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 The cover for the book is out! Grab a copy on September 12! That's all. -J. E. Ayers 
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 Skate the Seeker I am happy to announce a release date for book II of the Rag & Bone Chronicles for later this year: Skate the Seeker will be out on September 12, 2023! Work is still being done to get it publish-ready, and I thank the hardworking people of Thinklings for making this happen. As soon as I’ve checked on final touches for Seeker, it will be on to working on book III. Media I finally finished Dune, and I really liked it. Herbert’s world-building is incredible, and the political intrigues were gripping. I can very easily understand why the book became such a cornerstone of science fiction. I’ve been warned that the later books get increasingly weird, so that’ll be fun. Watched “Gotham By Gaslight” on Netflix, an elseworlds story of Batman in the late 1800s, and I was deeply disappointed toward the end. The world was interesting, the variation on Batman and various other characters was engaging, the animation and voice acting were wonderful and rich, but the villain reveal in the third act was such a misstep that I didn't even bother finishing the movie. What a waste, what a world. I've also gotten through season 1 of His Dark Materials, and I can't wait to start season two. Back in Westeros, on Clash of Kings. I’m trying to get a sense for how Martin’s prose reflects the world he created while also getting the reader to care about some deeply unpleasant characters. My biggest gripe with A Song of Ice and Fire is that its insistence on using sexual violence as a backdrop of setting makes it unpleasant on multiple read-throughs, and inaccessible to a wide swath of readers who simply do not want to read about such things. Much of said violence is only incidental to the plot, and should have been scrapped. After reading threads on Reddit’s writing communities, I can also say with some confidence that the deplorable and casual violence in ASoIaF has … “inspired” some very dodgy fiction from aspiring authors. I wish that aspect of these books had been different. I plan to move onto the hedge knight stories for the first time. Miscellany I’ve noticed some more traffic to the site lately than usual, which is nice. If you’re reading this as your introduction to the blog, welcome, and thanks for reading. I guess that last part extends to the rest of you people who have been a while, too 😉. Work has stalled on the side project (code name: “Rainbow”). I’m about ¾ done with it, but I’m having trouble getting in the writing each day to finish it properly. I still want to try to get a draft done before starting III. Still looking for a place to drop a short epistolary fic; I may just post it here somewhere eventually. There’s a Skate chatbot that a friend made; it’s a lot of fun to play around with. As always, if you want to see my silly posts (as well as the occasional important update), head over to my Facebook page, and be sure to follow it for all the latest news in stolen internet memes. That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers  All rights belong to Disney, Inc. Skate the Seeker Still waiting. We’ve worked on blurbs, getting them ready for the back cover, but no further word so far. Keep looking for book 2 of Rag & Bone in September. Media There have been snow days, which means a lot of Disney and Netflix for the kids between bouts of snowfights and mattress jumps and digital school and art and reading. I’ve rewatched the second Incredibles movie, and I still really like it. The visuals, the characters, the twist – very fun, and always entertaining. This and the original have always been my favorite Pixar flicks, so it's been fun to watch them with my boys, too. Miscellany I’ve got a weird little epistolary short story written, and I’m not sure where to put it. If I can't find a better location for it, I may just put it somewhere on here. I still haven’t finished the side project, even though I’ve only got about 20,000 words to go on it. Perhaps in February, who knows. A friend went off and made a chatbot based on Skate that you can interact with, if you want. It’s very fun and silly. Skate is on sale until this Saturday on Kindle, so if you’re reading this before the 4th, go grab it for yourself or someone else. If you’re reading this after the 4th … sorry. If you’ve got Kindle Unlimited, you can still go read it without paying extra money! That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers   Image belongs to Amazon. Skate the Seeker As I await news from my publisher about the manuscript, we’ve worked on the back-cover summary – ever important, ever exciting. No further news on that, other than to keep an eye out for further updates here until release in September. Media Finally started watching Amazon’s Rings of Power, and I like it a lot. I had heard some grumbling on the internet (the absolute last place you’d ever expect to find grumbling of any sort, obviously) about the production value of the thing, but I must have the eyes of a dullard, because it looks great to me. I’ve also rewatched the Jackson films in the meantime while doing dishes, and there’s something impressive about a movie series I’ve seen at least five complete times still having the ability to stir my emotions. The scene with Aragorn closing Frodo’s hand around the ring in Fellowship, Sam’s speech of stories in Towers, Aragorn, again, charging the Black Gate in Return. So good! My eldest son has also been interested in Sonic shows recently, and Netflix’s Sonic Prime has been surprisingly engaging for me, so much so that I asked my boy not to watch episodes without me. We’ve also had a blast playing his Christmas present on the Switch, a compilation of old Mario Party minigames released under the banner of Mario Party Superstar. I wonder which of his two loving parents had the idea to get him that for Christmas?  Image belongs to Bay12Games Productivity has hit an all-time low in general for me as Dwarf Fortress had a release before the holidays, complete not only with an official graphics suite, but an overhaul of the arcane user interface and brand new features to explore. Haven’t been able to get a single thing done since, really. Miscellany I did not get around to finishing my side-project before the end of the year, given the aforementioned distractions. I’ll probably get to it in the next month or two. The problem is that I’m writing a murder-mystery, and I don’t know whodunnit yet. That’ll all come out in the revision process, but for now I’m even more stumped than a reader would be. I’ll figure out the resolution to the mystery soon enough, I suppose, but it’s a weird point to be stuck on. Ah well. By the way, keep an eye here and on my social media near the end of the month; I’ll have an announcement that might interest you, or perhaps someone you know that hasn’t met Skate yet. Speaking of social media, I’ve taken a break from Twitter altogether until some changes happen at the company; most of my tomfoolery is now occurring at my account on Post. If you’re looking for stupid crap from me on the daily, that’s your best bet. You can still find me on Facebook as well. That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers   Skate the Seeker
Waiting on word for book 2, I look forward to the publication month: September 2023. I can’t start on book 3 until Seeker is finalized – the final plot set down, details all cleaned up, and so on. Once I get to the “just fixing typos and misspellings” stage, I’ll feel comfortable beginning to work on 3. Doing the math and in my WILDEST dreams, I may be able to have a draft of the book up and running by the end of the summer, before book 2 even releases. All phantasia, right now, of course. No more real news here on my end. Media Andor is very good, as promised. It’s gritty, flashy, and emotionally gripping in a way that the last few movies haven’t managed to do. I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but the future of Star Wars under Disney might find a better fit in serials rather than feature films. Rhythm of War is still out of reach, so I’ve gone back to Martin’s Game of Thrones. This will be my third reread of the book, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull myself out of Westeros when Rhythm does fall into my lap. We’ll see how that goes. Events I was interviewed recently by my local NPR station, KUAF! I made a post about it, but it was really fun, so I wanted to mention it again. Miscellany I hope to have the rough draft of this side project done before the end of the year. It’ll be pretty short for me, around 80,000 before edits and revisions. It will need a LOT of revisions. The dogs are staying with my parents, and I miss them. On a diet right now, and it’s going well so far. I’ll see how I’m feeling next month. That’s all from me, for now. Tell your story! -J. E. Ayers  Here is the interview I did with Kyle Kellams at KUAF in Fayetteville. Special thanks to Kyle for inviting me in; it was a great talk!
Nothing else much to report, other than I can give you a release month for book 2: September 2023. -Jeff An interview with Kyle Kellams of "Ozarks at Large" will air tomorrow (11/18/22) on KUAF at noon and 7 pm, CST. If you're local, you can tune in to 91.3 FM (or 88.5 FM in the Mena area), and KUAF is always streaming live on their website as well.
Thanks to Mr. Kellams and the KUAF staff for having me! 
Skate the Seeker
I’ve sent the book back to the publisher for another read-through and round of edits. I’m hopeful for no more than one more round before we go to publishing. Then it’s discussions of cover, setting a release date, and so on. After two years of work, I’m excited to be this close to having the finished copy in my hands – and in yours! Stay tuned for further updates; if anything major comes, I’ll post about it before the end of the month. Media 
House of the Dragon came and went, and what a ride. I was so pumped about the show at the end that the realization that we have to wait TWO YEARS for season two almost crushed me. Someone better win an award for this show – it’s some of the best TV I’ve seen in a long time.
I rewatched The Great Mouse Detective for the first time in years because my boys were interested in it. What a weird, fun Sherlock Holmes story this thing is. I forgot about the mouse burlesque scene (yes, really), and had to scramble for the remote to hurry past it. Vincent Price was having a great time as Ratigan, and the movie’s better for it. Next on my list is probably Andor – I can’t resist Star Wars stories, and I’ve heard nothing but good things – and I'll eventually get around to watching Rings of Power, too. There’s also Tales of the Jedi and His Dark Materials, all waiting to be picked up while I wash the dishes at night. Too much to see, too much to do. I’m about three quarters through Sanderson’s Oathbringer, and then I’ll be onto Rhythm of War, though I’m not sure my local library has gotten book four yet. If not, it’ll be off to the store for me. Really enjoying it, and I particularly find myself enjoying Pattern, the cryptic spren. Overall, it’s been a very fun read. Events I was part of a talk at the University of Arkansas about writing while having a career. The audio is a little scratchy, but you can watch it still. Special thanks to Dr. Leigh Sparks of the University, who organized the whole thing.
I may have some upcoming appearances – again, stay tuned. When I have news, I’ll plaster it over Twitter, Facebook, and here.
Now that Skate is once again out of my hands, I’ll be taking a short break this week, then it's back to drafting Rainbow while I wait for word on Seeker. I’ll probably have a completed draft of that before the end of November. I’m holding off on drafting anything for Rag & Bone III until Seeker is out; any changes of the latter before publishing time could disrupt the former. That's all for me, for now. Write your story! -J. E. Ayers  If you can make it to the University of Arkansas campus this Friday at 5 pm, I'll be speaking as part of a panel of local authors discussing how to write and publish writing while also holding a full-time job. There will be a Q & A time as well.
I am told by reliable sources that there will be cookies available for the audience. See you there! Skate the Seeker  My publisher got me the edits and revisions for Rag and Bone Chronicles, Book II: Skate the Seeker, so now I begin the process of cleanup and revision anew. My side-project is on hold until I get Seeker ready to send back to Thinklings. The changes this time are not nearly so drastic as they were during the last round – mostly line edits and only a few plot tweaks – so I expect to have it sent off before the end of October. An early 2023 release awaits! If you know anybody that hasn’t read Skate the Thief, tell them to get a move on so they can be ready for the book 2 release. Media  There are too many shows, too much good TV. To butcher Théoden, what can men do against such reckless good content? House of the Dragon is excellent. Overlord IV has been painfully hopeless (though never hopelessly painful). His Dark Materials (yes, I’m very behind on this) is gripping and fun. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you may have seen my recaps of Bleach episodes, and on this, I must give myself credit for being – what, only two decades behind the hottest trends in anime? I just checked. 2004. Real cutting edge stuff on my part. Anyway, there’s loads of stuff I haven’t even had time to watch. The Rings of Power waits, Andor waits. Goodness, I haven’t even watched the bonus episodes of Sandman yet. I watched the initial batch of episodes and loved them, so that will have to be finished soon, I think. I enjoyed Sanderson’s Words of Radiance, and have moved on to his Oathbringer, both courtesy of my local public library (thank you, Ben Franklin). Anyway, if you’re wanting to know what I’ve been consuming lately with my eyes and ears, there you have it. Events  On Oct. 21st, I’ll be speaking at the University of Arkansas as part of panel of local working authors – writers who have day jobs but publish books on the side – and I’m looking forward to that, both for the experience of doing it and for getting an excuse to walk the grounds of my alma mater again.
There will need to be some book signings set up with local bookstores when book 2 comes out, but that’s a consideration for later. There’s no point contacting people about that without a specific release date in mind. That's all for me, for now. Write your story! -J. E. Ayers |
AuthorJeff Ayers writes books that are pretty good. Archives
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