Richard Raley's Blog, page 19
June 29, 2021
July-ish 2021 PURE INFERNO Quick Notes
1. Just a tad hot out here in California, well...the whole country really. And the Artic circle apparently, which I'm sure is JUST FINE.
2. Wrote a very acceptable amount this month, feel like I'm really making significant progress for the first time in forever. [Cue Frozen music]. Like...I'm going to finish this book. And the Vicky book not so long after it. Which is how things are supposed to work when you're an author, but after the last few years in this quagmire of misery this is the first month I've felt like victory wasn't just possible, but it's going to fucking happen. You almost start questioning yourself...did I really do this at least once maybe even twice a year? Yeah, Richard, you did.
I mean...every novel I've ever finished has felt like a miracle at one point or another, but...so very nice to be back where I am and to feel like I'm reclaiming this career I sacrificed so much for.
3. Still months of writing and editing for WAR TO END ALL WARS but...I can feel it now, it's not an idea, it's reality. Also, I'm...me, I guess. I'm sharp. I'm thinking through all the angles. I'm starting to remember bits and pieces of the series and how to connect them all. I feel funny again and want to make people laugh and smile and feel all the wonderful emotions we humans are possible of. And maybe a few of the horrible ones as well...
4. Had a massive epiphany concerning FM7. Seismic. It changes nothing, but changes everything. Heh. More on this later. Still thinking it through. But...well...I guess I'll just tease you and say it cleans up some problems I had with the back half of the series.
5. No delays and nothing has to be rewritten though, so don't freak out.
6. July is stuffed with doctors sadly, so not sure if I can keep this pace up without getting distracted by REAL LIFE. One year post surgery on July 31st so...they want their blood work and appointments and procedures and ARGH!!!
7. Lost 160 pounds almost. 60 pre surgery, 100 post. Walking a mile five days a week now. Tried a bunch of different stuff but that seems to be the best for me. Let my legs take the brunt and save my wrists and elbows for writing! Need another round of new shirts probably. 3XLs are looking quite huge these days. Food wise can pretty much eat anything I'd want at this point outside of sugary treats. Still allergic to dairy and pork and nuts because of the stupid EOE throat thing, but...just had a whole black bean burrito for breakfast. Yummy! Without cheese... 😱 Stupid EOE!!!
8. Was also the one year anniversary of my grandfather's death last week. Tough. Especially on my Mom. Whole thing has been, but that week was bad. You think you have it handled, and maybe you mostly do, but grief still hits you in ways you don't expect. A favorite saying slipping from your mouth or a stranger at the store wearing a shirt that looks too close to one you've seen hundreds of times before...
9. Anyone else watching the Euros? Yesterday was CRAZY.
10. Rereading Sanderson's Stormlight book 3 finally, so I can get back into that series. Still have Abercrombie, Malazan, Hobb, and plenty more to catch up on!
11. Stay cool!!! Stay safe!!! Stay foul!!!
June 23, 2021
War to End All Wars Mini Tease #2
A whole weekend to myself.
Just me and my old playground.
Consider the King Returned, Bitches!
Where the Elf women at?!?!
June 18, 2021
War to End All Wars Mini Tease #1
"How, uh...how long you been standing there, Boom?"
"Oh, just something about choking and chains..."
June 14, 2021
Jury Duty Done
Lucked out this time!
Doctor appointments here and there for the next couple months as we're coming up on the one year post surgery date in July, but plenty of time to steal more pages of progress, I hope...
Is fucking hot...
Like record breaking hot this weekend, so...
...
.
.
.
Guess I got some more good ol' pen and paper in my immediate future!
Also: we do not believe in normal periods in this household!
June 9, 2021
Watching, Playing, Reading Pre Summer Fiery Inferno 2021 Edition
Spoilers, probably?
==WATCHING==
Invincible: WATCH IT NOW!!! The only part better than watching Invincible is going on YouTube and watching everyone freak the fuck out in reaction videos to Invincible. It's up there with the first season of The Boys as my favorite superhero show ever. Six season and a movie, please! One of the few experiences that was so good I don't even want to read the original comic, just give me more of this so I can be surprised again and again!
The Mitchells vs the Machines: A great, enjoyable CGI animated movie from Netflix, how is this possible? Well, it's by the same Sony animation group that did Spiderverse, that helps, and it shows. The animation alone has so much style and interesting background detail stuff going on that you could probably be entertained watching it on mute, but the story is sweet, heartwarming, and if you have children you should probably watch it with them and then hug/cry/repress emotions with them afterwards.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: You're a fucking mess, Marvel. Get your shit together!
There's a lot going on here, I think. For one, I think it's obvious that the herculean task of building everything towards Infinity War and Endgame has emotionally sapped the entire studio of its creative juices. Especially if you look at the whole MCU up to this point as "book 1" or "story 1", it really feels like we're in sophomore slump territory where they are struggling to get to the next big thing.
And of course: pandemic!
But...my hope for these DisneyPlus shows was that they would be on the same shared universe interconnectedness that we saw with season 2 of the Mandalorian. Actually, I'd want more, but that should have been the minimum threshold in this day and age. Instead we aren't even reaching the same level as Season 1 of the Mando. We're barely over Agents of SHIELD or Netflix Daredevil interconnectedness in that it's kind of following up and we see SOME characters but not the ones we really want and...
Even if we ignore expectations and just focus on what is actually there, what's there is a ton of scared writing. Lazy writing too. Or...fast writing at least. They're handwaving A LOT. Ankle is in the water but they never jump in for a swim. US Agent could've been been really complex, but...he's redeemed now everyone, just like that! And hey, he's not crazy from the super soldier serum any more, we only needed that to happen for a few episodes anyway!
Ignoring the fact that killing the terrorist guy was actually not completely unjustified and the idea that the United States Senate (have you ever listened to any of these people in real life!?!?!?!) would even scolded him for that or especially gone so far as to strip him of the shield was laughable. Oh and we're probably supposed to support Karli and ignore all the murder? Sure got a speech about it. Are the Flag Smashers wrong? Or right? What are they even really trying to accomplish? No, no, don't think about that, don't look into that, don't build a plot around that, have cake and eat too, whatever we need for the next scene! We call it...Schrodinger's Freedom Terrorist!
You can make a villain that's complicated AND evil, Marvel. You did it with Thanos and Zemo...who's in this very series dancing the night away! So why are you freaking out about it now? Or that horse crap they pulled the end of WandaVision. They'll never know what you sacrificed for them, Wanda! I know Wanda mentally abused about a thousand innocent people and maybe we might want to deal with that, since, ya know...its conflicted and dirty and fun. Don't fucking handwave. Steer into the storm!
I rant because I know they can do better and have done better. Get over the slump. X Men. Fantastic Four. Crazy Nimrod Sentinel Shit? Galactus that's not a fucking space cloud?
Please?
More complaints too, but I fail to recall all of them at the moment. Oh, the Sharon Carter thing, or that we're supposed to believe Steve Rogers just left her to rot for years. Fuck that!
Attack on Titan Final Season Part 1: It's Attack on Titan time and that means I'm in an anime binge mood! Hey, Marvel, this, this right here. This is what it looks like when you fucking go for it. I hope all my foreshadowing and plans in the King Henry Tapes come out as well as what's been pulled off with Attack on Titan. It really is a masterpiece of onion layers. Bleeding, skull crushing, everyone is dying onion layers.
I have read ahead in the manga I am aware they rushed...just a tad...with some things, but here's hoping when we get Part 2 in the anime they tinker a bit?
If you ever watch one anime, this is one of the handful you should pick from.
Haikyuu!!! Season 4: I don't know why I care about a Japanese high school boys volleyball team, but I really do...
ReZero S1 Rewatch and S2: Great, but...I'd forgotten how much crying there was...do still love a good death loop though!
Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1: Distilled Shonen that I binged yet never loved. Kind of like they went for a solid bronze medal, nothing more, nothing less, and accomplished just that. Hey, it's a medal. It's snazzy. But I seen those handstands done better...
Justice League Snyder Cut: Actually watchable. Somehow. The fact the execs managed to fuck this whole thing up even more than Lucasfilm did with the Star Wars sequels is an amazing feat of maleficence.
Other HBO Max Junk Movies: You're allowed to release good movies, Warner Bros, really. You can do it! (In the Heights isn't out yet as I write this). Judas and the Messiah was about the only one I've liked so far. Please let Dune be good, please please please!
Jupiter's Legacy: Glad it got cancelled before I watched more than two episodes because I was really not looking forward to watching any more of it.
Mare of Eastown: Just a great, condensed, seven episode mini-series and I'm sure Kate Winslet will get tons of award nods. Jean Smart was fantastic as well. Depressing, I suppose. I don't know, anxiety and horror and awkward humor freaks me out a lot more than any of the depressing stuff does. It'll probably get a second season they weren't planning on that goes totally batshit crazy...
LOKI Episode 1: That's more fucking like it, Marvel!!!!!
==PLAYING==
I've actually not been gaming much. Been suffering from a lot of joint pain related to the weight loss as my joints and ligaments acclimate to the new normal, so I've been saving my wrists and elbows for writing and especially staying away from console controllers (tiny PS4 controller is absolutely the worse). Also when I'm writing I have less time for other pursuits and as you'll see in the next section when I write I'd rather be reading anyway, so...no pressy pressy the butty buttons!
Ori and the Blind Forest: Finally played this on the Switch and it was magical and beautiful and the perfect amount of difficult with every death and triumph feeling earned and satisfying. Though I will say the water temple escape made me start screaming curse words at my TV. Still, very much worth the journey and I already bought Ori and the Will of the Wisps and should get to it eventually I hope.
Crash Bandicoot 4: Fuck you depth perception! Why is it that out of all the characters in this game that Crash somehow controls the worse? Or maybe I suck, I mean I probably suck, platformers have never been my thing and its not like I ever beat the original Crash games as a kid anyway.
Civilization 6: The final update to my surprise, kind of ruined the game for me. Man at Arms and the way the AI rushes that tech already for industrial zones has just made for a generally miserable Deity experience. Not that Deity isn't half bullshit anyway, but it feels a lot worse.
Football Manager 2021: Less of a game and more of a lifestyle choice at this point. It's just kind of always on in the laptop background...not interrupting my writing though and don't seem to be addicted to it now, so...that's an improvement! And it's so low impact it doesn't hurt my wrists or fingers at all, so it's the one game I can relax with without worrying about tiring out.
Hearts of Iron 4: So there was a huge Paradox sale on Steam and I grabbed a few dlcs I haven't bothered with over the last couple years and HOI4 is first up. Feels very much the same, just with boats and spies to play with that might or might not actually do anything. I never feel like there's replay value with HOI4 and still it feels like only the major players are worth bothering with. Also a lot of the "skill" is just knowing the most effective Focus Tree path and build order. Plus, the best HOI4 experience still remains a mod and not the official game, so...not sure how long I'm going to be at this one before moving down the next on my list.
==READING==
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe: Quite the crime novel and history on the Troubles. Engaging and thought provoking from beginning to end.
Clanlands by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish: I have vast amounts of Scottish DNA and was a Ron Moore fan from DS9 and BSG and had obviously heard of the Outlander books, but when Starz started the TV series I jumped on board. Yes, I just admitted I'm a man that reads and watches Outlander (though I need to catch up on season 5 and I'm not looking forward to it knowing what will happen to Claire from the books...) No, I do not own a kilt, no I do not have abs of any sort...
Anyway, this specifically is just a Scotland travel novel chaotically told by two actors and probably double that many ghost writers and double that many editors. Unless you're a huge fan I wouldn't bother, might not even bother anyway, quite a bit of it is just shilling various commercial endeavors.
Premonition by Michael Lewis: I read everything by Lewis. This is up there with his best. The CDC probably comes off the worst. Also, if you're a 30-40 something actress in Hollywood right now and you haven't told your agent you want to play Charity Dean, you are throwing away the role of a lifetime. Not saying there weren't biases in the book, but...what a character that woman is!
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: Liked the Martian more...this was one of those odd cases where I felt like the choice the author made with the main character to try to show growth actually completely did the opposite. I realize I'm probably the extreme minority opinion here and I don't want to spoil what is one of the most popular books of the year, but...I suppose I will say that we didn't get to see what I thought of as the interesting stuff at the end of the novel.
I mean, we're VERY different writers so not surprising. Weir likes survival, science, and math problems, what I want is interpersonal communication and political strife. And curse words!
He also like....makes money at this and I...don't...
The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold: I've mentioned Bujold's semi-retirement project and she's now kind of unretired and released a full novel in the series. On the shorter side, but still, more Penric! Still very much recommend these!
And next, oh fuck me, I have so many authors I need to catch up on!!! Much less trying new ones!
Should probably keep writing my own stuff too...
June 1, 2021
Fresno Strikes Back!!!
106 degrees today and the AC died last night trying to shake the house down to the ground. No writing until it's fixed 😱
Dark rooms, lots of fans, and cold showers...
Outside of that...have been using pen and paper lately per the updates above. Making progress. Have one last Class 2015 kid to introduce, or rather reintroduce, a certain hydromancer you're already aware of that King Henry has saved for dessert.
Still not sure how much I'm going to cut all this up...it's just massive as is...very funny in parts, but massive.
Point is: progress even in the summer! Until the Bitch-Queen Fate destroyed my AC...
Probably revenge for what I did to poor, innocent, Best Most Loving Neighbor Ever Countess Sariel in GLASSBREAKER GOES HOME.
May 13, 2021
"War to End All Wars" Sneak Peek #2
Been a few months and you've all been very good. Early days and subject to change and all that!
Copyrighted by me, Richard Raley, all rights reserved, do not copy and paste but instead link back here please, etc.
Divjot coughed one last time, took a deep breath, then turned her eyes up to get a full blast of Preston Landry in all his perfect boy scout glory. No nervous peek here. Twenty-year-old handsome hunk of pure man meeting her awkward, unworthy fourteen-year-old gaze and those so white teeth, and those lips and that blocky chin with just a hint of stubble and the way the floromancer’s coat highlighted his bulging shoulder muscles…
Squeeeeee!
Pretty sure anima wasn’t involved, but if you told me anima was involved, I’d have believed it. Cuz every girl in Class 2015 seemed spellbound. Instantaneously. Even Sigfrid paused her devouring frenzy to burp. Which for her was like second base. “You okay?” Pocket asked Divjot.
She opened her mouth and something that was probably noise came out of it.
There was also some drool…
“I know he’s teasing you plenty right now, but you’re in good hands with this guy,” Pocket told her.
More noise and lots more drool.
Perfect moment to strike, ain’t it? “That ain’t cool, Pocket, you can’t hit on Raj’s sister like that. In fact I promised Raj we wouldn’t do this.”
Jesus somehow spontaneously teleported back over to us from wherever the fuck he’d been. “Raj’s sister? Can’t be Raj’s sister, El Rey. Much too guapa.”
Divjot’s face went a strawberry caramel so pure she turned into a fucking Ben and Jerry’s flavor.
“I see it now,” Jesus changed his mind immediately. “Pocket, control yourself! Stop hitting on Raj’s sister! Once she saw your pequenoit would be over anyway!”
Pocket actually lost his cool long enough to growl, “How was the dog?”
“Not so stuck up as far as purebreds go,” Jesus gave his expert opinion on all things canine, “but I’ve never met an animal that’s more worried about his culo disappearing.”
May 10, 2021
Quick Notes May 2021
1. Hit 60k words last night working on a very fun Pocket and Jesus scene. That is generally the point where I consider a work to be a "novel" so...we got us a book, boys, girls, and blood tentacle monsters!
2. How accurate is the estimate? Are we really 2/5ths of the way finished? Probably not. This isn't one of those books (like FM6 or FM7...*cough*) where I know exactly what I want to do scene to scene and have been picturing it in my head for over a decade now, replaying conversations over and over in all the myriad of paths they can take and it just explodes out of me in an unstoppable torrent. Even ignoring how sick I've been and how that's made things difficult, WtEaW has been much more nebulous. I've had to wander and I've already cut out quite a bit of that wandering and expect more to follow. Also the path ahead could be quite long and twisty or short and straight...there's just no telling!
3. That said, I have more of a feel for the book than I ever had before and have come to some key revelations in the last few weeks. Despite my first idea of the novel being that Class 2015 and the Winter War matches they take part in being at the forefront, I've realized I'm more interested in King Henry and his classmates and their last moments at the Asylum. These were always the key elements of the story, but I think they've shifted in importance as I've worked. Maybe part of me even always knew it should be that way since instead of starting the novel exactly when Class 2015 showed up, I delayed it until the third session (more on this later btw).
I suppose some of you will "no shit sherlock" this one. It's not that Class 2015 isn't important or doesn't play big parts in this novel and they will VERY MUCH show up in the mainline, especially as we get to the later books. As I've said, some are even in the Vicky novel! But...generally you either show the planning for an event or the event itself (unless the event goes very wrong!) and I think how King Henry helps and the chaos he spreads around the Winter War is a lot more interesting than the matches themselves. He's also a passive observer, so...does that really work? I'm learning towards NO. So...more hijinks, less sporting spectacle, more Class 2009, less Class 2015 is probably where we are headed.
Always be adaptable as a writer, it's very important!
4. One truly miserable situation in this novel is that because I decided I was just going to be so so smart and have the series have a session count that doesn't reset novel to novel, we only have 8 sessions to work with in this book despite the fact it's probably going to be at least 500 pages long, so...this one I'm working on is closing in on 100 manuscript pages and the two that preceded it weren't slim either. Why is this one so big? Well...I'm having to introduce 30 new characters in one shot! It might be the most challenging thing I've ever done, but I'm have lots of fun with it. Even if Class 2015 won't be so overwhelming as before, they still have tons of pages devoted to them and there's some great characters in there I'm sure you will love, many of them related to characters you already love!
5. A couple weeks ago I saw an aunt and cousin I haven't seen since before the pandemic. They live in North Carolina these days and couldn't even fly in for my grandfather's funeral (which obviously greatly upset my aunt), so since things are better and my cousin's kid decided that a not-quite-post pandemic wedding was a great idea (and lapped me and two of my other cousins on the whole marriage thingy in the process) they drove up from LA and visited for a couple days before the wedding, including a trip to the gravesite. Graves are just...weird, humanity, so fucking weird. Ignoring that, it was wonderful to visit and hug family, since ya know...vaccines rule!
6. Good news on my father's battle with his heart. After huge doses of some meds and a second attempt at the procedure, he's finally out of AFIB. Still very rough and can very quickly be problematic again, and he's still on some rather dangerous meds, but for now, we'll take it.
7. It's hot. Fresno is already headed into summer, ignoring the occasion couple days in the 80s, so...my writing output is always depressed in May/Jun/July/August/Sept...we'll still be battling for 10k words a month, but we will be battling! Maybe I'll even do some writing with a pen and paper to escape hot laptops? Some post-midnight writing? We shall see!
8. Jury Duty in June 😭😭😭
9. Oh! Check out "Invincible" on Amazon Prime if you haven't already! Foul Mouth Baby Seal of Approval!
April 15, 2021
April 2021 Quick Notes
1. It finally happened!!! I got two cherry twin sugar free popsicles in a pack!!!
2. Am writing, progress is being made--if not insane levels--but even satisfactory levels are a wonderful improvement!
3. Some of the scenes in WTEAW are just choice. Maybe my favorite Welf/KH back and forth ever.
4. Past me is an asshole. Or maybe better to say it is a sign of how much pain I was in through 2019-20 that there is basically no outline work done beyond the chapter I'm now finishing. Just like "Chapter X: Winter War round one and post match hijinks." Thanks dude, real helpful.
5. So I had to do a bunch of outlining to figure things out. Plus research on a few things, like the Winter War set up I came up with in FM3. Also what I've said about Welf and Constructs before. Probably going to have to make a minor continuity edit in FM5 so everything works, but nothing major. Oh happy days that this is the last of the timeline craziness!
6. With that done I'm now working on new material finally, and this will be quite the send off for the school timeline it looks like!
7. Funny to be introducing characters here that I've already written whole scenes with in the Vicky novel.
8. Living next to a field with cats is a pain, the sticker season is upon Burt!
March 24, 2021
I...have...nothing on my schedule...for almost 3 months...
Like I used to write too, not this "few minutes here and there" bullshit.
So, love you all, but tomorrow I am officially cutting myself off from the net and civilization and we will see what happens, won't we? Going to start with continuing the "War to End All Wars" reread edit and we'll see how long before I inevitably get bored with it and switch over to the Vicky novel, but...there's hope for progress of some sort!
I'm even giving up my hunt for a PS5! Oh, the great sacrifices I make for you people!
I might finally play Assassin Creed Valhalla and I'll have to play it in 720p and sub 30fps, the horror!
