December 2023

 We made it to the end of the year...It's been a mixed bag for me, but let's jump into book stuff first.

First off we talk about what came last which had been LV7. It did, okay-ish, but the drop off over the series has been speeding up, sadly. I have 1-2 more books in the series to wrap it up. It's still on my targeted path for the series, thankfully.
For those who were hoping for an eastern book, because of where book 7 ended. It wasn't ever going to happen. I always intended to keep the book focused on the western theme. Which means you will see book 8 pick up with Doc returning to Emerita. Luck's Voice 8: Emerita Divided, is going to bring a lot of conflict.

Now for those who are waiting for the audio of LV7, some bad news. It's not going to be recorded until February. Hang one, hang on, there's a reason. I have a recording slot with Andie here in December. This is when she would normally record LV7, but I'm having her do BW11 instead. Why? Because BW11 is the end of the series, and I'm hopeful to get the audio for it released in January so no one has to wait for the end of the series overly long. Though that does mean people have to wait for LV7 a bit longer.

Speaking of BW11: Divine Agreements, it's currently slated for December 16. If I can get it back and polished and put together before then, then I will push it out sooner. Andie will have the best copy for it I have when she starts to record even if it's not officially out yet. This way she can begin while things are still being handled. Might mean she has to make a few more corrections, but we agreed it would be better this way.

That leads us to what follows BW11 which is, Aether's Revival 8: Proven Strength. We get into the Krogga arc with Gregory.  Here we get to see another country in more depth than we did Buldoun. We have been told repeatedly about Krogga being strength focused and how dangerous it can be. But we also get to see something from outside of the lens of the Empire...which is fun. And yes for all those wondering, the shadows are finally stripped from Darkness in this book. Your theories and suspicions will be laid bare for you to either crow with joy at having figured it out, or be flummoxed by what is.

When I finish with AR8, I'll be shifting to Heavenly Chaos 1. This does jump the schedule a bit, but only because I want to see how the first book does. HC is a litrpg-cultivation series, it mixes the tropes of some cultivation with hard numbers for the litrpg side of things. The setting is a multi-verse of kingdoms that all cultivate with futurish tech, but fighting with magic and weapons that harness the power of the Heavens. The MC does not come from a happy place, and the trauma he has faced all his life is a key component of the series. Which does kind of bring us back to AW in a way of how trauma can shape people.
I had a lot of fun writing it, and hope people love reading it when it comes out next year. HC1 has been written for months as it took up my free time as it was screaming to get told. So I will be writing HC2 in the spot for HC1 so I can have a little buffer for once on where I am compared to my editors.

After HC1, the rotation will restabilize as AL3, LV8, AR9, HC2. HC takes the place of BW, but jumbles the rotation slightly due to me pushing it out after AR. That does mean AL3 and LV8 get delayed by 2 months, but I think it will be worth it.

The year will end with some impressive numbers. I will have published 8 books: AL1, DW4, LV6, BW10, AR7, AL2, LV7, and BW11. Because of me giving up my free time to write HC1 and GD1, I have as of December 1st written 985,927 words, across 9 books. That's 200k above normal because of HC1 and GD1.
For those wondering GD is Grafting Demons, and is likely the series that will fill for LV when it ends. It'll be a cyberpunk world without chrome but demons parts that augment people instead. I'm looking forward to it when it comes.

Now onto the personal bits of the year that sucked. If you were only here for Book stuff you can stop reading. This year has seen my family lose 2 cats and 1 dog; Fluff and Baby were both good kitties, but Fluff ended up with cancer and baby's lung issues got her. Lowkey, our mute husky sass boy...his numerous medical problems caught up to him too. We did a lot for the three fur-babies, but in the end they passed. They are sorely missed as they brought us love for years, but now they wait beyond the rainbow bridge for us.

Otherwise, we are dealing with ongoing medical problems for both girlfriends. Waiting for tests results and answers still. The human body, for all of our technology, still causes confusion and uncertainty about how and why things go wrong. We hope 2024 bring s us solutions and answers.

As for me, well...I didn't use a CPA for my taxes in 2021...so now the IRS is having a fit with me. This has brought my stress levels way up, as no one ever wants to deal with the IRS. Wouldn't have been as bad if I had ever received a letter from them before the one that said, "see you in tax court", but well...yeah. No letters before means I got blindsided like a motherfucker by that bit of news. Hopefully this gets resolved with minimal trouble, but with a government agency involved...I'm not getting my hopes up.

As you can see 2023 some good, some bad. Now to hope 2024 is better.

Stay safe out there and see you when the year begins again.

Daniel Schinhofen
Schinhofen Books

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