Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Thumbnail image copyright Level 5 & Sony

This is the fifty-fifth installment of West Wind, your daily drop of thoughts, ideas, and info for this Season. June is Accordion Awareness Month, so increase your awareness by listening to some of my favorite artists and soundtracks.

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Music copyright Sony Computer Entertainment

Dark Cloud 2 is an action-adventure game on the PS2 (since re-released on modern consoles), where you rebuild a world that was destroyed by an evil emperor. It was a formative part of my creative journey, and elements of it can be found in many of my stories today. It also has quite a bit of accordion music! If you liked this one, check out Moonlight Tango as well.

Today is the first Ember Day of Summer! Ember Days are an ancient practice of the Catholic church that have sadly fallen by the wayside in modern times. Meant to coincide with the changing of the Seasons, they are days of fast, abstinence, and almsgiving that occur the week after a major celebration in the church calendar. The Summer Solstice isn’t until next week, so we’re getting ready this week. Today, Friday, and Saturday are the Ember Days of Summer this year, so consider making some extra sacrifices for (almost) the remainder of this week. You can read more about Ember Days here:

One of the reasons authors are encouraged to create content like this is to build an audience and engage with them, and another one is to sell their products or paid content. I’ve chosen a bit of a different path, by giving away all of my stories for free, but I do still have some premium content to offer.

I have six copies of Paper & Feathers in my warehouse/cabinet, and two more of Octave of Stars. Honestly, I just don’t want them in my house anymore. I want them in yours! These two titles will be signed by both Michelle and myself, then mailed out to you as quickly as possible. Each signed book also includes an exclusive bookmark that you can only get through us.

During the warmer months, I can hike to the mailbox to drop off a book, but that doesn’t work when it’s raining. We have the Largest Mailbox Known to Man so the mail carriers don’t have to drive up to the house to give us packages, but it isn’t watertight, so mail tends to get a little soggy. Instead, I take books to the post office in town to keep them dry.

So when I said that you could only get a bookmark through us, I didn’t mean you had to buy a book. You can get one just by asking! That PO Box address at the bottom of every email? It’s not a generic one provided by Beehiiv for regulatory purposes, it’s one I actually own for regulatory purposes, and one you can write to. Send me a letter or postcard, and I’ll send you a bookmark! And I’ll write back, too. Enjoy your Ember Day!