the blogging gnome

Sunday catchup ahoy! First, I updated the website slightly with a preview page for The Crown Of Kylthena, and a separate page for Skyblade's Gambit and the Skyblade Saga. Just a gentle reminder...if you've read either book, or any of my books, please feel free to leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, social media, your own blog, or all of the above! Reviews, and spreading the word in general, do bring in new readers and remind the older ones that they may need to catch up, so won't you take a few minutes to help? Michiko and Beth thank you, Annabel and Victorie thank you, and so do I! More after the cut.

blog you till Tuesday

Sunday catchup is back! One of the reasons that I skipped last week's, besides the complete lack of news, was that it was the Sunday I finally replaced the old Windows 7 laptop that no longer wanted to download updates or display web pages properly. Oh, and the "5" and "6" keys no longer worked. I'm still getting this new laptop up to speed - for one thing, half my music files need to be moved over - but it's a vest improvement and will hopefully speed up all the aspects of the writing game that don't involve the actual writing. More after the cut!

you know I can't blog straight no more

Starting Sunday with an announcement: For the next few weeks, posting on this blog and other social media will be significantly less than usual, mostly likely just a Sunday catchup post every week. A secret project is involved, but I can't say more than that for the time being, and there is a deadline that needs to be met. When I can say more, I will, and I think it'll be worth the wait. More after the cut, including paperback news!

a fine suggestion

Calomiel tweeted this earlier today with the message: "We don't only WANT it, we NEED it"

Art © 2016 Calomiel. See more work by her at her blog, and follow her on Twitter and Facebook!

You won't need a gutter to blog in tonight

Starting this Sunday catchup off with a small announcement: We're coming up soon on post #450 (counting on the original site of this blog on Blogger). I always like to do something special for those anniversary posts, and I just may have something in mind for this one. Stay tuned! More after the cut.

wizzards, soot sprites and cricket bats

Today, I thought I'd do something different, so after the cut, see some art from some nifty artists who aren't named Willow!

Les Dieux du Blog 2016 calendar

Raphie and Djy, a pair of French bloggers, have released a 2016 calendar, Les Dieux du Blog. Calomiel, the artist who drew my new avatar, invited me to take part, so I wrote a caption to accompany a lovely drawing she did for October. You can download the PDF of the calendar here; be advised that the text (except for my caption) is in French, and it is NSFW (nudity, mostly female). Thanks again to Raphie and Djy for letting me take part!

I'm a GIF!

I mentioned the wonderful new avatar that Calomiel, the French artist and comic creator, drew from me on this blog last week. What I didn't know was that as she worked on the avatar, from sketch to ink to final art, she saved each stage, and used them to produce this marvelous GIF!

It's nice to see Calomiel's art as it progresses. And I'm thrilled; I've never been a GIF before! You can see the original on her blog here, and other work-in-progress GIFs (and so much more) as well. Merci, Calomiel!

introducing...the new me! (sort of)

I said this would be happening on Sunday, and here it is! Calomiel has finished the art for my new avatar!

If you missed Sunday's post: Calomiel is a talented French artist and photographer! We've been interacting on Facebook recently, and I thought her style would work for my avatar. I was right! (And I should also add that she's very nice and lots of fun to work with!) Find out more about her at her blog, where you can also read her delightful BDs/comic strips and see her GIFs and process posts! It's in French, but it's worth the effort to translate, and you can enjoy her art regardless; as she says in her header, "Comics are the universal language". And Calomiel? Merci pour ce merveilleux nouveau avatar!

do I have to blog this all over again?

We'll start this Sunday catchup with news that I actually mentioned on Facebook earlier this week: My tentative writing plans are in place for 2016. These include three more Monkey Queen books (not counting Redblade, which will hopefully debut in the next few weeks), and the first three books in a new series. It'll be fantasy adventure, set in the same multiverse as the Monkey Queen stories. Since I won't be writing just about Michiko and Beth, I've changed the name of my Facebook page to "Robert Dahlen - writer". If you're on Facebook, please like my page; I try to update or share there every day, and I'd love to hear from you, here or there!

More, including spoilers and an artistic surprise, after the cut.