We are off to Fabulous and Brunette where I provide five example/excerpts as to why you should buy and read my books! I even manage to slip in a Battle Angel Alita reference! I’m so timely!
Tag: ideas
MachCiv Book Tour – Day 4
Apologies again for the delay. The hosting site was down and I cannot make complex additions to my blog from work. Please head over to Mythical Books wherein I discuss world-building.
MachCiv Book Tour – Day 3
Another author interview, this time at Rogue’s Angels.
MachCiv Book Tour – Day 1
Wherein we begin at Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters with a short Q&A.
[EDIT: in the ‘better never than late’ category, the host of today’s stop has been ill and was not able to post until just a little bit ago.]
Reflexions and Recollexions
Having made the decision that my next novel will be built around the 23k words I’ve already written for “Worlds Without End” (see sidebar or Menu, depending on how you’re viewing this), that means I’ve already an established location, Knoxville/Oak Ridge, established characters, the Hartmann’s and the Tohsaka Machines, a pre-existing relationship, Gary & Henge’s love for each other, a well as a sprinkling of tension, Gary’s sister’s, Faustina’s jealousy of the Machines and even mentally crippled Tracy.
I’ve even one plot arc: Pinocchio. Henge’s desire to manifest a human body and make children with Gary.
What I lack is opposition; an antagonist. I cannot use Faustina, as that is merely to replay “Cursed Hearts.” I’ve broadly hinted that there may be other Machine tribes, perhaps made in St. Petersburg and Milan, but I’ve not seen anything about them. Having made a page of notes on New Years Day that summed up to nothing at all, I tried letting my mind roam free these past few days. What I recalled was the significance of music in letting these stories unfold in my mind.
“The Fourth Law” and “Echoes of Family Lost” would have turned out very different, if at all, without my listening to the old ELO album, “Time.” Nightcore and Trance was the backdrop of my descent into madness for “Cursed Hearts.” Gary Numan’s “Down in the Park” and “Are Friends Electric?” were the direct cause of “Friend and Ally” and its sequel, “Foes and Rivals.”
At work and home, I’d been listening much to my Pandora J-pop station. As much as I enjoy it, I don’t speak Japanese, so no story-related ideas could come into my head. For now, I’m back to a little Nightcore, hoping to be shown something. This weekend, I’ll try pulling out some CDs and playing those, too. Oh. And if you think CDs are retro, I’ve cassettes and even vinyl in the basement; get off my lawn, whippersnapper!
Not sure what I can do over the next week; a week from today the big central Ohio animecon, Ohayocon, starts. Per normal, we’ve a hotel room and I’ve cosplay ready to go. Perhaps some notes between now and then? Afterward, I’m back into writing, with both feet. Ideally, I’d like the “WWE” manuscript to be complete by Easter.
If any of y’all have suggestions for an antagonist/antagonists, plot lines, music I should listen to, please comment away!
“Friend and Ally”
Sorry, again, for going dark: much DayJob and work on my books. In fact, I am very pleased to announce that Friend and Ally is now officially available!
I’ve the physical proof copy of its sequel, “Foes and Rivals,” as you can see below the fold, already in hand and about half re-edited. The usual minor mistakes and 1-2 formatting errors. The big part is that the ending is sub-optimal, so I’ll add a few paragraphs to the last chapter and about 100 words to the epilogue. Nonetheless, it will be out by Christmas!
What an amazing ride: in four years… five books, four of which are novels. What was I waiting for all these years? Thanks for everyone’s support!
Oath Breakers
I’m credibly informed they do not keep your breath fresh.
Less than 36 hours after my declaration that “I’m not writing anything new this year!”… I saw something.
No, I’m not writing anything new in November (he dessemulates); I’m far too busy for the Book Fair of the 17th and the release of “F&R” three weeks later!
But. I saw the cover of my next book. It’s bright to dark as you look right to left. You see the sides of four older teenagers: machine Henge, with her purple hair & gold eyes looks at her intended, human Gary with love. He returns that look, while back to back with his sister Faustina, with her dark hair & glittering turquoise eyes, as she looks to the figure in shadow on the cover’s left, tempting her to evil.
This is going to be seriously awesome. I’ve explored a little of this in my ‘Second Bridge’ and ‘Worlds Without End’ writing exercises, even noting at the time that Faustina needs her own novel…
That time is soon.
Fault Lies
I’m fully aware what a catastrophe the two “ending” posts of Foes & Rivals looked like: they looked like shit.
My objective that weekend was to make an end; and, just for Nichole, I managed a poor one.
Do Gil & Mac really…? What about Brunelli and Reilly? Is all hope lost? And what’s with Nike’s mystical bullshit?…
…are all questions I asked myself. And re-wrote, and addressed. Each book is a challenge to myself; F&R was borrowing from Larry Niven: how to destroy your own world? To a large degree, I met that challenge. And I’m never doing it again. I’ve no idea what – or who – comes next. But, no more misery.
NaNoWriMo 2018
Nope. Not me. Right around 2130 of Halloween, I send the third-pass edit of Foes & Rivals to my talented copyeditor, at the same time taking a vow I’d write nothing, original, in November.
I now turn to implementing her edits to Friend and Ally while she processes its sequel. I don’t think I’ll have F&A ready for the Local Authors Fair on 17 November… maybe “limited edition” proof copies? Like Niven’s first edition of Ringworld, where the Earth rotated in the wrong direxion.
Besides DayJob, Husband/FatherJob, and WriterJob of 173k words in 7 months, I am so, so tired.
Done2/2
I’ll make a first-pass edit of all this, this week, push it onto my talented copyeditor. In the mean time, I’ll finally get about implementing her changes for Friend and Ally and release that into the wild.
machciv 