March 2026 Newsletter
Hey, folks – Another busy month, but not necessarily for the right reasons. I finished up the trip for work that carried over from mid-January through the first week of February. A few days after I wrote you last, I came down with what we in the military affectionately refer to as ‘the crud.’ The crud is simply any bacterial or viral infection that gives you a fever, the sweats, congestion, sore throat, cough, and make you feel all around cruddy. Apparently, it was going around the town where the my group was working a week or two before we arrived. A bunch of us got it. I was over the worst of it, but it lingered during the 1200-mile return drive.
I am apprised by a friend that the black ducks I mentioned last month are American Coots (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_coot).
I was able to take some videos on the way back of a no-kidding ghost town and the largest cattle farm I will likely ever see. I’ve posted them here:
Ghost town (Nara Visa, NM), https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUo3YqNjw-t/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Huge cattle farm (somewhere in NW Texas), https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVfSKQLD5Su/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I am a few days late and I was hoping to finish the drawing of which I showed you the draft in the last newsletter. I am behind schedule, but I didn’t want to delay the newsletter. Here’s the concept again and my progress so far.
This is a scene from book 3. I’m trying to get a few more illustrations into the actual content of book 3, which is what I had wanted for books 1 and 2, but it just didn’t come together. I’m gonna take a bit more time and put a few of these in here for some scenes. I aim to finish this this month. I have another figure to draw, quite a bit more work on the trees, a few other details, and shadows. Then, it’ll be on to another illustration.
On the topic of content for book 3, there’s a bit more rounding out in the text and parts of the story that are not yet told or are only obliquely mentioned, but that I’d like to more directly tell. There are a few different angles that I’d considered, but then, for my video on defense of a linear obstacle (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HS-TcRjLxg0), I got this comment.
And I really didn’t know what to do with it, but it hit me a week or so later: The Battle of Balta. <Spoiler warning> Between books 3 and 4 (I’d have to check), the human kingdom of Gilliam falls, decisively so at the Battle of Balta, which will be similar to the Battle of Versingit, I think, but I’m going to have to research the Battle of Ahmednagar, apparently.
It has been a busy month, though, between the trip for work and catching up on what I missed while I was away, working on the illustrating, I’ve put out a few more videos about tactics, this time with a focus on the forms of the defense (hence the comment I mentioned above). I think I may be done with those for a bit and shift back towards posts and reels that more directly feature books 1 and 2.
Upcoming events:
Kansas City Fae Ball and Literary Market, Kansas City, KS, May 30th
O-Con (Omaha Convention), Council Bluffs, IA, July 17th-19th
Nerd Con KC, Overland Park, KS, September 19th (applied - no response, continuing to engage)
Boozy Book Fair, Kansas City, MO, October 3rd (applied - pending decision)
Song of the month, really album of the month is Void Hope by Waveshaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7WYOMr7Jdo&list=OLAK5uy_lCg-BtyWwMfCVe9pGC4Uf9C6lRFIzI77c
While looking for the link, I stumbled across a duet with Waveshaper and Robert Parker, who is also a blast to listen to and get a ton of work done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbeQrlkf9ms.
Unrelated, if you ever make this crab Rangoon baklava (https://www.instagram.com/reels/DUeFQEWETZY/), make it with half of the cream cheese and half, or even one quarter, of the recommended butter. Way too rich, otherwise.
Stay classy, folks.
