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A few months back I agreed to run a St. Patricks Day 5k with a friend because I was drinking very strong IPAs and therefore more susceptible to making fast-and-loose decisions. 

A 5k? Never done one!

Sounds fun! Let’s do it! Cheers!

(Don’t make lasting decisions while drinking, kids.)

Fast forward to last week, when I remembered I agreed to run a 5k this Sunday, and decided I should start, well, running again. 

Fortunately, it’s actually a nice time of year to go for a run around these parts. Everyone’s yards are in bloom, cherry blossoms are scattered over the sidewalks, and people aren’t idling their engines while they warm up their cars anymore (cough cough).

I don’t like to listen to headphones when I’m running — I actually find it’s a great time to work out knotty plot problems. This means I often rush to my laptop as soon as I get home to type out a new scene or story idea. 

Running and writing can both be kind of a drag. But that rush of dopamine when you’ve finished a run, or wrapped up a killer scene? 

Priceless.

And so, one run at a time — one scene at a time — the next Durga System book is getting close to completion. 

Stay tuned.
 

For your To-Be-Read list

I’ve been traveling a lot lately, which has put me in the a good travel narrative. Fortunately, I had Anthony St. Clair’s Forever the Road sitting in my TBR pile. An immersive tale of backpacking adventurers in an alternative, magical Earth, this book is truly a delight! It’s especially fun if you like good beer — Anthony is a local (Oregon) beer writer, and definitely knows his stuff. 

Your next recommendation is a bit different: a podcast! Ink to Film is a podcast by author Luke Elliott and filmmaker James Bailey, and combines both their talents to discuss sci-fi and fantasy books that have been adapted for film. They’ve most recently covered new releases A Wrinkle in Time, Annihilation, and Netflix series Altered Carbon, along with many classic film adaptations. 

Cover photo by Dileep Kuriyedath on Unsplash

Forever The Road

by Anthony St. Clair

Their entwined fate becomes his impossible choice.

A strange eclipse looms above India’s city of the smiling fire. When an ancient evil awakens, the world teeters on a razor’s edge of life and annihilation. 

Rootless globetrotter Jay wanted Agamuskara to be just another place he visited, but the strange object in his backpack has other ideas. In the global secret order of Jakes and Jades, destiny-changing Jade Agamuskara Bluegold stands above the rest, all the while keeping up appearances as the humble proprietor of the Everest Base Camp Pub & Hostel. However, she struggles to untangle the terrible future she foresees and to ignore her doubts about her past choices. 

Find it everywhere!

Ink to Film Podcast

with Luke Elliott and James Bailey

The Ink to Film Podcast is the brainchild of writer Luke Elliott and filmmaker James Bailey. In it, we go first to the source material, read, discuss, and appreciate it before moving on to the subsequent film adaptation. Once we watch, we react to the movie based on its own merit, then compare and contrast it to the source text. We hope that it will provide a comprehensive experience for the passionate fans out there, and an easy access point for the curious.

Whether you’ve read the book or not, we think there will still be plenty for you to enjoy with our conversation. 

Website.