2024 Book Review Some Desperate Glory Emily Tesh

This has been a hard review for me to write. Not because I didn’t enjoy the book or have unkind things to say; in fact its the opposite, it’s difficult for me not to gush about this book. Another concern was some statements I am going to make that I needed to wait until the end of the year to confirm. Let’s begin.

The Exile

Banished and betrayed by his homeland, the Exile searches for redemption in the wreckage of a world he failed to save.

The Exile was first published in December 2024. This story is set in the world of Crystal Empire.

Turquoise, Reign of the Second 994th God Emperor

The gentle rocking of the little wooden rowboat in the lake along with the soft splashing of oars in the water that evening was almost relaxing. It had been two months since escaping the Labyrinth, and tonight was normally the night of the Turning. Nobody was quite sure what to expect this evening, and Mal was just as ignorant as everyone else on this side of the Wall. He rested in between the boat’s first two benches, back against the hull, watching the stars and listening to the lapping of the water. Once, he would have gleefully dozed off in a boat like this, but sleep did not come easy lately.

2024 Book Review Jasmine Throne Tasha Suri

A Slow Walk Through a Beautiful Garden.

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri is a wonderful, beautifully written book. I was bored through most of it. That isn’t necessarily the fault of the author, I suspect it has more to do with my own expectations and preferences for pacing. However, I felt as though a large portion of the book was spent watching characters naval-gaze. This book definitely qualifies as a slow burn in my categorization. I’m a guy who reads Brandon Sanderson and that guy is famous for the long drawn out books then a big climactic ending, but the Jasmine Throne, in my opinion, only really got exciting in the last 15 chapters. I wish that there’d been more to the book earlier on.

The Process

Writing is hard. Not in the way that manual labor is hard, or even in the way that a puzzle or a level in a video game can be hard. Instead, writing is hard like getting in shape is hard, like therapy is hard, like your job is hard. Sometimes success pours out of you, and others you can’t get even the simplest of results. You get stuck, and making progress might as well be impossible. And yet in all of these things there are people who do them every day, succeeding consistently where you most often fail. How? What separates success from failure?

Time Flies

It’s been an eventful few months for me.

I started off the year with a lot of energy and excitement to be writing again. I still am, but I’ve had to delay a lot of the writing for almost the entire past three months. Why? Because life, that’s why. A lot has happened in the past three months.

• moved across the country
• joined an exciting, fast moving project at work
• officially in toddler mode now

Reviewing Spring of Black Flowers was enlightening. It’s both better than I remember it being, and still, definitely, not a good book. It could be a great book after some major structural work and passes for setting and character details, which I don’t expect to get to any time soon.

The Crystal Empire Preview: Chapter 1

For your reading pleasure is an early look into an early chapter of The Crystal Empire, my upcoming epic fantasy project. It is a rought draft, and things will likely change between this and the published version.

This chapter is the first from the perspective of our heroine, Demara, and serves as an introduction to world beyond the Wall, a wild edge of the world known as the Fringe.

Old Habits

I did it again.

I started blogging, then dropped off the face of the earth for like… eight weeks. Usually it’s more. Sorry?

I tend to overcommit and stretch myself thin. I have too many priorities, and when I have to chose, I tend to pick my most personal objectives last. I haven’t been writing much fiction since the new year, despite how energized I was by everything going in. A lot of things have been in flux, all of it good. I hope to share more someday soon here.

The Crystal Empire Preview: Prologue

For your reading pleasure is an early look into an early chapter of The Crystal Empire, my upcoming epic fantasy project. It is a rought draft, and things will likely change between this and the published version.

This chapter server as the prologue, and centers around Tulian, God Emperor of all creation as he dies before he is supposed to.

Tulian

Tulian, the nine hundred and ninety fourth Emperor, Lord and God of Creation, Father of All, Whose Will Was Supreme, was dying. He knew that his death was imminent when his year was up, as it was for all the men and women who became God before him. The human body could only contain infinite cosmic power for so long before being burned away. What Tulian felt though was something much more mundane than the all-consuming burning that previous gods had described as they had passed on their mantle. No, this felt to him like poison, sapping his warmth away and thickening his blood as it pumped through his veins.

What the Tech? Art and Artificial Intelligence

Welcome to What the Tech, a series where we explore and make sense of technologies and trending topics impacting IT, Security, and Business.

Art and Artificial Intelligence

Please read this blog post and generate some images to accompany it. Let’s start with a title/Header Image

For a while now, many have been stoking fears of automation and artificial intelligence taking away jobs and ruining things for creatives. Why automate art when there’s other bs we could be automating away? Well, we’ll get to that, but I want to assert here that AI is not replacing artists, writers, performers or any other creative person.

2023 Year in Review

Where to begin? What a year 2023 has been. A lot has happened, and I’m excited to catch you all up on everything.

TL;DR: I have had a great year, personally and professionally. Everyone is happy and healthy.

Writing

I’m writing again, obviously. I’m excited about it, and it feels really good to be putting “pen” to “paper” so to speak, after a concerted effort this November to try a NaNoWriMo. I didn’t succeed in cranking out everything, but I ended the month with a lot of momentum on this project, and will be continuing with it into next year.

Writer Blocked

Just keep writing. Just keep writing. Just keep writing.

That’s what they say, but I’ve never found it that easy to do. This week, for example, I wrote and rewrote the first couple hundred words of what is supposed to be a new chapter in a new part of the book, and even still I’m struggling to think of where to go next. I know what should happen, but each time it feels like I’ve lost the momentum from the end of the last chapter.

Pizza

I make some pretty good pizza. It’s taken a couple years to get it right, but I think we’ve got it down now. If you’re thinking about trying to make pizza at home, here are some tips, tricks, and advice for you to consider as you embark on this most excellent pursuit.

Dough

Good dough is the foundation of good pizza. You want to make a high gluten dough, and you ideally want a long, cold proof. This will give you a dough that is easy to work with, and has a lot of flavor.