July was an extremely unproductive month. This time, however, I at least feel like I have more of an excuse than usual.
I had surgery.
Before we get into that though…
Despite everything, things did get released.
BULLETS, BLADES, AND BABES is a haremlit anthology and the second secret project I had been referencing. I have a post-post-apocalyptic slice-of-life novella within this anthology. It’s completely original, not tied to any other universes, and is called FOR THE FUTURE. In short, it’s a little peek into the life of a few people in the future who agree to become part of a breeding program after several global disasters severely thinned humanity’s numbers. I’ve wanted to write something related to breeding in a sci-fi or near-future setting for a long time now, and this is me dipping my toes into it. The entire anthology is presently 99 cents, AND it also has an audiobook version if that’s a must for you.
DEAD FREEZE is here! For those of you who don’t know, this is a survival/horror sci-fi novel I wrote with Lara X. Lust. It is the first in a planned trilogy. It’s got a bit of a harder edge, but I guess that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise if you’ve read any of my other survival oriented stories. In short, it’s set in a future where a galactic zombie apocalypse has occurred. It’s set in the same universe as DEAD DRIFT. The basic plot follows a guy coming to a frozen, zombie-infested world looking to rescue some people and in the process, gets stranded there himself, and now he has to rescue the handful of (hot lady) survivors, kill zombies, gather resources, and find some way to escape. We’re going to try to have the other two novels out before 2025, but this year has really thrown me for a loop so far.
Because I began my career with a policy of just not talking about my personal life, I don’t really want to go into any specifics about what happened in July. Basically, I had a relatively minor surgery and almost every part of it didn’t really go the way I wanted. The actual surgery itself went fine, but everything before and after just caused problems. As I entered July, I basically thought I’d be okay about my surgery, because I knew it was coming. And while I wasn’t sitting there dreading it constantly, my anxiety manifested in other ways. Namely, it became almost impossible to get anything done. Everything in my life sort of became like smoke, it just drifted out of my grasp no matter how hard I tried to hold on.
Then the actual surgery happened. While it seems to have gone the way it was supposed to, I had to get full-blown anesthetized, which I have never experienced before. While the actual experience of being anesthetized was nice (it was more or less like people describe it, you sorta nod off and then come to without any real sense that time had passed), I didn’t realize it was going to fuck with my brain. I was hazy for almost a week after, forgetting things more than normal, struggling with concepts, having trouble keeping hold of thoughts. It sucked. That has passed, thankfully. For the most part. I think.
Really, the biggest problem has been pain. It hurts to move very much, so I’m sort of just laid up. Which you’d think would be like the perfect goddamned time to get a lot of writing done, but I just…still can’t? I mean, I’ve gotten some stuff done, but I think this specific aspect is the burnout I’ve been accumulating for…literal years now making its move yet again.
Anyway, here is the good news: I am healing. Slowly, but surely. I decided early on that I’m not going to make the stupid mistake so many other people do and try to force myself to do stuff too quickly and then hurt myself and make the healing take even longer. So I’ll still be taking it easy until I’m fully healed up. I do not know when this will be, but I do intend to make a stronger effort to write more consistently.
Quick bullet point roundup.
GOBLIN GIRLS DO IT BETTER III is what I’m looking to work on most still. I want to get it written and out. Despite my efforts, I barely managed to get it over the halfway mark before now. I’m really truly hoping to have it out this month.
LAKESIDE COUGARS is going to take front and center focus the moment Goblin Girls III is done. I’m going to genuinely try to have it done this month, but I also genuinely do not see it happening. I’m honestly fucking pissed about it because it’s a ‘summer fun’ novel and I wanted to get it out for summer but that’s basically off the table and I’m unwilling to wait an entire other year just to get it out next summer. Anyway, I’m going to try very, very hard to have it out before the end of September.
DEAD FREEZE 2 is still in pre-production, unfortunately. I’ll be working on it where I can find the time.
I hope things are going well for everyone. Wish me luck.