Are you there, blog? It's a me, Mario

 Just a quick post to say things are still grinding away. I wanted to observe the usual Fifth of June day for the Alphabet boys (and an early Dunk A Cop Not A Donut Day) and hopefully, I can start making it a habit again to post on the regular.

I have decided not to raise the prices on the print versions on Amazon after all. Even though I get less money that way it's only like 50 cents when you take it all into account and I'm not going to be fussed about that. I've pretty much sold all the copies of the first four I'm going to anyway (except for the stray new readers, hi I see you thank you!) so it makes it even more important to get the next book out so I can actually make multiple sales in a month. 

If anyone is interested I can start posting snippets of the work in progress, Absolution, here on the blog. That way you'll get a teaser, I'll have something to post here and there, and maybe the feedback fairy will visit. I'll see what I can find that I want to post later this month. And no I won't be posting the Guernsey segment again. That's been up like twice now already. Even I'm tired of it :-D

And now in the famous words of Rocket J Squirrel (no relation to the raccoon) "And now here's something we hope you'll really like!"

Well there's your problem, you're writing with a hammer

Not Dead, Just Pining for Fjords

Okay so there's a little bit of news going on here. 

Yes, book will happen. No, I don't have a deadline or estimation. I have discovered that nothing makes me want to write LESS than setting a time limit. Nanos have come and gone and I have done, mathematically speaking, diddly over squat. (*)

On the plus side though I have been diving deep into some research for future stuff, which always helps because in order to get to write the new shiny stuff, I have to get the stuff on my plate out of the way. Hey, it worked with Honor, you know?

IMPORTANT NEWS about the First Four Books (printed versions only): Amazon has announced that they're recalculating print costs and adding about a dollar to their side of the take (and therefore subtracting a dollar on my side, assuming the final price that I set does not change.) So I'm wondering how much to change the print editions' prices. This change will take place sometime in June. So, basically, if you're wanting the print versions of Resurrections, Sanctuary, Adrift, and/or Honor, you will want to buy them in the next month to get them at the cheaper version. Note that this does not apply to the e-books, as, clearly, there's no printing involved. 

Personal news is I'm still not working, waiting on a final appeal on my disability application. My income comes from these books and Ebay. I do have a stable roof over my head and a bed of my own. And a cat. So that's all okay then.

I can't promise when or even how often I will update the blog. But at least it's here, I'm here, and maybe you are too. Hoping this blog entry finds you well. 

Les Gavroches - Antonio Sciortino
Statue of Gavroche and the brothers (Jules and Auguste)
1904, Malta

_____________

(*) from the following cartoon. One of the trilogy of great 80's cartoon series (Bloom County) along with Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side.

Paris, Ten Years Later

 

Yes, work is now recommencing on the book. This was originally all going to be the first half (!) of Inferno but, well, I've already got brick problems so I felt this was best. I want to thank everyone who has stuck around during the past few years of utter crap (in my head) and letting me rebuild my stamina and confidence. I have discovered PauC fan art on Tumblr and it makes me soooo happy I could just fall off a bridge. I have given myself a tentative finish date of end of the year (2021) for this one. 

Wish me luck! I love each and every one of you, even if you number in the single digits. 

Nano did not go as planned

Well I signed up for Nanowrimo again and then some stuff happened and no book got written. But I'm okay with that. I actually had a kind of breakdownthrough on how I want the next book to go. Traditionally, so I'm told, it's that middle part of the work that is the hardest part, whether it's a movie or a story. I should not be so down on myself for choking at this point in the narrative. 

Leaving you with this, for now, courtesy of @sparknotes on Twitter:

 And then all of THIS happened....

John Travolta looking around gif

Okay so it's been about (checks watch) 15 months since I updated this last. Since you've been probably living on the same planet as I have, you know what's been going on. Finally crawled out of depression long enough to update this. Website plans went to heck in a gilded handbasket, forget that whole idea. I'm just going to post here if and when and especially if I get anything to post. 

Book came to a basic halt over the past year. Hoping to fire up some of it during this spring's Nanowrimo, but not making any big promises right now. 

Anyway, I'm not dead yet, nor am I pining for the fjords. Hope to have some actual book news in less than fifteen months' time.

Thanks to the ppl who have been doing PauC fan art. If you like it enough to draw it, I must be doing something right. Will post links if I get permissions.

Take care of yourselves. 

Pont-au-Change IX: The Return of Website

So I found out that while the original pontauchange dot com is still being squatted on, the grammatically correct pont-au-change.com, which I also owned at one time as a mirror site, was available. So I snapped it up for a multi year contract for not much money.

I don't have the site up and probably won't till after the first of the year. I have to secure funds for hosting (I only bought the web domain) and then set the thing up. But it looks like things are starting to awaken from its coma.

Wish me luck, or buy a book, or donate some money at the Ko-fi link. They will all help get this show back on the long, long,

long

road.


Thanks!

Honor is live!

Book four, which has only been available in ebook format until now, is now a real book like book! Now I have no back stock to set up. All the books moving forward will be new. And there are three more to go.

Also: December 14 was Jean Valjean's 250th birthday. Don't ask what to get him, he'll just turn around and give it away anyway.

See you next year/decade/book!