Weekly Update - 6/22/22 (Patreon)

Jesus, this fucking heat, am I right? It was like a hundred degrees here in the SF Bay yesterday, it's going to be again today, and probably tomorrow and Friday too. I do not like this heat, Sam I am, I do not like it, it is not glam.

Yesterday saw the first chapter of Before The Storm drop, and I'm glad to see people are digging the vibe. As has been noted by people in the Discord, there are loads of Star Wars influences on it, but there's also just as much (if not more) elements drawn from Farscape, Dune and Aliens, as well as Kurosawa/Leone films. If you haven't read it yet, I do recommend giving it a read, as I'm very proud of it, and have big plans for the longer story as it develops. I suspect I'm probably going to try fit in a chapter of this every month for the foreseeable future, but we'll see how things work out.

Speaking of Star War, man did I dig the finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I realize it's not for everyone, but Obi-Wan the ronin is a story I could easily watch endlessly. I always felt like it was a massive missed opportunity for Rey not to be Kenobi's granddaughter instead of the Emperor's, and felt like Ewan McGregor was doing such stellar acting in the prequels (even when he was often saddled with clunky dialogue or head scratching exposition) and the last episode of OWK (particularly the last half hour) is full of so many things I wanted to see on the screen that my biggest regret is that this wasn't a movie, so I could see it all on a much bigger screen.

All that said, Sketch (the protagonist of Before The Storm) is more Obi-Wan or, frankly, John Crichton (the protagonist of Farscape) than he is Han Solo or Luke Skywalker. Sketch is deeply questioning his faith. He's not that great of a smuggler. He's not a good fighter. He's only a serviceable pilot. He's insanely lonely. And, most importantly, he's struggling to come to grips with all the lost time. (More on that in later chapters.) But as the story comes together, I will slowly be building him a crew, or a family. Probably both. The first chapter of Before The Storm will out to the public sites in October.

Friday, 6/25, will bring Quaranteam: Piper's Prelude 3 to the Patreon audience, and that tale gets dark, and will only get even darker before its eventual return to the light. I'm in the middle of writing part 4 of that even as I type up this weekly update, and it's one of the most challenging things I've written, simply because of how soul crushing it is. I keep reminding myself (as I will for you) that we know how this story ends, and Piper's going to be okay. That's partially why it's framed with the story being told to Fiona. (Thanks again to our Commissioner for allowing me to tell this particular story. Despite the heaviness of it all, I feel like it's been useful in shining a light on some aspects of the QT universe people have been interested in. Their next commission is also set in the QT universe, and will also probably delight fans, but I'm not quite ready to talk about that publicly yet.)

Next week, it's QT46 and then BB19. And, as a reminder, I am taking 7/5 off as a holiday, in observance of July 4th, the US Independence Day. I'll probably still be writing during that time, but will be using it to get ahead on commissions and prepped for the weirdness that will be August.

August will have only one chapter of QT, 49, and September will only have one chapter of QT as well, QT50, which will mark the conclusion of Book One. October won't have any mainline Quaranteam content (although we will have new chapters in Phil's Tale and the next upcoming commissioned QT work, with Piper's Prelude concluding in August) as I prep Book One for sale as a cohesive work on Amazon. In November, however, I'll start up Quaranteam Book Two, and will likely be doing just one chapter a month of that for a while, as everything settles into the new groove.

There will also be a poll regarding QT Book Two for everyone going up within the next week or so, specifically about how you want me to approach the second volume. I'm of two minds of it, and could go either way, and want to see how you, the readers, feel about it, and let that help inform my decision. That post will have a lot more detail about that when it drops.

During August, I'll be out of the country for a week or so, and that means things will be sort of hectic. I have a commissioned work that is a few months in that I'm allowed to post publicly, and you'll start to see some of that in August. The first chapter will come out to Patrons in August and to the public sites several months after that. (I might even post the first two chapters of that on Patreon in August, but August will be a lot of 'winging it.') 

Anyway, that's what I can tell you about the next few months as it stands today, but as with all things, everything is subject to change, prices and participation may vary, consult your physician, no purchase necessary. 

Just here to know about what's coming publicly? I feel you. Lemme give you what you want: 6/25 - Morgana's Gift 10, 7/2 - Quaranteam: Piper's Prelude 1, 7/9 - Quaranteam: Phil's Story 6, 7/16 - The Seven Secrets of Mr. Magpie 1, 7/23 - Quaranteam 43.

As for music, I've been listening to one of those underrated gems from the 90s that got lost along the shuffle, so if you aren't familiar with Buffalo Tom, give'em a listen. 

Buffalo Tom - Taillights Fade - YouTube