June is here, and, you know, I decided it’d be cool to start writing little monthly catch-alls for the positive things of interest to me that are going down. Looking forward to the good stuff was what kept me sane during my time in the military, even if it was something stupid and small like lunch or dinner, and with all the negativity in the world right now, I think I need it.
So, without further ado, let’s hit the very first Onward:
Life
Yeah, the big splash for me here is the release of my debut novel, Cradle of Sea and Soil. I’m doing the final edits right now and will probably do a final read-through on my Kindle next week before I set things in stone. Paperback version should be hot on its heels, but because of Amazon’s delayed shipping and the need to pour over author proofs, it probably won’t actually be a thing until July.
My county up here in Portland, Oregon is also opening up today so that’s… well, maybe good? We’re having riots and general chaos in some parts of Portland too, so who knows when things will calm down. I utterly understand the emotions fueling these events—I’m a person of color myself and no stranger to racism—but the response so far isn’t conveying any worthwhile message. Thankfully, many are actively standing against the rampant violence and looting, including Floyd’s family, but as nothing’s actually being done top-level, who knows how this will pan out.
I also have a special little launch planned for the 23rd, which will hopefully help give my debut more exposure, and that’s kind of the focus for the month: edits, formats, mastering, paperback, launch stuff. I’m also having a logo done which should be finished by the end of this week, so I’m excited about that too.
Books
SPFBO#6 starts today! I’m not competing this year, unfortunately, but that doesn’t mean I can’t participate as a reader! I’ve already eyed a few contest novels to pick up and read, though a few were novels I already had on the ‘ol TBR.
A snapshot of some of my upcoming reads:
There’s a cover contest too, but, uh, I think I have my favorites already picked out above, lol.
Anyway, this year’s SPFBO is definitely going to be interesting. I have another unfinished novel I’d prefer to enter next year, but, if nothing else, I’ll enter Cradle of Sea and Soil in 2021, so I’m eager to see how this year’s mood turns out with such an interesting assortment of books and set of statistics.
Anyway, my Kindle is probably going to get in some overtime this month, lol.
Gaming
Sadly a quiet month for gaming as pretty much everything super exciting was delayed thanks to the virus, though there are still a couple of highlights for me here.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition just released at the end of May. It might take me a while to get into it (we’re talking a game that’s probably over a hundred hours), but it’s on my blotter. I started the original one 3 different times, but never finished it for a variety of reasons (despite having played Xenogears, Xenosaga 1-3, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2), so here’s my chance to go through the perfected version.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is also releasing new information this month, which hopefully includes telling us when we can expect the game to release and early access to begin. I’m going absolutely bonkers for this and the only other games right now that can even remotely compete for my hype are Cyberpunk 2077 and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
Lastly, Outer Wilds is finally releasing on Steam after an unseemly year of exclusivity on EGS. I originally welcomed EGS because I’ve always said Steam has grown lazy and unmotivated, but so far EGS hasn’t done a damn thing to stir up true competition or encourage Steam to improve itself. If anything, they made things worse. Oh well, Outer Wilds is leaving the platform finally and I’m excited to play it in a more polished, cheaper form.
Those are my highlights for June! We’ll see how everything turns out, but so far it’s shaping up to be a bit of a dice roll month. There are some great things happening, but a lot of bad air more broadly as well. 2020 is definitely going to be a year to remember.
Stay safe, everyone.