aroslav: Blog

It's been a big week for me. The fifth and final book of "The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins," Double Team, began Tuesday on SOL. This morning, the same book came to a conclusion for my patrons who automatically receive advance release of everything I write and immediate access to the eBook (if there is one) as well. I now have 30 Devon Layne books available for free online reading on my website and 10 more Nathan Everett books on that site. And every one of my works are headed to SOL so you don't need to look anywhere else. I just want the broadest possible audience.

I posted the first couple of chapters of The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic for Advance Release patrons this morning which means it has come out of editing and I'm working on getting it formatted and ready to release here on SOL. I believe it will begin in two weeks and should have the eBooks available simultaneously on bookapy.

The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic, is my occult fantasy and is the third in The Props Master series. The first, Behind the Ivory Veil, is listed as a prequel to the series. A goddess concealed Behind the Ivory Veil is released at the cost of confining her father in that prison. Props master Wayne Hamel discovered the key to Wesley's release during his initiation as a Vagabond Priest in Ritual Reality. Now Wayne leads a circle of witches devoted to the goddess in the person of Serepte Allen, assuring her protection and the fulfillment of her destiny. All it takes is A Touch of Magic. Sexual content in the entire Props Master series is pretty light, but there is some.

So, now I can spend the rest of the day today working through the last few chapters of the manuscript that arrived this morning from my editor. In the meantime, I've sent off my new Wayzgoose book, For Mayhem or Madness, to the editors. I expect to start posting it mid- to late-September. Lots of new stuff coming.

Enjoy!

Well, Double Twist has ended with Chapter 195 of The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins. Now it's on to Book 5: Double Team, starting Tuesday 8/18. Without any conscious intention on my part, the final chapter of the story will post on December 19, so 'Happy Yule!' That, by the way, will be just two weeks short of two years that I've been posting this story with a chapter every three days.

I should mention that I began writing this volume in June of 2019, about two weeks before I started having heart problems. By the time I finished it near the end of August, I was literally writing for fifteen minutes and sleeping an hour, then writing for another fifteen minutes. I know there could have been more to this story and I might still write another volume. But at the time, I just wanted to make sure I finished the story before I died. I did. And I'm not dead yet. I have a lot more stories to tell.

As many have anticipated, this new volume covers the two years of Jacob and Cindy's National Service which proves to be unlike anything they had ever imagined.

It's a whole new world now that Jacob and all his pod except Cindy have graduated from high school. The National Service can't wait to have Marvel and Hopkins on the road as a deputation team, talking about life in the service. They are on the road as soon as school is out, even though they won't be inducted for two more months. But not everyone is happy with their message of reform and some will stop at nothing to make sure it won't be heard.

Starting Tuesday!

Is that all? No, of course not. Watch for J-Hop's short novella to appear on Monday. It's based on a fandom of Thinking Horndog's Swarm Cycle universe. No, it's not a Swarm story. It's a fan story. My Sex Slave will post on Monday. Remember, author name: J-Hop.

When Donna told me she wanted to have a baby, I was all for it. But how to get her ready for the big event? She liked my writing and got turned on when I wrote sexy things. I dug in the back of my memory for a series on SOL called 'The Swarm Cycle' and decided to write about getting a sex slave concubine at a Confederacy pickup. Except we weren't in the Confederacy and there were no aliens about to gobble up Earth. No pickups. What was I supposed to do? This is the first of my stories I've really let anyone but her see. Wish me luck. -J-Hop

Oh, yes. That sets the stage for my first entry into the Swarm Cycle later this fall. My new story, Pussy Pirates, is now in the hands of proofreaders. A lot of them. A couple will make a final scan for canon violations but there will be a lot of eyes looking for spelling and syntax errors. A couple will probably spot check my info on weapons and ships, but I think I got all the comments corrected previously.

Let me tell you, this story owes a lot to the other Swarm authors who are quite a community. Omachuck, Zen Master, John Lewiston, Frostfyre, Kenn Ghannon, starfiend, Anne N. Mouse, Duke of Ramus, akarge, ElSol. There are more than 270 stories on SOL in the Swarm Cycle and I've read them all-most two or three times. I started working on this story back in early 2018 at the urging of a couple of authors. I don't think they knew how I'd screw up their universe!

Most of the Swarm Cycle stories record how the Confederacy picked up people with high CAP test scores and sent them out to colonize other planets and to take the battle to the Sa'arm. But there were those who promised to defend Earth. Different groups formed and were either ineligible for extraction or just refused it. The Einherjar, Earth Defense Force, The Maquis, The Jackass Company, and all the world's militaries. Into this group, I've injected the Pussy Pirates, game developers and porn starlets who have refused extraction to participate directly in Earth's defense. This is their story.

Also in the hands of my editors is The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic. I'm getting ready for a release of this story very soon. I'm just waiting for the last few chapters to get back to me from Old Rotorhead and Pixel the Cat. It's hard to believe these guys have been keeping me on the straight and narrow for over seven years and have caught more errors between them than I'd have thought existed. As soon as these last few chapters have been proofed, I'll start posting the story.

A tool of the great circle at Carles Castlerigg, the Cauldron Ops, was broken when the Vagabond Priest cast it against the altar stone in Ritual Reality. Now Wayne Hamel, the Props Master, is surrounded by four witches, all devoted to protecting and teaching the high priestess's daughter, Serepte Allen. But dark forces stand in the way of forging Serepte into a new cauldron. They must first find the missing player and release Serepte's father from his long imprisonment Behind the Ivory Veil. All it takes is A Touch of Magic.

So, that's the update from my recliner in the heart of a nudist resort in Idaho. I'm working on still more new stories and rewrites. Love this sunny weather.

I had an 'episode' this week. That's not like watching a new episode of CSI New York. Or Episode 20 of Midnight Diner on Netflix. This was an episode of my heart reaching and maintaining a rate of 177 bpm Monday night. My heart hasn't been at that rate since my cardioversion October 1 last year. When I checked my blood pressure and heart rate Tuesday morning, it was still rocking the tempo, so I called the doctor. Explained to the nurse who returned my call what the symptoms were and that the rate seemed to be slowing as of mid-afternoon. She said she'd discuss it with the doctor and get back to me, but if it spiked again to go to the emergency room.

Got a call back from the doctor Wednesday morning, at which time my heart rate and blood pressure had both stabilized, a little higher than normal but within range. He said he thought it was just an anomaly and could have been related to the heat, which had been near 100 the past week. He did, however, give me a prescription for a drug that would reduce the rate if it spiked again. If that didn't work, I should go to the emergency room.

I'm thankful that I haven't had another episode since Monday night. I don't plan to have another for a long time. But it put me on notice that I've been screwing around with my weight and diet. At one point this winter I thought I was retaining water but it turns out I've been retaining wine. I've cut back how much wine I drink at night, and have been experimenting with Japanese cooking. I've dropped three pounds this week and plan to do some more. If you want to look at my cooking lessons, they're on my FirstExit0 blogspot.

In the meantime, speaking of episodes, I've been rewriting my Swarm story, Pussy Pirates, after it was reviewed by the Swarm authors. I'm pleased with the progress and just realized last night that I need to add another episode between two existing ones. As neither of my existing editors have experience in the Swarm Cycle, I'd like to find another editor/proofreader for this story. It will go back to the Swarm authors for review, but I could use a good critical grammar-nazi who actually knows proofreading without getting caught up in the story. LMK.

So, having updated all my blogs, websites, and Patreon tiers today, I'm ready to get writing. I also need to finish Wayzgoose's For Mayhem or Madness this week and start feeding it to editors. Whoopee!

Speaking of editors, they are already bogged down with The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic, so I think I have time to develop a little further before I send anything else off.

It's a time of transitions. Adams' Apples will end on Friday and Double Twist will end on Saturday. On Tuesday next week, the final volume of "The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins," Double Team, will begin. Wow! Seems like I've been involved with that story for a long time. In fact, since November 2018 when I started writing it.

I'm thinking at the moment that maybe I should collect all the comments on the story and publish them as a different story, just for the entertainment value. Few have anything to do with Double Twist.

As has rightly been guessed, Double Team deals with Jacob and his pod's two years of National Service after they leave high school. It's not all a bed of roses for the Octave Domestic Partnership. It seems there are surprises around every corner as they get ready for service.

Have a great week!

There seems to be some concern this morning that Double Twist and "The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins" series might become too political with the posting of chapter 190 today. I'm not sure what to say about that. Other than, as Jacob said after releasing their The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly special back in Chapter 136 (Double Tears),

"Is political satire going to be the future direction for Marvel and Hopkins?" one of our viewers asked.
"Not necessarily," I said. "This piece came together after an extremely stressful time for all of us here. And, I suspect, for everyone in the country. It was timely and appropriate. Next time we are going to be back in a very intimate chamber setting to play Shubert's Fantasy in F minor. We'll have all the details on that up on our site soon. But we do like performing with costumes, dance, and storyline. There will be more of that whether it's seen as political or not."

If you'll remember, back in Chapter 134 (Double Tears), the sitting president attempted to postpone the inauguration of the newly elected president because of the national emergency. He was overruled by the Supreme Court. I want to remind you that Chapter 134 was written on April 22, 2019, and was posted on SOL on February 14, 2020. Both of those were long before any president actually suggested a delay in elections or inauguration. The chapter had nothing to do with the current political environment.

Today's posting of Chapter 190 of Double Twist was also written a long time ago. According to my records, June 21, 2019. That was the same day I was celebrating the release of Wild Woods in Seattle. I say this in order to emphasize that nothing in this story is intended as a commentary on current politics.

Jacob and crew are, however, political in their world. In their world, there is only one party and the issue that drives his political commentary and activism is National Service reform. He will continue to drive a political campaign based on that single issue. And he will discover that people with power will oppose him on the grounds of what they will lose. I believe that is pretty much a universal situation and that the phrase "Who owns the government?" is one that is asked in nearly every country in the world. And perhaps, in all the worlds we can invent in fiction. As one reader suggested in a mail message to me this morning:

Could it be that the answer to "who owns the government" is the same "who" that owns the governments of most of the world's national governments? Upon reflection of the real life I've experienced I'm certainly open to considering that as a viable thesis.

I don't know the answer to that question in our world. I've allowed Jacob to discover layer after layer of answers that are accurate in his world. It's a different world than ours, though I'm obviously influenced by what I see and hear as an author. I'm not a prophet. I will mention, however, that in Jacob's timeframe and world, Chapter 190 takes place in February of 2022.

The story is for entertainment purposes only.

I've been clearing projects off my desk one after another this month. So different than a year ago when I couldn't breathe and thought I was going to die. This year, the isolation of my campsite seems like a good thing.

So, there's about three more weeks of Double Twist until it comes to an end, which happens to coincide with the end of Adams' Apples. I have slated the beginning of the last book of The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins, Double Team, to begin three days later. I've also 'discovered' one of Jacob's stories and have sent it off to editors. It seems Jacob was fascinated in his V1 life with the Swarm Cycle and decided to act out his own version by finding himself a sex slave. I'll post My Sex Slave about the same time Double Team launches. Watch for the new author, J-Hop!

In addition to that, my editors currently have in hand The Props Master 2: A Touch of Magic. Yes! I actually finished and revised the book that's been hanging around my desk since 1978! Soon, I'll begin the rewrite and completion of book 3, Child of Earth. Don't hold your breath. I've got other projects in the works as well.

I'm currently working on the long-delayed Wayzgoose story For Mayhem or Madness. This is another Dag Hamar cyber mystery and fits between For Money or Mayhem and For Blood or Money. It will probably be a somewhat shorter story than the others, but will fill a very important piece in the series.

And… I have the story edits for my upcoming Swarm Cycle story, Pussy Pirates. The Swarm Authors have checked it for canon violations and have offered some badly needed suggestions on things I know nothing about (like weapons and space travel). This is another story that will live on the periphery of the universe and not affect any of the existing stories. I'll be starting that rewrite in the next week.

So, I'm not just sitting around naked enjoying the beautiful outdoor weather here at my camp. I'm doing that in addition to sitting back in my recliner and typing out story after story!

And don't forget… My current story, Adams' Apples, is now available on Bookapy. Enjoy!