beautifully for her. She even had a big hit with her remake of Elvis Presley's Can't Help Falling in Love that was in a pretty well-known gum commercial. Trust me, her voice is absolutely amazing.

Then there's Lindsey Stirling. I'm sure that me mentioning her isn't exactly going to make much of a difference on her Youtube channel; she just passed three billion views on her channel. But still, her story is truly inspiring. She went on America's Got Talent almost ten years ago. While she did get through the audition, the judges' criticism after her quarter-finals performance is the stuff of legend. She is a hip-hop violinist, by which I mean she plays the violin but also dances at the same time. Well, the judges didn't think she could pull it off, or fill an arena, or do much of anything with her talent.

Today, she's got five albums, has toured the world several times, has over a hundred videos on her channel, mostly original music but a lot of gaming-related covers, as well. Oh, and she's been invited back to AGT as a guest performer, did a season of Dancing with the Stars, finishing second, and even got an invite to be in AGT: The Champions. She turned them down, of course, and who could blame her? She doesn't need them; in fact, she used their criticism to launch her career in an effort to prove that they were wrong. And did she ever.

My point in this post is that the traditional way of doing things is starting to fall apart, and not just in writing. Music, thanks to YouTube and other streaming options, is a hotbed of indie goodness. The mainstream music scene is just boring now; there's nothing new, nothing exciting, and nothing that you haven't seen a thousand times before, and done better. Indie is where it's at, regardless of your tastes in music.

Movies are a bit tougher, since it takes a lot more work to put one together. But it can be done. Star Wars and Star Trek fan films are legion. Perhaps we'll see some indie movie productions soon; with the current state-of-the-art in computer graphics, it might be possible to rival some of the bigger studios. Making their money isn't going to happen, but unless you're one of the rare few, even in indie, you're not going to make that kind of money anyway. You can still make a decent living from it, and you can certainly have a lot more fun with creative control.

So, check out indie publishing, indie music, and other things indie. It's a brave new world, people, and now is the time. For a good example of indie publishing, check out Best Served Cold, one of the Cameron Vail mysteries, available on Amazon right now.

Upcoming Goals

I know, I know...I keep writing and publishing more and more books. But I have been writing these for a while, so it's not like I'm just going at it for a couple of weeks to write a whole book. In fact, this is one I've been looking forward to getting published for almost a year now. I started writing seriously in late July of last year. The first story I wrote at that time was the first Bard Conley story, which is available in the anthology A Universe of Possibilities. That story will be the lead story of the new science-fiction anthology I'm preparing, which is still tentatively titled Bard Conley's Solar Adventures. Ten short stories, all loosely linked together in an overarching plot, taking place all over the solar system. It's pulp action, it's adventure, and it's fun. My goal is to have it done by mid-month so I can publish it and still leave myself some time to get another book ready before the end of July. Crazy, I know. But I'm not going to stop any time soon.

So, here's a tentative list of what I'm hoping to have done by the end of the year. This is very much subject to change, depending on how easy it is for me to find cover art (or afford to pay someone for it).

July: Bard Conley's Solar Adventures, sci-fi pulp action

    In the Beginning, a retelling of the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis.

August: Framed Shot, another Cameron Vail Mystery

    The Saga of Kane, the first book of a fantasy series set in a fantasy version of Japan.

September: The Gilded Age: The Gathering, more stories of pre-World War I superheroes.

    Apprentice, the first book in the Shadowmage fantasy series

October: Death Scene, the sixth Cameron Vail mystery

    The Dark Swamp, the third book set in the fantasy world of Meterra.

November: The second Kane book, still untitled.

    Another short story anthology, still untitled.

December: A seventh Cameron Vail mystery, still untitled.

    Tremors, the third book of the Gilded Age.

Well, that's a pretty ambitious plan, I must say. And it's entirely possible I won't be able to make it. I do have some of these books already written, so that will make things a heck of a lot easier. And, as I mentioned, plans are subject to change if I get inspired to write something different. But if it works, it will be awesome.

My plan for the year back in January looked a lot different, but circumstances being what they were, I think things have worked out pretty well so far. So, let's see what the second half of 2020 looks like, shall we?

My most recent book, of course, is The Gilded Age: The Awakening, available now at an Amazon website near you. Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Not the Thursday I Expected

Well, it's Thursday, but I don't have a review of the next Amazing Stories ready, since I haven't had the chance to finish it yet. I'm more than two-thirds of the way through it, but my reading time has been significantly cut back this week. So, I'm going to get that review done as soon as possible, probably early next week.

In the meantime, however, I'm excited to say that my new book will be published by tomorrow. I've got the manuscript taken care of; next up, the cover. That will be my seventh book, and my fourth mystery. The title is going to be Cold Star. I'll have an official book release announcement tomorrow, or possibly Saturday, depending on how long it takes Amazon to approve it.

In other news, I'm going to be forced to delay the publication of my sci-fi book due to not being able to get the cover art done in time. Not because the artist is slow, but because my budget is going to be affected by the forced purchase of a new car. My car has pretty much given up on life, and I don't live far enough north that I don't need air conditioning in my car at this time of the year. So, I'll be bringing it to the dealer Saturday, and returning with something new. Which means, no money for a cover this month. Which sucks.

However, I do have a contingency plan in place. I have another book that I've been working on that won't require me to buy a cover. I'll have more details on that soon enough. It's not a mystery, it's not fantasy, and it's not really sci-fi. It is, however, fun.

There isn't much else to say tonight, so I'll close it off by saying that if you would like to get some background on the new book, check out Final Exam, the first Cameron Vail mystery. Cold Star is the sequel to that book, taking place before The Missing Magnate. Enjoy!

Preserving the Past

I've mentioned the Internet Archive before; it's a site that keeps a whole heck of a lot of files from the past, including web pages, videos, documents, audio recordings, images, etc. It's massive. It's also awesome. There are pulp magazines galore, as well as a huge number of old movies that are now in the public domain, even in the United States (which has an insane 95-year copyright law). And it's all free.

There are rumors that certain people are planning to shut down the Archive because of 'copyright' issues. The problem with these issues is that the internet is international; copyright in Canada is the author's life plus fifty years. If the new USMCA agreement is ratified, that will extend to life plus seventy years. As a writer, I'm fine with that, since it means that my grandkids will still be getting royalties on what I write, long after I'm gone.

Still, the issue of differing copyright laws means that there are loopholes to get things in North America that are public domain elsewhere, but still under copyright here. So, if people are planning to shut down sites that carry public domain materials like old movies, magazines and music, that's going to be a significant loss, and it will just mean more pirating will happen. Sure, not too many people are using torrent sites for Charlie Chaplin shorts, but there is a demographic that wants that sort of thing available, and it should be. After all, using Chaplin as an example, his first film appearances (in short, one-reel Mack Sennett comedies) were released in 1914, one hundred and six years ago. Why should we lose access to those in sweeping site shutdowns, when they've been in the public domain for more than a decade?

Maybe nothing will happen; it might just be a lot of talk. But just in case, I'm grabbing what I want from the public domain stuff while I still can. There's gold in them thar hills, folks. Treasures rich and wondrous of a bygone era, when everything in movies was new, and people were still fascinated by a simple one-minute reel of a train going by, or grainy footage of an airplane flying a few hundred feet in the air. Creative geniuses like DeMille, Griffith, Chaplin, Pickford, Fairbanks, Sennett, and many more, names that are forgotten in our time, or at least remembered more dimly.

And with today's cancel-culture in full swing, there's a very real danger that these treasures will be snatched away; look at what's happened with the most popular and profitable movie in history, Gone With the Wind. Can you imagine what will happen when those people find out about Birth of a Nation, or Amos & Andy, or Warner Bros. Bosko cartoons? It's not going to be pretty, folks.

Here's the thing: We have to preserve the past so we can pass on its lessons to our own children. Not knowing history is what's gotten us to where we are, where we are watching a twenty-first century remake of the French Revolution. How long before the guillotines are erected once again? Hyperbole? I hope so, but who knows what's going to happen?

I've mentioned before that I study history; it's a fascinating subject, and very important. In fact, I just did two weeks on the French Revolution and its aftermath, and it's not something I want to experience myself. Neither do you, trust me. But the signs are there, if you know what to look for. Rejection of religion and establishment politics, mobs in the streets tearing down anything that might pose a threat to the new way of thinking, executions...today, so far, the executions are metaphorical; people aren't being killed, but they are being silenced.

Let's face it: Today's movies are great with the special effects and big explosions, but the stories themselves just aren't as good. Sure, the public domain movies are silent, or just have a tinny piano soundtrack to go along with them, but the stories are great. They had to be, because the technology wasn't there yet to go wild the way they do today. Same with the writing, which was chock-full of imaginative scenes that would be too expensive to film even with modern special effects tech, and plots that to us might seem cliché, but were original at the time they were written.

I know, I know; I talk a lot about things that happened decades or even centuries ago, but that's because, as I said already, history is critical to understanding the present. And the modern history books just don't cut the mustard, especially the texts in schools (if they even teach history now, which isn't always certain). Sure, the past had its share of issues, but people forget that there was a lot of good, too. And erasing the past just to get rid of the bad stuff will eliminate the good, as well. And that won't do anyone any favors.

That's not to say that there isn't anything worthwhile to read or watch today, but what you're looking for won't be found in the big publishers or in Hollywood. You'll find it in the indies, where writers, musicians and even filmmakers can be free to create whatever they want without the restrictions placed on them by the corporations that run publishing, music, etc. Guys like Brian Niemeier, Larry Correia, John Del Arroz, and dozens of others, writing books that are just plain fun to read, without being pigeonholed into specific genres.

Oh, and I write that sort of thing, too. Check out my first fantasy novel, Arrival, available at Amazon in both e-book and paperback. Try it; you might like it.

Why my Wife is Awesome

The other day, I got very, very excited when I took a look at my Amazon data and saw that someone had bought two copies of each of my fantasy novels, in paperback. These are the first paperback sales I've had, so obviously it was a thrilling feeling. Of course, I celebrated with my wife, because she's a big part of my writing, even if she doesn't read it.

A couple of days later, we got a package from Amazon that my wife told me was from the boys, for Father's Day. They'd gone into my wish list and bought something, apparently. Cool, that's awesome, and I couldn't wait to see what they'd picked up (since I couldn't remember what was on my wish list, anyway).

But the brain is a funny thing. I saw that the sales had come from Amazon Canada. Yesterday morning, I called my mother to let her know that I'd have the new book ready for her to read by this morning, and I idly wondered if it had been her that ordered my books. But she doesn't like fantasy. That's when the light bulb went off, and I put the obvious clues together. To her credit, she didn't crack, but she's learned that I am very good at figuring out her surprises, so she wasn't exactly shocked.

This morning, when I came to the computer to do my morning entry on the Traveller Let's Read, I saw, sure enough, these, sitting on my keyboard:

Now, I was excited last week when I saw that someone had bought them, but actually feeling them in my hands? Holy crap, that was an awesome experience. I can't even describe the emotions I was feeling. Fantastically awesome doesn't even come close.

And I wasn't the only one; my middle son, the twelve-year-old who loves fairy tales and fantasy, was so excited he brought it around to the neighbors to show them that his dad is an actual published author. He is absolutely psyched. And now, he's reading them himself, and loving them. He hasn't read them yet, since he's not allowed to read on my computer, and I'm not printing them out here. I don't need to; Amazon did that for me!

For those who care, by the way, the knights on the covers are not the same person. And that armadillo-thingie in the Devil's Playground? That's a monster I invented, and seeing it visualized by a professional artist feels great. The whole thing feels awesome.

Anyway, I'm just going to stare at these for a while, because it's still hard to believe it's real. I am married to an absolutely awesome woman, who wanted to support her husband's dreams and aspirations, and knew how much this would mean to me. How I managed to get by without her all those years is beyond me.

If you'd like to order your own copies, they're available on Amazon right now. Arrival and The Devil's Playground. Paperbacks isn't the only option; check out the e-books, as well.