Battle for the Wastelands #2: Serpent Sword Is Almost Done

Last weekend, I finished the final round of edits for Serpent Sword, the sequel to my steampunk military fantasy Battle for the Wastelands and my first new book since mid-2020, and sent it off to be edited and formatted. The person I hired said she’d block out Thursday through Saturday to get it done.

It’s still in process (after all, it is Saturday morning and she mentioned having wobbly Internet earlier), but if I get the manuscript today or tomorrow and everything’s good, the next step is to pass everything back to the cover designer for the finalization of the paperback. When the e-book and print book version are linked and the Amazon series page updated, I’ll send out a special edition email.

Hopefully it’ll be sometime this coming week.

Some Recent Episodes of Myopia Movies You Might Enjoy

As many of you know, I’m a regular participant in the film podcast Myopia Movies, in which we watch childhood (usually 1980s and 1990s movies, given participants’ ages) movies to see if they still hold up. Here are some recent episodes I’m in:

City Slickers-Billy Crystal and Daniel Stern are hilarious in this tale of a bunch of men approaching middle age signing up for a cattle drive. And the podcast is fun too. :)

When Harry Met Sally-Billy Crystal is an absolute riot in this one, especially when he starts doing accents. Anybody want some pecan pie? :)

Michael-In which the Archangel Michael visits Earth to try to hook people up. An example of magical realism and surprisingly charming, including a scene where Andie McDowell sings a song about pie.

The Karate Kid-If you enjoyed the original or watched the Cobrai Kai spinoff, you might like our discussion.

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor-I got some serious Wonderful World of Disney vibes off this, except it’s much, much more violent. Oh, and Wicket apparently can speak English (or in the Star Wars world, Basic) and there’s Wilford Brimley with a gun.

Check Out My Recent Substack Posts

I haven’t been updating my Substack as often as I did my old Blogger blog, but I have posted some new material lately:

My Matt Cowdery Covers-Here are all the covers I had commissioned from an artist I met at DragonCon in 2018. Always check out Artist Alley … you never know what you’ll find. One is the cover for Serpent Sword, while the other is for the planned Thing and TAI sequel titled The Walking Worm.

Queen Bavmorda, Strategist-Although the movie Willow mostly depicts the evil Queen Bavmorda as this cackling, malicious witch, the deleted scenes, novelization, and other expanded-universe stuff depict her as a much more cunning and thoughtful villain.

A Dash of Game of Thrones For Your Willow-A follow up to my Bavmorda post, this discusses the possible problems after Bavmorda’s defeat at the end of the movie and explains some things in the new Disney+ television series. There might be good reason Queen Sorsha (Bavmorda’s daughter) looks more like Princess Kit and Prince Airk’s grandmother rather than their mother 15-16 years later.

Grand Master Anakin Skywalker and Chancellor Tarkin-Inspired by a discussion on Twitter, this is a Star Wars what-if scenario involving the Republic drifting toward authoritarianism even if Palpatine is discovered and killed at the last minute. And did I mention that The Clone Wars show revealed Darth Maul was still alive, and in this scenario he’s after Luke?

The Further Adventures of Grand Master Anakin and Chancellor Tarkin-In which I further develop the above scenario and even provide a specific divergence from canon. When Palpatine revealed himself, did Anakin ponder the implications of Separatist leader Dooku being a Sith Lord and the Republic’s chancellor also being a Sith Lord? Who ordered him to kill Dooku no less? If he’d been a bit more clear-headed and displayed his usual lack of impulse control, Palpatine might have had a really bad day.

I’ve also posted some premium content in the past few weeks. Only $8/month or $80/year to see the entire archive. :)

Art Before My Short Story “Nicor”-Here are some Beowulf-inspired drawings from when I was in college, along with some commentary about what I was up to when they were written.

Meth-Dealing Gang, Pet Kodiak Bear Wiped Out In Edington, GA-This is a news article from the local newspaper in the fictional town of Edington, where The Thing in the Woods takes place. How did the local media cover the aftermath of the book’s events? Read the book to see what really happened.

Wastelands World Map-Two different maps of the world of Battle for the Wastelands, one I drew myself and the other drawn by a member of my writing group.

The World According To Quinn

March 4 Newsletter: SERPENT SWORD, Movie…