We bought a new house, and I am tired.

The whole process of buying a house, having many repairs/improvements, and then finally moving, is exhausting. But we are close to having our home back to “somewhat normal” again. We still have to sell the other home, but that is another story.

I love the new house. It is on the same golf course, about a mile from the other one. The house is larger, the lot bigger, and the view even better (the other house had an awesome view). The neighbors are friendly and it hasn’t really added anything much to the driving. It did, however, put a considerable dent in my writing schedule for the last six weeks, knocking everything back a couple of months.

My office is larger and has room for many of the things I enjoy to be out where I can use them (synthesizers and a new Yamaha YC-88 piano). So hopefully as the year draws down, I will be more active, finish these two books that are in flight, and begin the next ones.

We spent some time outside this morning, just enjoying the cool October morning air and a Maduro Arturo Fuentes cigar. Our four small dogs really enjoyed the time.

Even as I make my way through the current novel I am working on, music compositions seem to float out next to them. Yesterday, I released my 6th Album, this one titled The Great Attractor. All of the music that I have released so far is around the novels and universe I write in and about. As Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors winds down, I am internally and externally working on the next book, Gods Eye. For some reason I can’t put my finger on, the music surrounding it felt important. With the release yesterday, that part is complete, and I will move on to working on some other compositions.

Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors is moving along at a reasonable pace. Some of the characters in it are from a few of my other books (crossover), and that all adds to the devious fun within it. I’m looking forward to completing it and getting started on Gods Eye. Then we’ll all find out what’s after the end of the rainbow.

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Below is the video I posted to Instagram. Follow me if you like.

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Another beautiful Sunday at the Houston Polo Club. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze.

I’ve been venturing into my musical roots more and more, and released another Album of my compositions – Black Water Planet. That makes three so far, all instrumental compositions. You can find them on most streaming platforms as well as Apple iTunes and Amazon Music.

I’m at the halfway mark for Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors. The second book in the series that follows Ivan, Taros, and Ave in their white desert experiences. There is a core thread that runs through all of my books, and you will find this one no different. Taking us places we haven’t been, feeling the drumbeat of approaching conflict, and the rise of some things so deadly, they never should have been born.

I expect that Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors and Errors in Humanity Deux will be published around Q4, 2025 or Q1, 2026. In the meantime, enjoy the music.

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Ivan and Taros

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I’ve recently begun publishing some of my compositions. You can find the links to them here and on my Music Composition Catalog Page.

Below is a fun video using music from one album.

A fine, cool Sunday evening at the Houson Polo Club. Well attended for the polo season’s start. Excellent company with excellent tequila.

The days go by slowly when you are waiting for something. Something to happen, something to initiate, something to arrive. Then when it finally happens, it seems like it’s been no time at all.

Time is strange, at least in how we experience it.

Relative to be sure.

But it keeps moving forward no matter if we agree or disagree; the planet keeps revolving around the sun, the solar system revolving around the Milky Way galaxy, and all of that headed towards the great attractor.

Our timelines are far too short. One hundred and three years (my grandmother’s age when she died) is not enough to experience the wonders of the universe we live in. Perhaps if we lived millions of years, would not our perspectives be completely different than they are now?

I would hope so.

But honestly, I’m not sure. As I watch the “politics of an ant hill” going on around me, I have my doubts. Humanity is but the slices of the brain, and the many slices of the mind, that make us the “I” we experience. With no firewall to speak of, we are easily led astray from the directions and devices we choose. Towards an outcome that is always deeply tangled with the “politics of an ant hill” and not the bigger picture of the universe in general. Out there in Bootes Void, if there is a hidden black hole, perhaps it might be different; for surely it would be aboard the MaRP?

I like to hope so.

Perhaps Bad Comrade might tell us something different. But then, a smattering of thoughts across the bot population definitely would be. The perspective of one perched upon the edge of an event horizon across a bilinuiss flagitious black hole would be something quite different than nattering nonsense the passes for conversation and civility.

So I’ll stay here, wandering the secreted hidden valleys of the white desert, the vast megalopolises that dominate some points, the dangerous path of the Weaponeer 259 cadre, and the dark black at the edge of space where Ave feels the most at home.

The fall of Convallis Megalopolis is at hand, the forces of machine intelligence converge, and much much more is at play, deep within the white desert.

Perhaps Kassian McNamara was right.

The Houston Symphony was delightful (as always). As an extra treat, after the intermission, there was an opera, Duke Blue Beard’s Castle, with mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova and baritone Gabor Bretz. The conductor was a favorite, Juraj Valcuha.

The symphony is always a pleasure; it tickles my brain in strange and profound ways.

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Weaponeer 259.

The last time we saw him and his cadre was near the end of Mongruxx – Until We Cross This Bridge Again. He’s grown since then, and so has his cadre. Ambitions and empires erupt from the mind of something so alien we can’t even begin to fathom where he may go next. He is another piece of this growing puzzle. Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors, where will you take us next?

The cast of characters for the first Transport Unfriendly Skies was large. Larger than I originally planned. (that is, if I actually did some form of planning.) This story has more. It’s substantial in every way, and today, it was actually fun. (Thank you, Weaponeer 259.) The original book was fun; a hoot to write. It made me laugh out loud. Taros is one in a pantheon of beloved characters that I love more than perhaps I should. Starting off this book, I was really worried about screwing up the writing of his character. At this point, 57K words in (yes, there have been delays, etc.), he’s back and a lot of fun to write. A bit darker if that is possible (Ivan and Taros also show up in One Way To Hell: EB the Rabbantine). This book is a furthering of the entire narrative of the “White Desert universe.” The Quistavera is the prequel to it, and Errors in Humanity another building block.

When Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors is finished, along with the next Errors in Humanity – More Tales from the MaRP, I have a hard decision coming. Will it be the next Mongruxx book (book 5) or Gods Eye?

Gods Eye is likely to be two years of writing. Much the way the Quistavera was. It feels like a long time between books. But the story calls to me. Sometimes in my dreams or perhaps nightmares? I’ve go the rest of this year to decide, and two books to finish in 2025.

We had a fun trip to Chicago from the end of Dec 2024 into Jan of 2025. My wife’s sister and family live there. It was great visiting and doing some sightseeing. The architectural river tour is something. Definitely worth your time.

It was very, very, cold!

Me, front and back at the Bean.

The Bean was really cool! (Just like the movie – Source Code)

I picked up another guitar for my ever-growing collection. This time, used from Reverb. A Electromatic Jet BT G5220 Firestick Red. I added a Duesenberg Trem II for that ever so styling string bending. The price was so low it was almost too cheap to pass up. I’ve enjoyed it a bit, but I do tend to play my Gretsch Rat Rod or Fender Strat more than anything. Also, a Surfybear Reverb makes everything taste good! I absolutely love mine!

Happy February!

The next book in the series, “Transport Unfriendly Skies – Survivors,” is well underway. Currently, at 42k words, it is slated to be a 250K word novel. Q4 2025 is the targeted release date.

At the same time, I am writing “Errors in Humanity – More Tales from the MaRP.” Targeted to be 140K words, it also will be released in Q4 2025.

It is really different writing this way, using a schedule to stay on track (as I did with “Errors in Humanity – Tales from the MaRP.”) Exhausting at times, exhilarating at others. The ideas come out of my dangerous thoughts often faster than I can put them to electronic paper. At the same time, I think about the next Mongruxx novel that awaits in my head, the scary, thrilling novel “God’s Eye” that waits for me out there in the black. On its endless way into the future and the great attractor. The ultimate adventure and perhaps the last for this universe as it endlessly expands.

Then I also have another ten novels worth of ideas that are unrelated. The Squirrel War calls to me again. Setting down plot lines for these future second novels to write while working on a main novel. Squirrel War I and Squirrel War II. Loosely based on my experiences with these foul creatures. It will be first person, based on the squirrel’s viewpoint. I’m actually thinking I might do one of these when the current two books are completed next year.

It will be fun if not an oceanic experience.

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We’ve been going to the Houston Symphony lately. Season tickets and all that. Definitely enjoyable and a tickling of the brain in small, strange ways. Something different on planet dirt, rather than the endless experience of black in Bootes Void or the dusty sand of the vast white desert.

Read the new book, “Errors in Humanity – Tales from the MaRP,” if you have not done so. I think it will tickle your brain in unexpected ways. If you have read it, thank you, loyal reader.

There is a lot more coming…

Until next time.