The Phillip Drayer Duncan Newsletter - February 2026

It’s the season of love, y’all!

Shame you don’t live nearby, because the local Mexican restaurant is making heart-shaped tacos to celebrate.

What am I working on?

Blade Mage Book 8 – Fun with Friends!: It has been sent to my editor! Woot! Woot! Once I get it back, I’ll apply my fixes and send it to the wonderful people who’ve volunteered to beta read and sniff out mistakes. I can’t wait to get this one into your hands!

Mad Maudlin – I’m sure I’ve mentioned this one before, but I’m delighted to say I’m actively clacking away on it. I’d hoped to get it done in a single month, but as per usual, I’ve overshot my word count, and despite having written around 70,000 words in January, I’m still only about 1/3 of the way through. Oops.

But I’m really excited about this one. As you may have gathered, it is not a Blade Mage book. In fact, it’s more of an epic fantasy. Okay, so I’m almost positive I’ve told you this before, so feel free to skip this part if you’re bored, but don’t because it’s interesting.

I got the idea from an old song “Tom of Bedlam.” Or “Tom O’ Bedlam.” Our friends, the band Music the Gathering, have a version of it, and play it regularly at the ren faire. You can stream their version directly on their website here, if you’re interested.

If you’d have asked me to guess what the oldest written English language song was, I would have guessed some old religious jam. I would have been wrong. Dead wrong.

At no point would I have had a song with ‘giants’ and ‘goblins’ on that particular bingo card. Yet…here we are. Also, it’s worth noting that the original songwriter is unknown. That’s even cooler, right?

So anyway, as I sat there listening to Music the Gathering play this song, weekend after weekend, I started thinking about the lyrics. Started asking myself questions. Who was this strange woman telling us this story? Who is this Tom of Bedlam she so desperately seeks? Why is she so in love with him? What is the Night Crow? What is the Book of Moons? Why does she go on dirty toes, for to save her shoes from gravel?

I went down a rabbit hole, looking up things about the song. It turns out it’s been covered a lot. Like, a lot. And what’s interesting is some versions are like Music the Gathering’s, where it’s from the viewpoint of Maudlin as she seeks her dear Tom. Others are from Tom’s own point of view.

Let’s talk about Bedlam!

It’s a word we hear thrown around often enough, one which we’ve all taken to mean utter chaos or madness. But do we know where the word came from? Bedlam was another name for the Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, founded in 1247. It would become infamous as a hospital for the mentally ill and the basis for many horror tales.

Since folks back then were just as dumb as we are today, there was a commonly held misconception that patients released from Bedlam would become vagrants and beggars. So it became fashionable to refer to any roaming type as a “Bedlam Begger,” or… Drum roll please… A “Tom o’ Bedlam.”

The phrase carried enough stereotypical weight that even Shakespeare used it in King Lear.

So, what does all of this tell us about the song?

We can surmise that Tom is a roaming wanderer, perhaps a vagrant, and seemingly mad. Cool.

And what of Maudlin, who is so dearly in love with him? Who is this woman who is so in love that’d she travel 10,000 miles to find him? Now that… That’s the one.

For me, at least, she seems the more interesting of the two.

So, as I heard the song played time and again, my imagination began to run wild. I kept thinking it would make a heck of a novel. Nay, a series!

But alas… I didn’t think it would work. As much as I was intrigued by Maudlin, I didn’t think the story could work from her perspective. Or Tom’s either, for that matter. At least not by my hand.

That would be sort of like writing the Blade Mage books from Axel’s perspective. It would never work. In order to make a story relatable, especially in first person, I have to be able to put you in the driver seat. I have to be able, hopefully, to create a mind you can comfortably live inside for the duration. From Axel’s point of view, it’d be like tossing you into a blender. All the jumps, dips, and valleys. Like…

There’s a puppy! Tada! Where’d the word ‘tada’ come from? Oh, right, supposed to be fighting this bad guy! Punched him in the nipples! Ha! Wait, why do dudes have nipples? Squirrel! Nipples rhymes with dimples! Or does it?

So, yeah, that wouldn’t work. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation because you would have given up on me before you’d made it through the first chapter. It’s almost like you need an anchor to normalcy to bring out the best of an eccentric character.

And that’s what I thought about Maudlin’s story. I couldn’t make that work.

Except…

The Blade Mage wasn’t written from Axel’s point of view, was it? It was written from Wyatt’s. And yet, the story is very much Axel’s too, isn’t it?

Bingo. That was all I needed. If I told the story from someone else’s perspective, I could make Maudlin work. In fact, I realized I’d had quite a lot of practice doing this very thing. About eight books’ worth, to be precise.

The next problem I smacked myself over the head with was… Yeah, but Bethlem was a real place. So, you’d be doing historical fantasy fiction, and you hate doing historical fiction because it requires loads of research to get things right.

To which I replied to myself… Yeah, stupid, but who said it has to be historical? Last I checked, we’re the boss of us and there’s no one who says it must to be set in our world. Why can’t it just be a made-up fantasy world? That’ll give you more room to play anyhow.

Huh.

So, here we are, half a year later, and I have a viewpoint character, a reason for them to get stuck following Maudlin, and a made-up world I can mold to my heart’s desire. I’m having a blast and can’t wait until I can eventually share it with you.

Where are we going to be?

Tomorrow we fly!

We’re headed to the Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs. This is one we try to make it to every year. For any intrepid authors, Superstars is hard to beat. And the only one of its kind that I’m aware of. It’s entirely focused on the business of being an author.

Nothing else on the schedule just yet, but stay tuned.

What's going on in life?

Accountabilibuddy Update

I fell a little short of my writing goal in January with a measly 70,000 words. I’m being a little facetious and poking fun at myself. Technically, I was short, since my goal was 80k-ish, but… Without going back to look, I’m pretty sure I’ve never written 70k words in a single month before, so I’m actually pretty happy with myself. Additionally, I edited over 250,000 words, so I feel like things are on track. Now, if I can just keep things rolling during a conference week. That’ll be a real challenge.

For my fitness goals, which were my biggest weak point last year, I’m absolutely knocking them out of the park. Instead of just tracking my weight, BMI, or body measurements, this year I tossed in some actual fitness goals, like how many push-ups I can do with good form. Or how many miles I can make it on my recumbent bike on the hardest setting. So far, I’m pleased to say I hit every marker and am on track going into February.

Right now, the goal that is failing is a goofy goal I gave myself for playing video games. Sounds silly, and it is, but I’ve found when I make some time for myself to game, my creative brain works better. So, I really want to make sure I’m making time for that this year, and January didn’t get off to a great start, if I’m honest. I mostly just worked.

 Snow Days!

We ended up with 8 or 10 inches during this recent storm and had a few days of being hermits, which is always nice. It’s also what we do most days now, ever since we switched to writing full-time, so I probably didn’t appreciate the snow as much as I have in the past. Sure was pretty, though!

What have I been reading?

The MC is a soldier sent to fight a war in space. When he returns home for the first time, only a few years have passed for him, but twenty or so have passed on Earth. As he goes back into space to fight again, more and more time passes, and with it, the societal norms and things change. The people change. The laws change. Etc. etc.

It’s a really interesting concept.

Also, those space soldiers do an awful lot of hanky panky. Like, nonstop. And with different partners. Like one constant orgy in space.

What have we been watching?

Fallout

Yeah, that’s what made me want to play the game. We’re coming up on the final episode of the season, and all in all, I think they’ve done a damned good job. For the past several years we’ve seen lots of shows and movies based on games or books, or older shows and movies, and honestly, most just haven’t been great. They just haven’t. I had low expectations for Fallout when the first season came out, but was pleasantly surprised. The second season hasn’t disappointed.

Peaky Blinders

Cillian Murphy crushes as Tommy Shelby.

I watched the first few seasons of this show several years back. It’s nowhere close to my favorite show, but it’s pretty solid. And honestly… I would recommend watching it based solely on Cillian Murphy’s performance.

And when Tom Hardy comes along in the second season, every scene with him and Cillian Murphy is absolute gold.

Anyway, I heard there’s a movie coming out, so I thought it would a good time to finally finish it all so I can see the film.

What games have I been playing?

I’m almost ashamed to even say. If you’ve been reading these for any amount of time, you’ll almost certainly laugh at my expense. Go ahead. It’s warranted and deserved.

I’m playing Fallout 4 again.

This time I’m going to finish it, damn it! Hopefully…

Final Thoughts

Hey, look! I made it through a whole newsletter without diving off into a rant. That’s not entirely true, I started writing one, but grew weary with it and pressed delete. If I was bored with it, then surely you would be as well.

I hope your year has gotten off to a great start and that you have a wonderful month! See you in March!

-Phill