Jan 18 2023
A new year at last…
So, two-and-a-half weeks into 2023 and — currently ongoing snowstorm aside — it’s looking better than 2022. That saw me in the hospital for surgery twice, once in February for the gall bladder, and again, unexpectedly, in November because, as it turned out, I was bleeding internally from something called a Dieulafoy’s lesion (look it up) in my stomach. A blast from an endoscopic argon plasma torch cleared that right up. Well, that and a transfusion to make up for lost blood. I was recovered enough to do the Christmas Book Nook sale in Georgetown in mid-December, but the writing time definitely suffered.
Not totally, though. Recently I released an updated and expanded version of my short story “Shakeup.” Some of you may have seen a much earlier (and shorter) version of this as a giveaway to my newsletter subscribers a couple of years back. The plot hasn’t changed, but I have fleshed out the main character, detective James Watson, who will play a major role in the upcoming Kakuloa: The Downhill Slide. Shakeup takes place in the same time frame as Alpha Centauri: First Landing, circa 2069. Downhill begins ten years later.
Coming up in a few days (Jan. 20-22) is the Colorado Springs area convention COSine. I’m on several panels, and will have a table for selling books. Come say hi and get something signed.
That may be my last convention for a while. I haven’t heard anything about Starfest this year, and I really do need to get some more books out. (Currently in progress: the above-mentioned Kakuloa: The Downhill Slide; the third Delta Pavonis book, Destiny; the sixth Carson & Roberts novel, working title Return to Reticuli; and at least one more short story (finished, but needs to go to my editor), working title “Roadside Assistance.” There’s also at least one not-a-T-Space-story, currently in submission for another Baen Books anthology. We’ll see.
I’m sorry if “a new T-Space novel” was on your Christmas list; I’m afraid I let Santa down. Unless yet another unforseen complication arises, there should be at least one for the Easter Bunny to deliver, if that’s his thing. What else would you like to see this year? More early T-Space? More Carson & Roberts? Something completely different (I have a couple of ideas for time travel novels, one completely silly)? Let me know.