Tag Archives: Meridies

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: In the Bird House

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Week 3 of 2018

It’s been a weird, and productive week. My original plan was to go to Meridies 40th Year, but the weather was not conducive. Instead, I found myself an AirBnB place called the Bird House near Dunlap, TN.

I’ve had a kitchen, plenty of food, and WiFi. Other than my sweetie, what more could I want?

I’ve been very productive this week, starting with finishing a short story entitled A Gift of Crimson and sending it to the editor. It’s kind of an odd balance between Raymond Chandler, Stan Lee, and J.K. Rowling as it’s for a buddy who’s bringing back Pussy Katnip, a series of superhero comics/stories from the 1930s. Maltese Falcon noir with anthropomorphic animals in a superhero world aimed at young adults. I had a lot of fun with it.

It was challenging too because he asked for shorter stories than normal, around 4000 words. This one ended at 3868. Go me. I’ll have more publishing details when I know exactly.

I made huge progress on the other side project this week. I’ve been building a Wiki for the Four Horsemen universe. You can find the Wiki here: http://mercenaryguild.org/wiki/tiki-index.php. It’s low on content right now, but I’ll be updating that consistenly.

I actually wanted to make sure I could talk about it on this post, which is why I decided to wait until this morning to actually send out my update. Thanks for your patience.

Well, I suppose I should get back to work. This is my last full day on the mountain and I should take advantage of it.

Current Playlist Song: Yngwie Malmsteen, “Flamenco Diablo.” Yngwie is an incredible guitarist, and does some amazing versions of works in classical and other genres, as well as metal.

Quote of the Week

As mentioned, this week has been odd. I’ve literally not left this little above garage mother-in-law type apartment since I got here on Saturday. I’ve had internet and phone, but it’s been… remote.

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.”
― W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart’s Desire

News and Works in Progress

  • A Gift of Crimson (3868)
  • Brief Is My Flame (30000s)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Since I’m announcing the Four Horsemen Wiki, I suppose I should announce that tomorrow Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey will release the prequel in that universe, The Four Horsemen: Alpha Contracts.

Today’s Weight: 385.4 (from last week)

Updated Word Count: 6807

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

Currently Available Works

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: The Star of Dogs

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Week 2 of 2018

Greetings all

This week I’m on the road, and travel has been a little discombobulating. While I had planned to leave when I did, I had also planned to go through Fayetteville, AR to visit a friend. That would have worked out nicely.

However, one of my favorite dogs ever will probably get put down before I return from my current trip so I changed plans and went to see him. His name is Sirius, and he is the Star of Dogs. He’s been a great dog, always happy to see me, but this time he is in so much pain he can’t quite wag his tail properly. I’m glad to go see him and pet him one last time, but it was tough.

To get to him, I had to accelerate part of my schedule, meaning that I didn’t get much sleep on Tuesday night. Hence, when I reached Tupelo, MS, which was a reasonable stopping point, I basically ate something and passed out.

I’m now in Perry, GA, getting ready to go to Meridies 40th Year Celebration. Meridies is one of the kingdoms in the SCA, and I’ve a number of good friends here, so when I realized I could combine coming to this event and then go to ChattaCon next week, it was an easy choice.

My publishable word count won’t go up much this week, because I realized what I meant was “published.” I’ve got a short story that is complete and just needs editing, so that will jump the count up, but only when I send it out.

I made some progress on Brief Is My Flame last week, but I didn’t think to email me my progress email, so I don’t actually know how many words are written, and won’t until I return.

Tonight I’ll do some more work, watch the Shockers play if I can find the game, and get ready to sell all weekend long.

I’ll also think of Sirius and the great pets that have graced my life.

Current Playlist Song: “Wild Rover” – Dropkick Murphys. This seems an appropriate song for roving around Georgia this week.

Quote of the Week

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”
—Charles M. Schulz

News and Works in Progress

  • DOR (3972)
  • Brief Is My Flame (28834)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

Today, Jason Cordova released Devastator, the sequel to his recently re-released novel Corruptor, tomorrow. I haven’t actually read Corruptor yet, but I read and loved Wraithkin. Also, if you like Kaiju fiction, he has a bunch of stuff about big lizards. You can find his stuff at: https://www.amazon.com/Jason-Cordova/e/B004CZHHPU/

Today’s Weight: 355.4

Updated Word Count: 1670

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

Currently Available Works

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

Conventions, SCA

War of the Wings AAR

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The second thing on this trip was War of the Wings, an SCA event in Atlantia. I am glad I get to do what I do, but sometimes the effort required can make things challenging.

Once again, I have to thank Master Andrixos for letting me sell in his booth. I really enjoy spending time with Drix, and there’s no doubt he’s helped me get traffic.

Now, traffic at the event for the merchants wasn’t as good as anyone hoped, and I suspect some of that is because they are still settling in with the best layout for everything. War of the Wings is a growing event, and the site is great, though tilted. However, they’re still fiddling with some stuff, including the best way to arrange the merchants. Sales were good enough that I’d like to go back if circumstances allow, but I think they’ll be better in the future.

One thing that I think we’ll do differently is that both Drix and I will get separate booths, though we’ll ask to be next to each other. There are advantages for both of us to work together, including setup and tear down, but my logistics were a little complicated because my tent was so far away from the merchant booth. We’re going to try to be next to each other at Meridies 40th Year.

While my camp was not close, I was blessed to be permitted to camp with Yorkshire Manor, one of the households in Atlantia. Included in that camp is Bryce de Byram, who is someone I knew well enough from Pennsics past to ask for space, but not much more.

I said that the effort to do this job is challenging, and where that effort can be frustrating is my fatigue after work. Not just physical fatigue either, but also the fatigue of talking to people all day long. What that meant was my hopes to get to know the people of Yorkshire Manor better, especially Bryce, were foiled. I barely was able to spend any time with them. By the time I got home, I was too tired to enjoy the group, which was a shame. Many thanks to all of them, especially Bryce, Christian Thomas (who ran the camp), and all the people who helped make it a cool place. I’m sorry I didn’t do you all justice.

As I said, I would like to go back, if circumstances allow. Now that I know how things are laid out, I think I can plan more efficiently, meaning I might have more energy to get to know some of those great people.