Gregeration X Newsletter November 25, 2023-Feeling Thankful

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I’m feeling thankful (and not overly stuffed)! I have a wonderful family, good friends, a stable job, and relatively good health. While I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday cooking and entertaining. I slowed down on Friday, spending the day writing, napping, and watching a variety of TV shows. Over the rest of the weekend, I’ll spend time with my wife and kids. We don’t have anything specific planned, but we’ll most likely put up the Christmas tree, lights, and other decorations.

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

I didn’t leave the house on Friday, and only did a tiny bit of shopping online as there are a couple of computer programs I wanted to purchase that have hefty Black Friday discounts. That being said, today is Small Business Saturday and if you enjoy helping Small Businesses as most writers are, I wanted to suggest a handful of authors that you may consider helping.

Please note, the links below are affiliate links and if you purchase from them, I’ll receive a small commission.

Here’s a list of some authors I met in Las Vegas (I’ll have more next issue). They were all super nice people who sat near me at the Reader and Author Vegas Event (R.A.V.E.)

Here are some books by authors I’ve enjoyed reading over the last few years. Some are big names, some aren’t. Most of these I listened to as audiobooks.

Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell

We are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor

Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe

Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, Book 1 by Craig Alanson

Mechhaven Missives

I’m back at work on Mechhaven Book 5! It feels good to dive back into the story that picks up mere moments after the end of Rally Point!

Over the last two weeks, I wrote two chapters. I would have written more but had to take several days off to deal with the flu or something I picked up from Las Vegas that spread from me to pretty much everyone else in the house. The worst of it was over in two days, but there were some lingering symptoms for the better part of a week.

I finished a chapter yesterday, and hope to get one more done this weekend.

I’m putting the novella I was writing on the back burner until I wrap up Book 5. I have a pretty good idea of where I want the rest of the story to go, but my priority needs to be wrapping up the main Mechhaven storyline.

Mech of the Month

I’ve been watching a lot of anime. Primarily, my family and I watch One Piece (though we watch a few other shows). We just finished the Whole Cake Island Arc and are getting ready to start the Wano Arc. This means we are on episode 879 out of 1084! We typically binge 4-6 episodes when we sit down to watch, but depending on how exciting the episodes are and whether it ends on a cliffhanger, we’ve watched as many as thirteen episodes in one sitting.

I’ve also been trying to watch as many mecha anime as I can to find future Mechs of the Month. The only problem is I haven’t found any that really stand out, at least not in the episodes that I’ve watched so far. That was until I came across this month’s Mech of the Month. After watching seven episodes in one sitting and still wanting to watch more, I realized I had found my mech of the month. In this case, I’ve selected the Evas from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

I’m only nine episodes into the series, but I find the bio-mechanical giant robots fascinating. At this point in the series (I don’t know if this changes) the Evas must remain tethered to a power source to function. If they become disconnected, they can only function for five minutes. This puts a definite limit on their abilities and they are used for “decisive” action during battles. I look forward to learning more about the Evas and the characters of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Featured Authors

This week’s featured author is Anton Eine

Dessert Is Served In Three Minutes

Anton Eine

An ultimate cooking challenge that can cost you a life!

Chef Lukas Larsgaard is feeling very nervous today. Seventy-eight guests and a twelve-course tasting menu await him today — a serious professional challenge for him personally and his entire restaurant team.

Every dish has been carefully thought out and honed down to the finest detail, every wine has been selected with exceptional care to create an unforgettable range of gourmet sensations.