I am extremely pleased to announce that one of my stories, “Hive Mindset,” has been accepted for publication in Plott Hound magazine! It’s about technology and bugs. No, not those kinds of bugs! Well, come to think of it… yes. It’s about those kinds of bugs, too.

Confused? Read the story and it’ll all make sense.

Beasts & Brutality is currently passing through the line editing process, and I’m busily reviewing all the suggested corrections. I’m still not sure about the book’s precise release date, though. Everyone’s been wonderfully patient so far, and I want to release the most polished work possible. Rest assured I’m working hard to reach that goal!

Now for the not-so-great news: there’s a strong possibility I’ll be unemployed again at the end of August. Finding work in advance of that funding cliff has occupied a good deal of my time, too. I’m trying to keep my spirits up and look on the bright side of things. If I get laid off, that affords more time to work on my writing projects and possibly monetize them.

It also means a long wait for unemployment benefits while bills continue their inexorable march into my inbox.

Therefore, in the event I wind up on the bricks again, I may finally launch that Patreon I’ve debated back-and-forth for so long. I’ve got quite a lot of content in the World of Mundia that hasn’t been published yet, including my 12,000-word novelette — Wreckmaker. This is new territory for me (what isn’t these days), so I need to chew on the notion for a bit.

Tomorrow I’ll take a brief break to replenish my creative and emotional reserves for the battles ahead. The summer won’t last forever, after all, and the Columbia River Gorge is calling me…