If you follow me on social media at all, you know life hasn’t been great lately. I’m still not allowed in my office because of covid restrictions, which means I haven’t traveled for work since February of 2020, and it looks like that situation is permanent. I won’t lie, it’s been a real struggle to stay sane when I’m stuck in the house from 8-5 every weekday and our current location is lacking in beauty and vibrancy, to say the least. I miss Texas and my coworkers like you wouldn’t believe, and more than that, I desperately miss having control over my own life. It’s been tough, and joy and hope have basically disappeared. The isolation sucks. It sucks more than I could have ever imagined.
So, this past weekend we headed down to the Gulf Coast to enjoy a few days in our old stomping grounds just to get away from it all and pretend things are going to get better. The kiddo didn’t remember visiting the USS Alabama in Mobile when he was two, so that was stop one. It was my third or fourth or visit, but there’s always so much more to see.
Warning, photo dump incoming, because someone has a new phone!
warrant officers’ mess 
USMC junior NCO bunks (no, thank you) 
ship’s chapel 
ship’s bakery
Even better than the battleship, at least as far I was concerned, was Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. I’d wanted to visit the pitcher plant bog there since we moved to Florida in 2011, but as usually happens, once you’re living in a tourist town, you never actually do much of the tourist stuff and spend all your time grousing about that once you move away. So we finally swung on by, and it was amazing. I’m so in love with all the special ecosystems down here.
Io caterpillar 
The next day we spent most of the day trying to avoid tourists, which became rather, um, difficult. Restaurants were packed, beaches were packed, and we won’t even discuss the traffic situation. Our usual beach was crowded, so we kept driving east and ended up at a new-to-us beach on the Intracoastal Waterway aboard NAS Pensacola. Sure, it wasn’t the Gulf, but the sea oats were pretty and the water was just as nice.
As far as writing goes, at the end of August I released Queen’s Crown, the last of the Crownkeeper novellas, then published the entire trilogy together in a book called Crownkeeper. There are a few more loose ends to tie up (like a hardcover of Crownkeeper!), but I’m thrilled to be done. Absolutely thrilled. Not that I didn’t enjoy playing around in fantasy, but…
The first draft of The Brightest Void is finally complete!!!!
I never thought this story would ever get to this point. It certainly wasn’t something I’d ever planned to be novel-length, but as the sequel to ‘Leaving Humanity’ formed in my mind, I suspected it wouldn’t work as anything but. And turns out I was right, since the first draft clocked in at almost exactly 90,000 words!
There’s still a lot of work to be done on it. I’m not used to writing stories set in our world, which means I’ve got a ton of research to do, from the physics of long-duration space travel, to how a futuristic Coast Guard might operate, to how my main character who insists he’s Roman Catholic might practice his faith in the 25th century. It’s ridiculous and so much fun at the same time.
Other than that, A House of Nebulas is still waiting on copy editing, but it has a cover, and the same goes for Asrian Skies (I hope to re-release the next three books immediately following). I have a few more ideas flitting around in my brain, but right now all my creative energy is going toward finishing The Brightest Void. I’m super excited for everyone to meet Coralie, Josiah, Bayonet, and the rest of the characters.
I think.
Actually, that’s a total lie, so let’s just pretend, ok?
Because even though it’s a bit more mainstream than Shadows of War, it’s not quite written to market. Even worse, I worry that military science fiction readers will somehow get their hands on it, and make not mistake: it’s solidly space opera, not milsf. I’m trying to make that sure that line is clear and bright for everyone, but readers aren’t always cooperative (myself included).
Anyway, that’s my extremely long-winded of way saying I’m still working it all out…both the story and my courage.