Category: new book

Still no voice

I might have been able to return to the Fortress of Quietude in my basement to begin recording the audiobook for “Foes & Rivals,” but there was a little cough when I was showering, plus I had seen things about Prince Edward’s trip to Texas, so…

This skips over some political unpleasantness and jumps ahead to where the young man is going to have a dinner with his great aunt and uncle. And his non-blood cousin, who, we discover, is not an exhibitionist, but is just something of an autist: an over-focused ditz. I really want to hear their dinner convo.

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The Dismal Science

Which is itself a joke. Normies think “economics” majors must study tons and tons of math. Hah. Most of them cannot add or subtract. I would trust astrology and reading bird entrails before any PhD of Economics. Politicians get crosses; I’ll give econs a clean death at the drop of a rope, just because I’m a nice person.

It seems that Prince Edward has twigged to this fact. Race > Culture > Politics.

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Unlimited Tsundere Works

Haven’t gotten back to recording my next book, “Foes & Rivals,” for two reasons: one, until I get my first completely passed by ACX, I’m a bit reluctant to get too far into another, in case I am doing something egregiously wrong which will force me to start from scratch, and, two, I STILL – after two weeks – have not completely shaken this seasonal flu; I awake each morning with a mild fever and chills and, worse, still have shortness of breath and an occasional cough, something not well suited for voice acting.

In the meantime, I keep working on that new novel about Empress Faustina’s eldest three sons. I was so tickled to meet Prince Edward’s human cousin (no blood relation), Livia Rupert, that I’ve included their meeting in Austin, Republic of Texas, below the fold. What is up with those two! I’ve also seen a little of the “reels” of Robert’s mission to the border marches of Kentuckiana as well as what might be a life-threatening problem for Laszlo. Honestly, I would be surprised if everyone made it out of this book alive.

Considering that this is about the top three heirs to the empress, I considered giving it the working title of “Lioness in Winter.” But that doesn’t work, compared to the movie – the best I’ve ever seen, btw – as there is no ruling monarch playing a central role. I hope to have something by my next update.

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Talking, Coughing, Writing

Busy last several days. I have completed and uploaded all twenty-two parts of the audiobook version of “Friend & Ally.” Because ACX demands a square image for sales and marketing – of course it has to be different – I had to reach out to my very talented cover artist to try to turn a normal, rectangular book cover into the damned square they want.

In the mean time, I seem to have caught a seasonal flu. No, not the Chicom Lung Rot; calling off from work – my first time ever at this hospital – with seven of eleven “flu-like symptoms” meant I had no choice but to be tested. So: no BatAIDS but just a mild flu. Because I have a million things to get done at DayJob, I went in Friday for a partial day and again today, Sunday.

With shortness of breath and a dry cough, heading to the basement to start reading “Foes & Rivals” was out. Given that I accidentally made a writing exercise into the prologue of another novel, I decided to see where that may lead. For some reason, of Empress Faustina’s three adult sons, it was Edward’s movie which started rolling first. Below the fold is some of what I have learned about him. I’m going to come up with at least a working title for this stuff…

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American Imperium Trilogy complete!*

A week sooner than planned, for once, I am pleased to announce the release of all three books of the Crusades of Faustina Hartmann. It is available in both the virgin ebook format and chad paperbacks (Princess, Empress, Goddess). Thanks to everyone for your support over this past year as I got these stories written, edited, and covered.

*The ending of “Goddess’ Crusade” surprised all of us. There is another story there…

GC on the runway…

Didn’t plan to go dark again, but had many things happening at once. In meatspace, I was fighting some GI-tract infection while still going to DayJob, as the main pharmacy tech for oncology was out with a heart attack. As I’m one of the few trained for that, it meant me going to work, no matter what my condition. Ugh.

Better now. And, even better, I received the copyedit of “Goddess’ Crusade” back. Better still is I just moments ago implemented those changes into the MS. The cover art is complete, so I am hoping to upload all this tomorrow and request a proof copy. Then, I’ll be done with this trilogy. A trilogy whose epilogue lends itself to at least one more book… if not more. I’m such a terrible writer. Or, at least, person.

This puts me two weeks behind here I wanted to be recording audiobooks. That is now slated for next weekend. My current thought is to record the raw of the entire book, “Friend & Ally,” if my voice holds out, and then do the editing. We’ll see. In other news, I’m also re-covering “Crosses & Doublecrosses.” The current cover is… lacking. Cheerio!

A preliminary fork

The very raw manuscript of “Goddess’ Crusade” is complete. I need to make at least two passes through it to check coherency, then pass it onto my copyeditor. I admit, this a one of the oddest stories I’ve been told to write down. At two points I tossed my hands in the air and walked away from the laptop.

As this is toward the end of the book, I don’t want to post spoilers, so I’ll post sex, instead.

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Winter quarters

Where an army or units of it would go once campaigning season was over. Often for the purpose of making sure a subdued people stayed subdued. Faustina needs to make a tour of her dispositions before riding back to Knoxville to play politics* and I realized I was unsure where her legions and auxiliary units are. So… another map! Cannot talk history without a map and that includes future history!

*Besides general opposition to what she has done, there is specific opposition to her recruiting Legion Six.

Deep history

I call Machine Civilization a future history for a reason. All parts of every story connect in hundreds of ways, some I do not see, to every other story. I first met Karl in The Fourth Law; one of the orphans seen to by Lily Barrett. A tendency toward fat but also one of her karate students. He makes another appearance in “Empire’s Agent,” the long short story which lends its name to the book’s title. There, he meets Arpad Rigó from the newly remade Habsburg Empire. “I have to get this boy into the army!” Rigó thought. In trying to make an end of Goddess’ Crusade, I find, years later, he did.

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