Return of the Blog

Wow! It's been a while! Much longer than I'd prefer, and something I would like to limit to strictly anomaly status. For those of you who are in the habit of visiting, I wish you a very warm welcome back!

Where have I been? Well, I've migrated west, a grand 14 miles or so, from where I previously lived. In most points of comparison, that is a rather slim change, though anyone who has moved from one house to another knows how upending even moves "across town" can be. Specifically, I now reside in the delightful community of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Waukesha is home to my publisher, the setting of my first novel, and (at present) the only Taco John's in the region, which is a tremendous boon to my wife's happiness and fast-food contentment.

I hope and suspect that Waukesha will suit my household just fine for decades. Professionally and personally, it is a both a cozy nook and an excellent locale for us to conveniently attend such things as Brewers and Bucks games and stellar events like Ancient Aliens Live. Just yesterday I explored some trails of the parkway adjacent to my neighborhood, a welcome return to another lapsed hobby of mine- bicycling! I have affectionally named the opening, wooded stretch that runs along the Fox River "Haunchyville Trail."

Things have also been busy on other fronts. We had some health-related issues spring up that for now appear to be well in hand, and things have been rather busy at Orange Hat Publishing as well, including extremely-well attended launches and a host of other items that have demanded much of my attention usually set aside for writing (and blogging)!

Theses occurrences do not justify the break in blogging, but hopefully explains the lapse. For those of you who have read either or both of my books, the successor novel is still coming along. As with the return of the blog, I am reasonably confident that I shall be resuming considerable strides in compiling book number three. For some tidbits- this book will take the setting to a different continent than previously featured in either Spring City Terror or Ocean's Grave. It also will involve my own take of an eternal, mythical plot motif that involves the search for a certain treasure, albeit set in the 20th century and within the Lovecraftian setting.

When will it release? I would like to have the first manuscript completed by the end of this year, meaning that a publication date in the Fall of 2023 would certainly not be out of the question. I've made a formal wager with George RR Martin to release it before his sixth Song of Ice and Fire novel, The Winds of Winter. I believe I shall beat him in that regard--- one advantage being that he may or may not be entirely unaware of the wager.

Thank you all for bearing with me. It remains my great privilege and pleasure to continue to provide stories for you, my readers.

-SMM-