Stories I Found
March 3rd, 2026
In the Deep Places of the Earth
Dear Readers,
I had another very full couple of weeks since the last news letter! Massachusetts has continued to be very snowy. Since I am on the church shovel crew, I have been doing a lot of shoveling. Additionally, Anchor Bay Church completed our first food drive for Montserrat College of Art’s student foodbank. The food was picked up this Thursday. The drive was very successful and we are looking to do another drive for them this fall. Work has been picking up as I had a meeting with a potential client on Friday that went very well.
Our quest for a new car continues. We fortunately know what we want to buy (a hybrid Honda CRV). Now begins the process of finding the right specific vehicle. Patience is the name of the game but I find the waiting hard.
On a more fun note, we got to attend a friends regular celebration of the Lunar New Year. It has was great to see old friends, meet new people, and make some extremely tasty dumplings.
I finished Chapter 21 this week! It feels very good to have this chapter done. Chapter 22 is now underway. I am realizing that as I am adding additional work tasks in as I develop my consulting clientele, that writing work has become less frequent. I hope to rectify this as I continue to develop better routines now that I am organizing my own schedule.
This Week’s Chapter
I did not originally write Chapter 13 with intention of penning my feelings related to the relentless pursuit of AI by the elite tech moguls of the United States. However, while I was editing the chapter, it became apparent to me that there are strong parallels between the behaviors of tech CEOs and Milyos.
Milyos ignores a real tangible crisis, the consequences of which will be explored in coming chapters, to pursue a grand lofty goal that may or may not come to fruition. Additionally, it is not clear if the actualization of Milyos’ great work would actually be a good thing. I will say no more on this for now, but know that it is on my mind.
There is also crucial fleshing out of Colthan’s relationships with Coraadrin, Myliayar, and Milyos. This is not the end of Coraadrin’s story. She has so much more to contribute to our story. Colthan loves to help his mother and since his home was at one time in Aientas’s heaven, he understands their plight. He has also seen the destruction that spirits can create on earth (remember the flame spirits in Chapter 11). Lastly, even if he is hurt by Milyos’ choices, Colthan deeply loves Milyos and knows how powerful he is. If only he made different choices.
Please feel free to share these newsletters with other people you think may be interested, and leave comments on the chapters!
“Now, after Silnethren left them to go to Mount Milmota, Coraadrin and Colthan returned to Irrkengrond as Coraadrin no longer possessed the strength to travel. When they arrived at the city, Colthan carried her through the gate. Atisha met them there with all her family that had survived the siege and the fever, and mother cradled her daughter so that she may rest in the home in which she was born. Milyos came and greeted his brother, placing at their discretion a great many mages skilled in healing to serve them. He granted his mages access to his own power contained within the Phial and they were able to sustain her for many months, but the god of magic did not again visit his brother, for he said that he must attend to his great works in the city. In this time, Coraadrin and Colthan shared many whispered conversations in that time and together they agreed to embrace Silnethren’s gift to them so that even in death, she might aid Colthan in the spreading of the healing arts. Likewise…”
Something Extra!
Well, I made it 13 newsletters in before using a 1 hour+ YouTube video for a something extra. That said here is a video that I find extremely helpful for thinking about AI. There is a lot of noise about the technology, and in the first half of the Video, Hank Green (The man in the thumbnail of the video), explains what about AI scares him and why. This is not why I think this video is important. The sconed half of the video is Hank having a conversation with Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown University. There conversation discusses the threats that AI poses, but more importantly, Cal provides insight into what can be done about these threats. I found the video very insightful and an excellent example of being measured when considering an extremely difficult topic.
