Well, this month's update is the last for 2005. What can I tell ya?

• The Genesis Protocol - Will be published near the end of January '06. My mother is breathless with anticipation.
  
• Summon the Thunder - Kevin and I returned revised manuscript to the editor on December 12th. Awaiting feedback on revisions.
  
• Untitled project - Currently writing this with Kevin. Manuscript due January 9th, 2006. Will offer more details when the editor gives the go-ahead.
  
• S.C.E. #64: Distant Early Warning - Currently writing this with Kevin. Manuscript is due January 15th, 2006.
  
• Corps of Engineers #1: Turn the Page - Proposal accepted by the editor November 20th (or so). Kevin and I are awaiting licensor approval. Not sure what the manuscript due date will be, but I'm guessing some time around the 1st week of June or so.
  
• Untitled Trek project - Proposal accepted by the editor November 22nd. Kevin and I awaiting licensor approval. Manuscript currently has a due date of April 1st, 2006 (no foolin'!).
  
• Original nonSF short story - Sent to market editor on September 17th. Waiting to see if it's accepted or rejected.
  
• Original SF short story - Writing this for an open-call anthology. First draft is complete, and I'll make an editing pass at it after I finish with the Trek stuff Kevin and I are working on.
  
• Original short story - Outlined and a partial draft is complete. I've found a market for it, so I've got reason to get it done and out the door. Yee-haw! Other stuff with deadlines still take priority, though :)
  
• Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II - Proposal still being shopped to publishers.
  
• Trek novel solo project - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
  
• Trek novel project with Kevin - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
  
• Tie-in project with Kevin - Proposal in limbo. No real push to get it done, as there's been no discussion about it with the editor for a while now. Will probably take another look at it in January after we get past our deadlines early in the month.
  
• Two articles for Star Trek Communicator magazine with Kevin - These are still on hold pending word on direction of the magazine.
  
• Non-fiction/non-genre article (or series of articles) for local/regional magazine or newspaper - Got some research done on it, but I still need a market. Might have found one...guess I should write a query letter, eh?
  

As for what 2006 holds - beyond what's listed above, I don't rightly know. Kevin and I are making some inquiries regarding pitches that are already in editors' hands or stuff which at this point is still "in discussion" in the hopes of having something lined up for 2007 publication.

Happy New Year, everybody!

Harriet Klausner has provided an early review of The Genesis Protocol, which you can read at - among other places, the Alternative Worlds SF/Fantasy book review site.

This has actually been available for a while, but the owner of the website you're currently reading is a bonehead, and forgot to post about it.

Many thanks to Harriet for the review!

It's simple, really.

If the Bucs win against the Saints this coming weekend, they win the NFC South Division title and a first-round home playoff game, probably against the Redskins.

If they lose, then they have to hope all of the chips avoid falling in just the right way to eliminate them from the playoffs altogether.

So, they just have to win.

Simple, right?

So, while I wait for the final weekend of the regular season to arrive, I'm juggling a couple of different writing projects: Continuing to work on Distant Early Warning as well as two short stories that I have in various stages of festering. There are worse ways to spend my day off, I suppose.

Last night, the wife and I along with some good friends performed our annual holiday ritual: attending the Christmas concert as performed by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. After five years, this is still a treat, and they seem to get better every year. It was a different, larger venue this time around, which allowed for more lights and stage effects. There was definitely more energy and even a bit more fun to the entire show than in previous years -- something I didn't think was possible.

I'm sorry, but I'm one of the most cynical cats on this planet, and even I can't help but smile like a kid and dance and clap to the music when these folks play. If you've never heard their music, you owe it to yourself to check them out. If you've heard them and don't get what I'm talkin' about...well, check yourself for a pulse.

So, with that: Bring on Christmas!

Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season to anyone and everyone who takes the time to visit the site, read our stuff, hang out on different message boards where we loiter, or visit us at conventions, book signings, etc. Hope to see and/or hear from you again in 2006!

Well, it seems that Keith DeCandido has too much time on his hands, and I'm his latest victim. I figure this is revenge on his part (he's got like three or four reasons that I can remember offhand)....

Ground Rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 weird habits of yours" and people who get tagged need to write an LJ entry about their 5 quirky habits as well as state this rule clearly.

In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names.

My quirks:

1. I listen to movie scores while writing.

2. I eat onion rings, but I don't like raw onions.

3. I love raw spinach, but can't stand it when it's cooked.

4. I shave in the shower without use of a mirror.

5. My Star Trek book library is arranged in as close to chronological order as possible. (Might change that one tonight....it is pretty weird.)

Tagged people:

Terri Osborne
Bill Leisner
Jackie Bundy
Steve Mollmann
Scav

...as we head toward a new year. Passed to me by a friend:

-----

10 THOUGHTS TO PONDER

#10 - Life is sexually transmitted.

# 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

# 8 - Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

# 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

# 6 - Some people are like a Slinky: not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

# 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

# 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

# 3 - Why does a "slight tax increase" cost you two hundred dollars and a "substantial tax cut" saves you thirty cents?

# 2 - In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2006:

We know exactly where one cow with 'mad cow disease' is located among the millions of cows in America, but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.

Spent the bulk of the weekend making revisions to Summon the Thunder based on feedback we got from editor Marco Palmieri last week.

Also got some progress made on Distant Early Warning. This one's shaping up rather nicely, if I do say so myself.




In other news: Bucs 20 - Panthers 10. Tied for first place in the NFC South, and we even have the tie-breaker edge (at the moment). Three games to go, two of them division games but both of them at home. I'm likin' this.

Hello, my faithful followers (Mom, and you other two guys)!

For those of you who live in my neck o' the woods, I've been invited to conduct a book signing at the Barnes & Noble bookstore located in Town Center Plaza in Leawood, Kansas (that thin buffer between us mouth-breathers in Kansas City, Missouri and the truly pretentious upper-class wannabes who reside in Overland Park, Kansas). Come out on Saturday, January 28th at 3pm, where there'll be copies of The Genesis Protocol to sign as well as whatever else they can scrounge up. I'm trying to cajole Kevin into coming along, too.

Hope to see you there!

Well, here it is in all its glory: the final cover for The Genesis Protocol!

A larger version can be viewed on the page I've set up for the book, along with the final version of the back cover copy.

Enjoy!

A joke sent to me today:


A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day. One day, during one of his infrequent lucid periods, he motions for her to come nearer.

As she sits by him, his eyes full of tears, he whispers "You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times.

"When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house, you stayed right here. When my health started failing, you were still by my side. You know what?"

"What dear?" the wife gently asked, smiling as her heart begins to fill with warmth.

"I think you're bad luck; get the hell away from me."