News from Ward Wagher

March 2023 – The Writer's Tools

Has Spring really come? The South Carolina foliage is blooming and greening. But it looks like we’ll have some more chilly weather for a couple of weeks. I am in the depths of writing two new novels. One is book 2 of the Munich Faction, and the other is the sequel to The Wealth of the Worlds. It has been several years since I have tried working on two books simultaneously. In this case, it’s an experiment to see if I can accommodate the writer’s block by switching to the other novel when I got stopped.

I am about 20,000 words into one novel and 35,000 into the other. So, I am satisfied with the progress. I am targeting the release of one or both books in May, although that may be a tad optimistic.

I thought I would spend some time today discussing the writer’s tools. It is easier today to create and publish a novel than ever in history. But creating a good story is just as difficult. I am also a woodworker and understand that good tools will not necessarily improve my skills but will make my life easier. The same goes for writing.

Fortunately, good tools for writing are easy to find, and they are not expensive. Many are free.

You need a good word processor or text editor. If you own a computer, you probably already have an editor. The number one requirement is the ability to save a file in DOCX format. This is close to being a universal file format even though Microsoft developed it. If you publish through the Amazon Kindle store, you must submit your book files in this format.

If you already have a license to Microsoft Word, you are in good shape. You can do everything you need for your book creation within Word. Download and install Libre Office, which is a free office suite. I, in fact, use Libre Office Writer for my basic writing. For me, this program is more comfortable to use, and I’m not sure why. I know it does not get in your way as Word sometimes does. The basic editing functions fall easier to hand.

I do, however, switch to Word for creating the final version of the book. There is really no substitute for the power and flexibility of this tool. In the last few releases, Microsoft has begun including basic grammar support, which may be helpful. I do get annoyed when it offers grammatical constructs that are socially acceptable. I think I am capable of making those decisions.

Unless you are an English teacher, I suggest using a grammar-checking tool such as Grammarly. A free version of the tool catches your most common errors. I use the paid version, which goes into greater depth.

This short article is not enough to make you an award-winning author. But I wanted to give you a place to start.

January 2023 – The Pricing Conundrum

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The sunny Saturday morning in late January is a nice interregnum between the storms sweeping across the South. We are fortunate that South Carolina has received mostly rain while the Deep South has contended with tornadoes and punishing winds.

Those who sell goods and services must contend with another storm that has swept the country – the uncomfortable level of price inflation that has affected everything related to commerce. It’s worse for retirees as those on fixed incomes watch as Social Security COLA doesn’t quite keep up with the declining dollar value, and we watch as the financial storms ravage the stock market.

So, this morning, I made the final tweaks to Yamamoto’s Gold, prepared the eBook submission to the Amazon Kindle website, and paused for quite a while, studying the pricing page for the book. I have seen success over the past several years by pricing the eBook at $4.99. This seems to be the sweet spot that balances attractiveness to the reader and revenue for the author. All things considered, is this a good time to raise prices?

It prompts other questions. Am I being greedy? Would the price increase irritate the readers enough to reduce sales more than the price increase would recover? Is adding a dollar to the price even worth the trouble?

What is greed? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed motivated by naked ambition.” That’s pretty ugly. Now, I understand greed when I walk into an all-you-can-eat buffet and want some of everything. Nay, a lot of everything.

I think if I were greedy, I would be in a different business. I worked in IT management, which holds the possibility of being very lucrative, and I retired from that field. Several friends urged me to get into IT consulting upon retirement. But it was time for me to get out of the IT business.

I am not likely to get wealthy as a writer. As an independent author, I have been successful. The income from my books adds a nice cushion to my finances, but it is a long way from what would be considered a full-time occupation. I do this because I enjoy it.

So what about a general price increase? Sales have softened somewhat over the past six months, which may indicate economic distress. Amazon has struggled to hold the line on pricing, sometimes by removing or reducing benefits in the Prime product. Anecdotally, that has enraged a lot of the customers. Based upon that, raising my prices by a buck is probably not worth the trouble. I consider you my friends and don’t want to antagonize you needlessly.

So, the new title, Yamamoto’s Gold, will be listed at $4.99 for the eBook, and I really hope you enjoy the story. And, of course, I must get busy with the next book.

October 2022 – A Tale of Two Schlosses

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I guess the verdict is in. We released The Alter Schloss on September First and can now look back at this book’s first month. Sales were decent, although the Parallel Nazi books do significantly better. The reviews have been very good, though. The readers have consistently asked two questions, and I will try to answer them.

Will there be more books in the series? I had conceived The Alter Schloss as a single book and had no intentions of doing more. Several readers, though, asked to see more of the world now inhabited by this Schloss. So, I suppose we should leave the door open for further stories in this setting. The problem, of course, is finding the time to do this.

What of the other nations not mentioned in the book? A few readers mentioned Austria-Hungary since there was no Great War in this universe. This is solely a result of keeping the plot under control. The associated books to the Parallel Nazi series focus on a smaller group of characters and pretty much follow a single plotline. I have two reasons for such. First, this results in a book that I can get to the readers quicker, and secondly, it allows me to fill in the holes of the Schloss back story. The Parallel Nazi stories are complex and take more time to develop.

Now, let’s look at the author’s challenge in The Alter Schloss. The biggest problem with this book is tracking the personalities of the two Schlosses. It is harder than you might think. In a “broad brush” sort of way, we can tag the Schloss from 1982, which we may call Schloss Prime, as more visionary. He is the better strategic thinker. He is an introvert and is prone to emotional highs and lows – even to the point of emotional exhaustion. The Alter Schloss is an extrovert and is the more pragmatic of the pair. He is also what we would call “an operator.” He gets things done. He is a better manager than Schloss Prime and understands people better. He is more “hands-on” and wants to be out among people.

These are differences in degree. Remember that we are depicting two different versions of the same person. And keeping that straight in two separate (but related) book series is challenging. I have mentioned before that the Munich Faction will be a three-book series. I plan to begin work on the second book after I finish Parallel Nazi 9 – Yamamoto’s Gold. As of this morning, I have completed about 23,000 words in that novel. I want this book done by Christmas, but it will likely be released in the first quarter of 2023.

July 2022 – In Between

We got through the summer. While it was hot and humid, climate change notwithstanding, it was no worse than usual in South Carolina. During the dog days, the temperature hovers in the upper nineties, and it is thoroughly unpleasant outside.

But we completed another book, and it hit Amazon on September first. The Alter-Schloss answers the question that bothered many readers, not to mention Heinrich Schloss. This book was challenging and involved an extensive rewrite after I was two-thirds through the first draft. I was happy with the result, and I hope you are as well.

So, what’s next? My wife moved her home office from an upstairs room to the downstairs. I volunteered to construct a new desk as part of the overall project. I had built a writing desk several years ago for her use, and it was not practical for her needs, hence the new furniture. So following Alter-Schloss, I took a couple of weeks to get the desk finished and installed for her, and she is happy with it.

So, this week, I have begun the Parallel Nazi Book 9. For those curious about where the story goes, I have a working title: Yamamoto’s Gold. All the major players in the previous novels are now involved in retrieving the gold that the Japanese looted from the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Stay tuned.

As I was researching and thinking about Book 9, I also scratched out the scenarios for Books 10 and 11 of the series. So, Schloss continues. Comments I have received from the readers indicated worry that the series might be coming to a close. While that will undoubtedly happen someday, new plot lines keep popping into my head. And Herr Schloss is still a young man. If you count forty as young.

The days and nights are growing cooler, so we are hopefully in the fall season. The fall will be busy. Grandchild number seven is on the way. A friend recently completed the first draft of a new book, and I will likely assist with the edits. I have been editing and updating some of my earlier works now that the grammar tools are worth using. I am also working on the sequel to The Wealth of the Worlds, but that is not moving quickly. I usually jump over to that when I face writer’s block. And writer’s block will often prevent me from doing any writing.

I enjoy hearing from readers. Feel free to drop me a note as the urge strikes. I try to respond promptly. And in a few weeks, we will watch the leaves turn.

July 2022 – Significant Frameworks

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When I began writing science-fiction, I planned to document the underlying structure of the various series. This was to provide background information for the readers and give me a framework to keep the stories consistent. I have yet to do something like this mainly because of simple procrastination and the lack of available time.

And when I begin a book, I usually do not have the patience to create an outline or synopsis. Usually, by the time I start a book, I have a pretty good idea of the broad sweep of the novel and what will happen at the ending. This set of habits has served me well over the years, although I occasionally stumble over my shortcomings.

First, keeping a book internally consistent is harder than you think. In Accidental Nazi, I failed to account for Eva Braun, Hitler’s mistress, early in the book. She should have been present at Hitler’s funeral and might have even been part of the story. I corrected that later by having Schloss note that Braun did not exist in that universe. You can fix things, but you need to catch them.

Secondly, with each book in the series, it becomes more difficult to maintain consistency with the series in its overall scope. I had trouble confusing Frankfurt and Cologne in the fourth and fifth books, and I hope I have corrected all those associated errors.

While I have two broadly different frameworks for the books – the Parallel Multiverse and the Woogieverse (with the associated novels), the two frameworks impinge occasionally. The book ruBracks, Nazis, the Death of the Universe and Everything, is an example where I provided some of the backstory to As the scope of my writing increases, I am challenged to keep track of details. Some of you have reminded me of things I missed. While embarrassed about that, I greatly appreciate the feedback. Readers are quicker to spot errors than authors – that seems to be a rule of thumb. Also, as I grow older, I tend to forget stuff. I have yet to simply wander off somewhere, but there you are.

Let’s talk about the frameworks. The Woogieverse is a Future History. The Parallel Multiverse is a group of alternate histories. I am not a historian, although I was a history minor in college. Rather my mind holds a collection of historical trivia that is otherwise mostly useless. I enjoy building histories. I also enjoy wordplay, which is another story.

The future history consists of several series: the Saga of Scott Baughman, the Montora books, the Harcourt’s World novels (one completed and one in the pipeline), and the Dynastic Ambition series (one of three completed). A capstone series, The Throne of Caledon, and several ancillary books are planned.

The Parallel Multiverse has the Parallel Nazi series, of course. And it has some individual books such as previously mentioned ruBrack book. McNeel’s World is part of the framework. Nazi Magician is also technically a Parallel Multiverse book, although it is a different animal. Several storylines take place in one parallel universe or another and wait for me to get around to writing them.

Will I do stories that are outside of these frameworks? Probably. I wrote ,i>The Final Hero in collaboration with Bob Anderson, which might be better termed historical fiction. I have a couple of other ideas in development that could fit into one of the frameworks or as pure standalone.

My current output is two to three books per year or about three hundred thousand words. I have every incentive to pump out Parallel Nazi stories as they are popular. I plan to begin to work on the ninth book in August or September.

I hope to complete my current project in early August. If you have questions or comments, feel free to email me (ward.wagher.gmail.com). I try to answer promptly and enjoy hearing from you.

May 2022 – Things Known

I am heaving a sigh of relief. The new book, Things Never Known, is now up on Amazon. This is the 8th book of the Parallel Nazi series, and the Schloss Saga continues.

Ironically, this book centers around the war between Soviet Russia and “Free” Ukraine. It was unintentional on my part, as I was already well into the book when Putin invaded Ukraine. Some of the themes in the book reflect what some wag once said: History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often hums the same tune. I don’t remember who said this, but it seems appropriate.

One of the pitfalls of writing stories with a historical basis is the danger of anachronisms. The readers are intolerant of excuses, such as, "This is a parallel universe; I can do what I want." One must maintain consistency within the series of books, even though the parallel universe offers opportunities to cover up mistakes. Consistency within the broad arc of history is important as well.

One of my readers, who also does editing for me, caught one. At one point, Herr Schloss is calculating the value of something in Reichsmarks, and I wrote Deutschmarks in the first draft. I was delighted he caught that, even though I felt foolish. There was no way to cover that one up. I have to pay attention to everything.

Now that I have the eighth Schloss book out of the way, I have been developing ideas for the next Schloss book. I have not decided on which new book to start, but it will probably be the second of the Munich Faction series. While Courier can be considered a prequel to Accidental Nazi, the three-book series will overlap somewhat and cover the early part of Heinrich Schloss’s transition from 1982 to 1941 - from Gerhard Wicklein’s point of view. The first Munich Faction book was fun to write, and I’m looking forward to the next.

March 6, 2022 – Rumors of War

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I am up to 33,000 words on Book 8 of the Parallel Nazi. I face the irony of writing about war in Ukraine simultaneously with the actual Russian invasion. This was not intentional, and I wonder how the readers will receive the book.

I'm sure you are awaiting the release of the new book. It is too early to say whether the conflict will be resolved in book eight. Yet, a Ukrainian war is a crucial part of the story, and you all know we dealt extensively with it in This Throw of the Dice.

I have gradually developed a work strategy with this new book. It is easy to get distracted with two 32-inch screens on my desktop and two windows that give me a view of the outside. Taking the laptop into the great room and using the Bluetooth connection to play music through the TV soundbar gives me a much tighter focus on writing. Currently, I complete one chapter per day, which is about 2,000 words. That is about five chapters per week.

I remember reading somewhere that David Weber manages about 5,000 words per day. That rate is possible for me but unlikely. When I have it together, I can write about 1,000 words per hour. But I often lose a couple of hours hither and yon to take care of research. As much as possible, I try to make the historical characters in my books at least somewhat like the actual people.

Consistency is vital in the stories. I have not composed a specific set of rules to guide my writing in the Heinrich Schloss universe, but the readers know when I violate those strictures. I have received several comments about the Deux ex Machina represented by Frau Marsden. When she intervened directly to rescue Schloss and Rainer from the military coup, I debated whether this was the best way to handle the storyline. However, it did illustrate the power wielded by the old lady.

Frau Marsden's intervention when Beria kidnapped Misty was another such point. In the story's first draft, she personally killed Beria after he had tied Misty to the bed. After some serious thought, I changed the story so that she encouraged Khrushchev to take the action that rescued Misty. This worked better and further developed Khrushchev's character in the series.

I think the underlying rule that I followed in the second case, specifically, was that the characters in the Schloss universe act in response to events and challenges with only subliminal or ancillary guidance by Frau Marsden.

For further background on Frau Marsden, I would refer you to ruBracks, Nazis, the Death of the Universe and Everything, which fills in much of the background about Frau Marsden and the events which bounced Heinrich Schloss into a parallel world. Some of the same characters also appear in Gravity Rising.

Some of my friends have urged me to include more of Frau Marsden's activities in the Parallel Nazi series, but that would break other implicit rules of the series. These stores are primarily about Schloss and other people who inhabit this universe. And that is clearly what the readers want to see. As usual, Herr Schloss faces several severe challenges in the new book and must overcome them to survive. I am looking forward to completing the book and letting you all have a look at it.

February 15, 2022 – Calling an Audible

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I start with these horrifying clichés to discuss my first Audible Book release. Sometimes making midstream course corrections are risky. Other times you look at the situation and decide to go with the flow.

Over the past several years, I have had several friends encourage me to market audio versions of my books. To this point, I have not ventured out on this ice-covered lake because I'm not too fond of audiobooks. I have tried them, but I get bored quickly since I can read faster than the narrator can speak.

I have the same problem with those annoying video pop-ups on the news sites. I can read the articles much faster than the talking head can dramatize the story. I just like to read.

It finally occurred to me that I was missing opportunities by not having audio versions of my books, so I decided on an experiment. I purchased a decent microphone and arranged for quiet time in the house to read through Accidental Nazi and record the chapters. I discovered that editing an audiobook is nontrivial. I was also reminded that I really hate listening to my own voice, which also discouraged the editing chores.

So I set the project aside for about a year. I had lunch with a writer friend who mentioned he had turned a closet in his house into a recording studio to create audio versions of his books. One thing led to another, and Scott Appleton recorded and edited the audio version of Accidental Nazi.

The process is still complex and fraught with opportunities for derailment, but we got the thing done. The Audible Books version of Accidental Nazi is now live and available on the Audible site and its distribution partners, including Amazon. We are already seeing steady sales, and that's encouraging.

Please give me your feedback, those who have delved into the Audible version of the book. We are interested to discover whether the experiment was successful. The volume of sales will determine whether it's worth investing in another title.

February 3, 2022 – So Many Books

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After three months of record sales, I can’t decide if I’m feeling satisfaction or pressure to get new books completed. We released This Throw of the Dice in early November and saw an immediate sales boost. It continued into December. In mid-January, we released the first volume of The Munich Faction again to generous sales.

All of this is, of course, thanks to you, reader. I am delighted that you have honored me with purchasing my books. And I thank you for that. And thanks to you who have sent encouraging emails. It’s flattering.

We are in the depths of winter here in South Carolina. We had seven inches of snow and some cold weather earlier. And there are still some patches of snow on the ground two weeks after the event. That is unusual. This winter is a bit colder than the last.

After getting a new book out the door, I have been busy doing cleanup on some other books. I just completed the synopsis for the sequel to The Wealth of the Worlds. And I have made decent progress on the summary for the new Parallel Nazi book (8). So I hope to get started with the actual writing sometime this week.

Recently my friend Scott Appleton completed recording Accidental Nazi” and we have submitted it to Audible.com. It was my first time building an Audible book, and I was unsure what to expect. It is now available on Amazon
for those who like to listen to books while traveling/exercising/working.

Scott writes fantasy, and you can see his work over at AuthorAppleton.com.

Some of the discussions and feedback I have received from the Parallel Nazi series centers on various historical inconsistencies in the stories. I can explain some of this by my research failure. My big mistake was in not having a thorough understanding of the structure of East Prussia, Poland, and Silesia before World War II. I corrected that in Dice, which introduced inconsistencies in the earlier books. As they say, we just have to deal with it.

Remember that the Parallel Nazi is set in a parallel universe rather than alternate history. The difference is subtle, but it allows greater flexibility in crafting the plots. McNeel’s World also utilizes a parallel universe and focuses on American history. The “interstitial” traveler is not the main character in that story.

Another source of confusion has popped up in The Munich Faction. This first book in the series is a sort of a prequel to Accidental Nazi. In this story, Gerhard Wicklein interacts with what the person we know as the Accidental Nazi refers to as The Alter-Schloss. In other words, Gerhard gets to know the Schloss that is displaced at the time of Hitler’s death in 1941.

All of this begs the question of which of my books are based in our actual universe? And does that matter? My future history, which begins with the Scott Baughman novels and proceeds through the Montora series, can be assumed to belong in Universe Prime. As sort of an inside joke, many of my books contained a Mrs. Marsden (or Frau Marsden) character who was always the housekeeper and somewhat mysterious. Almost unintentionally, the question of “who” exactly was Mrs. Marsden drove me to the development of the ruBracks.

At the same time, I began exploring the ideas of a parallel universe and wrote Bach’s Lunch, which is a free download on this website. I later expanded that short story into an entire novel, “ruBracks, Nazis, and the Death of the Universe and Everything.” In this book, I fully developed the concept of The Parallel Multiverse. This is the idea that there are multiple multiverses that contain numerous parallel universes.

Playing with these ideas is a lot of fun. It also has allowed the creation of stories that I hope you have enjoyed. The primary purpose of the books is for entertainment. While my worldview is infused in the novels, they are not allegorical. Some of the books are more explicitly Christian, and I make no apologies for that. My goal is to make the characters reflect life and the attributes of those characters drive the stories forward.

Enough meandering. It’s time to get busy and write the next books.

November 12, 2021 – So I threw the dice…

Not being into games of chance, I stepped outside of my box in selecting a title for the seventh Parallel Nazi book. This reversed my decision to name this book The Munich Faction. I am , in fact, now working on a new novel that carries the title The Munich Faction. This directional change resulted from a combination of writer’s block and a sudden development of a story line focused on Gerhard Wicklein.

This brings me back to my original intentions. Heinrich Schloss is the central character of the Parallel Nazi series. He is more peripheral in the Munich Faction, which is the story of Gerhard Wicklein. This story will also explore the character of the Alter-Schloss. As I may have mentioned, the Alter-Schloss will eventually be the subject of a future novel.

But, back to Parallel Nazi – 7. A lot of things come together in this story, but it also sets up multiple plot lines for the next book. Several people have asked me how many Parallel Nazi books I plan to write. I don’t know the answer to that. Obviously as long as you, the readers, keep purchasing the books, I be motivated to continue writing them. The biggest challenge is that once someone is a head of state, it’s really hard to come up with suspense that doesn’t violate the reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. When people start saying, “Oh, come on now!” it maybe is time to rethink the whole approach. So, I guess I can just say, “We shall see.”

For the fun of it, I thought I’d list a few of my upcoming projects. If some of them particularly interest you, drop me a note to let me know.

1. The Munich Faction: The story of Gerhard Wicklein and the so-called Munich Faction (a group that is dedicated to overthrowing Schloss). I have written nine chapters and sixteen-thousand words for the book so far. It will probably be the next to be published. 2. Parallel Nazi – 8: I’ve just started thinking about this one. 3. Sequel to McNeel’s World. 4. Sequel to Nazi Magician. 5. Sequel to The Wealth of the Worlds. 6. Sequel to Dynastic Ambition which will be the second of a three book series

In addition, I have been exploring some ideas as follows:

1. A Parallel Universe novel that takes place in 1956 and the working title is Stalin’s Europe. 2. A Dragon story. 3. A couple of novels about peripheral characters from the Montora series. 4. A series of detective stories with characters from the Montora series.

As you can see, I have plenty to keep me busy. You see, I have this terror of being bored.

July 2021 – Settling In

As some of you may know, I retired from my day job at the end of May 2021. So I no longer consider myself an IT professional. After over thirty years in the field, I am happily an amateur. Regarding myself, now, as a writing professional, is probably open for debate. I do earn enough from my writings that I believe it to be more than just a hobby, but defining the term professional can be slippery.

So what has been happening? The new Parallel Nazi book is making progress. As of this morning, the word count is a little north of forty-four thousand. I have also started another new book that I am not prepared to talk about just yet. An action item on the to-do list is planning for a sequel to McNeel’s World. The framework for that book is already solid, but I haven’t developed the plot.

As some of you may have noticed, I slip-streamed a new version of Accidental Nazi a while back. An author friend surprised me with a new cover design, and that formed the impetus to clean up the book somewhat. I have begun some work on editing and refreshing Improbable Nazi (Parallel Nazi 2).

It illustrates my development of a working model in the home office. I have discovered that I can write much faster than I can develop ideas, so I have been challenged to find things to do when I would be otherwise just staring at the screen. So I now keep a list of minor projects that I can shift to when the well runs dry.

Among other items on the list are updating the websites and also learning Python. These will be the subject of another entry. Probably.

On the subject of email, let me say that I enjoy hearing from you. Feedback is great, although my friends insist that I do not listen to advice. So if you see something in one of my books that puzzles or annoys you, feel free to drop me a note. Answering email gives me something to do when I would otherwise stare at the screen (see above).

Have a great summer!

April 2021 - Spring Pollen

Spring brings the pollen and all the pleasure that entails. I do enjoy glancing out the window as I write and seeing the changing seasons. At the moment, I see a pile of gravel and several truckloads of dirt in the empty lot across the street. The local housing boom means that builders and buyers are snapping up the remaining lots in our subdivision. It will be interesting to watch new homes going into what I think are frankly marginal locations.

Spring has also brought several new things to my personal environment. First is the release of McNeel’s world, which is my foray into steampunk. The book came together quickly, and I am pleased with it. This was the first opportunity to participate in Amazon’s hardcover beta. The new format provides more buying choices for the readers, and it’s also fun to see my books on hardcover.

A friend of mine presented a new cover design for Accidental Nazi in a surprise move. I did not know he was working on it, and he said it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. But I liked the cover and decided this was a great opportunity to work through the book again to clean up grammatical and wording issues. We should see the second edition of Accidental Nazi released in the next few weeks with any luck at all.

And, most importantly, my son and daughter-in-law presented us with a granddaughter over the weekend. So we shall shortly be making the trek to Pennsylvania to congratulate the kids on such a lovely little girl. This makes six grandchildren for us, and we are blessed.

So, what’s next? Shortly I plan to begin work on the next book in the parallel Nazi series. After a lot of thought and conversation, I have decided that the planned title The Munich Faction will be in the mainstream series of books about Schloss. Several reasons dictated this change. First of all, I had difficulty developing a plot for this book as a standalone. Secondly, the background to the story does interleave with the rest of Heinrich Schloss’s adventures. Finally, it was challenging to coordinate the story’s timeline with the crisis Schloss faces with the Russian invasion.

I plan to begin writing very soon. I’m excited about tying together many of the threads we have explored in the previous books. It will not conclude the series, since Frau Marsden has plans for the Reich Chancellor.

Enjoy your springtime.

February 2021

Photo by Roland Lösslein on Unsplash

We are in the winter quarter of 2021, and I thought it would be a good time to add some news to the website. Threads of Despair has been well received, and I thank you once again for reading my books. As usual, the day after we released the book, I got emails asking when the next one would be out. All I can say at this point is that I hope to have it out sometime during the summer.

The new book has progressed through chapter 16 and about 30,000 words. This will be another parallel universe novel. It takes place in New York City in 1967. It illustrates a civilization where electricity was never developed, and the American constitutional convention was unable to complete its work. What does a modern nation look like that still relies upon steam for its primary motive power?

If you want to find out the details, you have to buy the book. It should be done sometime in the spring. Of course, that reflects a certain amount of optimism on my part. But the plot has come together nicely.

Very little winter weather has found its way to South Carolina, so far. However, my children, who both reside in the North have enjoyed a lot of snow. This disappoints my wife, who enjoys winter weather, and fervently watches the weather forecasts for the slightest hint of snow. Take the time next week to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your beloved, or with your BFF. Of course the times require us to maintain care and how we socialize. Hopefully the worst will be over by the summer.

December 16, 2020 – Merry Christmas

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I beat my schedule for a change. I doubted I could get Threads of Despair finished and released before Christmas. So we are a week ahead of the target. The book came together well and required very little surgery in the edit phase. And you all can be happy: there will be a seventh book in the series.

What is happening in 2021? I am developing another alternate history / parallel universe series. This requires a lot of research as well as planning. I already threw away one scenario. But, it looks like the new one is coming together. As I mentioned above, we will see Heinrich Schloss in a seventh book. I keep toying with The Munich Faction, but it doesn’t seem quite ready for the birthing process. I also plan a second book in the Nazi Magician series. There will be plenty to keep me busy, and hopefully to keep you entertained.

There seems to be universal sighs of relief that 2020 is finally coming to an end. I mean, what else could possibly go wrong??? I naturally will not volunteer an answer.

Once more we are in the season of remembrance and commemoration of the birth of our Lord and Savior. With our eyes upon Jesus, we can observe the troubles of this present world trusting that He is still on the throne and ultimately does according to His good pleasure.

My wife and I want to wish all of you a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

~WW

May 2020 - There's a lot going on!

Resolute Nazi is now live on Amazon. This is the fifth book in the Parallel Nazi series. The plot was difficult to put together for this book and delayed the completion. But it's there and ready for you to read. I hope you will enjoy it. The entire series has sold well and I appreciate you staying with me.

I finally completed the print edition of The Diamonds of Montora recently and included some minor cleanup of the text. Procrastination is a terrible thing.

It looks like the worst of the pandemic is over. Please don't hold me to that. Back in January everybody said this was no big deal. Events proved otherwise. The nature of my day job is such that working from home presents no great challenges. As an introvert, spending the day huddled in my home office is a delight. On the other had, my wife has not appreciated the enforced isolation. Thankfully both we and our families have remained well, so far.

I have several new projects in the works. I am well into the first draft of a new series. I am also contemplating several spin-off titles from the Parallel Nazi stories. After completing The Last Paladin, I have not seriously looked at any further books in the Woogievers. Several beg to be written, but my writing time will be limited for the next year or so until I retire from the day job.

And... back to it!

March 2020

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Our spring season has been interrupted. Many of us are forced to stay home to work, or worse yet, out of work. As of this writing, the Corona Virus is still spreading and no one is quite sure what the future holds. If you are reading my site, you have probably read novels about global pandemics. I have yet to write one. Somehow the actual event is not as much fun as one of the books. I have not seen panic as such (unless it was from one of the toilet paper bandits), but there is that low-level gnawing fear of the unknown.

Being trapped at home gets a little old, particularly if you are an extrovert. Somehow, interacting on FaceBook, text messaging, or even Microsoft Teams is not as emotionally satisfying as being within viral distance of a friend of coworker. The news media and the self-help sites are rife with suggestions on how to survive the Coronapocalypse. I probably cannot add much to that. I suppose I could talk about what I am doing.

I am still working, thankfully. My job allows me to be at home and still be in contact with my team. I am writing, of course. I just finished the first draft of the fifth Parallel Nazi book. Within the next couple of days I will do a read-through of the draft and make notes on the problems / loose ends / anachronisms / contradictions in the plot so that I can start the fixes. The fixes must be done before I work on the second draft.

I am working on a couple of other books. One of these is tentatively the start of a new series, although I am not ready to talk about it as yet. I am also developing an audio book version of Accidental Nazi. This is an experiment to see if there is a market for something like this. It is also an amazing way to find typos and errors that still lurk in that book.

I am also replumbing my house. What??? My home was constructed with CPVC plumbing, which tends to get brittle as it ages. This results in leaky joints and broken pipes (eventually). I am replacing the lines with Pex, which is much more rugged and durable than CPVC. Fortunately I have a deep crawlspace under the house, which allows me to run new lines everywhere I need. There are a couple of places where I will need to hire some help, however I can do most of the work myself. This is good since I can't afford to hire someone to do the entire project for me.

And that's the latest from the Wagher domain. I hope to have several interesting pieces for sale this summer and I will post here as more news is available.

November 2019

We are working through the edits for The Last Paladin and plan to release the book sometime after the middle of December. Hopefully this will provide some Christmastime reading. The book came together well and documents some of the backstory to the Woogieverse. I had been wanting to tell this story for some time and finally was able to buckle down and get the book done.

In other news, the new Parallel Nazi book is up to about 37,000 words. I hope to complete the first draft as soon as possible after the first of the new year. Doing the research for a war between Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1940's has required a lot of research. Continuing the other plot lines that include the United States, Japan and Great Britain has keep me busy as well. The great reception Inconsequential Nazi was encouraging and I want to keep the story going. As far as plans for more books in the series, Accidental Nazi was written as a standalone novel. I quickly decided that it needed to be a trilogy. After the third book, the fourth was necessary as the fifth. I had thought I would wind up with seven books in the series. But, that may not be the end of it.

My main concern with the series is jumping the shark. That is, letting the series run past it's "sell by" date. I think I can keep the story line going through about 1953. At some point, though, the series will end. Thanks again for reading the books!

August 2019

Photo by Art Lasovsky on Unsplash

Sometimes I need to take an evening to just catch up on things. Since Bob Anderson and I released our co-authored novel, I have been developing a web site for him. Part of the design involves decisions on how we need to market his work and to make him memorable. As soon as I can get his domain registered and the site up, I will place a link on my home page.

July was a record month for my books. The release of Inconsequential Nazi was strong, and was carried by additional sales of the other Parallel Nazi books. I thank all of you readers for being gracious and willing to once again dip yourselves into this alternate universe.

Bob is also sending me preliminary edits as he looks at each chapter of The Last Paladin (current working title) and I am nearly through with the first draft of the book. I am anxious to get this completed so I can begin working on the next Parallel Nazi story. I actually have three books in the planning stages for this series. I have not decided which to do next. However, this works out, there will be a lot of research required.

In other news, I have now added a thirteen-inch iPad (along with requisite Logitech keyboard/portfolio) to the Wagher menagerie. This is in addition to several Thinkpads, a Lenovo Chromebook, a Dell XPS desktop with an Asus motherboard. We won’t mention the Optiplex 160 that functions as the file server and the XPS and Dell desktops that inhabit the bench in the garage.

The summer is nearly over. As the fall rains come, I will find myself with more time to write. Once again, thank you for your patronage. I am hugely flattered that people are buying my books. Please tell your friends about the books and direct them to this web site.

July 2019 — The Long Hot Summer

Inconsequential Nazi is off and running as of July 1. The sales are encouraging. Thanks for your business! There are several projects in the works. First of all, I am doing research for the next Heinrich Schloss book. I expect to start writing in late August or early September of 2019. I am currently working on the first draft of The Last Paladin. This is another back-story novel in the Woogieverse and tells the story of Ryan Ward Baughman, who as we know from Dynastic Ambition, is truly the last of the paladins. I plan to have the first draft complete sometime in August.

I have also created a print edition for Christmas in Montora along with a new cover for the book. It is available now in the Amazon marketplace.

The print edition included some of the usual minor revisions, which mainly consist of fixing those accursed typos. The e-book has been refreshed as well. I have also concluded a refresh of The Diamonds of Montora, although I am still working on a cover. You can expect it in August, hopefully.

I am now participating in a local writers' forum along with Scott Appleton, who writes family friendly fantasy. Scott is venturing into the publishing business with his Flaming Pen Press and has several new titles on the way.

June 2019 — Two Books at One Time!

Whew! I feel like I ran a marathon. That is, if an overweight 66-year-old has any idea of what a marathon is like. At the same time that I worked on the first draft of what has become Inconsequential Nazi, I was also collaborating with my friend Bob Anderson on writing The Final Hero.

I finished the first draft in March, and then let the book lie fallow for a month. In late April I began the second draft of Inconsequential while Bob and I were struggling to get Hero into final form. Neither of us are good editors (as you have probably recognized), so we really appreciate the helpful friends to worked on the drafts of both books.

Along the way, we worked with a gig-economy site to get a cover developed for Hero, and I think you will like it. We do. I had planned to use the same site for the Inconsequential cover. However, I had run across a picture on a free site that I liked, St. Basil’s in Red Square, Moscow that I liked and used on the proof copies. It fit the story better than anything else I could think of, so I kept it for the final.

This was my first experience at coauthoring a book and I am not convinced I want to try it again. It was a lot of work. I hope it was worth it.

Finally, we have another story about Heinrich Schloss. This is the fourth book in the series and I am working on the ideas for the fifth. Stay tuned!

March 2019 – One Step Forward…

Spring greetings from Ward Wagher. Quite a bit is happening this spring. In the unforeseen events category, I lost nearly a month of writing time in a combination of computer problems and house projects. Since my writing does not quite provide enough income for full time employment, I also have a day job. This limits writing to the evening hours, although I can churn out two or three chapters per week easily. For me it takes longer to think through the story than to do the writing.

So, in mid-January my computer decided to spread the insanity a bit. When I logged into the computer, it would immediately log out! I had never seen an error like that before. My writing desktop is an i7 and runs three 21-inch screens which allows me to have a lot of source material in front of me when writing. I wasn’t happy but thought I could pull the computer out and hook up my alternate desktop machine (which supports two screens) and stay in business while I figured out what was going on.

Interestingly enough, the alternate computer decided to exhibit the same behavior and was unusable. This was getting serious. At the same time my wife decided it would be a wonderful time to repaint the master bath. This involved a color change and required priming the walls and the trim, then repainting same. This, of course, involved the same evening hours usually reserved for writing.

I still wasn’t terribly worried since I keep all my data on a small server at home and store my writing data in the cloud as well. That makes it easy to do a clean install on an afflicted computer and get back in service with an evening’s effort – a long evening. And the install was easy. I use Ubuntu on the desktop and have been happy with it over the years. I had evolved a setup where I used Dragon Naturally Speaking. This was installed in a Windows 10 Virtual Machine utilizing Oracle’s VirtualBox. Cool software and fun to play with. Most of the time.

Install Ubuntu. Install VirtualBox. Copy down the 100 gig VM from the server – which takes a couple of hours. No problem. Then VirtualBox generated an error – The Windows 10 Virtual machine refused to see my USB headset, which I needed for the Dragon. So, another week of backing and filling ensued, along with the interminable painting project.

So finally, I replaced Ubuntu with Windows 10 on my main desktop and decided to run the Dragon natively. But then the Dragon install failed because I had used up all my installs. At some point in the adventure you must repress the urge to start tossing equipment through the window. Oh well, it was an old version of Dragon, anyway. I ordered a new copy from Amazon (it’s cheaper) and painted.

Now that I have that off my chest… The bathroom project is complete. It looks surprisingly good considering my limited painting skills. The computers are doing as intended. I recently completed the first draft of the fourth Parallel Nazi novel. I had planned to finish the book in early January.

The working title is Inconsequential Nazi. That may change between now and publishing time. But it’s enough to hang my hat on for right now. The book, of course, follows the continuing life of Heinrich Schloss – a man now living in a parallel universe quite different from where he grew up. I need to put that draft away for a time, so it appears fresh when I come back to it. As usual, a lot of work will be required in the second draft. I wanted to release it in May, but that may be a faint hope.

I have been working on a cold war era novel with Bob Anderson. We have completed the second draft of The Final Hero and will soon get down to serious editing. I expect this book will be released in late spring (2019). I have also begun work on The Last Paladin which is set in my future history series. It is the story of Ryan Ward Baughman, a descendent of Scott Baughman’s and for many reasons is the last of the rulers of the Upper Midwest Palatinate. Ward Baughman was a minor character in The Diamonds of Montora and this book fills in some of the background. I have been wanting to write this one for a while, and the outline finally came together.

Sales have remained strong and I appreciate those of you who also picked up Gravity Rising this past winter. And of course, the other books. Enjoy the spring!

December 2018 — Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Woogie Central, and thanks to all of you who made 2018 such a great year. So much has been going on that the time flew for me, although I know those of you waiting for the next Parallel Nazi book are getting impatient.

The new novel, Gravity Rising, released on December 15. This is a dystopian tale that fills in some of the historical blanks behind all of the Woogieverse stories. The story also gives us another glimpse into the mysterious world of the ruBracks. It recounts how Lawrence Berthold discovered antigravity and began development of the interstellar space drive. Details of the book are here, and it is available on Amazon as usual.

Impossible Nazi (the third book of the series) arrived in late August to strong sales. In fact the entire series has done very well. The feedback from readers via email has been encouraging. I am hard at work on the fourth book of the series. I expect to complete the first draft in early February, and deliver the product to you sometime in April or May 2019. This book is moving a bit slower, because of the research I have to do for it. I also have to pay attention to making the stories interesting, rather than churning out an endless series of books that may end up boring the reader.

During this time of the year, we slow down a bit and enjoy the company of friends and family. As always, we remember the One for whom the season is named and give thanks for the special blessings. I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

August 2018

The new title Impossible Nazi is now live. This has been an anticipated book with readers querying me often about when I would release it. It has the highest preorders I have experienced so far. I am gratified with your interest. This book continues the story of Heinrich Schloss, the man who was accidentally transported into a parallel universe where he ultimate becomes the master of the German Reich.

I am now doing research for the fourth book of the Parallel Nazi series. What will be in this next book? Well, I can say that Stalin begins to capture Schloss's concern. Beyond that, you will just have to stay tuned.

Another new title, Gravity Rising is in the final stages of the publishing process and will be released sometime this fall. This is a Woogieverse novel and tells the story of Lawrence Berthold and the discovery of anti-gravity. The story takes place a couple of hundred years after the collapse of civilization due to a Carrington Event. I suppose you could call this a dystopian novel.

Thanks for stopping by the site and enjoy the stories.

April 2018