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I finally made it out of camp Monday for the first time in 16 days. No, I wasn’t trapped here. I just didn’t want to go anywhere. But then… groceries. So, I grabbed my trusty camera and, while trapped in a long line of traffic waiting for road crews, snapped some pictures of the stacks of baled hay now piled up in the fields.

Haying season puts a delightful sneeze in the air for me and I’ve indulged often. It’s not so terribly bad, though, when I think of the things the scent of new-mown hay reminds me of. Baling is continuing. There are hundreds and hundreds of bales to be brought in after this first mowing.

I stopped on my way to Coeur d’Alene at one of my favorite scenes to look across the fields. There is still hay to be baled in the far fields while the wheat in the near fields is approaching fullness. It won’t be long before harvesting begins.

I’m working out where I’ll be spending the winter this year and am contemplating trekking across the Midwest in late October to see all the leaves and perhaps arrange some readings of City Limits as I go. Then I’d turn south and possibly winter near Pensacola. What do you think? Anyone in the states between Washington and Ohio want to host a reading/book party?

* * *

And that’s where things get really strange. I’m collecting higher royalties for June than I have in a long time due, I am sure, to the release of City Limits. But on examination, I discovered that most of my backlist of books sold in June with 23 of my 29 titles (including those published as Devon Layne) sold in June. I think that is the broadest distribution of sales ever.

But July is continuing the trend. In fact, both For Money or Mayhem and For Blood or Money are outselling City Limits two-to-one! I never expected that from five and ten-year-old books! It might have something to do with my having started serialization of For Money or Mayhem on StoriesOnline. Or it could have something to do with the surprising review I got on Monday this week.

What can I say? This story really grabbed me. The first two chapters were good enough to encourage me to search out where I could buy the whole thing. So this review, while early here, is based on the entire novel.

The story has overtones of William Gibson as the activities of Dag Hamar, private detective and cyber-security specialist unfold. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but won't guarantee none.

He's had a few bad moments in his recent life, but he's starting to get over them. There are relationships that develop that the reader is drawn into hoping will continue, and complex problems with the targets and clients of his investigative work.

Without spoiling, I can comment that there are several twists and tangles. Things are seldom what they appear at face value.

But the plot twists are sufficiently logical in the context of the story to be believable. The Gibsonesque notes are unrealistic to a retired lecturer in Computer Science and Security, though the basic computer background has a believable "feel" to it.

Technically this is one of the best constructed stories on the site. It is easily in the top 1%. While some can be comfortable with numerous Grammar and usage errors, I personally find that more than one or two in a chapter start to interfere with my flow of consciousness as I read a story. I can honestly say that I didn't notice any in my reading of this novel. What this means is that the errors were either not ones of which I was conscious, or that the narrative had grabbed my attention so strongly that I went into "auto-correct" mode and glossed over any errors. Either possibility is a real recommendation for this novel. It grabs the reader's consciousness and doesn't let go until the conclusion.

Well worth "bookmarking" if you have that option in your SoL account.

Wow! He compared me to William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk? Thank you. Just, thank you! I’d better get back to work on the sequel, For Mayhem or Madness, I started a couple of months ago. Time to get this baby rolling!

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the sequel to City Limits. I wrote about a chapter and a half, but before I continue (actually before I start rewriting and then continue) I need to make a lot of notes regarding the story, characters, and progression I have planned. It took me two months of making 3x5 index cards and notes about Rosebud Falls and the characters in it before I started writing City Limits. It’s always harder to write the sequel, in my opinion. So, I’d better start getting my act together.

Part of the issue in this one is letting the characters express who they are and what they believe without getting preachy. I’ve been editing one of my adult entertainment books this past week and realize the main character really becomes preachy at times. Most people overlook that part, the scores for the story reaching a new high of 8.96/10 on StoriesOnline this week with 2,033 votes. In fact, I received a message just this morning from a reader who said, “Just reread the entire saga for the second time. It's that good - worth a reread.” When he says ‘entire saga’, he’s talking about 230 chapters and 1.5 million words. There are people who have read it in a weekend.

Yes, I’m working on a sequel to that as well.

But human nature being what it is, I wonder sometimes if anyone is capable of expressing what they believe without becoming preachy about it or encapsulating it in a sardonic meme. I’m quite tired of seeing people talk in one post about how there is too much hate being fostered in the world and we need to see how we can come together, then posting a meme that stokes the flames of hate. And this is not one person, nor even one side of the aisle. I’m convinced it is human nature and we are all humans at their worst.

I’m committed to trying to leave the world better than I found it. If only by a few words. I ask three things:

“Does this action make the world a better place?”

“Would the world be worse if I don’t take this action?”

“Does this action make me a better person?”

I still fail the test more often than I pass it. Ingrained habits, a sharp tongue, my own perception of what is funny… I guess, my base humanity. But I’m trying. And so are my characters.