Still no time to blog, but I drew a monster truck driving manatee ramming a rocket sled pulled by a chainsaw wielding velociraptor.

And then Jack makes it look good.

Forgive the lack of organized blogging, but I’ve got a ton of stuff going on.  This is going to be brief, because I really do have a ton of work to do, and yesterday instead of working I took the kids shooting. Yesterday we worked on pistols, I taught them the difference between double taps and controlled pairs, and introduced them to the speed rock. My kids are getting pretty damned good.
1. Don’t forget to vote for the Hugos. The deadline is looming. Only you can prevent Puppy Related Sadness.

2. Speaking of deadlines, Project Blue (not the actual name) is due at the end of August. Mike and I are working on that now. It is pretty awesome.

3. This week I’m drawing cartoons for yet another secret project. Yes, I know I’m a terrible cartoonist. That’s what makes it funny.

4. People keep asking, yes, there are more Monster Hunter novels coming. That’s the next book I’m working on after Project Blue is turned in.

5. And there is a John Ringo MHI spin-off series coming out.

6. And there is another MHI collaboration with me and another author.

7. And there is an MHI anthology coming in 2017.

8. Oh, but I forgot, I’ve got another secret project this summer. Crap! I volunteer for too much stuff. This one involves Tom Stranger.

9. I wrote another novel for Privateer Press and their Warmachine universe earlier this year. It is the sequel to Into the Storm. They are sending the continuity edits back to me. I really enjoy writing these. They’re a lot of fun.

10. GenCon is this week, but I can’t go this year. I’ve still got like 4 other cons to go to before three weeks of book tour.

11. I’m listening to Monster Hunter Nemesis on audiobook right now. It is awesome. Oliver Wyman is amazing.

12. On that note, I found out who the narrator is for Son of the Black Sword. I’ve not worked with this narrator before, but he’s done a lot of epic fantasy. I listened to some of his work yesterday. I think Audible found someone who will be a really good fit.

13. Speaking of SotBS, go preorder it.

14. Which reminds me, I need to write a blog post about how opening week stats help or hinder writers.

15. I put up more shelves in my office. They look nice.

Okay, nobody cared about that last one, but this is a stream of consciousness kind of update.

Now back to work!  These manatees will not draw themselves!

Many of you on the Monster Hunter Nation know Jack Wylder (that’s not his real name by the way). He is a really good friend of mine, and for the last few years has been helping me with my merchandising and web stuff on the side. He is the one who took care of the Challenge Coin Kickstarter, designing the art, and processing all the orders. All the various shirts, hats, mugs, and assorted oddball fun things we’ve done on this blog, Jack was more than likely the one who actually put it together.

Jack’s real job was as the marketing director for a well-respected gun company. If you have read a gun magazine in the last decade, you’ve seen his work. What most people didn’t realize though was that he wasn’t the manager of a department, he was the entire marketing department by himself. He designed the ads, placed the ads, handled the advertising budget, did their website, handled their social media, even shot the photos, and basically did all the stuff that most folks in the gun business assumed was done by a team of people. Before that he was one of their sales guys (that’s how I met him), and before that he was quality control.

Jack was laid off. Everybody in the gun business knows his work, but it isn’t a huge industry, so there aren’t a lot of open positions for full time marketing people. He found another marketing job at a start-up gun company, but before he’d even started working they ran into some legal trouble and put everything on hold.

So Jack is currently unemployed and looking for work. The man has serious skills. I vouch for his character without hesitation. To give you an idea, when this blog started having technical problems when Jack offered to help, I said here are the keys to everything and my credit card, I trust you, have fun.

Jack lives in the Austin area. The man is Texan to the core, so it would have to be something pretty sweet to move, but I think marketing is one of those things where you can do it remotely too.

I don’t think he wanted me to post this. Jack is a proud guy, and not the type to ask his friends for favors. So that’s why I’m using his internet name instead of his real one and leaving the above description of his work history vague about who he worked for. If your company needs a marketing wizard, post in the comments below so I can put you in touch with him, and he can send you his resume.

Thanks.

The blog went down yesterday to change a bunch of things around. This is a test. Let’s see if this thing is working now.

For once I agree with GRRM. Everybody should vote. The deadline is coming up fast.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/20/george-rr-martin-hugo-awards-vote-game-of-thrones-science-fiction?CMP=share_btn_fb

Since we wrote a novella worth of giant blog posts back and forth, GRRM knows damned good and well the Sad Puppies campaign wasn’t motivated by racism or sexism, but that doesn’t stop him from casually tossing the “neo-nazi” accusation out there… but you should believe him when he says there was like totally never any political bias in the system. 🙂