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Greetings from the Xen’in Universe!

Can’t believe it’s December again already. Where does time go when we’re not looking? Wait. There’s a story there, isn’t there? I can feel it. *takes mental note*

Anyway…

November was a much better month word-wise than the previous, though not quite as good as September. I ended up writing 56,124 words. That included two short stories (both of which I published right here on Substack), half of Book 2 in that Dragon Dice trilogy I’m writing, and two chapters of the first SBS novel.

I was hoping to get both of those done before the end of the year, but I’ve given up on that idea. I could probably pull off the Dragon Dice one, though that might get delayed as I’m hoping to do another collection this month (more about this in a moment). For SBS I didn’t have an outline, which was slowing me down, nor a map (which is a major issue when your setting is a fantasy world and you need to move people around). And since I didn’t want to botch up this project, I decided to put it aside for now until I can find the time to both do the map and the outline.

In the short story department, you might have noticed you got an extra one in November—woot! It was totally unplanned. I just happened to come across a note mentioning the Midnight Vault II Project… four days before the deadline! LOL. So I thought I’d jump in. Took one day to come up with the characters, setting, and plot; two days to write; one day to edit. Phew. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s right here: “The Sudden Sound of Silence.” The concept was to write a Twilight Zone type story. 98 (!) Substack writers answered the call. You should check them out, there’s some truly amazing stuff in there! (Full disclosure: I’ve only read 24 of them so far, still working my way through them!)

Oh! And by the way, I noticed a few days ago that I’d messed up in October when I posted the latest Silius installment. Posts by default are locked to paid only (an annoying Substack quirk) and I have to manually change the setting each time—I somehow forgot to do it for likes and comments. I’ve unlocked them now, so if you’ve read and liked Tranquil Breath of a Sleepless Child you can now click those icons as expected! Sorry about that.

By the way, free posts should always have likes and comments open on my Substack, so if this ever happens again, please don’t hesitate to let me know so I can fix it (it will never be intentional).

So yes, the collection. You might remember that I did one last year, around this time, which collected 15 of my Science-Fiction short stories (including two that are available nowhere else). I want to do another, this time focusing on Fantasy, and plan to include 3 or 4 brand new stories, so I’ll be working on those this week. No idea what I’ll call it yet. But you can expect a bonus email from me once it’s available—just so you know!

And speaking of… Have I mentioned that it’s December? And you know what’s coming, right? So it should be no surprise what I’m about to announce, but… I’m running a few promotions!

Whaaaaat?

That’s right. Not just one. THREE.

1. I’m offering a 50% discount on both my novel and the aforementioned 2025 collection. Note that this particular promo is exclusively available through my Kit profile and will require using the following codes during checkout: C0EICE3D33 for “Everlife” and HBCBJ27D61 for “To Worlds of Wonder.”
2. I’ve put those two books and five other titles (3 novellas and 2 standalone short stories) into a bundle that I’m selling for only $13.99. Note that only one of those (“The Hiccup at the End of the World”) is available for free on my Substack, all the other stories should be new to you (except maybe “The Circle in the Sphere” as that one’s a free download you get when you sign up to my list). But what’s cool about this offer is that you can also pick and select specific titles and still get a discount on those without buying the whole bundle, though the bundle does give a slightly better discount. This offer’s available on itch.io exclusively and only until midnight on December 31st.
3. Finally, last but not least, I’ve partnered with 63 (yes, 63!) other authors to put together a bundle of Fantasy books—this includes a mix of novels and short stories for only $45 (if you do the math, that’s only about 70c a book!) This is also an itch.io exclusive, and will also end on December 15! This pack includes “The Circle in the Sphere,” by the way, but honestly, you might want to get it for the other titles even if you already have mine 😉

Why Kit and Itch exclusives, you ask? Because they’re a lot more author-friendly. Meaning they give a much larger cut back to creatives. Amazon (to take the most obvious example) gives authors 30 to 70% (which, to be fair, is a lot more than industry standards). Meanwhile, Kit and Itch give 90 to 97%. So I’m sure you can see the draw for an author 😀

Needless to say, whenever possible, you should use platforms like these to buy your favorite books, as they are much more supportive of writers.

Those deals above are only for the digital versions, by the way. Physical copies (where relevant) can only be ordered through Amazon, unfortunately (other retailers are just way too expensive).

Okay, that’s a wrap. And yes, I had a lot of news this month too!

But hey, it’s December, what did you expect? 😂

And I guess it means this is my last post of the year… Well, not quite, I suppose, since I’ll be making the announcement when the collection is out AND there will be a new short story too (see below)!

But this is the last “Writings on the Wall” post for 2025.

So, I wish you all the best for the coming holidays and I’ll see you in the New Year!

Coming up this month

Good news and bad news. The good news is that I know what I want to post. The bad news is that the story isn’t written yet, ha! But no worries, it’ll get done in time.

So what is the story? Tentative title is “The science of magic,” and it will feature everyone’s favorite orphan thieves… that’s right, Thimmin and Kelle are making their comeback! It’s been a minute, but I haven’t forgotten about them. And we’ll see what new mess they’ve managed to get themselves embroiled in!

Hopefully I can get that one out to you on the 17th… That’s the plan, anyway.

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Copyright (c) 2025 by Alex S. Garcia.

[LIKE] - [COMMENT] - [SHARE] NOTE: these links point to Substack!