Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Upcoming Story Collection

Hello all,

It's nice to see you again.  I wanted to provide a general update on my goings-on and keep everyone in the loop.  Very soon, I'll be publishing a science fiction short story collection that will be available on Amazon in print and ebook form, called Astral Imperium And Other Stories.  Right now, it's in the beta reader phase, and after a bit of polishing it should be ready to go.  My good friend Bobby Gore is doing the cover art, and I hear it looks fantastic.  Stories include homicidal robots, interstellar mysteries, unhinged space monks, conspiracy, temptation, revenge, and friends with awful intentions.  I personally recommend it, though others will do that too so you won't have to take my word for it, I promise.

The cancer memoir is in the pipeline as well, though I'll be saving that for a rainy day.  For now, I'm going to focus on science fiction.  Oh, and feeding myself (I've been told that's important).  Or, in other words, creating a viable living from wordsmithing.  But not to worry! -- I've written three books already, and I'm in peak form, weaving words together into coherent and entertaining thoughts daily and at a respectable rate.  In fact, I've been working very hard.  And I don't say that to sound impressive or brag.  I say it because I'm genuinely proud of myself, and happy that I've finally taken to something that doesn't make me want to leap from a skyscraper every day I leave the office.

Cancer has been very freeing in that regard.  I've been offered a fresh start from the universe.  And I haven't wasted any time grabbing it up (at least I don't think I have, you might have to ask my family and friends for the truth of it).  I've always been writing, only now the stakes are much higher.  There's this whole insurance thing I need to pay for in case of more cancer, or in case I decide to jump ten minivans on my tricked out scooter (I don't have a tricked out scooter, sadly).  I hope that my attitude toward pursuing my goals inspires you to do the same.  Because everyone should feel that way about their vocation.  It shouldn't ever be something that "pays the bills."  It should be do or die -- you do this because you can't imagine living without it.  There must be a sense of urgency.  Nothing else would cut it in the same way that writing does for me.  And it's not a chore to develop a work ethic around something you love.  It's easy for me to feel this way, because I was dying once.  And you tend to discover exactly what's important to you when you find out you might be dying.  Every day during my first month of immunotherapy in the hospital, I sat down and wrote around 1,500 words, even though I could barely stop shaking from the chills and a number of other horrible things.  And after a health crisis you respond to life very differently.  I deal with my most egregious sin, for instance, in a much better way than ever before.  I plan to talk about that in a later post (Sorry for the tease!).  And I've already discussed conquering fear and realizing your potential in a previous post.  If you haven't read that you can find it here: http://zenofmetastasis.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-domain-of-evil-it-is-in-you-must-go.html

Thanks for reading!  I'm very glad to have a fantastic support network to turn to when I need it.  This blog, and the readers who encourage me to continue to write it, are a large part of that.  I only hope I can offer in return what I've gotten from all of you.

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