Since our last chat, Steve and I attended WorldCon virtually; went on vacation; saw Richard Thompson at the Waterville Opera House; and did readings at Albacon, virtually.
We vacationed at Old Orchard Beach, our go-to getaway location, and had a pleasant four days in what were probably the last Warm days of the season. Old Orchard Beach closes down hard following Labor Day, so we more or less had the place to ourselves, which was fine. The change of scene did us both good, I think, and now we’re back home and back to work.
As far as work goes, we’re awaiting the edits on “The Last Train to Clarkesville,” a Liaden Universe® Western, which has been accepted by editor David Boop for the anthology Last Train Outta Kepler-283-C, coming from Baen late next year.
We have just reviewed the proofs for “Gadreel’s Folly,” the lead story in Chicks in Tank Tops, edited by Jason Cordova, coming from Baen in January 2023.
And we have a story to write for Solar Flare, from Zombies Need Brains, edited by Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier.
In addition, we are each working on Liaden Universe® novels — Steve on Trade Lanes, due in November; myself on an as-yet-untitled novel set in the Redlands, due in June 2023.
Coming up in the near future is CapClave, which sponsors the WSFA Small Press and Short Story Award. This year, there’s a Liaden story on the short list — “Standing Orders,” which appeared in Derelict, edited by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier, from Zombies Need Brains. Steve and I aren’t able to get to CapClave this year, but we await results with interest. A complete listing of the finalists can be found here.
Fans of the coon cats will be pleased to know that Firefly is integrating beautifully into the pride. She is very busy with herding the toys, and thus far has had limited success in getting any of the elder cats to play tag with her, but she’s pretty sure they’ll come over to the Play Side real soon.
And I think that’s — oh, no, wait. How about a snippet from the Redlands novel?