Brothers in Arms

Brother Libra sat alone in the officer’s mess, quietly saying a prayer over a middle-of-the-night meal of warmed something, the result of Kwon’s experiments. “… and please let this be a reward for a hard day’s work, not a penitence for some forgotten uncharitable thought, like the last one. Amen.” Around him, the ship vibrated faintly as it flew silently through the watery depths back to hopefully useful territory. As he finished his prayer Moffett walked in looking worn out and sleepless, carrying a mug of soup with a spoon sticking out of it. Libra waved him to a seat and waited for him to take it. Moffett looked across the table at him uncertainly and vaguely crossed himself, as if he half expected to be asked to, making Libra smile and nod in acknowledgment and approval of the gesture. Once again it could be observed that there are few atheists in a foxhole.

Continue reading Excerpt from Insanity’s Children, re: St Possenti →

Heretics of St. Possenti, the story of the founding of the eponymous order of monks, is now out in paperback.

Not all titles in “inspirational religeous Fiction” are aimed at the same demographic… but most of them are. It’s almost like most authors are not aiming at men, and/or men are not finding things worth buying and reading. We need to change that.

It is an odd world I live in. Inspired by my book, Heretics of St. Possenti, real men, initially led by a Salvation Army officer, worked to bring the order into existence, for real. It’s formal birthday before God is on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, 2019. Formal paperwork to satisfy the bureaucratic goblins of State will be filed soon, too. It’s mission will be help vets who need spiritual guidance and support as much as physical rescuing.

The founders include Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox members. The initiates will receive a couple of months “comparative religion” teaching, then will pick their course from the three. It may be the only monastery in existence with separate chapels from the three dominant Christian denominations within its walls. While I’m not a particularly religious man, I think it worthwhile to pray for this endeavor, and wish it the absolute best in both helping the men it aims at, and the schismed churches it draws from.

It is being formally created on this day, at this time, in commemoration of Veterans’ Day, a remembrance of the sacrifices the military vets the world over have made for their countries, people, and families. Not all who suffer in war died on the battlefield, but all deserve support, and I hope they can make the best sense of their experience they can.

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!