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.

Errors in Humanity – Tales from the MaRP is out on Amazon as of yesterday!

Quick link: Errors in Humanity
Kindle, paperback, and hardback.

From the jacket:
Deep within the unknowable universe is the vast Bootes Void, is an empty void of Brobdingnagian proportions. At over 330 million light-years across, the emptiness strikes fear into the heart of even the most stalwart. Near the center of this void sits the Tenebris Matter Reclamation Platform, or MaRP for short. It’s a matter reclamation platform sitting at the edge of a supermassive black hole.

Moon sized and built long ago in a far off past, it is inhabited by bots.

These are the dark tales of the bot’s existence: the struggle to give meaning to an artificial life lived on the MaRP, sitting on the edge of an endless death; the constant alien incursions, and the battle to repel them before they can steal ancient technology and perhaps even destroy the MaRP itself. Dark at times, yet also humorous, horror lurks around each corner as they go through each cycle, trying to survive in a place designed for death.

Join them out in the deepest black, where life and death are razor thin and the unfathomable fingers of twisted gravitation pull, mangle, and warp.

Finally! After two long years, the Quistavera is available on Amazon. Kindle and paperback.

From Amazon:

The Quistavera.

In the endless night that is space, a ghost ship lays the seeds for destruction. 
From the many beginnings to the one final end, it will begin again new. 
For the Archana, the Hum’ahns aboard the Quistavera, and even the ancient enemy, the Krek’Na.
Hurtling across the galactic plain, destroying all in her path. 

An oblivion of horror that can have no end.

• Passengers trapped with no escape.
• A piratical crew of half machine, half men.
• The mysterious Galindos that lurk in the dark.
• The ravenous Krek’Na intent on destroying all.

Welcome to the Quistavera.

“Science Fiction Horror with something else. If this doesn’t keep you up a night, then perhaps you are already dead.”

Read less

So far, the novel (actually, as they all do) has a life of its own. When I sit down to write each day to get my one thousand word minimum, it takes me places I did not know it was going to go! There’s something about that which intrigues me. The idea that stories have a life of their own. As I start to write, I look at the piece of gaffer’s tape on the bottom of the screen that says, “I don’t know what happens next.” That’s because I don’t. I don’t know what they will do or with who (or what.) It’s like reading a really interesting book but being forced to pace yourself. You don’t want to get so far ahead that you run the well dry.

Or burnout.

I’m on chapter three. Errors in Humanity has chapter names the same way as the Mongruxx series does. Fun, interesting names. The creature above in the title image. That’s from Chapter 2, “I don’t belong here.” The imagery really does help and gives me so many ideas, I don’t know if I’ll have enough time in this life to write them all. But I will damn sure try, compadre.

Of that, you can be sure.

So, I’m ahead of schedule and looking forward to getting Quistavera – The Edge of Nowhere back from the editor and published. She is scheduled to start on June the third. Sara Kelly is my editor. She has edited all of my books. Does a damn good job as well.

It’s nice to work with the same person each time.

I plan to keep her busy by pushing out two books a year. That means I stick to my schedule (I am currently ahead!) each day, rain or shine. It kind of blows my mind that this is the eighth book I am writing. Write what you want to read, and you’ll always have something you like to read.

Gods Eye is the next planned book – starting in December of 2024 (yes, the apostrophe is missing on purpose as in plural – Grammarly is constantly telling me I’m wrong.) Errors in Humanity will overlap in interesting and dangerous ways. After that, I’ll be back in the neighborhood with my old friends, Sam and Golgoth from the Mongruxx, Taros and Ivan from Transport, and another EB the Rabbatine. They feel like old friends, and I genuinely miss them.

Maybe it’s because I’m spending so much time out in Bootes Void. Errors in Humanity is right in the middle of it, the moon-sized MaRP hovering slightly away from the black hole’s event horizon. It’s a dark place that tends to twist the mind a bit. Like sitting on the lip of a giant, deadly, monstrous being. You can almost feel the pressure within you. The hunger it emanates towards you.What that does to the bots there. How they live and survive in such a place.

A desperation that threatens everyone and everything at the edge of it all.

The end of time.

A black hole.

See you on the other side of the black, Pilgrim.

Bad Comrade

After doing all the grunt work to set up my next book, I actually started writing it today. It’s slated for the lofty goal of 140,000 words! That said, words came easily today, and I am already ahead of schedule. I plan to have this book finished by Dec 1, 2024. I’ve laid out a reasonable schedule and if I go faster, then great! It will get to the editor faster, then Amazon.

Book number eight!

This book will take us someplace we haven’t been before. To the event horizon of a black hole in Bootes Void. They say that Bootes Void is a billion light years across. With only sixty galaxies near the center. An amazing place that speaks of desolation beyond anything we can possibly begin to understand. (I don’t know if there is really a black hole there, but there could be. Possibly sixty of them, each at the center of the galaxies.)

Around the supermassive black hole, there is a sprinkling of MaRP/s (Matter Reclamation Platform, or MaRP for short) around multiple areas on the event horizon. It’s already begun, and I am enjoying it.

Stay tuned, more to follow, Pilgrim.