Hey, y'all.

I have issues.

Earlier today, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw a struggling hummingbird checking to see if there was any available nectar. (There wasn't.)

Well, there wasn't... but not for long.

Ten minutes later, I put out nectar for her, and she came back to have herself a rest and a big drink. She's been back several times. She's an Anna's hummingbird, and I love her. A two year old female. I got to watch her grow up last year, and it's been a delight seeing her back to the feeder this year as an adult. (And yes, it becomes obvious which hummers are which... there is precisely one female Anna's who lives at our complex. The males will come calling at a later point in time, if last year is any indication.)

This is not dragonfly related, I know... or book related. (Book news/a recap shortly after random story time.)

Fast forward about an hour, where I got to spend a good amount of time watching the hummingbird drink. (It is 100+ degrees outside, and she was clearly not having a good day finding food.)

So, I see movement out of the corner of my eye again.

This time, a little dragonfly got stuck in an old spider's web. No spider in sight. Good thing because I would have fought the spider for the dragonfly.

This is after I brought the poor baby in and gave him a drink. He was recovering at this stage, and he wanted to fly, but his wings were stuck together from the web. Let me tell you... it's harrowing trying to gently pick spider web off dragonfly wings.

Five nerve-wracking minutes later, the little one was free from the spiderweb and able to fly. Which he demonstrated by taking a tour around my living room, requiring me to catch him again, cup him in my hands, and carry him outdoors so he could resume doing his dragonfly things.

I have issues. Watching a spider eat a dragonfly is not one of my issues.

What was really fascinating was the dragonfly's reaction to me. Initially, I could readily tell the poor thing was terrified and assuming he was going to die. He tried to play dead, etc, anything he could do to convince me not to eat him. I offered it water on my arm, and after he had some, he basically did a wtaf is going on??? reaction. Like he stopped trying to play dead and became curious, looking for water, which I gave him. He took the time to regroup and start recovering.

That was when I began Operation Remove Spider Web.

Tools: a metal hair stick (a rather pretty one I had imported from China) and a Swiss Army Knife. (The scissors part, because that's the smallest sharp tool I have that I could control snip/cut with.)

I'd say freeing the poor thing took about two minutes. Took me another five to catch him after he flew off in my living room and took a tour of my home. Once outside, he beelined right for where they usually like to hunt, so I'm guessing he hadn't become too disoriented once I set him free.

I'm glad I was able to free his wings though, because I did not want to hunt his body weight in other bugs for him to eat every day until he died of natural causes. I was preparing for that reality when I saw how badly his wings were tangled, though... but I got lucky. He went free, and I didn't have to go figure out how to feed an insect hunter sufficient insects for however long dragonflies live.

(In good news, dragonflies only live for up to 56 days apparently... so the responsibility wouldn't have been long, but that would be 56 more days than I particularly wanted to spend catching bugs for an unexpected pet.)

Thems the rules, though...

Fun fact: Mr. Blain was not happy about having his work interrupted to help give the rescued dragonfly a drink of water. I was busy holding the poor baby and making sure he didn't take a bad tumble until he could fly again.

On the book news front, I have opened a short story Patreon for those who don't want to do monthly subscriptions but want the short stories as they are released. There will be no more than 3-5 shorts a month at absolute most, and realistically, it won't be ever month unless I like... go nutso on short stories.

This is really meant for those who are part of the per novel patreon and want access to the short stories as well.

Everything earned on the short story Patreon goes to fun vacation and hobby stuff. Not even gonna lie about it. Dream vacations, little outings, anything that is a life-enrichment activity.

Don't worry about missing out if you don't do any of the patreons. The shorts will EVENTUALLY make it into anthologies. It'll just take a while.

Here is the list of books I'm actively working on in case you missed it:

Audrey Green - Moon Tamed (releasing December 6, 2022.)

RJ Blain - Doggone Mess (novel will be 3-5x longer than it currently is, probably closer to 5x. So if you got the Dirty Deeds version, you will be missing on 60-120k words worth of book by the time it's done.) (releasing May 16, 2023)

The anthology version was basically the first arc of a longer story... basically view it as book one of a trilogy or a quartet. There was some resolution, but not complete resolution. And it was done that way on purpose.

Susan Copperfield - The Vampire of Montana (releasing May 16, 2023)

G.P. Robbins - Dead Weight (releasing July 25, 2023)

R.J. Blain - Old Secrets (Karma #3) (NOT available for preorder yet, debating between a live drop and a preorder; currently will probably live drop ebook and paperback at the same time with aux whenever aux gets completed.) Expect Any time after June 2023, approx.

Susan Copperfield - The Trickster King (Royal States spinoff story) Currently, this will NOT be included as a numbered entry in the Royal States series, but it does take place before Null and Void. Expect August-September 2023 for it to be finished/prepped for release. Could happen sooner, could happen later.

Things I am actively working on but no idea when will be finished:

Death's Door (Fox Witch #3)

Booked for Theft (Vig Mag Libs #3)

Second Witch & Wolf themed anthology, entitled Witch Wolf.

Sekrit Projekt #1

Sekrit Projekt #2

Hypnos Prequel

Hypnos #2

Yes, that is correct. This is not a false alarm or a prank. Hypnos #2 is now in the "play project" category. I am still in plotting/prep/etc stage, and the prequel needs to happen first or the prequel gets even MORE complicated to write later. (It's much easier to keep the continuity organized if I do it in this order, but in reality, I'll be working on the prequel and #2 at the same time.)

Spinoff Novel Hypnos World (takes place AFTER the Seeking the Zodiacs series, but I'm being somewhat careful not to have spoilers for it in book 1 of that trilogy.)

Rewriting of Rift King books in 1st person because I was working on Rider of the Sun Horse and kept rewriting it to 1st person in my head while i was refreshing on it, and I lost what was left of my mind. (Rider is a prequel story.)

So, Rift King will be rewritten into 1st person, and the books will... be dramatically expanded in some ways. It will continue to have dual POV, but Breton and Kalen's scenes will be clearly marked who is who, much like the Bailey/Quinn dual POV story.)

Like the Fox Witch World, I will implement a dating system/location so people can get a better idea of where things are on the stupid little map I will be putting online once I get the dot journal required to remake the map from my current map and a light box to trace it onto the stupid grid, and etc, etc, etc.

There will be a map, it will be fancy... I will also be sighing over this.

Yes, I have a lot of projects in the works right now, and only a few things up for preorder. Try not to worry... there are a LOT of books in the works, I'm just... getting through stupid apartment inspections, doctor's garbage, and life.

Final bit of news: I will be in Australia in June of 2023. The convention is BABE in Sydney, but the current plan is to visit Uluru, Cairns/Great Barrier Reef/Port Whatsit/Whatsit Rainforest, and Brisbane.

(Whispered, please come see me in Sydney.)

Note: my visa does not allow me to sell books or anything in Sydney, so if you want books signed, please preorder your copies and bring them along for the ride. If you have a complete collection you want signed, be aware the little wagons aren't allowed in the venue, but you can take multiple trips to signing tables. (eep.)

Oh, kickstarter stuff. I'm at the packing stage for the first few orders, and things are going to start going out soonish. My cover designer had COVID, and we don't joke around with COVID, so things were delayed. Which is fine, because COVID is no joke and she needed time to get better.

Phew. I think that's it for real this time.

P.S.: The two sekrit projekts are going to be FUN. One is a science fiction meets PNR meets urban fantasy type fun shenanigans. The other has a cat. Wait. Actually, they both have cats.

~R.J.