Gregeration X Newsletter September 3, 2022-Baking in SoCal

Hello ,

When I say "Baking in SoCal", I haven't switched the focus of this newsletter from Sci-Fi and Fantasy to making yummy treats. I really mean baking. We are in the fifth day of triple digit temperatures, with at least five more days to go. Being born and raised in SoCal I'm pretty used to triple digit temps, so I can take the blast furnace effect of the heat, but this time there's just enough humidity to make it smothering! I hope you are experiencing much cooler temperatures wherever you are.

Thanks for joining me for my bi-weekly updates once again. If you're new to my newsletter, welcome aboard!

In this edition:

My Musings
Mechhaven Missives
Featured Authors
Featured Promotions

My Musings

I had originally started musing about memories, more specifically how books, music, and movies, can evoke memories of the times we consumed those works. However, I realized that to do that musing properly, it will take more time than I had to prepare this edition. So stay tuned, I those musings will pop up in future newsletters.

In the meantime, just a quick update on current media I've been watching, reading, or listening.

First up is House of the Dragon, inspired by George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood and set in the world of his Song of Ice and Fire series. Second is Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, inspired by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. So far I've enjoyed both shows. It's nice to see epic fantasy come to life with what looks like big budgets. Time will tell if the stories hold up and are satisfying, but so far, so good. Give them a shot and let me know what you think.

In terms of reading, I am currently listening to Backyard Starship by J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert. I started reading it on my kindle, but these days every time I open my kindle, I fall asleep, so I switched over to the audio version. I'm making much better progress now and am enjoying the story.

On the anime front, my family and I have dived into the world of One Piece.

For those of you not familiar with One Piece, it's based on a pirate fantasy manga. The crazy thing about this show is it has been around since 1999 and currently has over 1000 episodes! It was a major decision to jump into this. So far we've watched 19 episodes. Some of the stories have been better than others, but everyone we've talked to says the series becomes great later on.

Mechhaven Missives

By the time you read this I'll have hit 70,000 words completed on Rally Point, roughly 70% of the first draft. At my current pace, I think I'll finish up the first draft in about five to six weeks. It's all action from here on out, so I'm hoping to finish by the end of September.

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday when my cover artist, Jeff Brown, contacted me. I thought that we were scheduled to meet to discuss the cover for Book 5 in late September. After checking through our most recent series of emails, I found that we were indeed scheduled to meet on September 2nd. It's amazing how time can slip by like that. In any case we had our zoom call yesterday afternoon and came up with a cool concept for Book 5's cover. I'm looking forward to seeing the drafts and final product.

Featured Authors

This week's featured authors include Wolfe Locke, James Murdo, and Koen Martens.

Third Apocalypse

Wolfe Locke

Decades ago, the world was changed by the arrival of the system.

One day, monsters spawned across the world, gateways to dungeons appeared everywhere, and the blue screens heralded the end of days. The apocalypse. The ruin of the world.

Featured Promotions

Below are some promotions for September. Please take a look and look at the books in these promotions. Who knows? Maybe you'll find your next favorite author!