New Book Release and what’s going on

It’s been a while! I’ve been busy. As I posted in another post months ago we bought a house in May. We’ve upgraded our first room, so the last few weeks have been about that, creating a woodshop in my garage, and, of course, releasing the 6th book in the Dark Seas Series.

Book 6 is available for pre-order as I write this, and will be released on November 21st, just in time for Thanksgiving break reading.

You can get it here: Komi Syndicate on Amazon

This book is about the nature of human evil, and about the corruption that comes from absolute power. We see this in our societies. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, these were all manifestations of absolute power corrupting absolutely. And the little guy is always the one to pay the price until the scales are balanced once more.

The fish tank project I started a few months ago is coming along nicely. I feel like the river bottom feel has been captured pretty well, and that’s what I was going for.

The biggest problem is that neon tetras have become so genetically weak from a century of unethical acquisition and breeding that they die far too often. I think if I had the facilities I’d breed tropical fish for aquarists that were selected for hardiness and tolerance of various water conditions, not solely for color and shape. It’s too bad, really, that we as people don’t see to the health of our animals, but are more worried about aesthetics. We do the same thing to dogs.

The next big project my wife and I have going on that is all but finished is the remodeling of our guest bathroom. We tore out the old toilet and pedestal sink, replacing them with modern equivalents. The sink is no longer a pedestal, I have no idea why people would want to waste all that potential storage space. The faucet is just about the coolest faucet I’ve seen recently. And the color improvement is dramatic. My plumbing doesn’t leak, and I learned some new things. Such as how to get a mirror that is glued to the wall off without breaking it.

This is the color of the bathroom when we bought the house.

This is the color now, after renovation

This is the faucet. I love the trough feature, and it works great.

The next small house project is to replace the chandelier in the dining room. It looks like someone had a sale on hideous ’80s brass light fixtures. We’ll be installing something either iron or rubbed bronze. Depends on what we find.

We also have a new addition to the family. This is Clay. He’s a rescue, because that’s how I like to brings doggies into our family if possible. He’s full German Shepherd, and has a great look to him. A good stance, and he doesn’t have that stupid sloped back that American breeders try to shoot for, which causes hip dysplasia. Bad breeders. Bad. Good Clay. Good.

He still has some training to do, hence the leash he is wearing. If he doesn’t have it on, he makes me chase him around the house when it’s time to go outside. With the leash on, I think he feels like that jig is already up. He’s smart, but hasn’t ever been made to behave. That is over, he’s in a house where dogs are both loved and expected to be productive partners in the family.

So that is life for now. I’ll share the next update as things happen. And things are always happening.