Writing & Blogging Update!

There's no "real" blog post this week, and for that I apologize. It's more of a "here's what I've been doing recently, tune in next week for the regularly scheduled bullshit." It's also the answer to the "hey, why isn't there a new video on the YouTube channel this month" question.

Well, for starters, I got sick. Yay.

It's nothing serious. There hasn't even been vomit involved. But it's sucking the life and energy out of me like a vampire. Part of it is likely the weather. In Minnesota, it's finally stopped snowing and started raining. It's that chilly, almost-hail type of rain, too, the kind that almost guarantees spending the day inside with kleenex and blankets. Also that rain is going to be freezing, melting, and re-freezing a few times over the weekend, and the snow created massive potholes that we now have to avoid, which is going to turn driving into a hellish level of Mario Kart.

The other part of the illness probably has something to do with the fact that I've taken to working seven days a week every other week thanks to two of my three jobs.

Or it could just be something one of my roommates coughed on me. They've been sick a lot recently, as well.

In short, it's just been a good time all around.

All right, enough about that illness and rain nonsense. Let's get to the fun stuff.

What I've been writing:

On March 4th, Sic Semper Serpent Publishing released the start of my new short story series Diary of the Green Snake ! We're really excited for this series. Tom (the editor-in-chief) has wanted a Western for a long time, and I've been wanting to get my teeth into a new type of project for a while. So we made this .

Diary of the Green Snake follows Bi Qing, an American teenager with Chinese ancestry in 1860 making her way across the American West to get to California. Why is she trying to get to California? Well, that probably has something to do with the fact that she has magical powers and no idea how to use them. She's pretty sure there's someone in Cali who can teach her, thanks to quasi-prophetic dreams she has, but first she has to get there. Oh, and there are a bunch of demons and ghosts that she has to shove back into Hell because they keep popping up for some weird reason and trying to kill her.

Traveling. It's always been a bitch.

​You can read the first story, "Tithes and Offerings," on Sic Semper Serpent's Patreon page here .

If you don't like Westerns and instead are looking for some more hard-boiled sci-fi stuff, that's my current project. Do you guys remember Homestead Hunts ? The novella I did for Endless Ink Publishing's Earth's Final Chapter series with Canadian cannibals of the future?

Yeah, we're cooking up a sequel.

The main writer, editor, and publisher of the series, Julian Fernandes, and I have signed a contract where I'll be giving him the first draft of a sequel (tentatively titled Homestead Heroes, but knowing me it'll be changed about a dozen times before we're done) in the next few months. There will be robots. And more cannibals. And probably spaceships too, because why the hell not?

You can get a copy of Homestead Hunts on Endless Ink's website here .

I also encourage you check out Kyo by Julian Fernandes. Because I'm also writing a short story that's a sequel to that, as well.

​Two words: sea dragon.

There's some other stuff, too. A paranormal novella for Less Than Three Press that got rejected and needs editing. My own novel involving wolves with wings and telepathy on another planet that's just been outlined. A novella series involving vampires that's being pushed on the backburner. But right now Green Snake and Homestead ​are the important ones.

What I'm reading:

The next book review will be Words of Radiance , the second book of The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. (You can read my review of the first book, Way of Kings , here .)

Could I have chosen to read one of the other books on my shelf that are all less than 1200 pages? Yes, absolutely.

Was I able to resist buying Words of Radiance when I saw it in the bookstore and started reading it right away? Of course not.

So that's about it. I've got a bunch of guest posts and interviews with a bunch of very talented writers lined up for you guys, as well. But if there's a particular topic you want me to cover, then please let me know in the comments, or you can contact me directly.

The next YouTube channel will be Dynamic Duos and literary foils.

Right now I'm going to take a nap, because--joy!--it's raining again, and I'm still a little sick.

See you next week!