A New Ship
A New Crew
A Different Kind of Mission
When Manchester Yards donates a new training vessel to the Merchant Officer Academy at Port Newmar, Alys Giggone recalls the Chernyakova.
She wants Ishmael Wang and his crew to take a crew of cadets into the Deep Dark. They have to sort out the crews of two ships, figure out what lessons they need to teach, and who will get those lessons.
Once they agree, the trouble starts.
Another month of solid progress behind me. I’m hoping this month will see some of that progress appear in the wild.
School Days: SC Marva Collins, Book 1 – Back from the editor. Formatted for both ebook and paper. The manuscript has gone to Podium for audio scheduling. I’m just waiting on the cover art. (Yes, this is the correct title. I has a brain cloud in there somewhere and called it School’s out for a few weeks.)
Working Class: SC Marva Collins, Book 2 – Completed my clean up. It’s with the editor, waiting for her to work her magic.
Hard Knocks: SC Marva Collins, Book 3 – Almost done with clean up on this one. Some last minute changes to the ending. While I liked the one I had, I thought it could be better.
Still looking forward to getting into The Wizard’s Cat this month.
I’ve read a bunch last month. You can find them all on my BookWyrm list.
My classic of the month was Hesse’s Siddhartha. I loved it. After slogging through three heavy hitters in the first quarter, I cruised through this small volume in large part because I found it so intriguing. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth the time. You can find several editions in the public domain.
My recommendation this month is Paranormal Women’s Fiction from one of my favorite authors. Deanna Chase is one of the authors I don’t sample any more. I just buy her books and inhale them. Star-Crossed Witch didn’t let me down. The story is the first volume in a new series that I’m looking forward to as it develops over the next few months.
As always, the characters drew me in and wouldn’t let me go. Marion Matched gets sandbagged as she’s trying to start her new match-making business. Hilarity ensues, aided and abetted by an inappropriate, unfiltered spirit.
I may not sample Deanna any more, but maybe you should grab one and give her a try.
Notes in the Margin:
I’ve got a pile of SF/F samples waiting for my attention. I’ll get to them soon.
I have yet to pick a classic for this month. I’m leaning to a re-read of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or H G Wells’s War of The Worlds. I haven’t read either of them since high school and I suspect I’ll find new meaning in them now.
I hope to toss Hard Knocks over the fence to Karen this week and get dug into The Wizard’s Cat. I don’t know if I can get a good first draft before June, but I’m going to at least see if I can get a handle on the story. I’ll send Working Class to Podium as soon as I get the manuscript back from her and get it cleaned up. The sooner they have them, the sooner they can schedule Jeffrey Kafer to do the recording.
This year has proven to be one of my most productive – maybe, ever. I’ve been using ObsidianMD’s Daily Notes to keep myself on track. I reserve writing time and I try to be mindful about using it. Some days it falls apart, but it’s giving me a Year-at-a-Glance calendar with a lot of green check marks on it.
Compared to the reds – and the blanks – from last year? Yeah. This year is going very well indeed.
Fingers crossed that it continues.
Until next month, safe voyage
-N
End of the month, end of the quarter. I’ve gotten a lot done.
I missed a quite a few days of the podcast but I only missed the walk four times last month. I also upgraded my main computer, made some progress with my game, and – oh, yeah – got a book out for editing.
School’s Out: SC Marva Collins, Book 1 – I finally got it whipped into shape after almost three months of wrestling with it. I’m very pleased with the way it came together. Sorry to all the beta-reader hopefuls, but I tossed it over the fence to the editor already so we can get his train rolling.
Working Class: SC Marva Collins, Book 2 – I’ve finished a first damage assessment pass on it. Other than the opening chapter(s), which took a beating because Book 1 ended differently, it flows pretty well. I’ll be reserving an editor slot for this one for May, if Karen has one available.
Hard Knocks: SC Marva Collins, Book 3 – Waiting in the wings. This is the last book for this series. It’ll go under the microscope as soon as I finish with book 2.
All three of these new Ishmael books have already been contracted to Podium for the audio production and I have cover art in the works for all three.
The Wizard’s Cat is peeking through the window. I’ll be starting that (again) as soon as I’ve cleared these three Ishmael books off my desk.
The March classic for my 2023 reading challenge was The Tale of Genji, a 1000 year old novel set in Japan. Stories haven’t changed much. Neither have people, I’m sorry to say.
I read a lot of really good books that you can find on my BookWyrm instance, but the one I want to recommend this month is Hexes and Hot Flashes by Lisa Manifold. [Transparency: I know Lisa personally. She’s another Colorado writer and we worked together with the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers for a number of years. In spite of that, I loved this book.]
The story centers around a mid-life ex-wife, Wynter Chastain, as so many paranormal women’s fiction stories do. Magic takes her unaware and leaves her with a massive problem, a new role in life, and a large, handsome man to help. If she can. It’s not a given that she’ll succeed, or even if she wants to.
Wynter and her friends – living and dead – help her as much as they can but it ultimately comes down to her.
Great characters. Great setting. Loved the story with all it’s twists and turns.
But – as always – don’t take my work for it. Grab yourself the sample and see what you think for yourselves.
Notes in the Margin:
You can find the other books that I read – and enjoyed – this month on my book review account on the Unseen City.
I feel like I’ve wrapped up the quarter with a bang. Cover art sorted, audio contracts signed, one book at the editor, another almost ready for the blue pencil. I’ve restarted Talking On My Morning Walk, even though it hasn’t been as consistent as I’d like.
I even took a few days last month to upgrade my main computer with new SSDs and shifted everything to Linux, leaving Windows behind. It feels like a new machine.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’m hoping to get Working Class ready for the editor and start combing out the tangles in Hard Knocks so that it’s ready when she can fit it in.
That will clear the deck for The Wizard’s Cat. For a one off, stand alone, just for the heck of it book, The Wizard’s Butler touched a nerve with a lot of people. I’m not complaining. I knew when I finished it that I would be back to Shackleford House sooner or later. I could wish it had been sooner, but cancer has a way of refocusing one’s priorities.
I still have a lot of medical check-ups, appointments, and the like ahead of me but, fingers crossed, we’ve put that trial behind us.
Until next month, crew. Safe voyage.
-N