Much to the dismay of my many enemies, and to the surprise of anyone waiting for a long overdue post, I persist. Yes, it is I, your humble narrator, returned from the Gray, here to survey the battlefield before diving back into The Work.
What is The Work, you might ask?
In short, in light of the world being, in a general sense, on fire, I have decided to spend my time trying to create a better one. On one level, that involves self-care: Asian dramas, horror movies, knitting scarves, jazz music, and taking my meds. On another level, it means writing.
A lot of writing.
My earlier novel, WINTER LULLABY: A PUNK ROCK FABLE is still making the submission rounds. I remain hopeful, largely because I love that book and refuse to go the self-publish route with it.
The novel I wrote after that, PROPHET FROM THE RADIANT TOWER, a crone-foward deisel-punk fantasy, is on the garage floor, awaiting significant rewrites. I’ve done multiple rewrites on it already, but it still hasn’t hit the top speed I’m confident it can hit. In the mean time, it languishes.
In the meantime, I’ve written a new Cobalt City novel, COBALT ’72, which allowed me to confront the cynicism of the current political cycle and the failure of the 4th estate by writing a historical conspiracy thriller from a time when the press still had the courage to speak truth to power. That novel will drop on December 15th, and I’ll hop back in here to talk more about it in coming weeks.
Also, I have outlined a few other projects, including a YA horror/romance, yet another Cobalt City story to be set in 1983, a hopeful sci-fi piece set in 2063 revolving around a Pan-African Space Coalition and the billionaires who try to sabotage it, and a gaslamp cosmic horror fantasy that I am co-writing with my talented spouse.
Those second two are actually in progress as I write this.
NYOTA PLATFORM is penciled out to be 30 chapters across three interlinking narratives set in Morocco, Cameroon, and space. I’m somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way done with the first draft, and adding to it almost every day.
ALBION DREAMING is planned for 31 chapters with two primary characters. It is very gay, and supremely weird. I am just about to start chapter 12 when I am done with this.
Both books are projected to have first drafts finished by the end of this year. Next year will be devoted largely to editing them into shape and getting them shopped to publishers. I expect I’ll be writing COBALT ’83: An Orphan’s Tale next year as well.
In non-writing news, the economy continues to suck. I continue to look for employment now that I’ve finished my BA degree in Integrated Social Sciences. And the spouse and I continue to self-medicate with Stardew Valley couch co-op and binging old seasons of Project Runway. And the cats, all five of them, continue to cat, which is what we pay them for, I suppose.
We remain hopeful dispite the dispair. We blaze with potential as the world burns down. And we dream of what we will rebuild in the ashes of yesterday.
Stay frosty, friends!
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