I attended the Writers Cantina in Utah last week. If you're interested in a hasty report of that experience, you can read about that here.

One of the sessions at the cantina dealt with tropes. What are your favorite tropes to read? What tropes turn up your toenails every time you encounter them? (A trope is a common or overused theme or device).

Chapter 20 of book 6 is complete. What was originally part of chapter 19 will become part of chapter 21 as I have had to skip back and add an event and coordinate the other character endeavors to keep my timeline relatively consistent. Sometimes I will (as with a particular happening in Book 5) start relating an event ahead of schedule and drag out the telling so that it completes on schedule with the other intertwined events. The point is to create tension--which is an important element in writing something that someone will want to read. A conversation with one of my grandsons (who is now writing his own alternate history book about what he calls Napoleonic Germany after WWI) sparked my thoughts about it, and he had a tough time grasping the concept of tension. I pointed out some instances of tension in movies or TV shows that he has watched. When he caught on that he had questions that he wanted answered as he watched the show, and that those questions were not immediately answered, and there was some doubt about how and when they might be answered, he began to understand the idea a little bit better. I may expound on this idea another time if I pontificate on my philosophy of writing The Trauma, The Drama, and The Dream.

Back to the more immediate writing stuff:

Alexander Hamilton has not made an appearance yet in my alternate history of the American Revolutionary War, but you can be assured that he will. I had planned to introduce him during the battle of White Plains, but I came across an article calling into question the account of his exploits at that encounter. Therefore, I elected to leave out Mr. Hamilton for the present. He will appear later.

I enjoyed Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, and have progressed part way through Philip Thomas Tucker's Alexander Hamilton's Revolution. Chernow's is the superior book and more inclusive than just the revolution. Tucker's work suffers severely from repetitive disorder, but it does contain a lot of good information. I'm of the opinion that Hamilton has more fingerprints on our system of government than he gets credit for. He was a superior writer and could be quite scathing when he wanted. Let me share some of his non-scathing words from The Federalist Papers:

"There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers No. 78

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I recently finished Sax Rohmer's Tales of Secret Egypt. I believe it's the first I've read of Rohmer, although I do have a couple of his other books in my library. I gave it four stars and enjoyed every story. Why didn't I give it five stars? I'm still wondering about that--something--I can't quite put my finger what--as lacking. If you've read it, how did you rate it?

I've just started Brad Torgersen's A Star-Wheeled Sky, and I grabbed Walter R. Borneman's The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, along with Charles A. Siringo's Cowboy Detective: A True Story of Twenty-Two Years with a World Famous Detective Agency.

In case you missed the links in the last newsletter,

Here's the Fantastic Free Fantasy.

Here's the Sci-fi and Fantasy with Action Galore.

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On a completely unrelated note, I've been asked to speak in church. I get to choose my own topic, and I've got some rough thoughts I hope to polish before then. By the time the next letter comes out, the damage will have been done.

Any interest in a giveaway -- probably between The Shrinking Zone and one of the books from the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series?

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Honor Roll with special thanks to these subscribers:

Lois for her stunning review and heroic defense of The Shrinking Zone.

JBudd for reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, In Death Bedrenched, Power to Hurt, The Shrinking Zone, Clamorous Harbingers, Promise of Carnage and Flame, and Truth in Flames

Colleen for leaving ratings for several of my books on Amazon

Rob for leaving a review of Threading the Rude Eye

Michael for leaving reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, and The Shrinking Zone

Mayra for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

Gloria for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

ShannonC for a review of In Death Bedrenched

Jan for reviews of Threading the Rude Eye, Power to Hurt, Clamorous Harbingers, Promise of Carnage and Flame, In Death Bedrenched, The Shrinking Zone, Truth in Flames, Justice in Season, and Justice Resurgent.

Bonnie for a review of In Death Bedrenched.

PAR for a review of Threading the Rude Eye

-There are many other reviews of my books, of course, but I don't know whether those reviewers are also subscribers to this newsletter.