Howdy!

Sometimes you work really hard at something.  Then things change.  Either stuff external to you.  Or your own perspective.  And the thing upon which you've been working incredibly hard shifts into incompatibility or obsolescence.

You feel like the work you've done is "wasted."  But I have a different philosophy on situations like that.

You have experience.  Even if the work no longer has viable output.  Even if it feels like you just slogged through something and lost.  

A friend of mine likes sending a particular GIF when we lose at bar trivia.  The guy from the Talladega Nights pit crew.  It kept running through my head this past week.  So I quoted him in the subject line and below for good measure:

"One. We tried hard. And two. We're still dear friends."

Yes, he immediately gets told to shut up.  But never mind that.

So, what am I talking about?

I believe I once recounted my story of the original draft of The False Pact.  It was the Burnhelts' tale that took place alongside Repenter.  It was around 200k words.

I tried for a good long while to shove it into the overall Players of the Game saga that evolved in Repenter.  And it just.  Didn't.  Fit.   I had to scuttle it.  That was a dispiriting experience.  It took me a while to wrap my head around the full scale of what needed to be done.

BUT.

I ultimately reused many elements in The New Players, The Breakers, and The Game War.  I think the overall story is vastly improved.  It also taught me the value of loosely outlining story beats a few novels in advance.  Then tightening up the outline when I actually get to the next book I'm writing.

I just encountered something similar, though on a far smaller scale, with my ongoing efforts to produce the Repenter audiobook with its full AI cast.

"Wasted work."

Spoken.Press recently released a 2.0 version.  Things have changed.  Better narration.  Improved emotional deliveries.  Vastly more customizable voices.  But it's incompatible with 1.0.  Some of the voice actors pulled their clones.  Including the guy I picked for my narrator.  And my producer and I had just worked on the first 22 chapters.  Hours upon hours of work.

Wuf.

I provided some feedback to Spoken about some British vs. American accent issues with the 2.0 version.  And they're thankfully able to put in a fix with their upcoming 2.1 release.

So, yeah.  I can either look at it as effort that ultimately had no value.  Or consider it experience for the future.

I choose the latter.  

Plus, we're more future-proofed with all Eleven Labs voices.  And I shall plug away at it anew whenever version 2.1 rolls out.

I'm in it to win it.  Or at least spin it.

Candice feeds on death.  

She wants to feel bad about her parasitic nature as Draqu.  Feasting on the life force of her prey.  Taking their vitality, their memories, their powers.  But she does not feel guilt.  Or shame.

She relishes her predatory nature.

Following the events of The New Players, Candice still brims with the power she siphoned from Hekati, the Unmaker Goddess.  She should feel ready for anything.

She does not.

Other Draqu prowl about the world.  Her mother.  Her sister.  Both with a history of tormenting the Burnhelt Family.  Killing. Torturing.  Her family despises Candice for aligning with their enemies.  For trying to balance the scales from the harm she inflicted in her old life.

And then there's Ed.

She begged him to save her.  From what she did not know.  Possibly a vengeful Hekati.  Or Corsis.  Or her family.  Or herself.  And Ed promised he would save her.

That thrills Candice.  And scares her.

Because Ed brims over with life force, pulling much of it from his Tumult Flame hyper powers.

So very delectable.  So very tempting to feed upon.

Find out if Candice lets Ed save her in The Breakers.

Art by Ringasure.

I had a bunch of family and friends' events in May.  Visits.  Graduations. Travels.

So how did this affect Secret Fronts' 1st-draft-flavored 2nd draft?  (Almost used "effect" there.  Travesty averted.)

I'm up to page 484 with 36 pages for the month.  A little worse than last month's 46 pages.  But I was busy.  And words are words.

I've also been using Claude to help me synthesize some marketing strategy ideas from some recent webinars I've taken.  It's helped me figure out a general timeframe to release Jagged Pieces in the first quarter of 2027.  Hopefully, I can stick to that.  

The cover refresh is also nearing the halfway point with all seven books that are currently published.  I'll share the new images in a future update in July or August, depending on the timing.  And then I'll have them work on the covers for several of the upcoming novels in the POTG series.

Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:

Seska: “I think we both want this day to just. End.”

Gath: “No. I want today to live forever.” 

Seska: “It probably will.”

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

This is the first Murderbot story that's emerged after the Apple streaming show.  I like Alexander Skarsgaard's portrayal of the synthetic cyborg others call Sec Unit.  But Kevin R. Free's narration IS Murderbot.  So droll and long-suffering.

It is the spirit animal of all introverts.

It hates talking to people.  Has to keep track of its emotions that it doesn't like to think about.  And it really just wants to watch its entertainment media.

Sec Unit/Murderbot is again tasked with saving a portion of the family who grants it asylum outside of corporate territories.  But it still gets pulled into helping other humans.  Ones related to an old adversary.

The extraction, of course, does not go as planned.

Enjoyable as always.

Tactical Breach Wizards

This tactics video game is extra fun.  And also goofy.

It takes place in a fantasy world that's basically modern with magic and modern tech.  An electricity witch and a precognitive sniper have to untangle a conspiracy involving a former friend who manipulates time.

They must perform a series of breaches by blowing open doors and move tactically through the defended environments with their wizard powers.

The game's title is most apt.

And the healing character that has to shoot her allies in the face to bring them back to life is just the right kind of ludicrous.

Then there's the murder board at the sniper's mom's apartment.

And snappy dialog throughout.

In short.  It is most welcome within my house of wheels.

Want to know the score fast? Select Quick Recap, and Corsis will detail all his jerky skullduggery in just a few minutes.

Want to know the nitty gritty? Select Detailed Recaps to jump in with both feet and learn all the big events and character moments of the Players of the Game saga.

That's all for this time.

Stay smart.  Stay safe.

Jim