All told, 2025 was a pretty good year. Not the best, far from the worst. It was the usual hectic mix of activities and travel, work and writing, and family and friends.
Of the latter, the loss of my dear friend Peter David loomed large all year. We got a heads-up just days before he finally passed, and then throughout the year, I celebrated his life at each convention stop. The best experience, though, was the private memorial in October as his friends and family testified to his wit, wisdom, and antics. His absence will be keenly felt for some time to come.
Similarly, my aunt died in early fall, and another member of the older generation is gone. Mom, at 94, is still with us, but she is preparing for a new chapter by moving to independent living this spring to make daily routines easier.
Deb retired in March, immediately signing up to be a substitute teacher at my school, taking mahjongg lessons, and picking up pickleball. She has kept herself rather busy, making her very happy.
I finished my eighth year and began my ninth year at Pallotti. The current academic year is pretty typical, now that I have a year’s experience with the yearbook under my belt. I was extremely proud of how the first one turned out, and I hope the second is even better. The students are nicely past the COVID-19 interruption to their learning, which helps a lot.
I also taught my sixth and seventh semesters at Maryland Institute College of Art and continue to love working with eager creators. Thankfully, the reviews remain positive, so I must be doing something right.
There was a wee bit more travel this year, notably repeated trips to Long Island to celebrate the departed, along with the usual cons (Farpoint and Baltimore Comic-Con in Maryland, Trek Long Island, and Shore Leave in Lancaster, PA). I took a guys’ weekend in Kansas City in June, visiting with Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward, eating loads of barbecue, touring the Negro League Museum, and just talking shop. Deb accompanied me on my regular trip south to check in on Mom and also joined me as I traveled to Scottsdale, AZ, to attend Jostens Advisors University (where I learned to be a better yearbook advisor), since our friends Ken and Mary Ann retired there, so there was visiting and some delicious eating.
There were also outings to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago for various baseball games. The latter trip was part of my niece’s wedding, a lovely affair.
The big trip, though, was the two-week cruise across the Arctic Circle, traveling with a dozen other people, some I didn’t meet until we embarked. Thankfully, we all got along very well and loved our ports of call in Norway, Scotland, and England.
The freelance life has slowed down. I wound up having a lot see printed over the summer months, but I was commissioned far less often for new works. DC Comics was my largest client as I wrote extensively for the forthcoming Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths and Suicide Squad Omnibus Vol. 2, and continued consulting for their international department. On a related note, I wrote about DC’s Strange Adventures, celebrating its 75th anniversary for the San Diego Comic-Con program book.
Roger Ash at Back Issue! pressed me into emergency service when a writer flaked on him, and a solicited piece needed to be included in the issue going to press. I managed that in a weekend, much to his relief. I also wrote about Mai the Psychic Girl for anissue coming in 2026. Similarly, I waxed nostalgic about Banacek for RetroFan, also due out in the new year.
I wrote a nonfiction piece for an SF book that I thought was coming out this year, but it appears to have been delayed.
And I did spend quite a bit of the summer working on the original fantasy novel outline, getting 12 chapters outlined before running out of time,
My big freelance project is Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2026, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter and will debut next summer. Most of the stories are written, the funds will be deposited by the time you read this, and work will proceed. There’s another project I will be helping shepherd through the fundraising process and contributing a story to that remains unannounced (but not for much longer).
You may recall that there was a successful Superman movie this year, and once the trailer hit, I found myself interviewed for print and radio, including one interview during Jostens U. I was also interviewed on longtime pal Scott Edleman’s Eating the Fantastic podcast.
I continued editing blogs for SFWA, which I enjoy. It also led me and four others to form a small procrastinators group that meets virtually periodically, designed to keep us honest and at work on our various projects. I have to say, it’s nice to meet fellow scribes of a (mostly) certain age going through what I have been experiencing. I was challenged to write the first chapter of the in-progress novel to get a feel for the tone, and I managed it during winter break. And this week, it’s been back to the outline.
Closer to home, I continue to serve as president of the HOA, and Deb and I spent the fall gathering pine cones and helping turn them into wreaths as a fundraiser for the local Appalachian Service Project.
So, it’s been a busy year, sadder than usual, but certainly a busy and productive one. I hope to sustain that in the coming year and wish one and all a similar, safe, healthy, and happy 2026.
#Tags: Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths, Arctic Circle, Back Issue!, Crazy 8 Press, Dayton Ward, Deb, Eating the Fantastic, Jostens Advisors University, Kathy Mattea, Kevin Dilmore, MICA, Mountain Stage, Peter David, RetroFan, Roger Ash, Scott Edelman, SFWA, St. Vincent Pallotti High School, Suicide Squad Omnibus, Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2026
Happy New Year, dear friends!