Valens Heritage #9 is now out: Troyland

Everyone, Valens Heritage, book #9, and the third book about our former goofball cheetah, Troy, is out. Obviously his thoughts for his new Mongolian based theme park, are still very much on his mind!

Link-> Troyland (Valens Heritage Book 9)

 

Yes, I'd hoped to do the next Mihalis & Sean book which takes place in Nighthome / Faederland, the place of the Dark Elves and the Goblins, but with the things I was dealing with at the time, I needed something a little 'lighter' to write. Though I did give Ian and Craig their very own chapter! (Of course now those ungreats want more...) 

I'm sorry about the time gap in publishing, but as I've mentioned before, the place I publish these was starting to show signs of banning people for writing 'harem' and a number of authors took measures. I decided to just wait and see what happened. Apparently cooler heads prevailed because the things we all feared didn't happen. 

So please! Give it a look!

Scotty, they did you Wrong...

 I'm sure many of you remember that old show from the 60's called 'Star Trek'. A fair number of the people who wrote for the show understood things like science and engineering and yes even the military. 

Unlike the 'Next Generation' where they understood none of that at all. I think in fact they were proud of the fact that the writers were all incredibly ignorant. 

Now, Scotty, that immortal engineer was pretty much the icon of engineers everywhere and who performed what is often a thankless job with great skill. One of the story aspects that became a trope of sorts was how Scotty always outperformed his estimates, always went the extra mile, and always got the job done ahead of schedule. This of course led to the whole 'meme' that Scotty was just always lying about how long a job would take, so he could look good when he got it done early.

No. 

What made it worse was when a moron of a script-writer working on the 'Next Generation' put that in one of the shows, because the moron had no idea how engineering or engineers work. Also, based on that Episode, Jordy sucks as an engineer and should have been shown failing in at least half the shows. Because that is the inevitable outcome of his approach to engineering - failure.

And oh, I'm an Engineer and once upon a time I actually worked AS an engineer. And also, guess what? I have been in these situations! More than once. This is one of those things that if you've had an engineering instructor in college who once actually worked as an engineer, you were taught. If you didn't you either learned the hard way, OR, some kind, older, more experienced, Engineer came over and taught you the truth. In my case wall to wall counseling wasn't involved, but I do know of instances where it was.

Here's how it goes: There is an emergency - for whatever reason - there is work that must be done and it must be done as soon as possible. An untrained person will give their best estimate, which is always wrong and they will fail miserably and either lose their job (if they're lucky) or end up facing civil and/or criminal charges (if they're not). In the military you'll be luck to avoid a courts martial. 

The thing to do is first look at what the best case scenario is. Make a note. Then look at the absolutely WORST case scenario. Make another note. Now understand the worst case should take into account the environment you're working in (like, is it on fire? Is it full of some nasty substance? Are you being attacked?) all of that stuff. Also, what's the spares situation? Do you have what you need? How long will it take to get it? (and that includes sending someone either out to buy/procure something, or just run down the the warehouse/stockroom). What's the situation with you? How much help do you have? How good/reliable is it? What's their situation? Do you need more people? Can you get more people?

Now you'll be able to take that worst case scenario, and if you're experienced enough, you'll know what parts matter and what parts don't. That is probably the most realistic scenario and timeline that there is.

So you take that and you Double it. If you're really good, maybe you only increase it by half. If you're new or unsure, you increase it some more. 

That's the number you give to your Captain, Commander, Boss, what have you. You NEVER, not EVER give them the best case scenario, even if they ask for it. Because that's a myth and will fail 100 percent of the time, every time. I can guarantee it. And if you give it to them, they will expect it, and then when it fails, again, your fault.

Now, here's the why of it: The person you report to is going to be making plans and decisions based on what you just gave them. If this is a critical situation, especially one where there could be injury or loss of life, those decisions need to be based on the worst case scenario. Because if they're based on the best case, and you fall short (which you will, again - guaranteed) then people are going to die and it's going to be your fault. And trust me, when the blame assignment game comes around, it will land squarely on you.

This is how engineering works. Good intentions have no place in it. Wanting to help by meeting unrealistic deadlines will get you screwed. Hoping will NOT make it so. I have quit jobs because my estimated time to complete was months past the deadline and they wanted me to lie about the schedule to make the bosses happy. 

So Scotty did what he was supposed to do. He gave the most realistic answer he could, the worst case one, then he and his team went and busted ass to beat that answer. Every good Captain/Commander/Boss/etc knows this. They've probably even experienced the well meaning but inexperienced engineer way back when who always promised on the best case, and delivered on that almost half the time - and failed all the rest.

Being right half the time doesn't work in engineering, and I can show you a bridge that collapsed in Florida killing several people because they were 'often' right, but not 'always' right. History is full of such examples. Engineering is not like writing software - you have to be right 100 percent of the time. Because there are actual real world physical consequences for being wrong.

A week later

Yes, the younger dog has noticed. He's been a little skittish and a bit more 'clingy' than usual. He also goes looking for King in the mornings still.

Knight is definitely smaller, at 80lbs (to us this is a 'small' dog) and he's a lot more skittish and not as brave as King. At 120+ lbs, King was big and not afraid of anything. Even when he could barely walk, he still was not afraid of anything outside. Knight however barks a lot, especially when he goes out at night, to 'scare' off anything he's afraid of I guess? (The property is fenced, so not like a lot can get in).

So now when I go outside, at certain times, I very much get 'puppy dogged' because he doesn't have King, who was a lot bigger, out there with him.

The spousal unit is looking at Great Danes. Knight is their dog (he's a GSD and they're all one person dogs) and for the most part, I think I'm done with pets now, so if we get another dog, it'll be theirs as well. Honestly I'm starting to think we probably should, because I think Knight just isn't dealing well with being the sole pet in the house now. Even my cat has died (about 3 years ago).

But, time will tell. I'm still getting over it, it'll be a while I'm sure. Getting motivated to work has been a bit tough this week, but such is life. The changes in my daily routine still throw me of course.

Numb, I am Numb

Today I put to sleep my best friend (after my spouse) - My dog King.

King's birthday was the day after mine, and I got him in '11. He would have been 13 in two months. Which is old for large German Shepherd. Our last one I don't think made 12.

King was my first (and now last) dog. The dogs I've lived with throughout my life were never mine. They typically were either family dogs or someone else in the family. Now this isn't to say I've never had pets, I've had several domestic cats and about a half dozen 'wild' or 'exotic cats. Four of which were big cats. So I'm used to animals.

But King was very much my dog. German Shepherds are one person animals. Sure they'll get on with everyone in the family, but the are very much one person's. I'd never had a dog before that was truly 'mine' and so I decided I was going to get a 'large' old school square-back GSD. I got him at 8 weeks of age, so he and I were together for 12 years and 8 months.

The last two years started getting hard. Mostly little problems. The last year his hindquarters started giving him issues - this is a sign of age in all quadrupeds. It has nothing to do with breeding. He lost a lot of weight in the last six months and started having appetite issues about a year ago. We'd resorted to a series of 'bribes' to get him to eat. For about the last month I was hand feeding him his meals, because he just couldn't eat standing up.

Through all of this he was happy, he was alert, he was engaged. He could get around, though not well. As long as he was happy, I was fine with things.

Yesterday he lost the ability to walk. It wasn't 100 percent, just 99. Trying to get up and failing would make him so tired he wouldn't try again. Now he'd been having problems for the last two weeks, but only rarely and if I grabbed him and steadied him or lifted his rump, he'd recover and be fine. But yesterday you had to hold his hindquarters off the ground and 'wheel-barrow' him. Which for a 100 lb dog, isn't easy.

He'd also been waking me up at night for weeks now. The last couple of nights I was up with him most of the night. Last night, I was up with him all night long. Not being able to get up was hard on him, and he was no longer happy and I think he was starting to hurt as well. So today I took him to the vet and said goodbye.

We buried him when we got home. His grave is next to that of my cat that died about 3 years ago. He's in pretty deep, and there are heavy stones on top of the grave. But it's also inside the fence, so the coyotes shouldn't cause any issues.

But still, it's been a rough few weeks and a very rough day. I started my independent writing career in March of '11. I got King (Full name: King of Rancho Cordova - yes he was a registered pure breed) in July of '11. He was there when I decided to go full time and he's been there throughout my entire career.

And now he's gone.

I will miss him.

My Shop

The last couple of months I've been working on getting my shop back in order. I moved some stuff out of it and got it better sorted on the garage shelves, where it really belongs. My new shop table that I built last year I've been keeping clear, and I've sorted out a few projects that needed sorting. At this point, my guitar workbench needs to be cleared off, and reorganized (because there are some things that do belong on it - just not many) and then I need to either finish or box up for later the carburetor project on my work bench so I can reclaim that space as well. 

Hoping to have that all done in another week or so. THEN I can go finish up the guitar I started last year, and once that's done I'm hoping I can start on building my own guitar bodies. The hardest part for that will be getting some good wood, but I'll probably start out with some 'cheaper' stuff until I got it down.

Then of course will be building necks. I've been seriously considering the old 'Leo Fender' method of just using what's basically a 1x4 piece of wood. Most necks aren't thick, except for down at the body and you can double up your piece by gluing two together. For the head, you just make an angled cut, flip the end around, and now you've got that nice angle that everyone uses (most guitar heads are glued on).

Making the fret board will be a pain, so will putting in the frets. But I'd like to get to the point where I'm making the necks and bodies and only buying the tuners, the heads, and the capacitors, input jacks, and wire. I do know how to wind my own pickups, but I don't know if I ever want to do that. But I'd like to try and get back to making guitars and do it without buying the necks and the bodies. The kits out of China are fun and a good way to 'cheat' but the hardware sucks and you end up replacing it. Surprisingly a lot of the wood, which is cheap wood, is pretty good tone wood. Some of the cheaper woods are, oddly enough. 

Buying stuff from Warmouth can get you great quality bodies and necks, but that stuff is expensive. You can't sell those guitars and make any kind of profit and I'm NOT looking to sell at all. I'll probably just give these away. That's why I want to make most of it myself, so I'm not really into any of them for more than say a hundred bucks. 

I'd also like to try making a bass or two from scratch and at some point I'd still like to make a copy of the old 'Bass 6'. You've all heard one, you just didn't know it. Until they started making them again a couple of years ago, they hadn't been made for like 20+ years. For what's probably the rarest bass out there quite a few hit singles, including one by Aerosmith, had the lead guitarist playing on one.

But again, we'll see. I have a few hobbies that in the last two years I haven't been able to really do. This year I hope I can get back to them. I'm sure everyone loves listening to me swear about stains, sealers, spray guns, and stencils! :-)

Taking Ground is NOT a 'novella'. It's a bit long for that! :-D

 Okay, this is a first. Someone's review of Taking Ground is that it's 'too short it's a Novella'.

Now, a Novella is typically defined as 17.5K words to 39.999K words.

Taking Ground is just a bit shy of 100K words. 

So depending on where on the scale you want to pick that means Taking Ground has somewhere between Five or Two and a half Novella's in it. Novels start at 40K words btw.

I can only blame the new math. Or maybe myself? Maybe I just write that well that people don't realize just how long the book really is?

Hmmm, maybe that was a compliment? 

:-D

My Old Dog

 I have an old dog. In three months, he'll be thirteen. To a lot of folks out there, that doesn't sound old, but for a German Shepherd, a large old-style square back (not one of those slope back ones) that's old. Most don't make it past twelve. We're talking a dog that was probably 110~120 in his prime. Not a fat dog either.

In the last year he has lost a lot of weight. I suspect he's 80`90 pounds now. His appetite has decreased significantly. He has trouble getting up and walking at times, especially in the evenings and early morning. His hindquarters don't work as well as they used to (and NO it's NOT dysplasia this is normal, all quadrapeds have issues with their hips when they get old - just like humans do).

And of course, being a GSD he's both an actor and an attention whore. So you never know if he's hurting sometimes, or just trying to get attention. As he's -MY- dog (GSD's are one person dogs) I'm the one who he will play these games on if he feels he's not getting enough attention, and seeing as he can't do all the things he used to, guess what he wants more of? 

Also sometimes he really does need to get up at 3AM and go outside. These days I deal with a very irregular sleep schedule. It's not fun. This is my typical night now: Sometime between 2AM and 4AM he'll wake me up by whining softly. I get up. I get dressed. I put my shoes on - if that doesn't start getting him up, I get my coat and come back to the bedroom and put it on. If he's been sleeping on his bed, (which he's used more in the last 4 months than the prior 12 years) it's hard for him to get off of it, and last night he needed help. 

It's not made easier by our other GSD (who is a lot younger) running around all excited because we're going outside. Getting him up, and getting him to go slowly until he can get his hindquarters working, can be a chore sometimes. So can getting outside. Ten to fifteen minutes later we're back inside. He usually doesn't make it past the kitchen. I have area rugs on ALL of the tiled areas in the house now (we bought a bunch months ago just for this - went through this with the last GSD when he got old, though he didn't hang on this long - so I know what to expect). 

So I've been up almost a half hour at this point, and it's not done. Or maybe it is. When I go back to bed he might start complaining because he wants me to come and 'protect' him from the other dog so he can get up, and make his way to the bedroom (the other dog, when sleeping at night will growl at him if he goes by - he's an idiot). I'll go through all of this again at 7AM. If I don't get him in the bedroom when I first go to bed, at sometime an hour or two later I'll be woken up because, again, he wants me to 'protect' him from the murder muppet who will growl at him as he goes by.

This happens every night. It is incredibly rare now for me to not be woken up. I don't know if he really needs to go out or not, but it's the only thing that will settle him back down, otherwise I will be up for hours (literally).

Feeding is also a lot more involved now, because sometimes you all but have to force him to eat. He's definitely gotten a lot pickier. I also suspect at times he's just a touch senile. So his care has gotten a lot more complicated. He doesn't see as well as he used to, and sometimes he doesn't hear all to well either. But at least he's still happy.

At night, especially when it's cold out (being as we're still in winter) I have to go outside with him, because I don't want him to get into trouble. Tonight I took him out and he decided to walk a quarter of the fence line until I aimed him back at the house. Walking the perimeter is something he used to do every night (we've got 2 acres fenced). He fell over twice and I had to help him back up. Twice he had to stop for a short rest break and I had to help him up then too. Now he's passed out on the floor next to me, and I'll probably crash on the couch and go to bed later tonight when he's got the energy to head to the bedroom.

I honestly have no idea how bad he'll get, if he'll die in his sleep (like our last GSD), or if it'll be something worse. But he's happy now, even when he is all but dragging himself because he can't get his hind legs under him and I have to help him get up and calm him down (the mail lady knows his name and calls him when she goes by if she has to deliver something so he wants to go say hello). He can't race the cars anymore, though honestly it's been over a year since he could really do that at all. Yet there are times he still tries.

So yeah, it's rough. Being old myself, it makes it rougher. I won't be replacing him, this is my last pet. I've outlived too many of them, and I don't feel like having one outlive me. The spouse will keep getting dogs, now they can have two instead of one, but it isn't going to be 'mine'. Which will make it easier on me. (And no, I can NOT take him to the vet. He wants to kill the vet. Any vet. All vets. I won't put him through that stress).

Audiobook for Wolfhounds Book 1 - Stand Alone is now live on Audible!

 Here's the link: Stand Alone Audiobook

 

Wolfhounds Book 2 - Taking Ground is now Live on Amazon!

 Taking Ground

 

With the Battle of Portlandia behind him, Chase is a hero now and the rank and file truly believes that he's the prince the Command Team claims he is. For his part, Chase has made his choice and now he's committed. As the face of the revolution he's 'in it to win it' because anything else will lead to his death. The twenty-five million-credit bounty on his head will see to that.

The problem he faces now is convincing Fleet Captain Witner, and his Command Team to trust him, when Chase still doesn't trust them enough to tell them who he truly is. Chase had been betrayed too many times in his past to come clean easily, and for all that he's doing everything they ask of him, until the Captain and his team gives him a seat at the table, he's not about to start trusting any of them.

So he's content to let them continue believing he's a fraud of their own creation to justify the search for a 'real' heir.

 Still, he now has Claire on his side, and he can't think of anyone else he'd rather have there. She's as driven as he is, and at least as crazy. He's never met a better fighter and probably never will. As a duchess she's been teaching him valuable lessons about how to act and what to say. As a friend and lover, she's giving him something that he never thought he'd have - a reason to win.

See it on Amazon - Taking Ground 

The Whole 'Imposter' Thing

One of the things I really don't understand is 'imposter syndrome' (as people call it). I honestly just don't. Never have. I don't even understand how people can feel like an 'imposter' at a job they're doing. An imposter is someone practicing deception.

So if you are doing the job you're not an imposter now, are you?

In a lot of trades, a -lot- of trades, there is a process you go through:

• Apprentice,
• Journeyman,
• Master.

While the names aren't always the same, you get the idea.

• You start off as someone new to a craft and you learn it. Some learn faster or slower than others, but it's a process.
• Once you -understand- the craft you begin to practice it on your own and learn the finer details as you grow in skill and understanding. You're a Journeyman - you're on your 'journey' of learning.
• Then at some point you become a Master at your craft. You've learned the lessons and paid your dues and you are definitely on your own.

So I don't get where the whole 'imposter' bit comes from. No, you're an apprentice. You're learning. You're uncomfortable because you're learning. It's not uncommon for an apprentice to throw up their hands and go 'I don't know what I'm doing'.

The journeyman looks at something and while he knows how to do it, may decide to try something different so that they can learn something new, something more.

The Master already knows what works and what doesn't, and knows what and how they're going to take on a job.

As an engineer, I went through these levels of understanding.

And as a writer I have most definitely gone through them.

When I look back on things I've written, and how well I've done so far on my path in this career, I have never once said or thought 'I'm an imposter!' How could I? I've been doing the work and learning the trade. I very much remember my 'apprentice' years and I also understand when I graduated to the next stage of being a 'journeyman' in it.

As for whether or not I'm a 'Master' at it? Maybe one day I'll feel that I am, or maybe one day someone will tell me that I'm 'there'. For me, while I've learned my style and my 'method' I guess you would say, of writing and storytelling, I do feel that there is still more to learn. Though now, for me, most of that learning comes from doing, then looking at the finished product and seeing how it is received.

So stop with the whole 'imposter' nonsense. You're either an apprentice on the road to becoming a journeyman, or you've just set your foot on the Journeyman's path. Having concerns is natural. Now, ignore those fears and get to work.

Methane, Swampgas, or why do I have all of these flies? PSA

This is just one of those things that people don't tell you about and almost nobody talks about, because they don't know about it. I learned about this back when I was doing Y2K work on a major natural gas pipeline that stretches a couple thousand miles.

It starts off with this: How do you locate a leak in a natural gas pipeline? You look for the pile of dead flies.

Why is this? It's because Methane gas is what decomposition and rotting gives off. This attracts flies because they're looking for food. Natural gas is Methane gas, (which came from decomposition deep in the Earth) and it's all methane is methane as far as a fly is concerned. So they all flock to it. BUT because there's no oxygen in the area of the leak they're all clustering around, they suffocate. Hence the pile of dead flies.

Now, under every sink, shower, and tub, and built into every toilet, you have a 'u-joint'. The purpose of this is to keep from venting your cesspool/septic system/sewer/whatever into your house. Mostly because it smells bad, but also because it draws flies (third point is that it cuts down on the spread of disease, countries that don't use these - *china*cough*cough* - have disease and pandemic issues).

How does this apply to you? Well, do you have a sink or a tub you never (or rarely) use? Have you noticed an increase in flies in that room? Maybe you have a bar sink in the house or out on the back patio? 

If you don't use it periodically, the water in the u-joint will evaporate and 'swamp gas' or methane is going to come up out of the pipes. It'll stink, and it'll draw flies. I once owned a house that had a caretakers apartment built into the barn. It was always packed with flies and dead flies. Turns out the idiot who put in the shower didn't put a u-joint under it, so I had to tear out the concrete and install one. Oh, and clean up ten years worth of dead flies in the insulation :-6 

So, to avoid these problems in those 'unused' facilities, a couple of times a year, run the water in that shower or tub or sink. Flush that toilet. You'll cut down on flies and on stink, and yes, even disease.

This has been a public service announcement from the people who don't like flies, stink, or disease!

(Oh, and your house will have vents into the system via your drainage pipes that come out the roof - don't cover those, or you'll have all sorts of other unenjoyable issues!)

Summer's End is now out in Mass Market Paperback!

Hey everyone!

The Mass Market Paperback edition of Summer's End is now available on Amazon (and will soon be at bookstores if not already there!). The price is less than the trade paperback (obviously) but it also means that the Kindle / ebook price has dropped as well!

So if you'd been holding off before, because the price was out of your budget, or if you simply forgot, now's the time to go check it out!

https://www.amazon.com/Summers-End-John-Van-Stry/dp/1982193107