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!