Greetings all!

Kirby’s softball is getting the band back together! Let’s just say when we play Under 30 v. Over 30, the younger team is heavily outnumbered.

But first, your favorite part of it all, a picture of one of my lovely co-stars. In this case, Wynnifred all snuggled up.

As I mentioned in the lede, I joined the crew of Kirby’s softball as they’re starting back up. This team went for decades, but the COVID break killed not only them but also the entire Wichita Bar League. It’s a shame, too, as that league had some great players and great teams over the years, including Kirby’s.

Anyway, I’m not as young as I was in the 90s when I showed up Sundays to play and Wednesdays to practice. And, of course, drink afterward. Or during. Or both.

Let’s just say I was rusty. Rusty on the order of the Yorktown (CV-5), which is currently 3 miles under the surface of the Pacific.

I wasn’t completely pathetisad, but I wasn’t good. Especially with the running part. I have forgotten how to run, and it’s something I need to re-learn. I pulled a muscle in part because of how awkward I am these days, and since I still had a great time, I better work on that.

By the way, I’m sure some of you know why I used the Yorktown as my reference point above. Today is the 84th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. If you’re really interested in the battle, start with Shattered Sword by Paschal and Tully. It’s truly a revolutionary study of the battle in large part because they completely rewrote its historiographical foundation. Great stuff, both for a reader and for a professional historian, which I still am.

One reason I can claim that is the historical fiction I’m writing right now. I’m absolutely using the research I did when I was at Mizzou. Historical fiction is challenging, of course, because there’s a balance.

Part of the fun in writing these Eadward books, of which I plan on 5, maybe 6, is adhering to all the known facts while deviating purposefully for a great book when it’s required. And then, after that, telling the reader just exactly what choices I made.

In this particular case, I’m getting to take advantage of a blind spot. We know something happened, but can’t pin it down more than it happened somewhere between 903 and 909. That means I get to make it up! And I am. Made good progress this week too.

On a more personal side, I’ve not lost much, if any weight for a while now. However, I’m down to about 310, which is a major step forward and one of the reasons I even tried to play softball. I’ve also found myself doing a heck of a lot more projects of late. Right now, I’m rearranging the garage a bit. I’m shifting a workbench out there for small projects, with my intent to have a full woodshop in the basement when we get stairs down there again.

All this is to say, I’m doing a lot! And I’m also sore. But it’s the good kind of sore! Still hurts though…

Anyway, y’all have a great week!

This Week’s Show

Usually, I have shows lined up, but sometimes stuff happens, and that’s when I get MAD!!!!

We had more MADNESS this week, thanks to help from Charli Cox and Sam Robb. Check out the show here:

As you can see, Charli and Sam are fun folks. Find out more about Charli here: https://dot.cards/charlicox.

Check out Sam here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sam-Robb/author/B07QJCG3BD and go read his new book, A Sense of Murder, here: https://www.amazon.com/Sense-Murder-Road-Mage-ebook/dp/B0H1TL57P7/.

Next Week’s Show

This next week I’m going to try something new. I’ve invited a bunch of people to give a quick story about their dads. Cool and fun stuff to celebrate cool and fun dads.

This will probably be a bit disjointed as I rotate guests in and out, but I think it’ll be fun. We’ll have some people returning to the show, some people who will be on eventually, and also some of the people who watch the show.

I’m really excited, and I think it’ll be one of the best things I’ve done. It’ll also probably be emotional, so make sure you have tissues handy. I definitely need them because I’m a weepy cuss.

Anyway, join us here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/228801?utm_source=live-stream-scheduled-upsell.

* * * * *

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.6lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

2026/04/19

Greetings all!

This past weekend out at El Dorado Lake, my wife got her Pelican, which is a big deal in the SCA. I got to write the ceremony, which was based on Venetian traditions, including an oath drawn from the oaths spoken by Doges. Not much better ways to spend at the lake than to see loved ones getting cool stuff.

Speaking of loved ones, here’s Bella posing for the camera.

The wife’s oath, by the way, went like this:

I, Giulia Isabella de Venezia, do promise to promise.

I shall endeavor to increase the prestige of Calontir, treat all citizens fairly, promptly do justice to all, keep secret what is debated in councils, not collect or appropriate assets or annuities due to the populace, pursue counterfeiters so as to keep the currency in good condition, and arm at my own expense my dependents.

Furthermore, I swear to not influence the election of the Bishops and the Patriarch, nor send personal letters to the Pontiffs or Emperors, though I retain the right to speak with such I happen to meet directly.

May this promissory charter remain in full force until the Crown release me, the world ends, or death take me.

Giulia Isabella de Venezia

The “do promise to promise” part comes from a standard phrase in Latin (promittentes promittimus) the Doges spoke to start their oaths. My favorite part of this, by the way, is the part where she can’t write letters to Popes or Emperors, so I guess that’s now my job.

For my real job, I’ve been cranking out words in my main WIP, which is now up to about 12,000, or about a quarter done. I also started work on my final Okkorim editing project, helped out a new writer, and cleared out a bunch of advertising things, including the new ad for the Pennsic site book.

Not bad for a week where I didn’t get home until Monday evening and have been recovering from two pretty big weeks.

This Week’s Show

This week’s show starred the amazing(ly bearded) Wally Waltner! We talked about his series, The Muses War. Book two of that series, Fugue of Fire, just came out.

Now, I’d heard the term fugue before thanks to Bach, but I didn’t really know exactly what it meant. Now I do! It turns out Wally’s got an extensive music theory background and he’s littered The Muses War with all sorts of musical references as you can see.

Wally’s a really interesting guy, and you can check him out at a variety of places on the web:

• https://wallbangercreative.com/

• https://shop.wallbangercreative.com/

• https://museswar.com/

• https://a.co/d/0fPifDIl https://a.co/d/0ddQ6yYc

Next Week’s Show

Next week we’ll have Lewis D’Aubin, one of the strangest and most twisted minds I’ve had the pleasure to interview. Want proof? Watch this delicious and delightful music video, the Zombie Apocalypse Barbecue!

He’s one of the guys behind Consortium of Genius, which is the best hard rock science fiction comedy group out there! Of course, as far as I know, they’re the only hard rock science fiction comedy group out there, but they’re still awesome.

Come join us as we talk more about music, especially Rush, because he’s a big fan of them too and the tour’s about to start!

* * * * *

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.6lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

Greetings all!

It’s a cool day outside, and a cool weekend coming up. But first, here’s a picture of Wynnifred coolly keeping the dragons at bay!

This weekend is especially cool for me because my wife will be elevated to the Pelican. Those in the SCA are joining me in thinking, “That’s really cool!”

For those of you not in the SCA, what this means is she’s getting recognized for decades of work behind the scenes. Think of it like a knighthood, but for service instead of battle deeds. She absolutely deserves this, in part because so much of her work went unnoticed. That’s actually a good thing because if people had known about it, then likely something really bad had happened.

That’s why we’re closing the store this weekend (Side note: we’re closing the store this weekend). We’ll be out at the lake doing cool things!

Speaking of more cool things, A Lake Most Deep is on sale for $0.99 this week. Grab book one in the "Sam Spade walking the mean streets of a Balkan version of Minas Tirith" series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCKVLPBL.

BalloonFest went about as well as it could have, given the weather. The balloons had no shot of flying. They can’t fly if wind at ground level is going more than 8mph because it’s much faster as soon as you go higher. This weekend, the wind was almost always in the 20s. Ah well. It was also hot, so attendance was down. Still, a lot of people had a great time.

I cut out at about 1:30, though, because it was also the granddaughter’s second dance recital. I earned huge Opa points because I scrounged up a bouquet of flowers at the last minute. She’s beaming in the pictures, and that’s the coolest thing all week!

I didn’t get as much writing or editing done this week, not surprisingly, and I’ll be short next week too. However, it wasn’t without some progress, especially in figuring out how I’m going to structure the next book.

With that, though, I’ve got more packing to do!

Rob’s Ramblings

The podcast this week went off the rails! Basically, what I’d planned wasn’t going to work so we made do. Cedar Sanderson and Mike Burke joined me for MADNESS! We talked about cheese, writing, cheese, books, cheese, movies, and also… wait for it… cheese! And Mexican food.

https://robhowell.substack.com/publish/post/198491403

Honestly, this was one of the best shows we’ve had, even though my internet died at about an hour. I suspect the MADNESS shows will become a staple with various guests joining me.

Guest Info

Speaking of guests, I had two awesome folks joining me.

Here’s Mike—I mean—Spearman Burke’s Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Spearman-Burke/author/B0CPT1ZQ6Q.

And here’s Cedar Sanderson’s website: https://www.cedarwrites.com/tag/sanderley-studios/. I’m pointing you there instead of her Amazon page because she’s way more than just a writer. She’s also an artist (made the dragon logos for our store), gardener, cook, and all sorts of things. Basically, she rocks.

Oh, and since the two recently put out a book together, here’s a link for Giant Counting Robots: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DP3LW97T.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.8lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

Greetings all!

Anthony’s BalloonFest is this weekend. I, in my infinite wisdom, volunteered to organize the vendors. Actually, it’s a good thing for everyone that I do this. I need to contribute to this town and I can do this job well, though you wouldn’t know it by this year. Ah, well. The cats will be herded and we’ll get better next year.

Did I mention cats?

We have this new toy for them. It’s got a thing in the middle that sends a fuzzy tail spinning randomly under the plastic. They rather seem to enjoy it. In fact, we can even use it as a distraction when we need cat-free seconds here and there.

Speaking of cats, I don’t think I mentioned this before, but our Wynnifred has been in some distress. She comes from a long line of cats with bad teeth and that particular chicken has come home to roost. We’re getting through this, and in many ways, she’s doing great, but it’s gooshy food going forward for the beastie girl.

And giving her the antibiotic provided some… interesting moments. Fortunately, claw scratches heal eventually.

Last week I announced that I am doing a series with Raconteur Press. This week I have a tentative release date: November 13th. Now that’s a tentative date and we have lots of stuff to get done between now and then, but it’s on the schedule! We’ll have more dates as books get in the mill, too.

2027 is going to be awesome for people who like adventure in Anglo-Saxon England. Again, thanks to Chris DiNote, Jonna Hayden, Cedar Sanderson, and Ian McMurtrie at Raconteur for all their work getting this project going.

This week hasn’t been as successful writing because of the work with Balloon Fest, but I have made progress. In fact, I overcame a bit of a hurdle yesterday in the plotting for Book 2 when I realized I had all the tools at hand, I just needed to use them.

Non-spoilery stuff I can tell you. The early 900s were a challenging time for Mercia. It had to ally with its traditional enemy to deal with the greater threat of a new enemy. Meanwhile, another traditional enemy, the Welsh, were as turbulent as ever. It’ll come as no surprise that the nobles of Mercia did not all agree with how to deal with the challenges, especially after the last king of Mercia died and his ruling line fell into disrepute.

It’s a great background for all sorts of stuff. Adventures! Plotting and adventures! Treachery and adventures! Love and adventures! Tragedy and—I bet you know what I’m gonna say next—ADVENTURES!

With that, I better get some words on the page before I get back to herding vendors.

Rob’s Ramblings

Kelly Grayson and I finally did a whole show! Go us!

We went hither and yon, then some more hithering with some yonning to follow. Usually, I have a Show Brief that helps get everyone on the same page. I had one of those, but we did a bunch of that stuff in the show two weeks ago. It might not have been a full show, but what we covered was pretty good.

So this time, we just went feral. This will come as no surprise to anyone, but Kelly and I both do feral well. Check it out here:

Upcoming Schedule

• May 19, 2026: Mike Burke helps me review the Astounding of July, 1946.

• May 26, 2026: Wally Waltner will talk about all his new stuff.

• June 2, 2026: Lewis D’Aubin will tell us about the Consortium of Genius! And we’re both Rush fans and the tour is starting soon.

• June 9, 2026: Up in the air at this point.

• June 16, 2026: Brandy Bolgeo Hendren, the big boss of LibertyCon, joins the show to talk about this year’s con, past cons, and whatever else comes to mind. I’ve been looking forward to this one because she’s awesome.

• June 23, 2026: Speaking of awesome, Melissa Olthoff comes on the show to talk about her new series at Baen, The Griffin Corps.

Kelly Grayson

Last show starred the amazing and only moderately terrifying Kelly Grayson. He knows wayyyy too much how to do harm to the human body, mostly because he’s spent his life fixing things that aren’t right.

Here’s his Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steven-Kelly-Grayson/author/B002K8XNYA.

Have a great week everyone!

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 309.8lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

Greetings all!

Christopher DiNote and I had a great show on Tuesday, with a fun cool announcement for me. But first, the wife and I were putting the automatic solar door on the chicken coop and the kitties were very interested in what we doing outside.

As mentioned, Christopher DiNote and I had a great show on Tuesday. We talked about all he’s doing, plus a lot of music stuff, which you can hear in its entirety below.

But the big thing was the announcement of Shattered Spear, book 1 in a historical fiction series set in the early 900s of Anglo-Saxon England. Also of note, this is a boy’s story, part of Raconteur Press’s line of boy’s stories, something I’m excited about in its own right.

The truth is, prior to the grandbaby, I cared about children, but not the same way as I do now. I have skin in the game. Yes, she’s a granddaughter, but the truth is, girls love adventure fiction as much as boys do, so if you write stuff for the latter, you’ve also written stuff for the former. It has been important to me to make sure she, and perhaps her children, have something fun to read.

Why the 900s in Anglo-Saxon England? Well, that was my focus for what would’ve been my doctorate had I finished it. I find Æðelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, a really compelling figure, which is why I focused my military history studies on Mercia as she (and her husband for part of the journey) drives the Danes northward.

My protagonist is an eleven year old boy named Eadward swept up in Æðelwald’s revolt of 902. His father dies defending the lands his father is sworn to protect from invading Danes, who also kidnap his mother in the process. Eadward ends up joining King Edward the Elder’s army as he chases down Æðelwald in the hopes that he can also save his mother.

Action, adventure, and danger! My kind of stuff to read, both when I was 11 and now.

Chris talked about how excited he was to read it, calling it “The Last Kingdom, but for boys.” That’s not a bad description.

Also, since these are aimed at school-age children, we will be providing a study guide. Actually, I’ll be providing information on Anglo-Saxon England and proper educators will turn that into study guides, especially for home-schoolers.

So, that’s exciting. I plan to have five, maybe six, books in the series, and the tentative plan is to release the first one Q4 of this year, with one a quarter after that. Note, that’s more of a back-of-a-napkin plan than one that’s set in stone, but it gives you some idea where we are.

Also, you’ll see a counter appear in my Information Booth tracking book 2 (and the others as we go along). I’m about 20% done with book 2 and making good progress. At least, I’m making good progress now. I actually started what will become book 3, but changed my mind on the timing. That means I’ve got something going there too.

Anyway, they’re all gonna come out in a regular schedule as determined by the amazing Raconteur Press. Thanks to Chris, Jonna, Ian, Cedar, and the rest of the crew that makes this boy’s line of books happen. It’s a great project and I’m honored to be a part of it.

I’ve also been writing at the space opera/mil SF that keeps pushing out for me. I don’t have anything on that, other than I keep putting down words, doing worldbuilding, and all that. It’s gonna happen. I don’t know when.

Plus, other things are going on. It’s been a weird time for me. I literally finished Shattered Spear in December. I had also been working on a contract job that got canceled, plus the end of Okkorim. It feels to people outside of here that nothing’s happening, but that’s totally not true. There’s an amazing amount coming, just not now.

But I guess I better get doing all that. Have a great week everyone!

Rob’s Ramblings

I had Chris DiNote, as mentioned, on Tuesday. We had a blast talking about all our influences, plus a bunch of music stuff.

Upcoming Schedule

• May 12, 2026: Kelly Grayson as we try to do it right this time!

• May 19, 2026: Mike Burke helps me review the Astounding of July, 1946.

• May 26, 2026: Wally Waltner will talk about all his new stuff.

• June 2, 2026: Lewis D’Aubin will tell us about the Consortium of Genius! And we’re both Rush fans and the tour is starting soon.

Guest Info

Here’s Chris DiNote’s Amazon page so you can find out all the cool stuff he’s done:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Christopher-Dinote/author/B07QPTWCMV.

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.6lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

Greetings all!

It’s been a fun, exciting, and busy last couple of weeks. But before we get into that, let’s have a cat picture, shall we?

This picture is apt, because at the very moment I’m typing this, Wynnifred is on my chest purring. My life is challenging at times, it’s true.

Bella is at the window staring at a neighborhood stray we call, imaginatively enough, Stray Gray. We feed her when she comes by, so she’s a bit of a regular. Stray Gray is a gray tabby, by the way. I know, it’s all so confusing.

I’ve been writing on this and that, nibbling away at a number of projects, as has been my wont of late. I’m not at my most productive ever, but I’m getting stuff done. By the way, what’s likely to happen is that 2027 will see an immense number of releases for me, as I clear through a bunch of stuff. I’m curious how that will affect things, but we’ll see.

Obviously, I had a great time with the NFL draft last week. I actually did three shows.

Here’s my recap of the first round:

It’s good that I did this, because for whatever reason, I don’t see that the actual first round recording went through. I did, however, do another recording for round 2. Here’s that one.

As a Cowboys fan, I was ecstatic to get Caleb Downs and I’m pleased with the rest of the picks. They all made sense to me, and that’s what’s important at this stage of things.

The NFL draft is an amazing game to me. It’s research, history, puzzle-solving, and so much more. It’s an extremely complicated game of Tetris, really, and I love thinking things through. I’ll keep doing these shows, not because I expect people will love them, but as an exercise in self-indulgence. I get to do that sometimes, I think.

We’ve got lots of stuff coming up in other business. May is just full! Mother’s Day, BalloonFest, and the SCA event (Valor) where the wife will be elevated to Pelican. Then Lilies two weeks after that, a quilt show the week after that, then LibertyCon, the Rush show in Fort Worth, and then the lead up to Pennsic!

So much great stuff happening not just with the writing but with all the cool stuff happening in my life! Assuming Wynnifred lets me get out of the chair…

Rob’s Ramblings

This past Tuesday, I hosted Kelly Grayson, sort of. The podcast had a number of technical issues, so it’s sort of ragged at the start and cuts out in the middle of things. Still, this is pretty good and we’ll have him on again on the 12th. Here’s the link:

Here’s the upcoming schedule for May:

• May 5th: Chris DiNote will join us for a talk about his own projects, but the line of books he’s helping publish. Plus there might be an announcement or two.

• May 12th: Kelly and I are going to try it again to get it right. Well, as right as two people not right in the head can get.

• May 19th: Mike Burke and I are doing a deep dive into the July 1946 issue of Astounding. Want to read along with us? Here’s the link: https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/luminist/SF/AST/AST_1946_07.pdf.

• May 26th: Wally Waltner’s going to join us live and talk about all his new releases, and he has some great stuff happening!

Guest Info: Kelly Grayson

Check him out on his Substack page here: https://substack.com/@kellygraysonauthor.

Also, take a look at his Amazon page here https://www.amazon.com/stores/Steven-Kelly-Grayson/author/B002K8XNYA, especially his new short story The Nosferatu Interrogative.

Have a great week!

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.6lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

• The Firehall Sagas: firehallsagas.com/

• Facebook Author Page: facebook.com/robhowell.org/

• Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112

Weekly Update Archive

Greetings all!

I’m starting to settle into the format I want for my new, improved email. I’ve had comments from a variety of people (Mostly, mom. Hi, mom!) about this and that, so I’m addressing it.

I’m trying to cut out some of the business stuff, but frankly, some of that needs to be here, so I’ve added some of that back. Fortunately, it’s mostly at the bottom so you can avoid if you like.

Plus, of course, I’ve definitely decided that I want cat pictures every week, so here you go. Oh, but wait, I’m throwing a curveball this week! The wife and I got chicks, so here the “chicks or it didn’t happen” picture!

We got six (though a couple are shy) and had a delightful moment showing them to the granddaughter. It was about too cute for me to stand, but I mustered my courage and pushed through to victory!

Okay, so that’s definitely not the vaguebooking I promised. I have received excellent news that I’m not going to tell you about just yet. It’s news I’ve been waiting and hoping to get for a while, which made getting the good version even more special.

In the meantime, I spent this week working on a variety of projects around the house. It’s been productive, though the current primary WIP has been resistant. However, I’ve turned the corner I think, at least for a while, and made major progress. I am aiming to have it done by the end of June, if not before.

This past weekend, I took the wife and the moms out to a great Easter buffet at a small winery north of Wichita, Grace Hill Winery. The food was delicious, as was the wine. We came home the proud members of their wine club.

Am I becoming a wine snob? Maybe so. Oddly, after starting Mounjaro, I’ve found my palette prefers wine to beer. I don’t drink all that much any more, but I’m leaning toward grape, not grain, these days.

I also spent this week helping with BalloonFest. I’m grateful I only have to focus on the thing I want to do, which is deal with the vendors. Last year, though, I walked 9 miles from about 5:30am to whenever I stopped. My dogs were barking, let me tell you! But again, I don’t have near as much to do this year. I expect I’ll walk no more than 8 miles.

It will come as no surprise that the move to Anthony and the setting up of the store was a drain on my time and energy. Plus, of course, some of the health things I talked about a few weeks ago hindered me. Now, however, I’m feeling better than I have in a long time.

One sign is that I expect to be back in armor soon. It’s time to hit people again—and of course try not to get hit. It’s been too long.

Rob’s Ramblings

It’s also been too long since I last hung out with Dave Butler. If you haven’t met Dave, you’re missing out. He’s incredibly smart, pretty darn talented, and a great guy.

I had him on the show this week so you can see for yourself.

This was a great show where we rambled over a variety of topics, which is fitting, because he’s a guy who’s into a variety of things. We talked games, writing, languages, dogwalking, and more!

And hats! He brought out an epic hat you just have to see.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

• April 14th: Mike Burke and I will discuss the June 1946 issue of Astounding . Want to read along with us, you can find the issue online here: https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm. From there you can download any issue of Astounding up to 1960, which is awesome! I’ll be reading from my paper copy, because of course I am.

  Join us for the show here!

• April 23rd: NFL Draft Day 1

• April 28th: Kelly Grayson and I will sit down for a random chat. Who knows where our minds will go!

Thanks for reading!

Let me know if you have any suggestions on the website, this email, or cool story ideas at rob@robhowell.org. Especially let me know of suggestions you have for the Spotlight section.

Have a great week, everyone.

Rob Howell

Creator of the Firehall Sagas Universe

My Weight Today: 310.6lbs

• Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/-/e/B00X95LBB0

• Website: robhowell.org

• Blog: robhowell.org/blog

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Weekly Update Archive

For a variety of reasons, I keep having to pop up to Wichita for things this week. In fact, I’m going again later today. Those trips tend to get me off my schedule, both because they’re exhausting but also because they simply take time.

Someday I’ll remember what day of the week it is, but it is not this day!

And here are the cats judging me.

Before I get into this week, I have to fix something from last week. I mentioned last week that I received a new title and then I didn’t tell you all what that was! It’s amazing how something I remembered at the start of a post disappears not 10 minutes later. Memory is a strange thing, no doubt.

Anyway, about a week and a half ago, my granddaughter said, “Opa, you’re a silly goose!”

Best title evah!

On to this week. As I said, this week wasn’t as productive in some ways as I’d anticipated because of distractions, but sometimes stuff has to get done.

One great thing is that I’ve fully recovered from Gulf Wars and also all the health stuff leading up to it. My energy level is basically back to where it was before and since I’m focusing on improving that, I expect that to get better. My weight is at 312.8, which is what it was last week, but that’s the highest it’s been for the last few days and I anticipate I’ll shift to the next increment down soon.

By the way, I’m starting to structure this email a bit to make it easier to read when I make transitions. Hence you’ll see sections now, like Rob’s Ramblings, which I’ll move to next.

Rob’s Ramblings

Tuesday, I hosted the legendary Chris Kennedy on my podcast. You can watch it here:

Never mind Substack’s weird title because we talked about CKP, where it’s been and where it’s going, plus the conclusion to the main line of the Four Horsemen Universe after a measly 115 books.

Honestly, this may be my best show yet, though we’ve had some great ones already. It didn’t hurt that Chris dropped some spoilers of what’s coming down the line in the 4HU.

More great stuff is coming on my podcast, too. Dave Butler is the next victim… er… participant. We’ll be talking about his love of languages, music, and his new YouTube channel, High Low Brow. You can join us live here: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/154270?utm_source=live-stream-scheduled-upsell.

But wait, there’s more! I slice, I dice, I… well, you know.

Anyway, here’s April’s schedule.

• April 8th: D.J. Butler. Join us here!

• April 14th: Mike Burke and I will discuss the June 1946 issue of Astounding . Want to read along and join us, go here: https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm. From there you can download any issue of Astounding up to 1960, which is awesome! I’ll be reading from my paper copy, because of course I am.

• April 23rd: NFL Draft Day 1

• April 28th: Kelly Grayson and I will sit down for a random chat. Who knows where our minds will go!

Note the date change for April 23rd!

Instead of doing an NFL Draft preview podcast on Tuesday, I thought I’d just livestream during the NFL draft on Thursday and talk about it as it happens. I’m not the world’s greatest expert, but I love it and I do quite a bit of research going into it, so I will have opinions!

Next Week’s Plan

Next week, I’ll finally catch up on BalloonFest stuff, my wife’s ceremony for her elevation to Pelican, and finish all the Gulf Wars unpacking.

I also plan to get a bunch of writing done as I’m going along with a couple of ideas. I’m waiting to hear back from a publisher on one, so we’ll see how that goes.

I also should finish the last Okkorim module. It’s a shame that project is winding down, but if Luke and Matt don’t have time to support it, it’s definitely a waste of money for them. We did some great stuff there and I’m so glad I got the opportunity.

My creative juices are definitely ramping back up, which is nice to see. To be honest, some of that is simply staring at the page and tossing a few words down, even if I don’t know where I’m going. BICHOK* always wins in the end.

BICHOK: Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard

With that, I better do some of that right now! Have a great week everyone!

I hope you’ve all been well since last time. Sorry about skipping the last two weeks but Gulf Wars got in the way. I’ll talk about how that went in a moment, but first, a new cat pic! Actually, it’s an old one of Aesc, yes the Aesc of Aesc & Thorn, as a kitten way back in 2005.

Next, I’m excited to announce what’s coming up on the podcast next week! It’s Chris Kennedy, the big boss himself, joining me. The main arc of the 4HU is coming to an end after 115 books! We’ll talk about that whole project, plus where CKP is going down the road.

If you want to join me, here’s the link: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/146575?from_scheduling=true

By the way, I’ve been working to make sure you all don’t get inundated with emails from me. One a week is fair. Two is pushing it and three is just annoying. However, I’m really enjoying the podcast and that’s my main focus here, at least right now.

Substack has been a great platform for this so far, in part because they’ve already add actually useful new features in the just the few months I’ve been doing this. One thing they’ve added is the ability for me to schedule these things ahead of time and that gives me the chance to put that link here. Hence, you can get the link every week, but I can condense it all down into my update email.

Thanks Substack, which has honestly been a great platform so far.

On to the last couple of weeks, which of course have centered around Gulf Wars. It was cold. I struggled a bit because of that and the health issues I’m getting past which I talked about last time. If you want to know more, I gave a fuller Gulf Wars AAR on my podcast this week, which you can find here:

I also talked about baseball. Happy Opening Day!

I made the usual sorts of predictions in the podcast, but I also talked about some of the newish tools available to fans. These tools let us understand baseball statistics at a deeper level, but do so quickly without a whole bunch of math.

The math is there, but you don’t really have to think about it. In the case of a new type of stat, denoted with a plus (like OPS+ instead of OPS), you just have to know that anything above 100 is good and anything below isn’t. Easy peasy, once you have the code. Best of all, this sort of stat can be used in every sport and across every era since that baseline of 100 represents an average year.

Anyway, I find them fun, but if you don’t know what WAR, FIP, BABIP, and the “Plus Stats” I just mentioned are, well, they’re going to be opaque and annoying. In truth, they’re pretty smooth concepts so if you want to know what they are, just watch the show.

You may get tired of baseball stats, but OPS+ and WAR are really useful, especially if you want to compare, say, Honus Wagner with Shohei Ohtani.

Because of Gulf Wars, I didn’t get as much writing done as I wanted. I did get some foundational work done on a series. This isn’t plotting, per se, more an overall operational order. I have these things I want to get done, so let’s make sure the history matches.

They’re historical fiction, by the way, set in my time period of the early 900s, and it’s been fun pulling out my various resources to do a deep dive in some stuff I haven’t looked at in years. Man, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has so much fun stuff in it! Maybe one day, I’ll use it as a basis for a MilSF.

I do have a MilSF that keeps pushing itself to the forefront, by the way, and I’ll write some of it today. I don’t know when or if it’ll actually be published, but sometimes it just demands I throw words on the page.

By the way, if you’re curious what I’ve got going on, check my Information Booth periodically. You can find it here:

I’m putting all the business stuff there so these updates aren’t filled with so much of that. I want these to be more about cool stuff, not the boring business side of things.

Again, thanks to all of you for being a part of my journey!

And with that, I’m going to go write. Have a great week, everyone!