Fantasy and Science Fiction

On December sixteenth, 2021, we were struck by the center of Force 5 typhoon Odette, as it was named by Philippine weather authorities.  Outside the Philippines it was known as Typhoon Rai.  The eyewall of the storm passed right over my house, some of the neighborhood's roofs and most of the trees were destroyed, and the fallen trees damaged or destroyed many houses and took down all the electricity and communications wires.  We didn't have electricity or running water for twenty-six days, and we didn't have landline internet for a month and a half.  Then my phone company's fiber internet service was restored, though I'm still waiting for my cable TV company's fiber internet to be repaired.    The Philippines is also gradually normalizing as the covid 19 pandemic slowly recedes here.  It's been an ordeal for sure, but we're almost back to normal now.

I haven't done much with my writing or publishing lately, or with anything else beyond my day job, as I recover from the trials I experienced earlier this year.  I'm getting my books on another ebook site soon, and still looking for another publisher.

I'd like to thank all my fans for sticking with me over the last few years.

Constantly blogging on my website or my facebook page keeps my reach limited to the audience I already have. Though, if you feel like being generous, a split second of sharing can help drastically. If you know any fans of reading fantasy or science fiction novels please go ahead and suggest my name! Any boost, even if just one soul reached, is one more potential fan. Like I said before, word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising, and that one new fan might just help me reach the next thousand!

Chaos Of A Demon War - Book Three of The Nexus Of Kellaran Trilogy is available now at Smashwords.com in USA and Metric Editions!

It was exactly one year ago today that I came back to The Philippines. Since I had a seasonal job in Canada and had saved up enough during the summer to live here through the winter, (or so I thought) coming back here wasn't the hard decision, as I had done it the winter before. The hard decision was choosing to give up my seasonal job in the spring and try to stay here all year round. It was very risky; I'd have to make enough to support myself and my girlfriend from what I made as an author and internet publisher, which I hadn't been able to do previously. Sometimes it's been very tense and we've been on the edge of financial disaster.
I'd always thought I'd get rich someday and move to a tropical island paradise. I never did get rich, or even middle class, though I came close a couple of times. But I did get very good at being poor to working class.
Right now I'm in a loving mated relationship for the first time in my life, and I do live in a nice place in a tropical paradise with a private beach, including internet, big screen, and sattelite TV. My personal costs for everything including cell phone, groceries, and a bit of spending money are $230USD/$300CDN/10,000PHP per month, (and that's less than I've ever heard of for anyone with a comparable lifestyle) or $460USD/$600CDN/20,000PHP including my girlfriend's costs. She does all the cooking, cleaning, and handwashes all our laundry, (I'd do half of that if she was working or going to school) and she takes good care of me.
In most ways this is the best my life has ever been, so I'm living the dream. Over the next year I need to double my income so I can afford to go back to Canada for a visit once a year, buy us some health insurance, and get a few other little extras. That's all I really need.
I need to thank everyone who has helped us or supported my careers in any way. I couldn't have done it without you.

Chaos Of A Demon War - Book Three of The Nexus Of Kellaran trilogy, will be available before the end of September. Pre-sales will be available soon.

I posted this on my personal Facebook for my family and friends back home, but I figured I'll re-post it here;

I was pretty confused how the hot season here could run from April to the middle of June, since the country is (barely) in the northern hemisphere and fairly close to the Asian landmass which has it's summer in the normal June-July time-frame. Turns out that it would be absolutely dangerously hot here during July and August, except that that's when the rainy season hits. We're getting pleasantly warm rain every day, and the temperatures are nice now. But, when it was really hot I never noticed that there were almost no mosquitos, and now they're back with a vengeance! I'm lovin' my mosquito netting at night, and my electric flyswatter (with insect-attracting UV LED) during the day! Zaps them suckers but good!

Things I never thought I'd say;
The very best bananas I ever had are grown in my own yard. Delicious!
Remember, when someone is driving down the wrong side of the road towards you, you have to let the ones in the curb lane pass on the curb side, and the ones in the center lane pass on the centerline side!
When I first got here I thought that the traffic system here was insane, but now I realize that this system is better, and the system in Canada is insane! I've lived here in dense city areas for a total of over 13 months now, and the only traffic accident I've seen was a single-vehicle crash where a drunk guy fell off his motorcycle. That's a hell of a lot less accidents than I ever saw during an equivalent time in Calgary. In Canada everyone is supposed to follow the million rules/signs/lights/road markings so that they can go as fast as possible without paying attention, and whenever someone breaks the rules there's an accident. Here there's traffic anarchy, and all the drivers are actually PAYING ATTENTION with the majority of their concentration, and ready to brake or swerve at any time with a fraction of a second's notice, and staying ready for anything. If someone sails through a red light, he probably won't hit anyone, because everyone else is ready for that. Little kids can run out into traffic from between parked cars and pretty much never get hit, because the drivers are ready for that too. People drive slow enough to react to any danger.
There are actually European residential areas that are getting rid of their traffic lights, road signs, and road markings, because it forces people to slow down and pay attention, and produces a safer system!

A lot of times during the day I miss Canada and my family, and when I have to deal with the many instances where it would be easier to get stuff done in Canada, I consider going back. But when I'm sleeping I keep having dreams where I'm in Canada and I'm trying to get back to the Philippines but I can't. Then I wake up and realize that I'm still here, and it's all good. I think I'll go snorkeling in the bathwater-warm ocean off the private beach behind my beautiful tropical back yard today.

By the way, there's another apartment available here on this property, with air conditioning and a separate bedroom, for about $450 a month. Figure another $300 a month for groceries, utilities, internet, sidecar taxi trips around the neighborhood, and satellite TV (but with only a few English language shows). For two people. Plus whatever luxuries and tourist-type activities you want to pay for. Great beer is about 1$ a can or 2$ for a 1 litre bottle, but when I drink (rarely) I usually go for the excellent rum for about 2$ a 750 ml bottle. Just sayin'.

One thing that does suck is that the economy here continues to improve, and Canada's continues to suck, so now I only get 33.5 pesos for a dollar, when I used to get 48. That's a big difference. But my apartment is studio with no A/C, so my cost of living is still only $600 Canadian a month. For two of us.

Hello to everyone from me and Marel! I miss you all and I hope you're doing great! Wish you were here!

In the space of a bit more than a month, two of my readers helped me out with money, one to save me from disaster and support my writing, and one to support the ExOr project I described in my email the newsletter before last.  Both have asked to remain anonymous, since they don't want to be asked for cash by multitudes.  I am humbled and amazed that people who've never met me are willing to support my efforts because they believe in what I can do.  Things are still a bit tense, but then, I've never had financial security beyond the next paycheck in my entire life, so that's nothing new.  Believe me, I'm trying hard to make the most of the chances I've been given.

By the way, I sent the email with the ExOr project to a number of people, but I've never posted it publicly and I'd appreciate it if none of you did that until after I've done so.