SHIP'S LOG 15: WELCOME TO MY WORLDS -

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picture of Leto Armitage in a black star wars t-shirt in front of a blue brick wall

Sir Bear, aka Leto Armitage, Quartermaster

Summer has arrived like a grandpa’s sack draped across the land. That’s right, it’s hot, humid, and smells questionably of old baby powder. It is a time of year I love despite the miserable weather. A time for summer flowers to bloom, and a time to grill.

Currently, on the deck of the ship, I’ve set up a table, chair and grill, and I’m keeping a steady supply of sausages on rotation along with the hamburger patties. On the table is a bread machine and rice cooker, in case anyone wants them German or Japanese style (bread or rice underneath) while others may choose brioche buns.

I am rereading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon. Riddle me this, how many Golems are in the book? I’m curious to hear what you think if you’ve read it.

My writing has been in spurts. I’m so close to finishing How Sweet It Is, it is almost painful. The story has evolved from an M/M romance to something else with a queer character I’ve become increasingly fond of as I write it and it’s still, I think, very sweet. In fact, rather than prattling on, I think I need to return to it. Or maybe I’ll write the story with the awakened wolf rogue. I’m undecided.

In This Week’s Ship’s Log

LETO’S WIP JULY 2023

WIP a dark blue brick wall with the words work in progress in white and a yellow status bar

I’ve set up a table, chair and grill, and I’m keeping a steady supply of sausages on rotation along with the hamburger patties. On the table is a bread machine and rice cooker, in case anyone wants them German or Japanese style (bread or rice underneath) while others may choose brioche buns.

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WHAT IS AI?

a very it-tech-looking image full of blue lights and the letters AI in pink at the forefront

Is AI purely the domain of positronic brains like Data from Star Trek or does it include homunculi cobbled together from graveyards like Mary Shelley’s Adam or Boris Johnson? AI in literature has better representation, but it is films and television that are the broader cultural touchstones. In the 1956 MGM film…

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ONIGIRI STYLE SANDWICHES

A kind of sandwich cut in half. It is made in the style of Japanese onigiri with rice instead of bread and seaweed holding it together

Look, it was hot and she needs to get used to people. It wasn’t weird. Anyway, this video came on and it gave me an idea: to copy it. Let’s make an onigiri-style sandwich using rice as bread and bind it in a sheet of sushi nori.

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MY THREE LITERARY WORLDS

My three worlds are the PoolVerse, the UmbraVerse and Reuel. The first two are much like ours but one is a little nicer and the other is a little darker. The third world, Reuel, is a fantasy universe where I have quite a…

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THE SOCK WARS, PIII

A miniature galleon in front of a brown plank wall

No, it wasn’t all goblins, that was clearly the problem. So, I had the crew build a bunk for me next to the vast multitudes of vintage pornography magazines. The first crate was filled with Danish stuff. I sealed that one back up, kind of terrified of what I’d find.

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Guess What?

You don’t want to miss the weekly Tart and Tipple Society hangout at Smugglers Cove on Sunday. We’ll drop the ticket in your inbox at lunchtime. Expect more book talks, summer activities and… Well, you’ll see.

Our Sea Witch, M.W. Marie McLeod’s expedition into the Veiled Universe has met with more complications than we first expected, so she’s not back onboard yet. On Thursday next week, we’ll be reporting on her progress, and introduce you to a couple of figures you’ll be seeing more of going forward.

That’s all for this time, folks!

//Leto 🏴‍☠️

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ABOUT LETO ARMITAGE

The door to Leto's quarters. You can see his face through the round ship's window.

Leto Armitage was born in America under a set of circumstances that prophesied that he would one day unite the lost tribes and return the Ever Summer. Somewhere around twelve, he realized he had been left unsupervised and binged too many Arthurian movies in his formative years and that he was just another kid who accidentally got an education while reading above his age level.

By the time he turned old enough to get a passport, he started finding excuses to travel determined to find out what culture, food and women there were to experience. After learning to grill in Oaxaca, do kinbaku in Japan, and being banned from several former Soviet block countries, he returned home to settle down and see what damage he could do locally.

After working jobs including being a short order cook, bodyguarding strippers and professionally doing reader’s advisory for erotica he realized the most reasonable path forward was to become a writer. Today he lives with cats, dogs, and humans who seem to like him despite actually knowing him. He prefers to sit on his back deck, listening to the birds and Barry the Bumblebear bee, while he writes cozy, uplit romance and raunchy erotica.