I have pushed the button!

Okay, my editor did a hell of a job and got the manuscript back to me tonight and I just finished going over it and uploading everything on Amazon. The book is now in review, so I'd say in about 4 to 8 hours from now (11pm Central Daylight Savings time or 5AM UTC) it should go live.

Remember to tell all your friends :-)

Now on to the next Wives Tales.

Audio books, when are the next ones?

Okay, on the next POI audio book, Dusty is working on the next one and while I haven't gotten a concrete date from him yet, I'm hoping it will be before the end of January.

On the next Valens Legacy publisher's pack, it's looking like March.

The next Valens book should be before the end of this month. It was meant to be a lot sooner than that, but life and a back injury got in the way.

The next POI book will probably be February or March.

I'll be in NY tomorrow

Flying to NY for a few days to visit family and some old friends. I'll be hanging around parts of Huntington, Commack, and Lake Ronkonoma for a few days before flying back. I'm in the middle of the next Valens book, #12 - Demon Days and hope to have it out not long after I get back.

For those who have expressed an interest in buy the pack of picture I commission of each of the girls (Roxy, Jolene, Daelyn, Roberta, Peg, and Cali) they're $40 a set and that includes shipping in the USA (outside, email me first so I can find out how much shipping will cost). You can pay me via paypal, just remember to add your shipping address.

I also have a store on Red Bubble now, selling the montage of all the pictures, as well as the individual poses (without background) on all the different things Red Bubble. The link to that is over on the right side of the page under the 'T-shirts and Posters' link ==>

The Valens Legacy series is starting to near its conclusion, which means there will be another POI book soon after that. There are some other works I'm looking at doing next and talking with a few folks about somethings as well. I also need to write the next Wives Tales collection, and see about something for Shadow as well. It's going to be a busy year.

Liftmaster CSL24UL Installation Problems

Okay, yeah, this isn't a writing post. But it's one of those things that there is NOTHING on the internet about, and if there had been, I could have fixed this sooner and not had to wait for Monday to call the company and spend half an hour going over everything. They didn't solve all of the issues for me, but they gave me enough info to solve it myself.

So, you've installed the Liftmaster CSL24UL automatic gate yourself, because you didn't feeling like paying almost five grand to a tech to do it. And now, well, it's not working.

Here is where I was at: No errors on the diagnostics, two sensors installed (I was told two was minimum, but not why. If you hold the open or closed button down, it will move after five seconds, but it will scream at you the entire time. All three input lights on the main board are blinking yellow (and maybe on the accessory board as well).

Well first off, if you have the accessory board, you have to hook your sensors up there. That's why the main board blinks sensor lights blink, because it isn't doing that job anymore.

Secondly you must have one sensor for the gate opening and one for it closing (that's why you need TWO minimum). You won't find this in the instructions.

Third is the edge (get the wireless kit for it, it makes life so much easier). Now the little pictogram instructions with the edge are annoying. Because they don't tell you damn near anything and following them won't often work. The edge has two wires inside. When they touch, it's a short. When they don't touch, well the cap at the far end has a resistor in it. So the unit sees that resistor and knows it's working. An open circuit won't work.

So before you put the edge together, find the two wires embedded in the bumper at either end of the rubber bumper strip (the length of the strip is immaterial btw). The end caps? The way they send them to you isn't the way they work. Take them apart BEFORE you put them in the edge, not AFTER. Why? Because those probes you see in the small cap with the wire? Those have to line up with the wire in the rubber bumper. So you may have to turn it a little. The non-wired cap that goes on the other end has them too, and they have to line up as well. Because that cap has the 8.3K ohm resister in it.

So get an understanding of how you have to put that cap in, before you put it all together. Also, don't put the locking clips on the ends on until you've checked the resistance with an ohm meter, like the little pictures tell you. The edge is supposed to be an opening detector, not a closing one. So another FYI there, it goes on the edge that's leading when the gate opens.

Most everything else is in the instructions, but for some reason, that information was not. And I wasted half a day because of it.

And now for something a little different

I have a friend who lives down in the Bay who likes to write YA (Young Adult) and Steampunk. Now I realize that this is quite a bit different from what I tend to write, but this story (trilogy actually) is really quite good and everyone I've had ask me about a YA story or a Steampunk story that I've pointed to it, has enjoyed it, and told me so.

It's not overly 'Young Adult' for all that it is a YA story, and it's definitely a fun romp. So if you're looking for something a little different, or want a good Steampunk type story, go give it a look. Remember, previews are free!

For Steam and Country: Book One, the Adventures of Baron Von Monocle

Red Skies is now live on Amazon!

Character pictures from Valens Legacy are now up on RedBubble.

I put up each of the wives' pictures (the ones without a colored background) as well as the large graphic of all six on redbubble for those interested in merchandise.
Will probably add the ones with a colored background tomorrow.

So if you have a particular favorite you can go check it out.
The six packs of prints will still be going up for sale, probably a few days after I get them.

Redbubble Link

Shadow is now available as an Audiobook

Here's the  link: Shadow, by Jan Stryvant

Valens #11, Red Skies, almost done

It's a couple of hundred words from being completed. Then I'll spend a day or two on the re-write and send it off to the editor. Cover art is being worked on as we speak. So with any luck it should be released by next Friday.

Then it's on to the next one!

Link for next Valens Audio book

For some reason Audible screwed up and put it up late: Valens Legacy Publishers Pack, books 7 & 8

Valens Legacy, book #10 is now out!

Link: It Ain't Easy

Book Ten in the Valens Legacy is now live on Amazon!

Days of Future Past

I'm sure most of you recall this trilogy that I finished last year. For me there was some important things in those books. There were a few things that I slipped in there that had actually happened in real life (either to me, or people I knew well) that I filed the serial numbers off so no one would know. I also got to pay a little respect to my (admittedly small) American Indian heritage, and take advantage of the tremendous amount of experience I have from back when I worked DOD and was in the USAF before that.

So when the trilogy died, I was kind of down about it. Sales on the first book were good, the second one was so-so, but everyone was telling me that they wouldn't buy #2 until #3 was done.

So of course #3 tanked. Honestly I was sorry I wasted the time writing it, because all it really did was lose me money and got me depressed with the horrendous sale, (less than a thousand copies).

This year it's been selling at about the same rate as the first two now currently are. Once I get settled in Texas (we move in less than 48 hours, yes I'm counting the minutes - California has just gone horribly ....wrong) I hope to find the time to combine them all into just one big book so I can do the same with the audiobook. Hopefully that'll help the sales.

But the reason I'm writing this is I came across a review on facebook by someone who loved the trilogy so much, he not only told everyone to go out and buy it, but he compared me very favorably to Robert Heinlein. That really blew my mind. Yes, I think it's a good book, of course I do, I wrote it after all. But to be compared favorably to one of my favorite authors of all time? (The other is Roger Zelazny btw, read 'Lord of Light' if you ever get the chance - a little dated, but still a great story).

Now, I don't expect a flood of people to suddenly go and read the trilogy, but it's heartwarming to me that someone loved it that much. It really made my day for a story that I actually was starting to regret writing, because of how much I lost income wise by doing it.