Weekly Preview: Dec 7, 2020

Monday, December 7, 2020 at 2:59am

I love when different aspects of my life intersect in unique and interesting ways. For example, my software engineering background rests on the foundation of my strong analytical bent. I am also a very physical person. An interest in lifting weights that started in high school evolved into powerlifting by my early thirties. Believe it or not, these two things meet in the form of volume tracking. “Volume” in this sense, is the total amount of weight lifted over a set span of time. If the number goes up over successive intervals, it’s a fairly decent indicator of an increase in strength.

When the most recent lockdown hit, part of the reason for my fugue state was the very real possibility that I was bound to lose strength at an order of magnitude akin to the first lockdown. It took me two weeks to get my power cave set up, so I remained fearful of an impact, but I’ve now been back at it for a week and the volume numbers are surprisingly, nay, shockingly good. Far from losing strength, I have come back from two weeks off stronger than ever, at least according to the volume numbers.

*Voyage Embarkation*, 2020 Edition cover

More importantly, a return to my normal exercise routine has also meant more mental energy to devote to writing. I am proud to announce that, as of this weekend, the 2020 edition of Voyage Embarkation is ready to go for its December 18 release date. More about that in Wednesday’s blog post. Its publication will conclude the 2020 editions of my works, which all have brand new interiors and snazzy new covers by Zhivko Zhelev.

Next up for my writing endeavors, I will be working on cleaning up Intersection Thirteen. My original intent was to release that novel in early January of 2021. That is looking highly unlikely, so I’ll try instead for February or March. A lot will depend on how well the editing goes. After that, I’m going to try to get Chronicles of Ytria out sometime in the autumn, and that should be sufficient for the year. Since we’re approaching New Years, I’ll also want to sit down and think about what I want to write next year. It’s interesting for me that, in 2020 I did a ton of writing, but none of it was what I had planned to write.

Here is the blog post lineup for this week:

Tuesday: Motherslayer, a critique of Ursula K Le Guin’s The Beginning Place
Wednesday: The Voyage Continues, a description of all the new material to come in the new edition of Voyage Embarkation, and my thoughts what is next for the Voyage stories
Thursday: Dependence, a review of the Netflix series Queen’s Gambit
Friday: The Typography of Our Algorithm Who Art Perfection