As noted previously, the original title for what became Castaway Resolution was Castaway Peril, and dealing with hard-edged science is always a danger. The models and sites I had accessed gave me a particular view of what would happen towards the end -- a view that turned ...
2021-09-08 00:37:54 +0000 UTC View PostAnchorcon (https://www.anchorcomicon.com/) is a small Comicon in the resort village of Clayton, NY. They kindly offered to pay for us to come and stay there, so how could we turn that down?
I'll be recording and putting...
2021-08-19 11:44:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn Castaway Resolution (originally titled Castaway Peril), the two groups of castaways on Lincoln find themselves facing a terrible final danger: surviving the impact of a dinosaur-killer asteroid on their new homeworld, long enough for an approaching spaceship to effect a rescu...
2021-08-06 00:53:33 +0000 UTC View PostYeah, you read that right.
I have been a part of many fandoms over the years, with some of the most enduring being general SF and anime fandom. This has of course led to various works of fan fiction, ranging from the million-plus words of Saint Seiya/Samurai Troopers/Dragonball fanfic...
2021-07-07 00:35:04 +0000 UTC View Post... the audio for the Read Me Something rewards recorded; I think I can post them over my vacation, which starts this weekend.
Another reminder -- help push Shadows of Hyperion if you can! (link 2021-06-24 00:41:39 +0000 UTC View Post
There's nothing you can do to help me more than letting people know about Shadows of Hyperion -- as a new book, and part of a series. The link for Shadows is:
As with many books, Grand Central Arena went through some changes. The largest obvious change was that the original draft starts with the Holy Grail about ready for launch, while the final version introduces us to all the crewmembers before we get to the action. In some ways, ...
2021-06-04 00:33:26 +0000 UTC View PostAnnouncement: Shadows of Hyperion is now up!
Request: Please spread that link (2021-05-27 10:38:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Most books have components that have been cut from them, and mine are no exception. Often the cuts are material that turned out to be irrelevant, and has no effect on the book once cut.
This chapter's a bit different, in that the event shown here DID happen, and is even ref...
2021-05-16 18:38:56 +0000 UTC View Post... to some new patrons who've come on board in the past few weeks. I hope you'll enjoy what I post (or have posted, since new patrons get access to all the old stuff), and as always, please feel free to ping me with any suggestions or requests!
2021-04-25 18:43:50 +0000 UTC View PostAnd we continue this look at one of my books in its nascent form, from about thirty years ago (and about twenty years or so before its final version was written).
This chapter is a bit longer, and just as clumsy, including several sections from different points of view. I'll make a f...
2021-04-09 02:11:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe most positive thing I can say about this early draft is that it MOVED. Three chapters in and we're getting to the event that sets everything else in motion.
Otherwise, this is an example of my old writing that really makes me wince, for multiple reasons you'll probably see as you ...
2021-03-07 17:48:13 +0000 UTC View PostContinuing our look at the earliest version of the story that became Phoenix Rising -- let's see the first appearance of our villain!
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The figure sat in shadow, long fingers caressing the packet
of Cards. The single lightglobe, hangi...
2021-02-08 21:13:05 +0000 UTC View Post... posted the Read Me Something rewards for the month. I couldn't record the fourth chapter I normally would -- life interfered and then COVID doubled down for life. Hopefully I'll recover and be able to do 5 chapters next month and get us back on track.
... I have tested positive for COVID-19. Hopefully this will not have a huge effect on my work, but I am pretty much hammered right now.
2021-01-26 01:31:37 +0000 UTC View PostTo my great surprise, this week I discovered a file that has the ORIGINAL draft of Phoenix Rising -- then, of course, called Fall of Saints -- in it.
This is a story written in 1991, almost thirty years ago. It's clumsy in a lot of ways, and I'm VERY glad that it wasn't published back...
2021-01-10 20:03:34 +0000 UTC View Post... over the next few weeks I'm making _Polychrome_ publicly accessible. It's been over a year since I completed reading that novel, and far far longer since I started. Since there's no audiobook of it in existence, this will sort of make up for it. I posted the first prologue before, but now we'...
2021-01-02 05:05:39 +0000 UTC View PostOriginally, I started Kyri's story much earlier -- gave a glimpse of her family before disasters started in on them. Eventually I realized this slowed the book down, and started trimming and trimming until we ended up with the final version -- her parents several years dead and Rion just having a...
2020-12-02 01:43:18 +0000 UTC View Post
My "Read Me Something" reward series -- the highest reward tier -- has been ongoing ever since the beginning of the Patreon, starting nearly four years ago and now encompassing three books.
The first of those books, my Oz-based novel Polychrome, I finished reading almost a year ago. I...
2020-11-22 20:35:24 +0000 UTC View PostThere are often a lot of changes between the beginning of a novel or series and its final form. The next few posts here will be looking at the changes between the start of the Balanced Sword series and the final version.
The original title of Phoenix Rising was Fall of Sa...
2020-11-11 01:11:58 +0000 UTC View Post... their patronage: let me know why, so I know if it's "I can't afford this now" or if it's "I don't like the way Patreon's doing X" or if it's something that I am failing to do as a person running a Patreon.
I totally understand that people can end up deciding even small amounts per...
2020-10-29 14:47:11 +0000 UTC View PostMy computer is sorta-working (needs to have a separate keyboard and mouse plugged in) but that's good enough for now, so I get to do updates!
The first story set on Zarathan, my main epic fantasy world, was the Balanced Sword trilogy (Phoenix Rising, Phoenix in Shadow,, and Pho...
2020-10-11 16:33:00 +0000 UTC View Post... and without internet (I'm borrowing this access for a minute). Once that's restored I'll be able to start posting rewards!
... that I welcome any requests or suggestions for appropriate reward material. If there's stuff you're not seeing that you want to see, don't hesitate to let me know!
... I have asked Patreon about the possibility of taking any taxation and similar fees to myself.
Unfortunately, the laws surrounding taxation apparently require that the individual be the one charged, so I can't do that.
I could, of course, modify the "categories" into wh...
2020-09-27 20:40:10 +0000 UTC View PostI've been writing in the universe that includes Jason Wood, Demons of the Past, Phoenix, and others for a very long time. Besides figuring out the past, I've also outlined the future of that universe to a considerable extent.
There's one set of stories I have fairly clearly in mind wh...
2020-09-08 23:59:18 +0000 UTC View Post... to all of you for supporting me. In my current financial state, this isn't just paying for things like covers, it's sometimes paying for things like power bills. I try to keep most of it for my writing career, but in any case it always makes a huge difference.
Thank you.
And...
2020-09-08 23:34:29 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the great looming mysteries/background events of the Arenaverse is Hyperion -- the secret project that created Marc C. DuQuesne and his friends Oasis, Wu Kung, and others, a cosmic-scale effort to create the heroes of a thousand fictional worlds that succeeded in a terrible and great fashi...
2020-08-07 00:39:18 +0000 UTC View PostThis series of posts covers stories for which I have a general idea or even a fairly detailed outline, but for one or more of several reasons I am unsure whether I should or can write it.
For this month, it is the story of The Wanderer.
Those who have read the Balance...
2020-07-08 01:11:21 +0000 UTC View Post... not only will I be having a Virtual Reading/Release Party for GODSWAR: The Mask of Ares, but also host Joshua Marpet promises an SF trivia quiz with prizes! Join us on Tuesday night 2020-06-14 16:28:05 +0000 UTC View Post