Yeah, not gonna make it

I've got a little over three thousand words down in the short story I was attempting to write before March.  There's still a lot left to write, and since it's now after midnight here, I obviously didn't finish it in time.

The good news is that I've got over three thousand words down in a new story.

Now all I need to decide is whether I want to keep at it for a few days or put it aside and start on book 5 of Wheel of Fire.  Actually, now that I think about it, I've got a few other things I need to do before diving into book 5, so maybe I'll give the short a little more time.

Infected

I've had a swollen place on my big toe for several days.  I thought it was just pinched in my shoe or something and that's why it was swollen.

Today, I squeezed out some pus.  It's infected.  :(

I put some ointment on it and bandaged it up.  I really don't want to go to the clinic for what seems like a minor thing, but I guess we'll see what happens.  If it gets worse, I'll have no choice.

I have no idea what caused this problem.  Just another mystery ailment, I suppose.

Back matter updated

I've uploaded new-back-matter versions of Ruined Worlds.  The ones at Kobo and Amazon now have a link to Auxiliary's Revenge in the back.

I've also uploaded Auxiliary's Revenge to PublishDrive.  I haven't moved a single copy of anything at PD since last spring, so putting the new book there wasn't a priority.  Anyway, it's there now, or at least it will be once they review it and approve it.

I've got a about a thousand words written in that short story I posted about previously.  Not much, but better than nothing.

I think I've got my tax stuff ready to drop off at the accountant's place.  With luck, there won't be any surprises.  I'm expecting to pay some bucks to the feds, though, and that sucks.

Yesterday, I moved nine copies of Clouds of Venus at Kobo.  That's unusual; sales and downloads at Kobo have always been sporadic for me.  Hopefully it's the start of a trend.  I'd love to get some real traction there.

Short story before March?

I've had an idea for a short story for a while.  It's finally percolated in my mind enough so that I think I'm ready to write it.  I'm thinking it might be a fun challenge to try to finish the first draft before March.

Think I can do it?

Bring back the Chestnut!

One of the most worthwhile endeavors I've seen in my life is the attempt to bring back the American Chestnut tree.

The land used to be full of them.  The Chestnut grew straight, tall, and fast, making it a wonderful supply of lumber.  It produced a large supply of nuts which were an important food source for woodland critters.  It was, simply, a fantastic tree species.

Then the blight happened.  A fungus arrived from abroad and began destroying the trees at a fantastic rate.  Most of them were wiped out in a very short amount of time.  The Chestnut has been endangered--and on the brink of extinction--ever since.

Until now.

In recent years, efforts have been made to restore the American Chestnut.  Some of those efforts include cross-breeding it with the blight-resistant Chinese Chestnut.  That solution isn't ideal, though, because the Chinese version is a different species and doesn't have the same characteristics.  Other efforts have involved more direct genetic engineering to make a fully-American version that is blight-resistant.

Those latter efforts have succeeded.  By inserting a gene from the wheat plant into the American Chestnut's DNA, researchers have developed a tree that is the old-fashioned American Chestnut in every way but is now also blight-resistant.  Check out the video from the project:

https://ensemble.syr.edu/hapi/v1/contents/permalinks/a9A7BmLz/view

I'd love to see the day when Americans once again roast Chestnuts over on open fire, just like the song says, as if the blight had never happened at all.

Bring back the Chestnut!  :D

Aliens

I've only published one story involving aliens, my short story The Lattice.  I really need to remedy this some day. 

The challenge is in creating aliens that are truly alien and not just humans in costume.  But you also don't want to make them too alien, because if the reader can't sympathize with them in any way, then they're just cardboard cutouts.  In that case, they might as well be paper targets on a shooting range.

It's not easy, hence my reticence.

I've got three books left in the current series to finish up before I move on to the next project.  In the meantime, though, maybe I can do some brainstorming about alien societies.

Store links are up

I've added them to the sidebar.  Scroll all the way down to get to the latest book.