T.S. Frost's Blog: Derailed Train of Thought

Bleh.

My new job was good for the first month... and then we lost half the department staff due, mostly, to retirement for one person and finding out she has ovarian cancer and needed to start chemo treatment for the other.

This has led to much overtime and scrambling effort for my remaining co-workers and myself. Combine that with a recurrence of personal medical problems that were supposed to be under control and I don't really feel like doing much of anything except for sleeping when I have free time.

My promised book that should have been out before the end of the year (and why would I promise something like that where the cosmos could hear me... I know better) is technically finished... but it still needs to be edited, and then probably re-edited. And then I'll stare at it for a while and say, "Why are they talking like that? No one talks like that!" and edit some more.

Truthfully, I'm not sure when it'll be done. I'm hoping soon. Preferably before the end of the month, but I'm not going to promise anything. I'm still working on it, just much slower than before.

Hopefully the next time I'm on here I'll have better news, but until then, take care of yourselves and have good luck in the new year!

Life continues!

I've been offered a promotion at work!

... Obviously, this is a Good Thing... but I still can't help feeling nervous, and excited, and scared, and secretly convinced that this is all going to go Horribly Wrong somehow.

I start in my new position in ten days, and I'll probably stay a neurotic wreck until the very last minute.

I'm not sure what this will mean for the future--at least in regards to my writing schedule--but, I can say this much, I will have a new book published before the end of the year. That much I can promise you.

Hopefully, things won't change too much in the Author part of my life, but as the song goes "Que Sera, Sera", what will be, will be.

As soon as I know more, you'll know more. Wish me luck!

...and here we go!

My new book is up and available to the public!

Maybe now my brain will stop telling me "You know... if you wake up an hour early you'll probably have enough time to work on a scene or two before you have to go to work..." and just let me sleep.



Metal and Magic

I'm not dead yet!

Sorry for the unplanned hiatus–I had been writing a bit, and trying to write quite a bit more, but my body decided to officially rebel and give me a pinched nerve and joint problems. The pinched nerve has since been resolved, although my joints still like to give me trouble.

However, the joints are pretty much under control now, mostly because I have learned not to do stuff if I know it's going to hurt me, as in “no, I don't want to go for a mountain hike, thank you,” “I have made good progress on this DIY project but I should stop now,” and so on.

And then I get caught up doing something fun and Do Things without stopping to think if I should. Not even big things! ...and then I'm destroyed. Like, ow! Ow in so many places.

...but I've finished my next book, and I'll be starting another soon which hopefully won't take as long to finish. As long as I remember to moderate myself, and be more mindful of how I'm lifting...

Age of Z - Kelpie

The GALFs known as Kelpies were Gentech's only successful project using non-mammalian genetic material in a subject.

Spliced with cuttlefish DNA Kelpies were capable of incredible camouflage, changing both the color and texture of their skin in order to blend into their surroundings. This ability combined with an incredible lung capacity made them very capable attackers, often striking while their prey was still unaware of their presence.

However, the use of cephalopod DNA in the Kelpies had the unintended side-effect of leaving them very susceptible to dehydration and they needed to return to water after only a few hours on dry land.

This inherent weakness caused the creatures to be labeled only a 'partial success'.

Progress Update

I've re-formatted the file for Age of Z so that it will look more like a traditional book and fixed a minor error that was pointed out to me--one of my settlements magically moved to a different state somewhere between the middle of the book and the last chapter. (oops!)

Thus, proving true the advise that no matter how carefully you proofread, how diligent you are in your research, there will still be mistakes in your work; and someone is going to point them out. The revised file should show up within a few days, depending on how long Amazon feels like taking.

The last Gentech creature profile will be up sometime tomorrow, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

As for my next book... I'll admit I'm not as far along in my rough draft as I'd have liked. I could blame it on many things: It's been crazy at work, (It has been.) I've been sick, (Honestly, who catches a cold in June?) my mother is buying a house and moving and I promised I'd help her. (Okay, I did that one to myself.)

I still plan to get the book published this year, it's just more likely to be out around October/November instead of the August/September I had previously been aiming for.

That's all I can think of for now. Stay safe and take care everybody!

You wanted to spell what?

Fun fact about being dyslexic (and yes, I misspelled that) sometimes you misspell words so badly that spellcheck can barely even try to hazard a guess.

Age of Z-Windigo

These man-sized GALFs were the most successful of Gentech's completed experiments. They possessed razor-sharp claws, a whip-like tail, mobile pointed ears and a sense of smell that let them track prey for miles.

They proved highly trainable and displayed an almost dog-like loyalty to their trainers. The government had put in an order for fifty Windigos for field testing, however, one week before they were suppose to ship out, the Z-plague outbreak occurred.

Age of Z-Troll

The largest and strongest of all the GALFs(excluding project LS), the Trolls were dark-grey horse-sized quadrupeds with an armored hide.

They were based, in part, on bighorn sheep and muskox and possessed a thickened, reinforced skull for ramming. When preparing to ram they would lower their head aligning their head, neck, and body horizontally straight, in order to transmit stress during ramming.

However, in spite of promising results in testing, low intelligence and a stubborn nature made them difficult to train and limited their usefulness in combat.

Age of Z-Imp

The GALFs known as Imps were small, four legged grey creatures with darker stripes on their bodies and ciliary muscles in their eyes for better viewing objects at varying distances. They were originally designed for surveillance and information gathering.

The Imps possessed neural implants allowing them to communicate with each other over great distances. They were created by Gentech and produced in large quantities. They acted as the surveillance system in the Gentech facility in Washington, D.C., alerting each other if intruders were spotted.

They were bred with superior intelligence and later were taught how to run most of the equipment at the facility and assist the scientists when needed. Each staff member at Gentech was required to keep an Imp with them at all times.