Weekly Update - 9/3/25

It's seemed like I've been quiet the last week but honestly? I've been writing a bunch of stuff - it just hasn't been visible to you folks. Why? Because it's on one of them there physical objects people seem to get so crazy about. You want to know what I'm talking about? Weeellll......

I and a handful of others have been working on this here Neon Stonehenge book for all of y'all. It's got a shiny cover, but I also had to put in all the other typical stuff that comes with making a physical book object. Within a few weeks' time, if you want, you should be able to buy a copy of Neon Stonehenge, either as a physical object or as an .ebook from Amazon.

I've given some thought to it, and what I'm going to do for all existing subscribers is release a slightly stripped-down version of the .ebook to all subscribers in .epub format. What this version won't have is the sort of new 'meta' content that's mostly there to help contextualize how we got to be where we are, so no Foreword, no Foreword to the Foreword, no Afterword and no preview of Have Totem, Will Travel. That way, you'll have a fully edited complete version of Neon Stonehenge included in your subscription, as I feel is only fair. We're still doing final edits and touchups right now, but I finalized the cover yesterday, and the above is a sneak preview of that cover. I've spent a bunch of time doing stuff like formatting, column widths, font sizes, alignments, page numbers, etc. A lot faster than it was the last time I did this, with Quaranteam Book One, but still loads of room for improvement. I get a bit better each time I do it.

If you want all the excess jazz (which, again, let me assure you, you don't need if you don't want it), then you can spend the six bucks or whatever for the Amazon .epub version for your Kindle, or you can buy a physical copy of the book, either from Amazon, or from me directly, where I'll send you a signed copy. As an added bonus, you can even choose who you want to sign the book - Devin McTaggart, Blake Conrad, Andy Rook, or all three. Ha!

As to what the excess jazz is, well, let me cover it here quickly. There's a Foreword to the Foreword, which is me explaining how the book came to be, how it ties to Quaranteam, how it was sponsored, and generally how my writing works. There's a Foreword, which is Blake Conrad (a.k.a. Andy Rook, protagonist of Quaranteam) explaining about why the book is getting a reprint, how his life's changed since he started writing them and the upcoming film being made from the book. There's an Afterword, again from me, explaining why a print edition, and how a lot of readers want something less spicy from me that they can give to their friends and colleagues. There's an About the Author(s) that none of you really need. I'll leave the Dedications in the stripped-down version, as well as the list of other Druid Gunslinger titles that are "available." All said and done, I think it's somewhere between 5k-9k worth of new words from me that got created for the print edition. (Yes, I even did a cheeky copyright page, like I did in QTB1.)

Basically, stuff like this takes a lot of time because it's double- and triple-checked, since once you put it out there, you don't really want to go back and do revisions and put a slightly changed version out there. Sometimes you get that luxury, but most of the time, you don't, so don't count on it. I want to get it right and have it be a thing you'd be proud to put on your bookshelf or even give a copy of to a friend who's never heard of me. Shouldn't be too much longer, but when it goes up for sale, I'll make a big deal about it.

I'm still behind on commissions, so I'm continuing to try and get caught up on those and getting them out to commissioners. I should have a new Have Totem, Will Travel up in a few days (I'm deep in the Dale Sexton mindset right now, so that should help), and will try and get QT: Phil's Tale and A Pack Of His Own chapters up soon after that. I did get Before The Storm up and that was fun, and after those, I'll probably move on to QT2:i9, which is the last intermission of Book Two, and will feature the return of an old friend, someone people have been asking to see again for quite some time. I'll let that sit for a bit and allow some anticipation to build. I also want to get another Captains' Days chapter out relatively soon. It's been six months since our last one (which means all of it is public currently), and that feels too long since I've checked in with Tommy.

I'll also throw the next You Decide! up for the VIPs probably over the next few days, and everything except Before The Storm will be on it, so that it doesn't dominate the polls. I've had a thought, however, which might make Before The Storm more regularly. Still thinking about it, but considering Breakpoint is probably only 5-10 chapters away from its conclusion (maybe even less if I want to leave several mysteries unsolved, which might be for the better), I've been thinking that I wouldn't mind having Before The Storm on my monthly call sheet every month, like I do for Quaranteam and Brewster's. That would move it into the Tier 2 projects, so what I might do at that point would be releasing it to T2s, then some in determinate time later, release it to T1s and then eventually to everyone. I suppose I could be convinced to do that with The Threadbinders instead, just because those two stories have been dominating the polls for a long time, and I feel like I've got a pretty good grasp on the characters and could also do something with them monthly.

Like I said, it's rattling around in the brain right now, so I welcome thoughts in the comments and on the Discord about the possibility. There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way to do this - just me figuring it out as I go. Thanks for your patience along the path.

As for what's going to public sites soon, here you go: 9/6 - QT2:i7; 9/13 - QT2:36, NS 13; 9/20 - Merlin's Gift 1; 9/27 - QT2:37.

Look after yourselves, folks. And remember, next week will be a little madcap as I have my last trip of the year before the Christmas holidays. It shouldn't be that long - I'll be in motion from 9/11-9/15, but at least some of that time will be spent at airports, so we'll see what happens.