Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We hosted here, with lots of family, two turkeys (not family) and lots of other good food. I made one of the turkeys this year, and it turned out pretty good.

These are my writing buddies: Murphy (the big one) and Bella (the not so big one). They're both doodles, but the little one is a mini. Bella is my shadow when I'm home. Murphy is his own dog, but he'll spend some time with me when I'm around. They're both "my kids' dogs," but since I walk them, they sometimes forget that they're not mine. Murphy helps me with all the deep character arcs, and Bella is more into the action scenes. Lots o' help.

How did my book launch go, you ask? My answer: Not great. Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like my promo ads underperformed. I base that on being able to track purchases through Amazon attributions, revealing what came from FB ads versus promos, and then one of the promo companies being kind enough to send me feedback on the reality versus their expectations. Beyond sales, I came out of the first week with 6 ratings and 2 reviews on Amazon, which might be the worst rating/review count I've ever had on a release. With this book having my highest ARC count, I was surprised to get so little feedback. But maybe it is just a matter of time, and I will see that go up. Of the ratings, I have seven 5-star and one 2-star (with no review for the 2-star, so I can't even tell if someone was expecting a romance and bought the wrong book). Strangely disappointing, but maybe I should show a little patience.

Let's dive into some phyzixs!

Okay, so lets dive into some magic mixed with physics. Why? Because I can't just wave my hands and say, "Because it's magic." I mean, the physics has to work too, right? If you don't care about physics at all, you probably should skip this entire section.

So, in a segment of Book 3, our intrepid heroes have to do some deep diving. How does magic help? Well, the Salts, who work water magic, can wrap a bubble of air with water, like having a little oxygen tank to cart along.

No problem, right? Just put a bubble of air around their heads and off they go!

Well, Archimedes' principle states that the buoyant force of something is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid (in this case, water). So how much air do we need, and how much force does that create? Could one actually dive with a bubble of air around one's head?

When exerting oneself, as per this dive, a person breathes about 40 to 60 breaths per minute, which is about 100L of air.

Diving is really much faster than I thought, and, of course, those folks free-diving are not breathing under water, so our Salt divers just go for it. But our non-Salts need help. Clearly, providing them help in the form of air bubbles would slow them down (because they have to fight against that buoyant force), so they're not doing 10-20 second free diving. Lets say it takes them a minute, so they'll need 100L of air (each).

1 cubic foot of air is 28.3L, so to get the 100L of air for a survival trip, we need 3.53 cubic feet of air.

The formula for volume of a sphere is: V(sphere) = 4/3 * pi * r^3. So, for the 3.53 cubic feet of air, we need a ball about 11.4 inches in radius, or 23 inches across. Let's say two feet (or 4.2 cu ft of air, or 118L).

So lets get back to how much force is on that bubble of air. Here's the buoyant force formula:

F=ρ⋅V⋅g, where ρ is the density of water (1000kg/m3), V is the bubble volume, and g is the gravitational constant, 9.81m/s/s.

So, about 1167 newtons of force push that air up, or 262 lbs.

So, if our Salty friends attached an air bubble to our main characters, would they be able to dive? No. The air bubble for the amount of air they would need would keep them from ever sinking. So what are we gonna do?

Naturally, the Salts have a not-so-user-friendly solution. Instead of attaching the air bubble to someone's head, they can attach it to a rock... a roughly 262 lb rock. Now you've got a more-or-less weightless (in an underwater sense) ball of air. Yes, the dimensions of the air bubble change when you stick a boulder in the middle. A 262 lb spherical chunk of basalt is 1.44 cubic feet (about 42L), which is about 17 inches across. That makes the air bubble about 2 inches wider in diameter.

So if you're a diver, holding that basalt boulder (if 17 inches can be called a boulder), you've got air sticking out about 5 inches away from that rock. It's relatively weightless, so its manageable to start diving down with it, holding your mouth close enough to take a breath.

But what happens as you dive?

Boyle's law says that P1 x V1 = P2 x V2. So if they have to dive down about 400 ft, the volume will decrease by 12! Uh oh. As you might suspect, the boulder is not a gas, so it doesn't shrink. The air bubble at that point extends about an inch past the boulder.

So our heroes are kissing the boulder to get air at the bottom of their dive.

Not only that, but let’s look back at Archimedes' principle. Our volume decreased, so the displaced water decreased. The result is that the upward force is less. Meaning the rock got heaver as they went down. The buoyance is pushing up at about 110 lbs at the bottom of their dive, and the rock is 262 lbs, so they're carrying 150 lbs at the bottom.

Crazy, right? Stupid physics... making the story so difficult.

Maybe next week we'll talk about a society stuck on one side of an osmotic membrane and the mental gyrations to make that work. Probably not, so don't fret.

Guardian League Book 2 Cover

The new cover for book 2 of Guardian league should roll out soon. I'm flashing it here.

All books by Steven J. Morris

Indie Author Showcase

Sanguineum Harenae:

Winds of Fury 1

By C. L. Brown

Sometimes a fresh start begins with old problems.

Molly Padia thinks moving to Albany, New York will give her a fresh start. As Molpadia, a timeless Amazon, she spent centuries policing supernaturals and keeping them off the mundane world’s radar. A life she wishes to leave behind her.

An innocent fling ignites a new romance. The legal edge it comes with leaves Molly in a precarious position. A gruesome murder brings a familiar face to town, sending her on a collision course with her past.

Something darker lies beneath Smallbany’s dull facade. Threats lurk around every corner. Neither the city nor its newest resident are what they seem. Molly will need to confront old enemies with allies.

The streets of Albany may be dangerous, but so is she.

Fans of Steve McHugh, Shayne Silvers, Cameron O'Connell, Faith Hunter, M.D. Massey, K.F. Breene, or Michael Anderle are going to love the Winds of Fury series, and the rest of the RKverse.

Wolf: Hemlock Hollow Book 2

By Sandra Kaye

Raine has found her first mate Liam Grimm but in doing so she discovered that her Witch heritage isn't her only surprise. When her mate was attacked, she pushed her magic to the brink of exhaustion releasing the final seal that was containing her wolf. Now she is summoned to the wolf mating games or risk angering the Alpha of Alpha's. Problem is since then she can't duplicate the action.

To make matters worse the only wolf she knows hid who he truly was from her. Lucian is attractive and broody and until the battle she thought him nothing more than a man with a talent for fixing things. Findiing out he was the black wolf/ dog she'd seen around town, left her feeling deeply betrayed.

The Iron Crown

Dragon Spirits Book 1

By L. l. Macrae

Fenn’s first and only memory is finding himself in the middle of a forest, face to face with a dragon spirit mocking him, all knowledge gone apart from his own name.

Lost and confused, his only hope for answers is Calidra—a woman living on the edge of the world with her partner. Forced to return home when her father dies, Calidra has put off facing her estranged mother for seven years, and she begrudgingly helps Fenn, forging papers for him so he can avoid the Queen’s Inquisitors.

But her mother is the least of her worries when they discover an ancient enemy is rising again. It should be impossible with the Iron Crown in power—and Fenn is terrified he might unwittingly be playing a part in the war’s resurgence.

Surrounded by vengeful spirits and powerful magic, Fenn’s desperate attempt to find his way home might well alter the fate of Tassar, and every power in it.

A new high fantasy series bursts into life with the DRAGON SPIRITS who reign supreme in the magic-drenched world of Tassar.

Daughters of the Cursed King

by Rae Hendricks, Paige Clendenin, Kasandra Sheckles

The Lightbringer Series meets The Cruel Prince in this dark fantasy romance with intrigue, magic, and family betrayal. Twin sisters must battle to the death as they come of age thanks to the curse on their parents. If one doesn't win and take the throne, the king will force their hands. But their savior comes in an unusual form when the sorceress responsible for the curse invades the kingdom once more. And she's come for blood. An epic fantasy with epic romance, curvy women, & magical duels.

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