The title of this blog post is generally good advice — however, I have elected to do the opposite. Yes, folks, after many years of office jobs, contract positions, and corporate roles, I’m hanging up my proverbial entry badge and lanyard, and cutting the cord. Am I retiring? Far from it.
I left my full-time role earlier this month so I could focus on the things that matter most to me. Namely, my books, my games, museum and experiential writing, and my family. I did not make this decision lightly, but rest assured that when I realized what I needed to do, a feeling of calm tranquility washed over me, and the path ahead became clear.
The Moment in Question
About two weeks after I graduated from high school, my godparents took me on a trip to Grand Cayman. I’ve written previously about the two of them here and here. We were accompanied by their son, whose tendency to get up super early in the morning gave him the lifelong nickname of “Rooster.” We went SCUBA diving on this trip in some of the most beautiful waters I’ve ever been in, especially around Devil’s Grotto. This was also the time I saw a barracuda way too up close and personal, but that’s another story.
It’s one of the most wonderful trips I’ve ever been on, together with three people I loved dearly. I remember the last few hours of that trip, I just sat under a gazebo, staring out over the brilliant turquoise and violet waters of the North Sound. I didn’t want to leave, and I think a part of me never did.
The Disney Treasure
I had always meant to go back, but could never find my way until just recently. My family went on a Disney Cruise in the Caribbean, and one of our stops was at Grand Cayman. I was on a different part of the island than the last time I stepped foot there, but the ankle-deep sand, the wind on my face, and the motion of the waves against the shore took me back to when I was a freshly minted 18-year-old.
The sad fact is that Rooster passed away when I was in college, taken way too early. I lost my godmother in 2020, and my godfather passed away almost a year ago at the time of this writing.
Now I’m the only one left who remembers that trip. To some degree this was my “Oak Tree” moment, but it was less about realizing the full scope of time in a place of history, and more about understanding that I only have so many years left to pursue my dreams with the vigor and passion they require.
Let’s just say that it brought things sharply into focus.
But How Will You Make This Work?
But Matt, I hear you saying: People don’t just quit their jobs!How will you pay your bills? How will you put gas in your car? Where will you get your protein, huh?!
First, thank you for your concern — it’s always appreciated. Second, I have been working towards this goal for some time now, trying to get things squared away and certain safeguards put in place before I could even consider making an honest go of it. All of those things had begun to align after years of preparation, culminating pretty recently. All that was left to do was to conjure up the will to finally break away, and conjure it I did, there on that beach in Grand Cayman.
Drink up, me ‘earties, yo ho!
So, here we are. This is what I do now. Sector M Games has two projects in the works, with a possible third to follow. I have decided to self-publish a series of books and short stories that I’ve been working on for a while now, while pursuing some traditional publishing routes for other books I have either finished or that are currently in production.
There are also some exciting freelance projects that I have in the works that I can’t quite talk about just yet, but there’ll be more on that as they develop. Additionally, I’ll be putting together a Sector M newsletter to keep everyone in the loop on the latest information and projects. Most importantly, I want to build up Sector M as a community that sci-fi, fantasy, and gaming enthusiasts can call home.
To that end, I need your help. I have a Patreon that’s been going for a while, and I’ve just finished a revamp of the membership tiers, so I strongly encourage you to check it out here:
These four are just the beginning. It may take me a while to spin up some of the new projects I have in mind, especially those that I’ll need to build from the ground up, but this will be my focus moving forward. For those of you who are already supporting this effort (and you know who you are), you have my heartfelt and eternal thanks.
To those of you who haven’t yet jumped on the Sector M train (in the strictly figurative sense), I hope you will check out what I have to offer and help me build towards the future. With that in mind, I hope to see you around the Sector!
Many of my posts lately have mentioned the character of Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, and that got me to thinking about the kind of role that he plays in his story. That led to me considering similar characters throughout fiction. These types of characters, the mentors and the secondary characters, play a crucial role in their respective stories.
Anytime we get a story with a strong mentor character, the odds go way up that I’ll be tuned in, especially when it’s their turn to give an inspiring speech or just the right piece of wisdom to set the protagonist on the proper path.
With that in mind, I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite mentors in fiction, detailing why I love them so much. True, the majority of them are from the fantasy/sci-fi genres, but that’s just because the stories that have influenced me the most have been in those spaces. This list represents the stories that have had the biggest impact on me, as well as the ones nearest and dearest to my heart.
Who They Are
Before we get into the list proper, let’s talk about my criteria for a good mentor character. First and foremost, a mentor is wise and experienced. This often means that the mentor is older than the protagonist. They can be, at times, more book-smart or informed than the protagonist, but not always. More often than not, these characters tend to be male, as they often double as a father figure to the protagonist, though this is thankfully starting to change.
Sometimes the mentor is more powerful than the protagonist, but this is not required. In some tellings, the mentor starts out more powerful but then the protagonist eventually surpasses them. Mentors who are less powerful than their protagonists present an even more interesting dynamic as they must guide the hero in wielding powers they may not possess themselves.
Mentors are often self-sacrificing as well, as evidenced by how often they die in their duties or the things they are willing to sacrifice for their ideals. In that sense, mentors tend to have a noble streak even if it’s not always apparent at first glance.
Who They Aren’t
Mentors, by their very nature, are not meant to be the main character (thus the “secondary character” epithet). Likewise, they are not generally marked by destiny, fate or the demands of the world in the way that the protagonist is. They are, to coin a term from Sky High, “hero support” in a very real way.
Generally speaking, the protagonist can’t go it alone. They usually need help to learn what is required to reach for that seemingly impossible end-point. It is the mentor’s training/wisdom/lessons that will ultimately empower the protagonist on their journey, allowing them to reach higher and go further than they ever thought possible. When the story’s denouement inevitably comes, the protagonist often finds that none of it would have been possible without the help of their mentor.
Perhaps most importantly, the mentor isn’t the one to make the big play, but rather their actions empower the protagonist to become the turning point of the story in their own right.
The Mentor Hall of Fame
1. Uncle Iroh
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Let’s start with one of the all-time greats. Voiced originally by Mako, Uncle Iroh occupies a unique space in that his charge, his nephew, Zuko, is not actually the protagonist. Quite the opposite, in fact, especially in the early parts of the story. Eventually Zuko comes around, after perhaps one of the best redemption arcs ever, and Iroh is willing to share his wisdom with the rest of Team Avatar, and Aang, Kitara, Sokka, Toph and the rest are better off for it.
Iroh doesn’t stop there. He even makes a few cameos in The Legend of Korra, dispensing his usual brand of avuncular wisdom to Avatar Korra. Despite his nearly unsinkable attitude and positivity throughout incredible hardships, there is a sadness at the core of him following the tragic death of his son. In that way, he is not only a surrogate father to Zuko, but Zuko is a surrogate son to him. I think that Mako’s performance really lent the character a depth and nuance that we don’t find very often. While they were big shoes to fill, I think that Greg Baldwin did a fantastic job in picking up the role when Mako passed away.
2. Rupert Giles
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
For me, Giles practically personifies this type of character for many reasons. While he may have the book smarts, experience, and wisdom, he doesn’t have the powers of the Slayer. He’s just a regular bloke who is there to make sure that Buffy is ready to face the challenges before her.
Often, Giles is called upon to back her up in battle against foes that are far beyond the scope of any regular person, which I think makes his bravery that much more extraordinary. While he has only a fraction of Buffy’s physical strength, reflexes, and resilience, he’s always there, he doesn’t back down, and he genuinely cares for Buffy, perhaps more than he should in his position as her Watcher. More than that, he also has a clear understanding of the incredible pressures that Buffy, as the Chosen One, is constantly under. He would gladly take that burden from her but knows that he can’t. Ultimately, Buffy has to be the Slayer. He can’t slay her demons, but he can be there for her when it counts the most.
3. Morpheus
The Matrix
Pro tip: If your mentor character is played by the inestimable Lawrence Fishburne, you are winning at life. Such is the case with Neo from TheMatrix. Morpheus is not only a guide to Neo in understanding the Matrix itself but he is also willing to personally sacrifice himself simply because he truly believes that Neo is the One, even when Neo himself has doubts. Like Giles, Morpheus is incredibly good at what he does, but realizes that soon Neo will fully surpass him, and he’s okay with that. His mentee is fated to be something greater than anyone could possibly imagine.
Even when this transition does happen, Neo is canny enough to realize that Morpheus’ experience, world view, and tactical brilliance are things that he will need if he wants to take the fight to the machines. Things got a bit weird in the sequels for Morpheus (and really all members of Team Neo), but I still think that Morpheus is one of the most shining examples of a mentor in the movies, full stop.
4. Fin Raziel
Willow
Willow was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. Even back then, I saw the similarities to Star Wars, even before I realized that George Lucas was behind both properties. She was an interesting change of pace in that she is initially pretty powerless when Willow encounters her, little more than a talking animal. And yet, she is able to get Willow on the path to being a sorcerer. Eventually, she returns to human form and is back up to her powers that far surpass Willow’s, yet this change does not really alter their relationship. I also applaud her for not lingering on the fact that she has aged during her exile. It shows that vanity barely registers with her, and that the mission to restore peace to the land is much more important to her.
In this story, she is the only one capable of taking on the main villain, Queen Bavmorda, in a spell duel. Raziel ultimately fails when it comes to the boss fight, but she buys Willow the time he needs to save Elora Dannan. But even when she falls in the final fight, Raziel does what any good mentor does: she steps aside to give her protagonist the moment to shine.
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi
Star Wars
The quintessential mentor character, Master Obi-Wan was mentor to two separate protagonists in his day. While his first outing at the job went spectacularly wrong, ultimately giving rise to Darth Vader, one of the most memorable movie villains ever, he is ultimately able to be a mentor to Luke and set his charge on the right path. The remarkable thing is that he accomplishes this without all that much screentime, and does sacrifice himself to allow Luke to get away (ironically dying by the hand of his former protagonist). Not content with that, Obi-Wan even comes back after his death to give Luke a bit more advice on three separate occasions. Talk about a commitment to the role!
When we see these types of characters on the movie screen, it’s so important that the actor behind them exude that type of experience, competence, and wisdom that are so critical for establishing the mentor in the minds of the audience. Sir Alec Guiness did that and made it look effortless. Later on, Ewan MacGregor picked up the role wonderfully. While the prequel trilogy often gets razzed, the moment where Ewan’s Obi-Wan laments to a defeated Anakin that he was the chosen one really hits home. He’s pouring out his sorrow and pain at having to fight his friend, all with the knowledge he has utterly failed in his role as a mentor. The power of that scene really is a testament to MacGregor’s acting chops.
6. Violet Crawley
Downton Abbey
As mentors go, the Dowager Countess defies many conventions. Violet is primarily a mentor to her granddaughter, Lady Mary, but to the rest of her family at various points, too. That is not Violet’s only role in the series — her frenemy relationship with Isobel springs to mind — but it comes back to that time and time again. Of course, Violet has quite a few blind spots for being part of the old guard of the English aristocracy. Yet in a changing world, she speaks with hard-won wisdom on how to negotiate the upper echelons of power and influence. We find that she’s made many mistakes in her time, and the resulting experience is something she shares with Lady Mary so that her granddaughter (hopefully) won’t make those same mistakes.
One of the most compelling points about her character is simply that she was once in the same position as Lady Mary. She had her time as a countess, living in the main suites of Downton Abbey, then moved on from that time in her life when her husband died. Even in a kind of retirement for the Peerage, she is still a will and force to be reckoned with. Some of my favorite moments in that show come from Dame Maggie Smith’s performance. Much like Lawrence Fishburne, if Maggie Smith is playing your mentor, the universe has smiled upon you. May she rest in peace.
7. Gandalf
The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings
I thought I would end this list with perhaps the greatest mentor figure in all of fiction. The opposite of Giles, Gandalf the Grey is almost infinitely more powerful than his protagonist, Frodo Baggins. He’s an immortal, angelic being that has been sent by the Valar to Middle-earth to defeat Sauron. Frodo, on the other hand, is more diminutive than even an average human, and largely powerless. By design, Gandalf is there to advise, to observe, and to help rather than be the prime mover of the conflict. He knows when to impart just the right nugget of wisdom to those around him, elevating them to greater heights, or show them the error of their ways.
When Círdan the Shipwright meets Gandalf as he enters Middle-earth, the ancient elf gives the wizard Narya, the Ring of Fire, telling him “with it you may rekindle hearts in a world that grows chill.” Círdan naturally recognized what Gandalf’s role was fated to be in the coming conflict. Gandalf definitely has some things in common with Merlin from the Arthurian legends. This makes sense when you consider that Tolkien was trying to create a body of myths that were inherently British, rather than a French invention, but he did take a lot of cues from those stories.
In any case, Gandalf really is the gold standard for literary mentor figures on the page and screen, and I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about just how great Sir Ian McKellan’s performance as this character really was. Not for the first time, when the world grows dark, I wish that Gandalf were really here among us to give us just the nudge we need to get on the right path, along with the accompanying inspirational speech so that we don’t give up.
Honorable Mentions
Here are several characters that partially fulfill the role of a mentor, but have enough ‘main character energy’ as the kid’s say. They have the wisdom and experience, but are not necessarily secondary characters with full agency and story arcs of their own as the protagonist:
Optimus Prime
Tyrion Lannister
Polgara the Sorceress
Mary Poppins
Captain America
Professor X
Final Thoughts
I think what I like most about mentors as a reoccurring device in literature stems from the genuine love they bear for their protagonists. Their journey is a deeply heartfelt and personal one. It isn’t just a job to them; it’s their mission in life. They embody what it means to be committed to an ideal, one that almost always means more to them than their own life.
Mentors are the helping hand that’s extended when the hero needs it most, the purveyors of insight to reframe the hero’s perspective for the better, and the guiding light to show the hero that there’s more to them than they may guess. Finding a person like this in the real world is a true rarity, and if you’ve ever had one in your life, count yourself lucky.
But really, I think that mentors represent the assistance we wish we’d had in those times when help never came, as well as the kind of wise, stabilizing figure that we hope we can be to those close to us in the future.
If you read my last post of 2024, you’ll know that my creative victories for last year were fairly sparse, particularly on the literary side. Overall, it was a pretty mixed bag, though there were some real bright spots along the way. Let’s go ahead and discuss it all, the proverbial good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Bad News
I thought I would change it up and deliver the bad news first. So, let’s go ahead and get this out of the way.
A Swing and a Miss: Early in 2024, an interesting opportunity presented itself. One of the Big Four publishers was interested in one of my fantasy manuscripts. It was sent on submission and we waited…and waited. Months passed with no news, but publishing is not a game for the impatient. Finally, the editor in question simply stopped communicating with us. It’s frustrating, as it has taken years to get to this position only for the editor to essentially ghost us. But, there is actually a mark of distinction for an author in having a project ‘die on submission.’ It means that you almost got there, as the next step would have been a book deal. Next time, if I can just achieve one step higher, I should be on better ground. As is the case with publishing, it’s nothing until its something. Back to square one.
IYKYK
A Shifting Situation: In addition to the copious amounts of personal strife this year, I also changed jobs around mid-year, and it has both been one of the most difficult professional transitions of my career and quite unlike anything I’ve ever done. Between that and some other potential employment issues with my family, the stress and lack of mental bandwidth pulled me out of my regular writing schedule. I couldn’t find my way back to one until the middle of November (more on that below). So, as a result, I have very little to show on the fiction side of things. Almost every goal I made last year failed, and I’m not sure when I will be able to circle back around to them again. I made marginal progress on the sci-fi novella I mentioned in the last State of the Sector address, but even that eventually hit a brick wall. If there is good news, it’s that the holiday break has seen a renewed fire in my veins when it comes to my fictional stories. We will see how that fares now that my holiday break is over.
Sector M Store is Closing: I will be closing the Sector M store in February. I won’t delete it entirely in case there is ever a renewed need for it. Unfortunately, it requires a decent amount of maintenance and costs to keep it running, and sales of any Sector M merch have effectively flat-lined. So, I will renew all the designs that are currently available for the time being, but I plan on shutting it down on Saturday, February 1. So, if there are any designs that appeal to you, now would be a good time to seize upon them. You can find the Sector M store here.
Sector M Games’ Future Uncertain: This year, we published two titles on the DMs Guild, The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items and The Knights of SolamniaRevisited. Both have been well received by the community, and both were featured in the DMs Guild’s weekly newsletter. I did have a manuscript for a third installment for the DMs Guild, but it’s looking like that will need to be shelved for the foreseeable future. With so much uncertainty in my family’s situation, my disposable income (which I use to finance my game projects) just may not be available for some time to come. My philosophy for these supplements has always been to make them as good as possible, and I want to stick to that. So, I would much rather hold off on projects until they can be approached with high standards than try to rush something out. If anything changes on this front, I will make a special update post here on the blog to let everyone know.
Wavering Blog Deadlines: As a writer, I like to meet my deadlines consistently. My track record with 2024’s blog posts was…troubled, particularly as the year wore on. I still delivered all twelve as intended, but I found myself having to adjust publication dates, sometimes by a few weeks to fully deliver them. I will attempt to be more consistent in 2025, though many of the same factors that caused those delays are still in play. For this next year, here are my target dates for new blogs each month. Of course, there could be some wiggle room, but here’s the schedule I’m going with right now:
Okay, I know that was a lot in the way of bad news. Trust me, if it was difficult for you to get through, it was equally hard for me to write. It’s not every year that the wheels just come right off of almost everything. In light of all the things that went wrong or just didn’t materialize this year, it makes the bright spots shine all the brighter.
The Blog’s Best Months: Traffic on this blog has definitely picked up in the last couple of years. I’m now getting traffic in a week that might have taken a month or two before that. I think part of it is regular updates, in my case at least once a month. I’ve had this blog since May of 2013, and as far as I can tell, October, November, and December of this year were the three top months it has ever had. I know that many blogs tend to specialize and be mainly about one thing. This blog is a sort of potpourri of museums and history, nerdy/geeky stuff, writing topics, and just the odd things running through my mind. Thank you for coming back and checking it out. If you are a regular here, I strongly encourage you to follow this blog so you don’t miss a post. (There should be a pop-up when you visit that you can click on to do this.)
A tall ship and a star to steer her by.
DMs Guild Releases: As I stated above, we released two titles on the DMs Guild in 2024, one in January and the other in November. The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items is the more expansive of the two, and it is available as either a downloadable PDF or as a hardcopy format (if you get the hardcopy, you also get the PDF version for free). The other title, The Knights of Solamnia Revisited, is for fans of Dragonlance, and it’s only available as a PDF. I do intend to follow up on both of them with some FAQ and example PDFs that will be available as a free download. That is in the works, though I’m not sure at the time of this writing when they will be ready for release. In any case, if you haven’t picked up a copy of either/both titles, check them out. I’m proud of how they turned out.
An Unexpected Wizard Story: As is often the case, when I’m deep into writing another story, I invariably have intrusive ideas for other stories. As I struggled (and ultimately failed) to maintain the thread of that sci-fi novella, I had an idea for a fantasy novella that followed up on the aftermath of one of my fantasy manuscripts. I finally resolved to start drafting it about the middle of November, and the story just came pouring out at the keyboard. My average number of words per hour more than doubled for each writing session, which tells me that I was truly dialed into it. Even with the holidays, which can be murder on a writing schedule, I’m happy to say that I finished the initial draft at 11:30 p.m. on December 31. So, if I accomplished nothing else on the fiction side in 2024, I was able to begin and end this novella, which clocked in at just under 27,000 words. Of course, it’s a hot mess right now, but one of my projects for January will be getting it into a readable state for my beta readers.
The Road Ahead
Normally, this would be the section where I would outline my goals and projects for the new year, but I am at something of a loss for the moment. I’ve finished the wizard novella, and I’m now at loose ends, at least at the time of this writing. Until I know more about how this year will unfold, and the possible ramifications it will have on my family, it’s difficult to make any long-term plans at this moment in time.
I have that partially completed sci-fi novella I could try to finish, or I could revisit the cyberpunk novel I have about two-thirds complete (both have a special place in my heart, even if I had to put them down). Or, I could try something completely new. I haven’t decided yet, though short-to-medium fiction has its appeal since there’s less time involved per project, usually between a couple of weeks and a couple of months. I wish I had a definitive answer, but the road ahead right now is too foggy for me to see.
Rest assured I will land on something. I scarcely want to have another year creatively like 2024 if I can help it. If 2024 has taught me one thing, it’s that we’re here for a shorter time than we think. I feel that I have barely scratched the surface of the stories I want to tell. If I’m going to make an honest go of it before my time is up, I need to stay focused.
So, it is my hope that if I can turn my situation around, I’ll be able to open the State of the Sector 2026 Address with the words: What a difference a year makes.
Until then, I wish you all a new year filled with the realization of dreams and solid metaphorical (as well as literal) ground beneath your feet.
I mentally began the process of writing this blog in my living room when it was lit by just a fire in the fireplace and the lights of our Christmas tree. The combination of those two things turns what is an ordinary space that I see every day into a magical place, full of warmth and love and memory.
You see, there’s a poem in The Lord of the Rings that really resonates with me at this time of the year, especially as I get older. It’s the song that Bilbo sings to Frodo on the eve of the Fellowship leaving Rivendell: I Sit Beside the Fire and Think. Clamavi de Profundis (who I can’t say enough good things about) sang a version of this song as a farewell to Christopher Tolkien when he passed away a few years back. It’s well worth a listen, especially if you’d like to take the musical pulse of where I am I’m currently.
I’ve always thought of the holiday season as a time for self-reflection in addition to making merry. The world is dark and cold (or cold-er when it comes to Texas), the regular rules of work and life are temporarily suspended as we celebrate in defiance of winter. The New Year has not yet come. We don’t know what it has in store for us yet. We hope, we plan, and some make resolutions, but we don’t know how it will turn out. We sometimes wonder what our world will look like this time next year, though life is far too unpredictable for us to know for sure.
So, for my last blog post of 2024, I wanted to express some thoughts that have been rattling around in my head for a while now. I must warn you, however, if you were looking for a feel-good holiday post, this isn’t it. But, if you would like a glimpse into where I am right now emotionally and my state of mind, this is absolutely the post for you.
Still with me? Excellent — let’s get started.
The Year of Mourning
See, I warned you. This first one is a corker. While there were many bright spots to this year, including reconnecting in person with some old friends, making new connections, and getting to higher ground in numerous senses of the word, 2024 will be known to me as a year of loss. In 2024, I leave behind two pets, a cousin, my mentor, many of my illusions, and much of my faith in humanity.
Grief and pain have shadowed my steps for much of the year. I felt as though I had scarcely begun to deal with one crushing emotional blow when another would land. As I’ve said before, I obviously don’t have a monopoly on grief or pain. I know that this has been an incredibly difficult year for many people I know, and when you look at the wider world, it’s been one tragedy after another. So, I’m not trying to claim some special status for what I’m going through; I’m only trying to tell my little slice of the story.
At times like this, I had always looked forward to the New Year in the hope that it would be better. Unfortunately, that is not the case this time. While 2024 has been the Year of Mourning, 2025 is already the Year of Uncertainty.
But again, we make merry in defiance of the cold and dark. This year, I’m making merry in defiance of that uncertainty. It might turn out to be more in the style of an Irish wake, but if that’s the case, so be it.
Fellow-Passengers to the Grave
I recently had a discussion with some co-workers on our favorite Christmas movies. I may be in the minority, but I generally don’t have a single favorite anything. I have favorites, plural, but my tastes might change from day to day on my favorite song, TV show, movie, etc. Still, if I had to pick a lone favorite, it would almost certainly be A Muppet Christmas Carol.
While Dickens’ timeless tale has been retold countless times in various ways, we have an actor of the caliber of Michael Caine playing Ebeneezer Scrooge, and he plays the role absolutely straight. He speaks and reacts to all the Muppets around him as though they were fellow actors in the Royal Shakespearean Company, and it absolutely works. Watching it this year, as I do with pretty much all the classics, I was particularly moved by it.
Part of it is that A Christmas Carol did more in creating the holiday we know as Christmas than any other. Dickens practically redefined the holiday into what it is today through his prose. It’s one of the reasons why the Victorian era looms large when it comes to Christmas traditions, from Christmas trees (first introduced to England by Prince Albert) to carolers and even versions of what would become Santa Claus.
The other part of it is Gonzo’s delivery, in the guise of Dickens himself, of the famous line about “seeing other people as fellow-passengers to the grave.” Grief has a way of making you think of your own mortality. Sickness does as well, and how did yours truly start off his holiday break? By coming down with a particularly nasty case of strep throat, of course, which is only finally starting to subside. Strep can be fatal if left untreated, but thankfully it rarely is now with modern medicine. Plus, I got on it pretty early when it became clear that it wasn’t just seasonal allergies messing with me. I’ve been pretty lucky in that I don’t get seriously ill all that often.
If anything, this bout of illness has forced me to slow down and focus on my health more than I usually do. Thankfully, I have a decent break from work ahead of me to complete my recovery, but I missed a number of things in the meantime that I regret. Even still, I just crossed paths with a bacterial strain that might have ended my journey had I been born in another time, or even if the right medications were not readily available. That has a way of putting a lot of things into perspective.
What’s my takeaway from it? I’m grateful. Grateful for the fact that help and aid were available when I needed them, that I have the time and space to convalesce, but most importantly, I’m grateful for the people I have in my life. My family, my friends, my co-workers, my extended network — all of them. And if you’re reading this blog, dear reader, that now includes you. I’m grateful to be a passenger with you on this journey, even if we know that it will inevitably end.
The Pale Blue Dot
This month marks 28 years since America lost one of its greatest minds: Carl Sagan. I’m firmly convinced that if more of us could see the world in the way that he did, we would all be better off. Yet, a mind and a perspective like his are sadly rare. Though the man himself is gone, he left behind an incredible body of work, including his famous “Pale Blue Dot” speech.
If you’ve never heard it, I’ll link it here. It is, in my opinion, one of the most poignant speeches ever given. It puts things in perspective in a way that I’ve never encountered before or since. One of the lines that really speaks to me is this one: “Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”
As I said earlier, I’ve lost much of my faith in humanity this year, and I’m not sure when, or even if, I will get that back. I hope I do, as I feel that I am a humanist at my core. The pronouncement that we, as a species, are in charge of saving ourselves, however, doesn’t sound all that comforting to me at the moment.
Deep in my geeky heart of hearts, I want humanity to achieve the kind of high-minded ideals that the Federation stands for in Star Trek. But I also realize that even in that continuity, humanity had to go through some pretty dark days before it finally got its act together and made the world a better place. Maybe that’s where we are now.
Maybe.
As he closes the speech, Sagan says, “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Strangely, this sentiment also echoes the long-held and oft-quoted Christmas sentiment of “peace on Earth and good will towards men.” Lately, it seems we’ve had a lack of both of those things. To my fellow Earthlings, let’s do something about that, okay?
Gandalf’s Wisdom
This year, I introduced my young son to the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings films. While he struggled with sitting through 3+ hour movies, he did enjoy them. He felt the emotional highs and lows just as I did. While the entire cast is famously, almost absurdly, talented, I really have to hand it to Sir Ian McKellan in his role as Gandalf the Grey/White. He really delivers on one of my favorite fictional characters of all time.
Gandalf is one of the great mentor characters, up there with the best of the best, the likes of Merlin, Alpha Trion, Morpheus, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. As an immortal maiar, an angelic being, Gandalf has been around since before Middle-Earth existed. So, Gandalf is extremely old and wise. He’s also quick to give the protagonists under his care an inspiring quote just when they need it most.
Trust me when I say, that we all could use such a quote right about now to lift our spirits or show us the folly of our ways. But as Gandalf stubbornly stays in the realm of fiction, and most definitely not in the real world, we have to content ourselves with the various portrayals of him in the books and in adaptations of those books. I’m drawn to three quotes in particular. For LOTR fans, these may seem like low-hanging fruit, but they are three that live rent-free in my brain right now:
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
This one is pretty self-explanatory, and one of the most famous. The moment in the movie when Frodo stands on the banks of the Anduin, contemplating his plight, and he hears this quote again gets me every time.
Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.
I think what calls to me about this quote stems from some of the deep-lore surrounding Gandalf himself. He was once a servant of Nienna, the Valar (one of the gods of Middle-Earth for those not familiar with the term) who understood sadness and grief in the most profound way. She mourned the destruction and sorrow that existed in the world, often before it had even happened. Because of this connection to grief, she was also a being who appreciated compassion and pity beyond all others. Gandalf is often cited as the wisest of the maiar. I suppose that is why I have always associated wisdom with compassion and empathy.
Gandalf: Saruman believes that only great power can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I’ve found it is the small things — the everyday deeds of ordinary folk — that keeps the darkness at bay, simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it’s because I’m afraid, and he gives me courage.
To some degree, I feel this speaks to my relationship with my son. He’s a deep thinker, and feels all the doubts and apprehensions that this implies. But, ultimately, he is an optimist, and sometimes surprises me with his insight that seems far beyond his short years. Even though I can at times feel hopeless, he gives me the courage to keep going.
Final Thoughts
It’s been a rough year for me all right, personally, professionally, and creatively. I am not looking forward to writing the State of the Sector Address for this year, simply because I had so many misses and so little to show for the past twelve months.
Despite the somber tone of this blog post, I don’t want to end it on a down note, truly. So, how do I strike a delicate balance between a meaningful Christmas message and the not-so-holly-jolly state of mind that I’m in now? Simple, I’ll refer you to Loreena McKennitt’s A Midwinter Night’s Dream album. Her versions of some well-known Christmas classics are introspective, even a little melancholic, without being depressing or nihilistic. And that’s pretty much me right now.
In particular, I would recommend The Holly and the Ivy, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Emmanuel, and Snow, though there is not a bad track on the whole album. Even if Christmas is not your thing, or even part of your belief system, they are beautiful expressions of music that I highly recommend.
And that’s where I will leave things for 2024. It’s a year that I’m glad to leave behind, but one you can be damned sure I won’t ever forget. It has left its mark on me. But as my father is so fond of saying, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you really wanted.”
Despite my reticence to approach the State of the Sector Address this year, I will be moving forward with it, regardless. I know my delivery dates for blog posts have gotten a bit unpredictable of late, but my plan is to post it on the Friday of the first full week of January, so January 10. Watch for it then.
In the meantime, I wish all of you out there, along with your families and friends, a holiday season filled with light, joy, and hope.
Like many readers around my age, my first introduction to fantasy dwarves was in The Hobbit. I first read it when I was eight years old. I remember that it was the first novel that I just couldn’t wait to get home from school to read. The scene where Thorin dies after the Battle of Five Armies also marks the first time I was ever moved to tears over something I read in a fictional story.
My original Avengers.
Since that day, I’ve always loved fantasy dwarves. Thorin and company gave me that first taste of high adventure, and I’ve never forgotten it. While fantasy dwarves are often depicted as half-pint Vikings who speak with Scottish accents, have over-the-top beard braids, and drink incessantly, there’s just something about them that appeals to me, both as a reader and author of fantasy. Since I created this blog to talk about the things I love, I thought I would share with you what appeals to me about them. I’m convinced that they are the unsung heroes of the fantasy genre.
Now before I get into the particulars, I want to make one thing clear: I’m speaking about fantasy dwarves, not people in the real world who have achondroplasia or other conditions that cause dwarfism. The dwarves I’m talking about are not human. While both Thorin Oakenshield and Tyrion Lannister are both labeled as dwarves in the pages of their respective stories, Tyrion is still a human, while Thorin is not.
“This is as far as you go.” (Art by Bob Kehl)
A Bulwark Against the Darkness: Depictions of dwarves in fantasy are pretty varied, but a few things seem to remain true in most tellings. They tend to be shorter than humans (thus the name) and live in wondrous underground kingdoms. They are generally resilient warriors who are masters at stonecrafting and metalworking. Their forges are often the envy of the rest of the world. They usually have longer lifespans than many other races except perhaps the elves.
While the elves tend to be the serene, idyllic beauties of the world, dwarves are rough around the edges, thick-limbed, with tempers that tend to be as fiery as their forges. They may not possess the grace and mystery of the elves, but they are usually forthright, honest, and noble in their hearts. They tend to keep their promises and stand by their word. Their focus is normally not on words and praise, but on actions. They are the do-ers of the world, pragmatic almost to a fault, and stalwart in the face of injustice.
Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.
Unfortunately, their existence in the world has come at a great price. Both in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, we don’t see a thriving dwarven culture. In the cases of Erebor and Khazad-dûm, they are kingdoms that have been devastated and overrun by their enemies. A lot of other fantasy stories have followed suit with this. In the Elder Scrolls, the dwarves (which are really a tribe of elves) have left nothing behind but their ruins and mechanical constructs. In D&D, most adventurers find themselves exploring dwarven redoubts and fortresses from ages past that now lie in ruins. The refrain is that the dwarves were great builders even in ancient times, ranging far and wide, but that they had to abandon those edifications due to some tragic set of circumstances.
“Loyalty, honor, and a willing heart. I can ask no more than that.”
To me, this gives the dwarves a tragic and melancholic vibe, since in their centuries of life they may have witnessed the collapse of one or more of these great realms. They can be forgiven for being a bit dour when the dwarves we meet in fantasy are often the survivors of catastrophic events that may have reshaped the world, and not always for the better. They are often the ones who have taken the hit to keep the horrors of the subterranean from boiling up to the surface. To some degree this explains the line in the Song of Durin, speaking of the elder days, “Unwearied then were Durin’s folk.”
Songs of Stone: For a culture renowned for their skill and ferocity in battle, dwarves are better known for their crafts and art. Dwarven weapons and armor aren’t just utilitarian, they are often works of art. They are poets in steel and stone. Their homes are feats of engineering, often far beyond the scope of what other fantasy races can achieve.
Flint Fireforge by the inestimable Larry Elmore
What I think gets overlooked, however, is their skill as musicians. When it comes to harps in fantasy, it feels like those are more of an elven thing, but in both the Song of the Misty Mountain and the Song of Durin, we hear that the dwarves played the harp and sang in rich melodies beneath the mountains. You could imagine that their caverns would make natural acoustic spaces for their instruments and deep voices to be heard.
There’s a family of singers on Youtube called Clamavi de Profundis. They have perfected the art of the dwarven song. They have put many of Professor Tolkien’s poems to music, but they have also created their own dwarven continuity in which to frame some original songs. They’re amazing, and here are some of my favorites that I highly recommend you give a listen:
The Song of Durin: So much of our notion of dwarves stems from this song.
Clamavi de Profundis gives us a glimpse into what a dwarven musical tradition might sound like along with the deep feelings they elicit. Dwarves in fantasy might have stony or stern exteriors, but their music and poetry hints at the hidden wells of emotion and hearts of gold that they possess at their core.
Strength in the Face of Adversity: Dwarven stubbornness is legendary. Rarely do we see dwarves give up or run away from a fight when the chips are down, regardless of the numbers arrayed against them or the odds. This makes them unwavering allies to have against whatever adversary our fictional fantasy protagonists face. In fact, normally, if a particular cause has the dwarves on its side, its odds of success have generally gone up dramatically.
It’s that unquenchable spirit that never quits, never gives in, and never gives up without a fight that earns them a special place in my heart. Dwarves are often a people who have stared down their own end without backing down. If anything, the looming shade of destruction seems to elevate their will and tenacity to epic levels.
“I may not look like an activewear model, but *I* carry the Golden Axe.”
I think part of this strength is due to how dwarven communities are portrayed. Most of the time, they are shown as being from an extended series of clans, which perhaps is where they inherited their Scottish accents. A clan is a family unit, but a much more expansive one, including potentially dozens of families. Dwarven enclaves are rarely shown to be made up of a single clan, and marriage between clans is (usually) common, meaning that a community of dwarves is not just a city of disparate individuals, but a collective extended family. When they go into battle to defend their homes, it’s their kinsmen that fight at their sides, which they would never dream of abandoning. They count on each other, both on and off the battlefield, in a way that perhaps a similar human or elven community might not.
In a world where they constantly face great opposition, they’ve learned to stick together, hold to their community, and fight for what they believe in, come what may.
Final Thoughts: When I first saw Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring, there’s the scene in Moria where the Fellowship finds itself having to fight the goblins and their cave troll in the Chamber of Mazarbul. Gimli has just realized that his cousin Balin has died only a few moments before. But that sorrow is quickly turned to rage when he leaps atop Balin’s tomb, an axe in each hand, and proclaims with a growl: “Let them come. There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath.” The first time I heard that line, I got goose bumps.
I had hoped that this would be Gimli’s moment to shine. Coming face-to-face with those who murdered his family, amongst the faded glory of the greatest dwarven kingdom in Middle-Earth, I figured it was time for Gimli to quickly dispense some much-needed dwarven justice. While Gimli definitely acquits himself well, the most memorable moments in the fight really come from Legolas. Even as incredible as that scene is, I had hoped it would be Gimli who threw down the cave troll or pulled off some incredible coup. But, it was the elf instead.
“That still counts as one.” (Art by Sebastian Giacobino)
Of course, Gimli gets plenty of chances to show his mettle in those movies, especially at Helm’s Deep, but the scene in Moria is where it felt like the dwarven warrior would have been the most inspired to reach heroic heights. But, Gimli’s efforts were largely overshadowed by his companions. And that, dear readers, is how I feel that the fantasy genre often treats dwarves; rarely do they get the spotlight, even when it would make sense, but they remain a solid and strong presence nonetheless.
But even if they rarely receive their due, they remain a compelling fantasy race whose story is constantly being told and retold by authors of each generation. True, they may be short, gruff, and aggressively Scottish at times, but whether you are watching them on screen, reading about them, or playing as one of them around a table or in a video game, they remain the backbone of the fantasy genre.
It’s time to look back at the year of 2023 as well as look ahead to 2024. Right up front, I have to admit that 2023 was a creatively challenging year for me. There’s really no two ways about it — my day job started to infringe on my creative space in a big way for most of the early year.
I’m normally pretty good at keeping the two separate, but this time my work/life balance collapsed in its entirety. This continually compounded on itself, putting me further and further behind on my goals.
I look back at the State of the Sector Address for 2023 and just sorta sigh. When you’re a creative, not every year is going to go your way, and 2023 went way off the rails. (And definitely not in a cool, Ozzy, Crazy Trains kind of way.)
So, while certain parts of this address will be a bit of a downer, I’ve tried to look at 2023 as an off-season, a year of preparation to put me into a better place for 2024. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how 2023 went for Sector M.
The Good News
The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items: In a year with so many misses for me, this one landed, and is so much better than I could have hoped. I wrote about it in more detail here. While it took a bit to find a team that was capable and willing to take on a project like this, when it came together, boy howdy. I give full props to Gabby (the editor), Natalia (the designer), and Miguel (the artist). Each one of them brought their A-game and elevated the project above and beyond what I thought it could be. At the time of this writing, I am waiting for the final proof from the printer. If all is well when I get it, we’ll be ready to launch. UPDATE: The book is now available here. Enjoy!
Sector M Games: There is a new section to the Sector M website aptly titled “Sector M Games.” It has a listing for the Artificer’s Guide there now. As I add more game projects and titles, this will be the place to find them. I also created a dedicated Twitter/X handle: @TheSectorMGames. If you’re still on Twitter/X, please go give it a follow.
Baldur’s Gate 3: So, by June/July of 2023, I was starting to recover from months of stress and burnout, making slow progress back towards the light. Then I found Baldur’s Gate III, starting in early August, which I detailed here. While it’s true that I suddenly wanted to spend all hours saving the world next to Karlach, Shadowheart, and Minthara, it did actually help reignite some much-needed creative energies. For me, playing a game like that is almost meditative, acting like a freestyle association exercise for the mind in contemplating the genre it occupies.
Besides that, being able to immerse yourself in a world with so many well-developed characters, each with incredible dialogue, is a good way to jump-start your muse. Even though I’ve had multiple playthroughs at this point, my second one (an evil one), still lives rent-free in my head with its implications and repercussions. While BG3 didn’t necessarily help me reach my word-count goals, it did put me on a better trajectory once I was able to return to writing. And you know, I’ll take that as a win.
Blog Delivery: In spite of everything that happened, I was able to keep my blog schedule, give or take a day or two here and there. Twelve blogs promised, and twelve blogs delivered. It’s my intent to keep going with the one-a-month schedule. See below.
A New Fiction Project: Last year I said that I was pivoting away from science fiction for the foreseeable future to focus on fantasy. While that’s certainly true for the books I’m shopping around to agents, just when one story stopped talking to me (see the next section), another started forming at the edges of my mind. Considering I spent much of spring and summer rewatching all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it’s no wonder that the science fiction part of my brain couldn’t help but be reactivated.
So, I’m back to the universe I’ve been developing for years now, this time with a new approach, new characters, new environs, and a seemingly impossible challenge that the protagonist will need to overcome. I’m about 9,000 words into it at the moment. It (probably) won’t be a full novel length, but right now I’m shooting for around 50,000–60,000 words, putting more in line with a novella. I am tentatively hoping to finish it around April/May of this year.
The Not-So-Great News
Cyberpunk Novel on Pause: When things became unbearable at work, I had to put down Book #7, and it broke my heart. Previously, things had been thrumming with it. The story was really speaking to me. I was doubling or tripling my average word count per writing session on a regular basis. I was at about 135,000 words when I just lost the thread, and it was tantamount to crashing into a brick wall. It wasn’t writer’s block, per se, since I was working on other projects without issue. But as far as the novel’s narrative was concerned, it simply went radio silent. It hasn’t come back. I have a few projects I need to finish and deliver, but I’m hoping to try to rekindle this thread later this year. It won’t be easy, but then again, nothing worth doing ever is.
Board Game Still In Development: The board game that I’ve been developing for a while likewise had to go on hiatus. I was able to get some traction on it, especially in acquiring some initial artwork and completing the demo. I now have a fully playable demo set that I’ve playtested a few times. These playtest sessions were able to shine a light on some of the weaker elements of the play structure. I was in the middle of introducing a new mechanic when it also had to be put down as my mental bandwidth ground down to nearly zero. It’s still on my radar, and I hope to get back to the next iteration at some point this year.
Strange Reports Re-Release: To complete the anti-trifecta of projects, I had planned to release and revamp my anthology of short stories, Strange Reports from Sector M in or around May. That obviously didn’t happen, but is still something that’s on my list for this year. I’m clearing space on my schedule around June to get back to this and give it the attention it deserves.
The Road Ahead
The Knights of Solamnia Revisted: The next project I have in the works for the DM’s Guild is (as the name implies), a second look at the Knights of Solamnia as they appeared in Dragonlance:Shadow of the Dragon Queen. This supplement give players the option of playing a Solamnic Knight as a full fighter subclass with career paths that represent all three Orders of Knighthood: the Crown, the Sword, and the Rose.
I am over the moon to be able to write something for the Dragonlance setting, which has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. More on that here. This will be a much shorter entry than the Artificer’s Guide, short enough that it won’t have a print-on-demand version. That will greatly simplify the publishing process since as soon as we have a PDF ready to go, we can move forward. I have the manuscript ready for editing, so watch for that around the end of March/early April timeframe.
Blog Rollout: My blog topics are fairly eclectic, and that’s definitely going to be the case with 2024’s slate. Some of them I’ve been wanting to write for a long time now, so if you’ve enjoyed what I’ve done the last year or two, 2024 will build upon that. The dates the blog will drop will by and large be the third Friday of each month.
Of course, if last year taught me anything, it’s the futility of trying to plan too far ahead. So, the following are my intended blog dates, but there could be some slight variance to them. My current dates are:
I’ll link each of the blogs to the date above once it has posted. So, if you miss a blog along the way, you can just refer back to this post to get the links.
Recap from Above: To summarize from the points above, my additional goals for 2024 include:
Finish up on my new sci-fi novella — April/May
Relaunch of Strange Reports from Sector M — June/July
Circle back to Book #7 — August/September
Support Sector M
In closing, if you would like to support what I do, here are some of the ways you can help. If you have previously bought one of my books, one of the best things you can do is leave a review. It doesn’t cost money, it can be as short or as detailed as you like, and it will help with the algorithm that decides who gets to see what’s what.
2023 may not have gone the way I thought it would, but it has set up this year to be something of a clearing house for projects that have been waiting in the wings. I like to think of the phases of my creative journey as stepping stones. So, I believe that 2024 will, in turn, become a way to set up 2025 for something entirely new. I am certainly looking forward to that.
So, that does it for the State of the Sector Address for this year. If you’ve been here a while, thank you so much for sticking with me. If you’re just now joining us, welcome aboard! In any case, I appreciate you all — each and every one.
We are back with a brief retrospective on what we were able to do last year as well as a look ahead to the horizons of 2023. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
A New Direction
My last blog post of 2022 talked about this in detail, so I won’t repeat too much of it. The short version is this: I’m having to move my focus away from science fiction for the foreseeable future. I’ll be focusing on fantasy this year in the hopes of breaking into traditional publishing. It’s not a decision I make lightly, but it’s one that comes after much thought and soul-searching. This change will trickle over to the posts I make here. So, expect to see a bit more content about the fantasy genre in the months ahead.
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
Marvel, Maybe?
My philosophy for this blog was always to talk about those things I enjoy instead of focusing on those things I don’t. The MCU has taken up a significant amount of my Fanboy Reviews up to this point, but most of Phase IV has fallen flat for me. Multiverse of Madness was something of the final straw. My review of that movie was long and mostly negative, which runs counter to why I created this blog in the first place.
I can hope that Phase V will be an improvement, but don’t expect to see as much coverage of the MCU as there was in times past. If Phase V starts to improve, I’ll pick it back up, but I may be more selective in the titles I choose to review.
Fun & Games
This has been in the works for a while behind the scenes, but I can finally announce that I’m actively developing a TTRPG supplement for D&D 5e, potentially the first of many, and an original board game with a cyberpunk aesthetic.
The supplement will appear on DM’s Guild, and I’m hoping to launch it in March. More details on that as they become available.
The board game, by contrast, is on a much slower developmental track. My plan is to run a Kickstarter for it when the time is right. There are a lot of moving parts to a project like that, so it might be next year before it finally sees the light of day. I will, however, keep you posted on the progress I’m able to make in the meantime.
Gone is the past.
2022 Accomplishments
Last year was something of a roller-coaster for me creatively, but I made significant progress on a number of things I outlined in last year’s State of the Sector Address. I wanted to share those with you here.
Sector M Website/Patreon Revamp/New Merch Store: Sector M got a new look and new features, starting with my author website. I migrated my old Redbubble store over to Etsy. I now have many more options and designs available. Lastly, my Patreon got quite the glow-up , with new tiers, new rewards, and monthly Zoom calls with yours truly. If you haven’t already, go check ’em out.
Blog Delivery: After a few years of being hit-or-miss with my blog posts, in 2022 I was able to post one original blog post per month, January to December. With one exception, I delivered them on the dates I listed in the last State of the Sector.
Attended DFWCon: In October, I finally made it back to DFWCon after years of being away. I really loved the opportunity to hang out and talk with other authors, hear success stories, and make in-person pitches to agents and industry professionals.
Progress on #7: Book #7 has been something of a storm in a bottle. I started it on Halloween of 2021. While I made some progress during the last two months of that year, I really started getting into it in January of last year. I noticed that my average word count per writing session almost doubled. At the time of this post, I’m 120,000 words into it. The story is a big one though, big enough that what I thought was a novel might wind up being a trilogy of novellas instead.
Still in the Works
The Sector M Podcast: The timing for this just didn’t work out. I’m still interested in getting a Sector M podcast off the ground at some point in the future, so I’m not shelving this idea. If and when there’s any progress on this front, I’ll be sure to announce it here.
The road to the mountain.
Goals for 2023
Finish Book #7, Start Book #8: As stated above, I’m still working on book #7. I hope to have the initial draft done in or around April. My plan is to start book #8, a direct sequel to #6, in June.
Query Books #5 & #6: Book #5, or DMM, is my first querying project of the year. This should begin in February. I’ll be working on polishing book #6, or AOTO, to start querying it later in the year. Both are fantasy titles that (ostensibly) are set in the same world, though they are separated greatly in time period, space, and overall theme.
Revamp Strange Reports to Sector M: My anthology that came out some years ago is getting a re-release. In addition to fixing some production errors that crept in, I’ll be adding a hardback version. My goal is to get that up and running in a May timeframe.
New Blog Schedule: I have a new slate of original blog topics planned for this year, and I’m excited to get started on them. Like last year, I’m going to post on the third Friday of the month. Here are the dates in question:
This does not include the updates that may pop up in more of an update/ newsletter-style post.
Attend Writing Conventions: I thoroughly enjoyed going to DFWCon this last year. In addition to returning to that con, I want to travel to a few more conventions. I’m still in the research phase to determine which ones. Once I have that figured out, I’ll post the details in the next update.
Time for an epic team up!
How You Can Help
Support Tab: I’ve created a new tab next to “Home” and “About” at the top of the page. It has all the ways you can support Sector M. Here’s the breakdown:
Tell a friend. No, really! Word-of-mouth is an author’s dream.
So, that does it for this year’s State of the Sector Address. Let me close by simply saying thank you for your continued interest and support of my work. There are some exciting things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.
The Sector M 