I don't think it's going to fund (Dan's Inferno Book 5)

 It's got 6 days left to run, and still needs $6K. Less than 200 people kicked in. 

It's probably safe to say that there wasn't the interest that I was led to believe by folks.

Dan's Inferno Kickstarter is down to three weeks!

 Just a reminder to everyone!

The Dan's Inferno Kickstarter is down to THREE WEEKS!!

So if you want to See Book 5, time to start spreading the word around. A lot of people bought book 4, so I'm sure there's more than enough who'd like book 5, but I'm guessing that they haven't heard about it.

So spread the word! We're almost 2/3rds of the way there!

 

The only way this book will happen is if this kickstarter succeeds! So don't be shy and spread the word!

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnvanstry/dans-inferno-book-v-dominance-ebook-audio-and-print 

I have an eARC up for Sale at Baen Books!

 Sometimes In The Fall is currently available as an 'eARC' on Baen Books website.

What's an eARC? It's an electronic Advanced Reader's Copy. It hasn't gone to press yet and may still have a typo or three in it. But you can see it now instead of waiting until March, if you want to.

https://www.baen.com/sometimes-in-the-fall-earc.html

Thanksgiving Day Sales!

 

Or perhaps Thanksgiving Week!

The following series are on Sale during the week of Thanksgiving in the US and UK on Amazon (I'd do more places, but Amazon's sales are limited).

 

As John Van Stry:

 

WOLFHOUNDS ($1.99) - US & UK

Stand Alone, Book 1:             11/25 to 12/1

Taking Ground, Book 2:         11/26 to 12/2

Force Majeure, Book 3:          11/27 to 12/3

War Child, Book 4:                 11/28 to 12/4

 

GHOST WARRIOR: (11/25 - 12/1) - US & UK

Serendipity :    99 cents

Necessity:        99 cents

 

As Jan Stryvant:

 

VALENS LEGACY: (11/25 to 12/1) - US & UK

Black Friday -             99 cents

Perfect Strangers -      99 cents

Over Our Heads -       $1.99

Head Down -              $1.99

When It Falls -            $1.99

 

DAN'S INFERNO - Books I & II BUNDLE: CURSED! & BEDEVILED - $2.99

THIS SALE IS IN ALL AMAZON MARKETS!

This special two book bundle will be on sale from tomorrow - 11/22 (Unless Amazon messes up) until the end of November! This is book One & Two in a bundle. The price of the two books, by themselves has not changed! To get this special price, you have to buy the bundle.

(ASIN: B08LYG5G3X)

Two New Options - But They're Limited!

 This is for the Dan's Inferno, Book V : Dominance Kickstarter

I have created 2 (Two) add-ons for those who are interested!

Have you ever wanted to be a villain? And maybe not just any villain, but a villain in a world of Mages and demons? In California?

 

Or perhaps you just want to be a henchman - the kind that dies. Messily. Well you can be that too!

 

Here are the two new addons:

For $50:

Redshirts & Henchmen are those people who die, sometimes gloriously, sometimes ignominiously. This add-on will get -you- redshirted in the book! You may or may not be a henchman, but you will most certainly be buying it, or shuffled off to some terrible fate. 

Go to my Kickstarter if you want to see more of the details.

Remember! This is an 'Add-on' so you must already have a bid to choose it!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnvanstry/dans-inferno-book-v-dominance-ebook-audio-and-print/rewards

For $250:

So, you want to be a Villain? Well here's your chance! This reward will get you one of the villains in the book named after you. You will also be allowed to supply me with a short description, however understand I am under no obligation to use it, though I will try and keep it in the spirit of your description (as long as you do not go over the top - but do feel free to make some changes if you wish and don't go over 100 words). Odds are good that your villain will die, probably horribly, but hey, that's just the way it goes when you're a villain, right?

Go to my Kickstarter if you want to see more of the details.

Remember! This is an 'Add-on' so you must already have a bid to choose it!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnvanstry/dans-inferno-book-v-dominance-ebook-audio-and-print/rewards

We're a Third of the Way There!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnvanstry/dans-inferno-book-v-dominance-ebook-audio-and-print

The Kickstarter for Dan's Inferno, Book V: Dominance is now ONE THIRD Funded!!

That's right, we're one third of the way there and quickly closing in on Half!

I will be offering some new add ons later in the week, as I work through some of the plot in my spare time. First will be villian slots - there will be at least three villians in this story (who will die, horribly I'm sure) as well as a number of just hanger's on and henchmen.

Those spots will be offered if you want to be one of them! (Villains won't be cheap, but then they never are, are they?) Henchmen, eh, not so much... 

I may even offer a spot as a demon or two later on. And of course once we draw closer to the goal, I'll start offering stretch goals, which will be short stories for those Zoo Level and above.

So keep an eye on this space!

If you haven't looked at it already, please go take a look.You might just like it!

 

I have a Kickstarter!! Check it out!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnvanstry/dans-inferno-book-v-dominance-ebook-audio-and-print

Yes, I have a kickstarter for Book V: Dominance, of Dan's Inferno. There was always supposed to be a book 5, but back then 4 kinda slumped off. But interest is back, (or I'm being told it is) so! Here it is!

Check it out, read the story, all of that. And if that's enough to sway you, please pledge!

But, at the very least, go take a look. Who knows, maybe you'll have some good advice!

 

Something I wrote on Substack

 So I thought I'd share it here - so folks can follow me there too if they like. 

Though that's a bit more focused on writing than what I put here.

On Letting Go

Ghost Warrior Book 2 - Necessity is now out!

 I realize it's taken a bit longer than expected, but Wolfhounds has been eating up a lot of time, and I did have a few obligations that I needed to deal with. But! It's done! Check it out!!

Ghost Warrior Book 2 Link

 

Also, this Sunday (9/22) Stand Alone, Book 1 in the Wolfhound series will be on sale for 99 cents. This is an Amazon sale, and it will be in the US and Canada.

Hello everyone! I've got a couple of announcements:

1st I have a new Novella out in the Portals of Infinity (POI) world. Well, it's not exactly new, I wrote it a long time ago, but I never published it. It's the story of how Will's sister Nikki ended up as a champion for Arianna, but told from Her viewpoint. You got to see some of it in POI #3, well now you see all of it.

I showed it to my patrons on Patreon, and they liked it said to publish it. I'd honestly kinda forgotten that I had it. But it's up on Amazon now, so if you want it:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DGHWR9W3

2nd, the third Wolfhounds Audiobook for Force Majeure is now up for pre-order on Audible. It's release date is October 1st and here's the link:

https://www.audible.com/pd/Force-Majeure-Audiobook/B0DFHR4NKR

(Note: Podium is working on Book 4, War Child, but I don't know when that will be released. I'm currently writing #5 - End Game and hope to release it sometime in October).

3rd, Necessity, Ghost Warrior #2 is almost ready for release. Right now I'm waiting on cover art and to hear back from some of my Beta readers. If could be out as soon as next week! I've got the cover art sketch, so the process after that is usually a quick one.

 

Texas Hold 'em

 

A number of years ago (a number that is larger than 10) I used to play Texas Hold ‘em. For money. I played in local tournaments, at a local casino (card room might be a better term), that happened twice a week. I also played at two Indian Casinos, about once a week at the open tables.

I was not a ‘big fish’, small would have been a more appropriate term. I ended up ‘in the cash’ on the regular tournament a fair number of times and won it once. Chopped the pot a couple of times, because it got you out of there faster and why not? Going head to head can take a looooong time.

Going out to the two Indian Casinos, one had a more ‘professional’ level of players, and while it was fun, it wasn’t really a money maker (though I did make money). I credit the level of players to being close to Tahoe where they have ‘real’ casinos, and Reno where they have real gamblers.

Gamblers at Indian Casinos tend more to be people just looking to lose money. Especially if they’re of a certain racial group that has a certain culture and while I’m not going to mention it, if you’re a gambler you know all about this, and if you’re not, you will definitely think I’m talking about someone else. This is one of those ‘secrets’ you learn to make money.

Now, when you go to the Indian Casinos that are farther from Nevada and especially places like Reno and Las Vegas, a small fish suddenly becomes a much bigger fish - especially if you stay away from the ‘No-Limit’ tables. So I’d look at the ‘Limit’ tables and I’d look for ones that were rife with the group of folks I was looking for. I’d then sit down and proceed to make $100 an hour playing cards.

So I understand the game, and I understand how it works. Yes I’m not up on tells and all of that like I used to be, and even then I played more by mathematics than by psychology. It’s hard to develop a really good and strong feeling for a player when you’re just at a limit type table. When you’re playing on a regular tournament circuit though, even a small one, you do get to know each other.

For example, whenever I went head-to-head with the ‘Mexican guy’ (he was born here, but he was very much of Mexican heritage) who was a landscaper? I always accepted his offer to chop the pot. He made it seem like he was ‘just in a rush to get back to work’ but he was one of the shrewdest card players out there. Sometimes I wondered if he really was a landscaper, or just dressed up like one for these early morning (started at 8) tourneys. Guy was very much a ‘big fish’ on the small circuit. He always finished in the money.

All of this is a lead up to the first book in my ‘Days of Future Past’ trilogy, wherein, the protagonist is playing Texas Hold ‘em for money, and he’s pretty much cheating, because he’s getting help from Coyote. Someone took great offense at the scene where he’s gambling in the Gold Star casino, and one of the local big fish, by the name of Phil, comes in and throws a ‘tantrum’.

They went on and on in their review about how, while they’ve never played poker, no professional poker player would ever act that way! That poker is a serious game! How people are well mannered and quiet!

Yeah, I laughed pretty hard at that. Guess they never heard of the ‘Poker Brat’ who Phil was very much modeled after. A man who has made millions of dollars at high-stakes poker. That particular game was very much based on reality, though it was a bit of a pastiche of things I’ve seen in high-stakes tournaments that I’ve watched.

I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff at Texas Hold ‘em tourneys and tables. I’ve even seen dealers cheat to throw the game for a particular player. Even had it done to me once. Yes, dealers cheat. As long as they’re not cheating the casino, the casino doesn’t care!

And it goes on a more than I’m comfortable with. It’s one of those things you watch for, and all of the pros will catch it in a heartbeat. You either get up and leave, or you call it out and get shown to the door. But it very much happens. The reason that casinos use diamond back cards is to make it easier for the dealers to cheat. Remember that.

So yeah, all of the card playing, and even the craps shooting in the start, were based on things I’ve seen as either a player or an observer, in poker games. People do engage in weird or histrionic behavior. They do it to throw off their opponent. They do it to increase their odds of winning. It’s rarely a ‘quiet’ and ‘studious’ game. When it’s your turn to bet, you can do and say damn near whatever you want. And a lot of people do. When it’s someone else’s turn, you’re supposed to be quiet, but I’ve seen that rule pushed and broken on more than one occasion. If the dealer and the pit boss know you, and you’re a good tipper? You get a lot more leeway than any newb or stranger.

DragonCon goes full A**hole

DragonCon just banned a book Cover from the  awards ballot. One that had qualified to be on it. They did so because 'someone' complained. The complained that the artist (A friend and one of MY Cover Artists) uses AI as part of their process (they use it as a tool, they're an artist who works in various media). Note: It was not in the rules that you couldn't nominate covers that the artist used AI tools to create.

Also Note: They didn't ban any of the OTHER covers where the artists used AI Tools.  

I'd say it's apparent that DragonCon has issues with either the artist (again a FRIEND of mine) or the Publisher (Again MORE friends of mine - I know these people!)

So by all means, click the link below and see the book that the people of DragonCon thought was so dangerous that they had to remove it from the ballots before you could vote for it, as they must have known it would win! Also you may want to check out some of the stories, I know many of the authors in this anthology and they're all quite good. 

https://www.amazon.com/Goblin-Market-Raconteur-Press-Anthologies-ebook/dp/B0D48C5X63/

If you're a fan, SIGN UP FOR MY MAILING LIST!!

 If you're a fan and want to know when my books come out you MUST SIGN UP!

Because Amazon is NOT going to tell you about my new release for WEEKS IF EVER.

Got that? Amazon is NOT telling people about my new releases anymore. So the ONLY WAY you will know, is by signing up for my mailing list! (and make sure it doesn't end up in the SPAM folder).

I only send out notifications when:

• I publish and release a new book.
• I release an audiobook.
• For occasional sales.

I will NEVER sell your information. I will NEVER share your information. It is private!

So please, if you're a fan, and you want to know when I release a new book, as either John Van Stry or Jan Stryvant, sign up for my mail list!

Mailing List For John Van Stry and Jan Stryvant

Also, if there are other authors you are a fan of? Sign up for theirs too!!

Wolfhounds, Book #4 - War Child is now live on Amazon

 Wolfhounds #4 - War Child is now live on Amazon:

Link -> War Child

 

Just Letting you all know I'm still here!

 

This is just a sort of 'state of the author' kind of thing. Life is still throwing challenges at me and not letting me say 'Umm, I'd rather not'. I hurt my sacroiliatic. To the point where I couldn't function - it was quite painful. I start PT later in the week, and my doc (specialist I went to) has ordered me to start working out again.

We have a new puppy who will be a horse eventually (Great Dane).

Knight, the dog who was the younger dog when King (my dog) died, wasn't getting on well and developed (or rather finally showed) some issues after King died. He wasn't doing well on his own, which was part of the reason for getting another puppy.

BUT, now HE's sick. Badly too. One of his hind legs is swollen and his white blood cell count is high. Vet had him all day and had no idea what was wrong. So now he's home and we're keeping an eye on him, trying to get him to eat (he all but stopped a few days ago) and drink, go out to potty, all of that.

None of this stuff has been cheap, either.

Add to that a few other unexpected events with high price tags and it's been a fun month.

Ugh.

Right now, I'm just hoping we don't lose Knight. Because it's a very real possibility. If they had a clue as to what was wrong, yeah, I wouldn't be so worried - but they don't.

My current goal is to write Ghost Warrior #2. Then probably Wolfhounds #5 ending that short series. I want to write another book for Baen, POI #12, another Valens Heritage book, AND do some side project stuff.

I'd very much like to have ALL of that done in the next 4 months or so (yeah, I'm crazy, I know that).

I did get the cover for the sequel to Summer's End today (Some Time in the Fall) and it looks nice. It's currently slated for March 2025 for release. Wolfhounds #4 (War Child) should be out within the next week. I'll post the cover on my blog once it's ready to go.

So overall, I'm still writing and I'm still moving forward. I just keep hoping for less interrupts so I can spend more cycles writing. So I can give you more books to read.

Because you folks are the reason I do this.

Book 4 of Wolfhounds will be out soon

 I realized today I hadn't posted anything here in a bit. Part of that is I've been making posts on my SubStack, which have been more about writing, and part of that has just been trying to get bk4 finished. It's about 10 days behind schedule right now, because of life stuff. Like getting sick, or getting injured :-P. 

However the 1st draft is done and it should start the editing process in a few days. I'll start the re-write tonight. 

The title is 'War Child' btw, I'll put up more about it as I get the cover and such.

(Frustrated screaming intensifies)

There are a fair number of people, who I know personally, and have known for decades. These people all know that I am a Highly -Successful Self-Published Author.
Yet, few of these people will take a few minutes to ASK ME about how it all works and end up getting scammed out of money!!

Dammit!! What the hell people!

MONEY FLOWS TO THE AUTHOR! YOU DO NOT PAY SOMEONE TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOKS! Hell, I can walk you through it in a few minutes and save you a fortune.

Maybe I need to write up a presentation and put it on Youtube or something.

Why don't people read anymore?

 I'm serious about this. Too many people just 'skim' books, they don't read them. So they REALLY don't know what's going on in the story, they miss a lot of the side plot and minor arcs. This leads to them not understanding the story, or even knowing what the story is really about.

It's like going into an expensive restuarant, burying your face in an expensive dish and rooting about like a pig on the plate just mashing your face into everything.

Today Sucks

 So Yesterday I released the New Wolfhounds book.

This morning I wake up to a wet floor in the den. I figured it out quickly, someone knocked the line off of the dehumidifier up in the attic, some time ago. Maybe two weeks ago when there was service being done? And it was knocked off because it wasn't installed correctly last year.

So, WATER everywhere in the attic. No idea what the final damage will be, hopefully we won't have to have any walls replaced as so far, the water only ran down inside the wall. Still there's a lot up there and trying to dry it out. The company who does all the work for us have sent people out, because I'm VERY concerned about an electrical fire. Because water on top of electrical equipment up there. Also with all that powered off we have no AC and it's gonna be in the 90's today with about 90 percent humidity.

THEN, on top of all this:

Someone HATES Wolfhounds book #3, Force Majeure. They hate it SOOOO MUCH, that they posted a negative review with blatant spoilers about EVERYTHING they HATED. 

I'm guessing that they're 10? Maybe 12? We know how puberty can be tough on boys...

Look, I get it if you don't like the way a book ends. I'll admit I was still dealing with the death of my dog (and long time friend) during all of the writing of that book. Perhaps it's a bit darker in places that it would have been. But it was always the plot to have certain things happen and I floated ALL of it past my Patreons and SubscribeStar members to make sure it wasn't out of line. I also floated it past a bunch of my Beta readers. None of them had a problem with what I did.

But this young man just couldn't deal with the kinds of things that adults do in life, and that yes, bad things happen to people, even when they're doing good. Or that SOME PEOPLE have different moral standards than HE does. 

I mean, I don't care if he doesn't like the book. I don't care if he gives it a bad review. I DO care that he put spoilers up, and there's only two other reviews, so that everyone has some of the plot elements given away. People like this are why we can't have nice things. They can't let anyone else enjoy things that THEY don't like. They just can't keep their pie-hole shut.

It's like the people who complained that Rape is MENTIONED in the book. Your NEVER SEE IT, but to show just how bad the bad guys are, we learn that they rape and murder women. 

OH MY GOD!!! YOU MENTIONED RAPE!!! Mind you, you never see it. You just hear about it.

Seriously, WHAT THE H**L PEOPLE? You can't deal with hearing about bad things? Have any of you watched the news, ever, in your life? Studied history? I've had to deal with incredibly nasty things in real life. I've saved women from being raped. I've saved people from dying. If you're such a fragile flower that you can't deal with just hearing about something happening in a fictional story, off screen, I'm worried for you and your ability to just function in life! 

Yesterday was my birthday. It's also the anniversary of my mother's death (Yes, she died on my birthday 4 years ago). So I don't celebrate it anymore. Instead we were going to celebrate it today, and then all of this happens. So yeah, today sucks. Yesterday sucked. Tomorrow isn't looking any better.

If you want to help me, WRITE a review, don't just give a rating, WRITE a 4 or 5 star review to push that idiot off the front page. Maybe report it. BUT!!! Don't do it if you haven't read it AND enjoyed it. Maybe the book does suck. Maybe I should just give up on writing this series. Hell, I almost quit when my dog died. Maybe I should have.

Wolfhounds Book 3 - Force Majeure is now live on Amazon!

 Sorry it's a month late, but there were some RL life things that got in the way.

But enough about that! It's here now!

Force Majeure

 

 

Wolfhounds, Book 1 - Stand Alone on sale now!

Stand Alone, Book 1 in the Wolfhounds series is on sale on Amazon for 99 cents!

This is an Amazon sale, so please do take advantage of it, if you haven't already bought a copy.

The sale runs from the 6th (today) until the 12th.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJT8JTBP 

 

 

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.