Hello, Internet!
Not a lot of progress to report this week, unfortunately. Got around half of the chapter edited which I had set as my goal, which is a bit disappointing. Part of my goal for the upcoming week is to finish that chapter and get the changes put into my second draft document.
I did a lot of reading this week, though. Finally finished re-reading the first three books of “The Faithful and the Fallen,” and then read the final novel, Wrath. I’m intending to at least scribble down a few notes and thoughts on the series for writing a series review later. I think that trying to do a spoiler-free review of a series as a whole will provide an interesting challenge. After all, so much of a series rides on the final volume, which almost inevitably implies spoiling the first book, or several books.
I also got through some short fiction which a few of my writer friends have written. I can’t say much about the first – the author hasn’t published it yet – but the second, The Disappearance of Ray Delgado, was quite enjoyable! It starts off as a somewhat bland mystery, but Cauthon’s strong characterization of the two central characters is fun to read as the science fiction elements grow. If you’re looking for a quick sci-fi fix, I’d recommend checking it out – only took me about an hour to read.
Apart from those books, I’ve begun my research reading for the Camp NaNo challenge starting April 1st, and I re-read Mossflower, by Brian Jacques. This was more on impulse than with good reason (I know, I know, I ought to be writing, not reading), but I don’t regret it. I grew up reading Jacques’ books constantly, and it was a strange and wonderful journey to revisit one of them many years later. If Rule ever works out to be half as fun for someone to read as the Redwall books have been for me, I’ll be happy.
There’s a lot I’d like to get done in this upcoming week; more than is realistic, in all likelihood. So, I’m thinking that I’ll finish my close editing pass over Chapter Three of The Rule of Iron, get those changes put into my second draft document, and then try to spend as much time as possible in a research coma on Mukenai/Mycenae and Perseus. I’ve already got the germ of an idea for a prologue to the story, and the myth itself will help structure my outline, but there’s still a lot of work to do.
Akhelas 