All of a sudden it's November. Where on earth did 2025 go? Seems like it was a really busy time. I took the picture above with my Canon Power Shot set on art filters when we went out to cut one of our last loads of firewood. It's melted now at that elevation but we still have snow up top on the mountains. We have two more tickets on our firewood permit for the year, and that should be plenty, not just for this winter but going into next winter. At our age, we always have to make accounting for well, maybe next year it will be too much for us old pharts to cut firewood. So far, so good.

But that's not all that is going on. I've been actively working on getting SFWA's Heritage Author Republication Project going, along with a really interesting team whose help has been very useful. I'm also going to be a panelist about...being a panelist at SFWA's Quasar weekend--free to Nebula Conference attendees/SFWA members, or $50, the weekend of November 15 and 16. More information can be found here​

Writing-wise, Vision of Alliance is in the last third of the story, more or less. I pretty much know where I'm going for the next two books, which makes me happy. Whenever I mention the premise--the Big Bad Emperor is dead...and now the new Empress has to fix the mess he left behind, including the land's broken magic--people seem to be really excited about it so I have hopes for the story.

I'm also poking at ideas for the next story, which may finally be the multiverse Western I've been thinking about for years, featuring Alice Clarissa Whitman. Who, in that universe, didn't drown at age two but was rescued by aliens based on her projected ability with languages and negotiations, and raised for that purpose. Except...Alice Clarissa starts realizing something is seriously wrong with her bosses, and...da-da-DAH...goes her own way. It's going to be a crossover with the Vortex Worlds universe that I wrote about in Bearing Witness. And maybe some connections with a few quasi-steampunk short stories I wrote for anthologies that are no longer in print.

I'm planning to come up with a winter story set in the world of Vision of Alliance. It will be a solstice story of some sort--and I will probably send it out as a separate newsletter on the solstice in December.

As for Vision...I am shooting for a March publication date, because I want to get this story launched. I am tempted to offer a hardback version, if anyone is interested, as well as paperback and ebook. The second book in the trilogy, Vision of Chaos, will come out in September, with the final book, Vision of Order, coming out in the following March.

Other than that, I plan to set up an account on Itch.io this month, and put some of my work up there. There's a chain of things I need to do in connection with setting myself up on Itch, but once that's done, it's...done.

Federation Cowboy is part of a BookFunnel giveaway promotion this month, Great Space Opera to Enjoy During the Holidays. You can find it by clicking the button below:

It's also The Cost of Power: Omnibus Edition's birthday month, and I'm offering the ebook version for $4.99 throughout November. Three books plus associated short stories--such a deal!

And, finally, if you like my work and have all of my books, or just want to encourage me, feel free to toss some money into my Ko-fi--and thank you!

That's it for this month. Enjoy the holiday season and stay safe.

J.