Sorry for no updates in a while. Many things going on in life right now.

In story-related news, Heretics of St Possenti is now out in audiobook format!

In related news, Paul sent me an email with the following:

Miguel had an interesting article: https://gunfreezone.net/index.php/2018/06/19/horsesht-concern-trolling/

It links to an American Psychological Association paper http://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-97.aspx. The abstract includes this:

“A final problematic assumption is that avoiding trauma reminders is healthy. The opposite is true. Avoidance behaviors make PTSD worse, and effective treatments include safe exposure to thoughts and feelings related to the trauma.”

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now all I need is a real job with a support-a-family-sized paycheck, and for my mom to get well enough to get out of the hospital (relatively minor stroke, now in rehab with a pacemaker; doing well, all considered).

I saw an unexpected tick up in sales. Wondered why. Went looking.

Found this. A nomination for The Planetary Defense Awards as an honorable mention.

Awards announcement here.

An unexpected event. I thank you, Jon Mollison, for your kind words, and for those who noted it and spent a few of your hard-earned dollars to support an underemployed writer.

From Brandywine Books.

From The Drawn Cutlass.

For those Ace of Spades HQ fans, a mention from the Book Horde.

From Goodreads.

Vox Day’s excerpt. I’m happy to see that someone finally commented on “Canticle 762”

Sales are weird. No news, no plug or promotional that I’m aware of, suddenly it jumps from #30,000 (number 60 or so in genre) to #11,000 (#19 in genre)… (dig, dig, dig) AHhhh… A mention at the  Ace Of Spades book thread as a book plug. That’s why. Whew. THANKS, Horde!

There is a good review of “Heretics of St. Possenti” over at the Castalia House blog.

Up to 38 reviews at Amazon, with more than 3/4 of them 5-star. Apparently the readers think I was generally successful in doing what I was aiming for, and are understanding it.

I had a short email interview with one of the editors at “Men of the West”.

If I think of anything more, I’ll post it here. If you have any questions, you can post here or there.

Peaked at #2 in the Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Inspirational genre, now fallen back to #9. You can use Sales Rank to track it if you so desire. Just use the book’s ASIN of B077CVXWVP and it pops right up. I expect it to move around a bit.
(RATS! missed a #1 bestseller in category by ->||<- this much!)

Currently at 15 reviews: ten 5-star, four 4-star, one 3-star. Not bad for a first attempt in the genre, one dominated by chick-flick books and romances dressed up with religious draping. Comparing the covers on the top 20 in that field to HoSP is… interesting.

The bulk of the reviews are pretty meaty – they have particular things they do and don’t like about it. No major faux pas noted yet. Not a bad first 3/7th of a week.

I sort of see what the 3-star review’s point is, but it looks like she just doesn’t “get it.” Which is OK – not everyone will. But maybe, given time, reflection, perhaps a conversation with a man who “gets it” because it’s a book written for and about men, will turn the light on.

Back to the keyboard.

My newest book is now officially hot off the Castalia House press… er, electronically speaking, anyhow.

Heretics of St. Possenti is the story of the founding of the monastic order of St. Possenti, the “Gun Saint”, by Bishop Thomas Cranberry. The order was originally introduced in TSCB, and a few of my readers were very curious how it came into existence. So, after some research and writing, and a bit of re-writing, and some feedback from people more knowledgeable than I about certain aspects of Catholicism, monks, etc., and who knows how much editorial work by the good people of the internationally-acclaimed publisher Castalia House, it’s finally ready. Available at Amazon, of course.

A brief bit of universe background –The Stars Came Back takes place circa 2650 AD.  Heretics takes place in the unspecified but not too distant future – before 2050, in any case, likely around 2040 for my mental reasoning. Far enough out that things are different, near enough that far too many things are still the same, and linear extrapolation isn’t unreasonable. The US hasn’t blown up yet, we’re still getting involved in overseas military adventurism, SJWs still infest HR, Christian religious faith is largely mocked in pop culture, etc. In this environment, Thomas Cranberry has a few unexpected events that cascade together and inspire him to see an entirely different approach to outreach, to meet a badly under-served group, one that most kick while they are down.

It is a didactic book rather than action / adventure, and quite unlike the space-opera that is TSCB. However, I hope it is also a worthwhile read.

The cover is totally different than I expected, but it’s classic in-genre.
Larger image of the cover: