The Appalachian Argument is live!

Honestly, I thought about waiting to release it on my birthday in a few days, but then I thought it would be a better gift to myself to get it to all of you early. So, here you go!

Happy Blade Mage day!

What am I working on?

Fun with Friends! (Blade Mage book 8): Sigh. Still not done. Stupid thing. I convinced myself I’d be able to finish it while we were traveling for the Arkansas-Oklahoma State Fair. Ha! I didn’t finish my book, but I did finish a lot of muffins. More about that below.

And… Huh… That’s it at the moment. Holy crepes… I actually got myself down to working on one book right now. How about that? That’s so super adulty of me. Wonder how long it will last…

Where are we going to be?

10/4: North Heights Porchfest in Joplin, MO

10/11 & 10/12: Card Con in Fort Smith, AR

10/18: Maple Leaf Festival in Carthage, MO

10/25: Shire Post Mint Festival in West Fork, AR

Come see us!

What's going on in life?

Anyway, fun fact, my clearest memory from the fair was walking through the crowd when a grown-ass man grabbed me by the wrist and snuffed out his cigarette on my palm. While I stood screaming and staring at my charred hand, he strolled off and disappeared into the crowd. All these years later and I still think…what an asshole.

I also remember that no one quite believed me. They could see the burns, of course, but assumed I must have run into the man’s cigarette. Probably didn’t even realize he’d hit me. Nope. That mofo grabbed my little kid wrist and pressed out his smoke in my palm like it was an ashtray. Then just walked off. Not a care in the world. I hope he died of butt disease.

My other fun memory was having one of the carnies fall asleep while we were on a ride. It was the big boat one that makes you have to pee. We were trapped on there for what felt like hours. Probably more like ten minutes. Maybe fifteen. Too damned long for sure.

I also remember watching someone throw up from the top of the Zipper. The way their vomit projected upward and rained down. Good times!

I am happy to say that none of those things happened this time around. I didn’t go on any rides and no one tried to put their cigarette out on me.

Did eat a lot of muffins, though.

In the expo center, one of our neighbors was selling homemade gourmet muffins. Moolah Muffins. They were to die for. You should keep an eye out for her. She makes all sorts of different ones you wouldn’t expect. I tended toward the tamer ones like blueberry, cinnamon roll, and pumpkin spice. But I also really liked the cotton candy and funnel cake muffins. And she had a really good sugar free protein muffin that I would be happy to eat for breakfast every day. If you’re in the Fort Smith area, keep an eye out for her at events and stuff.

Our neighbors on the other side were selling water-based air purifiers. The person running it rotated out, so we didn’t spend as much time with them, but our favorite was Peyton. And not just because she bought a copy of The Blade Mage and read it in front of people walking by. Also not just because she was helping promote our stuff… Okay, so those definitely gave her some brownie points. But also, she was just cool.

The ladies behind us were cool as well. They were selling hand-crafted tumblers that glowed in the dark and stuff. They were a lot of fun.

If you can’t tell, we spent quite a lot of time sitting in the same spot around the same people. It was hard not to, though, because there was typically a pretty steady stream of people coming by. And we sold quite a few books. So, it was definitely a worthwhile event. Even though I’m still tired from it.

Magical Frog

I almost forgot to tell you about the magical frog!

So one night after the fair, we were driving to where we were staying. As I was coming through a green light, with no one behind me, some jerkwad couldn’t wait three seconds and swung out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and J.H. immediately began cursing them. But midway through her stream of hexes and well wishes, I saw something…

I blinked, thinking it was my imagination.

Nope. Still there.

It was a frog.

More importantly, it was a frog who’d fallen right out of the sky and landed atop my hood.

Where it remained.

I drove another ten minutes at 55 mph.

And it was still there.

So…magical, right? Blade Mage frog? Maybe a sign. I did have an idea about giving Axel a frog familiar. Hmm.

What have I been reading?

So, after I finished Throne Hunters, I told myself I was for sure going to listen to something that wasn’t a LitRPG. I tried one book, and surprise surprise, it was also a LitRPG. It also wasn’t very good, so I moved on. And then I tried something else. Nope. And then I tried something by a bigger named author whose other books I enjoyed. Also nope.

What shows have we been watching?

I mean…in the same way Ted Lasso is the only show I would have watched following soccer players, Shoresy is the only show about a hockey team that’s held my attention. But really, the thing is…you should just give it a try and see if makes you laugh. That’s really all there is to it. It’s either for you or it isn’t, and it won’t take you long to find out.

Sticks are unbelievable.

Final Thoughts

Happy Blade Mage day to you! And hopefully a happy birthday to me! If you’re anywhere in the neighborhood of our upcoming events, come say hi! Otherwise, see you next month!