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A Change for the Better
A few minutes ago, I officially moved the blog to my thomsonfiction.ca domain at the address
https://blog.thomsonfiction.ca/
What this means is that I am now in full control of my blog’s domain and readers of the blog will no longer see advertising. If you follow my blog or are an email subscriber, I have migrated you to the new blog, meaning your transition should be seamless. If you’re a casual reader, please update your bookmark to the new address. All posts, pages, links, images, etc have also migrated to the new blog.
This is the last blog entry on the old ericthomsonblog.wordpress.com site. All future blog posts will appear on the blog.thomsonfiction.ca site. I’ll leave this one up for a while, but eventually, it will disappear.
Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.
May Flowers
April sure went by in a flash, and the weather was the usual mixed bag. We even had snow flurries yesterday, though the sun is shining brightly this morning. Still, the weather will remain rather cool, with temperatures below average, for a while longer. But that’s par for the course. As they say around here, you don’t plant your garden until after Victoria Day, which this year falls on the fourth Monday in May. Mind you, we’re already getting the outdoor living space ready, even if it’s too cold to sit outside and relax. My gas grill and charcoal smoker are ready for action.
I’ve passed the one-third mark on the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure, but progress is coming in fits and starts since I’m world-building again to create the post-war Commonwealth and Fleet. And said world-building, of course, needs to account for things mentioned in Decker’s War when discussing that time in history. But it’s also interesting to create the foundations for the bridge between Dunmoore’s era and that of Decker, Morrow, and Ghost Squadron. I’m aiming for a summer publication date, most likely in July, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, fellow humans. Peace.
April Showers
So far, spring has been pretty good around here. The last few days were more like late May or early June. Yesterday, our air conditioning even came on for the first time, but we’ll be reverting to the mean by the end of the week, or so the meteorologists say. However, their seven day forecasts keep changing wildly. Yesterday, we faced a week of low to mid teen temperatures (in Celsius) with almost constant rain, something we need at this time of the year to wash away the winter’s dust and grime. This morning, the forecast gives us nothing but sunshine and high teen temperatures. I’m sure by tomorrow, the next seven days will look different once again. Sometimes, weather forecasting seems more like voodoo than science.
The latest in the Ashes of Empire saga is garnering good reviews and even queries as to when the next one is coming out (early 2022, in case you’re wondering). If you enjoyed the first three books in the series, I’m pretty sure you’ll be entertained by Imperial Echoes as well, so if you haven’t picked up a copy, what are you waiting for?
Work on a seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure is moving along, but at a relatively slow pace, which means I’m still debating certain story line items with myself. It happens almost every time when my initial ideas don’t pan out the way I expected, so no worries. Barring unforeseen circumstances, it should still come out this summer.
And now, I’m off to enjoy a leisurely April Sunday, complete with a brisk hike around the neighborhood later on so we can enjoy the warmth, sunshine, and some good cardio exercise.
Stay safe and healthy, fellow humans.
The Saga Continues
The latest installment in the Ashes of Empire tale, Imperial Echoes, has been published. It may not have hit all ebook retailers at the time I’m writing this blog entry, but it won’t be long. The paperback and hardcover versions will be out in a day or two.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Another Step Forward
My editor started work on Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes yesterday, which means, barring any unforeseen issues, it should come out later this month, perhaps in synchrony with an eagerly awaited spring. Mind you, this winter hasn’t been exceptionally cold and we didn’t get as much snow as some years, for which most of us are grateful. Temperatures today and tomorrow will remain well below zero, but judging by the weather forecast, we’ll see the annual melt start on Monday. At this rate, the first day of spring might even be green rather than white. In any case, keep your eyes on this space and on the other internet places I frequent for updates on Imperial Echoes.
While my editor’s doing her thing, I’ll take a little break, enjoy my hobbies and let the next book take shape in my mind. At this point, it looks like it’ll be a seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure. If so, we can expect it to come out sometime in mid or late summer – again, barring any unforeseen events.
In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, fellow humans. Peace.
An Echo of the Future
I finished writing Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes yesterday and began the revision this morning. I warned my editor she’d see the manuscript in early March, so I’m optimistic about a late March or early April publication date. At this point it comes in at just under 400 print pages.
What next? It looks more and more likely I’ll be writing the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore adventure which could come out as early as the summer. And I have a tentative title for the fifth Ashes of Empire installment — Imperial Ghosts. No, Imperial Echoes doesn’t finish the series. It sets up the next phase of the rebirth, but I’ve not yet developed a storyline, and it won’t come out before 2022 in any case.
And that’s all the news on this Monday morning, here in the Land of Ice and Snow. Stay healthy and stay safe, my friends.
Happy Winter
I can’t believe January is already gone. It seems that time has both dragged and flown at light speed in the last twelve months. Come March, it’ll be a year since I set up the basement gym so I could keep on exercising after the city shut down the recreation centres where I’ve done my cardio and weights since retiring to become a full-time writer. Strange to say, I miss being around people when I do my sessions. The TV just isn’t an adequate replacement for being around other fitness-minded retirees. Besides, it suffers from the 999 channels and nothing watchable syndrome. I do enjoy watching cooking shows on the Food Network, but there’s not much of interest until later in the day.
With the onset of February, winter has truly settled in around here, even if the sun is shining brightly. It was minus 22 degrees Centigrade when I went out to put the garbage bins on the curb earlier this morning. Looking at the forecast, it appears that our usual late January, early February thaw will be a dud this year. Instead of 4-5 days of above freezing temperatures, we’ll get one day, this Friday, before plunging into the deep freeze again. Mind you, the cold doesn’t keep us from taking 20-30 minute walks around the neighbourhood, for fresh air and to avoid going stir crazy. And yes, I wear a puffy, knee-length parka and Yukon hat with the earflaps down when we go out. It’s not elegant, but it is warm.
On the writing front, Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes is just about at the three-quarters completion mark, and wonder of wonders, the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore story is slowly fermenting the back of my mind. Since it’s fermenting faster than the third Ghost Squadron and Constabulary Casefiles installments, I might even give it a try once Imperial Echoes is off to my editor, hopefully at the beginning of March.
An Experiment
In an attempt to move away from social media, I set up a private forum, hosted on my own domain to interact with readers. There, I’ll post updates on my work, answer questions and participate in discussions. You can read everything on the forum without having to register, but registration is necessary to post something. Call it another little step toward greater independence…
Happy New Year 2021
Count your blessings instead of your crosses.
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes.
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears.
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full times instead of your lean.
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth.
Love your neighbor as much as yourself.
And may we all be alive this time next year.
To my readers, my family and my friends, best wishes for a better year than the one that just ended. Stay safe and healthy.
Eric Thomson's Starship Stories 