Newsletter January 2026 - Ice Season
Mark my words, come the February newsletter, I'll have that magic/fusion reactor issues sorted out.
Hello again,
I hope everyone had a wonderful start to the new year, or at least is managing to get through it. It's unseasonably warm here in San Francisco, with the cherry blossoms already blooming. I understand other parts of the country are getting hit with heavy winter storms, so be careful, and stay safe if there's ice in your area.
My day job has continued to ramp up, largely because some of my big projects have come to fruition, and now other folks are realizing how important those projects were. With the recent announcement of the DoE Genesis Mission, I'm all of a sudden at the center of a flurry of efforts. It's great to be wanted, but at the same time, it's taking a lot of my energy to keep up with creating and giving presentations while also being pulled into many planning sessions for future work.
But I digress.
We were talking about horror last month, and me dipping my toes in it. I've enjoyed several short stories and novellas, though I wish I had more time to read. I've also dabbled in the online horror game, Once Human. It's got some novel ideas and has gotten me with a few jump scares. I also restarted season one of Stranger Things, since I only ever saw the first season, and it's been a while. The more I poke around in horror, the more I like it.
And funny thing, the more I look at horror, the less I'm interested in the other genres I've always read. I look at descriptions of new Fantasy and Thriller novels, and they all just sound the same.
What does that mean for Under the Diamond Moon? I'm not sure. I'm still early in the editing phase, so it could go anywhere. It's still a solid base to build on, but I really do need to sit down and sort out one technical bit about how the magic interacts with fusion reactor design. It's kinda key to the plot, so until I get that sorted, and then propagate any resulting changes through the rest of the story, there's no point cleaning up other parts.
Now that I'm past my initial plunge into horror, I'm back to editing Diamond Moon. Mark my words, come the February newsletter, I'll have that magic/fusion reactor issues sorted out.
Until next time,
Todd
