Winter Breakdown

So, a few months back, I put out my 2020 story "Winter Break," even including it in my Female Protagonist collection.*  I vaguely remember, when I was recording it, finishing Chapter 5 and then noting that I'd designated the next one Chapter 8, a little odd, but just changing it and going on.

Well, this week at the cabin, I found on my laptop a file called Winter Break Chapter 6,7.  I looked at the file, and thought that for sure I'd already incorporated them, but when I read through it, none of it was familiar, and I didn't have the published version to compare it to.

I did have the audiobook version, though, and sure enough, it did not include Chapters 6 or 7 (the narrative just skips ahead, with a couple of paragraphs summing up what happened in the missing section).

Great news.

But this sort of thing happens again and again (and again and again) with me, because, as Big would gladly point out, I don't keep all my stories on Google Docs, where every time I work on one file, it updates on every computer.  And how much extra work has that cost me?  Well, enough to have written a couple more stories, maybe even a couple novels.

But today I'm sitting down and recording those two chapters**, because I just can't let it go.  If it makes the finished products even a little bit better, I guess that's a price I'm willing to pay.

*Oh no, I should be thinking about what I should put in the second Female Protagonist book now.  Do I include a Lara Demming story?  How about one of the Dead & Breakfast tales focusing on a girl/woman?  Maybe put that Princess Leia story in it, since I've never released that other than our podcast?  That story about the girl in college that tells the sorority girls their darkest secrets that I never dared put out because it was mean-spirited?  None of the above???

**After doing it, I found that it involved redoing four chapters, as I now could take out the summary I'd written for one of them, as well as as contradiction this addition created in yet another later chapter.  Such fun.  Except it is kind of fun, to do audiobooks, and nobody MADE me do it; this is all on me.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 12: Hem Dazon

 

So, today's alien is the first one we see in the Cantina: Hem Dazon. His species is Arcona.

And hey, today is the last day you can go HERE and back the HasLab Cantina campaign . . . you can have this, if you want it.

Note: The actual puppet was only a head and neck, so somebody somewhere had to make up what the rest of this guy looked like, including the weird legs on this one.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 11: Pons Limbic

Today, let's talk about Brainiac aka Pons Limbic, which I do not have.  

Do you have him?  If so, why?

Rish Outcast 283: All's Well That Ends Well

Inspired by Big Anklevich and Taylor Swift, Rish talks about some of his favorite unhappy endings.

Warning: Spoilers abound!

Timecodes (unreliable)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - 20:02

Halloween: Season of the Witch - 25:20

Se7en - 28:45

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Normal Again) - 31:05

Pet Sematary - 35:15

The Mist - 37:25

Planet of the Apes (1968) - 38:16

On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 42:35

The Descent - 44:44

Also, various Stephen King stories (The Jaunt, Gramma, The Mist), Big Anklevich stories, The Outer Limits, maybe more. 

If you want to download the episode, Right-Click HERE.

If you want to support me on Patreon, click HERE.

If you want to hear the whole Taylor Swift song, go HERE.

Logo by Gino "All's Swell" Moretto.

(I published this at 7:07 on 7/7)

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 10: Nabrun Leids

Today I talk about Nabrun Leids of the multiple arms. 

Note: The HasLab Cantina DID reach 14,000 backers, so it will include Mister Leids.

Exercise Goal - First Six Months

Whoops, we're into July now, and I haven't posted my exercise progress.  Six months are over, and for my silly goal of 200 days of exercise, that means I should be at around one hundred.

Whoops, I'm at 146.

I feel a little bit like Big Anklevich* (since I have a craving for juicy red flesh and neighborhood women can't keep their hands off me) when he was so far ahead of his yearly writing goal that he could slack off for two months and still have no problem achieving it.  

But like Big Anklevich, I'll keep exercising (on Wednesday, there was a whole family fishing off the dam where I do my weekly runs, and I just tucked my head down, turned the music up, and ran past them twice, ignoring the cries of "What is that man doing, Daddy?" and "Why does he run like Forrest Gump if he'd never got the leg braces off?"), and we'll see just how far past it I can run.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 9: Takeel

In this one, I talk about the Snivvian alien Takeel. 

Note: Most Star Wars die hards refer to the character Zutton (which I don't have) as the inspiration for the Snaggletooth 1978 figure.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 8: Greedo

Today, I talk about the MOST important Cantina denizen (other than Han and Chewie, I suppose), the bounty hunter Greedo. 

Note: Hasbro WILL be making a new Greedo in the Vintage Collection in 2025.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 7: BoShek

Now I talk about a figure I never did buy, BoShek. Mind the tears, kids.

Good For Your Goal

One of the goals I've set for myself in 2024 is to publish my novel "Balms & Sears," a project I started in (I think) 2016 and didn't actually finish until 2022.  But if you're reading this, you know me, and that means you know there's no chance I'll actually achieve it.  To paraphrase Mace Windu, it's just not in my character.

But Big Anklevich, perhaps sensing a tremor in the Force, sent me the completed cover today, which has traditionally been the final step necessary before publishing.

And I think it looks good.  It doesn't EXACTLY convey what I intended--that of a boy who can heal dead or sick animals--but I'd say it's about 87% of what I wanted.  Plus, it's in black and white, and that really works for me, for some reason.

Will this be the last push I need to finally put the book out there?  It, uh, might.  Here's hoping.

Star Wars Cantina Patrons 6: Momaw Nadon

This is probably the best one of these little videos so far, where I look at Hammerhead, aka Momaw Nadon. 

Note: Since this recording, Hasbro HAS revealed we will be getting a new version of this character in 2025.