A discount on the e-book version of The Opium of the People

If you're interested in reading the e-book version of my first novel, The Opium of the People, you can pick it up for $3.95 by entering the discount code QJ52F when you check out at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16609. That's $1.00 off the list price.

This discount is only available to readers of this blog (and the half dozen feeds of this blog elsewhere on the net), and it only lasts until the end of the month, so take advantage of this sale while you have the chance.

And also remember that you don't need an e-reader to download a copy of the book. You can read it right on your computer if you'd like.

Marionettes on the Moon is now an e-book

My second short story collection, Marionettes on the Moon, is now available as an e-book, and it's just 99 cents. This was the collection that looked at whether or not mankind has control over their destiny with 13 stories about characters trying to take control of their lives.

Like The Opium of the People and Seedlings on the Solar Winds, this book is available for a wide variety of e-books. They're even available in PDF, rtf, or text for people to read on their computers.

You can find it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16865.

A reminder about The Martian Wave

I just wanted to remind everyone that the premier issue of The Martian Wave is still available at The Genre Mall. For years The Martian Wave had been a webzine first produced by ProMart Publishing and then later by Sam's Dot Publishing. For most of those years, I was the editor, and I moved right along with the zine when it went to print.

There's a great list of names in this issue, so you really should order a copy...

stories
Steve De Beer: Adaptor
Tyree Campbell: Somewhere With Mornings
Dan Thompson: Prize Crew
Keith P. Graham: The Reefs of Jove
Patty Jansen: Luminescence
Bret Tallman: Into the Silence Flies a Moth
Rick Novy: The Pillars of Europa
Lawrence Dagstine: The Great Martian Depression
poems
Shelly Bryant: Bypassed
Justin Bohardt: The Barren Wastes
s.c. virtes: another pit for sale
Marge Simon: A Hollander's Secret Weapon: 1609
Marge Simon: Hindsight

Red Moon Rising has been delivered

I've just finished the final revisions on Red Moon Rising, and I've sent it off to Sam's Dot Publishing. This book has been more than 15 years in the making. I first started working on it before I'd ever even sold a story, but now it is done, and I can move on with my life.

I will be sure to let everyone know when I have a release date...I'm expecting it to be this fall, but I don't have anything specific yet.

A menagerie of links

Rather than post several blog entries, I'm just condensing everything into this one.

For readers of Aoife's Kiss, The Genre Mall is having a sale on the first 24 issues of this great magazine from Sam's Dot Publishing. You can order them for just $3 + shipping & handling. Several of the issues feature stories from me. http://www.genremall.com/zines.htm

Speaking of sales, Nomadic Delirium Press is having a sale on Ephemeris products, with discounts on all of the titles. The sale only lasts through the end of June, so if you play the game, or if you'd like to play the game, now's your chance to pick up everything you need. http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/store.htm

Two of my books are now available as e-books, and they can be read on most readers, or on your computer...

Seedlings on the Solar Winds: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16551

The Opium of the People: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16609

Also available is James Baker's novel, The Poet. Jim's the editor who first published my work, and he's also the one who got me into editing. His novel can be found at: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16552

Opium of the People as an e-book as well

My first novel, The Opium of the People, which was first published by ProMart Publishing and then later re-released by Nomadic Delirium Press has been turned into an e-book that should be readable by most readers...this includes people on computers that want an rtf or PDF file...so you don't necessarily have to have an e-reader.

You can find Opium at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16609.

Seedlings on the Solar Winds is an e-book

My short story collection, Seedlings on the Solar Winds, and other stories is now available as an e-book for a wide variety of e-readers. You can find it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16551.

It's currently listed as being by Nomadic Delirium, the publisher, but I think it should be changing over to being by me at some point in the future.

Meanwhile, revisions continue on Red Moon Rising.

Working, working, working

Rebecca went back to work on Thursday, so my lazy couple of weeks of work came to an end. I've posted several new titles to The Genre Mall, I've updated the Sam's Dot website, and I've gotten back to work on the revisions of Red Moon Rising.

Tyree suggested a few more changes to the book, which I'm working on, and I'm also adding a few details, thanks to the morons at BP. In the book, I've mentioned several times about oil leaks into the Gulf of Mexico, and a few early readers had mentioned that didn't seem all that plausible...but I kept them in any way. And now I get to add details from an actual spill. It's a nice little piece of synchronicity, but in truth, I'd rather it never happened. I feel so bad for the people and the animals along the Gulf. This will be an accident of epic proportions, and I think it will take a long time for the Gulf to recover...if it ever does. And I also don't think this will be the last time this happens. Government regulations on off-shore drilling have never been tight enough, and I doubt that they can really tighten them now. Big Oil owns too many politicians in Washington...sort of a theme of the novel...

I'm hoping to get the revisions back to Tyree in the next couple of weeks. Then I'm hoping we'll be going for a September release, although I think October might be more practical. If we get a September release, I'm going to try to set up one signing here in Denver before MileHiCon. After the Con, there just won't be enough time for me to do signings, since the baby is due just a couple of weeks after the Con.

I'm no longer an Amazon Associate

It came as quite a surprise to me when I got a payment from Amazon for my Associates account that was smaller than their minimum payment. But it came as an even greater surprise a couple of days later when I got a letter from them telling me that they'd completed closing my account.

I never asked them to close my account, so I was quite confused. An e-mail to them got the response that my account had been closed because I live in Colorado, and the Colorado government had recently enacted a law taxing on-line merchants.

This was all understandable, and I can actually agree with Amazon's decision to close the Colorado Associates accounts, but I don't agree with their decision to do it without contacting the associates themselves. What if I hadn't e-mailed them? Would I have ever found out? Still, I can't say that I'm actually unhappy with Amazon, because this is pretty much business as usual for them.

Look for all of the associate links to disappear from my site over the next few days.

The wedding

The wedding has now come and gone, and what a great day it was. We had to give up a lot of the things we'd wanted when we first decided to get married, and we weren't very happy about that. Of course, people kept telling us that when the day came, it wouldn't matter what we'd given up...all that would matter is that we were married. It seemed kind of crazy to us, but in the end, they were right. Not much of what we did was traditional, but it was a great day, with just one minor problem...

We got to the park a little late for pictures, but those all went well, and we had a lot of fun with it. We took the pics with the fathers first because we needed them to go pick up the cake and deliver it to the restaurant. When we'd first talked to King Soopers about doing the cake, they'd said they would deliver it, but when we ordered it, they said they wouldn't...should have been a warning sign. Shortly after the fathers left to get the cake, her dad called me to let me know that King Soopers hadn't made the cake. Even though the order form clearly said 5/21, they thought it was for Saturday. I don't know how much hell her dad raised, but we ended up getting half the price of the cake back, and they did a rush on it, so we could pick it up after the ceremony. Of course, when we picked it up, it was a little lopsided. I'd said all along that if anything went wrong, it would be the cake, and thanks to King Soopers, I was right.

After the pics, we went to the courthouse to do the ceremony, and we had a great judge who performed a very nice ceremony. Neither of us collapsed during the ceremony, and Rebecca only cried a little...or so she says.

We had our reception at the Macaroni Grille, and they did a great job. The food was good, the service was awesome, and they did everything they could to make sure that Rebecca and I didn't have to worry about anything.

We had a great time talking with family and old friends. A lot of people we wanted there couldn't make it, but we still had a good time. Cowardly me even got up and did three toasts. The first was to my "new" family. The second was to all of our guests, and the third was to the "people" who couldn't be with us. Those "people" were Jim Baker, Joe Mackey, KJ, and Rebecca's brother Danny. That toast brought a few tears to some eyes.

After that, we left for our brief honeymoon in downtown Denver...not the honeymoon we really wanted, but still a good time.

Prairie Dog Massacre

Many long time readers of this blog will know that I'm a nature lover. Even though we live in the city, there is a large field and a wooded area near us. Over the years, we've seen all kinds of animals around here. For birds we see all of the normal birds plus a lot of hawks. We even see an occasional egret or bald eagle. For furry critters, we have squirrels and rabbits, and even an occasional deer or coyote. But more than anything, we have lots and lots of prairie dogs...hundreds or even thousands, or at least we did.

Today, Denver Water came through and killed most of them. They dropped poison down the holes, and then collapsed the holes. I have no idea of why they would do this. We know that they're going to be putting in some new sewer lines at the farm on the other side of the field, but considering that there's a creek between these prairie dogs and the farm, it's kind of hard to believe that these lines will be in the area with these dogs. The fact that there are apartments on the side of the field with the dogs means that they can't run the lines to the street, so there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for the massacre.

I know a lot of people hate prairie dogs, thinking that they're just disease carrying rodents, but it's really not true. They actually serve an important role in the ecosystem around here, and even though a colony will occasionally be infected with the plague or some other nasty disease, how many diseases are humans passing around amongst themselves?

The simple fact is that we love our prairie dogs around here. They're fairly intelligent creatures, and we love to watch them, especially since we've learned a little about them. We're also questioning the timing of this slaughter. The young have only been out for a couple of weeks, so it seems very inhumane to kill all of them. If there really was a logical reason for this massacre, why not do it in the fall before the adults breed?

Plus, they did leave some of them alive, and they left some of the hole untouched, so if there was a logical reason for doing this, why would they leave some of them alive. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Overall, we are quite pissed with Denver Water. We're trying to get an answer for why this massacre has happened, but so far, we haven't heard anything.

FlashForward

It looks like ABC has decided to cancel FlashForward. I'm not much of a TV watcher, but this is the one show every week that I actually looked forward to. I also watched Caprica and V, but neither of those story lines come close to comparing to FlashForward.

I worry about Caprica because of the way BSG ended. The last thing we need is another deus ex machina ending. Any writer will tell you that's the worst way to end a story, and as for V, I mostly watch it because it's SF, although I don't think it's anywhere near as good as the cheesy 80's TV show.

FlashForward was different from most SF TV, however. The show had an intellectual edge, but at the same time, you didn't have to understand the physics they were talking about to enjoy it. I think the biggest thing that made the show different from other TV shows on today is that the drama between the characters was more realistic, which is probably why it didn't succeed. People want to watch shows like Grey's Anatomy, where the drama between characters doesn't really resemble anything in the real world. In that show, as well as a lot of other shows, people are sleeping around like crazy, which I think is what some people dream their lives could be like. In FF, when Olivia starts to feel an attraction towards Lloyd, she doesn't just jump into bed with him. That resembles reality a lot more. Most people don't have an affair just to have sex with someone else, they have an affair because they're having troubles with their significant other, and they feel an attraction towards someone else, and then over time, that leads to the affair. This is how FF dealt with the issue.

Most of the drama between characters was like this. It resembled what we see in the real world, and that is what drew me to it, and like I said, probably what turned others off.

Was the acting sometimes a bit stiff? Yes. Was some of the writing not the best? Yes, but these are true of most shows when they start out...especially SF. Look at the first two seasons of ST:TNG or the first season of Babylon 5. They had some horrible acting, and some really bad story telling, but the series grew into their own, and turned out great. I really think this is what would have happened with FF.

There are people trying to save the show on ABC, and others trying to get another network to pick it up, and I'm certainly hopeful that something will happen. There is a petition making the rounds to try to get ABC to save the show, if you want to sign it, go to http://www.petitiononline.com/47110815/petition-sign.html.

Honeymoon, wedding, and such

I have to admit that when Sam's Dot started the drive to raise money for us to go on a honeymoon, I really didn't expect much out of it, but people have been great, and we really appreciate it!!!

We aren't going to be able to take our dream honeymoon of going to Taos, but we will be able to get away for a couple of days. We're just getting a hotel in downtown Denver, and we're going to see some of the sites of our hometown that she's certainly never seen, and that I might not have seen. Certainly not what we were hoping for, but still a nice chance to spend some time together, and we have a lot of generous people to thank for that, and we are truly grateful. Not going to Taos might also be a good thing because Rebecca still isn't feeling very good, and who wants to drive six hours when you feel like you're going to throw up all the time?

We are pretty much done with all of our wedding planning. We got our license yesterday, and now we just need for next Friday to get here. Family starts to arrive on Tuesday, so that means I will spend most of the weekend cleaning...and you thought a writer's life was glamorous? Silly readers...

A Mother's Day update

As the BIG DAY approaches, things keep getting more and more hectic around here, but we still took some time out for a nice little Mother's Day. The oldest got her a bath set and made her a bird house in school. The youngest got her a lavender scented candle. I got her a very large picture frame. It holds seven pictures, so I put one of each of the girls, one of the girls together, one of me, one of the ultrasound picture, a picture of Mikey (the turtle), and a picture of our beloved K.J. (our wonderful cat who passed away earlier this year). She loved all of the gifts, and then she had to go to work. Mothers should not have to work on Mother's Day. If she's feeling good enough when she gets off, we're going to take her out to dinner.

We have most everything done for the wedding now. There are a few more odds and ends that we need to take care of, and we need to get our license...and then I need to clean, clean, clean our place.

Writing and such has taken a bit of a hit. I'd hoped to get the Law Enforcer's Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG done before the wedding, but now it looks like that will be June. I also got Tyree's editorial notes for Red Moon Rising, and there's quite a bit of work that needs to be done to get that into shape before it comes out this fall. I'd hoped to get through most of that before the wedding as well, but it looks like that too will fall by the wayside.

For now, we're just all trying to keep our sanity here. Simple weddings should not be this stressful...

Sam's Dot tries to save our honeymoon

As mentioned in a previous post, Rebecca and I have been having financial difficulties, and those problems were leading us to the logical conclusion that we were going to have to cancel our honeymoon. Well, Tyree at Sam's Dot Publishing has stepped forward in an effort to save our honeymoon.

Sam's Dot now has a donation page set up on their website for anyone that wants to help us out. Tyree's always been a classy guy, and this is just further evidence of that.

http://samsdotpublishing.com/honeymoon.htm

Many thanks to Tyree, everyone at Sam's Dot, and all of our friends...the ones we know, and the ones we don't...

Five new stories at Anthology Builder

I've mentioned Anthology Builder in previous blog posts. It's a great site where you can build your own anthology from a wide variety of stories. I now have five new stories up on their site. Those stories are:

Hunted
The Magenta Equations
Forgive Men their Trespasses
Tranquility
When Living is a Crime

It's really a great site, and I would recommend that you check it out...

http://www.anthologybuilder.com/authordetails.php?byline=J%20Alan%20Erwine

Bye bye honeymoon?

It looks like due to financial reasons, we're going to have to cancel our honeymoon. Like a lot of people in America, we've had a tough year financially. I'm still underemployed, with just writing, editing, and game design monies coming in...and there's not a lot of that. My unemployment ran out months ago, and I still haven't found work. On top of that, we've had a lot of unexpected expenses come up. Both of the girls have been to the doctor more this year than in previous years. It's never been anything serious, but the bills do add up...even with insurance, plus Rebecca's health has been far from great. On top of that, last week we had to get glasses for the oldest, and our insurance saved us a whopping $30...which means they were pretty expensive. And of course, earlier in the year we had all of the cat drama. Poor K.J. passed away, and we had to get his remains back, and at the same time, we had all the vet expenses of saving Mosi. All of these things added up to well over $1,000, and that pretty much tapped out our reserves.

A few people on Facebook have suggested setting up registries or asking for donations. Unfortunately, we only have three weeks left, and I don't think there would be enough time for us to get the money we need. Plus, I've always been the type of person who is very uncomfortable with the idea of asking for help. If it was something serious, then maybe, but this is just a honeymoon, so we may just have to say goodbye to our trip to Taos...

Earth Day

Earth Day is here, and I'm hopeful that a lot of people will take this day to look at their way of life, and possibly do something to change it, although I have to admit that I'm not very hopeful of this. Most people give Earth Day lip service, or worse, they laugh at it derisively.

I know there are a lot of conservatives out there who think that we don't need to worry about what we're doing to the Earth, but they're wrong. There are even a few who think that we don't need to worry about it because God will save us...they're REALLY wrong.

The Earth is the only home we have, and there's not much chance that we'll be going to the stars any time soon, and even if we do, Mars would be the most hospitable planet, and the Earth on her worst day is a hell of a lot more hospitable than Mars, so we need to take care of our planet.

I really wish I would have finished the edits of Red Moon Rising earlier, because Earth Day would have been the perfect day to release it, but alas, I was too slow.

There are a lot of books out there that look at what could happen if we continue to screw with the planet, but I'll plug the one that I edited, and that would be Ecotastrophe. This was an anthology that looked at some possible futures for our planet. Some of the stories were very bleak, while others were a little more hopeful, although all of them have the underlying idea that we need to change our ways.

Ecotastrophe

The DASFA meeting

Last night I did my presentation at the April DASFA meeting. In general, I hate speaking in public, and it probably showed. Doing all of the Cons that I've done has made it easier for me to be part of a group speaking to a crowd, but this was just little old me, and I was terribly nervous.

It was a pretty open forum talk, so I just basically decided to talk about how I got to where I am today as a writer editor and game designer. I started with when I started writing, which was basically when I learned to put a subject and predicate together, and then went from there.

Overall, I think things went fairly well. I got a few laughs at times, and when we hit the Q&A session, there were quite a few questions, so hopefully I got a few people interested in my work...

I spent a lot of time talking about the Ephemeris Role Playing Game, and people seemed genuinely interested, so hopefully we'll have a few new players with the system soon. They had a party after the meeting, and there had been talk that they'd play the game...of course, being as nervous as I was, I forgot to ask Rose if they were going to do that or not. We, of course, didn't go to the party because the youngest fell asleep during my presentation, and the oldest was on her way towards sleepy town as well.

Speaking of Rose, she really surprised us by presenting us with wedding gifts. We weren't expecting anything like that until the reception, but it was incredibly nice of her...but then we've come to expect that from her.

During the Q&A there were a lot of questions about small press publishing, and specifically Sam's Dot Publishing...so, if you're reading this Tyree, you might expect a few more submissions in the near future. Also had one question about Flying Pen Press, and I strongly recommended them as well.

Overall, it was a lot of fun, and I hope that the members of DASFA didn't feel like they'd wasted an hour of their lives...

A Problem in Translation is done

This morning I finished the final revisions on the novelization of my short story "A Problem in Translation." It's been a long process, and I'm glad it's over, although now I need to start the task of trying to find it a home. It came in a bit shorter than most of the major markets would want, so I'll have to do a little more research before I decide just where I want to send it first.

Now that this is done, I think I'd like to get back to writing some more short fiction. All of the readable SF that I've written has now been published, and I'm a bit burnt out on writing long stuff. So, I think I'll take a break and write a few short stories, and of course, I'll continue to work on materials for the Ephemeris RPG.

Hugo Nominations

The Hugo nominations were announced over the weekend, and no, I wasn't nominated for anything...nor was I expecting to be. It's nice to think that someday I might get a nomination, but I'd probably drop dead of shock if I did.

I was able to "watch" the nominations come in live from England as they were reported on through something like a chat window. The most pleasant surprise was when I saw Lawrence Schoen get a nomination for best short story. You see, many yarns ago when I was first editing for ProMart, I published a few of Lawrence's stories. So it was very nice to see one of the old time ProMartians get a nod. It kind of makes me think that maybe I do know a little something about editing...

Genre Mall Bestsellers

The Genre Mall Bestsellers list for March has been posted, and three titles that I'm involved with made the list. The new issue of Aoife's Kiss, which features on of my stories was number one. The premier issue of The Martian Wave, which I edited was number three, and Wondrous Web Worlds Vol.8, which I also edited was number five.

To see the complete list, go to http://www.genremall.com/bestsellers.htm

Prepping for DASFA

As mentioned previously, I will be speaking to DASFA next month. This will be a 30-45 minute presentation about myself, my writing, my editing, and the Ephemeris RPG. I'm not really one for talking about myself a lot, so I'm already trying to put together some notes on some of the things I might want to say. More than anything, I'm hoping I don't put anyone to sleep, but I think I should have some interesting things to say.

I think more than anything, I'll focus on myself and on the game, since they've had a lot of writers speak to them...many of them more successful than me, so talking about the things they may not have heard in the past seems to be the best route to go...

Pregnancy is Tiring

I'm finding Rebecca's pregnancy to be very tiring. Under normal circumstances, I (with some help from the girls) do quite a bit of the work around the house. I work at home, so it's just easier if I do it. However, since Rebecca has developed some seriously horrid morning sickness, I've taken on a lot more of the responsibilities. Normally on her days off, she'll cook, but I'm doing all of that now, and since there are only a few things she can eat, I usually have to make something different for her than what we're happening. She usually tries to help with the cleaning, but since she's feeling so bad, I don't want her to, and she usually doesn't have the energy to do it anyway.

Also, because of the person I am, I try to insist that she rest most of the time, and I wait on her for whatever she needs.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Under normal circumstances, I would walk to the ends of the universe for her, and now that she's carrying my child, I'd walk to the ends of the multiverse for her. I'm just saying that I've been even busier than normal lately, and I'm feeling quite tired, and I now have zero free time for fun...but it will all be worth it in the end, so I'd be an idiot to complain.

And a note to any guy that thinks their stay at home mom and wife doesn't do anything while they're at work...you're out of your mind. Taking care of a household is at least as hard, if not harder, than working a 9-5 job...

Ultrasound

We went for our second ultrasound today. The one we had two weeks ago was inconclusive, and there was a lot of worry that we'd lost the baby. Today's scan, however, showed that everything is good, and the baby is developing just as it should. Although it was still too early to actually hear the heartbeat, we were able to see it.

The last two weeks have been very stressful, and we're very happy to have a positive outcome on this one!

DASFA update

As mentioned in a previous post, I will be speaking at the monthly DASFA meeting on April 17th. The event has had a change of venue. The meeting will be at the Broadway Book Mall at 200 S. Broadway in Denver.

I will be speaking about writing, editing, and game design, and it should be a good time, so anyone in the area should please feel free to join us...

A little wedding updatery

It's now 64 days until our wedding, and we are still getting ready. This month has been a little less productive than we would have liked, mostly because Rebecca has been stricken with some heinous morning sickness. Let's just say that morning sickness isn't just for mornings anymore...

We did buy our rings, and we should have those in the next week or two. It's hard for me to imagine that I'm going to be wearing such an expensive piece of jewelery. I don't think I've ever worn anything that cost me more than $20...and this, this was definitely more.

In order to stay on track, we still need to buy my suit and order the cake...luckily those aren't too time consuming, and hopefully we'll be able to find the time and health to take care of both of those next week.

The RSVPs aren't coming in as fast as we'd hoped, so we will probably have to take the time to start querying people early next month. We really need those numbers for the restaurant. I know a lot of our guests are readers of this blog, so for those who keep asking, we're registered at Target, but you might have to use her name to find the list...because Target doesn't seem to want to accept J. as a first name...go figure...

For the most part, we're ready for this to be over with so we can just get on with life. Weddings should not be such a pain...

A quick reminder

I just wanted to remind everyone that my flash fiction story "Nobody's Home" appears in the latest issue of Aoife's Kiss.

Also, The Martian Wave issue 1, which I edited, is also now available. The zine focuses on the exploration and colonization of space...a subject that is very important to me.

Both of these zines are produced by the fine folks at Sam's Dot Publishing.

Ephemeris on Kindle

The Ephemeris RPG is now available for the Kindle. I'm not sure how pairing an RPG with e-book technology will work, but it seems like it's at least worth the effort. To order your copy today, go to http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BEEA0S

And of course, while you're there, don't forget that two of my books are also available for the Kindle, and those are only 99 cents...

Seedlings on the Solar Winds

The Opium of the People

Back to A Problem in Translation

Now that Red Moon Rising has found a home (to be released by Sam's Dot Publishing this fall), I'm getting back to work on the novelization of A Problem in Translation. For those of you not familiar with the story behind the book, I'll explain...

I originally had envisioned doing a short story collection centered around the crew of the Astrid. I wrote the first story, which appeared in Alternate Realities. Later, it was turned into an illustrated chapbook by Sam's Dot Publishing, and is still available from The Genre Mall. The second story appeared in Hadrosaur Tales. At that point, it was pretty obvious that I could combine the two stories, and then expand everything into a novel...and that's what I started doing. I've been through a few rewrites, but it's not quite there yet...but it is close.

Since this is a space opera, I've even done a little bit of a work on a screenplay for it. Normally, my work doesn't really lend itself to a screenplay, but this story seems to scream out for dramatization.

For now, I'll get back to work on the novel, and hopefully I'll make some good progress on it over the next couple of months...going to have a baby to feed, after all...

A Mosi update

I've had a few queries about Mosi. She seems to be recovering. She's once again eating and drinking on her own, and she's starting to put some of the weight back on that she lost, and she's once again growling and hissing at Rebecca, so it looks like she's beaten whatever it was...at least for now. If it turns out that she had cancer or heart disease, there will still be more illnesses ahead of us. If it was just an infection or pancreatitis, then she should be good for a while.

At least she'll get to celebrate her 11th birthday.

Nobody's Home in Aoife's Kiss

My flash fiction story, "Nobody's Home," appears in the latest issue of Aoife's Kiss. When I first started writing the story, it wasn't supposed to be a flash piece. I'd envisioned a dramatic look at one man's struggle with loneliness in an empty world...what I got was something completely different.

This is one of those stories that got away from me...but I like what I ended up with...

The Martian Wave

Since I first started editing...a long...long...long time ago, I've edited an on-line zine called The Martian Wave. Last year, Tyree Campbell (of Sam's Dot Publishing) and I decided to turn the on-line zine into a print zine, and we are now thrilled to announce that the first issue is now available. You can order it at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#tmw.


The first issue contains the following:
stories
Steve De Beer: Adaptor
Tyree Campbell: Somewhere With Mornings
Dan Thompson: Prize Crew
Keith P. Graham: The Reefs of Jove
Patty Jansen: Luminescence
Bret Tallman: Into the Silence Flies a Moth
Rick Novy: The Pillars of Europa
Lawrence Dagstine: The Great Martian Depression
poems
Shelly Bryant: Bypassed
Justin Bohardt: The Barren Wastes
s.c. virtes: another pit for sale
Marge Simon: A Hollander's Secret Weapon: 1609
Marge Simon: Hindsight

A new nerd is coming

Rebecca and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby...our third child. We are expecting an arrival date of early November.

Stay tuned for more as we have it...

Red Moon Will be Rising

With all of the cat drama we've been dealing with, I haven't been able to focus on my writing, editing, or game design, but I did get one huge piece of news last week....my novel, Red Moon Rising, which I have been working on off and on for more than a decade, will be published by Sam's Dot Publishing, with an expected release date of Septemeber.

The book centers around a young man trying to come to terms with the death of his brother, while at the same time trying to save the Earth from the ecological catastrophe it's facing.

The book is set roughly 40 years in the future, and things have gotten very bad. The main character, Erik Singer, finds himself going up against a major corporation that has only one goal in mind...make as much money as possible, and don't worry about who gets hurt in the process (including Erik's brother.) Along the way, Erik is joined by an interesting group of associates, including the Native American activist Charlie Chases Crows.

Look for more as the release date approaches...

A rough couple of weeks

A few days after we lost K.J. things seemed to go from bad to worse. We realized that my cat, Mosi, was no longer eating or drinking and was declining very fast. Her symptoms seemed to suggest constipation (which can be fairly common in older cats...she's almost 11), so we began to treat that by force feeding and force watering, but that didn't help, and she continued to decline.

We took her to the vet, and she determined that she had a lung infection with fluid on the pleura...plus she had a very high white blood cell count. A few possible diagnoses were just a severe infection, pancreatits, heart disease or cancer. The first two are treatable (usually), the last...not so much.

So, three days ago we started her on twice daily antibiotics, and we've also been infusing her with fluids twice a day. That's very hard for me to deal with, because I'm horribly terrified of needles, and the idea of someone poking my little baby is very disturbing...but it has to be done...

Yesterday she started eating on her own, and she's spent most of today cleaning herself. She'd gotten quite dirty from all of the force feedings, and she was just too fatigued to do anything about it. She also has started acting a little more like herself today as well. She follows me around meowing, and she hisses and growls at Rebecca...this is all pretty normal for her.

We still haven't seen her drinking on her own, and if she doesn't start before we go to bed, we'll have to infuse her with fluids again. Her breathing is also a still labored, but it's not as bad as it was.

We still don't have a diagnosis, and we don't know if she's going to make it, but she does seem to be doing better...and that at least is giving us some hope.

An update

We're still trying to do our best to cope with the loss of K.J. It's amazing how much an animal can touch your life, but he really did. This is one of my favorite pictures of him. He loved to lay in my lap, and seemed to do it every chance he got.

Everywhere we look around our place, we see things that remind us of him. Places where he'd lay, or play, or be K.J....which took a lot of work on his part, because he had a VERY unique personality. It's still very hard for us to believe that we lost him, especially since he wasn't quite 11. We always figured that we'd have at least another five years with him.

It may sound strange to non-animal lovers, but because he meant so much to us, we've decided that when we buy our wedding bands in the next month or two, we're going to have both of them engraved with his name, that way he will always be with us in some way.

Last night I had a very strange dream. In the dream, I woke up in the middle of the night having a lot of chest pain. Rebecca called the paramedics, and they rushed me to the hospital, but I died of a heart attack while they were trying to work on me. Quite surprising to my dream personality, I came back as a ghost in the hospital. I quickly left the hospital and headed home.

As I came through our door (literally), I saw K.J. laying on the back of the couch in his favorite spot. I said, "Bubu," and he looked up at me with this expression that seemed to say, "You can see me?" I picked him up and hugged him close, but then we realized that Rebecca and the girls were devastated, and there was nothing we could do for them.

A quick jump in dream time, and Rebecca and the girls were packing to move to Texas to live with her mom. As they were leaving, I picked K.J. up and carried him down to our van. We then rode with them all the way to Texas so that we could be with them.

Like I said, very strange...

KJ

Last night our beloved cat, KJ, passed away. It was sudden and completely unexpected. We're still not sure what happened, and we're both completely devastated.

KJ would have been 11 this April, and Rebecca has had him since he was just a couple of months old, so he was a huge part of our family.

Bubu, as he was also known, was a very friendly cat. He loved to play with people, and he was always more than ready to curl up on someones stomach or on their lap. Every morning when the alarm would go off, he would come into our room and jump up on the bed, and then proceed to lay down on Rebecca so she couldn't get up.

Whenever she'd be eating cereal, he'd sit and watch her, and as soon as she would put the bowl to her lips, he'd jump onto the couch cushion next to her, raising his paw in anticipation. Because he always knew that the last couple of drops of milk would be for him.

When she'd get home from work at night, he'd be ready to play, knocking toys over, biting elbows, and generally acting like a kitten. No one would have guessed his age, and we certainly wouldn't have guessed that he was sick in any way.


He would always sleep in some of the funniest positions, and a lot of our pictures are of him sprawled on his back, or curled up in a way that would look awkward even for a cat. Whenever we'd get home from the store, we'd always have to put the bag with the bread up on the counter, because if we left it on the floor, he would try to sneak over and bite his way into it. He had a thing for bread.

There were many times when I'd be working at the computer, just as I'm doing now, that he'd come in and sit down next to my chair. He'd then reach up with his big white paw and pull on my arm until I'd reach down and pet him. Once he was satisfied with the petting, he would either lay down next to my chair, or he'd jump up into my lap...either way, you could hear his purr from several feet away.

Our Bubu Luvs was a wonderful cat, but he was also one of our best friends. He always knew when we needed attention, and he was always ready to give it. To say that he will be missed is an understatement. His absence leaves a big hole in our hearts that we will carry with us forever...

DASFA

For those SF fans in the Denver area, I've been asked to speak at the April meeting of DASFA. I'll be talking about writing science fiction as well as editing, and of course, I'll be talking quite a bit about the Ephemeris RPG.

The meeting will be April 17th at 7:00 pm at the Whole Foods Market at 1111 South Washington Street in Denver. I hope to see quite a few of you there.

An early February update

The first week of February has been a crazy one. We finished up our wedding invitations, and got those sent off on Thursday. We probably could have come up with more than 100 people that we would have liked to invite, but with money being what it is, we had to cut that list down quite a bit. Of all the planning we've done so far, I think deciding who had to be there was the hardest thing yet.

Sunday will be our youngest's 5th birthday, but because Rebecca doesn't want to take vacation time (saving that for the wedding and honeymoon), we had to take her to her birthday movie on Thursday and then we had her party last night. We went to see "The Princess and the Frog," which overall wasn't that great of a movie...but it was nice for the girls to see a princess of color. Our oldest has some self-esteem issues about her racial background, so hopefully these kinds of things will help. The youngest seems to have gotten the idea that now that she's five, she's some kind of princess and has been quite a handful behaviorally, so we need to convince her she's not before she starts kindergarten in the fall.

Meanwhile, still working on Ephemeris stuff, and should have an announcement to make about an appearance...probably later today...

2010 Million Writers Award

I mentioned this on my Facebook, but I also wanted to mention it on my blogs as well. I'd like to extend a thank you to Karen Newman of Afterburn SF for nominating my story "Forgive Men their Trespasses" for the 2010 Million Writers Award. It looks like it might be a bit of a literary award, so the odds of a genre story doing well might not be that good, but I certainly do appreciate the nomination.

If you're interested in reading the story, you can find it at http://www.afterburnsf.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=29171e81-5511-46dd-b860-fa263a1bb2f0.

The story is set in the same "world" as my novel, The Opium of the People, which can be found at http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419625888.

The Ephemeris Species Compendium

The Ephemeris Species Compendium was released today. This is the compilation of the six species sourcebooks that I wrote. At the moment, the Compendium is available as a PDF download at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78417. The Compendium will also be released as a trade paperback in the coming weeks. Everyone associated with the game is very excited that we're going to be able to do some print supplements in addition to the PDF files.

Downloads are great, but I really love the feel of a book in my hands, so I'm glad to see the game going in this direction.

The Soldier's Sourcebook

The Soldier's Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG has been released. You can find it at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78404.

It looks like there will be a print version of the six species sourcebooks for the game. They will all be combined into one paperback book...we're still working on the title. It also looks like Ephemeris Critters & Pests by Ian Brazee-Cannon will also be released as a print book at some future date. In addition, there will also be a print version of the class sourcebooks, which Josh and I are currently working on. Like the species collection, this will probably be all of the class books put together, but as we still have a lot of these to write, so this will probably be a long time in the future...

An officiant booked

We managed to find a judge who was going to be available on the day we wanted for our wedding, so we now have someone to perform the ceremony. We thought we had someone much cheaper lined up, but apparently he wouldn't do it because I'm an Atheist...and so many radical Christians (not all Christians) claim they're persecuted in this country.

We've broken everything up into months, and this was the last thing for January, so that's a good feeling. Next month, the only things on the agenda are mailing out invitations, getting dresses and accessories for the girls, and booking our hotel in Taos...shouldn't be too bad at all...

Cleaning out the slush

I spent the weekend reading through the slush piles for The Fifth Di... and The Martian Wave. I can now, quite happily, say that they are empty!!! Although they probably won't be tomorrow when I check in on them.

Still, it's a good feeling to know that for at least a few hours I've responded to all of the submissions.

The Martian Wave cover

I've seen an early mock-up for the cover of the first print issue of The Martian Wave, and I'd have to say that I really like it.

For long time readers of mine, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the initial cover will be done by Laura Givens. Once everything is finalized, I'll give all of you a look!

My little Bro...

My youngest brother is a professional polo player, so I thought I'd give him some props by posting this video...

For Gamers

If you're a gamer, and you want to help the people of Haiti, then DriveThruRPG has a deal that you can't pass up. For just a $20 donation, you get over $1,000 worth of RPG products from a wide range of publishers. Included in this bundle, is the core rulebook for the Ephemeris RPG.

So, if you love role playing games, then you can't pass up this deal. Go to... http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=78023&SRC=haiti

More wedding planning

We're now getting deep into the wedding planning. We met with our photographer yesterday, and so that's all good to go. We've also started registering for gifts, and we hope to have that out of the way either tonight or tomorrow night. We've started planning the honeymoon, and we hope to book the hotel in February or March. The biggest problem we're having right now is getting information on how to book a judge at the courthouse. Calling and e-mailing has gotten the same answer from everyone we've talked to, which is, "We don't really know." That to me seems absurd, since there have to be a lot of people who do courthouse weddings. I'll try again after the holiday, and if I can't get a result at that point, then we're just going to go to the actual courthouse and talk to people until we find someone that knows what in the hell they're doing.

Since we're going to be sending out invitations next month, we're going to sit down with the girls tonight and we'll all pick out a font to use for those.

So far things have been fun, and not too stressful.........

Preditors & Editors Poll

It's that time of year again. Although I've become a bit disillusioned with this poll over the last few years, it is still a good way to gain some publicity for my work, so I will once again push for votes...

You can vote for me in the following categories...

Author: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/author.shtml

Science Fiction Short Story: Forgive Men their Trespasses: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/shortstorysf.shtml

Zine Editor: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/zineeditor.shtml

And you can vote for The Genre Mall as best bookstore: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookstore.shtml

2009 in review

Looking back on 2009 from a professional point of view, this was a mixed year. My fiction publishing was a bit sparse. I had two short stories published this year, and didn't write any new ones. I did however revise one novel to completion, and another is hopefully one or two drafts away from being done.

The big news for this year was that we finally released the Ephemeris RPG. In addition to doing much of the writing on the core rulebook, I also created a species sourcebook for each of the game's species. I created on character sourcebook, and started on another. I also wrote two adventures for the game, and created some miscellaneous stuff that will be useful for players.

From a professional standpoint, I'm fairly satisfied with the year. I would have liked to have written a little more fiction, but that just didn't seem possible.

From a personal standpoint, this was a great year. Each day brings me one day closer to marrying the most wonderful woman in the world.

See you in 2010!!!

Wedding Update

It's been a while since I mentioned the wedding, so I figured I'd post an update. We've decided to scrap the idea of a ceremony, and have opted instead to go to the courthouse on May 21st. After that, we'll be taking our closest friends and family out for dinner...where there will be wedding cake. Rebecca insisted on that. Sometimes I think she's more excited about the cake than about marrying me...no, not really.

After the wedding, we'll be honeymooning in Taos, New Mexico.

The idea of spending thousands of dollars on one day seemed ridiculous, given that I'm still unemployed, and she doesn't get paid as well as she should, so we'll be doing something smaller. I know she'd really like the big ceremony, and I feel bad that she can't have it, but the most important thing is that we get married...

Merry Christmas

I don't know if I'll be on-line any time during the next couple of days, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time...either genuine or stolen.

We're just going to be doing the family dinner thing on Xmas night after opening presents in the morning. We have our two dogs staying with us for a couple of days, so that's an added 100+ pounds of animal hanging out in our little place...and the cats are not happy about it.

Hope you all have a great one...whatever you celebrate...

Keeping myself busy

Even in the midst of all of the holiday madness, I've been keeping myself busy, and getting quite a few tasks completed.

As already mentioned, I delivered Red Moon Rising to the publisher that might be interested in it. I also delivered the manuscript for the first print issue of The Martian Wave to Tyree at Sam's Dot. I'm hoping for a February or March release.

I've also completed The Trader's Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG...and now I need to start on the Soldier/Mercenary's Sourcebook.

I've also almost completed Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 9 for Sam's Dot. I'm just waiting for some info from a few more contributors, then I will be delivering that as well.

Yeah...not too busy...

Red Moon Rising has been delivered

I've just sent the revised version of the new novel to the publisher who had requested some re-writes on it. I have my fingers and toes crossed that this one will finally find a home. I've been working on it off and on for years, and since it's a novel about the environment, a cause I'm a very big believer in, I'd really love to see it published.

So...if you could all cross your fingers for me, I'd appreciate it.

More deals

Cyber Monday may be over, but there are still some good deals out there on my stuff...if you don't mind e-books...

First off...
Nomadic Delirium Press has created a new bundle. For just $10, you get:The Ephemeris rulebook, The Expanded Ephemeris Equipment List, Necessity's Call-A low level adventure, The Ephemeris Book of 1st Level Characters, The Ephemeris Book of Tables, and Seedlings on the Solar Winds-A collection of short stories from Eph...emeris creator J Alan Erwine http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=68777

Secondly...
Nomadic Delirium Press has dropped the price on the NDP Fiction Bundle through DriveThru SciFi. You can now get all four of the e-books for just $7. Two short story collections from J Alan Erwine and a novels from James Baker and J Alan Erwine. Almost 700 pages of science fiction for just $7...you can't beat that.

So, order today... http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65749

Cyber Monday Specials

With this being Cyber Monday, I figured I should let all of you know about some specials involving books I've written...or helped to write.

DriveThru SciFi has a Nomadic Delirium Press e-book bundle for just $5. You get three of my books...Seedlings on the Solar Winds, The Opium of the People, and Marionettes on the Moon...plus you also get The Poet by James Baker. four e-books for $5 is hard to beat. Simply go to http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65958 and order all four now

DriveThru RPG has the e-book version of the core rulebook for Ephemeris available for $5. You just have to go to http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?discount=17204 and you can start playing tonight.

Both of these sales are only for Monday, November 30th, so you need to order now!

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to pop in and wish all of my readers in America a Happy Thanksgiving! At our home, we're just going to have a small gathering. It will just be Rebecca, the girls, probably her brother, and me obviously. We'll be doing a small turkey and a ham, as well as potatoes, corn, and most of the other traditional Thanksgiving foods.
Rebecca bought a holiday cookbook a couple of months ago, and we're starting a tradition where each Thanksgiving two of us will pick something, and on Christmas the other two will pick something. This Thanksgiving, it's my turn as well as the oldest's turn. For some unfathomable reason (at least to me), the oldest picked shrimp cocktail...I will of course not be indulging in that. I, on the other hand, picked a chocolate cheesecake, which should not come as a surprise to anyone that knows me.
One thing we're going to do that would fall more into the non-traditional foods would be that I'm going to be making my Chickasaw Frybread.
I think it's important that while we're all celebrating what we're thankful for that we keep the Native Americans in our minds. Of all of the racial groups in the US, they've really gotten screwed the most, and Thanksgiving is a reminder of that, so please take a moment to remember the tragedy that has been perpetuated in the name of America on the original inhabitants of this continent.

Whipping the WIPs

The last few days have been very productive. Yesterday I finished up the Expanded Ephemeris Equipment List. This Ephemeris RPG supplement is meant to add to the equipment list that was provided in the original rulebook. There just wasn't enough room in the original book to come up with a good equipment list, so the EEEL gives you 65 pages of equipment, and it's all available as a free download from DriveThru RPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65873.

Just moments ago, I also finished writing up the notes for the re-write of Red Moon Rising. The next step is to actually attack the re-write, which I'm hoping will only take two or three weeks.

Progress is good!

The WIPs

I currently have two major projects that I'm working on. The first is the re-write of Red Moon Rising. This is progressing well, although I think I still need to soften the antagonist a little. He still seems a little too harsh to be believable. If all goes well, I should still be sending this off to the publisher by the middle of December...and then we sit back and cross our fingers.

The second project I'm working on is the Expanded Ephemeris Equipment List. When we released the initial rulebook for the game, it had a small list of "goods," but it was nowhere near enough, and I've been working on a much larger list. I was originally thinking that this would be available by the end of the month, but I might actually be able to get this done before Thanksgiving...assuming that life doesn't interfere. Once it's done, NDP will be making it available as a free download...so any Ephemeris players out there, get ready for a lot of new stuff you can add to your character!

In addition to these two biggies, I'm working on getting the December Sam's Dot update ready, putting together the first print issue of The Martian Wave, and putting together Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 9...plus dozens of other smaller projects.

It seems like a lot, but I only seem to be happy when I'm truly overwhelmed!

Oh deer

Yesterday, as the snow was starting to fall, I went to the window, and I saw these visitors coming up out of the canal behind our place...



I knew we had deer around here, but I never really expected them to come this close. The girls were really excited to see something like that so close...although they seemed to be more worried about getting cold...kids!

Revisions on Red Moon Rising are continuing. It's my hope that I will be turning in the final revisions to the publisher about one week before Christmas. It would be nice to get them done earlier, but you know, there's this little thing called LIFE that always seems to get in the way...

And so it begins...

I've finally started on the much-delayed revisions of Red Moon Rising. As a refresher, this is my environmental disaster novella that I've been working on off and on for more than a decade.

A small press publisher read the most recent draft and was intrigued, but felt that the book need some extensive revisions...or at least the first third of the book needed revisions.

I hate revising, but I'm through chapter one now, and I'm heading into the parts of the book that really need work.

Wish me luck!!!

Marionettes on the Moon is an e-book now too

My second short story collection, Marionettes on the Moon, and other stories, is now available as an e-book at DriveThru SF. You can find it at: http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65619.

And the best part is that the collection will only cost you $1.00.

When Living is a Crime

My rather dark SF short story When Living is a Crime has been published in the latest issue of Tales of the Talisman, which can be ordered from The Genre Mall at http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#talisman.

Info about the issue: Karen Anne Mitchell introduces us to a Taiyiha--a woman who has been made into the ultimate lover by aliens--and a lonely man who faces his own inner demons. Join Lawrence R. Dagstine as he shows us the lengths a werewolf must go to adopt a child. Danielle Ackley-McPhail gives us a glimpse into the life of a lonely man and the solace he receives from a humble visitor. J Alan Erwine will show you a dark future where a soldier who has seen too much is treated as a criminal. This issue includes eleven stories and eleven poems guaranteed to sweep you away on wings of the imagination. Don’t miss the autumn 2009 issue of Tales of the Talisman!

The opening paragraph of my story: Moonlight through a smoky haze and a field strewn with contorted corpses. That was the sight Niklas found when his brain finally let him see again. He didn't know who the invaders had been, but he knew the corpses on the field. Bodies that had fallen on one another until rigor mortis finally set in, locking them in poses out of Satan's version of the Kama Sutra. Friends who had gone to the Great Beyond before him. Friends that would hopefully guide him in the days and weeks to come.

E-books

Two of my titles are now available at DriveThru SciFi as e-books. You can find The Opium of the People at http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65438, and Seedlings on the Solar Winds, and other stories at http://scifi.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=65440.

They're both priced $10 off the normal trade paperback price, so what are you waiting for???

Why, yes, it is snowing

I'm sitting here playing catch up (mostly Sam's Dot stuff), and watching the snow outside my window. It started snowing last night, and it's been pretty steady all day, although it seems to be picking up a bit now. I'm guessing we have about eight inches right now, and I'm pretty sure we'll end up with more than a foot by morning, but in reality, this storm is not all that impressive...as Colorado snow storms go.

MileHiCon day 3

The last day started out as quickly as the previous. At 11 in the morning I ran a game of Ephemeris. It looked like we wouldn't get enough people, but I ended up having six players with me, which is exactly what I was looking for. I had Ian Brazee-Cannon, creator of Ephemeris: Critters & Pests, Howard Brazee, Flying Pen Press publisher David Rozansky, Stace Johnson (for an hour), and James Van Pelt's two sons...who I'm afraid to say I didn't get their names. We played for two hours, had a lot of fun, and by the time we were done, my voice was going.

But that didn't matter because immediately after the game, I had a panel called Stories, Art Direction, & Web Design for Online Magazines. Unfortunately, our moderator didn't show up. Lucky for us, Carol Hightshoe quickly volunteered me, and everyone else on the panel agreed...so I moderated a panel that I hadn't even given any thought to. Luckily, it was a panel I knew something about, so I was able to wing it, and I think it went pretty well.

After a quick lunch, we caught the 20 lb. Critter Crunch, which the kids always really seem to get into...and for that matter, so do the adults. After that, we had about an hour to kill, so rather than walk aimlessly around the con, we went to the room where they were going to hold the closing ceremonies and decided to hang out there. Before anyone else showed up, Marc Gunn (the musical guest of honor) showed up and put on an impromptu concert for us...which was VERY cool. Nothing like having a GOH perform for just your family.

Then it was the closing ceremonies, and everything came to an end. I didn't get to see anyone as much as I'd hoped to, but I did want to mention a few people that I did get to spend at least a little time with...Laura Given, Rose Beetem, David Lee Summers, Ian & Sarah Brazee-Cannon, Howard and Patricia Brazee, David Boop, Carol Hightshoe, David Rozansky, Stace Johnson...and a cast of hundreds.

Normally I use the old digital camera to get some pictures, but it's been giving us some problems, and we had some disposables that I picked up from the Office Depot by us before it closed...so we decided to use those. Very bad decision! Rebecca called a little while ago to say that almost none of the pictures came out...

MileHiCon day 2

Hit the ground running for day 2. My panel was at 10 am, and this one was GM 101: A Thief, a Mage, and a Paladin Walk into the Tavern. It was about being a game master and running RPG's. It was a fun panel and had a much larger audience than I'd expected...with a lot of good feedback from the audience. I plugged Ephemeris as much as I could without being truly obnoxious.

Immediately following my panel was my signing. Luckily I was sitting with David Boop and Carol Hightshoe. Since we all knew each other, it gave us something to do since there were very few people coming by. I think the biggest problem, and this was echoed by a lot of the authors I talked to, was that the signing table was not in the Dealers' Room this year. I realize with Nancy Kress and Barbra Hambly, they need the room out in the atrium for all of the fans, but for the rest of us, being in the Dealers' Room where people are actually looking to spend money makes a lot more sense. Moving us back into the Dealers' Room would be my main recommendation for next year.

After that, it was mostly doing stuff with the kids. Superhero costuming, superhero gadgets, mask making, and face painting. Our oldest had bracers painted onto her arms, while the youngest had zebra stripes painted onto her face.

We then went to the Marc Gunn concert, which was very entertaining. That was followed up by the Masquerade, which I thought was a bit of a let down this year. Not many costumes, and a lot of them seemed thrown together...still can't believe the Predator didn't win.

As we were getting ready to go home, we ran into an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in many many many years. I didn't even know he would attend something like MileHiCon, but there he was, and he seemed to be having a good time.

MileHiCon day 1

I had planned on blogging over the weekend, but we got home late every night, and I was exhausted. Overall, the con was good, although it seemed a lot less energetic than usual. Attendance was down a bit, and I don't think people had as much money as usual...so for those of us hoping to make some money, it didn't go so well. Plus the kids kept acting up for some reason...haven't really figured out why yet.

The first day started with the 100 Years Since Darwin panel. Most of the discussion was about how SF gets Darwin right and wrong, although we did finally get into the whole Darwin/Creationism debate. Of course, it wasn't really a debate since most everyone in the room comes down firmly on the side of Darwinism. I think Courtney Willis had the best observation when he pointed out that this is really only a debate in America. Most of the rest of the Western world accepts Darwinism, and the whole "Intelligent" Design argument doesn't even exist.

Later in the night we went to the opening ceremonies, which are always entertaining. That was immediately followed by the Odd Austin concert. They seemed shocked that we were actually staying to watch them, but they're always entertaining. You can think of them as young Weird Al's. We had to pick up their first CD while we were there too.

During the opening ceremonies we'd let the oldest go off to a panel on her own. This was a kids game that they were going to be playing revolving around Rangers. It let her have more fun at the con, and gave hopefully gave her a sense of independence that she might not always feel. Unfortunately, there were some issues between the Rangers and the ConCom, so they had some problems playing their game over the weekend.

After the Odd Austin concert, we had planned on going home, but apparently the Rangers were getting together for a meeting during the Floatilla...so we went to that as well. This is where people build their own little boats and race them in the hotel pool.

Overall, day one was quick...but fun. More about days two and three later...

Getting set for MileHiCon

The Con starts in just a few hours, and we're getting all of our final preparations done. My first panel will be at 4. If you're going to be at the Con, be sure to say hi. If you're not, you'll be able to follow my progress on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jalanerwine.

If I have time, I'll blog about the con over the weekend, but it might be early next week before I get to it, because we're going to have a very full weekend.

Species Sourcebooks

I've now finished all six of the species sourcebooks for the Ephemeris RPG. This has been a pretty big undertaking, and I'm now glad that they're done. I'm currently working on finishing up a low level adventure that we'll play at MileHiCon. After the con, the adventure will be available to the general public.

I'm really enjoying all of this RPG work that I've been doing, but I have to admit that I'm starting to miss writing fiction. Hopefully I will be able to get back to that fairly soon.

Circus

Last night we took the girls to the circus. I have some very mixed feelings about the circus. I remember having a great time going as a kid back in Ohio, but I also know that circuses have a long history of animal abuse, although I haven't heard any "direct" accusations made against Ringling Bros. in quite a while. Still, it always makes me wonder if going to these things is a good idea.

However, kids don't understand this stuff, and they had a blast. With all the financial issues we've had over the last couple of years, we haven't been able to do as much for them as we'd like...so this made it worthwhile.

Still, given the things I was hearing from people around me, I have to wonder if seeing animals perform gives the general public the idea that that's what wild animals are here for...to perform for us...

Of all the crazy things we saw last night, perhaps the craziest happened before the show even started. Now you get to go down onto the floor and meet the clowns and some of the other performers. While we were down there, I ran into one of my old college professors...to be more precise, one of my favorite professors. He and I got a chance to talk for a few minutes, and it was pretty cool. His Abnormal Psych class has had a huge influence on my writing...

My MileHiCon schedule

No word yet on whether or not I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris, but here's the schedule as I have it now...

Fri. 4pm 100 years since Darwin
Sat. 10 am GM 101: A Thief, a Mage, and a Paladin Walk into the Tavern
Sat. 11 am signing with David Boop and Carol Hightshoe (with the three of us, it should be entertaining)
Sun. 1pm Stories, Art Direction, & Web Design for Online Magazines

Hope you can all make it!!!

An Ephemeris Update for early October

Yesterday, the Melanathee Sourcebook for the Ephemeris RPG was released. This is the fifth of the species sourcebooks I've written for the game. Each features information like character classes and skills that are specific to each species. They're small PDF books that are available at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/store.htm. Hopefully I will have the Tulmath Sourcebook done in the next few days, and then we will have all of the species rounded out.

I think these books will give a nice little twist to the game that we just couldn't include in the initial rulebook. Even though the book is just over 400 pages, the Ephemeris universe is just too damn big to fit in those pages.

In the future, we will be releasing sourcebooks for each of the classes, and Ian Brazee-Cannon (who wrote the Critters & Pests book) is working on a Smuggler's Handbook that we will hopefully have out by the end of November.

I'm hoping that I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris at MileHiCon in a few weeks. If I do, please feel free to drop by...we will need players, and I'll have copies of the game with me for anyone that might be interested.

H1N1 and other news

This last week has been a long and tiring one. Our oldest started running a fever and generally felt like crap. We finally got her into the doctor and they confirmed that she had influenza A, and 96% of the influenza A cases in Colorado are H1N1, so the odds are that she had the dreaded swine flu.

Now that she's feeling better, I have to admit that were I kid, I would much rather have swine flu than the more garden variety of flu, because other than a sore throat, some congestion, and a fever, she had no other symptoms. She had a little bit of nausea at times, but that's where it stopped. I remember being a kid and having the flu. I also remember having to keep a trashcan by the bed.

I realize that at some point H1N1 might mutate into a very deadly flu strain, but the reality of the situation right now is that this flu is not that bad. If you look at the stats, fewer people are dying from H1N1 than die from the regular flu. This is another case of the media blowing things out of proportion...and yes, I realize it could get bad, but people certainly don't need to be in the state of panic that they're in at the moment.

In other news, this has slowed my progress on creating Ephemeris supplements. I was hoping to have the last of the species sourcebooks done in the next couple of days, but instead, I still have two more to finish. Still, I would ask that if there are any gamers reading this blog, check out the game at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm. I really think we've created a very fun game.

I should be receiving my MileHiCon schedule any day now, and once I get that, I'll post it here as well. I'm hoping that I'll be hosting a game of Ephemeris at this year's con.

A condolence card

Yesterday we received a condolences card from the vet who has helped us with all of our sick dogs. Everyone from the office signed it. This one was for Thunder, and I assume we'll be getting one for Coco in the very near future.

Enclosed with the card was a poem on a sheet of paper with her paw prints. I found the poem very touching, so I searched it out on the internet to share with anyone who has ever lost a pet...

http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

Anyone who is a regular to this blog knows that I'm an Atheist, so I don't believe in what the poem has to say, but it was touching, nevertheless...

Thunder and Coco

I've been wanting to post about the dogs that we've lost in the last few weeks. For those of you new to my blog, our dog Spike contracted Parvo, and we spent a lot of money to pull him through that. Shortly after that, his sister, Thunder, also contracted Parvo. Unfortunately, it hit her a lot harder, and we couldn't save her.

Then last week, our oldest's 17 year old Cocker Spaniel, Coco, had to be put down because of old age. It might have been kidney failure, or it might have been liver failure, but at his age, there was really nothing we could do for him...

This is Thunder...

This was taken on our way back from Texas when she was about three months old. She was a very smart dog. We'd bring treats over and put them up on top of something, and after she ate her treats, she'd run over to wherever we had the treats hidden and start barking.
She would have made a really good guard dog. Whenever we'd come over, she'd get down on her belly and growl at us, until she realized who we were. Then she'd start jumping all over us.
She learned sit and stay pretty well for a young girl, and she was always full of kisses for us.
She will be missed.

This is Coco...

Even though he was partially blind and partially deaf...or maybe mostly blind and mostly deaf, he was still a very sweet boy. Whenever he'd realize we were around, he'd come up to us wagging his stub. When he first met Spike and Thunder, he wasn't really happy with them, but after a couple of weeks, he was jumping around with them, and even trying to jump on us...despite the fact that he was 17 years old.
My favorite story about him was that he used to jump on the bed of our oldest after he'd been drinking, and if you've ever had a Cocker Spaniel, you know that there ears get very wet. She never liked his wet ears, so she'd push him off the bed. He, of course, would jump back on the bed with his happy expression, and with his stub wagging, like he was saying, "I know you didn't mean to do that, so here I am again..."
He will also be missed.

This is Spike...

This was just taken last week. For a four and a half month old, he's pretty big. He thinks he's a 30 pound lap dog, always trying to sit on our laps and then trying to chew on our arms and ears.
He's a really good dog, and loves to play with us, but I think he's feeling kind of lonely because all of his friends keep disappearing. We're just trying to make sure that he knows just how much he is loved.

And because the cat gets jealous if I talk too much about the dogs, here is a picture of Mosi with her Homer...

We lost another dog

On Thursday, we had to put our oldest's 17 year old Cocker Spaniel, Coco, down. He'd been in their family for four years, and he was a very sweet dog. Unfortunately, time just caught up with him. The vet thinks it was kidney or liver failure, but there really wasn't anything we could do for him at that age.

The oldest was sad, but she took it better than her mom and I did...and she definitely took it better than I did when my dog was hit by a car when I was in third grade. I missed something like three days of school because I was so upset...

I really have to wonder about people

I wonder whatever happened to common courtesy in this country. Because Rebecca's dad needed her van to go to Texas, we've been using his Blazer...which is a piece of crap. It has starter problems, the gas gauge doesn't work right, and I don't even know what else is wrong with it.

Anyway, on Thursday morning, we were taking the oldest to school. The Blazer stalled out at an intersection. For those of you familiar with Aurora, it was the intersection of Colfax and Tower...for those of you not familiar, this is a road with a speed limit of 55 and some very nutso drivers. We stalled in what would be the passing lane if people in Colorado actually observed the idea of a passing lane.

So, we sat there. Dozens of people drove by us, honking, yelling, and gesticulating. Nobody stopped. We couldn't even get the stupid car in neutral to push it off the road. Meanwhile, we're sitting in a car with people barely swerving to miss us as they try to get through green lights. How we didn't get rear-ended by someone doing 55 or more, I have no idea.

We finally got the car into neutral, and I managed to push us off the road...of course, no one stopped to help me. So we sat at the side of the road for a while, and still no one stopped. Finally, we realized we were going to have to get gas. So I walked half a mile to the gas station, bought a gas can, and lugged back a gallon of gas. While I was gone, one person actually did stop to see if my family was ok...but only one.

Eventually we got the car started, but it then died in front of our apartment. So, we have been without a car, which means that I've been taking the oldest to and from school by bus (which is expensive no matter what RTD might try to tell you.)

So, I have to ask again, whatever happened to common courtesy in this country? A family stalls out in a car, and they're more of an annoyance than someone who needs help. We often stop to help other people, but one has to wonder what's the point if no one else is willing to do this...

Because of all of this, I find myself once again way behind on work, and struggling to get caught up. It's really been a couple of crappy weeks.

Ephemeris Update

We've been hard at work on Ephemeris materials. A couple of weeks ago we released Critters & Pests by Ian Brazee-Cannon. This is a look at some of the creatures that make space travel a challenge...to say the least.

Yesterday we released the first of the Species Sourcebooks. These will be guides that give more info about each of the species. The first one released was the Althani Sourcebook (by me), which features info on two new sub-classes, two alternative species forms, some new equipment specially designed for the Althani, and a martial art that can only be used by the Althani.

All of these are available as PDF files at the Ephemeris website at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/store.htm.

And all of the Ephemeris products are available as PDF files from DriveThru RPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805

Puppy update

It looks like Spike has made a full recovery. He's back to his usual puppy self, jumping on everyone and trying to love on everyone as much as he can. He's already put three pounds back on, and we were able to return him home yesterday. Before we did that, however, we spent five hours spraying everything in the back yard with a bleach solution...hoping to kill any of the Parvo virus that might still be there.

Unfortunately, it's not all good news...Spike's sister Thunder also contracted it, and it hit her a lot harder and faster. When we picked her up, I held her the entire way to the vet, and she just stared up at me, struggling to breathe. When we got her to the vet, she was running a fever and had a pulse of 200. The vet was also pretty sure that she was septic. We had no choice but to put her down. It was my first experience with this, and it has been a rough few days in our household.

We're certainly happy that Spike made it...but we really wish he still had Thunder to play with...........

A crappy day

When we went to get our daughters back from Texas this summer we brought back a puppy for them. His name is Spike. He's a lab mix who's very smart and one of the sweetest dogs I've met.

Lately he hasn't been feeling good, so we took him to the vet today. Turns out he has Parvo. We checked him into the hospital to get the best treatment they can give him. They're saying he has a 50/50 chance, but we're going to do everything we can for him...even if we can't really afford it. He's part of the family, so we have to.

Crazy busy

It's been a while since I've posted because I've been crazy busy. The e-book versions of the Ephemeris RPG have really started to take off. We've got quite a demand for new material, so I've been trying to write stuff as fast as I can. In the next couple of days we'll even be releasing our first supplement from someone outside of the design team. For info about the e-titles, please visit DriveThru RPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805. We even have an introductory bundle posted which contains e-versions of the initial rulebook, a 1st level adventure, 54 1st level characters, and the Book of Tables. All for just $10. We wanted to price it low because anyone who games knows what it's like to drop $30 or $40 on a supplement, only to get it home and realize it's worthless, and if people decide they don't like our game, we don't want them to feel like they've been ripped off. And of course the best reason is that we really want people to try the game out, and at $10, you really can't go wrong.

In other news, I've been busy building furniture for the girls room (not from scratch), and my future Best Man was also in town, so I've been away from the computer quite a bit. In fact, yesterday was one of those rare days when I didn't even check my e-mail.

Both of the kids are under the weather, and crabby as hell...and I can now feel the creeping cruds creeping up on me...

Got Game?

The Ephemeris RPG is now out and should be available wherever you buy books or games. If your local book, game, or comic store is not carrying the game, you can request it with the following ISBN: 978-0-9801703-1-3.

For more information about the game, or to order it (or Ephemeris merchandise) on-line, please use these links...

The Ephemeris webpage:
http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm

The Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0980170311

The Nomadic Delirium Press page at DriveThru RPG, where you can buy e-book versions of the rulebook and the first adventure:
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2805

The Ephemeris merchandise page:
http://www.cafepress.com/ephemeris