Rob's Update: Spirits In The Medieval World
Where our author is camping in at his summer home.
Week 30 of 2026
Greetings all!
As usual, it’s an eventful last two weeks of July. I make my yearly trek to my summer home, otherwise known as Cooper’s Lake Campground, for Pennsic War. But here’s a picture of (some of) the gals I left behind.
When last we met our noble author, he had returned from the wilds of the Metroplex after seeing the boys (and new girl) of Rush. Now I’ve made it all the way from there to the wilds of Pennsylvania north of Pittsburgh.
Along the way there was packing, writing, packing, podcasting, packing, chicken tending (not chicken tenders!), packing, and finally, some packing. Anymore, when I come to Pennsic, I bring an extensive amount of things and this year was my biggest load.
But I’m ecstatic about the shop this year. I made some tweaks to layout and this has allowed for far more stuff to fit well than ever.
The big change was moving the ladder shelves to the dividing wall in the back of the shop. The pottery one fits nice there and my book one is really to hold the big sign and the backstock of books, which doesn’t need to be out front. There’s a path between the tables and the ladder shelves, so we can more easily get out to help customers. It’s really a win-win all around.
Plus, I rearranged things a bit in my sleeping area behind the dividing wall, but you don’t get pictures of my bedroom.
Anyway, as you can see, I have a great selection of pottery from Lobster Rose Pottery, as usual. Working with Gwen, the producer of that pottery, has been a joy over the years. In addition to all the other advantages, this year’s layout allows for her to have a place to sit during the day, which gives me chances to take breaks. And naps.
Knowing I had more space, I brought a bunch of the Raconteur Press anthologies, which have done pretty well. I expect to have more of that next year, if only because I’ve contributed to more by then.
Side note: A reminder that my first boys adventure story from them comes out in November. It’s about a boy living along the Mercian-Danelaw border in 902 when rebels and raiders crash into his life and he has to grow up quickly.
Side note 2: A reminder that the submission window for Giant Killer Kaiju is open! I’m editing this anthology and all the details are here:
. We all need a little more RAWRRRRR in our life!
Then there’s my books and a bunch of stuff from our store, Red Dragon Quilts. We’re starting to get known for our yarn here at Pennsic, along with notions and knick-knacks, so that’s a great line in our store.
Finally, this year I have a bunch of woodburning on consignment from Morgan of Aethelmearc. Pictures don’t really do justice to their work, but suffice to say, it’s lovely.
A friend of mine and I were chatting about merchant booths at SCA events. She said something along the lines of, “I hate stores that look like cheap thrift stores. That’s not what you have. You have a department store—a high-end department store!”
Not a bad description if I do say so myself.
Also in the last two weeks, I’ve made progress on the second boys adventure. I cross the 30k mark today, including a lot of the edits of previous chapters and a significant chunk of the epigrams and fiddly detail bits.
Right now, I’m having Eadward run to get help to save the day. Will he make it, or will a village get destroyed because of a lord’s ambition?
This story is turning out great!
Speaking of great, I’m working on making this better. I’m going to start doing a weekly poll. This week, I’m asking who’s your favorite knight of the Round Table! I think this’ll be fun.
Oh, and below the poll is a link to make a general comment, or more specifically, a poll suggestion.
This Week’s Poll
Click below if you want to leave a comment or give me a poll suggestion!
This Week’s on Rob’s Ramblings
We have two, no three, guests to talk about this week since I didn’t have a chance to give you an update on the way to Pennsic.
First of all, there was Michael Morton. He’s a retired Air Force guy and now works with Space Force. He had one of those jobs in the military where we’re glad he got to do nothing and we talk about that. Also, he’s one of the new core authors for 4HU 2.0, which we’ll talk more about with Charli Cox next week.
Check out his Amazon page here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-Morton/author/B07SB1PXQ9.
And here’s the show link:
Then we had Lewis D’Aubin—Wait, no, it’s Dr. Milo Thaddeus Pinkerton III, supergenius!
Obviously, with the good (well, not so good) doctor in the house, we had to talk about Consortium of Genius. That band, which is Lewis’s baby, is celebrating its 30th birthday! It remains the best hard rock science fiction comedy band headlined by an evil supergenius out there. No one can even compare!
After talking all things COG, we talked about music. Most importantly, we talked about the Rush tour. We both caught a show in Fort Worth, and thanks to Rush playing at least 4 different playlists at these shows, we had some stuff to compare the other didn’t see.
Spoiler alert: We both loved it.
Anyway, check out Consortium of Genius here:
Their website: http://consortiumofgenius.com/
And their page on Fump: https://www.thefump.com/music/artists/consortium-of-genius
If you like whimsy and SCIENCE!, and who doesn’t, then you owe it to yourself to check them out. Plus, if you don’t Dr. Pinkerton will throw you into a timeline you don’t want!
Here’s the show link so you can see how awesome they both are:
Upcoming Shows
August 4th, Charli Cox.
August 11th, Orson Scott Card.
August 18th, Football Preview.
August 25th, Football Preview.
Next Week’s on Rob’s Ramblings
Next week we have Charli Cox! If you’re on the New Mythology Press Discord channel, you see her every week coming up with cool questions so you know she’s talented.. If you’re not, you should check out her Amazon page at: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Charli-Cox/author/B0C8BX33XL.
Oh, and by the way, she has a new book coming out this weekend! Check out Fae Wars: Fire and Ice here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H6M13C6D
Then come listen to us talk on Tuesday on the show link here: Charli Cox on Rob's Ramblings.
Whew, what a great week. See you guys next week. I’ve got singing to do!
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Thanks for reading!
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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/
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Twitter: twitter.com/Rhodri2112