Newsletter - August 1, 2024


My wife and I had a nice little long-weekend trip in the middle of what is otherwise a very hectic and stressful juncture of our lives. I spent one amazing day fishing with my buddy, Bobby off of Anna Marie Island, FL.

Other than quick, and much needed, breaks, we’ve been tackling family medical issues, helping with hurricane recovery, and prodding our oldest (often kicking and screaming) toward all the college application stuffs. Bit of a madhouse these days.

I'm expecting the structural feedback on Bones of Cenaedth any time now. I don’t have it as of writing this newsletter, but I bet I get the feedback before the newsletter actually gets sent. Bottom line, I plan to switch back to working on Book 2 in August. Ironically, my fishing adventure was a nice but unintentional immersion technique for the reality of being out in the ocean with the sun beating down. 🤣 (Yes, we take to the seas with the Salts in Book 3).

There was a freebie on Amazon Ad school since my last newsletter, and I spent time learning a little more about marketing/advertising my books (and slightly less time writing). If you’re interested in what I’m taking away from the Ad School lessons, I’ll have that in a separate email for writers. Send me a note if you’d like to be added to that and don’t already receive it.

My wife has a comfort movie, You've Got Mail. When things get too rough, that's often her go to. When I hear it playing in the background, I know she needs a break. (Incidentally, Red's mother did the same in Book 1 of The Guardian League). I have a go to book -- Mirror of Her Dreams. I started reading it last night when I couldn't sleep because I was too worried about all the things. Do you have a go to book or movie that helps you de-stress?

Okay, I am hesitantly slipping a short story into this newsletter. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now, but I sometimes turn to writing as a release. As I drove down to Houston, I was thinking about short story ideas for the Thaumatropic Roots series. I wrote something quickly over the last couple of days that I am calling (for now) "Blood Bound." It's the origin story for a character named Trentius, who you met briefly in Mother of Trees (bonus points to anyone that remembers who Trentius is and what "his thing" is... before reading the short story). What, you may ask, will those bonus points get me? Street cred. Massive street cred. Trentius continues on in Book 2 (unless the structural editor cuts him, and I don't think she's going to), and this story ties in nicely. Cut me some slack -- I didn't so much as run it through a spell-checker, must less the more advanced proofing tools I use. I'll clean it up when I get more time.

Blood Bound.epub <-- On an iphone, if you have kindle, you can get this to your kindle by downloading it, then clicking it from whatever tools you use to look at downloads on your iphone and share it to kindle. It takes a few minutes, as I think it uploads the file, sanity checks it, then pulls it back into your kindle.

Indie Author Showcase

Welcome to CanEdania

by Natasja Eby

The evil lurking in the shadows has found its way to Canada…

When a new branch of the Edania Organization opens in Toronto, no one is more surprised to be recruited as an agent than Winter. Introverted and antisocial, Win has no desire to be a superhero, let alone be the leader of her team! But she can’t say no to her outgoing and energetic cousin Ben; her sassy and smart frenemy Savannah; or the cute new guy at school, Micah.

Together they embark on a journey to discover their new abilities…and an enemy threatening their home. But they’ll have to battle through clashing personalities and powers they don’t understand before they can save anyone. How can Win ever inspire her team when she barely believes in herself?


Previous Newsletters

​​May you get lost this week in another world.

Follow me on Goodreads.

Subscribe

Steven J Morris

Hi! If you enjoy fantasy with snarky humor, I've got some books for you. My newsletter takes you along the creative journey, and keeps you informed of what's brewing.

Read more from Steven J Morris

Whoa! March really snuck up on me. Not just because February is shorter, but rather life got busy. Starting a new role at a new company in the tech industry in your mid-fifties isn't a walk in the park. I'm on an emotional rollercoaster that goes from feeling like I know some specific thing better than most people, to dawning realizations that I have no idea how some other thing works and fear of when the new folks will realize how ignorant I am. Arrogance, fear, humility, once in a while...

Life has been a bit chaotic, between elder care, prepping my oldest for college, starting a new job this week, and then all the normal bedlam of housework and helping with homework, family virus-share programs, etc. Oh, and writing, which is simultaneously the easiest and hardest thing to hold onto. Hard, because it can't be rationally justified in terms of trying to live a less-hectic life with well-balanced priorities. Easy, because my passion for it pushes me toward finding or making time...

New hardback covers for Guardian League

I can now confirm that I am exiting retirement. *sigh* I'm joining arm. I love writing that without context. I assume most of you are not part of the semiconductor industry, so it sounds like I'm either supplying weapons or artificial limbs. Either of which are way too cool for me. I really enjoyed spending more time on writing and marketing, and I’m going to miss it. Secrets of Deara is coming together. I sent an early pass to Libby James—I would highly recommend her to my writer friends. I...