Holy moly, it’s September already? Why, yes, it is. Well! Luckily for me, September is shaping up to be a fantastic month overall, and far as I can see that trend is going to continue out into October and hopefully November. After the rough last couple of months, this is definitely a welcome change.

What I’m Doing & Writing

I’ve fully returned into the swing of things at work and have my schedule mostly smoothed out, though the holidays are always a difficult period for us, and in more ways than one. Lots of extra hours, lots of extra dogs, and lots of people quitting from it all. I’ve never minded it too much, mostly because my time working in an ER was far more stressful, but it’s still not a fun ride. It’ll probably be my last holiday here, as I’m thinking of moving out of Oregon sometime next year, so we’ll see how the holidays go.

Stormbringers is a little behind and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to hit the November release I was hoping for, but at latest (depending on how long it takes to complete design work and get it edited) I expect to release the book something late December/early January.

The cover art is already done and delicious, so all that’s left is to get the typography and design done, which I’m hoping to have Shawn King do once more. This time I’ll be releasing the paperback and ebook at the same time.

Outside of the business and technical stuff, Stormbringers itself is coming along just fine. It’s going to be more action-dense than the first book, though I still want to keep the theme of family ties present throughout. We’ll see how it ends up, as middle books are notorious for being hard to write.

I’m also working on a super-secret project that I’ll be entering during next year’s SPFBO. I missed this year by literally two weeks, but Cradle of Sea and Soil needed that time, so I’m not overly upset. Still, I would like to enter next year, so this time I’m going to ensure my book is fully ready to go far ahead of June. This book will be the start of a new series that will be faster-paced and more traditional. It’ll also be my first foray into progression fantasy. I’m really excited to share more info about it, but there probably won’t be anything to talk about until sometime early next year. Right now I’m focused on the next book in Islandborn.

Overall, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful month. I should make a ton of progress on Stormbringers.

What I’m Reading

I’m still catching up, mostly. I finished up Of Honey and Wildfires and plan on moving on to the gryphon book I mentioned previously. I was going to start earlier, but Sarah Lin approached me with an ARC of her upcoming work and oh boy did it suck me in.

I’m super excited about her project and I’ll just say that it’s a fantastic read, especially if you enjoy progression fantasy. I’ll definitely gush about it once she formally announces it.

What I’m Playing & Watching

Nothing much to say here. I’m still working my way through Wasteland 3 ever slowly because I haven’t had the chance to play much recently. That said, it’s still a fantastic game and exactly the kind of RPG I love. I have a very specific kind of mindset and it’s always interesting thinking through social and moral situations in these kinds of games. For instance, I stopped one of my companions from shooting her ex-boyfriend after we learned he was indirectly responsible for the gruesome massacre of her family. I did so because I didn’t want her murdering someone over a moment of intense emotional distress, no matter how appropriate, because she’s a kid and I knew it would haunt her forever – and I was able to explain that to her later.

The boy also lived to explain himself, and, really, the atrocious results were the unfortunate result of mostly good intentions. I was then able to arrest him myself or hand him over to the local authorities, which was effectively a death sentence, anyway. The marshals, as the local authorities are named, aren’t exactly the most honorable peacekeepers, and I’ve already seen some of them abuse their power.

This level of nuance is what makes these games fun, and as technology improves, a player’s ability to express themselves continues to grow by mindboggling degrees. I seriously can’t wait to see what Cyberpunk 2077 has in store for us.

Finale

That should be it for September. It’ll mostly be another catch-up month for me. Oh, and I’ll also be participating in Self-Published Fantasy Month. I’ll make another post about that separately, as it’s my major highlight this month.

Stay safe, everyone.