a family journey 🏞️ & an epic space race

A Scenic Summer Road Trip and the Completion of The Apollo Cup

Hello,

Just about everyone I know has taken time off this summer, and very soon, it will be my turn! I will be heading out on a scenic road trip along the North shore of the mighty St-Lawrence river with my family. I can’t wait!

We took the same trip last year and loved it so much, we’re doing it again. As I was writing this, I realized with some embarrassment that I didn’t take a single photo of the gorgeous scenery that enchanted us so much. So, I borrowed this one from tourisme-charlevoix.com to give you an idea.

St. Lawrence River and Mountains in Charlevoix, Quebec

I hope you’ve all been having a great summer! I can never get over how quickly it goes by.

But I have made some exciting progress on…

The Apollo Cup

In a race to the Moon, the underdogs are ready to defy the odds

In a future where space is dominated by megacorporations, a grassroots team known as the Rebel Alliance defies the odds to compete in the Apollo Cup—a high-stakes race from Earth to the Moon and back. Led by James Seneschal, this scrappy crew must navigate treacherous maneuvers, equipment failures, and the ruthless tactics of their corporate rivals. With everything on the line, they race not just for victory, but for the chance to reclaim the dream of space exploration for everyone.

As promised in previous newsletters, I have (finally) completed and sent my Sci-Fi short story to everyone who has signed up as a Sci-Fi beta reader. If you are on that email list, please check that you have received your link from help@bookfunnel.com. You can tap the help link at the top of the book download page if you have any trouble downloading your copy. If you are not on my Sci-Fi beta reader list but you are interested, just reach out to me at author@ericpcaillibot.com.

Once I get everyone’s feedback, I plan to submit this story to the Writer’s of the Future contest by September 30, 2024. When I discovered the contest fifteen or so years ago, I thought up this story as a good candidate for submission. I started writing it, then moved on to other things. Finishing and submitting it once and for all became a life goal for me, so I’m excited to finally check this off list!

More Short Stories

Contrary to my focus on The Apollo Cup for the past several weeks, I don’t actually work on short stories much anymore. I’ll write the occasional character sketch or game summary for a tabletop RPG, but that’s usually it.

But like a lot of (most?) writers, I got started by writing short stories before getting into writing novels. As you might expect, a lot of my early work was terrible, but I’ve got a few that I’m quite fond of. You can check some of them out (for free) on my website (note that some of them are structured as a series of posts, so be sure to read them in order).

Writing Update

Now that I’ve finally completed The Apollo Cup, I’m moving back into editing mode on Contested Souls (Danse Macabre Book One). I’ve got a pile of feedback from my editor to go through and it’s time to dive in. Wish me luck!

That’s all for now!