So Motive of Man was rejected by Cirsova. Turns out that its length (twice normal maximum) was disqualifying after all. That's OK. I was presuming on Alex in the first place and he is always on the edge regarding space and budget.

I'm still sad. I like Cirsova and it would have been nice to be published by them for a fifth year.

Since Motive of Man is unsuitable for most other magazines and most magazines are not expeditious like Cirsova, I'm not going to mire Motive of Man in submission purgatory.

So a little remaking of plans!

I'm going to include Motive of Man in Stellar Stories Vol. 3. And I'm not just channeling my inner Pollyana when I say this will make the volume even better.

Thus I will not be including Motive of Man as a bonus story in the final Hamlin Becker book. I was looking forward to that. I was imagining an Ace Double, as of old!

But making the Becker tale solitary has prompted me to go full novel on it. I don't know if I'll manage that length. It will likely still end up being a novella. Either way, I'm not going to approach it as a "long-short" story.

In general I'm not going to bother submitting stuff in the coming months. If StoryHack revives, sure. But otherwise I'll just concentrate on Becker.

That said, Silence & Starsong has opened for their Fall issue and, somewhat on a lark, I have submitted Lament for a Sister. That one's an odd one. Strictly speaking it has a tragic ending, but the import (I think) is not nihilistic. Silence & Starsong hates nihilism and loves God. Since Lament for a Sister is pro-God, maybe its essence as a lament will not be disqualifying!

Silence & Starsong is not a paying venue yet. Normally I want to be paid, because an author should get paid. But I support Silence & Starsong and publication by them will be nice on my curriculum vitae.

My gaming computer was originally built in 2011, using hardware that had released in 2010. Within the past few years I upgraded modestly with an SSD and a 2019 video card. I was still running Windows 7.

This year, however, I officially dropped below the minimum requirements for all upcoming games, most especially regarding my OS. I've been so indifferent to most new games that I really didn't care, but all of a sudden too many alluring games are out there and, well, time to rebuild!

The rebuild was both exciting — it's neat to finally have an on-board M.2 SSD! — and terrifying — I chose a CPU cooling tower, not just a stock fan, and I had to apply my own thermal paste and construct the tower and it's so easy to wrack my nerves...

Anyhow, it all worked out. I'm on Windows 11 with a current board and CPU, as well as more and faster RAM. I had already future-proofed my PSU (850W), and my original card and case are still good.

My internet speed is still atrocious, however: literally ~1GB an hour. Luckily all the games I want are through Steam and with Steam you can install on one PC and easily transfer to another, so my nephew (his home having proper internet speed) is installing my games on his PC and I'll port them back to my home with a pocket SSD.

So what games prompted my rebuild? Warhammer 40K Boltgun; Shadow Gambit; Remnant II; and... yes, Starfield. I know Starfield will be janky and woke, but honestly, I so enjoy the Skyrim and Fallout games that I'm just taking the plunge. I think I will pretend that I am not exploring a future humanity but some sort of conglomeration of alien and distasteful worlds. I will imagine myself a rogue, an outsider, a curmudgeon, a representative of some forgotten realm. I will ally with no one and steal everyone's stuff. Haha!

I'm also looking forward to getting Space Marine 2 in December and STALKER 2 next spring. I may be too old to play all these games to completion but, hey. Onward I go.

Despite my earlier statement about submitting stuff, and granting my honest disinclination to re-enter the submission grind, I think I might write something for Stupefying Stories #28. They're looking for hard-hard SF. I probably won't get in before they fill up, but I haven't written hard SF in forever, if ever, and it might be an amusing exercise. I'm somehow not ready for the Becker book anyhow, and a quick short story might slot in well with all my vidya these coming weeks.