Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in hotc's LiveJournal:

Monday, August 2nd, 2004
3:22 pm	Publishers' Weekly review - they liked it! PW Annex Reviews (July 26, 2004; 0-7653-1116-X) With its complexities of plot and character, Hunt’s fast-paced space adventure, the third book in his Dark Wing series (after 2003’s The Dark Path), rises above the humdrum repetitions typical of this SF subgenre. In exploring the universe in the far future, humans have fought a war with the zor race, birdlike aliens whose mental communication entails an intricate religious devotion to the legends of their hero, Qu’u, and to a lost magic sword, the gyaryu. That war is now long past. Human and zor, along with the noncombatant raskh, work together to battle a race of implacable mind-controllers, the vuhl, who can also take on other shapes and infiltrate space stations and ships as well as entire cultures, bending all to their will. Jackie Lappierre [sic], a human who’s been connected to the hsi of her dead zor friends, finds herself appointed to retrieve their sword and use its powers to confront the vuhl. Keeping track of the players-the heroes and the villains, alive and dead-is a delightful challenge. So is distinguishing the manipulated from the manipulators. The many borrowings from Zen Buddhism and Taoist philosophy, not to mention the resemblance of the zor language to the old style of transliterated Chinese, add depth and interest. Agent, Donald Maass. (Aug. 28) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: Habañero Reel, Ian Anderson (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 10th, 2004
10:17 pm	It's Really Done I haven’t posted since just before Westercon - and for good reasons. Arizona was a great time. And when they tell you it’s a dry heat, keep in mind that it’s still heat, no matter how you slice it. Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah were dear; janni is someone I look forward to meeting again; Virginia Hey is very full of herself. Mike Mennenga and his wife are good people, and Evo Terra is, well, interesting. I’ll be on the Dragon Page in a few weeks, and that’ll be on my web page later on. The family thing was nice too. This week I focused on getting the manuscript revised in accordance with Lisa’s many post it notes, and finished it about 7 PM. It’s 151,000 some odd words, and 596 manuscript pages. Brian may like it; Brian may not. I’m very pleased with it. This coming week will be about the website, reading, and recovering. I have some work to keep me busy, but I’m going to get the manuscript off to Brian with a cover letter, and not think about it until he comes back to me. Here’s hopin’. Current Mood: triumphant Current Music: If I Fell, Beatles (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 30th, 2004
12:48 am	Oh, Lord. This stuff is hilarious. http://www.cafeshops.com/fbod/ There are things here that need buying. Current Mood: amused Current Music: Nature Trail To Hell In 3D, Weird Al Yankovic (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 27th, 2004
10:46 pm	The Evil Overlord List http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html Too funny. This is the most thorough version of the list I’ve seen so far. A great checklist for those adventure novels. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 26th, 2004
12:16 am	Bring on the finest bagels and muffins in the land, as Josh Lyman would say on The West Wing. Tonight I wrote roughly 1600 words in roughly 45 minutes - and it’s a keeper. I skipped through to a scene between two characters, one of whom you know, and one of whom plays a big part in Book 4 - and did what I needed to do with them. Getting closer, folks. Lots closer. I hope this is as good as it feels like right now. And let’s hope my editor likes it. Page count is 547 at this moment, word count about 136K. Current Mood: jubilant Current Music: Heavy Fuel, Dire Straits (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004
1:12 am	Web site updated. I’ve just updated my appearance schedule and added another excerpt from The Dark Ascent on the web site. I still have to do the bookstore page so that the new book is on there along with the Dark Path paperback. I’ve also put up the prototype cover, though I’m still waiting for the new cover from the artist. Here’s more or less what it will look like: http://www.walterhunt.com/images/common/orig/DACover.jpg Yes, it’s a scene from the book - and yes, that’s a zor on the right: Dave Seeley did some 3D modeling to get it right, and it’s pretty close to how I imagined it. Current Mood: awake (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 21st, 2004
4:05 pm	It's hooked up now . . . The journal is now available at the web site. I’ll be updating it as regularly as I’m able. The Dark Crusade is almost done. Really. I’m almost set up for a climactic scene I’ve known about for nearly two years; everyone is just about in place . . . I’ve been asked about this scene, and I say, “it involves seven characters, four of whom you’ve already met (as of the end of The Dark Path) and four of whom are dead.” That usually sends people for a loop. But it’s interesting nonetheless. Early on in The Dark Ascent, Th’an’ya asks Jackie whether she considers her alive or dead - and Jackie has trouble deciding. Don’t worry, though, I faithfully fail to adequately provide an answer. On July 1 I’ll be flying to Phoenix for ConKopelli (Westercon 57), which features C.J. Cherryh as Guest of Honor. Her writing is outstanding, and she’s very personable - I haven’t spoken with her since my books were published, so it’ll be an interesting meeting. More later, as I have more to say. Current Mood: busy (Comment on this)
Friday, June 11th, 2004
9:39 pm	I'm back. . . From a trip lasting 2,700 miles and involving activities in three states: Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. You’ll note that none of these states are very close to where I live. The trip was for a tour dubbed Semper Sci Fi, and was largely the journal of Tee Morris, author of Morevi and the upcoming Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword, both published by Dragon Moon Press. Tee, Tony Ruggiero and I attended two cons, two bookstores and a library to talk about the military and science fiction. We sold lots of books, met lots of fans, and drove lots of miles - but the tour was a great success. I’ll be posting pictures of various events on my website, including from Balticon 38, ConCarolinas, signings at Beck & Stein in Newport News VA, Creatures & Crooks in Midlothian VA, Hudson News at BWI Airport, and our visit to the Chesapeake Library. Of course, I promised to do that for last year and never got to it. This writing of books keeps getting in the way. Still, the tour was a big success from the production standpoint; Dark Crusade is now in range of completion, with several weeks to go before the deadline. It’s coming out something like what I expected - but not quite how. In any case, I’ll probably put some excerpt up on the main site once Dark Ascent is officially out. And yes, this is it for the series: four books, eight parts. That’s not it for the universe, but this brings the current arc to a conclusion. More later. Current Mood: optimistic (Comment on this)
Monday, May 24th, 2004
8:22 pm	Just getting started here. I decided a few days ago that I'd like to begin posting updates on my writing here. The main website will soon link here, and anyone who cares can see what I'm working on. Last month, the final proof pages for The Dark Ascent went to Tor, so that project is completely done until we go to paperback sometime in '05; I believe that it's the best book I've ever written. Hopefully I'll always feel that way about the most current project. This month, the final proof pages for the mass market paperback of The Dark Path went to Tor, and that was a weird experience - going back two books to review what had already been written, while I'm deep in book 4. I also recently completed a short story titled Extended Warranty for a collection dedicated to the memory of Hal Clement, a great SF writer, fan and teacher who died just after Albacon last fall. The book is to be published sometime close to Noreascon in September. Extended Warranty is set long before the War of Accession and the founding of the Solar Empire - it's in part the story of how the rashk came to Sol System and sold us jump technology. Of course, there's a bit more to it than that (as a friend of mine is fond of saying about my work, nothing is ever "simple, straightforward, or finished". We'll see about that. That's all for the moment. Current Mood: working (Comment on this)