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Rob’s Update: Moving On Up

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Week 44 of 2022

Greetings all

I teased last week about some changes. The first, and biggest change around here is that the Eldros Legacy is moving on up to from its own publishing house. They’re taking that franchise to a new level.

I said, “they’re” because I’m opting out, however. This is because I simply can’t be a major force in two publishing houses and still write my own stuff. I’m proud of what we’ve done, but there’s not enough time in the day.

So, we’re slicing Shijuren out of the Eldros Legacy to become, once again, it’s own setting.

This will, not surprisingly, require more than a bunch of fiddling, but the basic TL:DR version is that they’re building something cool, and I’m building something cool, but we’re building two different things.

This is one reason why, as I mentioned last week, I’m freshening up A Lake Most Deep. In fact, I’ll be freshening up all seven of the Shijuren novels and all the short stories as well. Got one of those edited this week, in fact.

I’m also going to rename the universe. Shijuren will stay, but instead of The World of Shijuren, I long ago realized I need a much stronger universe name. Here are the four I’m considering at the moment:

  • The Kolossoi Chronicles
  • The Firehall Sagas
  • The Reckoning
  • The Wyrdlinga

If you like any of these, let me know. If you don’t like any of these, especially let me know.

This is part of a new branding for the universe. One of the things I did very poorly as a new writer is think about branding. Well, that’s not entirely true. That implies I actually thought about branding, which I did not. I scrambled to do some of that as time went on, and in the process of making the Eldros Legacy, I learned a ton about branding. With this split, I have the opportunity to, essentially, start from scratch.

Over the next couple of months, I’ll be creating a world logo, setting up a particular style for all the covers, and getting it all arranged to reflect many of the lessons I’ve learned over the years.

I’m incredibly excited about that, by the way. As I mentioned last week, I’m loving going back through A Lake Most Deep again. It’s a fun story, and now that I know more of what I’m doing, I’m excited to see where I can take it.

It was either Clarke or Asimov who said something like, you only know what you’re doing after the first million words. Well, I exceeded that a while ago, not to mention over two million words worth of editing.

Time to make my production match the quality of my imagination.

What I’m Listening To

The Prince of Denmark’s March. If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it, I always say.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to Teddy Roosevelt, perhaps my favorite president ever. Certainly, one of the most quotable, and here’s one I love.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
– Theodore Roosevelt

Dudes In Hyperspace

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

The latest show includes a great conversation with Sarah Burris and what libraries can offer.

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+.

Currently available:

Get all the Eldros Legacy novels at: amazon.com/dp/B09Z9WVKYV

New Mythology Works in Progress

2023 FantaSci Short Story Contest open call.

The theme is Bonds of Valor, and you story must include deeds of valor centered around bonds between characters. This could be a romantic relationship, a buddy adventure, oaths to kings, or whatever you can come up with.

Deadline: November 30th, 2022
Word Count: 7-10,000 words
Specifics: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 line spaced.

Current Schedule of New Mythology Press

Giveaways

Celebrate Spooky Season
Celebrate Spooky Season

Celebrate Spooky Season

storyoriginapp.com/bundles/a38c5180-4056-11ed-b896-2b25f4dc3ff7?bundleLinkId=vppIALO

Cyberpunk for Kindle
Cyberpunk for Kindle

Cyberpunk for Kindle

storyoriginapp.com/bundles/ed9315f6-2347-11ed-b81e-cfc44d75a42b?bundleLinkId=Vc2GpEx

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • arewell, My Ugly (38,428)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (3,405)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

Your pre-release this week is The Last Stand. This is a new series from Chris Kennedy and Kevin Ikenberry. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BJNW843S/.

There is no pre-release this week as everyone was busy at FactoryCon. It looked like a fantastic time.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 333.2

Updated Word Count: 397,958

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

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Ch-Ch-Changes

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Week 43 of 2022

Greetings all

There’s a whole lot of changing going on around these parts. I can’t really get into everything yet, but there’s a lot of cool stuff happening.

In other words, stay tuned!

Arranging things this past week slowed me down a bit. I only wrote about 3000 in Farewell My Ugly.

I did, however, get a bunch done on other projects. First, I started the freshening up process on A Lake Most Deep.

I love the story in A Lake Most Deep. I made great characters, a neat setting, and fun mystery. I also made a ton of rookie mistakes. It’s been my worst book, not surprising because it’s my first book, and it’s time for me to make it as good technically as I think it is artistically.

I talked about this some in our recording of Dudes In Hyperspace this week. The thing that struck me as I read through the manuscript for the first time in a while is that I love this story and the characters.

And also, I’m so much better than I used to be. It doesn’t hurt that in the last couple of years I’ve edited almost 2 million words. I may not be the most experienced editor, but I’m certainly settling on a style.

My own writing will benefit greatly from that style.

Also, this week, we made great progress on Responsibility of the Throne, book 2 in G. Scott Huggins’ excellent Endless Ocean series. Expect a cover reveal soon.

Also, we’re getting going on Shadow, Ash, and Prophecy, the sequel to Heart, Wings, and Fire.

Oh, and I did a bunch of reading on the stories sent to me for Bonds of Valor. There’s some good stuff in there, and I can’t wait to see more. See below for the submission guidelines.

So a variety of things. And I’m so excited to see where these changes lead me.

What I’m Listening To

Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin. I got the remastered version recently and decided to wallow in it. It’s probably my favorite Zep album, though on occasion it’s Houses of the Holy.

My thoughts on Houses of the Holy are this: it’s like the Don Sutton of album. Sutton was rarely, if ever, the best pitcher in baseball on any given year, but year after year he was very good to great for 23 years.

Houses of the Holy is like that. Every song is very good. It’s overall consistency is amazing, and I can listen to it every day. It doesn’t have that transcendent song, but it’s all very good to great.

Physical Graffiti has a weak link here and there for me, but it also has a couple of transcendent songs in Kashmir and Ten Years Gone.

Anyway, I’m enjoying it.

Quote of the Week

It’s a great time of year for baseball fans and the playoffs have been fun so far. So, besides the Don Sutton reference, I’m going to wish Mickey Mantle’s memory a happy birthday.

When I’m hitting, I’d play for nothing. When I’m not, any kind of money I receive makes me feel as if I’m stealing.
– Mickey Mantle

Dudes In Hyperspace

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

The latest show includes a great conversation with Sarah Burris and what libraries can offer.

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+.

A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson came out on the the 11th.

Currently available:

Get all the Eldros Legacy novels at: amazon.com/dp/B09Z9WVKYV

New Mythology Works in Progress

2023 FantaSci Short Story Contest open call.

The theme is Bonds of Valor, and you story must include deeds of valor centered around bonds between characters. This could be a romantic relationship, a buddy adventure, oaths to kings, or whatever you can come up with.

Deadline: November 30th, 2022
Word Count: 7-10,000 words
Specifics: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 line spaced.

Current Schedule of New Mythology Press

Giveaways

Rejected
Rejected

This week we have a book exchange! You should check out Rejected by R.M. Demeester.

Echo Paisley has been on her own since her fiancé, Nash, died three years ago. She soon discovered that she didn’t know the man she was going to marry. He had cheated on her with the one person she thought had her back. But that wasn’t the only secret.

Echo is about to leave her past behind when she discovers one last secret Nash left behind, which threatens to turn her life upside down. Echo is forced to seek help from her estranged mother with no one else to turn to.

Get this thriller here: amazon.com/dp/B0B1VXL6V5.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • Farewell, My Ugly (33,581)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (3,405)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have Gates of Hell, the 3rd book in William S. Frisbee Jr.’s The Last Marines series. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BHY4V5NM/.

Your pre-release this week is The Last Stand. This is a new series from Chris Kennedy and Kevin Ikenberry.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 331.6

Updated Word Count: 397,024

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

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Release the Hounds!

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Week 42 of 2022

Greetings all

This week, we released A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson, the 9th book in the Eldros Legacy. It’s a howling (get it?) good adventure and you can get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BHRKNYD5.

I’ve been working on edits for Responsibility of the Throne this week, sequel to Responsibility of the Crown by G. Scott Huggins. He’s such a strong writer and the characters are great.

I’ve also spent this week working on Farewell, My Ugly. I made huge progress, topping 30k this week. I’m aiming at 80k, so it’s over a 3rd done. I’m definitely better at hard-boiled and noir imagery than I was when I stumbled around writing A Lake Most Deep.

I also spent much of this week working on some foundational work that I’m looking forward to talking about down the road. I’m excited about more new projects. Expect to have a big update next week about the new plans.

You guys have a great week. I’m off to date night with the sweetie.

What I’m Listening To

Palästinalied Congregatio by Corvus Corax. These guys are another one of those bands who play medieval music on medieval instruments but do it with a metal crunch.

This particular song is around 800 years old. Here’s the Wikipedia link to more details: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal%C3%A4stinalied

Quote of the Week

Sadly, this week we lost Angela Lansbury, so here’s a quote every author had said at one time or another to their computer:

“All right, we come to an understanding, or one of us doesn’t leave here alive.”
– Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.

Dudes In Hyperspace

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

The latest show includes a fun interview with Nick Steverson.

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+.

A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson came out on the 11th.

Currently available:

Get all the Eldros Legacy novels at: amazon.com/dp/B09Z9WVKYV

New Mythology Works in Progress

2023 FantaSci Short Story Contest open call.

The theme is Bonds of Valor, and you story must include deeds of valor centered around bonds between characters. This could be a romantic relationship, a buddy adventure, oaths to kings, or whatever you can come up with.

Deadline: November 30th, 2022
Word Count: 7-10,000 words
Specifics: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 line spaced.

Current Schedule of New Mythology Press

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • Farewell, My Ugly (30,590)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (3,405)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have D.T Read’s Running from the Gods. Get it here: amazon.com//dp/B0BHCMKH2L.

And of course, A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson, the 9th book in the Eldros Legacy. It’s a howling (get it?) good adventure and you can get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BHRKNYD5.

Your pre-release this week is Gates of Hell, the 3rd book in William S. Frisbee Jr.’s The Last Marines series. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BHY4V5NM/.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 332.4

Updated Word Count: 395,925 (For some reason, I stopped entering in all the stuff I’d edited, which I count as a 1/4 a page. This now matches last year’s process. If you’re interested, I’m currently at 944,000 and I’ll go over a million edited this year. Last year, it was about 783,000.)

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

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Heart, Wings, and Fire

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Week 41 of 2022

Greetings all

Heart, Wings, and Fire
Heart, Wings, and Fire

What a week! There was the  release of Heart, Wings, and Fire by Trisha J. Wooldridge. This is a great story inspired by Asian myths and legends that includes princesses, dragons, and fey, oh, my!

I met Trisha at Superstars and she’s is incredibly impressive. Smart, enthusiastic, and talented. Hard to pass up this combination and I’m incredibly honored to have been able to publish her in New Mythology Press.

By the way, get Heart, Wings, and Fire here: amazon.com/dp/B0BGZ3ST1M.

A Murder of Wolves
A Murder of Wolves

But wait, more’s just around the corner! The 9th Eldros Legacy novel comes out this upcoming Tuesday. It’s A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson. It’s got a bit of military fantasy mixed with swords and sorcery and a lot of adventure.

Again, this comes out on Tuesday and it’s great.

By the way, in last week’s poll, the cover for A Murder of Wolves edged out the cover of Heart, Wings, and Fire. I think I like the art on Wolves better, but the title treatment of Heart is amazing, so that pushes it over the top for me.

On my end of things here I had one of those weeks where I was productive but the numbers won’t exactly show it. I’ve had a bunch of words come out on Farewell, My Ugly, but I cut a bunch as well. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that’s part of my process.

Like I say, it won’t really show up in the running tally below, but this was one of my best weeks in a while, topping 7,000 new words even if about that number went by the wayside.

I’m in the midst of the transition from Act I to Act II and I realized that a bunch of what I had in Act I really doesn’t drive the story, but this new stuff will absolutely push us ahead.

I also took a bit of time off, like really off, this past weekend while the sweetie was off in North Dakota. I told y’all I’d watch football, and I did, watching 6 NFL games and some or all of 8 college games.

I have to admit I’m especially excited about the University of Kansas Jayhawks right now. I don’t ever expect them to win, so going 5-0 thus far is way ahead of expectations.

They’re even hosting College GameDay, a big thing for college football, this weekend. This is ESPN’s Saturday pregame show and they move it around to various campuses to give fans a chance to be a part of the show. It’s quite fun, and this is the first time ever it’s been to Lawrence. Whether they beat TCU this weekend or not, it’s already been a successful season for the Jayhawks.

Rock, chalk, baby!

And with that, I’m going to go write a fight scene. Have a great week everyone.

What I’m Listening To

Currently, I’m listening to Wolgemut play Chanzonetta Tedesca. Wolgemut is a neat band that uses medieval instruments to play medieval songs but often with a metal edge and enthusiasm. Really fun, fantastic stuff.

Here’s their website: wolgemut.net.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to the amazing David Brin!

If you have other things in your life-family, friends, good productive day work-these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer.
– David Brin

Dudes In Hyperspace

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

The latest show includes a fun interview with Nick Steverson.

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+.

A Murder of Wolves by Jamie Ibson comes out on the 11th of October.

Currently available:

Get all the Eldros Legacy novels at: amazon.com/dp/B09Z9WVKYV

New Mythology Works in Progress

2023 FantaSci Short Story Contest open call.

The theme is Bonds of Valor, and you story must include deeds of valor centered around bonds between characters. This could be a romantic relationship, a buddy adventure, oaths to kings, or whatever you can come up with.

Deadline: November 30th, 2022
Word Count: 7-10,000 words
Specifics: Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1.5 line spaced.

Current Schedule of New Mythology Press

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Farewell, My Ugly (23,685)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (3,405)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week’s release is Vendetta Protocol by Kevin Ikenberry. It’s actually a re-release of Kevin’s first series and it’s fantastic. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0BGN41SY7.

Your pre-release this week is D.T Read’s Running from the Gods. Get it here: amazon.com//dp/B0BHCMKH2L.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 333.2

Updated Word Count: 159,067

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