A Series Chronology, Photos, and Goings-On
A Series Chronology, Photos, and Goings-On
Light-hearted updates on miscellaneous happenings, because the time change and the sniffles kicked my rear too hard for me to write a new snippet
Happy Friday, y’all!
If you missed it, please see the subtitle of this post for the gist. I dislike taking a personal day (in this case, a personal week) off of writing, but the good Lord saw fit to remind me I’m not invincible.
Don’t get me wrong—I had a blast meeting nice folks and potential new readers in Berryville, Virginia, last weekend! (See pic below.) Getting to talk to strangers about my stories was a humbling and exciting experience, and I want to do lots more of it.
But alas, too many days on three hours’ sleep and too many days starting at 3 a.m. caught up with me this week. So Delfii’s Song, Snippet 5, must wait one more week.
Another thing that has to wait is finishing my crafted Vaporous Realms at War character miniatures. They’re almost built, but I’ve put way, way, way too much planning and labor into these little suckers to rush the painting and finishing touches. Let’s just say there are a lot of naked ridge-cats, dread-beaks, and peg people staring at me when I walk into my office. On the upside, I’m closer than ever to a decades-long dream of making non-boring peg people versions of my story characters! Future M. B. Heywood will have a lot of fun completing that project in 2024.
On the publishing front, I’m downright exuberant that the “Watchers” short story will appear on Havok* on Black Friday—only two weeks away now! Take a peek into the story-future at Egwae’s life after Len. It’s a bridge from the “origins” era of Dustsong to the main event. Also, it points to the Genesis 6 and Book of Enoch inspiration for the wider Vaporous Realms saga. (If there are any cryptid podcast aficionados out there: yes, the Vaporous Realms have been “Blurry” since their inception over twenty years ago.)
Speaking of eras, I added a simple series chronology to the Vaporous Realms website today! [Update: if that link no longer works, it means we’ve moved our main website here to Substack! Look for the “World of the Vaporous Realms” in the navigation bar.]
I was also going to share a book promo I joined, but it turns out, some books I don’t feel comfortable promoting made it in, too. That’s why I organized my own “clean fantasy” promo for January.
Instead, I’ll close out by sharing what I’ve been reading and listening to lately (in what spare time I could scrounge up):
Best Stuff I’ve Been Reading Lately:
Havok Publishing’s daily feature stories
Gemini’s Key by H. Halverstadt (clean YA sci-fi)
The Crossing by Jenn Lees (low-intensity historical-fantasy romance)
Daughter of the Sun by Amanda Auler (clean dark YA fantasy)
Best Stuff I’ve Listened To Lately:
Blurry Creatures’ episode 203 on “The Bones of Moses”
CJ Milacci’s Read Clean YA with CJ podcast
Russell Nohelty’s Kickstart Your Book Sales podcast (featuring his and Monica Leonelle’s super-helpful Author Ecosystem—as long as you don’t mind the occasional strong language)
Thanks for reading—and have a lovely weekend!
*My story “Watchers” will be freely available on Havok Publishing’s main page for one day only, unless you’re a Havok subscriber (which costs less than a dollar a month for an annual sub). Don’t worry, I’ll bug y’all about it once Havok gives me the link and other day-of details. I want everyone to be able to enjoy the story, and Havok will have the exclusive publication rights for another six months or more after its November 24 debut.
Plus, the more traffic and comments the story gets the day it’s released, the better our chances are of getting recognition for the Vaporous Realms within the Havok and Realm Makers (Christian fantasy and sci-fi) communities.