Tag Archives: James Patrick Cronin

Weekly Update

Weekly Update: Coming to Life

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Week 42 of 2020

Greetings all

A couple of bits of big news this week. First, The Feeding of Sorrows is now available on Audible. James Patrick Cronin did a great job of bringing the Queen Elizabeth’s Own Foresters to life. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T3B8BGB/.

None Call Me Mother
Cover of None Call Me Mother

Second, I was able to reveal the great cover for None Call Me Mother. Isn’t it lovely? Thanks to Patrick McEvoy for doing another great job. You can find some of his other stuff at https://www.megaflowgraphics.com/.

This has been a wonderfully productive week, as well. I haven’t written a ton of new stuff, but I’ve been doing a bunch of pre-production for None Call Me Mother. Much of this has been focused on getting the wiki and thus the links ready for the release.

In general, I’ve been working on expanding the Shijuren wiki to provide more information and yet streamline it. To do this, I’m using wiki headers much more, as well as expanding my understanding of wiki formatting. The wiki is already much stronger and faster than it ever was, and the foundation is much better. You can find it here: https://shijuren.org/tiki-index.php.

I’ve also started some of the serious editing for the new anthology. You’re going to love it, assuming of course you want action, adventure, magic, and intrigue. If you want boring stuff, read elsewhere.

While I focused on other things, I did manage to get several thousand words written. As sometimes happens, though, the first story I intended for the anthology didn’t really work. Oh, it’s interesting back story for Ragnar and Zoe, and you’ll see it all eventually, but let’s just say I’m writing about the most unlikely hero in all of Shijuren.

Well, back to work. Have a great week everyone.

What I’m Listening To

Sabaton’s Panzerkampf. I love Sabaton’s operatic metal fused with historial themes. It’s like they said, let’s make our band just for this weird guy in Kansas.

Quote of the Week

The cover to None Call Me Mother includes one of the people I red-shirted for Mar’s fundraiser. Hence, I decided that I’ll give you all a snippet from the novel where truth becomes fiction, so to speak.

“’Huh’,” said Donnghal.”
– None Call Me Mother

News and Works in Progress

  • The Ravening of Wolves (32,068)
  • CB (8,418)
  • RAZ (3,446
  • KAT (1,515)
  • Cynewulf (8,642)
  • Gato (2,312)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

  • I went from 77 entries on the wiki to 104, so there are a ton of changes. I also cleaned up a number of underlying issues and added in more headers and header links. You’ll see that number jump up through the end of the year.

New Releases

The Feeding of Sorrows is now available on Audible. James Patrick Cronin did a great job of bringing the Queen Elizabeth’s Own Foresters to life. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T3B8BGB/.

David Alan Jones has a new release in the Salvage Title Universe. If you like space opera, Kevin Steverson’s Salvage Title, which is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B07H8Q3HBV. Then you’ll binge all the way to Jones’s Salvage Mind, which you can find here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L5TXNGY.

Today’s Weight: 360.2

Updated Word Count: 238,798

Shijuren Wiki: 104 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

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Fall is Here

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Week 40 of 2020

Greetings all

It’s about 55 here and sunny. In other words, my favorite weather. And there’s something about fall days like this that are better to me than spring days with exactly the same temp and sunshine. I don’t know why I prefer fall, maybe it’s the leaves changing as they are starting to do, but this is my favorite time of year.

I got to see a bunch of that as I drove to Virginia to meet up with Chris Kennedy and a bunch of other authors last week, which is why I never got to do my update last week. Normally, we brainstorm story ideas at cons, which we haven’t been able to do, and there’s no substitute for doing that in-person. Zoom is great and all, but not terribly conducive to creativity.

I’m in the midst of writing a couple of things right now. I’m flipping back and forth from The Ravening of Wolves, where I got a number of great ideas from my conversations in Virginia, and my story for the upcoming fantasy anthology.

This anthology is going to rock, by the way.

Also, I’ve been working on production stuff for None Call Me Mother. The cover art is almost done and it’s my favorite cover so far. I’m wrestling with the blurb, as I always do. Blurbs are so much tougher than writing a novel.

In only 11 days, The Feeding of Sorrows comes out on audiobook. I’ve listened to the proofs and they are excellent. James Patrick Cronin did a fantastic job.

Well, time to make dinner and then go get my sweetie some ice cream. Have a great week everyone.

What I’m Listening To

The .mp3s for The Feeding of Sorrows. James Patrick Cronin is fantastic.

Quote of the Week

Speaking of audiobooks, I listened to John Lithgow’s From Song of Myself on the trip. This is an amazing collection and introduction to poetry. Basically, it’s him and a bunch of friends like Helen Mirren and Gary Sinise wallowing in their love of poetry. Morgan Freeman’s rendition of We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks is worth the price of admission alone.

Anyway, since I’m in a poetic mood on a fine fall day, here’s Longfellow’s poem Autumn.

“Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain,
With banners, by great gales incessant fanned,
Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand,
And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain!
Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne,
Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand
Outstretched with benedictions o’er the land,
Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain!
Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended
So long beneath the heaven’s o’er-hanging eaves;
Thy steps are by the farmer’s prayers attended;
Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves;
And, following thee, in thy ovation splendid,
Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves!”
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

News and Works in Progress

  • The Ravening of Wolves (29,674)
  • CB (8,418)
  • RAZ (938)
  • Cynewulf (8,642)
  • Gato (2,312)

New Releases

This week’s spotlight is on a few things. First, Nick Steverson released his first novel last week, entitled Hesitation. It’s part of the Salvage Universe series, which is a lot of fun. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JV1WRDD/.

Coming out this week is Steven Johnson’s Operation Reaper. This is a fun series involving WW2 GIs fighting all sorts of supernatural creatures. You can find this one here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFZ64G8.

Today’s Weight: 361.0 (I was actually down to 358.8 before the trip and came back at 365.2, but it’s settling back down)

Updated Word Count: 239,585

Shijuren Wiki: 77 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