May didn’t go well, in spite of a reasonably good start. Too much going on beyond my control.

Status

The Wizards Cat
I’ve started word sprints again. They’re one of the best tools I have for getting things flowing. Mostly in fits and starts but it’s more start than fit. Fingers crossed for the rest of the month

Everything Else
Still virtually frozen in storage. I have no idea what project I’ll take on after this Cat starts prowling, but everything will be on the table again.

What Am I Reading?

I stumbled on some early Michael Chatfield a couple of weeks ago. His Emerilia series whet my appetite for litRPG after getting started with Matt Dinniman’s Dominion of Blades. I’ve been through a couple of his other litRPG series but finding an early space opera made my month.

The Recruitment Rise of the Free Fleet, book 1 of the Free Fleet series, starts when Earth gets invaded by alien slavers, capturing our hero, James Cook and his merry band of top tier video gamers on the cusp of their championship game. The story and universe unfolds, step by step, as Cook and his fellow slaves become trained up as cannon fodder for their captors, a group calling themselves the Planetary Defense Force.

This series is straight up Big Guns and Bigger Ships military/space opera in a sprawling universe. Much war. Many set backs. Ships cracked, broken, boarded, and exploded.

If you can handle the warfare, you might like this series as much as I do.

Maybe grab a sample and see what you think.

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing it on the 15th of the month. You don’t need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my newsletter’s public page at Kit.

Looking Forward

Slow progress is still progress. I keep looking for that spark that has me fighting to get back to the keyboard and push the story ahead. So far, each spark has fizzled. I’m still writing something every day. Sometimes not much more than a few hundred words but they count. The word sprints show improvement, albeit irregular, but I’ll take it.

I’m my own biggest obstacle these days, but with some help from my friends and the support of people like you, I think there might still be a chance I can finish this book before I kick the bucket.

Fingers crossed.

Until next month, safe voyage.

-N

The new year begins with Big New Year Energy. It’ll probably fizzle by tomorrow before I hurt myself.

Status

The Wizard’s Cat
Still not where I want it to be. December showed me the way forward. It’s on me to follow that path. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Everything Else
Solar Clipper and Tanyth Fairport remain as they were. Look for the Solar Clipper Diary to disappear by month end as I pull the content I want to keep into here as pages. That site has just been a spam magnet and hacker target for far too long.

What Am I Reading?

I’m between books, working through my sample pile, but I just finished Jamie McFarlane’s The Oldest Starfighter and really liked it.

Fair warning: It’s straight up pew-pew, underdog military, beat-the-evil-invader while losing friends and lovers along the way with a healthy helping of “Are You Trying To Lose This War?!” thrown in. Honestly, it’s the curmudgeonly old MC who’s given a new lease on life (and some questionable choices) that drew me in.

I’ve read McFarlane’s work before (his Junkyard Pirate series) and liked the writing but didn’t like getting novellas when I expected novels. I’m hoping he doesn’t do that with this series.

Feel like taking a chance on a new series? Maybe grab a sample and see if you like it.

About the Newsletter
I’m still publishing it on the 15th of the month. They’re not all getting delivered but you don’t
need to subscribe to get a mid-month update from me. You can find them archived on my newsletter’s public page.

Looking Forward

I’m adopting a new word of the year – Practice. I want to develop a mindful practice where I have the head space to continue what has been, in hindsight, a year of recovery. I like the layered meanings that “practice” brings. I want to develop a structure that allows me to practice writing and publishing again. One that allows for experimentation and flexibility. Yes, for failure as well.

I’ve just finished my second year of writing a haiku a day and that practice has taught me a lot about how “doing the thing” with intent while accepting that every day isn’t going to be a great one. Sometimes it’s not even a good one. The point is the doing. It’s putting in the practice. It’s seeing what develops over time.

Thanks for being with me on the path of discovery that started so long ago and yet continues.

Until next month, safe voyage

-N

Out of the 140+ titles I read this year, picking out a particular volume as “best” just makes no sense. Rather than a “10 Best Books of the Year,” I thought I’d do a recap of some of the authors that made an impression.

Best New Author: Sarah J. Hoodlet.

She published book 1 of an eponymous new series, Way of the Wielder. The characters drew me in as they grew. The magic system intrigued me. The world building just kept me engaged in wonder. The plot unfolded gently, but not without some darker moments that felt well crafted and necessary. Book 2 is out and I’m looking forward to getting to it.

Best New-To-Me Author: Sarah Painter.

With her two related series, Crow Investigations and Unholy Island), Sarah took me on a fantastic journey thorough a magical England that felt as real as walking down a rain-slicked sidewalk in the twilight of a chilly autumn day. Rich world building, engaging plots, relatable characters. Everything just so. I’m looking forward to reading more from her

Honorable Mention: Branwen O’Shea’s Finding Humanity series where magic surfaces in post-apocalyptic Earth.

Favorite Time Travel Expedition: Ed Nelson

Think “Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court” where a modern character wakes up in some fantastical historical Earth, Ed Nelson’s Cast In Time series kept me turning pages. Don’t let the covers put you off. There’s a lot of fun storytelling going on between them.

This is not a deep well of content but I’m always interested in how this mechanic plays out as the modern character rises to the challenge of being in a different time, a different body, and a world where things aren’t necessarily what they think.

Honorable Mentions: J R Mathews’s Port to Nova Roma, which I read last year, and Gabriel Rathweg’s From Chef to Crafter to Conqueror series, another contender, dropped a fresh volume this year.

Best New-To-Me Science Fantasy: Scott Baron

Scott’s Dragon Mage series took me on a crazy ride across a universe where magic sort of exists in some places but never got developed in others. The main character – Charlie – takes a journey in space and time to save Earth from alien invaders. A wonderful, very pulpy kind of series that kept me reading into the night more than once. He’s got a ton of other work out there, too, that I haven’t even dipped a toe into.

Best Series: Pirate Aba

The Wandering Inn series (14 volumes and counting) has been crossing my desk for years. Technically litRPG with deep roots in Royal Road and a blog, I bounced off the sample half a dozen times over the years. Something about it stuck this year and I read nothing else for weeks, sometimes up to 40 hrs a week. I had to fight with myself to put it down for a couple of days to read some science fiction I could recommend to readers.

Another in the isekai fantasy niche but instead of one single character (spoiler alert), we soon learn that Erin Solstice is not the only ex-SmartPhone wielder in the mix. How and why all this happens? In the words of Alton Brown: “Your patience will be rewarded.”

Yes, some of the characters are aggravating, others just too nice (or are they?), but the tapestry this saga weaves across multiple continents, with several parallel – sometimes intersecting – story-lines, and various timelines kept me enthralled.

Honorable Mentions:

Jenny Schwartz continues to put out SF books I love. Delphic Dame and Pax Galactica each have a new volume this year.

Honour Rae’s highly recommended All the Skills (litrpg) series has at least one new title.

Tim Rangnow finally crossed my desk this year with his nicely pulpy space opera series, Rim Jumper.

James Haddock does double duty with his fantasy mage books and his SF Duty Trilogy.

All told, a heck of a year in books and I’m looking forward to seeing what these authors do in the future in addition to finding new ones to delight me.

Until then, safe voyage.

-N