Tag Archives: The Keen Edge of Valor

Rob’s Update: Seeds are Sown

Week 1 of 2022

Greetings all

Seeds of Dominion is out! This is the second Eldros Legacy novel and it’s by Quincy J. Allen. It covers events in Daemanon, the continent that Quincy created, and it stars Rellen of Corsia, who has already appeared in a couple of anthologies, When Valor Must Hold and Songs of Valor.

In my opinion, this is the best thing Quincy’s ever written, and if you’ve read his other stuff, you know that’s saying something.

You may have noticed that Seeds of Dominion is Book One of the Legacy of Deceit while Khyven the Unkillable Book One of the Legacy of Shadows. There are five continents on Eldros, and each of the five continents have their stories to tell at the start. If you would like an analogy, think of Marvel with separate stories involving Ironman, Hulk, Thor, and all the others.

We did this, by the way, not simply because the stories demand it, but also because when we really get going, we want to make sure readers know in what order to read all the books.

Major progress this week in The Keen Edge of Valor. I’ll be announcing the list of authors at Chattacon next week in the Chris Kennedy Publishing Year Ahead panel, which happens on Saturday at noon. I’ll post that list the week after.

I will say that I’m blessed to get to work with some of the best in the business.

I made some progress in The Door Into Winter, though I’ll freely admit I didn’t do as much over the holiday weekend as I should have. We got a new reclining loveseat this past weekend. There were bowl games, including the CFP semifinals, plus the NFL. I may have gotten distracted.

I also did my 2021 AAR, which you can find here: robhowell.org/blog/?p=2523.

Next week will be a little off-kilter, in terms of posting online because, as I mentioned, I’m going to Chattacon. I have a great schedule lined up, which I’ll post next Thursday.

What I’m Listening To

Xanadu by Rush. Because of course I am.

Quote of the Week

Like us all, I’m mourning the passing of Betty White. This is, I think, a fitting quote on the topic.

“People have told me, ‘Betty, Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with old friends.’ At my age, if I wanted to keep in touch with old friends, I’d need a Ouija board.”
– Betty White

Now where’s my Ouija board. “Hey, Betty, I need some help…”

Dudes In Hyperspace

Follow the Dudes In Hyperspace here:
https://www.sharkflight.com/dudes/

The latest show is our holiday episode and includes an interview with a member of the USO.

Cool Stuff In Eldros Legacy
Seeds of Dominion
Seeds of Dominion

Get five free stories and signed up with the Eldros Legacy mailing list! Here There Be Giants is at: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/qabsr57lq3+.

Seeds of Dominion is out! You can get it here:amazon.com/dp/B09PK1QYDY.

Don’t forget to leave reviews and like the reviews that you found helpful.

If you haven’t already, please do the same for Todd Fahnestock’s Khyven the Unkillable, which is here: amazon.co.uk/dp/B09N288DCC.

New Mythology Works in Progress

We have no current open anthology calls but will have a new one in January.

I’m currently working on The Keen Edge of Valor, which will come out at FantaSci. I’ll make the full announcement of the author list at Chattacon.

Giveaways
Adventure-Action-Intrigue

Adventure-Action-Intrigue

storyoriginapp.com/bundles/4b5c160a-59c8-11ec-935c-77d1c581f5d8

Free Fantasy and Science Fiction
Free Fantasy and Science Fiction

Free Fantasy and Science Fiction

storyoriginapp.com/bundles/d3f41fc2-538c-11ec-949a-23f5e84cb858

The Neighbor You Don't Know
The Neighbor You Don’t Know

And we’re trying something new here. This is a preview of The Neighbor You Don’t Know, by Shane Shepard. You can find it here: storyoriginapp.com/giveaways/da9e03f0-1bbb-11ec-92e4-7fd845c8a81b

If you get a chance, please go take a look. He’s doing me the kindness of advertising one of my own stories.

Rob’s Works in Progress
  • The Door Into Winter (70,243)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
Upcoming Events
New Releases

Seeds of Dominion is out! You can get it here:amazon.com/dp/B09PK1QYDY. The second novel in the Eldros Legacy.

Also out is the next Lunar Free State book, The Next Crusade, by John Siers. You can get it here: amazon.com/dp/B09PD8SCCH

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 329.6 (Not a typo, been under 330 all week. W0000tttt)

Updated Word Count: 1,954

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

Rob’s Update: Auld Lang Syne

Week 52 of 2021

Greetings all

Welcome to the final week of 2021. I hope you had a great year and I wish you an even better year in 2022. For me, it was a huge year, and I will do a separate blog post next week about it, followed by one discussing my goals for 2022.

This was not my most productive week, but it was a healthy one. I spent time with the family, enjoyed Christmas, got a some cool things, gave out cool things, and ate a lot. Somehow, I managed not to eat too much that I gained a bunch of weight.

Seeds of Dominion
Seeds of Dominion

I owe all of you on my mailing list a bit of an apology. I do have Fleece Navidad ready to send out to you, but I’m trying to arrange a better way of getting it to and that has been a bit of a learning curve. Again, this was something I’d intended to do over the past weekend, but got distracted. I’ll have it sent out to you next week.

I’ll also send out the links for Silent Knight or Under a Midnight Clear, the previous two Nick Patara, PI stories. Again, these are free for those on my mailing list.

Seeds of Dominion releases on Tuesday and we’re really excited. It’s by Quincy J. Allen and over the years I’ve seen a goodly amount of what he’s written. I think this novel is the best thing of his I’ve read, and the advance reviewers agree.

I made a little progress on The Door Into Winter. I’m not entirely happy with what I wrote though. For the first time since I started writing it, i think I’ll need to do a big rewrite of a chunk. It’s normal for this to happen, and I’ve sort of been waiting for it, but I’m really pleased I got this far into the book before running into a messy chunk.

Next week, I’m looking forward to my 7th New Year’s with my sweetie. I’m also looking forward to a goodly amount of football this weekend, which we’ll surely discuss on next week’s Dudes in Hyperspace.

For now, I’m going to some more words written. Have a great New Year’s everyone.

What I’m Listening To

Michigan State v. Pitt. I hope this game is as exciting as the Tennessee – Purdue game that just finished. It ended up at 48-45 in overtime! The last half of the 4th quarter was bonkers, with huge play after huge play.

Quote of the Week

This week’s quote comes from traditional New Year’s song. It is, again, my hope that all of you have a wonderful 2022.

We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
– Robert Burns

Dudes In Hyperspace

Follow the Dudes In Hyperspace here:
https://www.sharkflight.com/dudes/

The latest show includes an interview with Todd Fahnestock, one of the Founders of the Eldros Legacy.

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+.

Seeds of Dominion out Tuesday!

New Mythology Works in Progress

We have no current open anthology calls but will have a new one in January.

I’m currently working on The Keen Edge of Valor, the next Libri Valoris anthology.

Rob’s Works in Progress
  • The Door Into Winter (67,243)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
Upcoming Events
New Releases

This week’s release is Assault, by Mike Massa, the next in Chuck Gannon’s Caine Riordan universe. You can get it here: amazon.com/dp/B09NZSH7X9.

And remember, Seeds of Dominion is out on Tuesday!

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 330.2

Updated Word Count: 383,210

Eldros Legacy Archives: 806 entries (there will be more coming next week from Seeds of Dominion)

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

Rob’s Update: Happy Holidays

Week 50 of 2021

Greetings all

It was a very productive week here. I finished the first pass through Embers & Ash, the third book of the Eldros Legacy. This one is by Marie Whittaker, who’s a fantastic writer.

I also finished Fleece Navidad, which will be going out to my subscribers on Saturday. I really do appreciate all of you who have subscribed to my mailing list, and I hope you enjoy these Nick Patara, PI stories.

I got about 5k in The Door Into Winter. That’s not really reflective of how easy this story is to write. I’m having trouble finding time to write on it during the holiday season with so much going on, but man I’m chunking out words whenever I do. I really like where it’s going.

I also started the real editing for The Keen Edge of Valor, the next of the Libri Valoris anthologies.

My sweetie and I went on a big hunt this past weekend. The game? The right loveseat and couch for the big TV room downstairs. Wednesday night is date night, and more often then not we enjoy watching BBC mysteries together. We’re such party animals. However, we hadn’t really had a way to sit together. But we found a great set, on clearance, and it comes tomorrow. It is exactly the right thing for us, and we both got in our steps on Saturday and Sunday hunting for it.

Plus, of course, all the Christmas prep. We’re not doing a huge thing, in part because it’s just me, my sweetie, my mom, and my stepdad. Still, I’ll grill steaks, we’re cooking a ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a bunch of other fixins. The sweetie has decided to make not one pie (blackberry, her favorite), not two (bourbon pecan, not quite my favorite, but close), but three pies (she found just the right lemons at CostCo to make her special lemon pie.

So much for my carb count. Ah, well, it’s the season for eating… errr… I mean giving. Anyway, I hope you all have a great holiday season.

What I’m Listening To

Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I had a chance to see them with the Marshall Tucker Band in Wichita a little more than two years ago. I’d never seen them live before, and I’m really glad I went, as it was a heckuva show.

Quote of the Week
This is one of my favorite quotes, by one of my favorite people. If you want a fun story about Charles Schulz, by the way, go look up the time that Stephen Pastis, who writes Pearls Before Swine, fanboyed him.

“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
Charles M. Schulz

Dudes In Hyperspace

Follow the Dudes In Hyperspace here:
https://www.sharkflight.com/dudes/

The latest show includes an interview with Emily Bernson of the USO, our memories of 2021, and what we’re looking for in 2022. Side note, Ian definitely hadn’t gotten the memo of my plans for 2022.

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+.

Seeds of Dominion
Seeds of Dominion

I finished my pass on Embers & Ash, the next Eldros Legacy book. This one’s by Marie Whittaker, and it will introduce the continent of Pyranon.

Of course, we’re all looking forward to Seeds of Dominion, by Quincy J. Allen, in less than two weeks.

Next week, we’ll have the Daemanon map reveal, so stayed tuned for that.

New Mythology Works in Progress

We have no current open anthology calls but will have a new one in January.

I’m currently working on The Keen Edge of Valor, the third in the Libri Valoris anthologies for release at FantaSci.

Rob’s Works in Progress
  • The Door Into Winter (63,611)
  • Rick Blaine (8,845)
  • CB (8,418)
Upcoming Events
New Releases

This week’s big new release is Ally, the next 4HU novel, by Kacey Ezell and Marisa Wolf. The Depik are back! And they brought friends. Get it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B09NN53QLN.

Tracked Items

Today’s Weight: 331.8

Updated Word Count: 382,460

Eldros Legacy Archives: 804 entries (expect this to jump next week as we get close to Seeds of Dominion)

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