Hey folks! It’s time for a news update!

So, what’s new? Well, after spending all of last week save a day sick (seriously, gnarly cold), this week has been more of a return to form. Writing, working, and all the usual once more.

So what’s there to talk about? Well, for starters, this week saw Axtara – Banking and Finance grab a few new 5-star reviews, both of which were full of praise. Take a look!

The second one kind of makes me laugh a little because it reminds me of my favorite C.S. Lewis quote, but hey, they loved it anyway and still gave it 5-stars! Axtara really is a great success. The titular dragon herself would be proud, I think. And a little mortified that everyone’s reading about her life, but that’s most fiction.

Speaking of Axtara, I once again want to float the idea of Axtara t-shirts out there. Right now I’m thinking something with a slogan on it. Sort of like “Banking shouldn’t be a drag …” on the front, and “… so I do my banking with a dragon. Axtara – Banking and Finance!” You know, something goofy like that, as if Axtara herself were actually handing out promotional t-shirts at a job fair somewhere in hopes of drumming up business (she probably would).

I’ve never done t-shirts before, but especially if they’re just text on a color, they couldn’t be that tricky, difficult or (hopefully) expensive, right? Anyway, right now I’m just trying to gauge interest, so as before leave comments in the affirmative if you’d be interested in an Axtara t-shirt!

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Now, on to other news. Let’s talk about Shadow of an Empire‘s paperback! Due to getting sick last week, once again this got delayed, but today’s plan is to get more of the cover stuff done so that I can order the proof and finally get this paperback out and taken care of.

So yeah, it’s late readers, I know. But it’s not tabled. Between the Alaska trip and getting sick, it’s just definitely behind schedule. I’ll be working on it today, you guys will have it in your hands before long.

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Outside of paperback projects, I’ve still got a few shorts to finish (and a side-writing project) before I start the pre-Alpha on Starforge. And yes, that means Starforge will not be coming out this year (which was already guessed by most of you, I’m just confirming it). Which … is fine, personally. Between Brandon launching his end to a Sci-Fi trilogy in November as well as the last Expanse book coming out around the same time … no thank you. I may sell decently, but that’d be jumping into a battle between Godzilla and Kong. It’d be hard to think of a worse time to release a competing Sci-Fi book.

So no, Starforge is still a while out. And I’ve got a few more shorts I want to write before I start going through the pre-Alpha. On the plus side, this means a few more shorts will be going up on Patreon for supporters in the coming weeks. So if you’re a supporter, there are a few more shorts coming.

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And if you’re a fanfic reader, a project I’ve been working for almost two years now is almost done. Also, lesson learned on how many side-projects is too many. But that’ll be coming in the weeks ahead, so if you’re one of those fans that found me through fanfiction rather than my published stuff, there’s some new stuff getting close!

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Now I think that’s it. All the news that’s worth dropping updates about! So, recap: Axtara doing awesome, Starforge nearing pre-Alpha but not coming out this year, Shadow of an Empire paperback almost ready, and some more writing stuff coming.

I’ll see you readers Monday for another Being a Better Writer post. Until then, have a safe weekend!