Yes, that title is pungent. As was that. Gotcha looking though, I hope. Because it’s time for the news update! There are a couple of things to bring up, from an injury, to new fiction, to progress on Jungle, Patreon, and info on a Rolling Sale! So keep reading!

So first, why the pun in the title? Well … because one of the things that’s been controlling my life lately has been a knee injury I acquired last month at my part-time job. And on Wednesday, at long last, I got to go see a doctor!

So, turns out I tore my meniscus, which is why I was limping everywhere and pretty much couldn’t walk for a short time (a few weeks, really). It still hurts and swells up a little if I walk very far at all. But the good news? It’s not a permanent injury. Or at least, it doesn’t look like it. If it’s not healed in a few weeks I need to go back and get it looked at again, this time with an MRI, but at the moment the doctor’s pretty sure that it’ll make a full recovery. Now I just need to worry about collecting my workman’s comp (this was a work-related injury) and hope it’s enough to keep me financially solvent. In the meantime, I’m wearing a brace or a wrap everywhere (up from just the brace) and taking anti-inflammatory meds to help with the swelling.

I’ve never wanted to be able to go on a walk so much in my life. I can’t wait to be able to get exercise again.

Anyway, that’s the news on the injury. May I be walking fully again soon! So, onto the next bit of info!

For those of you who follow my fanfiction side, at long last I’ve posted something. A story of Discord, to be precise. If you found me because of my fanfiction, then you know where to find it. I won’t say much more on the topic except it is a pretty nice little novella-length work.

Now then, outside of fanfiction, what’s the current progress report? Well, I’m happy to say that Jungle, the sequel to Colony, is about two-thirds done. Well, the first draft is, anyway. It’s currently sitting at about 240,000 words, though I expect that might get slimmed down during editing, as most things tend to. Even so, Jungle is definitely looking like it’ll clock in around the same length as Colony. Those of you who like epic-length Sci-Fi, rejoice!

Now, this doesn’t mean that you’ll see it this year. What with editing and all, I’d expect it’s more likely to hit sometime next year. That’s just how it goes. Still hoping to get Shadow of an Empire out sometime this year, though, if I can get Jungle‘s first draft finished in the next little while. But hey, 240,000 words is nothing to sneeze at! And it’s finally getting into that last third of the book, too, where everything that’s been carefully built up starts to crumble apart. If any of you remember how crazy that crumble was in Colony, well … I won’t say how this stacks up, mostly to avoid spoiling anything. But I am excited to finally be at the point where it does all start to crumble.

What’s crumbling? That’d be telling.

Now, two more things to discuss. The first is that at long, long last, I have rebuilt my Patreon page! Yep. I took a day earlier this week and rebuilt it, refreshed it, and updated everything! It’s now a lot more pleasant to look at. If you haven’t taken a look at it recently (or ever), hop on over and see how it looks! And maybe consider supporting! Every penny helps!

Which leaves us with the final bit of news for the day: The Rolling Sale!

I’ll give this one a post of its own soon, but for now, here’s the gist of it: The Rolling Sale will start July 17th, at which point One Drink will become free (because it literally can’t get any cheaper than 99 cents). It will remain free through July 21st, or five days, Monday through Friday.

The number of copies grabbed during this time will determine the discount of the next title in line, Dead Silver. So (and understand I’m pulling these numbers from a hat, though they’ll likely be similar), 100 downloads of One Drink mean Dead Silver goes from being $2.99 to $1.99, 300 downloads from $2.99 to 99 cents, and 500+ … Dead Silver becomes free. Then, what Dead Silver sells (or downloads, if it makes it to the free option) then impacts the sale of Unusual Events after Dead Silver. And so on until we reach Colony.

So yes, if enough copies get grabbed, it’s possible that each and every one of them could end up free. Unlikely, but it’s possible. On the other hand, that means that the more word spreads about “X title is on sale” and the better that title does, the steeper the discount on the next title.

So yeah, rolling sale. The discount rolls along. The first to go will be, as I said, One Drink, and I’ll keep a rolling, daily status update here on my site tracking the discounts made to the next title in line so that everyone knows what’s coming and how far along the sale has gotten towards the next title’s discounts. Should be fun!

So, knee, fanfiction, Jungle progress, Patreon updates, and last but not least, the Rolling Sale!

That’s it for news, so it’s time for me to work!