On the eve of the New Year I finally finished Sword of Kos: Dark Inheritance and I mean truly finished it. All the first round edits were completed; all the additional material I wanted to add was entered, and so forth.

The final word count for the novel was 120,131. Quite the novel! When you consider that most average novels are around 80,000 words (although all things considered, that seems to be too low nowadays).

And my artist Giorgio Alfonso Maesa managed to get all but two of the rough drafts for the chapters and Epilogue finished by Friday this week. I’ve posted them on my facebook page for those who are my friends to see.

If you’re not on my facebook page, then you’ll just have to wait to see these images as I post them here, or buy the book once it’s finished.

I submitted it to Michael Varhola that same night and he started his edit and read-through on January 1^st! So I’ve already gotten the document back from him with the instructions on what to change and edit on it. Nothing major, just a lot of stuff that would otherwise be every time consuming for him.

Writing Sword of Kos: Dark Inheritance was exactly what I needed. I had been

working on a Zombie trilogy for near three years. Earlier this year it finally started to get to me. It was emotionally draining and hard to continue. I know several of my friends are horror authors and it amazes me that they can continue to work on material that is so dark and grim.

So that is why I began to write Sword of Kos: Dark Inheritance. Originally it was supposed to be a short story, a day at the market, but within three weeks I knew that it would end up being so much more.

At any rate I'll get back to 'The Return' sometime later this year. I think.

Having finally finished the novel I feel a sense of freedom as well. I now have the time I was devoting to the book to work on my other projects and no longer feel guilty about doing so.

But it's funny that I should say that, because as a lot of you know I've already stated that I'm plotting out the sequel and I have no less than four short stories that I plan to write in order to help promote the book on the D-infinity site, and to keep my readers happy.

I don't have the kind of following that many of the authors who I am friends with have, but someday I hope that will change. The only way that I can ensure that will come about is to continue to work on my fiction as well as my gaming material and get it out there!

Short stories will help attract readers to my work and that will hopefully generate sales and so on, those who bought and read my work will want to read the free stories that I publish as they wait for my next novel to come out.

I won't be doing only fantasy and horror though, I do have so many ideas for a science fiction novel that I can easily quit my job and write full time.

Sadly I just don't have the income to allow me to do that.

Yet.

The other daily work is also coming along quite well. Earlier this week I finished adding the last of the Metro 2033 conversions and as of this blog I have now added three conversions from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games.

Speaking of the daily project – The total number of critters that have been written up is now 132. A quick word count on the master document is sitting at 110K. That’s a LOT of free mutants and free material folks.

What I don’t do for my fans.

Also I did manage to write up bonus content for two more issues.  I added a whole new weapon system, the Minigun to my Wisdom from the Wasteland issue 24: Weapon Modifications and modifications as well as a couple of optional rules for Wisdom from the Wasteland issue 26: Energy Weapons.

Over the next week or so I will be adding bonus material for all three of my Nanotech issues as well. First one will be a couple of optional rules (still working those out in my head), the second will have some bonus ‘converted’, and the last will just be a few new types of nano-swarms.

Or not. Maybe I’ll change my mind and surprise people.

Soon however I will be able to get back to working on my other projects. I had planned on doing so earlier this week but when Michael Varhola surprised me with him starting to edit my novel, those projects got placed on the back-burner once again. But this time only for a few days. It won’t take me too long to finish the chores he set for me.

Often in my blog I will talk about my personal life. I know many of my fellow writers like to use their blog to promote ideas and discuss their projects, and that is what I typically use this blog for as well. But earlier this week tragedy befell a family that my son knows quite well.

New Year’s Day a drunk driver smashed three vehicles. Fortunately most of those involved escaped with little more than scrapes and bruises. Unfortunately one young man was not so lucky. My son has been at the hospital since Friday, January 3^rd standing vigil. His friend has undergone five surgeries so far and last night he was not expected to survive the night.

He managed to though. As of writing this blog my son has not updated me on his friend’s status, but once again from all I know he is not going to survive. He made it this long by god’s grace alone.

This lowlife, after causing the accident (in front of a cop and numerous witnesses) tried to escape by hiding in the crowd of onlookers. He was quickly apprehended and incarcerated. He now faces life in prison if my son’s friend dies (which as I stated seems very likely). That’s too good for this scum. He too deserves to die. Even if the boy survives he will never be the same again. This Cretan has destroyed a life and caused unimaginable heart-ache to not only one but several families in the process.

I am not a drinker. I never have been. I despised the way being drunk made me feel. It was not a good feeling at all. I have tried to instill this on my son ever since he was a child. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with people who have a couple of drinks with friends and family as long as they don’t get totally drunk. Despite not being a drinker, I will imbue a couple of drinks when I am with my family in the Philippines.

But on the incredibly rare occasion that I have a drink here in Canada, it’s no more than one, and even then I am extremely hesitant about getting behind the wheel. And that is only after ONE!

Too many lives are destroyed by people who insist on getting hammered and then climbing behind the wheel. What I would like to see implemented is an eye for an eye law when it comes to those who end up hurting or taking lives. Whatever you do to someone who was an innocent bystander happens to you. So if you cripple someone while drinking and driving, you are crippled. You kill someone, your life is forfeit.

I know that this will never happen here, but I sorely would love to see it made so.

There is NO EXCUSE.NONE! I don’t care how much someone argues that they could not get a cab, or did not have the money for one, or whatever. You never get behind the wheel if you are drunk. People who do so and are caught get absolutely no sympathy from me. Instead they will get a ‘too bad, deal with it, you should have been smarter and you’ve lost any respect I had for you’.

Those who are caught and lose their vehicles and suffer massive fines are the lucky ones. At least they didn’t kill anyone. They got lucky and hopefully they will learn their lesson. The sad fact is too many don’t.

Last word on this - You drink, don’t drive. EVER.

And that is all for this week. Forgive the rant but it is something I needed to share.

Peace and hopefully everyone is enjoying the New Year.