Yet another chapter! And a brief interlude to never-ending editing.
Seriously, this is my least favorite part. Maybe right after marketing lol.
Also, I had some fun with Alex's arc in this one. He deserved a win IMO.
Cerillion Control Room
Robert<...
2025-11-17 19:33:20 +0000 UTC View PostAnother day, another chapter!
Also, my brain may be melting from editing. Please send help.
Chapter 46 - Appearances
Mile High Club - VIP Suite
“My baby! Please, someone, help my poor baby!” the Hippie cried.
The puppet of a little boy lay on a makeshift stage, his head lolled ...
2025-11-15 17:50:53 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day cometh again!
This sequence is pretty fun -mostly rising action from here through the end. I went a little heavier on switching perspectives to show Jason's actions. This is a little easier with the way he compartmentalizes and hides parts of his plans (both in the narrative and with the reader). I borrowed a bit from Hollow he...
2025-11-10 19:47:40 +0000 UTC View PostMan, I don't know what it is about me and forgetting Fridays. I've just been rushing to get this editing pass finished since David requested the manuscript a month early. Anyway, sorry again, and I'll go ahead and schedule next week's posts to make sure I remember!
Chapter 43 - Entrapment
Somewhere South of ...
2025-11-08 18:22:48 +0000 UTC View PostI'm going to keep this one short since I have a LOT of editing to do.
Enjoy!
Chapter 42 - Processing
RogueNet Discussion Board
[Thread: WTF was that emergency quest?! Boss in Pax??]
NoobSlayer2024 - 2 minutes ago
I’m telling...
2025-11-03 19:41:37 +0000 UTC View PostWoops! I totally spaced yesterday on posting -- I got sucked into editing.
Here is chapter 41 and we'll resume as normal on Monday!
Chapter 41 - The Offer
Gambler’s Casino
Finn
Rachael had always hated these places. Casinos, that is.
They were dark, loud, a...
2025-11-01 21:01:23 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day and you know what this means!
Yeah, this sucker is content complete. Or, sort of. I still have one chapter to draft, but that'll be easier after I edit the intervening 25 chapters.
So, Monday and Friday are our new posting days!
This one is also a bit emotion-heavy -- needed a little interlude here and some foresh...
One chapter! That's all I have left to draft. One more!
Assuming I don't add any more, anyway. I had to add a couple this week since the ending felt too compressed -- I'm weaving a number of plot threads back together rather rapidly. But I'm really trying not to from this point forward. This manuscript is already at 216K words. I'd rather ...
2025-10-24 18:08:26 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day cometh again!
This is a fun one. I needed this interlude back in Pax for a couple of reasons: to broaden world scope and show the changes from instancing, to force an emotional/developmental confrontation with Riley/Frank/Jerry, and to address Jason's dungeon scaling issues.
The introduction of Jason as a boss monster w...
Last one!
Not my favorite, personally, but the use of negative space was clever IMO.
What do you all think?
2025-10-13 16:33:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Oh, here's another one!
I don't know that I like the cat so obviously incorporated into the urn, but I do like the chaos-looking eyes. Dovetails well with part of the plot of this next book.
Thoughts?
Another day, another chapter!
Also, I am getting SO CLOSE to being content complete. I just keep making it a bit longer lol.
In the meantime, enjoy another Alex chapter! I have to admit, he's growing on me...
Chapter 37 - Interrogation
Crystal Reach – Two Days Later
Alex<...
2025-10-10 17:35:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I think this one might be my favorite - just the cleanest composition.
What do you all think?
Hey all!
I've got some cover concepts for AO: Crucible. Four to be exact. I'll be posting them over the next week or so. Comment below to vote for your favorites! Would love the feedback.
Also, the title is totally a placeholder lol.
In other news, I also made the 2025-10-03 18:45:46 +0000 UTC
View Post
Chapter day!
And this one is the payoff of my previous foreshadowing -- Jason finally executes on his new exploit plan!
I also added a scene toward the end showing Alfred's perspective after Jason leaves. It feels foreboding and interesting to me -- subverting Jason's hardship/effort by showing that what he's accomplished with Body...
Another chapter!
This one switches back to Finn/Eliza briefly. I'm trying to achieve a delicate balance here by maintaining their arc without giving them a huge amount of screen time. I think this makes the world feel bigger--plus, there's a cool payoff eventually when this arc reconnects with Jason/Alex. We'll see if it's worth it!
Chapter day cometh again!
So, on this one, I'm trying to allude to Jason's plan for leaving the dungeon -- despite being bound to it (as the dungeon boss), without giving away the gambit yet.
The problem is that his dungeon won't currently scale for hundreds, much less thousands or even millions of potential players. There's a soluti...
2025-09-19 17:28:09 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day again!
I've been making great progress, and I'm at about 48 chapters now. So, we're roughly on track to be content complete by the end of the month -- or very close. I've been weaving in some editing to hopefully speed up the next two passes.
I may also update the dungeon and game notices in the following patterns to put...
2025-09-12 17:45:20 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day cometh again!
In some exciting news, AO is coming to books stores summer 2026. I signed a deal with Aethon to have them distribute. Crazy stuff! Here's a handy link.
Also, I kind of like thi...
2025-09-05 16:57:44 +0000 UTC View PostAnother day, another chapter!
I've made great progress this week: +5 chapters and >150K words. I'm currently on track to be content complete in September. October as a flex period for editing (I can already tell I'll need to make some changes to fix continuity in earlier chapters), then November for audio production. So, hopefully, a f...
Back again with another thick chapter!
I made decent progress this last week. I'm nearly back to where I was in drafting. I had to split a couple chapters and rewrite a few more. I can also see some spots I'll need to fix on my next full editing pass. Consistency issues with the general timeline and some earlier foreshadowing I want to ad...
2025-08-22 17:09:13 +0000 UTC View Post
And we're back with Jason!
In positive news, I've almost finished rewriting and editing (mostly rewriting) up to chapter 40 or so (these chapters are rather long, each averaging 3000-4000 words). I'm optimistic we'll be content complete or nearly so by the end of August or early September. I also lined up David for the audio!
Thanks...
Chapter day! And this is a new one from Finn.
I've been making great headway on editing and wrote this new chapter -- I needed a bridge in the Finn/Eliza arc between the previous entry (which I broke into two pieces and spread out; e.g., the former chapter 23) and the next one. I also haven't given Finn enough screen time lately and the fo...
2025-08-08 18:42:28 +0000 UTC View PostNew Dungeon – Former Nephilim Village
Jason
System Notice: New Empowered Dungeon Formed
Congratulations, you have used the Relic of Darkness to form a new dungeon!
The nature of the dungeon depends on the corpses and mana absorbed...
2025-08-01 16:42:00 +0000 UTC View PostI had my final doctor's appointment this week and he gave me the all-clear to start strength training! Which is pretty awesome... apart from how horribly weak I am. I'm slowly easing back into weightlifting at <50% of my previous lifts, but at least my hand is doing better. I can totally grasp and pinch things now! New skill unlocked!
...
Okay... this one is a doozy lol.
I won't ruin anything. Just enjoy!
Chapter 25 - Disembodied
Nephilim Village
Jason
With a gasp, Jason was back.
Back in the Nephilim village. Back in his own body, his limbs cold and stiff, only sluggishly responding ...
2025-07-18 18:39:56 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day cometh again!
And this one is kind of fun. More Jason hi-jinks.
Also, this is the last week before I get to start strength training on my hand. Woo!
Enjoy and I hope you all have a lovely week!
Chapter 24 - Subterfuge
Border of the Twilight Throne
...
2025-07-14 17:21:57 +0000 UTC View PostMile-High Club
Eliza
Eliza emerged from the waypoint in a flash of multicolored energy.
Only moments ago, she’d been in Pax. Yet now she found herself in the Mile-High Club. Standing on a colossal stone platform with hundreds of other travelers – most of them ...
2025-07-11 16:19:52 +0000 UTC View PostChapter day cometh again!
Hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. I spent my holiday consoling my dogs until 2am. I swear, the people around me are nuts. They fired off fireworks for 4 hours straight. There was so much smoke it rolled down the valley in a wave.
Also, anyone think its weird that we spend this holiday about...
Hey all. First off, sorry for the delay!
I got pretty sick at the turn of the month and realized I needed to take some time to recover -- I'd been pushing myself pretty hard before and after the surgery and have some compounding problems.
If you've been following me for a while, you probably also know I have Crohn's and have troub...
2025-06-30 17:40:41 +0000 UTC View Post