So yeah, a new Harem story

I put out another Stryvant story last night, it's not a sequel to 'Shadow' this is actually the first book of a new planned series. It has sex, I'd definitely rate it an 'R', which is why it's under the Stryvant name instead of my own. It also has some aspects of LitRPG in it, as I did get a lot of folks wanting to more about how the protagonist's powers progressed in the Shadow story, (which I had taken out because I thought no one would be interested. Silly me.)

If you're interested, check it out: Black Friday, by Jan Stryvant

On my Children of Steel universe, and the book after Interregnum

In short, there isn't going to be one. Probably ever.
Why? Well, Interregnum, that I was bothered by quite a few people to write, only took in $500 in total sales after I paid for the cover. That's right, I made $500 for almost two months of my time. That's less than a tenth of what the average book I write earns me. It's kinda hard to live on less than a hundred dollars a week income, when you have a mortgage, food, and the rest to pay for.

Mind you the book wasn't a failure, best I can tell there were several thousand pirated copies out there, because I found them on every furry site in the world with people telling everyone to spread it far and wide. They all talked about how much they loved it, how great it was, and how everyone should read it, but to date only TWO people have come forth and donated to me a few dollars to cover having read the pirated version.

So, the third book in that trilogy will never be written. For that matter, I don't think I'll ever write in that universe again, despite it being one of my favorites (because it was my first). I'm even thinking of taking down the facebook group I made for it, and when the paperbacks I have on hand run out, I don't think I'll be dragging them around to sell at cons anymore.

I did put up on my patreon that if I got to a certain level of donations, I'd write it, a chapter a month, and post it for all my patreon subscribers, so they could at least read it. That didn't work, so after a year I pulled that reward down.

At this point, the only way I will write it, is if I get at least $5000 in cash (no promises, cash in hand only) up front. Then I'll write it. As for those people saying I should do a go fund me or some such, sorry, not going to waste the time or effort. I don't think I'd get the money. If you want to do one, and promise to send me all the money from it, if it meets or beats the goal, go ahead and knock yourself out. But I just can't afford to waste the time on something that not only isn't going to make me money, but is going to cost me. It took a year for Interregnum to make enough money to cover the cost of the book cover. It's been out over two years now, and is one of my worse earners, ever. Even 'Lost Souls' has made more money and is still selling reliably well.

Yes, it's sad when you have to give up on one of your babies, but such is life.

I'm in Turlock today!

I'm at the Turlock Comic con, at the fairgrounds.
There are a surprising amount of people here today. I'm just glad it wasn't as hot out as yesterday was!

Audio Book for Portal's of Infinity #3, Of Temples and Trials is Processing!

Yup, got the last files for it the other day and I got the cover for it this morning (why Audible makes you get a different formatted cover is a mystery) and it's been submitted to Audible for review. So, as long as they approve it, it should be on the shelves around the 15th.

I really hope everyone likes it, I like Dusty's take on it, and he's finally hitting his stride, so if this one does well, I'll commission him to do the next one, which I think he could very well have done by Christmas. Now that he's got an actual studio to work in and has mastered the editing console, he's really picked up the pace.

So everyone keep your fingers crossed, and hopefully it'll be up for sale before I leave for the air races in twelve days.

Looking for an artist to hire

I have a small project I might commission and I don't know who to ask. I need artwork for a bunch of different stickers. Simple, 4 color art, on a white / plain background. Each one will be a different species were-creature. Between 20 or 30. This is work for hire, I will own all the rights. Not sure what kind of style, maybe slightly toony.

Anyone know of any artists off hand I should check out? This is a three to four week project, so gotta be someone with a history of producing. Not looking for fancy stuff either.

Sake and Forsooth! A Giant Monster Doth Eat the Sun!

Hurry! Thou must make suitable sacrifice!
Buy myest books and I thou promise to restore the sun!!

Another Harem story?

Or actually, a series this time. No, this one isn't a sequel to the last one (I don't even know where to start with a sequel to the last one), this is a new one, and it's going to be a series. How long it runs will depend of course on sales. I'm passing the halfway point today in the first book, I'm thinking each of the books will probably be around 55K to 60K, which seems to be the size of most of the harem books out there today.

This one will also have LitRPG aspects to it, because I got complaints with the Shadow book because I took out the bits that explained how his powers progressed. The current plan is to publish the first book before the end of this month (I'm hoping to have it finished next week) and then follow with a new book every three to four weeks (the first book won't be pubbed until the second book is done, and so on). I'm actually head down and writing hard, 7K to 10K words a day.

Right now I'm thinking the story will go out under the Stryvant pen name, because yeah, there are some sex scenes, and yeah, definitely gonna be harem. I just hope people like it, I know I'm enjoying writing it.

This is the first I've heard of this, so I'd say please avoid using page flip mode.

Book Three in the Days of Future Past trilogy is now out!

For those who have been waiting (and especially for those who won't buy book 1 until book 3 is done in a trilogy) book three is now out:



And for the truly observant, that's Riggs on the cover this time.

Today is Grump and Bitch day.

I find myself self-censoring a lot lately (trust me, if you've been following me on Facebook or elsewhere, that's really dialed back compared to the 'old' days), and it annoys me. I don't like seeing people conned, I don't like seeing people abused, I don't like seeing people doing incredibly stupid stuff, and I sure as shit hate listening to idiots who don't know what in the hell they're talking about while claiming to be 'experts.' Especially the smug self-satisfied ones that you really just want to punch in the face.

And lately? Lately I've been seeing a lot of stupid. And a lot of people who should know better getting taken advantage of. I see the most incredibly stupid statements being issued by people who should know better, and who if they spent ten minutes looking up just how that worked out the last time, would realize that they're being stupid. Or being taken advantage of. Or just plain being used.

History repeats folks. Especially for those too dumb to learn from it the last time around. Everyone has an agenda (mine is to sell more books so I can write more books). Everyone does EVERYTHING in their life because they get something for it. Even if it's just a 'good feeling about themselves'. No one does something for nothing. We're opportunists, it's in our DNA and you can put all the lipstick you want on that pig, but it's still a pig.

Government is not here to help you. Ever. Government is here to help the people in power, period. That's why you want to keep it small.

People who run 'rescues' or 'sanctuaries' are nine times out of ten just trying to get you to pay for their hobby. And if they throw out a line about how only THEY should be able to do this one thing, they're tying to get your government to also pay for their hobby while they con stupid people out of their money. Look at every occupation that requires a license. Yes, some of them should, but most of them? No, not really.

Look at most charities these days. They exist to pay the people who run them lots of money. There are so few charities that actually engage in real charity anymore, that it's pathetic. And the same can be said for a lot of these 'new' churches and religions. Yeah, say what you will about the Catholic church, but I didn't see anyone else out there taking care of all the AIDS patients in SF and other cities, without asking them for money! Same for lepers and a lot of other diseases. And I can make that same statement for a lot of other big organize religions that have been around for a good while. I've seen the Mormon Church shell out some serious money to help its people. Same for a lot of the Lutheran Churches.

But these rich multi-millionaire pastors in their fancy churches and fancy cars? These TV people? Yeah, don't see them spending all that much.

And then there are the people who brand something, with a particular fad or religion and prey on those who wish to better follow their beliefs.

Or a political party that says the most inane and provably incorrect things if you could only remember back more than the last month. Or who claim to only be watching out for -insertgrouphere- yet they're always ignoring or jettisoning those people when the time to represent comes around.

Or rich and famous rock bands and actors! They'll tell you one thing, but they sure as hell won't do it themselves while they're taking your money. Al Gore is perhaps the world's biggest hypocrite, he's got a carbon footprint equal to large town, yet he rails at the rest of us to do that which he refuses to. (I wonder if he still owns that oil company his daddy left him?)

Ever seen the movie 'Little Big Man?' Those scenes where they're doing the whole snake-oil sales routine? Yeah, millions of people are STILL falling for that shit. STILL!! We got quacks telling you to do stuff that in any righteous society would be getting them tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail! Just because you saw it on TV or read it on the internet, it doesn't make it true folks.

Whenever someone tells you something, the first thing you should ask is "What's in it for HIM?" That'll give you a good idea as to why they're telling you it in the first place. Everyone has an agenda, and some people are just plain nuts or stupid or psychotic. Some folks get joy out of seeing you get harmed. So the last thing you should be doing is listening to what these people are saying without a little critical thinking first. And again, just because the government says it or backs it, doesn't mean it's smart, right, ethical, or healthy.

Remember, that whenever anyone asks for your money, to help others, or for power over you, that they're probably evil. Because they're not doing it to help YOU. They're doing it to help THEMSELVES, and they really couldn't care less about what happens to you. Or the children.

If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't.

So yea! The old house is done

I have one minor ten minute thing left, after the parts show up tomorrow, but otherwise, it's finished. All of the fence work is done, I replaced an 8th of the wooden fence that surrounds the entire property (great dog property, it's all fenced), the house as I mentioned earlier is now painted. And numerous other tasks have been taken care of.

In two weeks (!?) the town (ie the garbage collection I pay taxes for) will show up to take away the pile of wooden refuse. If I don't haul it off myself first. They make it incredibly damn hard to schedule a pickup, you have to do it online, you can't call in, because they won't talk to you, ever (damn 311 system is a waste of taxpayer's dollars), and when you finally do find the well hidden place to schedule a pickup, it takes two weeks! Which is insane, it should be 4 days max. Glad I won't be having anything to do with the useful entity known as the city of Sacramento after this.

I did take the time to write my city council rep there and give him a piece of my mind over his complete failure as a councilman. Told him he was lucky I was selling or I'd be down at his office bitching him out in person, like I did with his predecessor over the crap job -they- had been doing. Kind of sad that downtown gets all the money and attention, and the people who represent the outlying areas are all okay with that. But grab a bunch of people and go and have a little talk with them, and suddenly they realize that their plum of a job is on the line if they don't perform for he people who vote for them. I doubt I'll hear from him however. He knows I'm leaving, so why would he care?

On the writing front I need to bust my butt and get Future Tense finished. Just need to do the re-write, then engage my Beta readers (if I still have them) and commission the cover. It's possible I could have it ready to go out next week. I'll just have to see. Dealing with the house took about a week longer than I originally thought it would, so I'm behind schedule.

I just hope it sells fast, and I don't end up owing anyone money after the sale (like the Feds with all their new taxes). Doing all the work on the house was not cheap, even if I did most of the labor myself. If only I was one of those rich authors we always see on TV and in the movies! Then I could have just hired someone else to do all the work.

So what have I been doing? Painting (and other manual labor)

So last week was paint the old house and get it ready for sale. As well as replace half of the back fence. Painting of course is never easy, first you have to clean off the house, then mask off everything. Then paint it, then remove the masking so you can paint all the trim.
Fixing the back fence required dropping a tree first, then tearing down most of the ruined fence and putting up a new one.

Then there were various sundry tasks inside the house that had to be done. The last major house task was finished today, when the door between the house and the garage was replaced (I needed a code approved firedoor, and this being california, they're super special here with super special extras that serve no purpose at all beyond making them more expensive). Tomorrow I have to paint it and the trim, but once that's done, all I have left to do is fix/rebuild/replace sixty-eight feet of fence along the north side of the house.

The house is already on the market (went on yesterday), but it's not open for people to come inside until Friday. As the door showed up sooner than expected, I'll probably let the realtor know people can start going in on Thursday, but I don't think that's really all that big of a deal. But I've been spending almost every day from 9AM to whenever I get tired working outside on the house in hundred degree weather since the 7th. By the time I get home it's usually dinner time and after a shower I pretty much just want to veg out.

But damn if it doesn't look nice.

I'm hoping to have all the fence work done by Thursday, I need to see about renting a nailgun. I'd buy one, but the good ones are like three hundred dollars and this would probably be the only job it ever got used for. Sixty-eight feet of fence in the summer is a seriously pain in the butt job, as well as expensive. I'm already afraid to add up all the bills from this project. It hasn't been at all cheap.
I just hope it sells quickly and that I actually make some money on the deal, so I can pay off all the bills incurred fixing the house up to sell it!

And I think I'm starting to get too old for this kind of stuff. Definitely starting to feel it in the mornings. That never used to happen.