Tag Archives: Raconteur Press

Weekly Update

Rob’s Update: Happy New Year

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Week 52 of 2025

Greetings all!

Happy New Year everyone! May it be a wonderful one for you.

I’ve had a good past couple of weeks. Of course there was Christmas, which is of course all the more fun with a granddaughter. I made some delicious briskets for Christmas dinner, though I’m sadly to the point of only one more serving of leftovers.

Oh, and I sent off a new novel to the publisher! I’ll be talking about that one when we have details, but it’s title is Shattered Spear. That should give you some hints…

That’s a nice capstone on kind of a wonky year. It was probably my least productive year since 2016. I only finished one novel, though of course The Feasting of Vengeance came out early in the year. I also added only 1 short story, but I did finish more.

I also did a bunch of editing, mostly in Okkorim. That is still going strong, and in fact is my primary focus right now.

Still, I didn’t do as much as previous years. The big thing, I think was the conclusion of two different and important parts of my writing career in January. One, of course, was stepping away from New Mythology Press. I’m proud of the quality of stuff we put out, but obviously I spent a lot of time working on it all and it was suddenly… gone.

The same was true of The Feasting of Vengeance, which finished the Foresters trilogy. I’m even more proud of what I did in the 4HU and not thinking/working on a 4HU novel or short story was a shock. First time that’s true in 6-7 years.

It took time for me to figure out exactly what would fit into those gaps. The big step there was P-Con, and I’m still ramping up with what’s came out of that. One thing, by the way, was Shattered Spear.

What was the change? Well, it came from asking Raconteur Press for more opportunities, which they have given me. Lots of things are happening in the background and I’m looking forward to build on that.

Those, I think, are both reason and excuse. It’s a fair reason to say that those changes should affect my production. It’s a fair excuse to say I should have pivoted quicker.

It’s both reason and excuse when I add how much I put into the store. We made great progress in making the store profitable this year, and I know I helped. I also know I probably did that instead of writing, especially in the spring.

So my grade for myself this year is a C+. More good than bad, but not great.

I’m excited about what 2026 will bring, though. Very excited. I’ll talk more about that next week. I have some changes in mind here plus in other parts of my writing/editing life. Expect me to add a regular podcast type show soon, for one thing.

But for now, it’s time to enjoy a bunch more college football over then next few days. Have a Happy New Year!

What I’m Listening To

TCU v. USC in the Alamo Bowl. Bowl season is still a bunch of fun, despite the Playoffs and NIL and what not. Speaking of fun, the Pop Tart Bowl was amazing! That is now a must see for 2026.

Quote of the Week

Today is Rudyard Kipling’s birthday. As he’s probably my favorite poet, or right up there if not, I’m not about to miss the chance to quote him. This one is from Young British Soldier, which is full of good advice, even for those of us who thankfully haven’t seen the elephant. It’s always ruin to run from a fight, though we often need support, even today.

If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white,
Remember it’s ruin to run from a fight:
So take open order, lie down, and sit tight,
And wait for supports like a soldier.
Wait, wait, wait like a soldier…
– Rudyard Kipling, Young British Soldier

Upcoming Events

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 330.4lbs

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: Vice Noir

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Week 28 of 2025

Greetings all

Wooofff. It’s been a while, hasn’t it. I’ve definitely gotten out of the habit, but there’s no better time to get back on the horse than now, or so they say.

Anyway, thanks all for your patience.

I’ve been contemplating how better to serve you all with this newsletter, both to help you help me and also get value out of it. I’ve been dabbling with Substack and I think I might migrate over there. It’ll be free for you, but you might need to get a Substack account to access some of the better stuff. Anyway, it’s time for me to update this particular process, not simply get back to riding regularly.

Vice Noir
Vice Noir

The big news this week is the upcoming release of Vice Noir, including as you can see from the cover, myself! My story is a riff off some happenings in Kansas City in the mid 80s. It also mentions Lawrence, KS, where I was theoretically attending the University of Kansas at the time of this story. So my character could’ve met me if, of course, I’d actually gone to class.

I’ve also been traveling quite a bit of late. There was the trip to Lilies, where the wife spent the whole week at our merchant booth and I covered the store.

Then there was LibertyCon a couple of weeks ago. I’d give you an AAR, but it’ll match every other one. Those people are awesome, I got to do a bunch of cool stuff with them, and I got to talk about writing and my work. Great times as always.

Also in June, I did a bunch of work on Okkorim stuff. I’m excited to see us expanding to the Shadowdark RPG, as it’s much stronger than 5E, IMHO.

I’ve also been working on a couple of other projects, nibbling away at them now because they’re large. I do hope to have a bunch of news on these in the fall, though. I have ideas and I’m putting them down on the page.

Next week, as well, I’ll go over a smaller project I’ve been working at for a while that is almost ready to come out.

Okay, that’s enough for now, but I’ll try to keep this going better. Also, please let me know what you think of Substack. It has some real possibilities for me to provide content in better way.

What I’m Listening To

Schism from Tool. I love how Tool manages to take disparate elements into something amazing.

Quote of the Week

Today, in 2011, the Space Shuttle Atlantis made the final shuttle launch. Despite the Challenger and Columbia tragedies, I looked upon these as something special. I’d like to see us get to space. For a while there, I’d lost hope, but SpaceX has been amazing.

Anyway, today’s quote is from Countdown, the song by Rush after they got to watch the very first shuttle launch.

The bright stuff of dreams is still in me.

Circling choppers slash the night
With roving searchlight beams
This magic day when super-science
Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams

– Countdown, Rush

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

This week we have Vice Noir. I don’t have a link for it, but keep an eye on their Substack page for details: raconteurpress.substack.com.

Honestly, they’re kicking out so much awesome stuff, you should keep an eye there anyway.

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 359.8lbs

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: Back on the Horse

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Week 21 of 2025

Greetings all

Sorry for being a day late. I’d intended to write this when I got home from dinner last night, but the wife and I met a friend in Kingman, about 45 minutes away. On the way, home, we came across an accident, and got held up before backtracking and taking the long way home. By that point, I just went to bed.

However, it was a great week last week. I mentioned last week I wanted to get back on the horse after re-arranging the office. Well thanks to Jonna Hayden at Raconteur Press, I did better than that.

I didn’t write in the project I’d meant to write in, but she sent me the current list of Raconteur Press open calls, one of which is due on Sunday. At first, I was thinking that’s too soon, but I said the heck with it, let’s see if I can still go pretty quickly.

And, it turns, out, I can. I started Thursday and finished the first draft today, so about 5 days to get 6500 words. I’ll be editing the next couple of days but then I’ll send it in.

The story prompt is Noir 80s Vice. I’m not sure I ended up fitting the whole prompt, which was trying more for Miami Vice than what I ended up writing, so they may not accept it even if they think it’s good enough. Still, it’s very 80s and very noir, melding in a bunch of 1980s stuff from KC.

And one of the lines in there is absolutely one of my favorites that I’ve ever written.

I also did a final pass on the PDF for the big project in Okkorim and did some other work with stuff there. I have to say, the team that Matt and Luke gathered, including me, is pretty darn good.

And with that, I’m going to watch some TV before bediting the story later on. Have a great week everyone!

What I’m Listening To

Speaking of the 80s, or at least the early 90s, we’re watching Inspector Morse tonight.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to James Bond! Or at least, Ian Fleming. Here’s a great quote we writers always need to remember.

 There is only one recipe for a best seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page.
– Ian Fleming

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • WFTM (6,422)

Upcoming Events

Tracked Items

My Weight Today: 360.8lbs

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: A Left Turn At Albuquerque

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Week 33 of 2023

Greetings all

Well, I made it home safely from Pennsic. However, I had to jump right back on the road up to North Dakota for some family things. Nearly 40 hours of driving in 4 days makes a tired me. There are some great things happening, though.

Thomas Guarding JJ
Thomas Guarding JJ

Check out this picture of Thomas the Cat taking care of JJ the Grandbaby. We’ve actually had an abundance of cuteness as not only is there JJ, there’s a tiny kitten my sweetie rescued bumbling around.

I haven’t done much work this week, for reasons not excuses, but I can’t complain about all the cuteness.

Also, there’s so much going on with stuff already in progress, I barely have time to breath. First, it’s been a month since A Hope In Hell came out. This is book 3 in Christopher G. Nuttall’s excellent Heirs of Cataclysm trilogy. It’s been a great honor to be a part of this and you can see why by getting it here: amazon.com/dp/B0CBDGZ7D6/.

A Lake Most Deep is only a couple of weeks old and I’m very pleased with the release. Here’s one of my favorite reviews on the book so far: jimbossffreviews.blogspot.com/2023/08/rob-howells-lake-most-deep.html. Thanks to Jim for such an in-depth review.

Get A Lake Most Deep here: amazon.com/dp/B0CCKVLPBL.

The Eyes of a Doll
The Eyes of a Doll

I did a cover reveal of The Eyes of a Doll last week, but here it is again. It comes out on the 29th, so in less than two weeks.

In this one, Edward just has to retrieve a girl’s doll lost at a picnic. What could go wrong?

But wait, there’s more. I was accepted to an anthology of horror coming out around Halloween. Expect a cool cover reveal in a few weeks. My contribution is literally the first story I ever wrote. Man, did I cringe when I edited it.

And there’s still more!

Imagine That!
Imagine That!

Imagine That!, a new Postcards anthology following Imaginarium, comes out tomorrow. Again, I’m honored the folks at Raconteur Press chose my story and I think you’ll all like it.

After we get all the family stuff dealt with, I’m looking forward to an extended period of little travel. It’s time to start settling down after a really busy past few months.

What I’m Listening To

The baby and the kitten playing together. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me.

Quote of the Week

Happy birthday to Brian Aldiss, who has a quote that really resonates with me. I’ve certainly never fit into the system.

 Why had I become a writer in the first place? Because I wasn’t fit for society; I didn’t fit into the system.
– Brian Aldiss

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 am a king      Conquering all before me

Latest Snippet: Chapter 2 of A Lake Most Deep

New Mythology Works in Progress

Of note, this now includes our recent releases, so if you’re not sure what we’ve put out lately, you can go here and check.

Rob’s Works in Progress

  • Sowing Spring’s Wrath (3,213)
  • Farewell, My Ugly (80,232)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • The Feasting of Vengeance (3,405)

Upcoming Events

New Releases

More MilSF awesomeness! Stand on Xanadu, book 9 in John E. Siers’ amazing Lunar Free State series, is out. Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0CF441GQ7.

Your pre-release this week is the heart-pounding conclusion to TimTaylor’s Chimera Company series, The Last Redoubt.  Get it here: amazon.com/dp/B0CFTDXCTP.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 356.0

Updated Word Count: 209,354

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