Weekly Update - 10/1/25

So, what had happened was...

Sometimes I wake up with an idea in my head. On Tuesday, I woke up with a large block of content in my head. Usually these are things that I can scribble down into a notebook, or make a handful of notes, and move on with my day. Sometimes I'll write up to a page of an outline or something before I'm ready to set it aside and get back to work on whatever else I've been putting off work on. At 3pm in the afternoon, my flatmate told me I should probably eat lunch, and I realized I'd written about 4k worth of notes, characters and general outline for this new thing called Powers Of Four.

I don't typically do superhero stories, but this idea was so flushed out in my brain, I knew I'd had it cooking in the back of my subconscious for a while, and when there's that much of anything that's suddenly shoved to the foreground, I knew I'd have to get it out before anything else could get done. But, a couple of things about this particular story that you should know in advance. It's 16 chapters long, and it won't be up for any of the You Decide! polls, because it's going to be on a very strict schedule - one chapter every season, for the next four years - no faster, no slower. Once you've read the first chapter, I think you'll start to see why. Hope you enjoy it!

In addition to all these things, I've been finishing up another thing that I think everyone's going to like. Within the next 24 hours, I'll be holding the proof copy for the print edition of Neon Stonehenge. Assuming I'm satisfied with it, I'll have an order of about 20 sent to me, and I'll be selling autographed copies through Patreon itself. The book itself has been editing and proofread, and it's got some new front and back matter that isn't essential to the story. (There's a Foreword to the Foreword from me, a Foreword from Blake/Andy, and an Afterword.) If you want a signed copy, you can even choose who you want to sign it - me, "Blake Conrad" or even "Andy Rook." I should have that up within a few days, assuming the proof is okay.

Another thing I'm considering is the idea of doing an audiobook version of Neon Stonehenge. I had a friend of mine bang out a very quick test read of the first page - he was in a huge hurry, so it's just a test page. I'll have more about that later in the week, seeing if people would be interested in it, and if so, how much people would pay for it. I've never done an audiobook before, and I know people have asked about them in the past. My friend says it's quite a bit of work, so let's say it's under consideration with me undecided.

As for the Anniversary You Decide, our winner to my both surprise and delight is Captains' Days, with Before The Storm in a close second. I'm so glad, because these are two of my favorite stories to work on, so what I'm going to do is try and get new chapters for both out this month, but Captains' Days will definitely happen. (I think Before The Storm will as well, but we'll see - I'm still getting caught up, because PoF was not a thing I expected to hop into my head.

And the new Merlin's Gift dropped, and it seems like everyone's enjoying that as well. So, it's nearly 3 in the morning, and I'm going to wrap this up. I've got a concert to go to, well, tonight, I guess, for a band that I decided to go see on a lark, a band called Dramarama who are playing their first Bay Area show in, according to them, probably decades! I've never seen them live, but they've been one of those bands that spring up on my random shuffle every so often and always make me smile, so best to see them once at least, before the option's gone. And then next week, I'll be off seeing Sleep Token. Good times all around.

Also, would you believe this is the 200th weekly update I've done? Jaysis.

In closing, the public releases in coming weeks: 10/4 - QTUM 7, BTS 16; 10/11 - Merlin's Gift 2; 10/18 - Pack 17; 10/25 - QT2:38; 11/1 - QTUM 8.