Fantasy and science fiction author, tabletop game designer, amateur artist and cartographer, retired instructor and instructional designer in cybersecurity. Blog: https://wordpress.sharrukinspalace.com Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/sharrukinspalacehttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mv6xvdmnxs2uSpent the day working on creative projects. Some incremental progress on the Cultural Evolution Game. Also working to pull my last 3-4 fan-fiction works off FFN and repost them to AO3. That's ... going to take a fair amount of work, if I want to finish by the end of September. #gamedesign #writing10 Sep 2026 21:15 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv6xvdmnxs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mv4jndola22jPost new story. Get comments. All the comments are superficially responsive to the story, but they’re either directly offering to produce a graphic adaptation of the story, or are at least inviting me to come chat on Discord. Block, block, blockity-block. Goddamn AI-driven scammers. #writing09 Sep 2026 21:54 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv4jndola22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3muxp6bclxc22Finished a chapter in one story. Also brought out an unpublished story from last year, gave it another coat of paint, and published it too. Definitely feel like I didn't waste the day. Tomorrow I need to pivot back to some other projects, probably for the rest of this week. #writing07 Sep 2026 23:50 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3muxp6bclxc22https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3muv5twobfc2oThat feeling when the story you had plotted out in your head takes a sharp left turn and goes zooming off into the weeds. I think I like where this is heading, but it's definitely not the story I started with. #writing06 Sep 2026 23:35 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3muv5twobfc2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mupxivah4k2cAlso, notably, Jesus gave away a lot of fish on at least one occasion. [contains quote post or other embedded content]04 Sep 2026 21:58 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mupxivah4k2chttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3munqrajqos2rHad a reader ask me about the chess game serving as a plot element in an old story. Apparently they set up a chessboard and were trying to follow along, and were mostly puzzled because they couldn't identify any classic game that matched. Readers who are that engaged give me life :-). #writing04 Sep 2026 00:52 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3munqrajqos2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3munpmt2s7k2yFelt a little under the weather today, did manage to make incremental progress on projects. We made our occasional pilgrimage to the local liquor megastore this morning. We usually pick out 5-6 bottles, and that lasts us 9-12 months. None of us are more than very occasional tipplers. (1/2)04 Sep 2026 00:32 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3munpmt2s7k2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mul6vped2k2eGot my September planning message up today, spelling error and all, and did a little writing. Kind of weird that Wednesday still feels like a "hump day."03 Sep 2026 00:27 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mul6vped2k2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mukhoe3i5s2rAnnoyance #2655: Noticing that you misspelled a word in the first paragraph of your blog post, after it's already been cross-posted to all your social media. Great job, way to look like an idiot.02 Sep 2026 17:31 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mukhoe3i5s2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mukhkxcoqk22Planning for September 2026 Hmm. Looks like I did it again - by the time I reminded myself about posting a planning message for August, it was already almsot the end of the month. Retirement does not seem to have improved my tendency toward procrastination. A lot has, in fact, been going on! So… https://wordpress.sharrukinspalace.com/2026/09/02/planning-for-september-2026/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social02 Sep 2026 17:29 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mukhkxcoqk22https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mui7xto2os27Had an interesting discussion with my son this morning. He’s taking a course on cyber ethics in pursuit of his cybersecurity degree. As it happens, one of the courses I helped develop before retirement was on cyber ethics. We were amused to discover that both courses opened with … (1/3)01 Sep 2026 20:08 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mui7xto2os27https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mug2fu67vs2qReasonably productive day today. Got about 1,800 words down, finished and posted a chapter in the current "Lower Decks" story. I also posted a couple of older single-chapter stories to AO3, as part of an effort to get off FFN once and for all. A few other small chores too. #writing31 Aug 2026 23:23 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mug2fu67vs2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mudnqjih3k2tGot a few hundred more words down today, and worked on another long-term project. Coming up on 1 September, and I really need to do a few blog posts soon, to talk about ongoing projects. There have been some developments on several fronts, and I've been neglecting that piece of things. #writing31 Aug 2026 00:31 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mudnqjih3k2thttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mucrqov4kc26About to finish Julian May's Exiles/Milieu series. Idly wondering if this is one of the most enormous examples of the "Stable Time Loop" trope in science fiction. Six million years! Okay, now that I think about it, Stephen Baxter built one that was a lot longer in his Xeelee stories. Still. #sf30 Aug 2026 16:10 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mucrqov4kc26https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3muba4h2g422iGot about 1,000 words of writing down today, and did some work on my "Human Destiny" setting. No major milestones. At least I got out of bed and got through the day without any noticeable health issues, which was an improvement over most of this week. Getting old kind of sucks. #writing30 Aug 2026 01:22 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3muba4h2g422ihttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mu6cpwwtus2f. . . Okay, why is a film that’s clearly about the Peasants’ Revolt in the late 14th Century suddenly being advertised as a Robin Hood story? (Never mind, I know why. The suits think we’re morons. They may, unfortunately, be correct.)28 Aug 2026 21:31 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu6cpwwtus2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mu3onkofec2wAnother day, another reason to be thankful I retired from federal service last year.27 Aug 2026 20:26 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3onkofec2whttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mu3g2bodfc2hOkay, how the $@%! did I mess up my knee while I was *asleep*?27 Aug 2026 17:52 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu3g2bodfc2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mtzja4is722hDidn't get much new writing done today, although I did some catching up on reader-and-fan email. (Yes, obscure as I am, I get some of that. I really don't know how top-tier traditionally published authors deal with their in-boxes.) #writing26 Aug 2026 23:44 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtzja4is722hhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mturdzs4c225Came across this today, and found it very neat. Not least because he’s finding uses for the material we pulled together for GURPS Traveller back in the day. A lot of this episode is talking about the distinctive Sylean culture, which was a major worldbuilding project of mine at the time. (1/2) [contains quote post or other embedded content]25 Aug 2026 02:26 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mturdzs4c225https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mtulc7eacc2nA little better still today. Major accomplishment was about 2,000 words of narrative prose, and I got the first chapter of my next "Lower Decks" story finished and posted. Tomorrow's the acid test - am I going to be able to get out of the house and go to tai chi for the first time in over a week?25 Aug 2026 00:37 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtulc7eacc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mttvobizg222My one shipment a year from DHL is apparently on the way. (The UK university I take distance-learning classes from always ships books and other materials via DHL. It's a sign that fall is coming.)24 Aug 2026 18:10 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttvobizg222https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mts2qi4sjc26Better day today - I didn't have to spend most of the day wrestling with my energy levels and could get some creative work done. Started on the next "Lower Decks" story and got about 1000 words down, and did some work on revisions to my "Human Destiny" space-opera setting. #writing24 Aug 2026 00:36 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mts2qi4sjc26https://bsky.app/profile/jfzeigler.bsky.social/post/3mtrt2sy5222uInteresting. Human evolution gets more complex the longer we look at it . . . https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/scientists-discover-2-new-ghost-lineages-that-contributed-dna-to-modern-humans23 Aug 2026 22:18 +0000at://did:plc:cafn6rwvcas2dprqbadcvdva/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtrt2sy5222u