Tag Archives: Mel Brooks

Rob’s Update: In Orbit at LibertyCon

Week 26 of 2018

Greetings all

Before I get into anything else, let me just say that Brief Is My Flame is now officially live on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-My-Flame-Kreisens-2/dp/1946415049.

Here’s the blurb:

An ancient foe threatens the realms of the west. Irina Ivanovna gave up her throne to search for that threat, and now finds herself pursued by a skilled runelord. Etain Muirghein must discover the truth before the other captains of the Western Isles rise against her. Ivan Yevgenich has spent his life defending his people but now faces the greatest Kreisic leader ever to hold a sword. And Geirr Stronghair wishes only to keep Svellheim at peace, but uncovers something more terrifying than war.

Fear and anger have seeped into the very stone of the Kreisens. No one knows the source of the poison, but all can see the flashing steel and searing flame that come in its wake.

Will rivals overcome centuries of hate to become allies? Will a riddle nearly two thousand years old reveal the means of saving Shijuren? Or will the swords of good men taste the blood of those they should protect?

The rulers of the western realms are right to worry…

Anyway, no need to worry about me because I am safely in orbit at LibertyCon in Chattanooga, TN. This is by far the best SF/F con I’ve ever seen. The people who run it are excellent, and the quality of the guests is fantastic. I’m honored to be a part of it.

However, while I made the trip successfully, my laptop did not. It was not unexpected, so I had budgeted for it. I’m now typing on an Acer Predator Helios that one review said was not full-featured enough to be a proper gaming computer and not cheap enough to fill that niche. Oddly, it fits my qualifications perfectly.

The only issue was that it took most of my day to go down to Atlanta and get it from Micro Center. They have a fairly wide choice of laptops, unlike most places, and there’s at least one in the KC area if I need servicing. Two hours each way, but that did mean I could have lunch with Duke Thomas, and that’s always fun.

However, I’m back in the hotel room getting ready to go out and see people. Here’s my LibertyCon schedule: http://www.libertycon.org/programming/pros2.php?pid=326

Gonna be a great time.

Current Playlist Song

My friend Bryan challenged me to listen to the entire Rush corpus in chronological order. Listening to Rush songs I haven’t listened to in a while is amazing. I always like them even more than I already did, and something new strikes me. The one yesterday was “Before and After” from the first album. Even then, they were something more.

Quote of the Week

Today is the 92nd birthday of Mel Brooks, one of my favorite film creators. Here’s a fantastic quote that we should remember more often in my opinion.

“Humor is just another defense against the universe.”
– Mel Brooks

News and Works in Progress

  • TAV (2,007)
  • AFS (2,681)

Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions

Upcoming Events

Spotlight

This week’s interview was with Chris Kennedy and you can find it here: https://robhowell.org/blog/?p=1215. His Amazon page is here: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00E4MIJA8/.

Today’s Weight: 386.8

Updated Word Count: Still have collected, but it’s around 160,000.

Shijuren Wiki: 874 entries

Four Horsemen Wiki: 369 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

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