Ryan M. Patrick

Going to combine these posts, there’s not much value in keeping them separate. Here’s where I am and where I’m going.

Crush Depth

Beta feedback has been coming in over the last month and it’s been mostly positive from a developmental standpoint, but there’s a lot that I need to fix at the line level. Which…is pretty much what I expected. I have a few more beta readers looking over it and am hoping to have all feedback back to me by the end of August, then will spend the entire month of September editing before I send it off to the Pentagon for a security review. If everything goes according to plan I’m hoping for an early December 2025 release.

The Saturn Anomaly

I had hoped to get to 70,000 words, I’m at 62,000. Not the end of the world, though. I’m going to push hard this month (28,000 words isn’t out of reach) and finish it at my goal of 90,000 words, then send it to my beta readers. That being said, I love how it’s turning out, and I think it’ll need a lot less editing than Crush Depth or any of my previous books. I’m hoping to have it to the Pentagon by the end of the year for an early 2026 release.

Pirate Fantasy Novel

I’ve talked about this one with my writing friends for years, even wrote a blog post on it, and have had it outlined since late 2023. And I finally started it late in July:

There’s a lot to go, and this will be on the backburner as I work through my sci-fi stuff, but I think it’s going to be great. Working through some title ideas too, have never had a good grasp on that, but I think I’m going in the right direction.

Memento Vivere

It’s still on the backburner, but I think I have a better handle on where I need to go with it. It’s just draining to write from an emotion perspective, I’m really putting a lot of myself into it. I think it’ll be a late-2026 project after I get The Apophis Contingency (The Europan Deception‘s sequel) out of the way.

Other Stuff

I totally failed on getting more blog posts out this month, but given I had two family vacations in the middle of July, it’s acceptable. I’ll try to get a few out in August – I have one already halfway done.

I didn’t finish outlining for The Kuiper Dominion, but I’m not planning to start it for a bit. I know where it’s going though, no real rush there.

I didn’t start a short, haven’t had any good ideas come to me. When one does, I’ll start one – I’d love to get a second one sold this year!

I think the biggest thing for me to do in August is decide what my next project is going to be after I finish drafting The Saturn Anomaly. Right now it’s The Apophis Contingency, but I think there’s value in finishing the NASA Engineer series and going to The Kuiper Dominion. I also have Memento Vivere over halfway drafted and staring me in the face, and I have the prologue to my pirate fantasy novel done.

Decisions, decisions! Hope you all had a great July and onward to August.