Hey Coir,

I didn't watch all ca. 20 minutes of the video, but I agree that it is good to read books you have before moving on to buying more.

As for bookshop.org, I see they are selling my books, but it appears they are probably sourcing them from Amazon, which is a bit of an irony.

It's crazy how much opera I know just from things like cartoons.

Also, I accidentally nuked the updates I'd done and had to re-upgrade the forum to return it to a vanilla state. So there will be even more changes occurring now! Cheers.

Just hold tight until things settle down.

So, releasing the Crippled King, vol 1. of the Dwarves of Illenfӓrner
This is a standalone work, but also the first in a series set in its world.
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Crippled-King-Dwarves-Illenf%D3%93rner-Book-ebook/dp/B0BKH4MNCT/

The life of a lone dwarven prospector is one of shame, loneliness, and a constant battle for survival. Striking it rich is the only way for Naen to save himself from leaving his bones bleached in the sun without heritage or memory. When riches finally fall into his hands, he encounters a group of indentured servants fleeing from a vengeful master. Jade, a dwarf maid leading the refugees, has her own desires for her future, and they don't include Naen. Jade and her dwarves steal his claim, but in the face of the brutal wilderness, they need help to survive, and the experienced Naen could give it. Drawn deeper into relationships with those he despises during the long mountain winter, Naen grapples with what kind of wealth he really seeks — or what kind of death. When spring comes, should he leave them to their fate and return to the wilds alone, or should he stay with these outlaw dwarves and face the coming onslaught?

Soon, he will be mocked as the King of the Cripples, and the mockery may just turn into his true heritage as the ragged refugees prepare their mine to withstand the vengeance of dwarven kings.

I remember a book in a grad school, a theoretical academic book about interdisciplinary studies, that I found so obfuscated that I couldn't even tell you if it was legitimate or merely an emperor with no clothes academic exercise. I couldn't read it. Never did read much of it in the end.

But apart from that, fiction books normally don't give me too much trouble, if I find them interesting enough to continue. Honestly, if I'm not enjoying the reading experience, why continue? Why struggle with a book just for pleasure reading?

I had my days of academic reading. Many, many years worth of those days. Glad to be through with them. I still have regular stress dreams about college and grad school.

I know this isn't probably how Coir means to discuss this. I know people will tackle big books (Clarissa is a great example) simply for the challenge and the education, if not also for enjoyment.
I basically only read theology or related non-fiction now for anything apart from sheer enjoyment.

Just finishing up the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. I had actually started this a while back, kind of didn't get momentum and set it down for a long time, and just picked it back up and tore through the rest of it. The experience is kind of unique. It starts very dreamlike, the world painted in big sweeping brush strokes and lots of strangeness, only to slowly grow in resolution more and more as it picks up pace and ends up being quite a unique bit of speculative fiction.

And so it is. The riddle falls to you, Coir.

Just to reiterate, there will be ongoing changes to the site. Hang tight.

We've been getting some errors on the Lost pathway homepage and it's because I believe we've allowed the forum software to go out of date. This means I have to perform a software update and go to the new version of the simple machines forum. Because our themes were designed on previous versions of the software they may not work moving forward. The result of this is that at some point we may see the forum under a default theme until the site can be updated further. This is just a heads up.

I clothe you.
I feed you.
I help you sleep.
You're called me.
You feed me.
You find and keep.

Another Lost Pathway Books release is out.

https://www.amazon.com/After-Wish-Dragon-Adventure-Adventures/dp/B09V5PWYKH/

After the Wish Dragon began in rough draft form somewhere around 17 or 18 years ago. It is the first in a series.

Check it out!

(P.S., the next Lost Pathway will actually feature the village down the lost pathway, itself)

Over three years have gone by and this riddle has held its pride of place. I was unable to solve it, but I did ask it to others and a netizen of the name MultiverseTraveller has posed the answer: a cat.

You know, I'm not sure I've ever read a western. Kinda odd, because I do occasionally enjoy westerns films. But then, I also have most of a shelf of books in backlog. I've been doing more writing than reading lately.

Well, I have been reading, but it has been historical fiction of a rather pulp nature -- the Richard Sharpe series. They follow a fictional soldier whose career in the British army coincides with the career of the Duke of Wellington.  There are a lot of them, they are quick reads, I certainly wouldn't call them high literature by any extent -- the main character is kind of this invincible man's man who is really attractive to women, and that's kind of ridiculous sometimes -- but as far as easy-to-read stories set in an interesting historical period, they are fun.

I read another book by Naomi Novik, A Deadly Education, and she has not let me down again. It is the third book of hers I have read and yet again an excellent read.

Other than that, I'm writing. Somewhat unplanned, I have started on a new novel. The character kind of began to take shape in my mind and I've enjoyed writing the story so far.