Week 51 of 2020
Happy holidays to everyone!
Your Christmas gift, Under a Midnight Clear, will be in an email immediately following this one. It’s a 5.9Mb Zip file with the story in .pdf, .epub, and .mobi formats. That should cover most, if not all of you, but if you need it in another format, let me know. My e-book creation software can let me do just about anything.
Also, if you have any issues receiving that email, including not getting it at all, problems with a file that large, or anything else. Let me know, and I’ll make sure to help you. I’ll assume, by the way, that you’ve checked your Spam directory, which it might shunt to for a variety of reasons, of course.
My sweetie and I opened our presents last night and snuggled on the couch watching Youtube videos of Rowan Atkinson, Monty Python, and Victor Borge. We also tried the gluten-free low-carb pork rind panko breading on Buffalo strips. Delicious.
Today we’ll be doing some Zoom calls, like I suspect many will do. I’ll do some more re-editing on A Lake Most Deep as well. Then we’ll have steak and a fixings for dinner. Yeah, it’s not traditional, but even a small turkey and ham and all the rest is too much for me. At least now. There were days in the past, though…
This was not my most productive week, but I did stuff I needed to do. Stuff that consolidated and organized a bunch of things. I cleaned up my file structure on my computers, which needed straightening up. This has the benefit of double-checking all my backups. I did, of course, finish Under a Midnight Clear and get it ready to deliver.
Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic day and holiday season.
What I’m Listening To
Wizards in Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I’m really a fan of Christmas music, especially hard rock and metal versions. TSO is the best of this, having made a living melding genres into something spectacular.
Quote of the Week
This seems like an appropriate quote after 2020. I think we all need a little extra, and that means we all need to try and do a little extra for each other.
“Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”
―
News and Works in Progress
- The Ravening of Wolves (29,784)
- Rick Blaine (8,845)
- CB (8,418)
- Cynewulf (8,642)
- Gato (2,312)
Recent Blog Posts and Wiki Additions
- I spent the week cleaning up a few mistakes on the wiki. I did add one new page, though. Interestingly, research for that one page gave me a bunch of new ideas because I stumbled across a fable sunken city. Heck, yeah, I’m gonna use that someday.
- Inland Seas: https://shijuren.org/tiki-index.php?page=Inland-Seas
Upcoming Events
- FantaSci, 19-21 March, Durham, NC
https://fantasci.rocks/ - LibertyCon, 27-27 June, Chattanooga, TN
https://libertycon.org/ - DragonCon, 2-6 September, Atlanta, GA
https://www.dragoncon.org/
New Releases
This week’s spotlight is on Nick Steverson, who has jumped in with both feet. This week, he releases his second novel in the Salvage Title universe, Action. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R7T6DP5.
Today’s Weight: 348.6 (Not a typo)
Updated Word Count: I’ve decided I need to keep track of wiki entries better. My new backup process allows me to track how many words I use on the wiki, but that is someone misleading because that includes a variety of things like “BOX(width=”250px” align=”left” float=”right” bg=”#1f2e52″ style=padding: 10px” which shouldn’t really count.
However, given some of the feedback I’ve gotten, the wiki *is* contributing to Shijuren’s readership so it should count for something, especially since part of the reason I keep these word counts is to reward myself when I do work. Hence, I’m going to start counting the Wiki word count at 1/4th. I did over 100k words, or a full novel of exposition that isn’t dragging down the stories.
Anyway, here’s the updated total: 293,605
Shijuren Wiki: 724 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
Author of the Shijuren-series of novels
- Website: www.robhowell.org
- Blog: www.robhowell.org/blog
- Shijuren Wiki: https://shijuren.org/tiki-index.php
- Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/robho
well.org/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rhodri2112
Currently Available Works
Shijuren
- A Lake Most Deep (Edward, Book 1)
- The Eyes of a Doll (Edward, Book 2)
- Where Now the Rider (Edward, Book 3)
- I Am a Wondrous Thing (The Kreisens, Book 1)
- Brief Is My Flame (The Kreisens, Book 2)
- None Call Me Mother (The Kreisens, Book 3)
- “What’s in a Name” in When Valor Must Hold (An Edward prequel story)
- “An Oath’s Other Edge” in Dragons and Dribbles : A Corner Scribblers Flash Collection w/ guest author, Rob Howell
Nick Patara, PI
- Silent Knight (Nick Patara, PI, Book 1)
- Under a Midnight Clear (Nick Patara, PI, Book 2)
Four Horsemen Universe
- “Where Enemies Sit” in For a Few Credits More (Revelations Cycle, Book 7))
- “A Sword for Striking” in Luck Is Not a Factor (Four Horsemen Tales, Book 6)
- Fire From Fire Quickened” in The Gates of Hell (Four Horsemen Saga, Book 4)
- The Feeding of Sorrows (Four Horsemen Tales, Book 11)
The Phases of Mars
- “Far Better to Dare” in Those In Peril
- “In Dark’ning Storms” in To Slip the Surly Bonds
- “Here Must We Hold” in Trouble in the Wind
Short Stories
- “A Gift of Crimson” in Hand of Gold and Other Stories (Pussy Katnip)
- “The Chaos of Well-Seeming Forms” in We Dare
- “Nor War’s Quick Fire” in We Dare II: Semper Paratus (Forthcoming, 2020)
If you think you received this email incorrectly or wish to be unsubscribed, please send an email to shijuren-owner@robhowell.org