E-book sale

March 2nd through March 8th you can get any of Nomadic Delirium Press's e-book titles for 25% off. Simply go to https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/nomadicdelirium and use coupon code REW25. This sale is good all week on any of their titles, and you can use it as many times as you might want to.
This sale includes one of my novels, two of my short story collections, all of the Ephemeris products, and several zines that I edited.  Grab them while you can!
 

The stitches are out

Alexis had her stitches removed Friday.  There's still a nasty bump by the scar, but the doctor says that's caused by her neck trying to adjust to the hyoid bone being removed, and over time, everything should go back to normal.
Overall, her health is good, and we've had the best outcome we could for.  We're just very glad that this ordeal is over, and we hope to never have to go through anything like it again.

February recap

EEG pictures
Busy day
The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Twenty-One (Arbonix Space)
If only I'd had money
Why there are no black holes in the EEG
Surgery tomorrow
Healthcare in the 21st century
A reprint sale
The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Nine (Tulmath Space)
The March issue of The Fifth Di...

The March issue of The Fifth Di...

The March issue of The Fifth Di... is now available.  This issue: The Fifth Di… features some of the best science fiction and fantasy fiction and poetry. In this issue: Henry Brasater, Wayne Carey, G.O. Clark, and many more.
You can order it from us at http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/blog/product/fifth-di-march-2014/ and if you use coupon code "zines" it will be 20% off.
You can also order a variety of formats from Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/411191.

The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Nine (Tulmath Space)

The latest supplement in our Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica is now available:
The Tulmath are the most peaceful of the six species, focusing more on trade than on anything else.  They may want to dominate the other species economically, but they aren’t usually the type to go for military domination.   Now you can learn about the planets they’ve colonized, the systems they struggle to try to control, and the systems that they hope will launch them deeper into space.
The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica will be a multi-volume collection looking at each sector of space.  The Encyclopedia continues with Sector Nine (Tulmath Space).
Order from us at: http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/blog/product/ephemeris-encyclopedia-galactica-sector-9-tulmath-space/
Order from DriveThruRPG at:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/126737/The-Ephemeris-Encyclopedia-Galactica-Sector-Nine-Tulmath-Space

A reprint sale

I've sold the reprint rights for my story "Origins" to Tales of the Talisman.  It will appear in their Winter issue...not this winter, but next winter.  This is a great magazine, and I always love when my work appears here.

Healthcare in the 21st century

After having two days of watching the American healthcare system in action, I'd have to say that I'm very disappointed.  The people who were responsible for Alexis' care were outstanding, some of them even amazing.  Everyone did everything they could to make a scared little girl, and her scared parents, as comfortable as they could.  The problem was that the hospital was horribly understaffed.  The first time she needed pain meds, they didn't have any of them on the floor, so they had to order them from the pharmacy.  That took about an hour and a half...which for pain, especially pain in a small child, is completely unacceptable.  The other problem was that there weren't enough nurses in her section of the hospital.  They were friendly and seemed skilled, but there were too many patients for them, so we had to remind them often of what she needed.  In fact, when it was time for us to be discharged, there was actually only one nurse working.  The desk was being run by a nurse who was supposed to be on her lunch break, so she was eating and working at the same time.
So, kudos to everyone for taking care of my little girl, but something needs to be done about staffing in hospitals.  I realize that a lot of this has to do with the insurance companies, and whether someone thinks Obamacare is the best thing to ever happen, or the worst, I think most people would agree that there is a desperate need for an overhaul of the insurance companies in this country.

Surgery tomorrow

Tomorrow will be Alexis' surgery.  The surgeon, of course, tells us how it's just a very routine and simple surgery, but there's nothing routine or simple about having your three year old operated on.  The surgery is expected to take 45-75 minutes, but I can already imagine that that will be the longest 45-75 minutes of our life.
She's expected to stay overnight, but we will hopefully be bringing her home on Thursday.  Obviously we will both be staying at the hospital tomorrow night, while the older girls stay with grandma and grandpa.
Even though she's young, she's expressed some fear about the surgery, so we're doing everything we can to keep her mind off of it.  Rebecca will be taking five days off, so we can both be here to help her recover.  We'll obviously be watching a lot of movies, especially a lot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...her current favorites.

Why there are no black holes in the EEG

I've had a few people ask me why the volumes of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica don't include things like black holes, pulsars, quasars, nebulae, etc.  The answer is pretty simple.  When we designed the game we wanted it to be as close to hard SF as we could make it.  Yes, we did include hyperspace and yes, all of the species are basically at the same technological level, but those were necessary for the game.  All of the stars listed in each of the volumes are all actual stars, and we've done our best to use what modern science knows about those systems to create planets that might be realistic.  Granted, when we get to the systems that are more than 200 light years away, we're going to have to create some stars because it's a lot harder to see some of those stars (like G and M stars.)
Having said this, as far as science knows, there are no black holes, pulsars, quasars, or nebulae with a couple light years of us...so we didn't include them.  We want the game to be as realistic as possible.