I have a weird feeling this week. It’s like I overlooked something or forgot some bill, and I keep checking to see what I missed and can’t find it. And it’s Thursday already. How? How?
Gordon’s surgery is next week. They will clean the scar tissue from his shoulder, and he will have to immediately go into physical therapy. If we miss an Inheritance installment, that’s probably why. Hopefully we will stay on track. I am going to try to get the next three posts lined up so Mod R can just click Publish and then do the hard work of moderating.
To people asking about craft projects: I haven’t been able to knit or crochet because the hands are not cooperating. Especially the wrist rotation with the hook is a no go. I haven’t been able to see a neurologist either. I can’t even get on the schedule. It is a bit frustrating. Okay, it’s very frustrating.
I need to get back to workouts. I chickened out this week because we are having a heat wave. It’s overcast today and it cooled off to 96, wooo! We were at 101F (38C) yesterday. It’s hot and humid. I think lifting weights was helping a little or maybe it’s my imagination.
Since I can’t knit or crochet, I’ve been trying to play a little bit of computer games, although I have to limit that, too. Both Planet Crafter and the Enshrouded are releasing updates: the Enshrouded one already came out, and the Planet Crafter is coming on 16 or 19th.
I have been playing the Humble expansion in Planet Crafter in preparation for the expansion. It’s a neat game where you are a convict dropped off on a barren rock of a planet, and the only way to escape is to terraform it into a garden planet.
Right now I’m breeding butterflies in different colors. The game is pretty, although Humble isn’t my favorite. I like a lot of water at my base locations, and the centrally located lake is more like a puddle.
The new update is supposed to let you terraform more moons in this alien solar system. I’m excite!
Finally, we have gotten a couple of puzzled comments – mostly from international readers – regarding the widespread use of dishwashers in US. About 75% of US households have them. They are convenient, and we are encouraged to purchase them because they use less water. A typical modern dishwasher will use 3-4 gallons for a load of dishes, while washing the same load by hand uses 15-27 gallons. It also saves energy, because most people wash their dishes in hot water and heating that water adds up. To that one commenter who wondered why an off-the-grid home in the Southwest would need one – their water is likely limited. They are trying to conserve their resources. A small dishwasher can ran off solar, and washing dishes is not optional.
To the person who is now vigorously typing how their handwashing never uses that much water: Having a dishwasher doesn’t make you lazy, not having one doesn’t make you a dirty planet polluter. It’s a convenient appliance. Some people have space for it, some don’t, and there is no reason to have a moral superiority battle over it.
I’m trying to figure out what to read next. LitRPG is my new military SF. I usually read outside of the genre I’m working on and I’m unlikely to ever write a strict LitRPG. I am sadly out of the Azarinth Healer. I have Bushido Online in my library for some reason. Maybe I will try that one next.
New topic. I am still waiting, somewhat patiently, for the follow-up Innkeeper book promised in the last paragraph of “Sweep of the Blade”. Presume that will be discovering the parent location and smiting those responsible, and perhaps the final volume. This year, next year???
It will not be this year, there are other contractual commitments and projects to pursue 🙂.
When a plan is official, it will be announced on the Release Schedule page https://ilona-andrews.com/release-schedule/
I was old when your books premiered and I started reading them. I am older now and reread them constantly. I lived awhile in a house without one. A dishwasher. Books dishwashers and chocolate. Some things are necessities. No need to argue.
Ilona. I suggest an inkle or tapestry loom. You can work with scrap yarn and it uses your hands differently. card weaving can stack with an inkle loom for elaborate straps you can add to garments.
Agree! You can also do small heddle weaving on them. Kumihimo is fun too.
I’m gonna have to recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. There’s seven books out and at least two more planned.
I hope Gordon’s surgery goes well and your hands get better. Does petting Tuna and the dogs help?
Most of my friends parents put in dishwashers after their kids were grown. My parents were very stubborn about it.
They kept getting sick like clockwork whenever my Dad went out to cut wood. Mom would tell him to wash his hands before drying dishes, and he’d glare at her and dry dishes without doing it. Then they’d get sick and he’d tell her she was a lousy dishwasher.
Mom would then call me and complain.
My hubby and I offered to buy them a dishwasher, and mentioned that ours had a sterilize setting, and that we seldom got sick since using it. Unknown to me, she had also called my other siblings, who all stated the same thing and also offered to buy them a dishwasher.
It stung their pride and they told us all to butt out.
We all got together to discuss it, and my sister took point: She sent my mother a chart that spelled out how much they were paying in doctors fees compared to the money they’d save by getting a dishwasher.
Mom read it over, got her purse, did three things immediately:
1. She took Dad in for new glasses.
2. When Dad went to cut wood, she locked him out of the house unless he washed his hands outside.
3. She had a dishwasher put in.
They never argued over dishes again.
Studies find, persons very good at handwashing dishes wash cleaner and with less water. But obviously most people are less proficient than the 1% best ;-). So don’t deceive yourself, you are probably worse than a dishwasher. Modern dishwashers are ridiculous efficient.
I have managed to avoid carpal tunnel for 40 years through careful management. I preload with an nsaid if I know the physical stress will be high. Regular and frequent stretching and massage for hands and wrists. Finally a good linament. If you don’t want to make your own get absorbine veterinary linament at the farm store. Always stop when it starts to hurt. You can also develop alternative motions for some activities.
I loathe doing dishes with the passion of a thousand suns. Dishwashers save my sanity (my MIL *likes* doing dishes by hand, so much so she didn’t teach her sons how to do them, leaving me to train the husband before we were even dating. Strange woman).
For reading, DCC seems to be the standard LitRPG suggestion lately. And it is indeed hilarious. Haley’s System Apocalypse is a series of shorter, cozy LitRPGs that I like (but didn’t gain much tractions because they weren’t released on the standard sites). Fun to reread though (Catfish! Haunted houses!)
Book series recommendation. The Calamitous Bob. Main character is a smart, snarky French medic, who never allows a right action to go undone, even if she would really rather not. All nine books were delightful.
Description:
Ah, Nyil, with its magic, its monsters, and its petty gods. A divine spat leaves French medic Viv stranded in the middle of an arcane disaster zone crawling with undead horrors. Thankfully, there are strange allies to be found, not least the mysterious interface that helps humans survive in this merciless world.
Viv will have to progress fast to survive this calamity and find civilisation. She will also need a bit of luck. Unless, of course, she becomes the calamity herself. After all, luck is such a fickle thing.
Since I found a new Patrick Rothfuss book, I would recommend “The Name of the Wind”. The only problem with it is that book #3 is STILL not out yet. For something more SFy, how about “Ancillary Justice” by Ann Leckie?
I hope everything goes smoothly with Gordon’s surgery.
I am new to the LitRPG genre, but I just finished Dawn Chapman’s Through Steel and Stars series (the stats cards seemed a little clunky, but the story line was good). Also, I like Kacey Ezell’s space opera Ashes of Entecea series and she also writes LitRPG (which is on my TBR list).
Congrats on getting a dishwasher. We live rural, and I dread any of our appliances going out. A LitRPG series I am enjoying is Judicator Jane by Brian Rouleau. Good luck with the doctoring!
My sister and I were the dishwashers at our house. Siblings washing dishes led to splashes and water fights! Ha! I never had a dishwasher until we bought our first home. It wasn’t a built in and had to be rolled to the sink and hooked up to the faucet.
Good luck on your surgery, Gordon…and rehab after. Take care you two!
I gotta say, it’s good you have the ability to hand wash. I’ll never forget the maintenance call I took where the gal was absolutely hysterical that her dishwasher was broken and she had No Way to wash dishes!!!! (I took the call while standing over my sink washing the previous days dishes because we didn’t have a place for a dishwasher. 🤣) I had dark thoughts of creating a dishwashing song and a YouTube video on hand washing dishes!
Good luck with surgery!
90’s sound so nice, I sent my kids to school in coats today in Denver. I finally turned off our furnace last weekend and it was so cold last nt, will be piling blankets as I refuse to turn it back on before next fall.
I…..I have a suggestion for you that might help with your hands and wrists. I know, I know, but I have to share when I think I might have information that will help.
There is a company called Back-On-Track (Swedish but has US distributor) that makes clothing for people, horses and dogs that uses far-infrared therapy to help with pain/blood flow, etc. I have been using their products for more than 15 years – mostly for my horse, but also for myself.
They make gloves and wrist braces – they are passive and won’t interfere with medications or anything. You can wear them while doing activities, or while sleeping.
Basically I know for my and more importantly my horse, these have worked and so I just wanted to bring them to your attention so you could look into them yourself to see if you are interested.
I don’t like to “gate-keep” so if I have information that might help someone else, I want to share.
Then, it is your choice if you want to look into it further. 🙂 But at least you have the information to pursue or not.
Good luck to Gordon with his surgery and I hope your hands feel better soon.
Have you read Dungeon Crawler Carl? It’s very much LitRPG. The sassy cat is the best!
Hope Gordon’s surgery & PT are a grand success.
Ilona, I hope you can get in pronto to see someone with the solutions for your hands/wrists, and that you can recover well. How maddening to have these wonderful and relaxing skills (knit/crochet) and not be able to enjoy them. I have some of these issues as well. They’re definitely the pits!
Thank you for your kind efforts to keep us entertained with regular posts of The Inheritance. A fantastic read!
Ilona: You said you were looking for new LitRPG authors – have you tried any of the Good Guy Series or Bad Guy Series by Eric Ugland? They’re addictive and funny. 😄
May the surgery go well and your wrists and hands feel better.
obviously none of my business, but you and Mod R saw that there’s a neurologist in here, who very politely said they could probably hook you up with a referral before the end of the world (could be soon) down in Texas. That doesn’t sound like interference, it just sounds useful so I hope y’all didn’t miss it. (ok, I’ll pretend I’m minding my business.)
yes, the weather patterns are very disturbing. hope Gordon’s surgery is relatively easy and the recovery is not too terrible, and that Ilona’s hands/wrists/general neurological issues ease off.
thank you to all of you and Mod R as well
Already forwarded to Ilona, thank you ☺️
Military Sci/fi: you might like GhostShip Derelict by by JR. Handley and David Hensley. I don’t read a lot of litRPG and it doesn’t have a score card kind of thing going, but it was a good read. I don’t read a lot of military sci/fi either, but it’s definitely that. Good battles, well-written characters.
I always figure… you do you. My water is really hard. My machine is plugged again. Got tired of white glasses and it’s not my house. I am making jam today and to the canner, I added vinegar to the water or else the jars are white. So I hand wash. Really doesn’t matter.
Hope the Gordon’s surgery goes well.
Did you call the neurologist yourself?? We can only wish to do that in the land of unending wait list health care. That’s only if a family Dr thinks it’s important enough to make the referral.
My pt/pilates instructor decided to close her business last summer and ALL my aches and pains (right wrist, right shoulder, right hip, left knee) have ALL returned. I am having trouble finding the right person (and any extra money).
So I completely feel your pain!
I know I am better when I commit to doing the right exercises, but I need the routine of going someplace and the right person to keep me on track. Her place was just nice and small and had a class at the exact right time!
It was irreplaceable. To me.
I have several recommendations for your LitRPG reading. He Who fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon, Primal Hunter by Zogarth, and Unexpected Healer by Jonathan Brooks. Also, Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson. They’re all on Kindle Unlimited. I could go on, but those are some of my favorites. He Who Fights With Monsters and Heretical Fishing are very funny as well.
Well wishes for a smooth surgery & recovery for Gordon! And I’m sorry about the trouble in getting in to see a neurologist. I have a patient who has been waiting to see an endocrinologist and can tell you that most specialties are very backed up. Imaging also, which is annoying. (Seems to me things remain slow since Covid). Anyway, I’m sorry for that. I’m in alternative medicine, so if you want options that lean that route let me know & I’d be happy to make recommendations.
I hope the nebulous “something missing” feeling resolves soon. Very best to you both & thank you to Mod R for taking care of us.
I recommend Iron Prince (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) by Bryce O’Connor and Luke Chmilenko. Coming of age Sci-Fi LitRPG with amazing battles.
Pros:
Battle scenes are detailed
Characters are not one-dimensional
World building is decent
Cons:
Book 3 isn’t published yet, and the author takes about three years to get one published. We are on year 2 now, and Bryce has published through Ch 34 on Patreon. With both book 1 and book 2 having 60 + chapters.
Some of the battles can get a bit repetitive.
Character growth isn’t as deep as it could be, but the focus is on leveling up the CAD armor system, and not the person.
The “enemy” isn’t described at all. I am hoping this happens in future books.
Gordon, best of luck for the surgery and recovery! 😁
If you don’t mind an older LitRPG series I would recommend The Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg. It is still one of my favorites *ahem* years later.
I live in Austin. This morning I was bringing my husband back from physical therapy, and someone had set up a drum set in a median. He seemed to be having fun playing the drums, but the first thing in my mind was “He hauled an entire drum set onto a median? Is he crazy? It’s 90 degrees out there, and he has no shade!” For those of you in other states, if you live in Texas you become obsessed with finding a shade spot. When we talk about “Keep Austin Weird”, this is not what we are talking about. You can be weird/eccentric and not be endangering your health.
The people from other country who blabber bad things about using dishwashers can just kiss my 57 years old hands! I grew up in Bulgaria. The dishwasher, the washing machine, the dryer!, and the air-fryer definitely come from heaven! If you want to rob my house those are the things I’ll defend to the death!
You really should check out Matt Dinniman! DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL is AWESOME!
At first I thought you were talking about real butterflies. Different colored butterflies eat different plants. My friend gets blue butterflies, yellow butterflies and Monarchs in her yard in Pinellas county.
I can guarantee your hand problems are different than mine (MS + extremely bad wrist break), but I wanted to comment that my physical therapist gave me a bunch of wrist and arm exercises to do for the rest of my life because keeping up muscle tone, strength, and flexibility helps with support of the wrist/hands & reduces inflammation. (I was told all the medical stuff at the time about why, but I fear I retained none of it.) And I definitely notice when I’ve been a slacker. So, anyway, I think you are right that weight lifting helps whether or not it addresses the cause, it probably helps with the symptoms.
If you want a light-hearted LitRPG, I Ran Away to Evil – Mystic Neptune was very very funny. The author name left me very dubious, but she’s now on my buy new ones as they come out list. I also enjoyed Cooking with Disaster – Dakota Krout. Portal guy becomes an assassin, gets a redo, becomes a battle cook. If you want a no fighting cozy litrpg, Courier Quest – Flossindune was adorable.
Love it, so much passion about dishwashers! They are very common in New Zealand too, although I am old enough to remember a time before them…
I was going to stir the mix a bit by asking garbage disposal vs no garbage disposal? That’s a much more divisive question down here in NZ. I LOVE my insinkerator but a lot of people think I’m mad and am going to get my fingers chopped off any minute now…
I Ran Away to Evil by Mystic Neptune is my LitRPG top suggestion! Very cute, smart, funny.
for military scifi you should try David Weber if you haven’t yet. it’s not litrpg and he can get bogged down in the hardware but he has a degree in naval battles and transfers that to space. he’s best known for Honour Harrington series, but there’s several others.
Not a fan of isekai or LitRPG, but
my hubby liked the isekai Disciple of the Lich by Nekoko.
Best wishes for Gordon’s surgery, the hands issue, et al.
I met Nancy Yost last week (she lives in my sister’s building) and at 70 years old, I gushed like a true fan about how you both are my very favorite authors along with Jeaniene Frost. I look back and should probably be embarrassed, but I’m not. All of that aside, I am just now going through the PT (physical torture not therapy) for my third shoulder surgery. While it is painful, it is necessary – my warmest thoughts are with you.
How cute! 🥰
Try the Rise of Mankind series by Jez Cajiao. Starts with Age of Stone.
I am 45 and it has helped me, but I also gave it to my mom and she is 90. Whose knee pain has been greatly relieved.
Planet crafter is a fine game and I enjoyed it, but there is one thing that deeply irritates me. It only plays on “terraforming”, it lacks any scientific background. Its developers totally ignore things like triple point of water just to name one thing that lacking.
If you are craving more litrpg, I recommend Path of Ascension by C. Mantis, System Universe by SunriseCV or Defiance of the Fall by TheFirstDefier. Just a warning though, none of those are finished series.
Agreed. Path of Ascension is one of the best! Another to think of is Wish Upon The Stars. (It’s the most interesting take on sci-fi combined with superheroes I’ve ever seen. A very different way of getting, and improving, powers.)
The Primal Hunter is a fun LitRPG. Bonus if you love audio books Travis Baldree is an amazing narrator.
If you want a very cool series of small books. The murderbot chronicle’s is amazing! The poor conflicted sec unit works so hard to keep his humans alive. Martha Wells did an amazing job with it.
I have a dishwasher but living alone It is easier to hand wash unless I have company
Murderbot is coming out on Netflix!!! I saw the trailer!!! Of course they changed the interactions a little bit, but still looked hilarious and well worth watching. Alexander Skarsgard plays Murderbot.
If you are interested in military sci-fi/ fantasy I have two authors for you to look into: Monster Hunter international series Larry Correia and Omega Force series by Joshua Dalzelle. Fun fun reads! Hope all goes well with the surgery.
While I am totally hooked on The Inheritance, Gordon’s and your health are more important. I would must rather you invest in the future and heal that have an installment of Inheritance. At least with you healed, there is hope for the next installment!!! Be well and I hope the temperature break for a bit before summer really arrives in Texas.
For really cool military sci-fi, try The New Species. It’s on Royal Road and has a very different take on multi-species alliances and AI involvement.
Have you tried Battle Mage farmer or Nova Terra by Seth Ring? Both are a Litrpg but they don’t go into to much status screen numbers and stuff. Both are long series and both are on audible.
If I had room in my apartment I’d get a dishwasher in a heartbeat.
Haven’t seen it recommended here yet but Seeds of Chaos by Azalea Ellis is a trilogy that I couldn’t put down. The first book is Gods of Blood and Bone. It is called a GameLit novel. It can get a bit gory, but I had to find out what happened – I loved the characters – really came to care about them, and after three books you aren’t strung along for more. It is complete and left me with an enormous book hangover.
Best of luck on the surgery. My husband had to have his shoulder done and then ended up with a frozen shoulder afterwards. The PT after the surgery absolutely sucks, but I highly recommend you do it because a frozen shoulder is worse.
Thank you for all of the wonderful stories you have put into the world.
Anything by Lous McMaster Bujold, or Ursula le Guin. But you may already love them both
LitRPG recs: Dungeon Crawler Carl series (in progress) by Matt Dinniman and Cradle series (complete) by Will Wight
I’ve been reading Michelle Diener verdant steering series. After reading her class 5 series. I can picture the stories in my head but also easy to read. Petite was Jennifer Estep entire assassin series. Which I struggled to put down
Hugs to both of you!
I hope you will feel better soon. Not being able to enjoy your hobbies is not nice.
As for dish washers: I do not want to be without one! In Finland they are pretty common. Luckily!!
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