All But The Most Important...

Thirty-five boxes, very nearly the sum total of all we had in Japan, have now arrived safely in Honolulu. I will be spending the next I-don't-know-how-long going through them and finding out what made it and what didn't. So everything is here now, with the painful exception of my wife and daughter.

I am mystified by the visa process, how backward it seems. There are income requirements, and yet it seems you're forced to maintain two households (?!). Everything moves at a literal snail's pace and it seems that there is an aversion to computers, or at least to using them effectively and efficiently. There's a giant purgatorial gap between when USCIS is finished and when the NVC gets started. It's all working towards driving me a little crazy. But I suppose instead I should just be ashamed of my naivete.

Anyway, boxes, boxes, boxes...

The Path to Loss: Progress Report 1

Approaching Infinity: Book Four
4,300 words

I thought I would need more of a break between finishing the last book and starting the new, but I was wrong, thankfully. I did realize, though, that the Approaching Infinity series, originally planned to be six books, would need to grow by one book. The Loss Queen, which would have been book 4, becomes book 5, and now we have The Path to Loss squeezing in between. It all works out nicely, I think, but I promise not to keep adding books in the middle to forever put off the ending. We are moving towards a climax and a conclusion (of sorts).

I was going to use some of the time between books to work on Expeditionary Squad, but as I have started on the next Approaching Infinity volume already, I'll try to work on both simultaneously. I haven't been very successful working on multiple projects at the same time in the past so keep your fingers crossed.

Just in Time for the New Year

Both The Artifact Competition and The Gun Golems have had cosmetic overhauls, giving all three books a more consistent look. One of the main things I did was convert the straight quotes to smart quotes (it's such a simple fix, but I know more now than I did a year ago). Anyway, both volumes should be somewhat prettier now.

I don't mean for this to be a crutch or a substitute for doing my own proofreading, but if anyone has found errors (spelling, typos, etc.) in any of the Approaching Infinity volumes, please let me know.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

The Artifact Competition and my three short stories will be free for download from Amazon.com (any Amazon site that supports Kindle) on Christmas Day!

Go to www.amazon.com/author/chriseisenlauer or use the scrolling shop at right!

The Blood Solution: Progress Report 18 (FINAL)

Approaching Infinity: Book Three
is live and available from Amazon.com!

A hard copy/print version will follow in the next month or two.

Thank you all for your continued support!

The Blood Solution: Progress Report 17

Approaching Infinity: Book Three
3rd draft complete at 113,800 words

I started ebook formatting today and am very nearly finished! I'm using TextWrangler for the HTML which is a major improvement (in terms of convenience and ease of use) over what I used previously. I just need to ready the Shade dossiers and write the afterword. The whole thing should be good to go this weekend or next at the latest! Woohoo!