Bit and Pieces Vol. 12

 Hi Alex,

Operation Salvage continues...

My house wasn't very Christmas-like, but now the lights are now in place. I've also taken care of the grocery shopping. Sure, I might have to get some (fresh) things later in the week, but no need to do bulk buying. 

So with a bit of luck and planning, I'll be able to avoid the stores during the Christmas weekend. Also, I've bought (yesterday) and posted (today) my Christmas cards, so this they have a fighting chance of making it in time.

Speaking of (electronic) mail...I also cleaned my inbox and dealt with (most of the) bills. The last bill should get the chop tomorrow. Other then that, all I need to get a haircut and I am good to go. 

(Well, that and I need to keep my Blog/Twitter from sliding back into being forgotten/gathering dust. But this letter is taking care of that.)

That's all I have for today,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Bits and Pieces Vol. 11

 Hi Alex, 

It's that time of year that you read your previous blog entries and wonder..."What happened to all those plans I announced in my previous entries ?" 

Well, in the case it's that old saying "Life is what happens while your making other plans." Several of my family members moved to the United States (of America) and it was quite the whirlwind. 

It is all the "Working Out in the End" phase now, but it took a while to get there. That, and the phase will take a couple of weeks to complete. Moving on to...

My Buddy Rick Clogston

In my 10 September blog, I said that my buddy Rick was coming. He came by in the last week of September. We chatted - the old-fashioned way - had lunch and he sang some songs. He also recorded a video, which I am sure is floating around the Internet somewhere. Alas, for thus of you wanting to see yours truly on the web, I successfully dodged the camera. 

The thing is, Rick is threatening to visit again in 2023, and this time he would not allow any camera dodging. (Poor viewers, my voice sounds like a male Fran Drescher and when I sing it gets even worse.) And that brings me to...

Picking up the Pieces

So, it's the nearly the end of the year. So Operation "Salvage What You Can." is in full swing. Which is why I am dusting off my blog and Twitter. What is next ? Time will tell. But this is what I have for today.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Novel Update

 Hi Alex,

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've written. To begin with, the pre-Christmas crazy has begun at my day job. I'll save you the boring details, but the result is that I've needed every bit of free time I have to recharge. 

Which has resulted in my professional writing grinding to a halt. Fortunately, I do have a piece of my fourth August Smith novel written already. So I am going to do some typing, hopefully that will get back into "the zone." 

So, what am I going to write when I get there ? Well, I have figured out some pieces of the puzzle. And that brings me to...

Raining Ashes 

Cairo - Several weeks ago, a cult and a group of Intelligence Officers played a game of chess with the fate of the world at stake. Thanks to August Smith and April Tanaka, the world survived. But April and August are no longer in Cairo, leaving the locals to deal with the scars of the conflict. Meanwhile, a new threat is rising....

A sequel/spin-off from Chess Games in Cairo, this is the 'mystery novel' I had cooking. I'm still working on the details, but the plan is for this to be the start of a new trilogy of novels. The text above is not the final blurb, which I'll write later. For now, moving on to...

From the Farm to the Sands

An omnibus collecting August and April's first three adventures. It will also include part of my fourth August Smith Novel. The million dollar question is what state will our heroes be in ? Well...I'm not saying. But I can tell you something, namely....

Five Episodes

The title, which is 'Five Episodes.' I'm keeping the details under wraps. But if you want some, Episode 1 is the part I intend to include in From the Farm to the Sands. For the remaining four, you'll simply have to buy the full thing. And...

That's all I have for today,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Three Colors (of Amsterdam)

 Hi Alex,

Somewhere in the future, my American friend Rick is coming over. I've written about him before, he's the one with the band. Speaking of bands.....the Dutch flag has three bands: Red, white and blue. And the US flag also uses those colors. Mixing in the fact that Rick loves music and will be visiting Amsterdam, it gave me the idea for this musical entry. And there was only one song I could think off....

BLUE

I know, I know, Jacques Brel was Belgian. But since he sang Belgian Blues, he gets the blue band. His version is also the original, which is why I'm going Blue-White-Red. It's one of those renditions where you can feel the passion, even if you don't understand a word of the language. (And the fact that's it in French fits nicely with the Blue-White-Red pattern. Considering what their flag looks like.)

 

WHITE

Eventually, a Dutch band braved a translation of the song. This is how I first learned of this song. Some would say that this song doesn't exactly paint Amsterdam in the best light. The thing is, Amsterdam isn't exactly the grand port it used to be, with Rotterdam stealing its crown long ago. So, IMHO, this song tells the story of the way Amsterdam was doing the Golden Age, when sails ruled supreme.

RED

Needless to say, this entry cannot be complete without David Bowie's version. Bowie was brave to take on this song. Not only is it about Europe, which might scare some people off, Brel is simple hard to translate. But he pulled it off.

(And after enduring two versions that most English speakers can probably not understand a word of, they deserve to be rewarded with a version that actually makes sense.) So without further ado....

And that's all for today.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

 PS. If you hear somebody call Amsterdam "Mokum", that is totally normal. Mokum is the Yiddish word for city/town. (At least, it is in the Netherlands.) And it's become one of the city's nicknames.

If Amazon won't do it...

Hi Alex,

Yeah, the weekend is here. The dust is continuing to settle over here, which is finally giving me some time to think. So the plans that were brewing before are now crystalizing into something solid. And without further ado, moving on to....

 

 Stargate Fan Fiction (Nova Roma)

I figure most of the people reading this already know, but for any newbies.....Before the Amazon-MGM deal, I wrote a lot of Stargate fan fiction. My stories were a continuation that finished the story of Stargate: Universe.  

 

After that tale was told, I introduced a new enemy that threatened both the Milky Way and the Pegasus galaxy. (Making life miserable for the SGC and the Atlantis expedition). Meanwhile, the Goa'uld had packed up and moved to a new galaxy, where an Earth outpost led by Colonel Telford had landed the job of stopping their evil plans...

 

That was the story I was planning to tell when the Amazon-MGM came through. I figured that this meant that a new canon TV/Streaming show would soon appear on our screens. (Wiping all of my stories from existence.) So I pulled the plug and threw away my notes-slash plans. But it's been ages and we've heard nothing, zip, zilch ! 

So, I figure....well, if Amazon won't do it, I will.....sure, it won't be canon. But it'll be fun. (And as a bonus, it'll keep my Twitter account from getting too dusty.) There is on minor hiccup. Like I said, I threw out my notes. So I'll have to do some homework before I get back to it. In the meantime, the has come to move on to...

Professional Writing

 

My professional writing has been stuck behind an old-fashioned writer's block. Fortunately, I had already written a large chunk of my next project before I ran into it. And I write my first draft the old fashioned way, with pen and paper. So I have plenty of typing to do, which will hopefully give me the run-up I need to break through the block and get back into the zone.

And that's all I have for today,

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

A Small Update

Hi Alex,

It's been a while since I've put pen to paper. - Or should I say keyboard to e-mail ? - but here I am again. 

After I published Chess Games in Cairo things got kind a weird at my day job. It was that weird part of the year where there wasn't that much work. But because the place is running with a skeleton crew, you still end up working your butt off.

Fortunately, the end of the vacation period is approaching. Which means that everybody is coming back and soon we'll be swamped together as he we head towards the madness that is December. In short, everything is back to normal. Yay !

Star Trek

Meanwhile, at home, I've left Star Trek: Pathfinder and joined Star Trek: Freedom. Things on Pathfinder were really not going well. And Freedom sounded like a nice RPG. So off I went...

Getting started took a lot of time and energy. That and my latest Mass Effect play through was screaming for attention. But now things are settling down and I've found a better balance. Leaving me free time to...

Start Promoting My Book

Alas, promotion is expensive. So I decided to start by updating my LinkedIn page. (Yeah, I know, LinkedIn, who still uses that? But it's free and in my situation I'll take what I can get.) That done, I decided to dust off my blog. And here we are. I've got more plans brewing, but I need to do some homework. So for today, I'm done.

Regards,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)

Publication Day !

 Hi Alex,

My third novel, Chess Games in Cairo, has been published. It is now available as an E-book and as a paperback novel. If your internet holds together long enough - are you still stranded on that island ? - you should be able to see that I've posted the links already. 

(By the way, it's been ages since I've gotten a letter from you. Are you okay ?) 

Like the two novels that came before it, this one is an entry in the August Smith series. With this book out the door, so to speak, I'm going to have to cook up something new. That novel is still peculating, but I have already figured out that it will not be an August Smith book.

And that's all I have for today.

Take care,

Ruben A. Hilbers (Commander Nash)