Hi everyone! First, a couple quick things:

First thing: in case you missed it, my friend and I coauthored and co-self-published Powers of Tetratek, a superhero novel. The title is hyperlinked to a page with further information (and Amazon links). No pressure to buy the book, but if you do, and if you feel so inclined, reviews are greatly appreciated. Yes, even if it’s a low-star rating. The more reviews, the more data other prospective readers have to determine whether the book suits them and if they might like to buy it, and the more confident they can be in making that decision. I think review count might also influence the visibility algorithm on Amazon. I dunno. Probably.

Oh—and I realized I did mention Powers of Tetratek before! In this post from over a year ago! It’s Novel Alpha-Beta-Gamma.

Second thing: in 2021, Daily Science Fiction published my flash fiction piece, “What’s in a Name.” A year or so afterward, the magazine went on hiatus, and as of this year, their archive of published work has disappeared. I’ve reposted the story to keep it accessible. Additionally, I’ve shared the first short story I ever got published, “Mail Order Dragon” (2016). I like to think I’ve grown as a writer since then, but I also harbor fond memories of this story and figured some folks might enjoy getting to read the work of a much younger me. Both are linked from my Works page and are freely accessible. (A third short story, “A Smurf Stole My Gatorade,” is and has always been accessible via a link to a recording from Grown Up Story Time. Again, see the Works page.)

Okay, now to the big thing I want to talk about.

I still have multiple fantasy novel drafts hoarded in my laptop. In particular, I’m still in the feedback and revision process for Novel #1 (as called in my 2024 status updates; working title Into the Darkwood)—but based on my most recent beta reader’s feedback (and feedback from my other beta readers before him, too!), the plot and heart are strong, the structure solid, and the story enjoyable. All the issues he caught, first chapter aside, pertained to details that should be easy to adjust. The only caveat is that feedback is still pending on the first chapter revisions. Another beta reader of mine (thanks, sis) seemed to like them, though, and they felt right to me, so I’m hopeful. We shall see.

Once I receive his feedback on the updated first chapter, I will do another revision sweep to address all identified to-dos. If the first chapter is working as intended, this may be the final revision pass. I’ll ask a few beta readers to look at it one more time. (Many, many thanks to all of them. Some of them have read several iterations of this story!) The expectation is that at that stage, the only remaining catches and fixes should be very minor details and typo catches. And then…

Well, I have two options: give traditional publishing another try, or self publish this one.

Traditional publishing offers professional support and wider reach; it’s the only avenue I know of to get a book into a physical bookstore. But it’s slow. So, so slow. And it’s not a sure thing, because an agent has to say yes to the manuscript, and then a publishing house has to say yes to that agent, and then, even after all those yes-es, it typically takes at least a year, maybe two or three, for the book to come out. And this novel has already been rejected by agents, like, fifty times, including the singular agent who requested a look at the full manuscript.

You guys. I really, really do not want to wait that long. I don’t want to deal with the time sink and uncertainty of waiting for query responses again. And, frankly, I like the prospect of utter control over every aspect of this story and its presentation, from cover art to blurbs, even if it’s a lot of work to implement. Also: Novel #2 is waiting in the wings and already went through at least one significant revision pass ages ago. After further feedback and probable further revisions, I can always try the traditional route again with that one, or with other novels later, if I want to.

But I want to be able to point to Novel #1 and say, this is mine. All of it. This represents my writing voice, my style, my way of imagining people, mental landscapes, worlds, creatures… This encapsulates what, generally, you can expect from me as a writer when I’m left to my own devices. I have range beyond it, of course—not every story I write will be high fantasy, and not every story will read or feel exactly the same—but this is my calling card. Or, it will be. Once it’s out there. Which I want it to be sooner rather than later.

I do not mean to diminish Powers of Tetratek, at all. It is very cool that my friend and I made this together, he was very, very patient with me and my 1001 dealing-with-life delays, and I’m glad he’s my friend and that I got to create this with him and navigate self-publishing together. If the summary and sample pages intrigue you, I hope you pick it up and enjoy it! However, because it’s a coauthorship, it doesn’t represent my voice in the same way that my solo works do. I touched upon this in the publication announcement and Q&A post from earlier: a coauthorship is an interplay between multiple voices, and while mine contributed, Powers of Tetratek reads very, very differently from my writing voice alone. When you write with someone else, you have to be okay with the differences, with meeting in the middle and giving them room to express themselves. You’ve gotta not strangle their voice. You need to share.

Novel #1 is getting close, I think. Close enough that I’ll share the colored-in version of my prospective cover art, which I’d initially previewed and discussed in this 2024 status update. I completed it a while ago:

I’m not a professional artist, but I gave it my best and really like how this turned out. Many thanks to my sister for her helpful artistic feedback and suggestions for biodiversity.

You’ll notice I haven’t added the title and my name yet. I’ll get to that eventually. I still need to smooth some minor details in there too, like the shading on my protagonist’s front leg. Once I take care of that, I might run this cover idea by more family and friends and gather their impressions.

Okay, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading! Stay safe and well in these turbulent times, as best you can.