We interrupt your regularly scheduled Friday for a special announcement:

One of my books (The Ghost War) will be featured in a free book promotion this Friday. You can sign up here: hellobooks.com to receive the link, not just to my book but to many others as well.

The special starts today and runs through the weekend. That’s the promotion part. The advantage of signing up at Hello Books is that they do free book promotions all the time. If you want other free books, that’s one good way to get them. If you just want to get a free Kindle copy of The Ghost War, you can follow one of the links below. If you don’t see your region listed, just paste the ASIN number B007JM5HNM into the search on your Amazon page and you’ll find it. Happy Reading!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JM5HNM (US)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007JM5HNM (UK)

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B007JM5HNM (CA)

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B007JM5HNM (AU)

It was a routine CT scan. I’ve reached the age where certain physicians want to keep an eye on my ascending aorta, which, for the record, was perfectly okay… or at least within acceptable tolerances. No, the problem was further down. The CT scan in checking out the heart area also caught part of the abdomen, and one of them noticed something that shouldn’t be there. Ordered yet another CT scan to verify.

Yep, something that definitely shouldn’t be there.

To cut to the chase, I had a tumor attached to my stomach. Something called a GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor). Last Monday I went into surgery to have it removed. Was informed in advance and great detail about the possible complications, which I will spare you, but at the risk of Too Much Sharing, I was also informed that the tumor was possibly attached to the blood supply to the spleen. If it was, then the spleen would have to go too. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, though they did have to take part of the stomach, just to make sure they got everything that needed to go.

Spent four days in the hospital next to a roommate who would not STFU for three of those days. Glad to be back home now. I am fine if a little sore, and the odds (according to the Mayo Clinic) with this kind of tumor and when it was caught are that I will remain fine.

Back to work.

I’m very fond of the book within that cover. Proud even. But in all honesty, I’ve never been a huge fan of the cover. Thinking of changing it, but that’s an issue for another day. The real reason for the post is to let everyone know where the final book in the Laws of Power series stands, The Seventh Law of Power, for anyone who might be interested.

This book has been difficult. Probably not a revelation to anyone interested in the saga and knowing how long it’s taking. I have to apologize for that, but there are reasons, and not excluding I’ve not only got to tie up Marta’s story, but Tymon, who didn’t even appear in the second book, is back and I’ve got to get him sorted out too, because this can’t be truly completed until I’ve taken care of both their story arcs. Not to mention other people (“characters” sounds so lame) anyone who has read the series up until now will know and might care about. I want to do it right. I think I’m finally getting there.

Regardless, here’s where I am: The draft is just under 42k words, with (in my best estimation) about 20-30k left to go. Maybe not enough room for what all I think has to happen, but we’ll see. If I’m writing slowly, well, that cannot be avoided right now and that’s all I plan to say on that particular matter. I am working, and short of any disruptions beyond my control, I will get it done.