Hello my friends. No news on Tantalus Depths today, but I have another big announcement I’m thrilled to share with you. Family, the fourth anthology collection from Writing Bloc, is out today! Technically it came out yesterday, but I never do anything on time. In Family, twenty-one authors present stories exploring the idea of “family,” and all that represents. Some are heartwarming tales of compassion and togetherness, some explore the darkness of families where love is absent or twisted. Some are as familiar to you as the family dinner table, some show alien, fantastical worlds where familiar themes take new meaning in unfamiliar environments.Every story in Family has something interesting to say, and is a worthy read. Among them, you will find Empire of Salt, the newest addition to my Calling Void series. In Empire of Salt, Masuyo Kosawa, the aging CEO of the once mighty Ming-Kosawa corporation, reflects on the rise and fall of his company, the dark and desperate deeds that once made him the most powerful man in the universe, and the heavy costs that came with that power. My friend Kaytalin Platt was kind enough to do an interview with me on Empire of Salt for her website. If you’d like to learn more, check it out here, along with interviews with many of the other contributors to the Family anthology. Find Empire of Salt and twenty other brilliant tales in Family: A Writing Bloc Anthology, available here or anywhere books are sold.

Hello, friends! It’s update time! I have yet more exciting news for you today. First of all, I want to reveal a surprise project I’ve been working on. I have not one, but two story launches coming up in the next two months. In addition to Tantalus Depths, I’ve spent the past year working on another short story for the Writing Bloc Collective, for their upcoming FAMILY anthology: Empire of Salt. Like Tantalus Depths and my three previous short stories, Empire of Salt is set in the Calling Void universe, but in a place and time we have not yet seen explored. Set more than thirty years before Tantalus Depths on the toxic ocean world of Hayden, Empire of Salt tells the story of Masuyo Kosawa, formerly the wealthiest and most powerful man in history. Kosawa’s ruthless ambition helped him rise to unprecedented heights as the rest of the world reeled in the aftermath of the devastating Corsica Event. For years it seemed the Ming-Kosawa corporate monarchy could never be toppled. That is, until Exotech Industries changed everything. Empire of Salt is a tale of greed, sorrow, ambition, and futility, and is just one of the 21 brilliant stories you’ll be able to find in this excellent new anthology book from Writing Bloc. Look for FAMILY on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and most other retailers on April 19th, 2022. Empire of Salt delves deeper into the rich future history of the Calling Void universe, from the perspective of a man who lived through most of it. If you’re interested in learning more about the dark universe of Tantalus Depths, you don’t need to wait until April. I’m pleased to announce the first new lore file on my website: The Home System. We’ve already learned about Earth, but what about the rest of our solar system? When Exotech developed the superluminal drive, interplanetary colonization throughout our system went from prohibitively challenging to practically easy. The past few decades have seen a lot of growth throughout the system, and each world has a story to tell. Learn more about the vast terraforming operations on Venus and Mars, the tragic fate of the Shangxi lunar program, the perils faced by the Argos Mining Syndicate on Io, the revolutionary discovery of life on Europa, and much more in the newest edition to the Explore gallery on evangraham.org: The Home System.