This will be a (relatively) short update. The third installment of The Pale Man is now up and available on Substack. The Pale Man, Chapter III: Something in the Forest continues the story which began with the narrator’s arrival (somewhere) in Idaho in the first two chapters. Along with his sister, Ruth, the narrator (named Bill) is staying at Mystic Ranch. This ranch, which is not too far from the Idaho-Oregon border, is owned by the narrator’s Uncle Phil, Aunt Susan, and cousins.

Continuing the work on The Pale Man, I have a good chunk of the fourth part done. I will probably be putting that post up sooner, rather than later. In the past, I’ve been making posts that go live around lunchtime (EST) on Fridays. This seems like a terrible time to post, well, much of anything as most interactions do not tend to start up until Monday. As such, I will be adjusting my posting times, especially for short stories, to better serve audience availability. If I can have the text of part four of The Pale Man ready tonight (Tuesday, 26 August), then I will set it up to go live tomorrow (Wednesday, 27 August). Otherwise, I will set it up to go live next Tuesday (2 September). Hopefully, I can keep this to a (roughly) weekly event until I’ve finished The Pale Man project. (Of course, then, I’ll have to find something else, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

If this is the first mention you’re seeing of The Pale Man, then you can start with Chapter I: The Summer Begins. I encourage you to start there, rather than trying to start somewhere in the middle.

I’ve been able to make significant headway on the second draft of Long Live the Queen, with my progress currently sitting around 37,600 words. For those more on the reader’s end, this translates to approximately 105 trade paperback pages, emphasis on ‘approximately.’ I’m roughly midway through chapter seven in the second draft process, which puts me at just shy of about the twenty(ish)-percent mark. There is definitely a long way to go. However, I should note that it isn’t like this is a total, 100% rewrite. Although some sections are being changed, scrapped, and even re-written wholesale, there is still plenty of salvageable material in the first draft. So, for example, much of the work on chapter seven has largely been pulling material from the first draft, copying it into the second draft, and simply refining it to adjust for things like differences in the order of events. Unless something changes, I am still roughly on course keeping in my present timeline for the completion of Long Live the Queen.

I should also mention that the rewrite of The Princess in the Cell is nearly ready to go live once I have illustrations ready. The actual text of The Princess in the Cell is complete. It’s just the illustrations which I want to put in. I am, of course, having to mix things up as I work with a fantasy world which has advanced to roughly the early- to mid-18th century. So, I’m also finding myself doing bits of research on historical costume (including military uniforms) and learning to draw a flintlock properly. The illustrations, unfortunately, are on hold due to the fact that I don’t have a place to sit and draw right now. That will be changing in the next 2-3 days, and I’ll be able to resume working on the project.

I will continue to post rolling updates as work continues on both The Pale Man and Long Live the Queen. I will also let everyone know when the rewritten and illustrated version of The Princess in the Cell goes live.

In the meantime, if you’re new here, then I encourage you to poke around, look at links, etc.