Week 42 of 2023

Greetings all

Sigh. A good chunk of my writing buddies are in North Carolina today having fun at FactoryCon. With the move and setting up the stores, it wasn’t in the cards this year. Frankly, I haven’t seen them since LibertyCon, and that’s far too long. I’ll get to see a goodly number at 20Books Vegas, and that will be wonderful, but that’s several weeks away.

I’ve still been enjoying the release of Where Now the Rider. Reviews are excellent. Frankly reviews of the whole Firehall Sagas series have been great, and I appreciate it. Get all 3 books here: amazon.com/dp/B0CCKWZKYQ.

This has been a week of various projects. We buy half a cow each year from friends in Iowa. That’s now a two-day trip, so all I could do is some bediting for work. Also this week was Anthony Fall Fest. Makes it hard to make a lot of progress.

However, I did get a few words written along with a bunch of editing on the Ruriksaga. This has been rough sledding, in part because of fatigue, but it’s getting there. Also this week, I started editing I Am a Wondrous Thing.

I got feedback on my sooper-sekrit project and it was very positive. I’ll talk about it when I can, but they really liked the first part.

We also made a bunch of progress on the building. We’re setting November 15th as a tentative opening date. There’ll still be a bunch to do to improve things, but we’ll have stock, working POS systems, and our store areas are looking great.

All in all, it’s one of those weeks where I probably got a lot done, but it didn’t feel like it. Combine that with a long period without a break, and missing my friends, I’ve been a bit down.

But next week will be good. We’ll finish the apartment and that’s a huge load off my brain. I’ll start putting in inventory, ,which will make the shop much more real, and we’ll have the Man Cave going.

But for now, you guys have fun at FactoryCon!

What I’m Listening To

A pretty bland game between the Saints and the Jaguars. I should probably be watching Texas play Houston, but I get so stressed, I decided to let it go for a while. Plus, my superstition is big time games go better if I don’t watch them. It’s not true of course, but sometimes it’s what I do.

Happy birthdays to L.E. Modesitt, Jr. and John le Carré. Heck of a lot of great stories come from this day.

Anyway, here’s a quote from le Carré about how writers and spies are alike.

 A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it.
– John le Carré

Rob’s Riddles

I have a Patreon where I write Old English style riddles and provide snippets of my work. You can find it here: patreon.com/rhodri2112, along with a sample riddle.

First Line of Next Riddle:

I have been shot, shadowing my memory

New Releases

Get Where Now the Rider here: amazon.com/dp/product/B0CK6Q8TYV.

New author alert! Final Assembly by Dennis M. Myers, the first book in his Rise of the Automated Empire series, is set in a post-scarcity society on the moon in the distant future, where no one lacks for anything, and everyone gets along. Right? Not so fast… Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0CKVFR1PL.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 357.8

Updated Word Count: Still need to do an accounting

Firehall Sagas Archives: 743 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

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0
• Website: robhowell.org
• Blog: robhowell.org/blog
• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/
• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/
• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

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