This past week was half vacation, half me trying to figure out what to do next while waiting for some feedback on Chosen of Chaos. I wrote some on Broken Chains but not much, as I was working past some writer’s block where it was concerned. I did get feedback on Chosen of Chaos, though, so I’m going to work on editing it this upcoming week. I’ve also been hoping to set up a pre-order for it, but that relies on cover art which has been taking much longer than I’d hoped it would.
In other news, I have confirmation on the audiobook of Queen’s Journey being recorded starting in mid-February, and since I intend to upload it to other sites at the same time as Audible, I anticipate it being available much sooner than the last several have been.
There’s not much else to talk about at the moment, I’m afraid. A lot of things are stuck in holding patterns, and as for my next main project… I’m going to start Queen’s Gambit and see if my muse is willing to write it, or if I need to work on Soul Bound or Beesong Chronicles instead. We shall see! I hope everyone is doing well!
Ancient Dreams 
I have had a terrifying thought. If an ant worked can lift more than their bodyweight, does that mean that the army ants in your book could literally move a mountain if they wanted too?
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Worker* damn autocorrect.
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Not particularly! I did some research, and the main reason ants can lift so much on a small scale is because they’re so light inside the hard exoskeletons. They can put pretty much all of their muscle strength into lifting objects. On the other hand, as they grow in size, they have to spend more and more strength on holding up their own body, and their muscle strength doesn’t increase as fast as their weight.
Which isn’t to say they aren’t stronger than they should be in Beesong Chronicles, just that it isn’t /that/ extreme of a difference.
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So question about the future of the Stars&Shadows universe. I know you will wrap up /at least/ this arc for Lilith up with Queen’s Gambit, but I don’t see you stopping there. Are you /eventually/ considering an extension to her journey or maybe adding another MC to that universe?
Also have you ever considered writing a noncanon event were your protagonists from different stories meet or hang out? Kinda like the Mass Effect 3 DLC were everyone comes together for a party. Feel free to ignore, it’s a mixture of curiosity and overactive mind 😅
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The chances of me returning to Lilith’s Shadow in the future are very high, yes. My intention has always been for the world to feel more episodic, like many comic books are. Villains are rarely fully defeated, so there are always stories to be told. Another possibility is that I’ll do a mini-series (or anthology) expanding on Whispering Darkness in the A Date Gone Awry series of shorts.
Honestly, one of my goals way back when was the hopes of getting Lilith’s Shadow into Kindle Worlds (before they retired that program), so that other authors could write in the same setting. Unfortunately, they killed Kindle Worlds a while ago, and I wouldn’t want the headache of managing that sort of thing myself.
As for non-canon events… actually, whenever I do an art poll on my Patreon for characters, I have a short story where Emonael pulls the characters in to present them for voting. It’s a weird, amusing scene, most of the time. Though now that I’m doing one per series, it’s getting harder to do. In any case, it’s entirely possible (though unlikely) for characters from Soul Bound, Through the Fire, and Mantles of Power to get together for a chat in-world. They’re all in the same universe, even if MoP is in its own pocket universe inside the main one.
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Oh! Well, that explains some things 😆 My brain keeps going trying to brainstorm a story about a rogue-ish super, Claire, and Dr. Johnson. Thankfully, it’s not a hard thing to will away (not like existential questions *thanks brain*), but, yeah, it’s occasionally up there *shrug*
That’s awesome! Obviously, I’m not on Patreon (no credit/debit cards otherwise I would be down to support). Heck, if it weren’t for prepaid plastic, I wouldn’t be able to buy anything online. It definitely helps me to save money (weirdly enough 😆)
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For what it’s worth, Claire *does* make a brief appearance in Queen’s Journey! Not much of one, but she’s there.
And perfectly fair, regarding Patreon. It isn’t for everyone, and I had trouble justifying putting it up to begin with. The idea of getting several main characters together in a story is a fun idea… maybe for a holiday release, maybe.
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Please write the next part of Beesong! I am in love with the character Joy and want to follow her journey to becoming a queen. I work in a hospital as a nurse and hearing her story and funny antics are absolutely wonderful after work.
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I assure you, I plan to return to Joy! It’s just a matter of figuring out which story my muse is willing to work on next, really. Trying to write a story I’m not inspired by slows me down, which means I get less writing done in total. I want to get as many stories out as possible.
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Thank you for answering me. My apologies for not answering i have been busy with plumbing issues. 😵
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Ick, plumbing issues are rarely fun to deal with, my sympathies. But not a problem on answering! It’s something I looked at when I first was creating army ants for the book, and I had to look it up again to be sure I had it right.
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