A few minor updates

First off, if anyone was wondering, I was unaffected by the incident at the Cincinnati FBI office yesterday. That’s miles away from me, and the resultant chase went much farther away. Still, it’s alarming that it happened in my city.

Better news: Yesterday morning, I received both my payment from Analog for “Aleyara’s Descent” and a small batch of royalties for my Hub books. I set up a direct deposit arrangement with Analog in hopes that it would help the payment come faster, and apparently it worked, since this is much faster than I expected.

That’s in addition to the modest royalties I got from eSpec Books last week. I wish the Arachne duology were selling better, but I appreciate eSpec’s willingness to stick with a book and give it time to find an audience. Apparently their model relies heavily on convention sales, and they’re only just starting to get back into that after the pandemic shutdowns, so hopefully things will pick up. My editor Danielle let me know at Shore Leave that she’s still open to a third novel, though I’m not sure when I’ll find the time to write it, given my need to line up other paying work. Ohh, I wish I wrote as fast as I did a quarter-century ago.

I’ve been looking over the list of the uncollected stories I’ve had published in magazines or self-published on Patreon, and it looks like I’m getting close to having enough for a second story collection. I think I’d prefer to sell a few more stories first, ideally in the Arachne-Troubleshooter Universe, which would not be strongly represented in a collection otherwise. But then, it’ll probably be a while before “Aleyara” comes out in Analog, and then I’ll need to leave a cushion of at least a couple of months before collecting it. (It would definitely be the centerpiece of the collection, the longest and IMHO the best of the stories I have available.) So that gives me time to try to write and sell some more short fiction in the interim — again, if time permits. Fortunately, selling “Aleyara” opens the door for me to revisit and revise some shelved stories featuring the Biaru, the species introduced in that novelette. That might save me some time.

Ideally, what I’d prefer is to wait until I have enough stories to do themed collections. For instance, I’d like to do a collection of Troubleshooter stories, or do enough fantasy stories to do a collection of those, or that sort of thing. But I just don’t produce short fiction quickly enough. And I don’t know, maybe that’s just my own sense of orderliness talking. Maybe it’s better to do a collection with a more eclectic range of stories and universes, to give readers greater variety and a broader overview of my work. Themed collections could come later, repackaging stories that first appeared separately. I’d like to hear opinions from my readers — what kind of story collection do you prefer?

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My new coffee maker is working out okay, except the same thing happened with the coffee grounds I bought as with the free sample bag — the first cup was nice and mellow, but subsequent ones were more bitter and sour. I figured out it’s what inevitably happens once the package is unsealed and the grounds are exposed to oxygen. Now I know why my cousin Mark insists on using beans and grinder. And why the coffee bags I used before are individually wrapped. Still, I’m getting used to it, and it seems that digging out grounds from deeper in the container helps a little.

The main issue with the coffee maker is that it’s a bit messy. It’s a single-cup maker that drips directly into a coffee cup rather than a pot, so there’s a certain amount of splashing out onto the countertop. I’ve been using my preferred coffee mug, but yesterday I tried using the taller mug that came with the machine to see if it ameliorated the splashing any. It did splash less, but still some. And maybe I’m being paranoid, but I’m not sure whether I should trust an inexpensive ceramic mug made in China to be lead-free. It’s probably safe, but I’m more comfortable sticking with my usual mug. As for the splashing, it just requires me to wipe the countertop regularly, which I should do anyway.

I do appreciate the greater amount of counter space I have in the kitchen now thanks to my smaller microwave and the glass shelf I bought that goes over two of my stove burners. Being able to access the countertop and the microwave even with the dish drying rack deployed opens the door for me to wash dishes more than once a day, which has already proven useful on a day when I had more than one rack’s worth of stuff to wash. The one adjustment is that I have to retrain my reflexes a bit, since I’m often working further to the left on the countertop than I used to, which throws off my aim when reaching for the silverware drawer, and puts me a bit farther from the fridge, so it’s not as easy to hold the door open with my foot (which I probably shouldn’t do anyway).

The oven shelf is nice because I can move it to different positions depending on which burners I need to use. It can be handy as a cutting board right next to the pan. Although I found out recently that it’s not a good idea to use it that way when I’m using both of the front burners, because reaching over a hot pan to cut things behind it is not comfortable or entirely safe. Better to use my normal cutting board for that arrangement.

 

Let’s see, what else? After surviving Shore Leave without getting sick, and with the government now relaxing COVID guidelines and suggesting it’s time to begin returning to normal life (while still taking precautions to protect those at greater risk), I’ve dared to venture out for my walks around the neighborhood without wearing a mask — though I still carry one in a plastic bag in my pocket just in case I have to go into a public building or something. I realize that having a mask on just for an outdoor walk was probably overcautious, but I’d gotten used to the sense of security it brought me, and I’m still getting used to the feeling of being outside without one. It is more comfortable for my ears, though.