Ah! That era that started in late 2019 and went way into 2022. Indeed as of February 2022 it's still ongoing. for me, and I expect many others, it's been an unusual time. It started with the death of my father in late November 2019 from ironically Influenza A and pneumonia. It was the start of a time for me where I questioned nearly everything I'd ever being interested in. What hobbies and interests had I pursued because they were dad's interests? Then came the realization, followed quickly by acceptance, that, though I was fascinated by science I had very little aptitude for it. I'd gone as far as teaching myself Calculus and doing online moocs in that, while I was writing Ideally Imperfect. I love maths, science and engineering but to push any further than calculus was going to take a lot of bloodymindedness. Something had to give. We only have so many years on this planet, or so it seems. What did I want to do with the time I have? Writing - tick. Flute - tick? Gardening - I could ease back on, get rid of the pot plants for one thing. Languages - well I still have an addiction there which is currently pursuing Irish for no earthly reason other than it's my equivalent of doing sudoku - something to use all available brain cells when I want a rest from thinking about other things. Genealogy? - well there's nothing but brick walls left in my chart. There comes a time when you realize there really weren't many records for ordinary people before the 1570s - Good old Henry the Eighth saw to that. Astrology? - well I've come to realize you can spend endless hours on that but all I really need to know these days are the general energies affecting the planet and how they might affect my innate quirks.
So after all that soul searching and refinding myself have I written anything of late. Yes:
Oh No You Don’t! - Thallon's surprised and delighted when his off-planet conversation is hacked by a human. But will she agree to go out with him? Terri's workplace supervisor's just found out you don't mess with her but will he get his revenge? Dan's having to deal with hostile competitors who want his system, but to what purpose? A lot could go wrong but no-one's on their own as friends unite to deal with everything that's coming their way.
The Transformation Solution - Mars’s core is still rumbling with earthquakes but the planet’s facilitator Naira has more than that on her plate of worries. What to do with the old guard of Lyreans who still sleep in stasis in the bowels of the city, one of them her own father? Octopuses have colonised the Martian ocean but no-one except Emily knows much about them. And then there’s the dealing with the disharmony in the galaxy that is being broadcast from a source close to the galaxy’s centre.
And then there was a little short story while I worked out the "Where to from here?"
Finding Eden (a prequel to In the Unknown Everything Awaits) - Work comes in bits and pieces for remote viewer and psychic private detective Rachael Bashandi. When the local Protectors ring asking for help with a case she leaps at the chance. But not everyone in the Protectors Office approves of magick users. Fighting prejudice and her nebulous relationship with the Protectors she sets out to find one Eden Esme James who's disappeared without a trace.
