A Spring Walk

The oldest and I took a walk yesterday, exploring some of the "wild" around us that we hadn't seen before. On Thursday, we noticed that the prairie dog babies were starting to come out of their holes...so, the first shot I got was of one of them on its hole. He's kind of hard to see, but he's the off-colored spot on the fresher looking hole...



Normally, this field is very brown and sparse, but since we've gotten a few inches of rain in the last month, the field has really greened up. So, I had to get a shot of it...



Having prairie dogs around is a pretty cool thing, and I've been reading up on them, trying to understand why they do the things they do, and I've found that they have a complicated society, and actually seem to be fairly bright. Not only that, but they aren't the nuisance that most people claim they are...in fact, they're an important part of the ecosystem in this part of the country. There are hundreds of these guys in the field, and with the green, they stand out a lot more. So if you look at the other side of the river in this shot, all the little brown splotches are prairie dogs...



The most surprising part of the walk was when we came upon this young lady. I had no idea we had these so close to our place. This picture was actually taken within half a mile of our door...

For Goodreads followers

I'm now cross posting this blog on my Goodreads site, so now you can read my entries here, or over there...your choice.

If there's anything specific that you'd like for me to talk about, please let me know...

The first revisions are done!

I've just typed out the last of what are the first revisions on Ephemeris. The revised rules are almost 15% longer with quite a bit more detail. There's still a lot of work, as we still need to add more things for the characters to play with, but this is a significant step.

I feel like I've been working on this beast for years, and I actually have been, and it will be nice once we finally release the game. As of right now, we're shooting for an Aug. 1st release, but if all goes well (which it rarely does), we might be able to push that release up a little!

Stay tuned for more information as I have it.

An update for the end of April

I've been very busy of late. I've had a case of the creeping cruds (no, it's not the swine flu...people really need to relax on that subject.)

We're nearing the end of the school year for the oldest, so she's had all kinds of events. I've also been putting a lot of effort into the revisions of Ephemeris, and I'm almost done with those. I've also been working on a bit of a redesign of the Flying Pen Press website...hope to debut that eventually.

We've also been working on trying to get all of our financial issues worked out. We were supposed to be getting married in a few weeks, but Rebecca's tax return was intercepted because of unpaid student loans, and now her wages are being garnished. Add to that me losing my "real" job, and things have been a struggle, and we've had to postpone the wedding until next May. By then hopefully the economy, and our personal finances will have improved.

In the next couple of days I will hopefully be posting an entry about finishing the first revisions on Ephemeris. At this point, we're hoping for a release date right around Aug. 1st, but there may be a pre-sale event even before that...so for those of you who have impatiently been awaiting the release of the game...it may actually be coming!!!

Ken Rand

Back when I first started out this crazy endeavor of writing, I was published in several ProMart magazines. Around the same time, there was a guy named Ken Rand who was also being published alongside me. When I became an editor for ProMart, I had the pleasure of publishing Ken several times...often joking with him that his stuff was too good for what I was editing...and in some ways that was true.

Over the last few years, we've exchanged an occasional e-mail, posted on each other's LiveJournal from time to time...but overall we didn't keep in touch like we should.

I've just learned that Ken passed away yesterday. He'd been sick for a long time, and he often talked about the fact that he was outliving any of his own expectations for his health, but I guess his illness finally became too much for him. All I know is that I wished I would have kept in touch with him more than I did.

You'll be missed Ken. You were a great writing talent, but more importantly, you were a great guy...

Great experience during revisions

Normally, revising my work is something that I really hate doing. Last night, I had one of those great experiences while working on the revisions of Ephemeris. It was after sunset, and I was sitting in our living room with the sliding glass door open. Yes, true, we did just get almost a foot of snow just a few days ago, but that doesn't mean it can't be really warm a few nights later. During that storm, this area got a lot of moisture (we saw a lot of rain and snow), so the river that runs through the field close to our house is running high and running fast. Needless to say, it was quiet enough last night that I could hear that river running while I was working on the revisions.

There's just something about the sound of running water that seems to drive the creative juices. I've heard this from a lot of writers, and I know it's true for me. So, I sat for a solid three hours and just cranked out notes for revising the game. It was one of the best revision sessions I've ever had.

Sadly, with the dry heat we're now getting, the water levels are starting to drop in the river, so I might not get to repeat that experience for a while...at least not until we start getting our Summer deluges.

The initial draft of Ephemeris is done

I've just typed the last of the 80,000+ words that is the initial draft of the Ephemeris RPG. This has taken forever and a day to get to this point, but as of late, I've been getting a lot done on it. Unfortunately, my partner in this has dropped the ball a bit, and I've had a lot more work to do than I expected...but it's done...it's done...it's done!!!

There's still a lot of work ahead of us. I have to go back through and put in all kinds of table. I have to work on the language to make it smoother. And I have to make some changes to the early part of the game because some of the rules changed half way through. Things just made more sense the farther into them that I got.

It shouldn't take anywhere near as long to revise the rules as it did to create them, so we're still hoping for a late Summer release. It would be so nice to finally have this beast out of the way...but it's been a lot of fun creating the game.

Now...I think I'll sleep. This last little push has left me with some severe insomnia...

An Ephemeris update

The RPG I've been designing, Ephemeris, is now very late in delivery. However, there is definite progress that is being made. Most of the initial draft of the rules has been written. My co-designer is supposed to be sending me the final chapter that I need very soon. At least, I hope he will be. If he doesn't, then I need to write that section. After that it will be some tweaking of the rules, and a whole lot of re-writing...but we are making progress.

I'm hoping for a release in late summer or early fall.

Price on my Kindle books reduced

If you're lucky enough to have a Kindle, you can now get two of my books for just 99 cents!

The Opium of the People and Seedlings on the Solar Winds are both available from Amazon for a new low price. Here are the links...

The Opium of the People

Seedlings on the Solar Winds

Why are you here?

Since joining NetworkedBlogs, I now have nearly 100 followers...and I know there were several of you here before I joined. I would imagine that quite a few of the people who are "followers" actually just excepted the Facebook invitation because that's what a lot of people do. But for those of you who actually do follow this blog now...or who have followed for quite a while, I'm curious as to what makes you read this particular blog? What do you like to hear me talk about?

This is your chance to give me some feedback...

Thanks...

Forgive Men Their Trespasses at Afterburn SF

My story, Forgive Men their Trespasses, is the featured story at Afterburn SF this week.



This story is set in the same "universe" as my novel The Opium of the People, although this one takes place in the Denver metro area. Those of you familiar with Denver might recognize a few of the places.

Hope you enjoy the story...

The Blizzard

As Colorado blizzards go, this one wasn't much of anything. We did have sustained winds of about 40 mph, and we did get about a foot of snow in this area, but anyone familiar with Colorado in March knows that that's not all that impressive.

Still, I did promise some pictures to a few people, so here they are.

During the storm (a little dark because of the blowing snow):


The morning after:




No matter how much snow, the kids always have fun:

Filed By

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm always trying to find a new way to promote my work. Today, I found Filed By...and I signed up, so please feel free to check out my page. It's currently a work in progress...

The end of BSG

Last night was the final episode of Battlestar Galactica, and my thoughts on the final episode are about the same as my thoughts on the series as a whole. It had some great moments, and it showed a lot of potential, but ultimately it fell flat.

The whole series had a little too much "God" or "Gods" in it for my taste. I don't necessarily mind science fiction with a bit of a religion in it...as long as it's a good story. Watching last nights episode, however, left me greatly disappointed. In a lot of ways, I felt that the writers fell back on the old Deus Ex Machina, which seems to be something you can get away with on TV...but NEVER in print fiction. In the end, everything happened because that was how God wanted it to happen...what a lame rip off! And Starbuck? She was an angel? What does that say about this Cylon God, considering that Starbuck fracked half the guys in the fleet?

Overall, I would give the series and the final episode a C+. It had moments of greatness, but it fell back on literary cliches far too often. I imagine the writers thought they were being clever by having the Galactica end up at prehistoric Earth...but guess what guys? It's been done before...and Douglas Adams did it better!

I guess the good thing is that I now have an extra hour to work on Friday nights...

Flying Pen Press

I've just been named Senior Editor at Flying Pen Press. I will be taking over many of the editorial duties in an effort to free up the publisher to focus more on the things that a publisher should be focusing on.

Flying Pen already has several great titles out, and you owe it to yourself to check them out.

A busy week at The Genre Mall

In a good month, I'll add about 15 new titles to The Genre Mall. In the last three days, I've completely blown through those numbers. On Monday, I uploaded 13 new titles, and today I uploaded another 10 new titles. Those numbers are unprecedented.

It was a pretty wide variety of titles, and I've also added a new publisher...Flying Pen Press. Please feel free to check out all of the listings at http://www.genremall.com/new.htm.

The Syfy channel

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard that the SciFi Channel is planning on changing its name to the Syfy Channel. If you weren't already aware, I'll wait while you go read the article...

http://www.tvweek.com/news/2009/03/sci_fi_channel_aims_to_shed_ge.php

Is it just me, or were you insulted as well? I was particularly annoyed by:

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.

I personally embrace the term geek and nerd. I happen to be proud of those names, and let's face it, there are a lot of very successful people out there that are geeks and nerds...Bill Gates ring a bell?

When I first heard about this, I was thinking it was time for those of us that are geeks and nerds to band together and boycott the Syfy Channel...then I realized that they don't really show anything worth watching anyway...

Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8

Last night I finally finished the editing of Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8, and I e-mailed it off to Tyree at Sam's Dot Publishing. I've already seen a mock up of the cover, which was done by Laura Givens, and it looks like it will be a very nice looking book. Once it's actually released, I will post a table of contents and an ordering link...of course.

I have two more days at the real job, and then it will be time to file for unemployment. I'm going to be sitting down with someone (can't say much yet) on Tuesday to talk about a job. It wouldn't be a job that would pay really well (yet), but it's a job with a lot of potential...and it's something I would REALLY enjoy doing. So, we shall see what comes of that.

A day at the ER

Yesterday was a fun day spent at the ER. Rebecca called me at work at 10:30 saying she was in intense pain and thought she needed to go to the hospital. I left work and quickly came home. She was having intense pain (she said it was worse than labor) in her back and abdomen.

So, we ended up going to the hospital. Seven hours later, we got the diagnosis we were expecting...kidney stones. She's not the type that does anything easy, however. She has them on both sides, and one of them is larger than normal...so it might not pass. I took today off from work to make sure the oldest got to school, and to keep an eye on the youngest, while I keep Rebecca doped up on pain killers.

Seven hours seems a bit ridiculous for a Monday afternoon at the ER. I know they have a triage system set up, but I don't think it works. There were a lot of people that got in before us who didn't even look like they were in pain...whereas she doubled up several times while we were waiting. If she'd had a severe kidney infection, those extra hours of waiting might have made a big difference in the final outcome.

After she was discharged, we went to get her prescriptions filled...that was the next part of the ridiculous day. Her anti-nausea prescription was $110 for 15 pills...and that was with insurance!!! Something tells me socialized medicine might not necessarily be a bad thing. The funniest thing about it was that her highly addictive narcotic pain killer was only $5. Yeah, the American health care system really works. I hate to imagine how much all of this would have cost us if it had been me...I don't have insurance. Even with her insurance, I'm sure this is going to set us back quite a bit.

The one sad part of the night was while she was in her room waiting, I saw the police bring a girl in who was probably 13 or 14. She was cuffed, and because they didn't have any empty beds, they were questioning her and giving her a breathalyzer in the hallway. I think she'd attempted suicide. In the two plus hours we were in the room, I never saw her parents show up...that's the biggest tragedy of all...

Weekend update

Things have been hectic around here, so that's the main reason for the lack of posting of late. We had the in-laws staying with us for a couple of weeks, so that kept us busy with a lot of different things. Since they left, the kids seem to have forgotten how to behave, so that's made life interesting.

This coming week was supposed to have been my final week at my "real" job, but it looks like we're going to stay open for at least one more week. I've been able to pick up some extra hours, and as a result, I should now qualify for unemployment if I don't find a job...which I don't think I will right away. I've never liked the idea of government aid of any kind, and I've never had to take any kind of aid in the past, but times are changing for all of us, and stimulus or not, the economy pretty much sucks right now.

In the writing corner, I've had a small press publisher pass on Red Moon Rising, but they gave me some very specific things that didn't work for them, and offered to re-read it if I can make the changes. Given my crazy schedule, it will probably be a few months before I can get back to work on the book.

My main writing project right now is still Ephemeris. I'm making progress on the game, but it's very slow progress. For editing, I'm pretty sure we've read all of the submissions for Infradead, and we will soon be finishing that up. I feel very bad about that project because I haven't had enough time to devote to it like I would have liked. As a result, our co-editor, Scott Virtes has had to pick up a lot of the slack...and I feel very bad about that. I'm also working on Wondrous Web Worlds Vol. 8, and I will hopefully be sending that off to Tyree at Sam's Dot in the next couple of weeks.

That's about it for now. I'll try to post more often as time allows it...but now I must feed the kids, and continue to try to find a "real" job.