So I took a DNA test…

…and the results were really surprising!

Okay, the 99% European part was not surprising. As far as I can tell, all of my ancestors came to the United States from either the Czech lands, the British Isles, or Scandanavia. But the proportions are WAY different from what I was expecting!

My sister took the same test, and she came up with 25% Czech and only 33% Scandinavian. To be honest, this test made me question if we even have the same father! But our dad also took the test, and according to Ancestry.com, the probability that we are both descended from him is nearly 100%. But wow—I had no idea siblings could be so genetically different!

Another big surprise was the complete lack of any Irish genetics at all! Seriously, it’s like I got everything in Europe except Irish and Jewish (my father, by the way, has European Jewish in his results). I always thought my bright red beard was from my Irish ancestors, but I guess I’ve got more in common with this guy:

I’m still trying to work my mind around it.

From what I can tell, my Scandinavian ancestors—from whom I may derive more than half of my genetics—came in multiple waves. The earliest were probably among the Viking invaders who colonized Britain and set up the Danelaw. This would explain how I got only an 8% estimate from Great Britain when nearly a third of my first generation immigrant ancestors (give or take) came from there. A bunch of others probably came over in the Norman invasion with William the Conqueror.

That’s all just speculation, though. What I do know for certain is that at least 25% of my direct line ancestors came from Denmark and Sweden after converting to Mormonism. Maybe most of my genetic ancestry comes through them? I don’t know.

The other interesting part of the test results is the Genetic Communities tab. The Mormon Pioneers community is a no-brainer, but according to Ancestry.com, the genetic link to the Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia is actually stronger (40% confidence versus 20%). My sister didn’t even have that community in her results! I don’t think she had the Settlers of Middle Tennessee either.

From what I can tell, both of those communities come through my paternal grandmother, whose lines go waaaaaay back to before the Revolutionary War. Looks like my sister got the Czech genes from my Dad, while I got the early American ones.

There’s a lot of really really fascinating stuff to unpack here. Also, Ancestry.com has linked me to more than 900 other people who have taken their DNA test, all of whom are cousins!

The next step is to build a family tree on Ancestry.com to compare with the ones compiled by my cousins. This DNA-based collaboration could be really interesting, and potentially lead to some breakthroughs. Until now, I’ve primarily used Family Search for my research, which is basically a single cloud-based family tree that connects with everyone in the world, theoretically. However, my paternal grandmother’s lines on Family Search tend to become unreliable at around 1820 and before. It’s going to be a real project to clean all those lines up. Maybe Ancestry.com can help with that.

Cool stuff!

So! It’s been an eventful month. Hard to believe that June is over already. So much to do, so little time.

On Friday, I finally finished Patriots in Retreat. Needs a quick revision pass before it’s ready to be published, but that shouldn’t take more than a couple of days. For now, it’s on the back burner while I move on to the next book in the series, A Queen in Hiding. Should be a lot of fun.

I want to finish off these Sons of the Starfarers books quickly so I can move on to other projects, like Edenfall and the next Gunslingers book. The important thing right now is to build momentum. I want to be writing at least 2k words a day, which shouldn’t be too difficult to do, provided I guard my writing time from interruption.

There was a lot of life interruptions in the last couple of weeks. My truck’s transmission went the way of all the Earth, and I need to replace the catalytic converter as well. It’s almost worth it to buy a new one, but I already know the problems with this vehicle so it’s probably better to keep it. Definitely stressful, though.

My blogging experiment in June was actually a lot of fun. At the same time, engagement didn’t increase notably, so I think I’ll scale back to three or four posts a week, rather than posting daily.

Lots and lots of work on the publishing side of things. I’ve got a backlog of tasks that need my attention. Fortunately, they’re logged in such a way that I’ve been able to keep up with all the important and urgent stuff. The 4th of July vacation should be an excellent opportunity to catch up with the rest.

The deadline for my next WIP is July 29th. I’m going to need to double my daily output in order to hit it, but that’s a very doable goal. Just in case, I’ve given myself a two week buffer before starting the next one, but I’m going to do all I can to avoid going over it. Any extra time is for short stories, and there’s a bunch of them that I’ve been waiting to write.

That just about does it for now. Onward and upward!

WIP excerpt: Patriots in Retreat

The bulkheads hummed in the bowels of the Merope-7. Mara palmed open the door to the cryo deck and stepped inside.

Cryotanks stood in their slots around the edges of the room. Windows in the upper sections showed the faces of those who were frozen. Sergeant Pallas, his chin tilted upward, his eyes peacefully closed. He looked as if he were about to ascend into heaven, if there were such a place. Mara had her doubts. The other members of his commando team were similarly frozen, ready to be thawed at her command. While they all looked so peaceful, in truth they probably expected to pick up their guns and fight the moment they awoke.

As she looked at each of their faces, Mara wanted nothing more than to tell them the war was over. She imagined the looks of relief on their faces as she thanked each one of them for their service.

Of course, where they would go next was anyone’s guess. As she thought back to her time on the Aegis, she realized that Sergeant Pallas was more likely to meet the news with disappointment than relief. The others, she hadn’t served with long enough to know their reactions.

You would be disappointed, too, if the war had ended before you’d had your chance to avenge your father.

The thought stabbed her like a knife. She could still see the Imperial officer’s face the moment before she’d blown his brains out. The terror in his eyes, mixed with the sinking realization that he was already dead. She’d expected that moment to feel satisfying. Instead, she’d felt dead inside ever since.

And yet, if she could turn back the clock and end the war, preventing that awful moment from ever happening, she didn’t know that she would.

The door hissed open, and Mathusael stepped inside. “There you are. Been looking all over for you, Captain.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He put a broad hand on her shoulder. “Hey. What’s wrong?”

“When is this war going to be over?” When can I stop sending people to their deaths?

“Last I heard, there’s some intrigue on Gaia Nova that could shape up to be another coup. Who knows what the outcome will be, but the odds at Vulcana are three to one that the war ends within a standard year.”

“Come on. You and I both know that’s bullshit.”

Mathusael grinned. “As a betting man, I prefer to see it as an opportunity. It’s not like our pay is going to get any better.”

“Some would say that it’s enough just to win our liberty.”

“And you?”

She smirked. “I’d put the odds at four to one that we get out of this damn thing alive. What difference does it make when you’re dead?”

“And yet, here you are.”

To that, she didn’t have an answer.

She walked past the commandos to the last cryotank in the corner. The face on the other side of the glass wasn’t peaceful at all, but contorted in terror and pain. Aaron Deltana: drop-ship pilot on the Aegis and former captain of the Merope-7. Now, little more than a brain-fried vegetable. She’d frozen him in cryo in the hopes that they’d find some way to cure him. But now, that hope seemed as far-fetched as a swift and peaceful end to the war.

“There’s only three of us left from Delta Oriana,” she said in their native Deltan. “Four, if you count Isaac. God only knows what’s happened to him. And Aaron might as well be dead, so that leaves just you and me.”

“What are you saying?”

“Three to one, Mathusael. One of us is gonna go, and it sure as hell had better not be you.”

“Hey, Aaron’s not dead yet. Don’t give up on him.”

Mara laughed bitterly. “Well, if Aaron doesn’t count, that means we both go down together. That certainly seems more likely. And with Aaron’s luck, he’ll probably end up drifting in space for another thousand years until someone finally finds and rescues him. The last Deltan. Poetic, don’t you think?”

“Stop.”

“It won’t all be bad, of course. They may even be able to cure him. But when he realizes that all the rest of us are gone—”

“Stop,” Mathusael repeated. He wasn’t laughing. His frown was so deep, his thick black beard hid his mouth. Mara hadn’t realized how much her words had affected him.

“Sorry,” she said. “Ever since the war, I’ve been something of a pessimist.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“In all seriousness, when this war is over, do you think we’ll be able to cure him?”

Mathusael grunted. “It’s a wide universe, Mara. I’m sure there’s someone out there who can help him.”

“How can you be sure?”

He smiled. “How can you be so sure that there isn’t?”

Mara rolled her eyes at his non-answer. Then she realized it wasn’t a non-answer at all. He really meant it.

“I’m not sure of anything anymore,” she admitted. “All I know is that people are depending on me, even though my job is to send them to their deaths.”

“That’s not quite true. High Command makes the life and death decisions. Your job is to clean up their mistakes.”

“What’s the difference?”

His smile turned into a look of puzzlement. “There’s a huge difference. Your job is to help us live and find on, not to send us to our deaths.”

“Not when High Command says otherwise.”

“You should lose the pessimism, Mara. It isn’t doing you any favors.”

“On the contrary,” she retorted. “It’s an excellent defense mechanism. Pessimists are always right in the long run.”

“But they always get their timing wrong.”

She shrugged. “Why does that matter?”

“Because if all you do is wait for your world to end, you’ll never be able to change it.”

Mara stared at Aaron’s contorted face and pondered Mathusael’s words. He was right, of course. But then again, he didn’t face the same burden of command.

“We’ll be at Colkhia soon,” he said, breaking the silence.

She nodded. “That’ll make the crew happy. A short leave will be good for them.”

“Yes, it will.”

“How about your wife and children? Do you think you’ll hear from them?”

He chuckled. “If I do, it’ll probably be that she wants money or something. That, or some dashing young star wanderer has run off with her.”

“Who’s the pessimist now?”

“Hey, so long as she’s happy.”

The shipwide intercom switched on, with Apollo’s voice carrying through. “Attention all hands, we are making the final jump to Colkhia in five minutes. Captain and first officer to bridge.”

“Duty calls,” said Mathusael.

Mara nodded, making one last glance around the room. The men frozen in cryo were depending on her, as well as everyone else on the ship. Her decisions would determine whether they would live or die. If it was just herself, that wouldn’t be so hard. But to have the lives of so many others at stake—that was enough for her to envy the men under ice.

So for the last month, I’ve been blogging every day except Sundays. What do you guys think? I haven’t seen much of an uptick in views or comments, but I haven’t seen much of a decline either.

Also, what do you think of the stuff I’ve been blogging about? It’s all stuff that’s been on my mind lately, but not all of it is writing or book related. Should I tone it down a bit and focus more on books, or do you guys enjoy reading about that stuff too?

One thing I definitely need to do is engage with other bloggers. There’s a lot of blogs I follow, but I almost never comment on them (probably like many of you!) That’s something I could definitely do more of, and probably should.

I dunno. What do you guys think?