Ryan M. Patrick

It’s been another whirlwind of a month, with a lot of both work and personal travel. But it’s been an incredibly productive one!

Writing

I finished The Europan Deception and queried it to a still-unnamed small press. If they take it, I’ll go with them, if they don’t, I’m debating going to another small press (that I have a close writing friend writing for) or just going the self-publishing route. Regardless, I am incredibly confident in the novel and it’s my best work to date.

I also finished a fantasy short story based on the Pentagon pizza tracker, the idea of which has been floating around in my head for a while. I like how it turned out and am actively submitting it.

Finally, I started work on the next draft of my next book, Crush Depth, the sequel to Lag Delay. I have a 120,000 word draft from 2023 but I don’t like it, it needs too much work to edit, so I’m starting over. Currently 18,000 words into it and liking where it’s going – just hope that I can stick the landing!

Reading

I read a ton this month – God bless cross-country flights!

This month I read:

• The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey. Really disappointing, 3 stars, would have been 2 if I didn’t have a soft spot for the authors.
• Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier. Great information and details on the video game industry, not great writing. 4 stars.
• Conquerors’ Heritage by Timothy Zahn. Perfect middle act of the trilogy, all told from the alien race’s perspective. 5 stars.
• The Corsican Shadow by Dirk Cussler. Perfectly fine Dirk Pitt adventure, lacked some of the scale and scope of others. 4 stars.
• Extinction Code by James D. Prescott. Not a bad book, not great, could have been better…but it was free on Prime Reading! 4 stars.
• Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Perfect urban fantasy, 5 stars.
• Delta-V by Daniel Suarez. It’s only 5 years old and has not aged well, but the writing is excellent if not predictable. 4 stars.
• The World in My Hands by Nick Snape. A really good sci-fi thriller, not as good as the author’s Weapons of Choice series but still an excellent book. 5 stars.
• The Treadstone Exile by Joshua Hood. A paint-by-numbers espionage thriller. 4 stars.
• Tales & Treasures by Rob Mortell. I’ve been reading this book in its different versions for a couple of years now and it’s an excellent cozy fantasy adventure. 5 stars.
• Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell. Another great entry in the Saxon Series. 5 stars.

Video Games

I finished Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. The last few levels are brutal and incredibly unforgiving but I made it through! A great game overall though, it really makes you feel like you’re Jango Fett.

I started Indiana Jones & the Emperor’s Tomb and am a couple of levels in. but I’m going to take a break. I started up Prey (the 2017 release) and am having a blast, it’s very similar to Deus Ex. Definitely a fan so far.

Still plugging away at Dragon Age: Inquisition’s achievements, didn’t make much progress this month.

Friends & I had been playing Apex: Legends quads, which was fun, but it ended – it’s back to trios! So we’ve gone back to Call of Duty Warzone. I’m very much looking forward to Gulf War this fall.

Hope you all had a great September.