aroslav: Blog

If you are currently reading Model Student, Triptych, or The Prodigal, download them! Tonight, I'm going to upload the new version and it might be very difficult to find your place in one of the six books that will replace the three currently on the site. The new books will be approximately the following equivalents:
Current Model Student will become 1. Mural, 2. Rhapsody Suite, 3. Diva. In order to balance the books a bit, Diva will include a chapter or two of what is currently Triptych.
Current Triptych will become 4. Triptych, 5. Odalisque. That story was seriously way too long!
Current The Prodigal will become 6. The Prodigal.
I do not have plans to change or re-release the Triptych Interviews at this time.

In other news: I began posting Wayzgoose's Steven George & The Dragon on my site for Patrons. That means I'll start posting it here the first of May. If you want to join on Patreon to see things sooner, let me know.

Among the things that will be starting for Patrons soon is the re-edited and illustrated US Highways, Book 1 of "Wonders of My World." I'm including photos of my journey around the country. I'm having a lot of fun reliving it remotely since I'm still sweltering in place in Pharr Texas. 92 degrees with an expected high of 97 today. Highs in the upper nineties and into the 100s for the rest of the week. Sadly, it looks like I'll be another month here waiting for things to open up safely so I can travel north.

I'm glad I don't need groceries this week. Wearing long pants, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, mask, and hat can get hot. And no one can see my eyes because as soon as I don the mask my daughter sewed and sent me, my glasses fog up. One of the little things we do in life in order to keep living.

I am getting some new stuff written, too, but it's going a little slower than I hoped. I have eleven chapters of Adams' Apple written and ten chapters of Pussy Pirates in the can. I expect both to be around 20 chapters. The latter will be longer in getting to post because it will need to be reviewed by the Swarm authors for approval as part of the canon. And you know how I love to push the edges of established genres. It could take them a while to brow-beat me into submission. But they'll succeed. I have a lot of admiration for those guys.

I've had some inquiries regarding when book 5 of The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins, Double Team, will be available for purchase. It looks like June 1. I'll post a note as soon as I have it up and ready.

I keep restraining myself from starting something else new. I've always been able to keep multiple projects in the air at once, but I have so many now that I need to try to stay focused on one or two. I think that's partly due to the quarantine and living in isolation. I keep having mental images of that one lone guy broadcasting the end of the world from a remote radio station, unaware that there is no one left to listen to him.

I'm confident, though. We're doing what needs to be done. A lot of the SOL readership is in the group of people considered highly at risk. We're old. I'd like to thank those of you who aren't for doing your part in protecting us. For that, I'll keep writing.

Since the beginning of quarantine, I've been trying to make more of my stories available for free to a broader audience. Most recently, that has included making a run through my published edition of the Model Student series, editing it, and posting it on my website. But I never updated the original version on SOL even to the published version when it came out in 2016. I'm trying to remedy that and have formatted the entire new edition for release on SOL--hopefully later this week. It's hard to believe I originally wrote and posted that story here back in 2012!

I do, however, have a question or two that you could help me with. First, let me explain that in order to make good stand-alone books, and in order to put them in print, I had to make several adjustments to where parts and stories ended and began. So, the breakpoints between stories are not the same as in the current version. Second, I brought out the original Model Student as three separate books, Mural, Rhapsody Suite, and Diva. The original version of Triptych was so long I had to cut it into two books, now called Triptych and Odalisque. The Prodigal continues to stand alone. So there were three serials originally posted on SOL and now they are six books.

The options as I see them.

1. Replace the current three books with six new ones. Each a standalone with the new titles.

2. Use Part divisions to post three as one in Model Student, and two books as one in Triptych.

Your feedback would be helpful.

In any case, the version currently on SOL will be gone. There were some cuts and rewrites of particularly gratuitous scenes to make the story acceptable for a broader audience, and a few names of minor characters were changed to protect the innocent (notably racquetball competitors). So, if you are particularly fond of the stories as they currently exist and don't want to see the changes (if you even care), I'd suggest you download the current books now. They will be changed by this time next week.

Since finishing The Prodigal back in 2013, I have written and posted thirty more books here as aroslav and ten more as Wayzgoose. I am grateful for your continued support and readership.

Just an irrelevant note: I went out yesterday for my bi-weekly groceries and monthly pharmacy run. My truck is getting four weeks per gallon at the moment. I've been having some trouble with ants in the trailer here in Texas, so while I was at the grocery store, I found and bought some ant killer. When I checked out the cashier held the package up and said with a straight face, "You do know this is for insects and not relatives, right?"

I hope you are weathering the storm, so to speak. Be well.

Devon

I'm talking about a story here, not a person. Today endeth the reading of Things I Never Told My Wife. I hope you've enjoyed this tidbit that I wrote to pass the time back in December and January. You know, back before we were forced to stay put instead of staying put like always!

I'm working on another story I hope to be of similar length, but I have to say I've not been overwhelmingly motivated to write. Usually, the words are bursting to get out and this week, nothing. I try to blame part of that on the two client projects that I have in that will account for about fifty hours of editing time. But, then there is also my personal project of editing and formatting the Model Student series for display on my website. At the moment, I'm about half way through the published version of Triptych, which is the first half of the story by that name here at SOL. When I published that work, it was so long that I divided it in two, Triptych and Odalisque. I'm debating whether I should re-do the SOL version. I've a feeling there were a number of changes between what is now "finished" and what is still on SOL. I'd have to take down the series and then repost the new books. Should I do that?

Because, of course, that would give me something else to do while I procrastinate on my other projects.

By the way, thanks to Allen, who recently re-read the series and sent me a hundred errors he spotted while reading. I'm getting those all corrected, too!

I hope you all enjoyed Things I Never Told My Wife. It seems strange to only have one story posting on SOL right now. Tomorrow, "The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins" chapter 151, which is book 4, Double Twist, second chapter, will post. Whatever will happen next??? BTW, Double Twist is mostly not a tear-jerker.

At the moment, I'm thinking of losing the weight I've gained while sitting on my ass the past month plus as another project I could procrastinate.

Be well, friends!

As promised, the first chapter of Double Twist was posted this morning, Chapter 150 of "The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins." I've just finished uploading the other 45 chapters of this story and have them in the queue to post every three days. While I was at it, I slated the first chapter (#196) of Double Team (Book 5) to post three days after this one ends.

I inadvertently left comments turned off when I posted the story and have corrected that now. Comment away! Voting will come online on April 14.

I've also been busy this week, preparing the first three books of the "Model Student" Series for online reading on my website. I'm attaching the appropriate links on the site now and they should be ready in an hour or so by looking at "Free Stories" at devonlayne. The first three books are a bit different than the version here on SOL. I split up the former first story of the series here on SOL (Model Student) into three shorter stories. I've done some other editing and correcting files as well. The new titles in the series are Mural, Rhapsody Suite, and Diva. They each have a colorful cover page as well.

Things are going good here. Be well, my friends.

So far the rain here in South Texas today has served to keep both the temperature and humidity in a comfort zone. I know there are many folks who have little or no comfort being stuck in their homes with no entertainment. Except the internet and books.

So, I've been trying to do my part. I've completely remodeled both my websites, devonlayne and nathaneverett. I'm in the process of transferring the remainder of my books that aren't already on them so they can be accessed for free online reading. Between the two, I currently have 24 books available and a few short stories. And it's pretty easy to navigate and update, so I'll be digging through my files for new stuff as well.

It's not much, but it's what I've got.

And that brings me to beginnings and endings. I looked at my submission log and was surprised to find only four pending releases on SOL. Double Tears concludes tomorrow. Things I Never Told My Wife concludes on Saturday. Fortunately, Book 4 in The Transmogrification of Jacob Hopkins, Double Twist, begins on Thursday and as soon as it posts, I'll upload the other 46 chapters of it. There won't be a break cycling from Double Tears to Double Twist. It gives an opportunity for people to bail out of the story, though, if they don't like what I've been doing with it.

Writing work on my current two projects, Adams' Apple and Pussy Pirates, has been slow. I hope to get more accomplished on them this week unless I get waylaid by another project. I'm now in the process of editing and releasing the entire Model Student Series on my website. I won't be updating the story here, though.

I guess that's it for now. I'm working on converting Wayzgoose's YA novel for posting, but it has its own difficulties. We'll see.

Be well, my friends.
Devon