I know, it’s been a long minute since I jumped on here and threw out an update. Between day job stuff and Three Ravens stuff I’ve been busy as all get out, but it’s a good kind of busy.
I have plans to attend a number of conventions this coming year, most of which I’ll have a Three Ravens table set up at. Here’s the quick rundown.
ChattaCon: Jan 14-16 2022
Superstars Writing Seminar: Feb 9-12 2022
FantiSci: March 25-27 2022
LibertyCon: June 17-19 2022
I’ll add more to the list pretty soon. Time to get back out there on the Con scene and meet folks.
So let’s get into what I’ve got coming out next and what’s on the to-do list.
New releases
Tales from the street
What if something sinister lurks just beyond the shadows?
Something dark, foreboding, and unrelenting.
Vampires to Werewolves and Fae of all kinds lurk within these pages
Can you handle, Tales from the Street?
standing defiant
Great nations die in fire and blood, leaving the survivors to struggle in the ruins.
The heroes and heroines from the bestselling Standing Fast return in this direct sequel. During the fifty years that the Last Brigade lay dormant under a mountain in Arizona, generations of the desperate tried to keep America alive, or live through her fall. These are the continuation of their stories.
stories in work for 2022
2021 has been the year of short stories. Besides the spring being taken up by Virtual LibertyCon and putting titles through Three Ravens I cranked out I don’t know how many short stories this past year.
That being said, my novel game fell by the wayside this past year, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get lots of plotting and planning done.
So here’s my short list to wrap up for 2022
- Seven Kingdoms submission for Writers of the Future
- The Galactic Kids Club (kids book)
- Ceres Falling (Scifi/Space opera)
- Wards of a Warrior (Fantasy)
- Starflight Novel (Scifi/Space opera
- Dogs of War (Fallen World/Post apoc)
- Widowmakers 2 (JTF13/Alt History/Military Fantasy)
- Shepard’s Call (Urban Fantasy)
- fLUX Runners 2 (Scifi/Space Opera)
- The Misadventures of Braxton Hicks (Book 1)
I know, that’s a big list. But a number of these already have work completed, so I think it’s possible that I can get most of that list completed, assuming I can learn to say no to invites for anthologies.
And to honor my original cover artist, fLUX Runners 2 will be sporting the cover he completed just before his passing a month later, and dedicated to him, Brendan Smith and Bob Madore, a good friend of my who also passed away last year and was Tuckerized in the original fLUX Runners.
Reading list
Starship Troopers
So I just wrapped up listening to Starship Troopers By: Robert A. Heinlein, Narrated by: Lloyd James
I had read the book way back in early Junior High, probably seventh or eighth grade. When the movie came out in the late 90’s, I loved it.
Listening back through the novel, I now realize how much they changed of the man’s original story to make the movie. I seriously hate the way that Hollywood does this. They take someone’s idea and tear it apart for their own money-making machine. That’s one reason it took so long for us to get an Enders Game movie, because Orson Scott Card wouldn’t let them change it the way they wanted to. I will say that I was happy with the way that Enders Game turned out.
Starship Troopers, I’m not sure now. It’s been ingrained in my head for so long it’s hard to get the imagery out of my brain pan.
Here’s the blurb for those who don’t know what Starship Troopers is.
Join the Army and See the Universe. That is the motto of The Third Space War, also known as The First Interstellar War, but most commonly as The Bug War. In one of Robert Heinlein’s most controversial best sellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the universe – and into battle with the Terrain Mobile Infantry against mankind’s most alarming enemy.
Hawksbill Station
I am currently reading Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg, which I managed to pick up a copy of for less than a dollar at MacKay’s used books. Love the 1970’s cover on this one.
It’s interesting as hell how he imagined this story of political prisoners, sentenced to life in Earth’s ancient past. Well worth the read if you like speculative fiction or even the retro-future aspect.
Here’s the back cover blurb
A “dark, restrained, and powerful” mirror of current politics from the Science Fiction Grand Master (Science Fiction Ruminations).
In the barren landscape of the late Cambrian period, a penal colony sits high above the ocean on the east coast of what would become the United States. The men—political prisoners—have been sent from the twenty-first century on a one-way ticket to a lifetime of exile. Their lonely existence has taken its toll . . .
Jim Barrett was once the physically imposing leader of an underground movement dedicated to toppling America’s totalitarian government. Now he is nothing but a crippled old man, the camp’s de facto ruler due to his seniority. His mind is still sharp, having yet to succumb to the psychosis that claims more and more men each day. So when a new prisoner is transported to the colony—a startlingly young and suspiciously apolitical man—Barrett’s instincts go on high alert.
As Barrett reminisces about his revolutionary past, he uncovers the new prisoner’s secrets—and faces a shocking revelation that thrusts him into a future he never dreamed possible . . .
Other than that, it’s been nothing but shop and garden time prepping for spring. Gotta decide what I’m doing with the hot peppers and the apple tree since I managed to create spicy apples by accident.
So until next time, Keep your heads up and your pens sharp
WJR
Great content! Keep up the good work!