| Hey, hey! I have absolutely overused this joke over the last few weeks, but I’m taking this opportunity to run it further into the ground. I’m tooting my own horn on this one. Honk. Though, having played trombone in high school, I can emphatically tell you I would take great pains to avoid tooting someone else’s horn. But I digress. This past month, I was the spotlight author at Parea in Glenwood, Iowa for Shelf Indulgence, put on by the town’s library. It has a fantastic and vibrant downtown scene. I talked about why I write. It’s play for me. An evolution from my childhood of making up stories for various Star Wars, MOTU, and Transformers toys. Then playing D&D campaigns and running Rifts campaigns in high school and college. I then transitioned to writing novelized summaries for a friend of mine when he went off to the navy. (Hi, Justin!) And slowly adapting some of the characters and making my own worlds with an original setting. Then I read an excerpt from Repenter where Ashe and Corsis encounter each other in the first chapter. ‘Twas a fantastic time. Thanks to everyone who attended. And thanks to Autumn Yosten of the Glenwood Public Library for the invite! Here are a few pics of me at the event. This one shows me talking about creating my own worlds: |
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| This one shows me reading from Repenter: |
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| And this one shows me talking about what’s next: |
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| And what’s that in the background with my slide? It’s a little fuzzy. Let’s zoom in and talk about that development now. |
| Kirkus Has Given Repenter a Postive Review |
| Yes. That Kirkus. I made a banner for my ongoing relaunch’s Amazon A+ Content. Tap the image to view the full review on Kirkus’s site. |
| Plus! I’m in the midst of the relaunch I mentioned last time. The second edition Repenter paperback is live on Amazon. And the Ebook will be getting relaunched in October. Check out the Amazon A+ content and feel free to leave a review if you’re so inclined with the button below. |
| Players of the Game Works In Progress |
| With all the images above, showing me and the Kirkus positive review, I’m skipping the usual character profile this time around. I had a busy month. Doing stuff with the relaunch, the author event, and a quick road trip to see some old friends. And yep, my progress on Secret Front’s second draft definitely got back-burnered. But not as bad as I’d feared. My productivity stats rolled in at page 601 with 35 pages for the month. Less than last time, but actually better than I’d first thought. I’ll take it. I’ve been working with 100 Covers for a bunch of covers for later books. It’s way too early to share them. But Secret Fronts’ cover featuring Nadia of Muné is effing astounding. Nadia will make her debut in Jagged Pieces when I release that sometime in 2027. Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month: Alise Tula: “If you’re about to tell me that my morning brew doesn’t taste phenomenal, I will decapitate you with my mother’s letter opener.” |
| Recommendation Corner |
| Not Till We Are Lost by Dennis E. Taylor I do love the Bobiverse series. It’s humorous and full of unexpected pathos. The Bobs have many plates spinning. Chief among them, making an alliance with an alien AI that is loosening its hold on its sapient beaver-like client species. And they make their own AI based on its guidance. Things do not go according to plan. Plus, a B plot takes another two Bobs, Icarus and Daedalus, through an alien wormhole network where they get to witness the Milky Way’s supermassive hub black hole, Sagittarius A*. And they discover an even bigger problem in the wake of an abandoned civilization. Ray Porter does a great job with the many disparate Bobs and their various friends and adversaries. My favorite kind of sci-fi comfort food. Spider-Man: Brand New Day This might be recency bias, but I think this is my favorite Spidey movie. The Hulk versus Punisher and Spidey fight was catnip for my inner teenager. And the lingering pain from Peter’s decision to remain estranged and forgotten by MJ and Ned still haunts the movie. The villain is plenty menacing. Though her reveal makes it a little hard to walk back some of her cruel actions that possibly killed an innocent person and nearly killed another major character. Minor quibble. Spidey’s surprisingly earnest relationship with Frank Castle was a highlight of the movie. Tom Holland, Zandaya, and Jon Bernthal are having a banner summer with Odyssey and Spidey. Watch it and have a ton of fun. |
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| That’s all for this time. Stay smart. Stay safe. Jim |
