It got pointed out that I’ve not done one of these for a while. My apologies! I’ll try to keep up on that better.

Book Release Stuff

I’ve been working on Graveyard of Demons, which is the 5^th and final book in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, but I had to split it in half because it got too big. So the first part is still called by that title and will be out in November.

I’m working on the second half now, which I don’t know the date for yet, but should be fairly close (as in 3-6 months after that). It will have a different name, and everything go restructured so Graveyard has a good ending. Luckily for me I had a very pivotal scene that was right around the half way point in the manuscript so it worked out great.

The other new release is Five Points Ripper which is the third episode of the Lost Planet Homicide series, which will come out in September. However this series is still an Audible exclusive for now, though I’ve got plans for it in print. (I really love writing this series).

I know that some of my books have been unavailable in paperback recently (hence the crazy prices for some things on Amazon). That’s because they run out of copies. They are reprinting one of my books every month in trade paperback. MH Alpha – July 2024 MH Vendetta – Sept 2024 MHM: Sinner – Nov 2024 MHM: Saints – Dec 2024 MHI – Mar 2025 MH Fantom – Apr 2025 MH Guardian – Apr 2025 Swords of Exodus – Apr 2025

And yes, Fantom is going to be in print, April 2025. That’s been in ebook and audio so far, because it is the one where a bunch of Czech authors wrote stories in the MHI universe, in Czech, and published it there, and by popular demand we translated it into English. That was kind of an experiment, but sales justified a print run.

There is also going to be a new 15^th anniversary edition of MHI complete with a really nifty special fancy leather edition. I’m going through and doing another edit pass to incorporate all the little things that I wish I’d known way back when I started.

Speaking of special editions, the leatherbound Warbound is about done I believe. And should be shipping pretty soon. This project has hit so many snags it has been painful so it will be great to finally have it done.

Upcoming Stuff (what I’m working on now)

After finishing the final book in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior (which keep in mind, should have been about done except it got too big and I couldn’t release a 270k final book in a series where every other book was 130k) this is what I’ve got coming up-

Next is a progression fantasy called Outcast Academy (or possibly Academy of Outcasts I’m not sure yet). The publisher on this one is Aethon. This one draws heavily from a lot of RPGs I’ve played over the years and I’m really pumped because the world is just fun. It’s full on gun wizard school.

Then I’ll be getting back to the regular series Monster Hunter #9, which I know the working title, but I’m not sure if that’s what I’m going with yet.  This one is going to be wicked cool.

In there I’ve also got three different active collaborations going on, but schedules on these get weird because there’s another writer involved, and all of these guys are talented and busy people who are working on their parts now, so I don’t know when these will be ready yet. In the Age of Ravens series with Steve Diamond, the sequel to Servants of War is tentatively titled Instruments of Violence. Then the next Monster Hunter Memoirs will be the sequel to Fever, with Jason Cordova, which I don’t think we’ve announced the name yet. And then there is another different memoirs novel with Les Johnson in development (and we are meeting in August for more brain storming).

Also I’m compiling Monster Hunter Files 2 (with Jason Cordova as co-editor). The first anthology of MH stories was wildly successful (seriously one of the bestselling anthos I’ve ever heard of) and will be out next year.

Ancillary Stuff

WriterDojo is back! We took a month long hiatus on the podcast in order for both of us to hit June 1^st deadlines, but recorded four more episodes this week, and we will be recording more at the upcoming Utah Writer’s Cantina.

The MHI Board Game and Miniatures are almost done! They sent out a Kickstarter update just a little while ago with more details, but the project is nearing completion, and I am super excited to paint all the minis.

Appearances

I’ve cut WAY back on this one, because honestly, I’m just tired of travelling. I love seeing my fans but conventions kick my butt. I’ll be at the Utah Writers Cantina on June 28^th-29^th but mostly to chill out and interview people for WriterDojo.

I believe at the end of the year I’ll get a table and sell books at DragonSteel.

I have no plans for FanX because the booth I usually sold books out of went out of business. After being GoH at LibertyCon last year, I’m taking this year off, and will probably go back next year. I’m not sure when I’m going to do DragonCon again yet. As of right now I’ve got no plans for any book tours yet. Those are fun, but I don’t think you guys realize just how flippin’ tiring they are (plus the losing 3 weeks of productivity). Especially when you do them the way I do them, because if I go on tour, I’m going to hit as many things as humanly possible, as fast as possible.

I got this question on the Triple Nickle video, (edit, just added link) and my answer got big so I’ll give it its own post- “Also, I believe you’ve said before you carry a Philster holster but can you talk about (or link to) some info on appendix carry? I’m currently running a P365 XMacro Comp on a P365 grip to conceal better at 4 o’clock, but I’d love to be more comfy and get the gun in front of me. So far (at 6’3” and 260 lbs) I haven’t figured that out. Any tips?”

https://www.facebook.com/larry.correia/videos/1113383889881194

Okay, this one is in honor of Jack Clemons because he was the big dude who gave me advice as a big dude to figure out how to make AIWB comfy (and also Hyrum Grissom, who hooked me up with a different rig because my first one was pokey and designed for skinny people!)

First off, we don’t want to hear it Fuds. Appendix is perfectly safe as long as you aren’t an idiot, and the single most common self inflicted gunshot wound is still the old hip down the leg whoops I was a dumbass speed holstering move, so buzz off.

AIWB is faster to draw from and conceals great. If you’re built like me (all torso, no hips/butt) then it doesn’t pull your pants down all day like regular hip carry.

The biggest issue is comfort, and that comes down to fiddling with it. Regular hip carry you just slap it on about where you want and call it good. Appendix you really need to fiddle around with it to find the sweet spot. For me the issue wasn’t walking or standing, but sitting, especially driving in a car for a long time.

Also, where you position it in front is going to vary based upon your physique and how you wear your pants. I don’t run it directly in the middle, I run it off to the side of my centerline a bit. I go pretty far right compared to most, but I’ve got more real estate to work with. 😀 Some guys will go more towards the middle, it just depends on build and comfort.

My regular holster is a Phlster Floodlight, but having a flash light on my carry gun is just a happy bonus because the main reason I originally went with the Floodlight is that the end is bigger and rounder and felt a lot better. (plus as a gun hipster who likes to try out all sorts of different weird guns, being able to not have to buy new holsters each time is awesome).

A good AIWB is going to have some adjustment available. The wing thingy (let me demonstrate my mastery of terminology) determines how much it levers the gun back against your body. This keeps the grip from making a big obvious rectangle under your shirt.

Contrary to what you might think, smaller is not necessarily more comfortable, because it’s about where the end of the holster pokes your body. That’s why a lot of people who carry stubby guns are doing it in longer holsters. The shorter ones have less of a lever effect below the waist line, which causes the top end to flop over your belt, which prints, and can really suck when it pokes you forever while you are driving.

So try it out, wear it around, use it, and then figure out where the hot spots are. What I mean by that is find out where the holster is bugging you, rubbing, poking, basically any discomfort. Then they’ve got foam wedges you can buy to stick onto your holsters to mold them to your body and prevent those hot spots. You can also use these foam wedges to get the angles perfect so there’s absolutely zero printing, even under very light clothing.

Or, I will get a Dr. Schol’s gel shoe insert, chop it into shape, and super glue it directly onto the plastic. I got this trick from Annette Evans and it works brilliantly. Plus, since I wear an undershirt the gel tends to stick to the fabric, so my it doesn’t get untucked when I’m drawing over and over. (and clothing getting into holsters is a safety concern)

On that note, either style of holster, you get no points for speedy holstering. Take your time. Look at the holster first to make sure it is clear of obstructions, then gently and deliberately put the gun back. Don’t just angry shove. That’s how you get a super fun trip to the ER.

I’m not flexible enough to look my gun into the holster. Like my body literally doesn’t bend that much in the middle. But go slow, and before you holster move your hips so that if it does ND on the way into the holster, you’re putting the bullet into the ground and not your body. This is something I have to constantly remind myself to do, because I’ll get into a groove where I’ll be drawing and holstering hundreds of times. If I catch myself going too fast on holstering, it is time to pause and refocus.

There’s a bunch of different brands, I can’t comment on them all. Note though that most of the high volume, really serious, hard core types are using the same handful of holster brands. I did another post a while back about what makes a good holster in general.

But once you find one you like, that works, and you’ve learned how to tune it to your body, you’re golden. I can drive a car all day and not notice the gun now. On the downside my holster looks like a big silly pillow with blue and yellow gel shoe inserts all over it like some kind of clown thing, but it’s comfy, and as the videos show, it works good. 😀

Hey all, Jack Wylder here. We know you’ve been swag-free for far too long, but the good news is we’re back in business! The new and improved swag shop is located at www.WriterSwag.com

We’ve got a bunch of new stuff we think you’ll love! Patches, stickers, magnets, sweatshirts, Christmas [Noun] stuff, and MORE! Lots of fun things. I’ll post some pics below. Keep in mind that if too many people rush it all at once, it has a tendency to bog down (which has happened every time on every platform) but that just means ‘try again later’.

The shop was originally going to remain open until 7th, but there were some errors with one of the plugins related to zip codes. (Hopefully that’s fixed but if you have problems with it, trying it from a different browser sometimes helps. Also, make sure the state is the 2 letter version and not spelled out.) (‘TX’ vs ‘Texas’)

Because of those problems we’re going to extend the open date a bit. We’ll begin fulfillment immediately after the shop closes- we have everything in hand, so there’s no delay on manufacturing.

If you have any questions email Jill at SwagHelp411@gmail.com (but go easy on her- y’all outnumber her by quite a bit)

Thanks again for everything!

Team Rhino, Los Angeles California 1970s

Team Flaming Warthog, Seattle Washington

MHI Metal Car Emblem

Two different weights of hoodies

All this and more! Act now before the shop closes

Larry shared this on the book of faces today…- Jack

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I’m nearing the end of the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior.

So I had to split the finale, Graveyard of Demons, in half because it got so damned big. The rough draft of the first book is done (I’m just waiting for a couple Hindi translations) and it is 5,000 words LONGER than Tower of Silence. 😀

So yeah, this would’ve been by far my longest book. But luckily it works out that there is a perfect logical cut off for the end. And having just read through it again… damn, I am proud of this series.

In the final scene of part 1 I get to explain something that I’ve had planned since the beginning, which totally explains why one of the major characters is the way he is, and once I explain it, the reader is going to go oh man how did I miss that? And it’s friggin’ rad. 😀

So yeah, cutting this one in half is the way to go, and it gives me a bit more room for other important characters’ resolutions in the second one. Which hopefully won’t take me very long to finish, so we can have a pretty close release.

The other day when I put up that list of everything I’ve written, somebody on Twitter said sure, you’ve written 25 novels since GRRM’s last GoT came out, but his are longer. Yeah, he writes 800 page doorstops while my fantasy novels are 400. But honestly, I can’t stand that meandering, bloated, nonsense that plagues fantasy where authors have to describe the ingredients of every meal and what every dress looks like, or fixate on characters that nobody cares about who do things that ultimately don’t matter. That’s the kind of stuff that I get bored and skim when I read epic fantasy. I figure if I don’t care, the reader really doesn’t care. I get bored writing that kind of fluff. I put enough description to provide a basic visual, and then let’s get to getting.

And I don’t like to spend time on minutia. Nobody cares. I’ll drop enough about the world to make it feel fleshed out, but the fact that the Capitol has fractional reserve banking, though fascinating to me, is utterly irrelevant to the stuff readers care about. So no, George, nobody gives a crap about Aragorn’s tax policy. (though I might stick one line about Devedas’ tax policy in there, just to be a dick).

One of the things I’ve been enjoying about the pro reviews of this series (which I’m FINALLY starting to get, ten years late) is them marveling how this is a fantasy, but it’s plotted more like a thriller. I think that’s fun that people are getting that, because when I set out to write this series it was to make the kind of story I wanted to read. It’s a throw back to the fantasy I read in my youth, with lots of action and adventure, intrigue, and heroes and villains, but I still wanted quality and depth, so there’s a point to all the hacking and slashing… just without the navel gazing and pointless nihilistic meandering that’s invaded the genre.

I had one dork troll on twitter (who hadn’t read my stuff, but it is funny when they try to guess) go all “hur dur, you’re a writer? Son of the Black Sword? sounds super HEAVY.” because these morons excel at sarcasm. But then all the responses were from fans going, doofus, it’s about genocide and caste systems.

So yeah, I get to write about fantasy Judge Dredd turned George Washington and play with heavy stuff like religion and the nature of government and legends vs harsh reality, and I get to kill lots of stuff with swords and blow crap up.

I have an awesome job. 😀

This is an anthology of stories that were originally written in Czech by Czech authors, set in my Monster Hunter International universe, and published in the Czech Republic, but now by popular demand, have been translated into English.

Monster Hunter FANTOM

The e-book will be available at Baen.com on Thursday. . https://www.baen.com/monster-hunter-fantom.html