Well folks, I lied to you. Sort of.
Part of my reasoning for scaling back posting on Norseman Creative from once a week to once every other week in 2026 was to dedicate more time to working on the Dhofar Redemption. I did do a bunch of work on that book early in the year and the novel is now much further along. I even think I can see an end in sight for the story.
That being said, another story invaded my mind and now has taken up my creative energy. I tried to resist at first, I really did. Ignoring the new story made me nauseous, unable to sleep, and anxious. I realize that trying to explain the physical side effects of ignoring this compulsion makes me sound like a dope-head, but you’ll find no track marks here.
The feeling reminds me of when I wrote the first draft of Retrograde Absolution in a manic sprint of about a month and half in a set of notebooks. I spent hours every day after work during my last deployment finishing the first draft, then had the whole second draft finished and submitted to my publisher by the time I left the Middle East.
I doubt I will get this novel done that fast, as I’ve already been working on it for two months and haven’t quite finished.
This novel (tentatively titled Dead Men Hunting) takes us back to Minnesota, and the events in my Home state over the past several years serve as my inspiration. I do worry this might be picking at an emotional scab, but not writing it puts spiders under my skin. I have already sent a few emails to book agents, but no responses yet. Fingers crossed someone picks it up.
To make it up to you, my loyal fan(s), I am putting everything in the shop on sale. No coupon code needed! Novels are 3 dollars off, stickers cost one buck-a-rooni, patches are just three smackers, and the pens are cheeeeaap. Help me clear all this stuff out to make space for Jenny and my upcoming move to the mountains. Buy a bunch of books, hand them out to your friends. Buy stickers, slap them on laptops, water bottles, babies, and your car windshield to let everyone know how sophisticated you are.
I did learn that, due to my publisher closing their doors last fall, both novels, Frozen Reaction & Retrograde Absolution are no longer being printed and therefore only available here in the Norseman Creative Shop or on the used market via eBay or wherever else you might look for used books. I am fine with this situation for now, as the final legalese for transferring the rights for both books back to me hasn’t been completed yet. I’m still looking for a new publisher, so drop me a line if you know somebody who knows somebody.
This quarter has been a blast. Did you catch our first long-format video on YouTube? Check out our adventure to Molokai in pursuit of Axis Deer in both video and written format. The video isn’t as action-packed as I would have liked. It turns out trying to run your own camera equipment and hunt at the same time isn’t easy. Nor is it easy to get good video of deer in the distance with a hand-held GoPro camera.
Did you catch the low-effort meme campaign on Instagram? Which one was your favorite?
Anyways, I appreciate you. Thanks for reading. Catch you on the next article!