Tag: dystopian journaling

Song of the Week

Sara Lov, “My Body is a Cage” (Arcade Fire cover)

Good morning!

If you’re in the US, tomorrow is election day! Go vote if you haven’t already! It’s important for the health of our democracy that everyone has a hand in choosing the people they’re going to argue with for the next 4-8 years. Here’s a handy link where you can find your polling place.

I will be working at a polling place tomorrow, so the new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will go up on Patreon Wednesday, and the latest chapter of Journey to the Water will be up here on Thursday.

In other news, I’m already behind on NaNo. Hopefully I can catch up this week.

If you haven’t signed up for the newsletter yet, you can put your email into the box at this link. It’ll send you a confirmation email. The next issue will go out at the end of the month. At some point, when I have the mental fortitude to stare at HTML for half an hour, I will embed a button on the site somewhere.

I think that’s it for today! Have an excellent week, and stop by again soon. I appreciate you.

(Another) Minor Scheduling Delay

Hi everyone. I made a note about it at the end of the last chapter I posted, but I was very sick for about three days this week because my insurance made me wait to fill a prescription. I’ve got it now, and I am back to normal! It was just a dumb thing that happened because we can’t have nice things in this country, on account of the horrible old white men who can’t stand the thought of people of color occasionally receiving said nice things. (As a side note, SNRI withdrawal is no joke, and please don’t ever quit your meds cold turkey. I love you and don’t want you to experience it.)

Currently, I’m working on several things:

  • Episode 7 of The Well Below the Valley
  • The newsletter, finally
  • Alternating chapters of Journey to the Water and The Book of the New Moon Door.

Since The Well was already delayed, I want to be sure to get that out on time; the newsletter has been a long time coming as well. Those will both still be done by November 1st. Regular chapters of Journey and New Moon Door will experience a slight hiccup next week, but be back to normal within a week or two. I also plan to use NaNoWriMo to knock out a bunch of chapters and build myself a little backlog.

I’m so sorry this month has been disrupted so many times! Thank you for being patient. I appreciate you.

Journey to the Water Chapter XXII: The Tempest

Journey to the Water cover image: three evergreen trees stand on a hillside, shrouded in bluish fog. Subtitle reads: the sequel to Beyond the Frost-Cold Sea.

Table of Contents

We left the shallow seas and the sandy isles the following day, our ship heavy with provisions and our hearts light. We would sail north, Hamilcar said, and in a few short weeks we would find ourselves on the shores of a vast green country, the land that my Khalim had called home. It must have been a gentle land, I thought, one of soft rains and bountiful harvests. My homeland was harsh, and my people scratched out a living among the mountain stones and struggled with one another for everything we had, and it had made me a warrior. I feared I would be too much a stranger in a country that produced healers. 

Continue reading “Journey to the Water Chapter XXII: The Tempest” →

Song of the Week

Susanne Sundfør, “White Foxes”

Happy Monday.

I was a child when patriotism began to mean unquestioning obedience, adherence to authoritarian religion, and the organization of the world into the deserving and the undeserving. I tend to let Independence Day pass by unobserved. If you’re celebrating, I hope you are safe and can enjoy some good food.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report this week: Journey to the Water will have a new chapter on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will be up here on Wednesday. In case you missed, it, Episode 4 of The Well Below the Valley went up on Patron last week.

I’ll be back on social media tomorrow as well. I’m sure everything there has been very normal while I’ve been gone…

As always, thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.

Song of the Week

Omar Souleyman, “Mawal Jamar”

(He did not bury me, he did not bury me)

The Supreme Court decision came through while I was running errands on Friday. I still haven’t quite processed the fact that when I left the house, I had full rights to decide when and if someone else uses my body, and when I returned, that decision was taken from me and given to men I have never met, some of whom died a hundred years or more before I was born.

I’ll regain some semblance of those rights upon my death, when it will be illegal to take my organs without my prior permission.

In the meantime, there will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door on Patreon tomorrow, and Journey to the Water will have a chapter up here on Wednesday. I’m working on the latest episode of The Well Below the Valley, and that will be on Patreon later this week.

Take care of yourselves. I’m glad you’re here.

Song of the Week

Opeth, “Soldier of Fortune” (Deep Purple cover)

Happy Monday! Yesterday was Juneteenth! I hope you had a good day.

I am back on my usual nonsense: the newest chapter of Journey to the Water will be up on Patreon tomorrow, and the latest chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door will make its appearance here on the website on Wednesday. I’m also working on The Well Below the Valley, and Episode 5 will be available before the end of the month!

Please pray for my lettuce as we enter another stretch of 90+ degree days here in the midwestern swamp. (This is not a euphemism–I am growing lettuce, and supposedly it prefers cooler weather).

Anyway, climate change is real, and none of us are free until all of us are free, and time creeps inexorably onward (this song was released SIXTEEN YEARS AGO??). Have a good week, and stay safe.

Song of the Week

Kate Bush, “Waking the Witch”

Good morning! I hope you’re well, wherever you are.

There will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door up on Patreon tomorrow! Thank you for being patient as I get back to our regular posting schedule. We’ll be back to normal (one chapter on Patreon and one chapter here) next week.

If you’re a regular reader, you are probably aware that I have three ongoing projects (Journey to the Water, The Book of the New Moon Door, and the script for The Well Below the Valley), and I really don’t have time to take on more, but new ideas keep coming up! I may or may not have a space opera, a cyberpunk mystery, and possibly an urban fantasy in the works. I just want to be writing all the things, but my time management skills are not up to the task.

Please send well wishes to the lettuce in my garden, as the next three days are supposed to be over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you like what you read here, tell your friends about me! When it comes to books, word of mouth is still the best, even in this digital world.

Thanks for being here, and have an excellent week.

Song of the Week

Freya Ridings, “Ultraviolet”

It’s Monday again. The wind has turned cold, but injustice pierces deeper than frost.

The Bible says perfect love drives out fear. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that only love can drive out hate. I love my community–my city, my loved ones, my people–more than others hate and fear us, and that is what gives me strength. I hope you can also find strength in the long winter.

I’ll have the latest chapter of Journey to the Water up on Patreon this week, and I’ll be on Twitch this evening and Saturday evening playing some games.

I wish you the best this week.

Song of the Week

Red Tail Ring, “Hangman”

Happy Monday! There are many weathers happening in the world, both literal and metaphorical. I hope you are safe, wherever you are.

This week, the final chapter of the first part of The Book of the New Moon Door will be released! I’m very excited. Check back here soon. If you need to catch up, all the previous chapters are available under the Stories tab above.

Once that’s done, I’m going to be gauging interest to see what project I should start releasing next. There will be a poll here on the blog, provided I can get the widget to work. Please keep an eye out for it, because I need as many responses as possible!

Thank you and have an excellent week!

ETA: As of August 30, this blog is two years old!

Song of the Week

RY X, “Thunder”

Hello again. I hope you have shelter from the heat, if that’s a thing that’s affecting you. Please enjoy this song.

There will be a new chapter of The Book of the New Moon Door this week. I estimate we are three to four chapters from the end of Part One, after which I’ll take a break and start posting something else. If you need to catch up, all the chapters are under the Stories tab above, along with some other things to read. You can also check out the Modules tab if you’re into tabletop role-playing games.

See you soon, and have an excellent week.