Hello All -
I'm back, finally, really. Some of you know that I fell while touring in the Galapagos Islands (October 2021) and fractured three cervical vertebrae - broke my frigging neck... So December 2021 I had a cage put in front of my spine, In the Spring 2022 I had elbow and wrist surgery to repair damage from the fall, and in June had a plate put in the back of my neck to fully stabilize my spine. All done, right? Nope, in January 2023 I developed a subdural hematoma, and had to have 2 holes drilled in my hard head to drain the excess blood pressing on my brain. I'm mostly good now - left arm/hand is still a little wonky and painful from residual nerve damage. With PT and time, there's improvement to the point I am now physically able and mostly mentally able to concentrate to resume writing and proof reading.
Sob story over. 78-years old and otherwise healthy and kicking.
My initial ideas for The Beard popped into my head in October of 2019, but I stopped any significant work after the June 2022 surgery - My ability to concentrate was shot to hell. This spring I resumed work and have incorporated the ideas and addressed concerns from the Swarm authors group’s earlier feedback. The story has a LOT of elements that create entirely new canon, and provides canon that addresses/explains stuff in older stories that seems to violate canon going way back.
So The Beard’s eleven chapters are finished and proofed and will start uploading Friday morning 8/16/2024. Most of the characters first appear in Caleb and Cheval Jaune and reading/rereading is highly advised. I’m working on a character list that could be appended at the end, but that is not in shape yet. If you’ve recently read Caleb and Cheval Jaune, you shouldn’t need it. As always feedback is welcome and appreciated. Enjoy!
As a side note, I think this will be my last Swarm story for a while. I have some ideas for the Damsels in Distress universe that I want to explore.