I will remember September 2006 for a number of reasons, the most important of which was that it brought the birth of my daughter. It was a glorious event which I've celebrated and in which I take much pride, to say nothing of the gratitude I feel as baby and mother continue to do just fine.

Now that I've set you up, I'm able to report that my writing output for the month was...well...eh.

Consider yourself warned. On with the rundown:

• Things Fall Apart - Mere Anarchy: Book 1 - This, along with the series' second installment, The Centre Cannont Hold by Mike W. Barr, started being shown as available via eReader.com on or about September 22nd. It's also now available via Mobipocket.com as well as the Simon and Schuster website.
  
  I've created a guide page for the entire mini-series, as well as a set of annotations for our book.
  
  
• Corps of Engineers #1: Turn the Page - Manuscript delivered to the editor on June 19th. Received editorial feedback and revisions were completed, and now we're awaiting licensor approval.
  
  
• Age of the Empress: The Rise of Sato I - for Star Trek: Mirror Universe - Glass Empires. A novel of approximately 50,000 words, with Kevin and I assisting former Enterprise staff writer/producer Mike Sussman with the writing. Returned our copyedit corrections/notes to editor Margaret Clark on September 8th. Now we're basically awaiting further instructions.
  
  The novel will share space with a TOS story by Dave Mack and a TNG tale by Greg Cox. If you want to check out the cover for the other Mirror Universe book, Obsidian Alliances, check out Keith DeCandido's blog entry.
  
  
• "Jack and the Weird-Ass Box" - for the Yard Dog Press anthology Houston, We've Got Bubbas. I returned an updated manuscript along with signed contracts to the editor on September 21st. The anthology is currently slated for a June 2007 publication date. Woo Hoo!
  
  
• Original SF short story - For an open-call anthology. Received word on September 29th that the editors were passing on this story. It wasn't written to conform to any publisher-specific guidelines like the Bubbas story, so I'll probably give it another quick read-through before printing a fresh copy and dropping it in the mail to another market.
  
  
• Original short story - For an open-call anthology/writing contest. Story sent to editors on August 14th. Waiting to see if it's accepted or rejected.
  
  
• Original short story - Outlined and a partial draft is complete. The next item on my list of things to do. No luck finishing this before the baby arrived, or during the two weeks I was home with her and Mom. I hope to have some time to finish this starting tomorrow and perhaps into the coming week.
  
  (Yeah, whatever.)
  
  
• "Texas Pride" - I've outlined this, the first short story based in the "universe" of The Last World War. The next item on my "To Do" list. No, really.
  
  
• Counterstrike: The Last World War, Book II - Proposal is still in limbo, though there's been a bit of fresh talk. Nothing I can report on at the moment, however, though things look better than a did a few months ago.
  
  
• Trek novel project with Kevin - Awaiting editor feedback on proposal.
  
  
• Trek novel project with Kevin - Only the barest of discussions with the editor have been held at this point. Probably won't even try writing a proposal until we've had more time to talk with the editor.
  
  
• Tie-in project with Kevin - After four attempts at writing a proposal, Kevin and I finally decided our basic approach sucked. We're going back to the drawing board and starting over from scratch. The only time table on this one (at present) is us getting our heads and butts correctly wired before wasting an editor's time with it. However, this one's liable to take a backseat as we move on to....
  
  
• Tie-in project with Kevin - A new project that's come along since the last update. This one does have a (sort of) time table, so we're working to finish up our proposal right F-ing now. Tentative due date for turning in a manuscript originally was around February 1, 2007, but it's looking like that will change. More on this as it's appropriate to divulge details.
  
  
• Trek tie-in project - Nothing much more than a hare-brained idea at this point, I've nevertheless written a five-page proposal for it. Not sure if it ever will see the light of day, but I figure it's good for giving the editor a laugh.
  
  
• Two articles for Star Trek Communicator magazine with Kevin - These are still on hold pending word on direction of the magazine. Last word I got was that it would be late 2006 or early 2007 before anything would happen.
  
  
• Non-fiction/non-genre article (or series of articles) for local/regional magazine or newspaper - Still hanging in limbo. No market for it, so the fire's not really there to write it at the moment.
  
  

Well, there you go. It seemed more impressive in my head.

Gotta start when they're young. So far, the initial results look promising....

For those diehard supporters of the e-Book format, you'll (perhaps) be happy to hear that Things Fall Apart is now available both from Mobipocket's e-Reader format as well as in Microsoft, Adobe, and Palm format from Simon and Schuster's website.

And there was much rejoicing!

Okay, maybe just a little.

All right. My mother was cool with it.

Nah. Not really.

I heard about it.

I read about it.

But I hadn't seen it, so I couldn't believe it.

Then the Jags/Colts game reached halftime, and they showed video of the event.

The Bucs scored a touchdown.

Their first of the still new football season.

I'd become convinced that I might first spot Bigfoot standing on the deck of the Flying Dutchman, cloaked in the shadow of a hovering UFO and surrounded by stockpiles of WMDs found in Iraq, before I saw the Bucs score a touchdown.

Will they win? Well, let's not get crazy or ahead of ourselves here. But it's a start.

I feel like those Royals fans who are happy that they might be able to say that their baseball team won't lose 100 games this year, or that it took until almost the end of August for them to be mathematically eliminated from post-season play, as opposed to most seasons when they're knocked out of contention five minutes after the first pitch on opening day.

Cripes.

This might be a new record for me, seeing as how I had this page prepped weeks before the e-Book itself came online.

In what is rapidly becoming a habit, I've dashed out a quick set of annotations for Things Fall Apart. It's not meant to be a complete list, and I'll likely add stuff as Kevin reminds me of this or that or if sharp-eyed readers catch something I didn't already list.

As always, you should avoid the notes if you've not yet read the e-Book, as the page might contain what some folks consider spoilers. Consider yourself warned.

Finally!

I'm happy to report that Things Fall Apart, the first installment of the Star Trek: Mere Anarchy e-Book mini-series, is now available from eReader.com. I expect that Pocket's Star Trek Books website will also have it available for purchase in MS and Adobe Reader formats here shortly. No word on Mobipocket.com yet, though.

And if that's not good enough for ya, the series' second installment, The Centre Cannot Hold by Mike W. Barr, is also available. So there!

And away we go!

Editor Keith DeCandido unveiled the covers for the first three entries in the retitled Star Trek: Corps of Engineers e-Book series today, including Turn the Page written by Kevin and me. Now that the artwork's here, I've set up a page for the e-Book.

Also revealed today:

Troubleshooting by Robert Greenberger
The Light by Jeff D. Jacques

(Thanks to Keith for hosting the pics.)

In other news, I made editor corrections to "Jack and the Weird-Ass Box" and returned the manuscript along with signed contracts to Yard Dog Press. Houston, We've Got Bubbas is currently scheduled for publication next June.

And finally, because I got into a fanboy rut last night, I was able to read the last two installments of Mr. Comics' Revolution on the Planet of the Apes 6-issue mini-series, which afforded me the opportunity to make a whole new set of updates to "Planet of the Apes: An Annotated Chronology," a document that's lain pretty much dormant for a couple of years due to the dearth of new material related to the original Apes films and such. The mini-series was fun, so here's hoping it was successful enough for Mr. Comics to continue with their next Apes project.

Lousy (but lucky) human bastards!

A bit of housekeeping:

First, Jackie Bundy's review of the Star Trek: Constellations anthology has been posted on Trek Today. Many thanks to Jackie!

Next, I learned from a thread on the TrekBBS that SFX Magazine has released a special issue devoted to Star Trek's 40th anniversary. The magazine comes poly-bagged, and included with each issue is one of 16 different Star Trek novels. I don't have a complete lineup, but here's 14 of the 16:

• Being Human (New Frontier) by Peter David
  
• The Case of the Colonist's Corpse by Bob Ingersoll & Tony Isabella
  
• Catalyst of Sorrows (The Lost Era) by Margaret Wander Bonanno
  
• Foundations (S.C.E.) by me and Bubba
  
• Garth of Izar by Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski
  
• Genesis Force by John Vornholt
  
• A Good Day to Die (IKS Gorkon) by Keith R.A. DeCandido
  
• A Hard Rain by Dean Wesley Smith
  
• In the Name of Honor by me
  
• No Surrender (S.C.E.) by Mike Collins, Ian Edgington, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, and Jeff Mariotte
  
• Oblivion (Stargazer) by Michael Jan Friedman
  
• Serpents Among the Ruins (The Lost Era) by David R. George III
  
• Stone and Anvil (New Frontier) by Peter David
  
• The Valiant by Michael Jan Friedman
  

If anyone can provide the other two titles, I'd appreciate it. The magazine is a UK publication and so is somewhat delayed getting to US bookstores.

(Note: List of books updated 9/24/2006.)

Finally, I discovered during a trip to the nearby Borders that The Last World War has quietly reached its fifth printing. So, uh....go me!

Ravens 27 - Bucs 0

And we're off in fine fashion. Note to Chris Simms: You throw the ball to the guy wearing the shirt that matches yours. No no! No need to thank me. Just trying to help, bro.

In other news, I heard from friend and fellow writer Brad Sinor that I sold my short story "Jack and the Weird-Ass Box" to editor Selina Rosen at Yard Dog Press for her forthcoming anthology Houston: We've Got Bubbas. It's the fourth in a series of anthologies set in a "universe" known collectively as Bubbas of the Apocalypse. Brad and his wife, Sue, will also have stories in the anthology (I've not yet seen a table of contents, so I don't know anything more at this time). The previous anthologies are funny as hell, and when I heard about a fourth I knew I had to try for it, and yes: The story was a blast to write

Kevin and I also turned our copyedit changes for Age of the Empress over to editor Margaret Clark this past week. We're just awaiting further instructions at this point.

And in case you thought I might go more than one consecutive blog post without mentioning Addy, well....you're shit outa luck. She's sleeping at the moment, but her grandmother has a deathgrip on her and won't give her up. I think she even bared her teeth at me when I suggested taking her for a while. I hope the enthusiasm's still there when the kid's ready for college tuition.

Let the pigs fly!

Michi and Addy were discharged from the hospital this afternoon, and now everybody's home. The dogs are curious about the new human in their midst, of course, but one has already taken to lying next to the crib whenever the baby is sleeping in it.

Dad is pleased.

Three days into fatherhood, and I've made the following observations:

1. Babies sleep. A lot.

2. Babies eat. A lot.

3. Babies poop. A LOT.

More to follow.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek.

Here's to 40 years of exploring strange new worlds and boldly going where none have gone before. It's been a hell of a ride.

Allyn Gibson has posted a set of annotations for Star Trek: Constellations, as provided by some of the anthology's contributors. So far, Kevin and I have weighed in on "First, Do No Harm," and we join fellow authors Christopher L. Bennett, Allyn himself, Bob Greenberger, Kevin Lauderdale, and Bill Leisner. Other writer-folk will no-doubt join in as time permits. Enjoy!

In other news, we're two days past the due date and still no baby. She's just being fashionably late, I guess...