Happy 2026, everybody.
::looks at her Inbox:: Aaaaa! We are just going to pretend the emails don’t exist for the next hour while I write this.
How did your holidays go? Ours were quiet and peaceful. Because of the kids having other commitments, we pushed the gift giving to New Year, and it was a smaller Christmas, but it went so well. The menu was easy, we ate, we hung out, everyone opened their gifts and it was lovely. Kid 1 is now engaged.
Since we chose to celebrate my milestone birthday as well, I wanted to make a big fancy dinner but I also didn’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen, so I opted for stuff I could stick in the oven. We had prime rib, I found a duck at Costco, and on a whim, because not everyone likes the medium rare prime rib, I decided to make “Russian porkchops,” which are basically Schnitzel. I pounded some pork ribeye cuts, dipped them in egg, then in breadcrumbs, and pan-fried.
Duck, prime rib, and bread crumb porkchops. What do you think they all ate?
Yeah, everyone is getting Schnitzel for the next big dinner.
After the New Year, we worked for several days but it had nothing to do with writing. This Kingdom is getting several special editions, about which I can’t tell you because they won’t let us. Special editions usually have a signature page, and the publishing partners send us boxes of pages, which we sign and send back.
It takes us about 3 hours to go through 500 pages, and then my hand is completely shot. I had gone to the neurologist about it, and I can avoid surgery if I don’t strain it. So, unfortunately, signing will be very limited in the future. I need my hand to life, as the kids say.
The company that sent the boxes below is very accommodating, and that particular edition is stamped due to the large number of pages. I also thought it was very cool that the signature page says it is stamped on the bottom. This way there is no confusion.
It turned out that stamps and I are not friends. I got extremely nervous about stamping. I have stamped my hand. I stamped my fingers. I got ink on my face. My nails got stained black. But the many thousands of pages are done, and they are going back today, yay!
Other than the endless stamping, I got to read some books. My LitRPG streak continues, and somehow I ended up with two similar series back to back.
To clarify: sometimes we recommend books that we think BDH would like because they are similar to our work. These are different. They are books from my personal reading list. Some of you might like them, but I read widely and most of the time outside of our usual subgenre.
As always, Your Mileage Will Vary.
I read IRON PRINCE and the sequel by Bryce O’Connor and Luke Chmilenko.
Reidon Ward will become a god.
He doesn’t know it yet, of course. Reidon was born weak, sickly and small. Afflicted with a painful disease and abandoned by his parents because of it, he has had to fight tooth and nail for every minor advantage life has allowed him.
His perseverance has not gone unnoticed, however, and when the most powerful artificial intelligence in human history takes an interest in him, things began to change quickly. Granted a CAD—a Combat Assistance Device—with awful specs but an infinite potential for growth, Reidon finds himself at the bottom of his class at the Galens Institute, one of the top military academies in the Collective. Along with his best friend, Viviana Arada, Reidon will have to start his long climb through the school rankings, and on to the combat tournament circuits that have become humanity’s greatest source of excitement and entertainment.
So begins the rise of a god. So begins the ascent of the Stormweaver.
It is an upper range YA, almost New Adult, and it is a cross breed of SF, cyberpunk, and gladiatorial combat. Male POV, very focused on combat and training and military academy politics. If you liked Ender’s Game, this might appeal. It is available on KU. There are two fat books…. And there is no more. ::gives the authors a side eye::
Apparently I have to w*it.
I also read everything in the Quest Academy series by Brian J. Nordon. Which is also kind of upper end YA set in a kind of military academy, also male POV, and it is intricate, well-written, and inventive. Unlike the Iron Prince, which is focused heavily on personal combat, this book is focused on crafting equipment for that personal combat.
Caveat: I really liked it, but the pace is glacial.
If you are going into this expecting lots of action and flashy demon killing, you might be disappointed. This book takes its time. Pages and pages are spent on trying to figure out as way to make a new piece of equipment and some of the lectures from the academy instructors are presented verbatim. The action – when it happens – is excellent.
To reiterate: these books are a fantasy/SF version of Tom Clancy’s work if Tom Clancy was very into making magical armor and rifles and wanted to tell you exactly how they were put together. The crafting success is rewarding, but you do have to wait to get there.
A world infested by demons. An Academy designed to train Heroes to save humanity from annihilation. A new student’s power could make all the difference.
Humans have been pushed to the brink of extinction by an ever-evolving demonic threat. Portals are opening faster than ever, Towers bursting into the skies and Dungeons being mined below the last safe havens of society. The demons are winning.
Quest Academy stands defiantly against them, as a place to train the next generation of Heroes. The Guild Association is holding the line, but are in dire need of new blood and the powerful abilities they could bring to the battlefront. To be the saviors that humanity needs, they need to surpass the limits of those that came before them.
In a war with everything on the line, every power matters. With an adaptive enemy, comes the need for a constant shift in tactics. A new age of strategy is emerging, with even the unlikeliest of Heroes making an impact.
Salvatore Argento has never seen a demon. He has never aspired to become a Hero. Yet his power might be the one to tip the odds in humanity’s favor.
I normally add the author’s website or a series website, but I can’t find any.
I’m reading a cultivation novel right now. Not going to tell you the title. It’s a good, satisfying cultivation novel, and it is written very well, but there is something about the rhythm of it that puts me to sleep. I swear, I read four pages and I’m out. It is very soothing, despite all the fighting. Since no author wants to be told, “Your novel puts me to sleep,” this particular book will remain anonymous.
Gordon reports that the latest Spenser novel, Robert Parker’s Showdown (Book #53 in that series) by Mile Lupica “is good.”
Well, emails await. ::rubs ink-stained hands:: We get to write today. Finally!
First?
Congratulations!
Congratulations and best wishes to your daughter and her fiancé!
Happy Belated Birthday!
Lots of happy things at your house. One question though – what is a cultivation novel? That’s a new term for me.
Wishing you all the best
Cultivation or xianxia is a subgenre of Eastern lit where characters progressively refine their powers, spirit and body though cycling their energy, meditation and training, usually until they reach immortality or godhood.
My introduction to it was the Cradle series by Will Wight, but Beware of Chicken is probably the most famous cultivation series atm.
I just started the Cradle series I didnt realize it is a cultivation sub genre I juat picked it up as a litRPG. good to know!
Ooohhhh I had no idea Cradle was cultivation.
Thanks! I learn so much random stuff via the blog. Appreciate you all!!!
Yep, very much liked Beware of Chicken. Heard about it here, of course.
Happy 2026 and congratulations to Kid 1!
Happy New Year! Good luck slogging throw your emails.
I laughed when I read that you have to “wa*t”.
Not maliciously but in a camaraderie type of way. We all understand that pain and sweet suffering of having to wa*t.
*through
Darn autocorrect
It is good, I don’t mean to under sell it. A solid addition to a series I have been reading since the mid-80s.
53 books! So daunting!
Happy new year!!!
Big congratulations to Kid 1
Looking forward to all the books coming out this year 😉
Thank Gordon for the review! Hubs is a lonnngg time Parker fan and some of the post-RBP stuff has been rather “meh”. Glad I can download a “good” Spenser for him!
What’s his favorite Spenser book? Mine is A Catskill Eagle if only because that’s the first one I read way back in 86 or 87. It’s book 12 in the series but also not a bad place to start given that a lot of prior characters reappear as Spenser calls in several favors.
Den, has many favorites too, but he says from the time he read the first Spenser, “The Godwulf Manuscript”, he was hooked. Yep, we’re that old that he would have read the first paperback edition. Yikes!
Congratulations to Kid 1 and Happy Birthday 🎁🎂. Take care!
I miss Robert B. Parker. I have not read any of the Spenser books since he passed. might have to give them a whirl.
I freaking love a good stamp….give me the sheets. I will stamp them. and shout APPROVED! every time. 🙂
several special editions? how will my bankaccount survive?
lol, I am very happy for you!
Happy belated birthday – stretch the celebration as long as you can when it is a milestone!!! Congratulations on the engagement as well. I just found a new Indy bookstore in Waco and will be haunting their parking lot in time for one of your signed volumes!! W*iting is so hard………………
Congratulations! And Happy Birthday!!
I’ve read and loved both of those series, to the point that I subscribe to them on Patreon. Brian just finished another QA book so it should be out soon, but it’ll probably be another year or two before we get another Iron Price book.
Nooooooo!!!!
I love The Iron Prince series!! I’m so glad you found it! The audible is excellent as well! Bruce is trying for 2026 for the next one.
Happy New Year and congratulations to your daughter! I too love the Iron Prince books and Quest Academy. I also highly recommend the Player Manager series by Ted Steel. The protagonist, Max Best, progresses through the varies levels of British soccer as a scout, player and manager after an AI soccer game is implanted in his brain after being cursed by a demon. I never understood soccer before starting this series and couldn’t stand watching it. Now, I actually watch highlights on Youtube. 🤣 Max is snarky, inventive, and really upset about the current state of professional soccer. My description doesn’t do it justice.
I too am w*iting for the third book for Iron Prince. Hopefully end of this year! I love the recommendations you give in these different genres – it has expanded my enjoyment immensely
Congratulations to Kid 1!
I smiled when I saw the “w*it” in the post. The BDH certainly rubbed off on to you, Ilona.
The power of the stamp is mighty. Glad you got all of those books stamped.
Yay to more writing!
So excited to hear you’ve read Iron Prince. I read it after Will Wight posted a rec on his blog… and I started following Will Wight after you posted about reading the first three Cradle books (Thank you!).
I also introduced Iron Prince to my mom on Audible, and I think she’s listened to Fire and Song a couple of times during her commute
Happy New Year House Andrews! Happy New Year Horde!
I hope your 2026 is happy, healthy and full of interesting new adventures 😊
Nothing wrong with prime rib and duck but Schnitzel forever! And happy birthday, congrats to Kid 1 and fiance and definately save the hand in 2026.
Congrats to Kid 1!! 💗
Happy new year. Our holidays were nice, currently doing this countdown to my daughter’s birthday that she asked for a la Instagram inspired… all Saturday was spent shopping for 17 items, wrapping and building this counting down poster board with cups, lights, and numbers. It was a lot. Husband tried to jump in with the construction and I had to ask him to go away, let me lay it out and then he could come back. lol .. his job ended up being to cut out tissue paper circles.
She loved it. I can’t believe I have a soon to be 17 year old. We also tried the pick up your teenager because the last time you picked them up you didn’t know it was the last time challenge. I do *not recommend attempting this one. Almost died when she committed to a running jump.
oo. no sad hands! that sounds like a good BDH rule. we shall not aggravate the hands.
I bet it’s a really pretty stamp 😀
Happy birthday to you and congratulations to Kid 1!
I am really enjoying the Quest Academy series. But yes, it is sloooow.
Congratulations on your birthday and your Kids’ engagement! Good news is always a joy to receive! Your schnitzel sounds yummy. When I make mine I dredge the pounded pork cutlets in seasoned flour, coat them with beaten egg and then use plain cheap mashed potato flakes for the final coating. I fry them in butter and olive oil until golden brown and done.
“Several special editions” of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me?
But I must collect them all. How will I find them? Can anyone order each special edition book, or do you have to be a subscriber to that specific book box?
You said you can’t talk about it though. It is time to panic. I am not chalant.
OMG, my thoughts exactly \o/ (I am panicking, not celebrating)
I’m not surprised fried pork chops won. Deep fried anything is always a winner in my eyes, even though I love duck!
Glad the family chose your home cooking over storebought, even though you were trying to save yourself hours of kitchen work 😬
Hey! I have Quest Academies! I’ll have to look up the other
Happy Belated Birthday and Congratulations to Kid 1.
The new Spencer book is out?! I check every so often but don’t keep close tabs since they are infrequent. Many thanks to Gordon!
Congrats to Kid 1 and happy belated birthday! 🥳
If it’s a stamp, why do you have to do it? Couldn’t it be stamped by anyone or even printed on there? While I get the wanting a signed copy (I think we’d all rather have you save your hands the pain), if it isn’t an actual signature, then couldn’t you save yourself the work? Maybe I’m just not grasping the concept accurately though. 🤷♀️
Looking forward to when you can share the details! 🤗
Because we are still personalizing it. We still physically touched the book.
There have been times when the signature is printed, but there are always special circumstances. For example, when Brandon Sanderson was finishing up Wheel of Time, he felt really uneasy about signing what he considered to be Jordan’s work, so the publisher actually printed Jordan’s autograph in the book, and then Brandon Sanderson signed under it.
That makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me! 🤗
As a person who uses stamps frequently (cardmaker/papercrafter here!), having inky fingers is a sign of a good day! And it does come off, eventually. Hand sanitizer (which I think is gross) does a pretty good job – all that alcohol, I guess.
Will you share your schnitzel recipe? 😀
“I pounded some pork ribeye cuts, dipped them in egg, then in breadcrumbs, and pan-fried.” – quote from above
There isn’t really much more to it 🙂
I love Schnitzel too!!!
Congrats to Kid1! Very exciting!
So glad you had a nice holiday all around. And since I couldn’t care less about prime rib, it would be duck normally since I love it. But who wouldn’t choose schnitzel! Love love love it. Hope there was gravy!
Omg that was a lot of stamping. I can’t imagine signing them.
I have tried litRPG, also probably YA oriented. It was an ok plot and characters, but I found myself skimming ahead because it truly was just too slow a development of the story. And then not going back to pick up the missed pieces. So now it’s got to really grab and hold my attention in the first couple of chapters, or forget it. Too many other things to read.
Things sound very normal at HA. Happy New Year to you, ModR and the BDH.
Would saying a book ‘cured my insomnia’ be a selling point or a negative comment I wonder. Things to ponder.
I just finished the fourth book in a series where the author recaps every previous book in the series with each new edition. I ended up skimming most of it because the writing isn’t bad but I kept going, “I already know this.” (not naming the author)
It made me appreciate you and other authors who do a quick world build for readers who aren’t starting at the beginning and will REFERENCE things that happened before, if they are relevant or useful in the current story.
(not looking it up for exact wording)
“How did you two meet?”
“He kidnapped me and chained me in his basement”
Thank you. All of the credit goes to Anne Sowards of Penguin-Random. She taught us how to recap.
Good for her. (and you) Your recaps would make me want to read the previous book to get the full story, if I hadn’t started at the beginning and, since I had, they add complexity (and often a chuckle) without slowing down the narrative.
Congratulations to Kid 1 ❤️
Happy belated birthday birthday! (Celebrate at least for a month)
Thank you for the book reccomendations, January is so l o n g! My schnitzel story is grandma made it for years for our family. Fast forward to a 2025 cruise, that included Budapest and Vienna to see our grandparents birth places. So very excited to have schnitzel and strudel in the original setting. Nothing like Gram made. Ha I guess you can’t go home. Looking forward to 2026. Thanks as always for your continued excellence.
When Sir Terry Pratchett’s “embuggerance” (posterior cortical atrophy, I think) got bad enough, he switched to stamps instead of signing. I treasure every book he stamped for me. It’s never about the actual signature, I think, so much as the link between the creator and the fans of their creation. I am glad you are taking care of yourself by switching to stamps, and I know everyone who receives one will be glad of it too.
Wow an engagement!!!! Congrats and also where did all the time go!?!?! She can’t be old enough to get married!? Also awesome in the stamper I’ll definitely buy that version to help keep the hands viable for writing purposes instead. Happy new year all!!
Congrats to Kid 1 and Fiancé (and to HA for gaining another kid!) 😁
My hubby and I were engaged on Christmas Eve. We had ‘sort of’ talked about getting married, but he surprised me with a ring. We’ll be married 32 years this year, so I guess it worked!
I wish Kid 1 and Fiancé the same good luck and much happiness! 🥰💕💕💕
Congratulations to Kid 1 and all the family!
Happy Belated Birthday Ilona!
Thank you for the book recs – always looking to dip my toes into new genres/authors!
congrats to Kid 1! all the best wishes to her and her fiance ❤️
I’m so excited for these special editions. I only recently started getting into them, and they’re all so pretty! It sounds like there will be lots of them, which is great for us but bad for your hands. Thank you for signing and stamping so many!
Also just wanted to say thank you for putting out merch again. I remember what a nightmare it was to deal with shipping and out of stock items last time, so thank you for being open to trying again. I haven’t purchased anything yet because my old tote and mug are still going strong, but I’m excited at the idea of picking out new stuff soon!
My BDH t-shirt just arrived. It’s gorgeous.
Congratulations on K1’s engagement. Try not to sweat the wedding.
I have been eyeing Beware of Chicken, since it’s available on Kindle Unlimited, which I have been getting my money’s worth out of for a fair number of years now. The others, the two you mention I’ve never even heard of before.
I’m glad you get to write today.
I really recommend “Beware of Chicken.” I just finished the fifth book in the series, & it had a scene that I found so touching, it actually made me tear up. I’m so glad that I tried it, after so many here praised it.
Love hearing that Gordon is a Spenser fan. I have many of the early paperbacks and am grateful that good writers have kept my favorite detective hard at work.
love the Quest Academy series! Fun to know that I have been reading some of the same books as my favorite authors!!
Congrats, Kid 1!!! Happy Birthday, Ilona!
For LitRPG, I highly recommend Magical Girl Gunslinger on Royal Road.
Congratulations on Kid 1’s engagement! I was on a reading binge the last couple of years where I would read everything I could get my hands on in my preferred genres and then DNF maybe 50 other books in the process. I’m sad to say I’m not on that binge anymore and looking for things to get me back in the reading mood. I’ve been trying to find some good books in the isekai, transmigration, and/or second chance genres but no luck so far, since I’m not sure exactly where to start in finding such books. I’m looking forward to This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me which I think I will greatly enjoy!
Congratulations on Kid 1 engagement! My daughter got engaged recently so I know how much it meant to our family to be apart of this joyful occasion. Praying for their continued happiness and you gaining a son 💕
Yay!! I’ve recommended the Warformed series on this page multiple times!! So glad you read it! I let my 2 oldest kids read it and it’s their favorite series. I think he is over 1/2 way done with the 3rd book. Apparently he is still working full time and also writes so I’m attempting patience. (Patience is hard)
Wishing House Andrews a Happy New Year and Best Wishes!
Iron Prince was great, I didn’t like book 2 as much but I will definitely be reading book 3 whenever it arrives.
Right now I’m following Nathan Free, Nathalie Bound by JackValhalla on Royal Road. It is a otome (dating sim) deconstruction that is done really well. Information only being brought forward when necessary, excellent story, all the good green flags waving so far.
The MC was going to be injected into this game world but that would have ‘killed’ the person who the MC would have replaced. The MC felt very strongly that this would be a bad thing and managed to avoid that fate, only to end up as the MC’s twin sister. The story proceeds from there with the eventual goal of surviving magic prep school and saving her new family from destruction, as one does.
I really appreciate how smart the MC is, but also how the author is dropping clues all over the MC is making mistakes that she doesn’t recognize.
Anyways, this is definitely the best version of this genre I’ve read so far. Tori Transmigrated and Memoirs of Your Local Small-time Villainess were my previous topic picks
Love the personal peak into your world
Congratulations on the engagement!
Not sure what kind of signature stamps you are using but if it involves a separate ink pad, then I highly recommend switching to self-inking stamps. I used to have to sign every page and attachment in my lab notebooks and the self-inking stamps were a life saver, really easy to use, and you don’t get ink on your hands.
Congratulations to kid 1! And a belated happy birthday 🎈
I am also not good at stamping, so I can relate to “ink everywhere.” There was a brief time where you could stamp prescription pads, and I was writing a LOT of prescriptions (this was pre- e-prescribing being a thing. Heck, e-charting was barely a thing!!! ) I did not like my stamps, so I signed a lot. My hand also did not appreciate all the signing.
Pretty sure I used far too many hyphens above, but I am too tired tonight to care. As always, thanks for the update!
I was going to recommend a stamp after the hand=life, but then came the Attack Stamp so ixsnay on that one lol!!
autopen? forger? sign only with the nondominant hand? lol
The January 2026 BookPage (a review source libraries buy as a subscription to distribute to their customers) lists This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me in its Most Anticipated Titles of 2026. https://www.bookpage.com/books/this-kingdom-will-not-kill-me/
May it bring you many more readers!
Congratulations to Kid#1! I am glad you had a calm holiday and nice birthday. My hunny’s family still hasn’t had our “Christmas” yet. We have a lot of different schedules (quite a few Healthcare workers) any My hunny’s schedule got flipped upside down. I hope we can get together before Valentines Day lol
Happy New Year All!! We make what I thought was schnitzel the same way but with chicken!? We eat it with Dijon mustard and wild rice. It’s yummy, but now I need to try pork chops.
A schnitzel is a thin slice of meat, usually breaded and fried 🙂 . It can be made with various meats, pork, veal (the OG, Wienerschnitzel), chicken, turkey, soy meat substitute etc.
For my family Christmas Eve went to a family party at my nephew’s new house and handed gifts to my nephews, neice-in-law, sister, and two grandniblings. Christmas day exercised and then kicked back. Day after Christmas stopped by my sister’s place to pick up the gifts for me. Day before New Year’s Eve went to a quilt store to pick up some fabric for my sister’s birthday and then FaceTime with her three out-of-state grandkids. NYE and NYD were relatively quiet, probably due to the rain.
Yum schnitzel! I swear it’s an ink conspiracy! How DOES it get off the pad –and then everywhere else! (I will use the stamper responsibly, I will use….oh who am I kidding! Mwah hahaha!!! I have Stamped Many Things:-)) Happy New Year & congrats to House Andrews as your family prospers. Book recomendations rock too, of course.
Oh I’ve read Question academy and I agree with your take on it. Sometimes it’s just soooooo slow but yet I can’t put it down because of the story and action and the crafting results.
O M G – I’m kinda obsessed with Warformed!!!! I devoured both books so quickly, loved the upgrading, the entire idea behind it, and yeah the romance too…. and I definitely had a book hangover afterwards – so……
I am so happy that you had a good Christmas and New Year. Wishing House Andrews every success & good health for the coming year.
And now the question is- how do I order the special edition of ‘Maggie’. <3
Happy belated birthday and many congratulations to Kid 1 and partner on the engagement.
Personal massive fan of the Quest Academy series, “glacial” pace and all. Also I’m not sure I would call it glacial, just that it’s a different focus. The progression is on crafting and in that sense the progression is very fast indeed. I really enjoyed the different aspect of the military college. Definitely going to check out the other one, which has been buried in my TBR for ages
Is the cultivation novel Heretical Fishing? It is rather sleepy but in a good way! I love hearing your personal recommendations, it thrilled me to no end to see you liked He Who Fights With Monsters! (referencing a previous post of yours) Just doing my best to w*it patiently for the Kingdom!
Seconding the Quest Academy series thumbs-up.
It’s especially great for neurodivergents and/or folks who can 3D visualize stuff in their heads, and engineers. 🙂
The audiobooks are fun, too.
Brian also has an AWESOME unfinished pirate LitRPG over on RoyalRoad called “Wildcards: The Dread Captain”.
Thank you for bringing attention to litRPG and Isekai genres, I am now waiting for several next in series books, lol! I love the Iron Prince, and the second book Fire and Song, now like you said, we have a long wait for the next. In addition to the Stormweaver series, my favorites are The Grand Game series by Tom Elliot, The Devine Apostasy series by AF Kay (this also has an element of cultivation, which I didn’t realize was a separate genre), New Realm Online by Robyn Wireman (this one is a completed series), and Bog Standard Isekai by Miles English. Another benefit to these types of books is my kids now think I am cool!
I’m gonna try those!
I love Brian O’Connor’s books. He’s an excellent writer and I loved iron prince and the sequel Fire and Song. I also loved the Wings of War series starting with ‘Child of the Day Star’. It’s different but full of excitement, fighting prejudice, family dynamics and exciting fighting. All with a twist 😁
I also recently started reading LitRPG novels. I started with David North,Aster Falls series. I had to read the first few chapters several times to understand what was happening but when I figured it out I whizzed through the series. I really enjoyed it but I’m having a hard time finding new books.
Congrats to Kid1 and family! And to Ilona for advance planning the next holiday meal. A similar experience decades ago led me to ditch ham for roast leg of lamb at Easter dinners.
Our family dinner (15 or so attending) was on Boxing Day. Prime rib with a lentil shepherd’s pie that even the carnivores liked, along with green bean and corn casseroles, mashed potatoes, and a green salad. My sister and BIL live to host, and my BIL cooks accordingly.
One highlight was the stop-motion video of the three takes for the family portrait. Priceless. My sister also has an activity for the cocktail hour before dinner, and the past couple of years she’s recreated craft activities our mom did with us as kids. This year’s was a hanging fabric calendar with sequins to glue on significant dates like birthdays: retro fun for the OGs, and novel fun for the younger generation.
Hoping everyone has a cozy and enjoyable January!
new term, knowledge gained. Looked up Cultivation Novel. Now I have cultivated. (is that the right usage?) I have leveled up myself and it is only the sixth day of the new year!
Maybe you can get hold of an AutoPen. If they can sign executive orders, they can sign book pages, easier than stamping or personally signing. Spare your poor hands.
Subterranean Press recently announced a new Naomi Novik special edition, and it has a facsimile signature due to her health issues. It looks very fancy. I think there was another author that had something like this done, maybe Martha Wells? Signatures are nice, but what really gets me excited is fancy paper and illustrations. I might just be weird though lol.
Speaking of LitRPG has anyone talked about DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL by Matt Dinniman? This was my first real foray into the genre and the numerous mentions of the awesome narrator convinced me to try the Audible. Holy cow was this super fun. I also see that it is now in the top 10 in Audible. Very edge of your seat as well so I’m ready to dip into the Iron Prince if this what the style is like.
Congratulations to your daughter!
And I hope the writing goes well.
You will likely enjoy Seth Ring if you enjoy LitRPG series. I have read 3 of his series so far and they are Fantastic.
Battle Mage Farmer series, Titan series, etc
Something that helps with cramping hands:
– Get a bucket of ice water (yes, ice cubes in the water)
– Get another bucket of water as hot as you can stand it
– Put your hands in one of the buckets, and leave them there for as long as you can stand it, then switch to the other bucket for as long as you can stand it
– go back and forth until you want to stop
I learned this from a masseuse, and it does help the muscles in your hands relax
It looks like Brian J Nordon doesn’t have a webpage, but the publisher lists all his books in one place: https://www.legionpublishers.com/brian-j-nordon-1
Thank you for the book recommendations. I picked up Azarinth Healer from a precious recommendation, enjoyed it, and then got it for my son to read. He is enjoying it now.
That was supposed to say “Thank you “ at the beginning, wow I’m tired after driving in a snow storm.
Fixed 🙂