Category Archives: Weekly Update

Rob’s Weekly Updates.

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Fall Fest

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Week 42 of 2024

Greetings all

Reka's Grasp
Reka’s Grasp

The big news, of course, it the impending release of Reka’s Grasp a week from tomorrow. I’ve said it’s brilliant and I was right! It’s by H.Y. Gregor and is a great addition to Jon R. Osborne’s Milesian Accords series.

I spent a goodly amount of time this week working on a thorny knot in The Feasting of Vengeance. I had a battle spring up out of nowhere and I needed to work through both the POV and the tactics.

It’s interesting writing MilSF. I’m constantly trying to come up with new tactics. I try not to use the same sort of thing over and over because I find that boring, so it forces me to do a bunch more research and thinking.

Still, I got about 5k written in the novel. I’m this close to clearing 80,000 which puts me in close striking reach.

I also spent a goodly amount of time working on Anthony’s Fall Fest. It’s fallen to me to help with a lot of this sort of thing, as much as anything because I’m experienced at it. I also kind of like running events.

Sort of a short update this week, but that’s really about all I got this time. Have a great week!

What I’m Listening To

The 2019 version of Midway. I actually like it, though I have a number of problems with pacing but it is pretty good in terms of historical accuracy. And it’s never a bad thing when we get to see more Dick Best.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to the prolific Nora Roberts!

There’s no reward without work, no victory without effort, no battle won without risk.
– Nora Roberts

Dragon’s Tidings

Fall Fest on the 12th.

20% off fabric and used books in the store

New Mythology Works in Progress

Reka's Grasp
Reka’s Grasp

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (79,422)

Upcoming Events

  • Market Faire, November 30, Anthony, KS
  • Kris Kinder, December 14, Kansas City, Mo
  • ChattaCon, January 17-19, Chattanooga, TN
    chattacon.org/
    I’m the Toastmaster!

New Releases

This week we have Salvage Purgatory by Kevin Steverson, Nick Steverson, and Jason Cordova, the first book in the new Salvage Title universe series The Invasion. If you were wondering what “The Coalition” series was preparing for… it’s here! The first three books will be coming out monthly (look for Salvage Harbinger on November 8), so you won’t have long to wait—jump into the next great Salvage Title series here: amazon.com/dp/B0DJD6YG7J.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 359.8lbs

Updated Word Count: 236,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: The Vechnoye Saga Approaches!

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Week 41 of 2024

Greetings all

Reka's Grasp
Reka’s Grasp

Reka’s Grasp, book one of the The Vechnoye Saga by H.Y. Gregor, comes out on the 18th! So about two weeks away.

Check out this awesome cover by Alexandre Rito! Isn’t that beautiful?

This series is set in Jon R. Osborne’s Milesian Accords universe, and involves Russian mythology, which is seriously underused in my opinion. I can neither confirm nor deny, Senator, that houses with chicken legs make appearances in this series.

This story was a joy to edit, except for the part where I had to go back because I got caught up in the story and stopped editing. You all are going to love it.

In terms of The Feasting of Vengeance, I had a slower week than anticipated because some things cropped up. I did make good progress, but not as much as I’d hoped. The things that cropped up are all good, but did take time out of the week.

The preparations for Fall Fest happening in Anthony on the 12th caused part of the delay. We’re going to be doing some neat specials for our customers in the store including a chili cookoff sponsored by the Anthony Chamber of Commerce.

Of note, you should also put down the 30th of November, which is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Anthony is holding its Market Faire that weekend and it will be a neat Christmas-y weekend celebrating, in part, Small Business Saturday. Just mentioning so you can put it on your calendar.

And with that, I’ve got things to do! Have a great week.

What I’m Listening To

Shiroyama by Sabaton. This is like watching the climactic battle of The Last Samurai, but with a Swedish symphonic metal soundtrack. It’s actually a fabulous song.

Quote of the Week

Francis of Assisi died on October 3rd, 1226, so this seems to be a great time to toss out this quote of his that I love.

” Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
– Francis of Assisi

Dragon’s Tidings

BalloonFest on the 18th.

Also, check our website (www.reddragonquilts.com) for our May 30% off special!

New Mythology Works in Progress

Reka’s Grasp comes out on the 18th! Followed soon by the rest of the The Vechnoye Saga by H.Y. Gregor.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (74,841)

Upcoming Events

  • Market Faire, November 30, Anthony, KS
  • Kris Kinder, December 14, Kansas City, Mo
  • ChattaCon, January 17-19, Chattanooga, TN
    chattacon.org/
    I’m the Toastmaster!

New Releases

This week we have the return of Fred Hughes’ Britannia series with Hero’s Legacy. Hazard may no longer be around, but his enemies still are, and they’re going to need to be dealt with! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DHBQW4PR.

This week’s pre-release is Salvage Purgatory by Kevin Steverson, Nick Steverson, and Jason Cordova, the first book in the new Salvage Title universe series The Invasion. If you were wondering what “The Coalition” series was preparing for… it’s here! The first three books will be coming out monthly (look for Salvage Harbinger on November 8), so you won’t have long to wait—jump into the next great Salvage Title series here: amazon.com/dp/B0DJD6YG7J.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 362.8lbs

Updated Word Count: 234,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Vengeance on the Horizon

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Week 40 of 2024

Greetings all

Another great week here, with the main topic being two things out the door and significant progress in a third thing as well.

Let’s start with the big one. I finished H.Y. Gregor’s Tugarin’s Revenge and it’s charging along it’s editorial path! This is the sequel to Reka’s Grasp (Coming out October 18th), which means three things:

  1. It’s in Jon R. Osborne’s amazing Milesian Accords series.
  2. It’s steeped in Russian mythology.
  3. Niki and Ryan get to fight some awesome bad guys! (Spoiler alert: Tugarin is one of them)

It’s been an honor to be a part of this series, and you will want to get Reka’s Grasp as soon as you can. It’s that good, and Tugarin’s Revenge is even better.

The second thing I finished this week is a fairly large chunk for Okkorim. As usual, I can’t get into specifics, but I can tell you it’s the kind of thing I love to play and DM in D&D. It definitely fits the rule of cool I want for games.

Then I made a bunch of progress in The Feasting of Vengeance. It won’t look like much (only counted up 3,300 or so, but that’s actually a bit deceiving. I cut some section out that may or may not re-appear, but all of it needed to go for now.

If you are a user of the Save the Cat Beat Sheet method, I can say we’re rolling past beat 10 next week, and I’ve already got Beat 11 planned in my head. I even think I’ll get through Beat 12, which will put us in place for the big battle.

I can see the end.

So Tugarin’s Revenge and The Feasting of Vengeance both coming.

What I’m Listening To

Cowboys v. Giants. Been a bad year so far for Dallas, but hopefully they’ll look better tonight.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to T.S. Eliot! He’s quite the quote monster, so I could’ve chosen a number of great quotes. I think, however, this one suits me today, especially since I’m in quite the journey right now.

– Those who arrive at the end of the journey are not those who began.
T. S. Eliot

Dragon’s Tidings

I update the website today as we have October’s On Line Shop Hop ready to go!

Didn’t know we participate in an On Line Shop Hop? Well, we do, and there’s a special cool thing if you can find it. The clue is on the front page. Enjoy!

New Mythology Works in Progress

Responsibility of the Fleet is out! This is the 3rd of G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series detailing the deeds of Responsibility, a half-dragon who came from a tough past to claim her birthright, including her real name: Azriyqam.

And did I mention the upcoming series by H.Y. Gregor yet?

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (72,365)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have Far Horizons by A.J. Gordon, the third book in The Outer Reaches series shared with Peter J. Aldin. The series is now complete, so if you were waiting for the trilogy to be released prior to jumping in, now’s the time! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DHBCRDKB.

Your pre-release this week features the return of Fred Hughes’ Britannia series with Hero’s Legacy. Hazard may no longer be around, but his enemies still are, and they’re going to need to be dealt with! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DHBQW4PR.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 359.8lbs

Updated Word Count: 232,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Holy Circus, Batman

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Week 39 of 2024

Greetings all

The granddaughter is going to her first circus tonight. I’m beyond the moon about it, even if she’s too young to get much out of it. Still, it’s a really cool thing.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

Also really cool is Responsibility of the Fleet by G. Scott Huggins! Responsibility is back and she’s fighting her greatest foe yet, one that threatens to not only defeat her kingdom, but take over the entire Endless Ocean.

See how your favorite half-dragon princess strives against demons of legend here: amazon.com/dp/B0DGRZQTPC.

Besides that, it’s been really cool how much I did this week.

First, I wrote about 10,000 words in The Feasting of Vengeance, including re-integrated and organizing the long thread that serves as the story’s background. I’ll cross the 70k barrier tomorrow and aiming for 80 next week.

Part of the reason things are going faster is I’ve worked out the bulk of how we get to the final battles, which is actually the hardest part. Now I’m just writing battles, which is my favorite and fastest part.

Better yet, I got Tugarin’s Revenge from H.Y. Gregor this week! This is book two in her foray into Jon R. Osborne’s decorated Milesian Accords series.

My favorite aspect of this new series, besides of course the amazing story, is the depth of Russian mythology and culture. I studied medieval Russia as one of my secondary fields in grad school and it’s remained one of my favorite time periods ever since.

Tugarin’s Revenge comes out on November 22nd.

Of course, you’ll want to get Reka’s Grasp, book two in that series, on October 18th. Stay tuned for a cover reveal coming soon for this one!

On top of all that, I did a bunch in Okkorim as well. I’m so blessed I get to be a part of that. Not only am I proud of what I’m producing, I’m pushing myself and learning a ton of new techniques. I have a number of things I’m dying to talk about, but I can’t, not just yet. I can say, we’re doing great stuff that you’ll love when we start releasing the big hitters in 2025.

With that, however, I’ve got to go hear about the circus from the little one. Have a great week everyone!

What I’m Listening To

Pull Me Under by Dream Theater. It might surprise you that I came to Dream Theater late. It shouldn’t surprise you that when I did find them, I loved them.

Quote of the Week

I know, I know. Neil’s birthday was last week and I shouldn’t always do Rush lyrics for the Quote of the Week. Still, two in a row won’t kill you and this is a lyric I liked when I was younger, but am recognizing it’s true brilliance as I get older.

Side note: I got to see them do this song for the first time live in the R40 tour, the last tour. Jonathan Dinklage played the violin and it was majestic, haunting, and powerful.

Side note to the side note: Jonathan has a more famous, and slightly shorter brother name Peter.

Anyway, here’s the quote.

Some are born to move the world —
To live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about
The things we’d like to be
Sadder still to watch it die
Than never to have known it
For you — the blind who once could see —
The bell tolls for thee
– Losing It, Rush

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I show arms and the man Making merry most times

New Mythology Works in Progress

Responsibility of the Fleet is out! This is the 3rd of G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series detailing the deeds of Responsibility, a half-dragon who came from a tough past to claim her birthright, including her real name: Azriyqam.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (69,044)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week Responsibility of the Fleet is out! This is the 3rd of G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series detailing the deeds of Responsibility, a half-dragon who came from a tough past to claim her birthright, including her real name: Azriyqam.

This week’s pre-release is Far Horizons by A.J. Gordon, the third book in The Outer Reaches series shared with Peter J. Aldin. The series is now complete, so if you were waiting for the trilogy to be released prior to jumping in, now’s the time! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DHBCRDKB.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 359.8lbs

Updated Word Count: 209,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Responsibility of the Fleet!

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Week 38 of 2024

Greetings all

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

Responsibility of the Fleet comes out tomorrow! This is the 3rd of G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series detailing the deeds of Responsibility, a half-dragon who came from a tough past to claim her birthright, including her real name: Azriyqam.

Here’s the blurb on this book:

If she saves her brother, she can’t save the world.

The uneasy peace Princess Azriyqam helped forge between the Twin Kingdom of Evenmarch and the Consortium of Man remains, aided by her brother Prince Avnai’s service in the Consortium Fleet.

However, Avnai’s ship faces destruction from a new people on the far side of the Endless Ocean. Tasked by the Consortium’s Chief of Fleet Intelligence to save her brother, Azriyqam discovers a greater menace, one that endangers not just her home and family, but the entire world.

Faced by terrors beyond imagining in a fortress of legend, she must discern friend from foe to gain the strength she needs to choose. Will her choice save all she loves? Or will she fail, losing all she holds dear.

It’s chock full of action, adventure, and magic, just like the first two in the series. If you haven’t read the series, check it out here: https://amazon.com/dp/B095CXTH85. It’s a great read.

Release day is always nice, and it’s been a while, but it won’t be all that long until the next one, Reka’s Grasp, from H.Y. Gregor. In fact, that’s the first of a trilogy you’ll see released in October, November, and December. This trilogy opens a new branch in Jon R. Osborne’s acclaimed Milesian Accords series.

And there’s more coming in 2025. Exciting times at New Mythology Press.

Exciting times for me as I made major progress on The Feasting of Vengeance. I finished a major thread I had to get right, as it serves as a major part of the story’s foundation. That was about 7000 words this week.

Then, I reincorporated it back into the full document, having pulled it out so I could focus on just that. Once that happened, I could really match things up to the Save the Cat Framework. I’d started that already of course, but pulling that out shifted how the chapters would work in the overall book. That’s now fixed, which is a major task in its own right.

Now, I have a boatload of XX prompts. I use XX (not XXX 🙂 ) to mark places where I need to double check something, expand on something, or anything else that requires me to come back to it. By doing that, I can continue to type the narrative without stopping to look things up.

That means I have to go back and check for all of those. I cleared out about a quarter of those this week as well, but best of all, they’re often great places I can dive right back in and throw words on the page without having to stare at the document and remember what I wanted to do, which often happens when I first look at a project.

I also spent a bunch of time expanding a couple of Okkorim projects. I have one that’s in the editing stage where I’m building it up, and another that’s going to get to the editing stage next week, hopefully.

All in all, a productive week, especially since my Achilles has gotten much better. It’s still sore, but I can walk this week, which I couldn’t last week.

Anyway, that’s enough for now, except to say, “Go by Responsibility of the Fleet tomorrow!”

Have a great week everyone.

What I’m Listening To

Bills v. Dolphins. Football season is back!

Quote of the Week

Today would have been Neil Peart’s 72nd birthday. Of course the quote comes from him. I could, of course, choose a song lyric, but I think I’ll pick something else this time.

“The important thing is: if you fail once, or if your luck is bad this time, the dream is still there. A dream is only over if you give it up-or if it comes true.”
– Neil Peart

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I show arms and the man Making merry most times

New Mythology Works in Progress

Responsibility of the Fleet comes out tomorrow! This is the 3rd of G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series detailing the deeds of Responsibility, a half-dragon who came from a tough past to claim her birthright, including her real name: Azriyqam..

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (59,622)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we Shadow Wired, the first book in the Shadow Wired series by Gustavo Bondoni. It’s time for some awesome cyberpunk action… right now! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DG32SJZ6.

Your pre-release this week is Responsibility of the Fleet!

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 359.2lbs

Updated Word Count: 208,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: My Achilles Heel

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Week 37 of 2024

Greetings all

This week my Achilles heel has been my Achilles heel. I strained it at some point last week and it’s been a painful nuisance. I can’t really walk well, and it’s hindered sleep. Yes, I’m doing things about it. No, I’m not ignoring it.

But it has taken time away. Much of that were things around the house, and I had held from the family to cover much of that. It’s nice to have help.

That being said, I did get quite a few words written. I’m solidly over 50k on The Feasting of Vengeance having about finished the secondary thread. That’s about 6-7k this week, on top of several thousand written in other projects and some editing. Ideally, I put out about 10k per week of new words, and I did that this week.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

Of course, the big thing is the release of Responsibility of the Fleet by G. Scott Huggins, third in his Endless Ocean series, a week from tomorrow on September 13th.

I also dealt with a goodly number of small things around the store that have needed work.

It’s frustrating, actually. I had a good week, but I think it would’ve been a great week if it’d been mostly pain free.

However, things could be worse. I’m going to end this week on a down note. I just learned that Howard Andrew Jones, who writes the Hanuvar swords and sorcery series, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

I hadn’t gotten to know him well, but I had enjoyed the times we’d spent together at cons and anticipated more excellent chats in the future. He’s a very smart man, not to mention nice, and we’ll be far worse without him.

I guess what all this means is today is a good day to do something nice for someone because maybe tomorrow you won’t have the chance.

What I’m Listening To

Three Days by Jane’s Addiction. This is literally in my top 10 songs ever. I remember getting the album Ritual de lo Habitual used thinking I might as well check this group out, then getting blown away by 5 of the first 6 songs (this was number 6, by the way). Number 5 was the one song I didn’t care for as much, and ironically it was the one they played all the time (Been Caught Stealing).

Quote of the Week

On this day in 1960, Cassius Clay won the light heavyweight gold in the Olympics. Of course, he later changes his name to Muhammad Ali and becomes one of the great stars of the 20th century.

Here’s a quote we all need to remember sometimes.

“You don’t lose if you get knocked down; you lose if you stay down.”
– Muhammad Ali

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I show arms and the man Making merry most times

New Mythology Works in Progress

Responsibility of the Fleet is out a week from tomorrow!

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (52,799)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have War Criminal, the 11th book in P.A. Piatt’s Abner Fortis, ISMC, series. For those who’ve been following the series (and if you haven’t, why not?), you can pretty much guess that good ol’ Abner will be up to his armpits in trouble as he and Jocko Bender go into the Free Sector to track down two of the war criminals behind the peace rally attack. Remember the world-killer bomb that disappeared? It’s back, too, and fully in play. Will Abner be able to recover it before it goes “boom?” You probably just answered that question wrong… but you’ll have to grab it to find out! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DFFPZCFX.

Your pre-release this week is Shadow Wired, the first book in the Shadow Wired series by Gustavo Bondoni. It’s time for some awesome cyberpunk action… right now!

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 357.4lbs

Updated Word Count: 207,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Short but Sweet

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Week 36 of 2024

Greetings all

Obviously, this week wasn’t any shorter than any other, but it felt that way as I lost three whole days to health stuff. It’s nothing serious, and most of that reason is a standard checkup procedure to make sure I’ve got no unseen issues, it just takes time out of a week.

That being said, I was pretty productive this week. In The Feasting of Vengeance I pulled out some threads from the main document. This allows me to focus directly on those threads and take them basically to the end of Act II and into the final big battle. I haven’t calculated the total words over all three docs, but it’s thousands more on the total with a bunch of cleanup of dead brush. So major progress, IMHO.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

Don’t forget, Responsibility of the Fleet by G. Scott Huggins, third in his Endless Ocean series, comes out in two weeks!

I’ve been working on a larger scale project in Okkorim, however, and I needed to get that finished. I uploaded it for the mechanic to make sure I got the game stuff right yesterday.

This particular chunk had been difficult as I hadn’t had a good way to create game rules without making some things out of balance. The mechanic (his name’s Zach by the way), gave me a thought and what had been a slog at the end of last week was a torrent this week. I wrote 5k just on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Of course, this is DragonCon weekend!

There are a bunch of CKP authors there. I’m sure I’m going to miss some, but I know Kacey Ezell, David Shadoin, Marisa Wolf, H.Y. Gregor, Trisha J. Wooldridge, Melissa Olthoff, and Jon R. Osborne all come to mind.

Also there are a bunch of CKP-adjacent authors such as Joelle Presby, Shami Stovall, and Lydia Sherrer.

In other words, if you want to talk to a bunch of cool authors, there’s little better chance than at DragonCon.

I can’ t go this, year, but I did have a consolation prize. Fred Hughes did an interview with me. I’m not sure when it’ll be released, though of course I’ll let you know. We recorded it yesterday and I think it went really well!

In any case, I think that’s all for now. I’m still fatigued from all the stuff earlier this week, so I’ll sign off. Have a great week everyone!

What I’m Listening To

Steeleye Span’s version of King Henry. Steeleye Span is really cool English band playing medieval and traditional music. Their Saucy Sailor is one of my top 20 songs of all time. While this isn’t to that level, it’s still one I listen to quite often.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to John Locke, born on this day in 1632. I’ve read, and admired, much of his writing, and I encourage people to take a look if they’re philosophically inclined, as I am.

“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
― John Locke

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I am a thing of whimsy wildly careening

New Mythology Works in Progress

So much happening!

Responsibility of the Fleet by G. Scott Huggins comes out September 13th.

Then a trilogy by H.Y. Gregor starting with Reka’s Grasp on October 18th with another November 22nd and the third on December 27th. This is set in Jon R. Osborne’s awesome Milesian Accords series.

And there’s more on the way. The open call from June is bearing fruit and I look forward to tell you of some awesome stuff from that.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance

Upcoming Events

New Releases

Your pre-release this week is War Criminal, the 11th book in P.A. Piatt’s Abner Fortis, ISMC, series. For those who’ve been following the series (and if you haven’t, why not?), you can pretty much guess that good ol’ Abner will be up to his armpits in trouble as he and Jocko Bender go into the Free Sector to track down two of the war criminals behind the peace rally attack. Remember the world-killer bomb that disappeared? It’s back, too, and fully in play. Will Abner be able to recover it before it goes “boom?” You probably just answered that question wrong… but you’ll have to grab it to find out! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DFFPZCFX.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 357.4lbs

Updated Word Count: 205,201

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: In the Grasp of Reka

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Week 35 of 2024

Greetings all

It’s been a productive week here, though it went a little different than expected.

One thing that was expected is cleaning and organizing from Pennsic. I’ve made huge progress on all that, and by the end of next week, I hope it’ll all be put back into the trailer ready for the next event.

I had anticipated a sort of normal week where I work on a variety of projects, but one of those was Reka’s Grasp, a new series set in the Milesian Accords universe by H.Y. Gregor. The book was so good I couldn’t stop editing and I finished it in, if not record time, close to it.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

I spent the evening cleaning up a bunch of stuff in The Feasting of Vengeance. It’s amazing what changing how you view a document changes how you edit it. In this case, I was what I call bediting, or reading it on my phone and making notes while in bed.

It may sound dumb, but it’s proven really effective for me. The small screen forces me to focus on the words more, and I see a ton I miss in any other setting.

Tomorrow, I’ll be sending out the ARC for Responsibility of the Fleet. If you’re on the NMP ARC team, keep an eye on your mailboxes.

If I’m announcing the ARC, that means we’re getting close to release! It comes out on September 13th. It’s the 3rd in G. Scott Huggins’ amazing Endless Ocean series.

I also edited a a new adventure in Okkorim coming from Kacey Ezell for Patreon subscribers called the Book of the Drowned. It’s a quick one, but fun and challenging. You can join the GaxxWorx Patreon here: patreon.com/GaxxWorx for all sorts of stuff in Okkorim that I’m helping to create!

So, while I spent more time with Reka’s Grasp than I expected, I ended up doing pretty good with other stuff too!

But I better get back to work.

What I’m Listening To

If 6 Was 9. This isn’t Jimi Hendrix’s most popular song, but it’s one of my favs. Basically, it’s a small structure allowing him to riff, and I’m totally in favor of that.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to Dorothy Parker, born August 22, 1893. She’s one of the great quote machines of all time. Picking just one is tough, but I think you’ll like the one I chose.

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second-greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first-greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.
– Dorothy Parker

Side note: I have extra copies of The Elements of Style available. Hit me up if you want one.

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I am a thing of whimsy wildly careening

Dragon’s Tidings

The circus is coming to town and we have tickets! The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus comes to Anthony on September 19th to Anthony. We have advance tickets at the store for $13 (adult) and $8 (child and senior).

New Mythology Works in Progress

Lots coming soon!

Responsibility of the Throne comes out on September 13th.

Reka’s Grasp from H.Y. Gregor in the Milesian Accords universe in the middle of October.

And a bunch more after that! The schedule’s about to explode.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (44,326)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have Salvage Race by David Alan Jones. Get more awesome action in the Salvage Title universe here: amazon.com/dp/B0DD4BFV6R.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 363.8lbs

Updated Word Count: 193,070

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: At the Vale of Roncevaux

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Week 34 of 2024

Greetings all

I’m sadly not actually at the Vale of Roncevaux but it is the anniversary of the battle. I’d love to go visit the site of the battle someday, but for now, I’m home from Pennsic! Everything is dry! Despite the rain, I still had a great time and sold a bunch of books.

This has been a mostly non-productive week, as expected, at least in terms of writing. I’ve touched base on everything to keep going, and I’ll be doing a bunch of bediting this week.

I did start editing Reka’s Grasp this week. This will be the first of a new trilogy in Jon R. Osborne’s excellent Milesian Accords series. It’s by H.Y. Gregor and she’s bringing Russian myth and tradition into the world.

It’s a great addition to the universe and you’re going to love it.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

Speaking of cool new stuff, Responsibility of the Fleet is coming September 12th! This is book 3 in G. Scott Huggins’ innovative and fast-paced Endless Ocean series.

 

What I’m Listening To

Bohemian Rhapsody. Enough said.

Quote of the Week

It’s Battle of Roncevaux day! Hence, we have to have a passage from the Chanson de Roland. My preferred translation, by the way, remains Dorothy L. Sayers despite the fact that it’s getting somewhat dated. She kept both meaning and poetry in her translation, something few can do.

Anyway, here’s Laisse 8.

The Emperor Charles is glad and full of cheer.
Cordova’s taken, the outer walls are pierced,
His catapults have cast the towers down sheer;
Rich booty’s gone to all his chevaliers,
Silver and gold and goodly battle-gear.
In all the city no paynim now appears [101-29]
Who is not slain or turned to Christian fear.
The Emperor sits in a great orchard near,
Having about him Roland and Olivere,
Samson the duke, and Anseis the fierce,
Geoffrey d’Anjou the King’s gonfalonier,
And Gerin too, and with him too Gerier;
And where these were was many another fere—
Full fifteen thousand of France the fair and dear.
Upon white carpets they sit, those noble peers,
For draughts and chess the chequer-boards are reared;
To entertain the elder lords revered;
Young bachelors disport with sword and spear.
Beneath a pine beside an eglantier
A faldstool stands all of the red gold clear;
Of fairest France there sits the king austere.
White are his locks, and silver is his beard,
His body noble, his countenance severe:
If any seek him, no need to say, “Lo, here!”
From off their steeds lit down the messengers,
Well did they greet him with shows of love sincere.
– Chanson de Roland, Laisse 8 (translation by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I am first in the light Leading the memory

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (43,017)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have Quaestor by Peter J. Aldin. This is the second book in his Outer Reaches series. It’s sort of a mil SF Judge Dredd story, and you can’t go wrong with that. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0DCF1Q235.

Your pre-release this week is Salvage Race by David Alan Jones. Get more awesome action in the Salvage Title universe here: amazon.com/dp/B0DD4BFV6R.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 361.8lbs (Pennsic was good for me!)

Updated Word Count: 165,488

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: After the Pennsic Floods

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Week 33 of 2024

Greetings all

Pennsic 51
Pennsic 51

I’m still at Pennsic, though I’ll hopefully be on the road back on Saturday. Hence, it’ll be a streamlined update once again.

Overall, it’s been a productive, but challenging war thanks to three of the hardest downpours I’ve seen here. Rain is a given at Pennsic, but it’s usually in steady amounts. We had three bursts that flooded the tent which simply overwhelmed my normal rain defenses.

This isn’t the horrible thing it might sound. It’s not my first rodeo and all my stuff was protected from the rain so I didn’t lose any stock. I’ll lose old rugs, but I actually anticipated this to be a rainy Pennsic so I brought the rugs I was contemplating getting rid of anyway. That’s the extent of my loss.

I will say it does make it harder. I had to spend time getting rid of water, and though I have a store shopvac and electricity, we took out a bunch of gallons of water. And of course the floor never really got completely dry.

But again, it wasn’t a huge thing. All my stuff is elevated, including my bed, so I slept great, especially during the steady rains normal to Pennsic. Such rains on canvas is incredibly soothing.

As I said, it was really productive too. I sold quite a bit and may exceed last year despite losing three prime sales days to rain. My partner, the potter, will likely do the same. We did see a major drop off in fiber arts stuffs (looms, thread, yarn), because those work better if I can display them outside on sunny days.

Responsibility of the Fleet
Responsibility of the Fleet

I will, as usual, make a profit after fees, insurance, inventory cost, helper fees, and travel costs. The amount of profit is yet to be known as I still have a day and a half of potential sales.

During the slow times, I wrote about 10k on The Ravening of Wolves, finally breaking the 40k mark and clearing a bunch of chaff too.

Also, Responsibility of the Fleet from G. Scott Huggins is now at the proofreader for the final editing pass. It’ll be out on September 12th.

I also started editing Reka’s Grasp, the next Milesian Accords novel, this one by H.Y. Gregor, which comes out in October. This will be the first of a separate trilogy in Jon R. Osborne’s best-selling universe, which is about to really explode even more than it already has.

Exciting stuff.

I also caught up on a bunch of editing in Okkorim, making progress in four projects over the last week.

Truly, Pennsic is one of my best times of the year for progressing. But for now, I must take care of the next customer.

What I’m Listening To

The conversations of the marketplace.

Quote of the Week

Happy what would have been his 105th birthday to Dino di Laurentiis, producer of one of my favorite films and the author of a quote that inspires my writing.

 The audience wants to be attracted not by the critics, but by a great story. You must deliver to the audience emotion – and when I say emotion, I mean suspense, drama, love.
– Dino De Laurentiis

Rob’s Riddles

Like challenges? Think you’re smarter than me? Then see if you can answer my riddles!

You can find them by signing up for my Patreon here: patreon.com/rhodri2112. Not sure what I mean? Then check the sample riddle and see if you get the answer!

First Line of Current Riddle:

I am the killer of worlds and     Keeper of trust

But wait, there’s more! You get new riddles on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday, but on the other Tuesdays, you get snippets of works in progress.

This week’s snippet is Chapter XX of WORKINPROGRESS.

Dragon’s Tidings

BalloonFest on the 18th.

Also, check our website (www.reddragonquilts.com) for our May 30% off special!

New Mythology Works in Progress

I’m pleased to announce New Mythology’s open call for novels and series. Here are the details: chriskennedypublishing.com/2024/04/25/new-mythology-open-call/.

Paladins of Valor is out! Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0CY9T4DHG/.

The Ruriksaga is out! Get this one here: amazon.com/dp/B0D35XF4RJ.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (42,888)

Upcoming Events

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 370lbs

Updated Word Count: 160,000

Firehall Sagas Archives: 758 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

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe