Weekly Update - 7/5/23

So, hundred-degree temperatures blow, but thankfully it's cooled back down a bit here. I just got the latest part of Breakpoint up and I'll post the second part of The Fertile Grove here today as well, while I'm working on the next part of that for that story's commissioner, and you can see where it's starting to go. The original FG was written to be self-contained, but the commissioner kept asking for me to expand it (which is why the first FG post is something like 15k words, as it was three months' worth of work and additions) and when they asked me to do a follow up, it took a while to figure out how to make it work without it feeling like I was just putting a hat on a hat. Eventually, though, I got a sort of direction figured out, and Wedge is fun to write, so that'll carry on for a while.

But I have some big news that I wanted to break today, although you'll need to be patient for the actual results. I've been commissioned to actually write Neon Stonehenge, the first of the Druid Gunslinger books that Andy (our protagonist from Quaranteam) has written. I've written the first page of it so far, and I want to be sure to get it to fall into the way Andy's described it. I'm probably going to get the commissioner a few months ahead of the releases here, but I am developing it. It took me forever to get the first sentence right, because it needed to do so much, but I'm very happy with how it's coming along. Also, FWIW, it won't be published as written by Devin McTaggart, because why would it? It also won't be listed as written by Andy Rook. It will, however, be listed as written by Blake Conrad, Andy's penname. Talk about meta on meta on meta. I expect I'll have the first portion to the Patreon in August or September. My mate who did the cover for the print version of QT is working on a version of the Druid Gunslinger symbol. We'll have that with it as well, I hope.

The plan is to get QT2:11 out on Friday or Saturday, so we'll see how that goes, and I'm going to throw up a poll for tier 4s and up for what I'm writing for 7/14 and then another one a bit later for 7/28. There was a lot of positive reaction to our last intermission, and while I'd originally not planned to circle back to any of them later on, we'll see, and maybe I'll swing back and see what's going on there later down the line. I'm betting I know what one of the two is going to be, but I like being surprised, so we'll see what happens!

I did, in fact, go and see Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny and it's a solid third of five in placement of the Indy movies -- worse than Raiders and Last Crusade, better than Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull. It's got a good tempo, it's got lots of fun bits in it, I wish it would've had a cameo from Short Round in it, but it's a good entry and a solid way to send off the series. I haven't gone to see The Flash yet, but I'll probably do that in the middle of the day at some point within the next week or so. But I'm definitely going to see Mission: Impossible when it hits.

Speaking of things I found recently that I want to hype to other people, if you have Paramount+, you should take 8 hours out of your life and watch all of Rabbit Hole, a miniseries from Kiefer Sutherland that has so many twists in it, you will no longer know which way is up. I'd been meaning to get around to it for a while, but I'm very glad that I did, because it's extremely clever. I watched one episode on Thursday, three episodes on Friday and the final four episodes on Saturday.

It turned out Brass In Pocket got quite the positive response over at LE, so to those of you who are interested in that, definitely tune in to The Fertile Grove when it starts dropping publicly in December (or sign up to the Patreon and read some of it now!) Here's the public release list for the next bit: 7/8 - Seven Secrets of Mr. Magpie 5, 7/15 - CARP 3, 7/22 - A Pack Of His Own 2, 7/29 - QT2:3, 8/5 - QT2:4.

If you were interested in getting a signed copy of Quaranteam: Book One, I'm probably only going to have the site to order them up through the rest of this month, so this is probably your last chance for a while to get them. If/when I do another printed release (people have been suggesting maybe I do one for If I'm Honest), then I might open it up again. Would any of you be interested in a print copy of IIH?

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to print, so let's leave you with some good music and I'll see you back here early this evening for Fertile Grove and then Friday or Saturday for QT2:11.

Fury In The Slaughterhouse - Always Now (Official Video) - YouTube