Five Things on a Friday: Bye Week Blues

Happy Friday, friends.

There's no Army game this weekend, which is probably just as well because it's been several weeks since the team has looked good. I don't know if it's injuries that are accumulating, or if there's something else going on, but this year's edition of the Black Knights is the most disappointing since probably 2019, when Coach Monken took a pre-season Top 25 team 5-8. Even then, we knew why in hindsight, and the team still managed to take Michigan to overtime in the Big House. By contrast, this year has been an inexplicably confounding rollercoaster.

What can you do?

With the bye, I at least had the chance to work on my own stuff, and that's been nice. I'm now about 45K words into the third book in the Necropolis Saga, i.e. the Unmasked & Unchosen series, and I'm excited to finish it, though it'll probably take me two full months after the season ends.

Let's get into it.

Quick Writing Update

Army's bye this week was well-timed, at least for me. 

I'd have done things differently if the Black Knights had beaten Air Force this past weekend to set up a climactic showdown with the Mids for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy this December. Since they didn't, though, I went ahead and put the AFF Crew on a bye with the team. Rob and I shot College Football Roundtable on Tuesday, but we skipped the AFF Army Football Show since we didn't think anyone was burning to relive the loss, and we've only run one article this week, Omar's preview of this weekend's American Conference slate. 

That's given me a fair amount of time to work on my own stuff in the same week in which I had both the Veterans Day holiday and a previously scheduled rest week in the pool. I've been able to write most of two chapters since last Friday, breaking a logjam in the new story that's been in place since before football season started.

I feel pretty good about that.

5 Things on a Friday: A Good Week of Racing

I did a lot of racing this week, friends. I wrote about my little bike race on the Hudson Greenway earlier this week, but then yesterday, a guy in his late twenties or early thirties showed up at the YMCA, and well, I suppose you know me well enough to know what happened.

He picked up my set at the fourth of ten 100s on 1:30, and I had to go 1:12 and then 1:10 to stay ahead of him. But by then, friends, I am sorry to say that I thought I might hyperventillate. It's a shame because my mind and muscle memory knew exactly what I needed to do to hold serve, but my body just wasn't gonna let it happen. My man wound up taking reps six through ten, following something like explosive decompression on my part.

Actually, though, I'm proud of myself because I slowed to a strictly mortal 1:20 for rep six, then gradually picked it back up through the last three reps to finish at 1:14. That's solid swimming for a guy in his fifties and was not at all easy to do. It takes quite a bit of skill and experience to work through pacing like that, and I was happy with how it came out.

Anyway, our next and last heavy set was three 200s pull on 2:50, and I won those, which was nice. Pull puts a little less strain on the heart and lungs and a little more on sheer upper-body strength, and it's also more of a mid-distance thing, so at a certain level, I played to my strengths here. More than that, though, it was really nice to swim with somebody who pushed me. That does not happen every day.

So there you have it, friends. Let's get into this week's Five Things.

Cover sneak peek, early reviewer copies, and a huge favor!

I sent out a new Stratford City Press mailer yesterday. But I actually need you guys to read this thing, so I'm going to reprint it here.

Do me a favor and read this thing!

Why Do I Do These Things?

Channeling my inner Joe Abercrombie today to ask, “Why do I do these things?”

Riding up the Hudson Greenway yesterday, a guy jumps on my wheel and drafts for maybe a mile. I pulled over, so he could come around, but he just sat there, sucking my draft. Eventually, I pulled up and turned to see a guy about my own age, fully kitted out, riding a new-looking racing bike.

“Come on, guy. Really?” I ask. “I’m 53, riding a folding bike, wearing a backpack.”

Feeling Sad Today

While I realize that one should never show weakness, the truth is that I'm feeling sad today. This has led to one of these weeks in which I'm struggling to explain to myself why I do all this shit.

Five Things on a Friday: Pics with My Love

Busy week, friends. 

Sally and I had a really great weekend last week, to the point that letting it go this past Monday felt actively difficult. We managed, obviously, but this week quickly became long and perhaps a bit more challenging than was strictly necessary, even if it's been no worse than normal on anything like an objective basis. Nothing has gone wrong this week, and we're both doing well enough if not a little better than that. But we've also both been looking quite forward to this weekend since very early this past Monday morning, and that's a tough way to spend five long days.

Oh, by the way, happy Halloween. 

I can't say that I'm super into it, but both my kids are going out tomorrow, even Hannah down in Paraguay. That's good. They both work really hard and deserve to have some fun.

New Story Idea: The Singlestick (Working Title)

 I wrote about this a little on Twitter yesterday.

Had an idea for a story yesterday based loosely on the Catskills Stone Bridge Murders. Set in 1892 NY, it stars Thaddeus Winters, Blaine’s ancestor who will go on to lay the Diogenes Building’s cornerstone. Planned as a short story or novella. (1/3) https://t.co/8vfO6rNoa1

— Danno E. Cabeza (@DannoECabeza) October 28, 2026

Gun Girl Gracie

I printed the manuscript out for Sally. She doesn't mind reading my stuff -- and, in fact, she seems to really like this particular book -- but she won't read it on the screen. So here's what $75 will buy you at the local Staples, if you're wondering.

Hiking Pic with Sally

I put this up on Instagram, a fact I'm mentioning because I recently (reluctantly) switched my IG profile back to public. What can you do? We've got some books to sell.

That said, I like this pic, and I think it captures our personalities pretty well.

Pretty Good Weekend of College Football

 Army absolutely stole a win on the road at Tulsa, and it was totally incredible. I mean, don't get me wrong. All three phases matter, and you can absolutely lose a game on special teams if you boot it bad enough, but that's still a tough way to lose if you're the Golden Hurricane.

Five Things on a Friday: We're Using BookFunnel, Friends

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone. I hope you all had a decent week, but even if you didn't, it's Friday now. Wahoo!

The Black Knights have a monster game this week down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tonight. I mention it because I'm super-excited about it, obviously, but also because I was really happy with the work I did over at As For Football this week as well. With James out learning to fly a new airplane, I've had to do both the Preview and the Keys to Victory for the last two weeks, and I felt like this week's Preview in particular came out really well. Go check that out if you want to see the kind of writing that earned us a following back in the day.

With that out of the way, let's get into it.

Page-Chewing: "Why Do We Root for Villains?" with Danno E. Cabeza

 Of the interviews I've done recently to support The Return of Dr. Necropolis, this was probably my favorite just because we spent so much time actually talking about writing and the writing process. Normally, everybody wants to treat me like a straight-up sports guy. 

That's mostly fine, but it's hardly all that I am, nor is it necessarily the way that I think about myself. This interview offered a chance to show a different side of my personality and my life, and I felt really grateful for that.

If you're interested, I've embedded versions of the show from YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, depending on your platform of preference.