Richard C. White's Blog

Just got back from the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival in York, PA over the weekend. Had a great time and the hosts put on a great show. Met quite a few authors I hadn’t met before and really enjoyed visiting with them during the down times. It was an interesting show and there were some fantastic steampunk items that had been created by the other vendors. I saw gorgeous leather work, clothing, wood worked items as well as seeing more modern items that had been handcrafted into their steampunk equivalents. To my surprise, while On Wings of Steel sold well, my best sellers were Battletech: Slack Tide and For a Few Gold Pieces More.

Once again, this only proves, you never have any idea what is going to sell, no matter the theme of the show. I sold mostly fantasy/SF at a Pulp show, Pulp at a game show, and now Fantasy/SF at a steampunk show. And people ask me why I write wide . . . it’s because you never know what might spark someone’s curiosity about my writing.

Oh, and I guess I should post a picture of the star of the show. Shadow was without a doubt the cutest draw of any of the guest there.

I’ll be writing another post on this, but both of my recent podcasts have been launched on YouTube. Both The True and the Fictional podcast as well as The Indie Side are live. Again, I can’t thank my hosts enough for inviting me and putting up with me. They’re not going to have to ask twice if they want me back on their shows again.

The Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories is coming down to the wire. We’re still getting backers, but we’re definitely looking at a long climb if we’re going to push this over the top. However, as I’ve said all along, there are alternative plans in place in case we don’t reach the funding goals I had hoped we could reach. It’s disappointing, but looking over the story pitches and the completed stories I’ve already gotten, I can’t help but be extremely satisfied with the authors that are contributing to this project.

It was a good week of writing last week. I completed three new chapters in On Wings of Glass, bringing the novel up to approximately 72K out of a projected 90K. While I was at the convention, I also did some more writing on The Nighthawks collection, adding a new scene to “A Tune from the Mist”, which will be the third story in the collection. I’m having fun with the Nighthawks, as I mentioned last week, as it gives me a chance to relive the two-and-a-half years I was stationed in Monterey, CA back in the 1980s.

My weekly total was 10,789 new words, which brings us up to 148,378 words for 2026. So, 1700 words behind schedule, give or take, but still, I’m very happy with my progress compared the the past few years. With the possibility of releasing five novels/collections this year as well as completing four novels/collections this year, this is definitely the most productive year I’ve had. Here’s hoping I can keep up this momentum.

And, now back to the grindstone.

Another busy week here at Casa Blanca, but we managed to get through it again. Keeping up with the current Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories, we definitely showed a small surge in backers, but the Kickstarter is nearing the halfway point and we’re well-short of meeting out goal, much less any of the stretch goals. However, as they say, “Fortune favors the bold”, or maybe those too stubborn to quit. I’m going to keep plugging the Kickstarter campaign every chance I get. I did get a great boost in visibility on Saturday thanks to the Fiction For Sale group of authors and I’m greatly honored and humbled by their efforts.

However, moving onto happier thoughts. It was another great week on the writing front. I added three new chapters to On Wings of Glass, as well as editing seven chapters of Steel on Target. Also, I wasn’t sure I had a whole chapter in me on Sunday, so I added another 1765 words to “Monterey Bay Blues” for my upcoming The Nighthawks novelette collection, which is scheduled for release in 2027. All told, I added 11,319 words this week.

The Nighthawks is going to be a revision and follow-on to my original story “Notes in the Fog”, which appeared in Charles Boeckman Presents: Johnny Nickle. Unfortunately with the demise of Pro Se Press and the unfortunate passing of Mr. Boeckman, I wouldn’t be able to do any more Johnny Nickle stories, so I have created my own jazz-related mysteries, and while no one is going to mistake my writing or musical skills for Mr. Boeckman (the man has a star in the Texas Jazz Hall of Fame as well as being a popular author), I’m going to do my best to honor the spirit of his stories.

So, that brings my 2026 total up to 137,589 words for the year. Still a bit behind on the overall goal for the year, but we did manage to close the gap a bit. I’m hoping I can get ahead on my word count this week before I head off to The Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival in York, PA this weekend. It’s a new show for me, but I’ve heard some good things about it, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

I had a great time meeting with Ellie Jay to do The Indie Side Podcast on Wednesday morning. We had a fantastic chat, in fact it was such a great time, we’re going to do it again this upcoming Wednesday too. Actually, there were a few technical glitches and we need to re-do the first half of the talk – gotta love technology – but the second half of the talk is fine. However, I don’t recall what shirt I was wearing last Wednesday, so if there’s a wardrobe change halfway through the podcast, it’s not your eyes playing tricks on you. *grin* But, as I said, Ellie Jay was a great interviewer and I do not mind getting a chance to visit with her some more.

I also met with Bob Greenberger for lunch at our favorite deli and discussed the Kickstarter, other projects the two of us are working on, and the state of publishing in general. It’s always a fantastic thing when I get to hang out with other authors, especially away from a convention where there’s always a certain pressure due to when’s the next panel, Oh, I need to talk to this other person, wait, I have to sign this book/comic/whatever . . .

Plus, it’s probably a good thing for me to get out of the house every so often lest I become a hermit.

But, time to wrap this up and finish getting everything ready for the upcoming convention. Talk to you all next week.

Oh, my goodness, this was a busy week.

First off, as I mentioned in the last report, I returned from PenguiCon on Monday just in time to launch the Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories on Monday evening (Mar 30). The Kickstarter has gotten off to a slow start, but there’s still three weeks to go and we’re beating the bushes to get the word out about the project. I’ve been hearing from the various authors involved and sounds like their stories are coming together. I’m excited to share this anthology with you.

Then, as noted, we went live with Cry Havoc: The Furies Book 1, on Mar 31. It received a warm reception at PenguiCon and, along with dealing with Kickstarter stuff, I was busy on-line doing promotional work to get this book launched properly.

Thursday evening, I was on The True and the Fictional Podcast, which was an absolute blast. There were three hosts and five guests all discussing world building . . . a subject near and dear to my heart. While we were discussing world building from different perspectives (Military SF, Horror, Epic Fantasy, Cozy Mysteries, and so on), I did make certain to get in a plug for Terra Incognito before we’d gone too far. It was an interesting chat, and the fact that the hosts were Australian definitely added a unique twist to the conversation, in a good way. As soon as I know when it’s going live, I’ll share the date with you.

Which gives me a chance to plug another podcast I have coming up with The Indie Side on the 8th. It’s another interesting show (and time) as my interviewer – Ellie Jay – is in the United Kingdom and we’re recording tomorrow at 10:00am. So, in the space of a week, I’ll have done two podcasts on completely different sides of the world. I’m such a world traveler (at least in cyber space).

In and amongst all this promotional activity, I did manage to squeeze in some writing. I added three more chapters to On Wings of Glass, completing Chapter 17 and bringing the weekly total up to 10,117. Also, I’m editing Steel on Target to get it ready to go out on submission. That’s going to probably go a bit slower – the object here is to take the first draft and turn it into something much more polished. That, and start working on the query letters and summary . . . which is my weakest part. Trying to turn a 90K story into a one- to two-page summary without turning it into the equivalent of a literary Mojave Desert is not fun.

Still, progress is being made, sales are being made, books are being written and edited . . . and planned . . . (I have to avoid looking at artists on social media. I saw some outstanding art and now I have a novel and a short story collection begging to be added to my writing queue, like there aren’t already things there. Bad brain. Bad brain.)

Additionally, I’m working with an independent author group, Fantasy For Sale, I think I’ll let the tag line from their web site tell it best: “Where fantasy finds its��audience. A community of fantasy authors to sell quality work ��� and for readers to discover their next obsession. We actually have Fantasy for Sale!” The Discord for the group has been popping this week with the new authors joining together to help promote, kibbitz with, grouse about stuff, and generally provide a support channel. Writing is, by its nature, a solitary job, and having places where you can discover that others may be dealing with things you’ve dealt with before and vice versa. It and the Military Science Fiction Podcast discord channel have been a fantastic place for me to hang out this year and meet and hang out with new authors beyond conventions.

And speaking of planning – my publisher send me the mock-up covers for Rima: The Emerald Forest, Crystal Tresses in the Sky, and Chasing Shadows. Also, we’ve created the Dropbox folders for all three of the projects so I can share this with my editor, designer, and publisher when the time comes. There’s just something about making that Dropbox that makes the project really feel like it’s coming due. I also have the initial sketches from the artist for the cover art to Murder on the Airwaves, so that’s moving along too.

2026 is definitely going to be the year of new releases for NightWolf Graphics/StarWarp Concepts.

And speaking of progress, with last week’s word count, that brings me up to 126,270 words for 2026. Definitely on a good pace to reach my goal for the year.

And now, back to the grindstone while I have some nose left.

Had a great time visiting with Rod Gilley for his “Relax and Chat” podcast. We discussed the concept of Media Tie-in writing vs. Fanfiction, where they may overlap, and the rules and restrictions of working with a licensed product. After that, we talked about On Wings of Steel, Cry Havoc, and the current Southwatch Stories Kickstarter. We wrapped up the visit with a discussion of Writer Beware (SFWA’s anti-scam committee) and various “less-than-optimal” publishing opportunities being offered both trade and independent authors.

While the links are available below, please click on the “Watch on YouTube” links because he deserves the views/likes. Rod was a great interviewer and I look forward to visiting with him again in the future.

Author A.J. Calvin has a great listing of independent author releases that comes out every month in his newsletter. Cry Havoc was selected to appear on his “The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: April 2026”, even if we did technically release on 31 March. If you’re into independent authors and looking for the finest in SF/F/H books, definitely check out his website and consider subscribing to his newsletter.

The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List

Perhaps it’s a bit of an April Fools on his readers, but there no fooling around with the ladies featured in Cry Havoc: The Furies Book 1. Believe me, you don’t want to get on The Cat’s, Black Venus’s, or Miss Espionage’s bad side. Word on the street is they’ve been known to carry a grudge as their opponents in their respective stories learns to their chagrin.

To say this has been a busy week would be close to the understatement of the year.

First off, on the writing front, I did make good progress on On Wings of Glass, albeit not quite as much as I had hoped (more to follow). I added 5938 words this week, completing two chapters. I didn’t get any writing done on Thursday or Friday, which was anticipated due to my participation at PenguiCon this past weekend. So, while I’m not proud of my “total” writing for the week, I’m pretty proud of the words I did write and the story is definitely picking up momentum as all the trails I’ve been laying in the story are all starting to converge.

Yes, it is fun to pick on your characters.

This brings the 2026 word count up to 116,153. So, back to playing catch-up, but still a respectable amount.

And since I brought up PenguiCon – I had two really good panels there: Will Write for Loot, where we discussed writing for the gaming industry. We had two media tie-in writers (myself included) as well as two game designers who have worked on independent games as well as TTRPGs for other companies. It was interesting how we all approached various projects and the audience had good questions. One universal answer was the importance of networking as a way to get into the business. It’s very hard to just cold call and have companies take you seriously. Going to conventions, trade shows, etc. and actually meeting people in person is still an important way to get those opportunities. I realize for most writers, who tend to be introverts, this is not the answer they were hoping to hear, but sometimes, you just have to put yourself out there.

The other panel I did was on World Building. We had a variety of authors on the panel and discussed things like “How much world building is too much?”, “How to incorporate your world building without sounding like an info dump?”, “Resources for World Building”, and then spent about half the panel taking questions from the audience. It was interesting seeing how the various panelists conducted their research and all the various places they went to get info. Of course, the general consensus was “Don’t build more of a world than you need,” which is great advice. If your story only takes place in a village, you don’t need to develop an entire continent, but you do need more than just that village so it feels like people actually came from somewhere and are going somewhere when they leave. Hint at a larger world out there, but you don’t need to explain every inch of it.

Cons are also good at keeping you humble. Word of advice – “Don’t be the other author in a kaffeeklatsch with the Guest of Honor.” Yeah, I’d like to say I “shared” the audience with David Weber, but I have to be real . . . if I’d have left five minutes into the get-together, no one would have noticed. And this is NOT a slight on David. He’s a great person and had great stories, but it was probably a poor choice to schedule ANYONE alongside him.

The debut of Cry Havoc went well at the show, being tied for the most books sold at my table alongside Battletech: Slack Tides. On Wings of Steel and For a Few Gold Pieces More also seemed very popular at the show. While not the biggest convention I’ve done, it was definitely a book readers’ show and most of the authors who had books available did well.

Staying with the theme of a busy week, Cry Havoc‘s official release is today (31 Mar). It’s available in print, .epub, and .pdf, depending on your vendor of choice. I have to admit an unabashed pride in the book, especially the artwork provided by cover artist Astor Alexander and the interior sketches from Zeu Gouveia and Rock Baker. I can’t wait to get started on the next book, Sound and Fury, which will feature three new heroines and set the stage for Unto the Breech: The Furies Book Three, when I bring the whole team together.

To promote Cry Havoc and other projects, I’ve been busy working the podcast circuit, to include appearing at the Relax and Chat Podcast hosted by Rod Gilley of RDG Books Press. We met for a great hour last Tuesday and he hopes to post the podcast to his YouTube channel on the 3rd of April. It was an absolute blast chatting with Rod and I hope to do more shows with him in the future.

Speaking of official releases, Southwatch Stories officially launched yesterday as a Kickstarter. We’re looking forward to bringing you this anthology this fall and we hope you’ll enjoy following our authors as we explore this hidden alleys and byways of this city together.

So, last week was pretty packed and I don’t see this week slowing down much. Still, the keyboard is calling and stories need to be written. Time to get to it.

Another good week of writing in the books. Added four more chapters to On Wings of Glass, and it feels like the story is really starting to pick up speed. I added 12688 words to the novel and we’re definitely pushing past the 1/3 mark. With any luck, we should be wrapping up the first draft by the end of May. Then it’ll be time to let it marinade before coming back for first revisions.

And, speaking of revisions, I just sent two collections off to my editor for review. I finished the revisions to Crystal Tresses in the Sky, my homage to the Golden Age of Space Opera Comics, as well as Chasing Shadows, which will be a follow-up to Chasing Danger. Chasing Shadows features eight new Theron Chase adventures as well as a bonus story featuring a brand new character. We’re hoping we’ll be able to release these two new collections as well as The Emerald Forest this summer.

This brings me up to 110,215 words for 2026 and gets me back on target for my 10K words/week for 2026.

But, this big news of the week are two upcoming events:

On Mar 30, we’re launching the Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories. This anthology will feature short stories set in the city of Southwatch, which is the city featured in my own Darkside Chronicles series. These stories will feature people in a city divided not only by wealth and status, but literally divided by a cloud of pollution separating those who can afford to live in Dayside from everyone else who dwells in Darkside.

This steampunk anthology will feature stories by Natalie Bartley, Phil Giunta, Bob Greenberger, Paul Kupperberg, Bobby Nash, Aaron Rosenberg, Steve Savile, Hildy Silverman, Dayton Ward, and yours truly. Also, our stretch authors are Richard Dansky and Mike Stackpole. I’m running this Kickstarter in a partnership with my friends over at Crazy 8 Press, so we hope you’ll consider stopping by the Kickstarter site once it goes live and checking out the project.

So, adjust those goggles, put on your finest top hat, and let’s make some steam . . .

The Southwatch Stories Kickstarter Preview can be found at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ss4/southwatch-stories-a-darkside-chronicles-anthology. Again, it goes live next Monday.

And following that, on Mar 31, Cry Havoc: The Furies Book One officially goes on sale. So, if you’re up for some Golden Age heroics by a trio of mystery women, come whet your appetite with this novella collection, with cover artwork by Astor Alexander and interior art by Zeu Gouveia and Rock Baker.

However, those of you who may be attending PenguiCon will get first dibs on Cry Havoc, as we’re officially debuting the novella collection at the show.

So, it’s going to be an exciting start to Spring and I can’t wait to get this ball rolling.

Back in the saddle again . . . or so I hope.

Made great progress on On Wings of Glass this week, finishing up Chapter Ten, and recording 11437 new words. We’re about the 1/3 mark into the novel and I’m really enjoying the pacing of the story so far. Now, does this mean I won’t tear it up and move things around, and do other unspeakable things to my script when we go into rewrite? Nope. That’s just a part of the process. First drafts are just that, drafts to get everything done in one spot and then the real work begins. So, sure, it may only take me three to four months to knock out the first draft, but that does not mean I can crank out a novel every quarter. Well, I could if I didn’t care about quality . . . *Hey, quiet there in the cheap seats!*

Also, speaking of revisions, some of those words up there were actually dedicated to the final revision (I hope) of The Emerald Forest, which I sent off to the editor last week. I think I was on revision seven when I finally said, enough is enough, and kicked the story out of the nest. I already put in an emergency order for red ink for said editor. We’ll see what happens once he gets done with it, but hopefully, if it doesn’t require too much surgery, we’ll be releasing The Emerald Forest, early this summer.

Additionally, I completed revising two stories for Crystal Tresses in the Sky, and did first revisions on six stories for Chasing Shadows: More from the Case Files of Theron Chase. I just need to revise two more stories for Crystal Tresses, and it’s off to the editor too.

And speaking of future projects, I just received the finished cover art for Chasing Shadows, and the artist has knocked it out of the park. I cannot wait to share this with you all. She had already produced the cover art for Southwatch Stories, and I’ll be posting that next week as we ramp up for the upcoming Kickstarter. I’m also working with another artist to produce the cover art for Murder on the Airwaves, which may come out late this year or very early in 2027.

We’re still moving full-steam ahead with the Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories. I have been working with the authors, coordinating both support and publicity for the campaign along with doing editorial duty to deconflict stories and provide additional information they need to ramp up their stories. I’m really getting excited as I hear about some of the stories and cannot wait to share them with you later this year. Crazy 8 Press has been providing yeoman’s work on getting this off the ground and I’m truly indebted to them for all their help.

I’ve applied to be a dealer/panelist at two more shows in 2026, but I’ll pass on more information about them once I know whether I’ve been accepted or not. I’m really excited about one of them, but again, I’d rather not talk too much about it until I know something more solid. Don’t want to jinx it.

So, with all the new writing this week, it brings my yearly total up to 97527 words for 2026. Still a bit off my desired pace for the year, but well within striking distance. And now, back to the ol’ grindstone.

It’s 1947 and the world is still reeling from the effects of WWII. However, for these mystery women, this is no time to relax.

A movie star turned crimefighter – The Cat faces off against unseen enemies in Monaco who seem hell-bent to prevent a movie about a WWII hero from ever being made and an old enemy makes a reappearance.

Black Venus, a famous aviatrix, uses her skills to unravel the disappearance of veterans around the country. The search leads from the streets of Washington D.C. to the jungles of French Guiana.

One of Germany’s greatest spies who now works for the United States, Miss Espionage, returns to a divided Vienna to face the one spy even her mother, Mata Hari, couldn’t best – Fraulein Doktor.

Three stories, three women, and an unseen web that binds them together to face an even greater threat in this homage to the Golden Age of Comics.��Cry Havoc will debut at Penguicon and then be released to the general public on 31 Mar 2026.

T’was not the week I was expecting.
Got off to a great start – knocked out 6530 words, finishing Chapter Six and mostly finishing Chapter Seven of On Wings of Glass, and was riding a pretty high wave of momentum, when I was reminded of something. The Kickstarter for Southwatch Stories is launching at the end of this month and there were things I REALLY needed to do to ensure it gets off the ground on the right foot.

Sigh.

So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and a whole lot of Saturday were spent trying to take care of what needed to be taken care of. I learned a LOT about royalty-free art (aka – 95% of it is AI-generated, so unusable as far as I’m concerned). I swear it took me over seven hours of web searching to finally get ten useable pieces for my presentation. Then I had to dip my toes into Royalty=free music for the video for the Kickstarter. Luckily, there were some very reputable sites for that, BUT, then it’s a matter of finding a piece that accurately conveys the point of the video without being too jarring, too intrusive, or just not the right vibe. And once you have all of that . . . well, then you send it out for critique and then redo (and redo and redo) the slideshow before converting it into a video that you can only hope and pray will capture people’s attention (for the people who even bother watching the damn video). And then it was reaching out to the authors just to keep in contact, let them know what the current status is, and see how their projects are coming along. And then there’s coordinating with my partners over at Crazy 8 Press, who’re assisting me with the whole shebang.

I’d heard editing an anthology is a lot like herding cats. The analogy is quite apt.

Honestly, I don’t even watch the videos on a Kickstarter . . . I rely more on the pitch, the art, and the pledge levels, but everyone says you have to have a video on your Kickstarter, so Southwatch Stories has one. I’m certainly proud of what I created and hopefully it does its job.

So, yeah, there was a lot of non-novel writing done this week, but we didn’t quite make our weekly writing goal on the novel. I’m not counting my copywriting, (wow was I having flashbacks to my early college career when I was a Mass Communications major), so the yearly total now stands at 86090 words for 2026.

This week looks to be busy also, but I’m hoping there’ll be more actual writing done.

Also, there’ll be another blog post tomorrow about my latest book, Cry Havoc – The Furies Book One, but I figure I show you the cover to whet your appetite until then.