I’ve been so busy at work that I completely forgot to mention that I had stories in two different anthologies come out this week, as well as had two more accepted into upcoming anthologies.

The first, of course, is the Monster Hunter Files Vol. 2 anthology, edited by myself and Larry Correia. This one has been in the works since 2023 and we finally got to see it published at Baen. With 13 monster hunting stories inside, this one is a worthy successor to the first Monster Hunter Files, and a fantastic edition in the Monster Hunter International universe. My story, The Ghost of Bogota, features the son of Chloe Mendoza, who was the main character in the Monster Hunter Memoirs: Fever novel.

I also had a Bronze Legion short story with coauthor Melissa Olthoff in Jamie Ibson’s Plausibly Deniable anthology, also from Baen Books. The story (Backup Plans) sheds light on the revolution on Myrkyma, which set the stage for Tavi to flee his world and join the Legion. If you like Spy vs Spy vs Spy, then this one is right up your alley. Also, some of these characters will be seen in the forthcoming Vessels Grim and Daring, Book 2 of the Bronze Legion.

As for short stories sold recently, Melissa and I also teamed up to write in John Ringo & Gray Rinehart’s forthcoming Troy Rising anthology (set in John’s Troy Rising series — Live Free or Die, Citadel, The Hot Gate), being published by Baen Books in September. It’s called Skeeters and…that’s all I can really say about it. It was a blast to write and it was nice of both John and Gray to invite us in.

The other short story is set in a new author’s forthcoming anthology, Holy Diver and the Midnight Sea. I was invited to participate in this back at Dragoncon last year and…had forgotten I’d agreed. Fortunately, Jason works well under deadline, and I turned in a novella back in January that was accepted this past week. Gunwizard for Hire! tells the tale of Archie, the last gunwizard, as he’s hired to do a job for a group of thieves looking to pilfer a vault. But…it’s not just any vault. This world was so unique and allowed me to go a little nuts that I’m almost tempted to write a book about Archie. Unfortunately, my writing schedule is PACKED for the rest of 2026. I was asked to fill in at the last minute for another anthology, and that deadline is looming. Fortunately, I already know how it’s going to go and what universe it’ll be in, so it should be a fairly straight forward endeavor.

Melissa and I are still on track to finish Vessels Grim and Daring soon, and then she’ll get back to The Griffin Corps while Larry and I get to work on finishing our second Memoirs collaboration (tentatively titled Monster Hunter Memoirs: Inferno). I’ve also got two Quintus Fox books to write (which are actually closer to being done than they have any right to be…I don’t know why Quintus is both easy to write and vexingly frustrating at times). Then Melissa and I are back to work on Bronze Legion 3 (which needs to be turned in by…October? I forget).

The entire part of being a writer is staying busy. Next week I’ll be posting an article here on why it’s okay to say “No.”