Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Writing Newsletter Fourth Quarter 2020


Way back in 2006, I began making a quarterly newsletter for my writing news.  At first, I emailed it to my friends, but part way through the year I switched over to putting monthly updates on my website.  It was a way to let people know what – if anything – of mine had been published, random updates, and I usually added a short story or haiku or something.  I continued for several years (I moved the posts to an old blog), but in mid-2013 I stopped.  And I don’t remember why.  My guess is that things were hectic at the time and I felt bogged down, and I took a break and just never got back to it.  Until now.   

I had been thinking of doing a year end wrap up blog, but it was rather depressing thinking of how little I did this year.  The only big thing happened in October, and after thinking for a bit I came back to the idea of a quarterly newsletter.  It will cover any writing news I have, or feel like sharing, and maybe a story or haiku or something.  I’m going to try to keep this version simple, so there’s less chance I’ll feel bogged down.

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In October, I self-published Useless Cogs.



It is a collection of forty, science fiction stories.  The stories range from only a few dozen words to a few thousand and are filled with time travelers, AIs, clones, aliens, even sexbots, although not often as you would imagine.  As examples, there’s a time traveler that’s always a step behind, an AI that’s late on rent, and a sexbot with bad software.  Some of the stories are humorous, some horrifying, and some … depend on your point of view. 

It can be found on Amazon for $1.99.

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In the last three months, I’ve also republished my short stories “For the People?” and “The Horror.” Over the years several of the sites my stories have been on have gone under, or the stories are still online, just on an old blog that nobody follows.  So I’ll occasionally repost them to keep them alive.

I also published a new “Christmas” story, “Too Good to be True.”

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I didn’t get around to writing a story for this quarter.  Maybe next year.

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Image from Pixabay.

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Christmas sale!

So it’s Christmas.  Maybe Santa brought you a new Kindle, maybe in the last few months you’ve read everything in your house, or maybe you’re just looking to try something new from someone you’ve probably never heard of.  Well, I got you covered.  From Wednesday December 23, through Sunday December 27, my four Kindle ebooks listed below will be free to download. 

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and I hope you enjoy anything of mine you read.

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A Man of Few Words

 


A Man of Few Words is a collection of fifty of my flash fiction stories. What would really happen if a “T-Rex on steroids” attacked a city? Why do science fiction writers make the best lovers? How does a company get to Second Base with VIPs? I explore these questions and more using less than 1000 words and in various genres from humor to horror and general fiction to science fiction.

The majority of the stories were previously published (most on my website) but all were revised for this collection. In addition, each piece is accompanied by some background information on the origin of the story or a funny tale about the writing of it to give a fuller experience.

Rise

 


“Rise” is a standalone story set in my Human Republic Universe. The story follows the events after the tragic deaths of the colonists on a small colony in a distant star system.

A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea and other stories

 


Hopefully, in the not too distant future humans will return to the moon. We will build bases and colonies, make farms and factories, and live, love and learn. “A Cabin Under a Cloudy Sea and other stories” contains five short stories that are all set upon the moon. They give the tiniest glimpse of the possibilities awaiting us there.

The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars

 


Over the last few years a lot of people have caught Mars fever. It seems a week doesn’t go by without a report of some new group wanting to send people to Mars, or some big name in the industry talking about why we have to go to Mars, or articles talking about the glorious future humanity will have on Mars. All of this worries me. In my opinion, a Mars base is currently not sustainable because there’s no way for it to make money. A few missions may fly doing extraordinary science, but if it’s then cancelled for cost the whole Mars Project may just be seen as an expensive stunt.

Fortunately, there are other places in the solar system besides Mars. While bases on the moon and amongst the asteroids won’t be as inspirational as one on Mars, they will have opportunities for businesses to make goods and services as well as profits, meaning less chance of them being outright cancelled. This will make life better on Earth and secure a firm foothold in space for humanity. The essays in “The Moon Before Mars: Why returning to the moon makes more sense than rushing off to Mars” allow me to describe my ideas on what can be accomplished on the moon and with the asteroids, and why Mars isn’t the destiny of humanity its cheerleaders make it out to be.