I’m at MFF this weekend, and I’m actually at the con hotel already as I write this since I came up Wednesday. I once again have a dealer’s table at the con, and I’m really excited with how it’s going to look this year. I’ve upgraded things a bit in the way of signage. I also have a story releasing at this con, “The Morning After,” which will be out in Chasing Tail Magazine, Issue 1. It will be available in the artist’s alley. This is a prequel to my story, “A Moment of Darkness,” that came out a couple years back. I hadn’t planned to write this story with these characters, but that’s exactly who ends up in a situation like this.

Panel wise, I’m on two of them, and one is about Writing Groups, which will have all the other members of my writing group with me. So, if you’re interested in creating your own writing group or just want to hear stories about what being in a writing group is like, this is the panel for you. It will be Friday at 7 PM. The other panel I’ll be on is Get Published at 1 PM on Saturday.

This month, I’ve written and been polishing up my next Furry Historical Fiction Society anthology. The story is “A Final Offering,” and deals with change and belief. This piece is a deep dive into Norse mythology, and something I think you guys will love. Once I wrap that up, it’s back to my next novel, and getting more progress made on that. I’m going to try and wrap up the draft manuscript in December.

I’ll be at Megaplex this weekend. I didn’t get a dealer’s table this year for Megaplex, but I’ll be in artist alley Friday and Sunday. My books will also be at the Rysingson Accessories booth in the dealer’s den, so you’ll be able to pick up Scars of the Golden Dancer and my latest book, Gnoll Tales, all weekend.

I’ll be doing two panels at the con on Saturday, September 16, in the afternoon. The first, at 3 PM is Writing Furry Fiction, and the second, at 6:30 PM is Improving Your Fiction.

If you’re at the con, please stop and say hello.

The rise of generative AI has really gotten to me as a writer, because it amplifies a few things. First, people just aren’t important to companies and the race to replace people with AI shows we aren’t valuable to them. I never thought I was going to be a mainstream writer, but the fact the output of machines could soon dominate the mainstream media field hits home the fact I’m never going to make it big in the mainstream.

The second is, I sometimes wonder why should I bother? AI always will always be faster and more grammatically accurate than I am. It’s not that I don’t have stories to tell, but in a marketplace crowded by AI, how do stand out? How do I get noticed?

The answer to that is community of course, but reflecting on that point, I’m always going to be talking to a small community of people. While I plan to keep writing, I do wonder what this feeling of hopelessness to compete with the machine does to a person. It can’t be good, especially for writers and artists starting out.

Maybe we’re all John Henry at this point trying to beat the steam drill. And when you’re fighting every day to just keep up, that makes it hard to thrive. I refuse to use generative AI in my writing. The moment I bring AI into that process, the work stops being my own, and I’m back to that why should I bother question. I’ve always needed to think through my work before I share it with other people. So, if I’m going to let AI do the thinking and the writing, there is no place for me in the process.

This originally appeared on my Patreon.

My new book, Gnoll Tales, will, be released at Anthrocon. This is a collection of twelve myths and folktales about gnolls. I’ve been working on this project for about three years, and the writing is slightly different from what I’ve done with my previous two books. First, this is a completely PG-13 book, and it is a shorter book than my previous books. Also, while these are all short stories, they relate to each other, and some characters reappear in different stories. All of these are narrated by Ingot Riverstone, a gnoll druid I got to play in D&D game. It’s available for pre-order in the United States right now.

I’ll be doing a reading from Gnoll Tales on Friday at 8 PM during Anthrocon. I’ll also be doing a panel about self-publishing at 3 PM earlier in the day, where I’ll talk about the process of releasing your own books. Beyond that, I’ll be selling books in the dealer’s den at my table. If you’re at the con, come by the Dancing Jackal Books table and say hi, and don’t forget to come to one of my panels.

I’ll see you in Pittsburgh for Anthrocon 2023.

Scars of the Golden Dancer picked up another award today. It was one of the recipients of a Leo Literary Award in the novel category. The Leos are a little different since works are judged, and the judges decide which works in a category are worthy of being honored.

I’m very excited to see the book has picked up another award. To celebrate, I’m doing a 20% off sale in my store through Saturday.