If you follow any of my main social media pages, you know that I attended the 2nd Nerdi Gras convention in Atlanta this past weekend.
What is, Nerdi Gras you ask?
NERDI GRAS® is a celebration of all things geek. It’s 3 days of music, entertainment, video games, board games, and cosplay designed to evoke a Carnivale of color, sound, and energy. It’s a place where all are welcome to join in a community of friends who play together, are creative together, and share a desire to be a part of a true Nerd Bacchanalia.
I spent a good portion of my time playing games and hanging out with friends new and old. Had a chance to sit down and catch up with Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson Games and talk some shop, including the Car Wars fiction series, Car Warriors: Autoduel Chronicles that we’ve been working on.
I also got to play games with Iren, (aka Stitches) and Astrid one of my favorite TikTokers who happened to almost give me an aneurysm when she started talking, because I recognized the voice, but it didn’t match her face. My brain throttled itself thoroughly as it tried to process this conundrum, (She cut her hair down to a pixie cut.)
Hung out playing cards against humanity with a bunch of folks, including Artist Dimitri Walker and J. E. Pittman. Plus I had the chance to meet one of our newest narrators, Phillip Polite.
With music, trivia, board and video games, and of course the burlesque show, it was fun had by all. Even though Nerdi Gras is still a small convention, it’s worth going to and checking out.
Next up will be the Murphy Music and Brews Festival in Murphy North Carolina followed by JordanCon in Atlanta.
New stories coming.
Live on Kickstarter is the Intergalactic Rejects anthology that Storm Humbert was nice enough to invite me to as an anchor author. This collection is all about the stories that have been rejected for one reason or another and never found a home. The one downside to this project is that if it doesn’t fund, then it doesn’t go forward. Which would honestly suck. So fingers crossed, ya know. Here’s the details from Storm on the project.
Intergalactic Rejects
“Thank you for the opportunity, but…” is a place we’ve all been. That moment of rejection. In work, in hobbies, even with friends. Rejection can hurt – but it’s also just another window into a different opportunity. If one door closes there are still other doors in the house; just find a different room. The goal of Calendar of Fools is always both to publish great fantasy and science fiction and give something back to the writing and reading communities, and Intergalactic Rejects is no exception. This time, instead of tips, we’re bringing a little solace, some hope, a possible home for your own misfit stories, and valuable perspective to help you through the down times – those times when it seems like all the emails close a door.
Calendar of Fools is proud to present our second themed anthology. After the success of Inner Workings we’ve come together as creatives to highlight another take on the creative process with this anthology. Intergalactic Rejects features 8 short stories from featured authors that were rejected from other outlets, and once we fund, we’ll be doing an open call for 8 more.
You can find out more details on the Kickstarter Page
Assault Team Volume 1
On this one I didn’t have time to knock out an extra story, but I did manage to crank out a small opening essay.
Request permission to come aboard?
Not this time!
We’ve got 12 of the best swashbuckling boarding action tales this side of the Milky Way!
This anthology is a collection of military science fiction stories about the everyday hero rising to the occasion during combat operations. Some of these stories highlight the assault team and sometimes the defenders. But regardless of which side of the boarding party they are on, uncommon courage is a common virtue of the day.
With special introductions by authors John Hemry and William Joseph Roberts!
So, grab your assault gear and get ready to bounce!
It Came From the Trailer Park Volume 3.5
For those of you who have been fans of my Braxton Hicks stories, you’ll be happy to know there’s a new one in Trailer Park 3.5
You just couldn’t look away could ya?
Kinda like that trainwreck that is your family reunion?
We’ve got more action packed away in these pages than your cousin Betty Sue down at the corner, with tales of Aliens, Ghosts, Giant Critters, Time Travel, Vampires, VooDoo and more.
With stories by: Melissa Olthoff, Jennifer Roberts, D. Alan Lewis, David A. Anthony, D.W. Milton, Brisco Woods, Sherri Mines, Katie Ess, Megan Taylor, Josh Van Zile, Philip K. Booker, William Joseph Roberts and Kevin J. Anderson.
Jump into this surprise edition of It Came From the Trailer Park, boots first.
You won’t be disappointed.
Go Hard or Go Home: A Car Warriors Autoduel Chronicles Anthology.
And in this bad boy, among the other awesome stories, you get the back story of a young Gun Bunny before she took to the track herself.
The big events may get most of the limelight, but that’s not where all the action happens.
This collection of fast-paced, action-packed stories highlights the road warriors who struggle to survive, without the glory of the duel. Caravan guards, gun bunnies, insurance adjusters, mechanics, reporters, scavengers, and more!
If you can’t keep up, maybe it’s time to head back to the garage…
So… what’ll it be?
Will you Go Hard or Go Home?
New stuff in the works
With con season in swing, one thing I’ve been doing more and more of is dictation. I either go out to the Chickamauga Battlefield for a walk or hide in the shop so I can get the first draft of what ever I’m banging out down.
I’ll tell you what, it is a production beast if you can get into the groove. My last walk consisted of about an hour and a half walk in the battlefield that got me three miles and about 7,500 words. Now granted, there are a bunch of time stamps and things like that in there, so after clean up it scored me roughly 5,000 good usable words.
The cleaner you can get your dictation, the cleaner the transcription will be in the end, which in turn speeds up the entire editing process.
That being said, I’m getting more words in, and polishing them as I can between everything else, but help is on the way to take some of the Three Ravens load off of me.
What Have I been working on lately? Lots of Braxton short stories to start with. At the rate I’ve been going, I’ll have enough to do a collection of them by the end of the year.
Besides that, I’ve been cranking away on Black Toothed Grin, my next JTF-13 novel. I want to get this thing done and out by LibertyCon if possible. Besides that, lots of processing and editing for Three Ravens, as well as landing us some kick as side hustles, like getting a tie in with the band Revolution X. And next month they’ll be opening for Saliva and Drowning Pool.
How freaking cool is that.
Next up on the writing slate besides more short stories is the first Braxton novel, followed by wrapping up my first novel in the B.E.N.T. universe, On the Wings of a Weeping Angel.
Speaking of which, those who are interested, I’ll be posting the Chapters of that novel on my Patreon for the premium subscribers.
Other than that, it’s time to prep the garden and get the growing season rolling.
So until next time, Keep your heads up and your Pens sharp.
~WJR~
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