Magnificent title.  Short version:  it was a lot of tanjed work!

Following a suggestion from fellow author Jon Del Arroz, I decided, as I was finishing up “Friend and Ally” to write a sequel and release it within a month of the first.  That entailed coming home from DayJob, pushing aside the concern of my wife and daughters, drinking far too much, and writing.  The manuscript of “Foes and Rivals” was ready more than a month late.  My copy-editor did yeoman’s work in getting it back to me in two weeks.  Via Gab.com I was able to make a contract with a US Army vet to make the cover.

I realized about two weeks ago that, as a result of this push, while I took a day off every few months, I never had a vacation.  Hell, I didn’t get further than 30 miles from my house for the entire year!  This cannot continue.  I no longer care what it does to my continued employment prospects:  I’ve nearly 250 hours of paid-time-off and by-God plan to use them.

My first thought was, around my girls Spring Break, take a drive down to Knoxville, TN, to do some on-site research for my next novel.  And, just to get the hell away.  Thing is, that wouldn’t be until March 25th; I’ve already 23k words for this next story down.  Barring a medical disaster in my family, I’ll be finished by then.  I guess I need to think of something else.  If my mother-in-law would be kind enough to shuffle off her mortal coil we’d all go to Japan for two weeks…

Anyway.  Having said all that to say this:  I realize I’ve been dark and quiet on this blog for some time.  It is, honestly, easier for me to dash off a thought on Gab than sit down and put a post together, but I do owe it to all of y’all for putting up with me.  I’ll definitely try harder, especially as I’m putting together another virtual book tour, not for Nichole 5’s new books, but all five of the novels of Machine Civilization.  That will hopefully come together some time in early February.

Between now and then, we’ve Ohayocon on January 11-13 and I’ve my first ever colonoscopy two days after that.  Let me assure you I’m really looking forward to one of those.  Below the fold is me testing my cosplay for Saturday.  In the mean time, here’s the linx for Amazon and Smashwords for all my stuff.

Thanks, everyone.  Happy New Year!

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yag5u9wd

Smashwords: https://tinyurl.com/yc57lpgp

White Blood Cell from the anime “Cells at Work.”  I need more face paint.  White Dog Cell is not impressed at all.