Tag Archives: David Hallquist

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The Days of High Adventure

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Week 8 of 2021

Greetings all

I’m back from an amazing Superstars Seminar. I posted a longer AAR here: robhowell.org/blog/?p=2571, but the TL:DR version is that I had a great time and leveled up.

This has been a productive week following up with a variety of things after the seminar. Lots of emails and instant messages. New plans, such as appearances on other podcasts and many new books. Most importantly, new friends and the amazing energy that brings.

When I’ve had the chance to write, I’ve made great progress in The Door Into Winter. The word count won’t reflect this, as I’m only a little more than 1000 words more than last week, but I’m still excited.

I took Jonathan Maberry’s class on pacing and I’ve been inserting some new techniques in the story. The results look very promising.

One of the main things this has done has forced me to reconsider the arrangement of chunks in the story. I’ve spent a bunch of time moving passages around to make a faster, more coherent narrative. I’m much happier with what I’ve done so far, and it’s already having some productive ripples carrying down the road.

We did another Dudes In Hyperspace podcast this week. We got Kacey Ezell back in time for her to talk about her new release, Skies to Conquer, which will come out tomorrow. I’ll have links for that next week.

We’ve had a great, energetic week on the New Mythology Discord channel. It dawns on me, I might not have mentioned it before, but here’s the invite link: discord.gg/FjdgAShBHU. We’d love to have you join us.

I probably have more to talk about, but I’m still catching up from an amazing Superstars.

What I’m Listening To

The soundtrack of Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris. This is one of my favorite things to listen to when I’m writing fantasy.

Quote of the Week

Andre Norton is one of the authors I grew up reading. I can still remember the moment when Ron Thomas gave me Quag Keep, and of course there was Witch World, Star Soldiers, and so much more. Here’s a quote from her that is true for all of us.

As for courage and will – we cannot measure how much of each lies within us, we can only trust there will be sufficient to carry through trials which may lie ahead.
– Andre Norton
Dudes In Hyperspace

Follow the Dudes In Hyperspace here:
bleav.com/shows/the-dudes-in-hyperspace-podcast/

The latest show includes an interview with Kacey Ezell about her new book Skies to Conquer and so much more.

Cool Stuff In Eldros Legacy

Get five free stories and signed up with the Eldros Legacy mailing list! Here There Be Giants is at: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/qabsr57lq3+.

Deadly Fortune by Aaron Rosenberg is coming soon!

Currently available:

New Mythology Works in Progress

We have no current open anthology calls but will have a new one announced at FantaSci.

Keen Edge of Valor goes out to advance readers next week!

Giveaways
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Pulp
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Pulp

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Pulp

books.bookfunnel.com/sffpulpreads/jarc896qy9

Anti-Hero Giveaway
Anti-Hero Giveaway

Anti-Hero Giveaway

storyoriginapp.com/bundles/9b987604-6d96-11ec-bc15-139818e52ee1

Discovering Your Neighbor
Discovering Your Neighbor

And we had so much fun exchanging stories last time, Shane Shepherd and I agreed to do it again. Here’s his story Discovering Your Neighbor.

You can find it here: https://storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/44be5e1a-5fa0-11ec-a777-4384157e5555.

Rob’s Works in Progress
  • The Door Into Winter (75,934)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • VAL (1,052)
Upcoming Events
New Releases

This week we have the conclusion to David Hallquist’s War Angels series, entitled Seraphim. You can get it here: amazon.com/dp/B09S3FCPQ8.

Also, I’m remiss for not posting this link last week, especially since it’s a story I’ve loved for quite some time. My only excuse is I was distracted by Superstars.

In any case, here’s Sharp Steel by William Alan Webb. This is the first story in his Sharp Steel & High Adventure series, and you want to get in on this now, because there’s big things happening here, and maybe even a crossover coming down the road. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B09RVCDW2Y.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 323.6

Updated Word Count: 7,375

Eldros Legacy Archives: 813 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Founder in the Eldros Legacy series

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Rob’s Update: Home is the Hunter

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Week 31 of 2021

Greetings all

Home from Armistice! What a great event. I outsold *any* SCA event I’ve ever been to, including several Pennsics with 7 times the population over two weeks. Part of that is because several of my regulars were part of those that attended, but still, I was very pleased.

Assuming Pennsic continues, I now have a specific spot of my own where I’ll be located, too. It’s an ideal spot, I think. I’ll be right between Calontir Trim and Gaukler Medieval Wares, across from Windrose Armory. Shady, beautiful, good neighbors, close to the barn.

This has been a week of catching up, both with work stuff and sleep. I got back a day earlier than I anticipated, which helped, but it’s been an exhausting week. I will also freely admit that I chose sleep and to spend some extra time with my sweetie to catch up. That last is why this is late.

I spent a lot of the last two weeks running through the final batch of entries for Talons & Talismans. I’ll make the announcement on Sunday night for who all is in. The choice will be difficult.

Let me put it this way, I’m really glad I’m doing two anthologies. That means I don’t have to choose just four out of the open submissions, but I get to choose eight. Since I’m struggling over which ones to choose out of fifteen who made my final round, the quality of submissions was amazing.

I’m currently finishing a short story. That’ll be done this week. Then I’ll start a new novel I’m entitling The Door Into Winter. This will be out in April.

What I’m Listening To

Watching Little League baseball for those trying to get to the Little League World Series. I love baseball at any level, but I really enjoy watching these guys play the game. Just now a kid from the Nebraska team made a great diving catch to end a game with the tying run on second base. That kid will *never* forget that moment.

Quote of the Week

Today is Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday. What an interesting career he had, of course, I am just now starting to really delve into his specific techniques as I try to be a better writer. Today’s quote is something I’m working on.

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
― Alfred Hitchcock

New Mythology Works in Progress

Current open anthology calls:

Finishing the list of stories in the two Talons & Talismans anthologies. On track for my hoped for goal of 15 August.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • The Door Into Winter (0)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • MON (829)

Upcoming Events

  • FactoryCon, 22-24 October, Coinjock, NC
    Details in the CKP – Factory Floor on Facebook.
  • 20BooksTo50K, 8-12 November, Las Vegas, NV
    http://20booksvegas.com/

New Releases

The big new release is Cherubim by David Hallquist. This is the second book in his War Angel series. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BTRDYVL.

We have another buck book! This times it’s Don’t Call Me Ishmael by Chris Kennedy. This is book 2 of the Fallen World series started by Christopher Woods. You can find this book here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q56TCF2.

Finally, Eye of the Storm by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey is now available for pre-release in audio form. You can find that here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B093NXYC7C.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 337.8 (Side note: I’m really pleased I kept control of my weight throughout Pennsic.)

Updated Word Count: 182,678

Shijuren Wiki: 753 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Author of the Shijuren-series of novels

Weekly Update Archive

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Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Your Thirst Will Pass

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Week 13 of 2021

Greetings all

I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy writing, I completely lost track of days. I somehow lost Wednesday completely.

Obviously, the big news this past week was the great release of Songs of Valor. It got an orange tag almost out of the bat. Many thanks to our readers who made it number one within four hours.

If you’re curious what’s in Songs of Valor, you can go to my blog post where I gave story sketches. You can find that here: https://robhowell.org/blog/?p=2268.

Also, the great news is that I had a great week of writing in The Ravening of Sorrows. Over 10k new words, about a third of the early stuff edited, and a bunch of formatting and cleaning up.

Progress made in some editing too.

And I started a new project yesterday that we’ll be talking about soon. It won’t be a ton of work, but it promises to be a lot of fun and very productive.

So a great week of productivity, even if I can’t look at a calendar.

What I’m Listening To

Mark Stallings showed me there’s a linguistics Youtube. Currently, I’m listening to a history of the Ainu language. Yeah, because I get distracted easily. Perfect for a week where I forgot what day is what. I’ll remember Mark in my upcoming curses, believe me.

Quote of the Week

As I’m sure you all know, today is the 670th anniversary of the Combat of the Thirty. You remember, that time when French and English knights, bored with the progress of the Hundred Years War, decided to halt the war to have a fight between thirty prestigious knights and squires on a side.

Therefore, today’s quote is just as obvious. It’s Geoffroy du Bois giving Jean de Beaumanoir some advice after Beaumanoir had been wounded in the fight.

“Drink your blood, Beaumanoir, your thirst will pass”
― Geoffroy du Bois

New Mythology Works in Progress

Deadline: 31 July
Words: 7k-10k
Manuscript: In .doc or .docx file format, Times New Roman, 12pt, 1.5 spaced
Send To: rob@chriskennedypublishing.com

Prompt: Write a fantasy story involving a beast or monster. While the story can include elements of horror, it should not be a horror story; it should be a fantasy and lean toward the heroic. Feel free to make the beast or monster your protagonist, but if not, the creature must be a central figure, (like Grendel in Beowulf).

As mentioned, we will choose the top four stories out of those submitted to add to the anthology. This is especially aimed at newer authors, though authors of any experience can enter.

  • Just Released: 1 March: The Watchers at War (Book 3 of the Watchers of Moniah Series by Barbara V. Evers)
  • Today: Songs of Valor (Book 2 of the Libri Valoris anthologies with Larry Correia, David Weber, Glen Cook, Dave Butler, and Sarah Hoyt). You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7Z3KT1
  • 12 April: Accepted (Book 2 of the Balance of Kerr series by Kevin Steverson.
  • 21 May: Across the Endless Ocean (Book 1 of the Endless Ocean series by G. Scott Huggins)

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • The Ravening of Wolves (81,722)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • Cynewulf (8,642)
  • Gato (2,312)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

We’ll start with last week’s Sundown by Kacey Ezell. It’s another addition to Charles Gannon’s Caine Riordan universe. You can find it here on the newly updated Chris Kennedy Publishing website: https://chriskennedypublishing.com/book/sundown/.

It was released at the same time as Songs of Valor (Book 2 of the Libri Valoris anthologies with Larry Correia, David Weber, Glen Cook, Dave Butler, and Sarah Hoyt). You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7Z3KT1.

Because I dallied, that means we get an extra release. You also get David Hallquist’s Guardian. You can find it here: https://chriskennedypublishing.com/book/guardian/.

Today’s Weight: 340.0

Updated Word Count: 12,988

Shijuren Wiki: 725 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Currently Available Works
Shijuren

Nick Patara, PI

  • Silent Knight (Nick Patara, PI, Book 1)
  • Under a Midnight Clear (Nick Patara, PI, Book 2) (Forthcoming)
Four Horsemen Universe
The Phases of Mars
Short Stories

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Turkey Red Wheat

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Week 29 of 2020

Greetings all

I had a very productive first half of the week, but got distracted by my birthday on Thursday. We had the electrician over for a variety of small things. Then my birthday present to myself was to clean out and organize a closet we could now get to after moving everything around.

Oddly, that was extremely satisfying.

Anyway, I want to take a moment to thank the nearly 400 people who went out of their way to say happy birthday. I tried to thank them all individually, but if I missed some, thanks very much.

On Friday, my sweetie and I actually celebrated by going to the Hoffman Mill in Enterprise. It sells heirloom turkey red flour that she can eat without normal gluten issues, so we came back with bags and bags of it.

Yes, we could just order it online, but then we wouldn’t have had the fun of driving here and there in small town Kansas. This is something my dad showed me could be a lot of fun. Found a cool bookstore/bar/coffee shop in Baldwin City, among other things.

We also stopped at the Coneburg Grill and Pub in Peabody. They make a delicious black and blue steak salad. While there, we stopped at the Peabody Sausage House.

As for work, I made good progress on None Call Me Mother on Monday and Wednesday, but Tuesday morning I woke up and had to write something else. It may never see the light of day, but I wrote 2k in a brand new universe idea I have. It’s one of those “nobody is writing exactly what I want to read so I’ll do it” sort of projects.

Also, I spent some time organizing the sequel anthology to When Valor Must Hold. This one is going to include some huge names, and I’m proud to be a part of it.

More importantly for right now, I want to pass on the contest that we are doing in conjunction with FantaSci, where the anthology will be listed. The gist is where offering four slots to any aspiring writer and FantaSci will pick one as their winner, but you can find the details here: https://mailchi.mp/e0ad89095250/announcing-a-contest-for-writers-everywhere.

I hope to get a bunch of submissions. For now, though, I’m back to seeing if I can save Irina.

What I’m Listening To

“No Sleep Till Brooklyn”

It’s fascinating to me how well the Beastie Boys have stood up over the years. I wouldn’t have guessed that in the 80s, but I still love them.

Quote of the Week

My birthday is the 16th, which of course was the date of the first atomic bomb explosion in 1945. Most are familiar with Robert Oppenheimer’s quote from the day about becoming “death, the destroyer of worlds.” However I much prefer this quote by him:

“In battle, in forest, at the precipice in the mountains,
On the dark great sea, in the midst of javelins and arrows,
In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame,
The good deeds a man has done before defend him.”
– Robert Oppenheimer

News and Works in Progress

  • None Call Me Mother (130,662)
  • CB (8,418)
  • AOOE (1,030)
  • Cynewulf (7,378)
  • Gato (2,312)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week only has one that I know of, Warrior Embraced by David Hallquist. This is the third in the Singularity War series. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Embraced-Singularity-War-Book-ebook/dp/B08CZ85NFB/

Today’s Weight: 376.0

Updated Word Count: 81,833

Shijuren Wiki: 47 entries

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Currently Available Works
Shijuren
Four Horsemen Universe
The Phases of Mars
Short Stories

If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org