May Update and it's a big one!

Hello my fellow Athelonians,

May 2023, does that sound as unreal to you as it does to me?

When I was a kid, I watched Transformers the movie (the cartoon) and the movie opens with the narration "The year is 2005"... I remember as a kid thinking that was as far away as things could get.

Strangely, when I watched that movie, was one of the last times I can remember my life being truly happy. Of course, it was only 1986/87 (not exactly sure) which means I was 4 or 5 years old at the time. When I go into somatic body work in counselling, I envision myself as that 5 year old, before my brain or body had been forced to process the world. Death didn't really exist for me yet, neither did extreme poverty, or hatred, or violence.

Here we are nearly 40 years later, and somehow, the world is better, and much worse than that sci-fi movie portrayed. I turn 41 years old in a few days, which I feel okay about, but as I often do, my birthday tends to make me reflect on my life, or at least, the previous year of it.

Self publishing is taking a heavy toll on my mental health. I spend way more time than I would like, and the time spent on social media to do so is rough on my soul. Going forward, I am going to be less present on my social media accounts, though I will still post monthly updates here on my website. I think that I will continue to publish books. I'd considered stopping publishing them at all, but my loving spouse reminded me that self publishing is as easy as pushing a button. So, if you're interested in what's to come, stick around, sign up for the mailing list if you haven't and let me know what you think of any of the stuff you read so I don't think I'm sending books out into a vacuum?

What's coming up for the rest of 2023?

This Friday, May 26, to celebrate my birthday (on the 29th) I'm going to release my first short story since I published The Shadows of Athelon in March. This new one, Chasing Life, is going to be the first in what will become my next anthology which will be called The Light of Athelon. The stories aim to show how Athelon continued to inspire, and benefit the galaxy, even after its destruction, so generally I'm hoping to share more inspirational, fun, and optimistic shorts.

I don't have a definite date yet, but this summer, or early fall, I will be releasing Electron Spin, the first full length novel set in the Athelon universe. This is where it starts to get really crazy. I've sketched out, and written outlines to compose a set of 15 novels that I will hopefully release over the next ten years.

Electron Spin is the first in a trilogy about the adventures of the crew of the Midnight Owl.

Athelon Rising, is a trilogy that will delve into the deeper secrets behind the scenes of the galaxy

The Risorgimento Trilogy will connect the adventures of the crew of the Risorgimento with the events of both Electron Spin, and Athelon Rising.

Voxe, is a solo novel about the captain from my short story Skylark's Fury.

The Lonely Void Duology features characters from Electron Spin going off on their own adventure that will affect the whole series.

And finally, The Conceptual Dawn trilogy will act as a finale to the entire universe.

There may be other books in there periodically, and shorts/novellas, but this is where we're at. This could all take me a decade, but it could also take me a few years if I continue to write as fast as I do now.

So this year, stay tuned for Electron Spin, and more shorts as far as this universe is concerned.

Also this year, I may publish my YA/middle grade fantasy novel "Beyond The Falling Snow" which I was continuing to try and get published traditionally but if no takers by the winter I will do it myself.

What do you think? Anything you're looking forward to the most?

Let me know?

Love you all,

Qualia