Rob's Update: BalloonFest 2026
In which Rob herds cats... errr... vendors. Cats would be easier.
Week 19 of 2025
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