New Book Release! The Shattered Spire

 It has been a long time since I have posted. Life has been busy. I finished up my posting to Rome and have now just arrived in Luxembourg. It seems very nice so far. 

I'm super proud of both of my sons, one of whom is now working at a law firm in Wisconsin, and the other is pursuing his master's degree at Georgetown.

 And, the best news is that after seven years, I am finally publishing a new novel! It is called The Shattered Spire, and it is a prequel to The Shard. It is set centuries before that story, and it covers how the shard came to be. It is only in pre-order for now, and only the ebook, but I'm working on the paperback and audiobooks to have them ready by the October 20 publication date.

I'm not particularly happy with how the cover art came out. It's a serious story, and I hoped to have a cover that reflected that, while to me this cover looks more like something from a graphic novel or a comic book.

Here is the blurb for the story:

The magic of the Spire of Peace has banished evil from the Known Lands for more than twelve hundred years. When a dragon destroys the spire and murders the king, the realm is thrown into turmoil. As civil war looms, can the royal Kaldarion family regain control over the kingdom and restore peace?

Livia, 20, is the eldest child of the slain King Varun Kaldarion. Though the wisest and most learned of the surviving family members, tradition says she cannot inherit the throne.

Balmar, 18, is too feeble-minded to rule, but his uncle, Duke Erol, crowns him anyway in order to appoint himself regent.

Darus, 17, was exiled by the spire's magic due to his bitterness that his father never named him heir. By force of personality and skill at arms, he has risen to command the army of exiles at the fortress of East Gate. Now he plans to invade the realm and take back what he feels is rightfully his by birth.

Imric, 13, was disavowed by his father after his mother died birthing him. Raised by his sister Livia, few in the realm even know he exists. Little more than a pawn in the conflict between Duke Erol and his brother Darus, Imric may hold the key to reuniting the fractured realm.

What I Read in 2021

At the end of each year I do a summary post of what I read throughout the year. I find it interesting to see my reading habits, and to make note of what the best books were each year. I managed 45 books this year, which is much better than last. I use a standard five star rating method with five stars meaning I loved the book so much I intend to re-read it throughout my life, so there are rarely any five star books.

1. Wings of Omen, edited by Robert Asprin *****

2. The Godfather by Mario Puzo *****

3. Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara ***

4. Me by Elton John ****

5. Salvation by Peter F Hamilton *** and a half

6. The Dead of Winter, edited by Robert Asprin ****

7. Grant by Ron Chernow ****

8. Soul of the City, edited by Robert Asprin ****

9. The Civil War by Bruce Catton ****

10. Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton *** and a half

11. Head On by John Scalzi ***

12. A Time to Kill by John Grisham ** and a half

13. Unlocked by John Scalzi **

14. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham *** 

15. The Rooster Bar by John Grisham **

16. The Siberian Dilemma by Martin Cruz Smith ****

17. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo ****

18. Thin Air by Richard K Morgan *****

19. White Wolf by David Gemmell **

20. Near Enemy by Adam Sternbergh ***

21. Blood Ties, edited by Robert Asprin ****

22. Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen **** and a half

23. The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck ***

24. Sabriel by Garth Nix ***

25. House of Spies by Daniel Silva ***

26. R is for Rocket by Ray Bradbury **

27. Lethal White by Robert Galbraith ****

28. Aftermath, edited by Robert Asprin ****

29. The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell ***

30. Uneasy Alliances, edited by Robert Asprin **** and a half

31. Red Rising by Pierce Brown *

32. King and Maxwell by David Baldacci **

33. Hue 1968 by Mark Bowden ****

34. Stealers' Sky, edited by Robert Asprin ****

35. Lovedeath by Dan Simmons ***

36. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane *****

37. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane **

38. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ***

39. Nightflyers by George R.R. Martin **

40. Master Assassins by Robert Redick ****

41. Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub *** and a half

42. Arrival by Ted Chiang **

43. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner *

44. A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden **** and a half

45. Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden *****

Top 25 Albums of the 2000's

 As everyone knows, I have the best taste in music in the world. And of course I've listened to every single album that has come out since the year 2000. No sarcasm at all there :)

Okay, so it's completely subjective (though I do have terrific musical taste), but I thought it would be fun to sort my music in iTunes by date and see what I thought were the best albums to come out since the year 2000, at least based on what I have listened to.

1. Lateralus -- Tool 2002

2. Fear Inoculum -- Tool 2019

3. The Incident -- Porcupine Tree 2009

4. 10,000 Days -- Tool 2006

5. Live: Featuring Stone and Echo -- A Perfect Circle 2013

6. Thirteenth Step -- A Perfect Circle 2003

7. American Idiot -- Green Day 2004

8. Army of Anyone -- Army of Anyone 2006

9. Lost Dogs -- Pearl Jam 2000

10. Bullet in a Bible -- Green Day 2005

11. Blade Runner 2049 Soundtrack -- Hans Zimmer 2017

12. Eat the Elephant -- A Perfect Circle 2018

13. Elephant -- The White Stripes 2003

14. Backspacer -- Pearl Jam 2009

15. King Animal -- Soundgarden 2012

16. Fear of a Blank Planet -- Porcupine Tree 2007

17. Weathered -- Creed 2001

18. Lightning Bolt -- Pearl Jam 2013

19. 21st Century Breakdown -- Green Day 2009

20. We Lost the Skyline -- Porcupine Tree 2008

21. One Day Remains -- Alter Bridge 2004

22. Riot Act -- Pearl Jam 2002

23. eMotive -- A Perfect Circle 2004

24. Walk the Sky -- Alter Bridge 2019

25. Dust -- Tremonti 2016

What are your favorites within the 2000's?

Audiobook Out Today!

 The audiobook for my sci-fi technothriller The Immortality game went live today! It's the bestselling of my books, so I hope it will do well. 

I have free promo codes for US or UK Audible stores for anyone willing to do an honest review--it's great to get some reviews up early on within the first few weeks of release.

Might As Well Be

 That phrase, 'might as well be', isn't used all that often, but it always seemed a little odd to me. Sometime during my younger teen years, that phrase struck me funny and I turned it into the name of my Dungeons and Dragons paladin character--Midas Welby.

Many years later, when I decided to write a fantasy novel, I turned that old D&D character into the protagonist of my story The Shard. I mean, he might as well be the main character, right? Rather than a paladin, I made him a minor nobleman, who had been born to a fisherman but gained notice during his service fighting barbarians and became a captain-of-the-guard for a major noble, who later knighted him, married him to his daughter, and granted him a small keep.

I guess I was very subtle about his name in the book, because it was published in 2015 and not one reader has ever noticed that his name was a play on that phrase.

Have Audiobooks Changed the Way You Write?

 I rarely notice any change to my style of writing, but recently I've noticed that I have changed the way I approach dialogue and thoughts due to having listened to my novels that were made into audiobooks. I noticed that whenever I listened to dialogue or thoughts in audiobooks, it sometimes became confusing as to who was speaking. This is because in novels the writer often doesn't need to explicitly state who is speaking or whether what is being said is a thought and not spoken out loud, because it is obvious to the reader. But it isn't so obvious once the reader isn't seeing it on the page. 

So, while I haven't changed my approach to dialogue or thoughts too much, I do find myself adding more attributions to the thoughts or dialogue, just so when the audiobook comes out it won't be so confusing to the listener. 

Anyone else had this same issue?

Writing Two Books at Once

 I published my last novel in 2015.  So it has already been nearly six years since I last released a new story, which puts me in the company of writers like Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin for the slowness of my productivity.

There are many reasons why it is taking me so long. I naturally procrastinate unless something really urges me on. I've been stressed out by so many things, not leastwise by the election of a certain someone to the highest office in the land in 2016. But primarily the reason is that I started working on two different books at the same time.

I hadn't planned to do it. I started working on one of them (I don't even recall which I started first), got stuck on something early on, and then began working on the other while my mind mulled over how to overcome the complications in the first.

I really don't recommend this method of writing. I've never been a fast writer--each of my first novels took four years to produce--but at least by working on only one at a time I did manage to finish them. Now with the six year mark approaching, I just hit the 51,000 word mark in one novel, and I'm only at 21,000 words in the other. Which means I'm perhaps around the halfway mark in the first, and nowhere close to finished in the second.

The stories don't bore me. I haven't lost interest in them. It's just that one of them is extremely complicated and needs lot of thought to overcome the many obstacles. Yet my mind can never just set about working on one of them, because both stories keep jockeying for attention in my brain. Each time I think I have stopped working on one to focus solely on the other, some new idea pops up that makes me go back to the other manuscript.

I so badly want to finish at least one of them, so I've pushed harder this year than I have in quite some time, but the finish line feels so far away still, which is discouraging. If I could just finish one then the other might be easier to complete as well.

I wonder how many of you have had this same frustrating experience?