Hey folks,

So. Um. It’s been about two months since I sent out the last of these. Which is honestly… more recently than I would have guessed?

But also, in a very literal way, a lifetime ago.

If you somehow haven’t heard this elsewhere: my mom passed away about six weeks ago.

(Exactly six weeks ago, my fact checker brain reminds me. Almost to the hour, as I’m writing this. Shut up, fact checker brain. This is why nobody likes you.)

I spoke about it a little on Facebook (which I swear I’m still leaving at some point).

And on Bluesky (if you enjoy crying, it’s a banger).

And also I wrote an entire novel about it that you’ve maybe read already because it magically came out six months before she died.

(Six months to the day. Shut up, fact checker.)

It was a long, straight road.

And between all of that and, y’know, the funeral and therapy and shit, I’ve probably said as much about that as I’m going to say for a little while.

So instead, let’s talk about books?

BOOKS! (that I am reading)

Befitting my particularly neurodiversity, my TBR pile has always been more of a 1/2TR pile. So I probably shouldn’t brag that I’m currently reading and greatly enjoying two books simultaneously, when odds are 10-1 that I won’t finish either of them.

Nonetheless, here are two books that don’t need my plug:

I’m four chapters into Terry Pratchett’s Wee Free Men. It’s the first book in his final Discworld series, featuring nine-year-old would-be witch Tiffany Aching.

It’s intended for younger readers (I hope to hand it off to my own kiddo if/when I finish it), but there are plenty of jokes, heartfelt moments, and thoughtful insights for readers of all ages. A delightful read, particularly after the month I’ve had. I’ve been reading this one with a highlighter in hand and a great big smile on my face. Pratchett’s humor is sometimes a step too corny for my tastes (the names! the names!), but everything else is so wonderful that I can hardly begrudge him the occasional groan-inducing pun.

And you all know how much I hate puns.

I’ve also started into David Gerrold’s fascinating-if-confusingly-titled The Trouble with Tribbles, which is neither transcript nor novelization of the Star Trek episode of that name, also by that author, but rather a behind-the-scenes writer’s memoir thereof.

(And thereby?)

The first edition came out in ‘73, just a few years after the original series went off the air, at a time when there weren’t a lotta books like it on the market.

(Placing it as one of the earliest forerunners to an all-time favorite of mine, Russel T Davies’ Doctor Who-centric The Writer’s Tale).

I hadn’t heard about this one until recently, but then that thing happened where two or three different people brought it up to me independently within the span of a few days. (I dunno, maybe they’re all on the same Reddit.) So I figured I should check it out.

Annnnnd I’m enjoying it so far. Gerrold went on to become an extremely successful and celebrated (Hugo and Nebula-winning) sci-fi author and you can see why. BUT:

I can’t recommend it yet, on principle. I’m only a couple chapters in, and… I dunno, folks… This is a book written in the early ‘70s by a guy who grew up loving sci-fi from the ‘40s and ‘50s. Which was…

…not always awesome?

Probably it’ll be fine, but also maybe Chapter 6 is just a 4000-word rant about why women shouldn’t be starship captains?!?

Probably it’s not.

(I just checked. It’s not. Nobody trusts you, fact checker.)

Okay okay okay. Enough about other people’s books.

BOOKS! (that I am writing)

After… setbacks… I am starting to make headway again on both of my big in-progress projects:

I’m now five-ish chapters into Percival Gynt and the Academy of Death! and still having a ton of fun, introducing characters, spinning up intrigue, throwing in the odd poop joke...

For folks who missed the announcement, this is a prequel set in Percival’s boarding school days, very much written with my ten-year-old as target audience.

(I’ve been reading chapters to wife and kiddo as they’re finished! They’ve been… very free with their suggestions!)

Ironically, it may wind up being the least goofy of all the Gynt books I’ve written. (Not un-goofy! Just least!) Something about writing about kids, for kids makes me wanna ground things a little bit more.

I dunno. I say that now and next chapter they’ll probably be fighting a poop monster.

(They won’t be fighting a poop monster. Shut up, fact checker. You don’t know.)

But, yes, this is why I thought to catch-up on my Pratchett.

Oh! And here’s the first line (probably):

“The boy arrived at school in a box.”

And just a quick word about Ghost & Zombie:

It’s on a bit of a pause while I decide exactly what I want to do with it. Right now, I’ve got about half the main story done and a few bits of a framing device, but I’ve been back-and-forth about what I want the finished thing to look like.

I just finished up a five-week writer’s workshop run through my old alma mater (The South Beaumount Junior Clown College) where I dug into it with some folks, and I think I’m leaning towards a sort of “dual novellas” approach:

In that version, the first novella would be a direct sequel to A Dark Hole Darkly, in which Ghost & Zombie is a piece of fiction being written (and, presumably, other things would be happening). And then the second novella would be Ghost & Zombie complete. Available individually or as a collected volume.

Maybe.

I dunno.

Let’s check back in two months and see what’s developed!

Or two weeks?

“Bimonthly” is a nice word because it lets you be off by six weeks but also exactly correct.

See you in a bimonth!