tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21211536690111670702024-03-12T18:11:32.668-07:00Words, Words.... WordsThe musings and thoughts of M. Todd Gallowglas: storyteller, writer, imaginer. These posts hold no rhyme nor reason, sharing only the commonality of my observations of the world at any given moment.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-72002826406980271502012-12-07T13:52:00.000-08:002012-12-07T16:45:07.242-08:00This will be my last post on this blog.<br />
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I've got a shiny new website over at <a href="http://www.mtoddgallowglas.com/">http://www.mtoddgallowglas.com</a>.<br />
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I'm in the process of moving all the content here over there, with a bunch of new content as well. I hope you'll join me in my new home.<br />
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MTGAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-60417821692762143552012-11-26T09:32:00.003-08:002012-11-26T09:32:47.020-08:00Daily Rant - You Do Realize It's the Internet Don't You?It's that time again! Facebook had made some changes to it's ToS, and so people have started posting what they believe is copyright protection on their Timelines. I've seen about half-a-dozen of these over the weekend. Let me put this in plain terms:<div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><u>IT DOESN'T WORK!!!</u></i></b></span></div>
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Need proof:</div>
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<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/copyright-facebook-message-hoax-article-1.1208028">http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/copyright-facebook-message-hoax-article-1.1208028</a>
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<a href="http://mashable.com/2012/11/26/viral-privacy-notice-facebook/">http://mashable.com/2012/11/26/viral-privacy-notice-facebook/</a>
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<a href="http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacy.asp">http://www.snopes.com/computer/facebook/privacy.asp</a>
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I could find a few more articles on the subject, but I think that will do. You either get the point, or yo don't. If you don't, well, that's it's own special kind of delusional.</div>
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So now that the public service announcement portion of this blog post is done, allow me to get to the rant portion of this morning's program.</div>
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You people do realize this is the internet. You do realize that nothing you put up here is really truly safe? If you want to keep it completely yours, don't put it on the internet. What gets posted to teh interwebz stays on teh interwebz 4evAAARRRR!!!!</div>
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Well, maybe not literally, but it's safer just to assume that. Assume that it can (and probably will) get out someday. Don't believe me? Ask a certain general about some emails he traded with some chick? And those are private emails. Several high-profile celebrities and corporations have made some serious social media plunders this year, and despite taking those tweets and Facebook posts down, they still exist on the internet to plague the companies. Get some of the best here:</div>
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<a href="http://mashable.com/2012/11/25/social-media-business-disasters-2012/">http://mashable.com/2012/11/25/social-media-business-disasters-2012/</a>
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So the whole point is: if you don't want whatever it is you think you're protecting to get out there: DON'T POST IT ON THE GORRAM INTERNET! Just don't. That simple. Once it's up there, assume that it's up there for good and that anyone and everyone has a shot at taking it and using it for their own nefarious purposes. Hell, I'm a writer who makes most of his income via eBook sales. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there are some pirated copies of my books out there - not a lot, because I'm not that big yet, but they're out there. I even know for a fact that some people I know have pirated copies of my work. (It's amazing what people talk about late at night at Renaissance Faires when they're drunk and don't know who is standing behind them in the dark.) Am I pissed? Yes! Is that going to make me not do business on the internet any more? No. I'm not stranger to people stealing my work, as I recounted in my previous post: "<a href="http://mgallowglas.blogspot.com/2012/04/burning-in-hell-and-other-well-wishes.html" target="_blank">Burning in Hell and Other Well Wishes</a>." In essence, putting something out in public means you run the risk of having it stolen. If you don't want it stolen, don't put it out there. Plain. Simple. Straight forward.</div>
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Also: Read the Terms of Service. No amount of posts or arguing after the fact (short of a class action legal victory) is going to protect you once you agree to Facebook's, Twitter's, Amazon's, or anyone else's ToS and UELA. So, yeah, read what you're agreeing to. Plain. Simple. Straight forward.</div>
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Realizing these two simple things: the internet is not safe and you should read the fine print (Gasp! What concept!) will save you a lot of heartache later.</div>
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/endrant</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-36444078503872861752012-11-23T12:34:00.001-08:002012-11-23T12:34:25.512-08:00In Defense of Kindle (and other eReaders)Talk to any group of voracious readers, and eventually the topic of electronic reading devices is going to come up. Several times at science fiction conventions and Renaissance Faires I've been involved in some discussions and arguments that have made me think, <i>Can we please talk about something less volatile, like the 2012 Presidential Campaign.</i> Yeah, people can get pretty heated, and in most cases, it's the people who believe that eReaders are the most recent blasphemy sent to earth by whichever embodiment of evil their spiritual path happens to believe in.<br />
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Even legendary science fiction author, Ray Bradbury had this to say when asked about Kindle and other eReaders:<i> "Those aren't books</i>.<i>"</i><br />
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Ouch. Really ouch.<br />
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Ray Bradbury was one of my early writing heroes. And while I don't hold him on the same pedestal I used to, I still respect him as a pioneer of genre fiction and as a brilliant writer. This particular quote hurt me a bit, as I make a decent part of my living selling eBooks for the Amazon Kindle. To have one of the greats tell me that they aren't real books hurt a lot.<br />
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Then, later that same week, I had a parent-teacher conference with the teacher of my eleven-year-old son. For those of you who follow my Twitter stream, Mathew has been the source of #TenYearOldWisdome and #ElevenYearOldWisdom. The teacher showed us an argumentative essay Mathew had to write for class. The title is "Kindles at School."<br />
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For those of you who can't quite make out the image, allow me to transcribe it. <span style="text-align: left;">(To maintain the authenticity, I have </span><span style="text-align: left;">transcribed</span><span style="text-align: left;"> the paragraph without edits.)</span><br />
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Kindles at School</div>
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I think that they should let Kindle at school! Don't you? Just think of it we can just download books right After we finish one! Also we could get a lot smarter! And then we'll get good grades! Good grade means good caleges! SO Who's with me!!!!?</div>
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So, there you have it. A child's reasoning for why we should let Kindles in school. I won't go into how many times he's downloaded a book without permission, but it's hard to get really mad at him for just wanting to read.</div>
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Mathew loves to read. He loves to read physical, old-school books. He loves to read on his mother's Kindle Fire. He wears the battery down more than she does.</div>
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This to me settles the argument. Why do we have to worry about which is better? Why do we have to worry about the whole eReader thing all together. People are reading. More importantly, kids are reading and loving it. If technology can provide a means by which we can encourage our youth to love books and stories again, we shouldn't be discussing whether or not it's "legitimate" or "wrong" or anything else. We should be discussing how we get these things (Especially Kindles) in the hand of more young readers. Why Kindles specifically? Because even if readers don't have the money to buy new books, or time to get to a library safely, they can always get books for their Kindles. Not counting classic books which are always, I repeat ALWAYS, free, there are on average 3,000 books being offered for free per day, across all book lists. No muss, no fuss, easily downloadable with the click of a button over Amazon's Whispernet.</div>
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This is really the reason I support the eBook revolution. Yeah, I may be living the dream of being a professional writer, but that's secondary to my kid coming up to his mother or myself, holding out the Kindle Fire as if it was some sacred relic, and asked, "I just finished my book. Can I get the next one?"</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-52729118784939440472012-11-19T11:26:00.000-08:002012-11-19T11:26:26.124-08:00Daily Rant - Book CatagoriesI was just checking out some stuff on Facebook and I saw a post by GalleyCat about "New Adult Fiction." I've provided a link, because I don't really want to go into an explanation on this new marketing category. Skim it over. That's all you need to grasp the concept of this "New Adult" fiction.<div>
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<a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/what-is-new-adult-fiction_b61036">http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/what-is-new-adult-fiction_b61036</a>
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Really?</div>
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I mean...REALLY?</div>
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Must we really break everything down into the smallest possible marketing bracket we can possibly conceive of?</div>
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Yeah, I get it... Thanks to the eBook and self-publishing revolution, we've got more books being published than ever before, but do we really need to have an entire marketing niche targeted at twentysomethings? </div>
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I can sort of understand differentiating between Young Adult and Middle Grade. The maturity level of those two groups of readers is a little different.... Now that I think about it, shouldn't this "New Adult" catagory really be Young Adult and today's current "Young Adult" should probably be called Teen? Let's face it, today's YA market is really focused at teenagers, who aren't really young adults, because they are NOT adults...BUT of course we CAN'T call them teen readers or anything like that, because, god forbid we remind that particular demographic that they are still legally children...oh no... not that...must spare their feeleings and empower them...blah...blah...</div>
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Okay. I need to stop on that particular rant or I'm going to throw my laptop across the Starbucks.</div>
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Onto "New Adult" readers. This classification pisses me off even more than "Young Adult." </div>
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"Hey Gallowglas," you might be saying, "why are you so worked up about this? It's just about where to put books on the shelves or organize them on Amazon."</div>
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Only, it's not. Not really. As business and marketing always does, it conforms to reflect the attitudes of society in order to reach people and make as much money as possible. This is kind of indicative of a how we, as a society and culture view the transition from adolescence into adult hood. Allow me to explain this by looking at this "New Adult" thing in one of two ways:</div>
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First, it can be take like this: as a teen, you were a young adult, and now that you survived high school, and likely some college, you've managed to claw your way into a job, you don't get to be a full adult yet. You're a <i>new</i> adult. You've gotta earn your stripes and pay your dues before we consider you responsible and intelligent enough to be a real adult. Come talk to us when you're thirty.</div>
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On the other side of that coin, we could look at it like this: No, you don't have step up and be a responsible adult, because let's face it, you're just a <i>new</i> adult. We'll give you all the time you need to figure this "adult" thing out, don't stress on stepping up and pulling your weight in this social experiment we call a society, because you're <i>new</i>, everyone should get a decade of slack. Once you reach thirty, we'll talk to you again and see how you feel about things.</div>
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So, yeah. Not a fan of the further breakdown of literary categories and what that's saying about our society. Where should we place books like, <i>Catcher in the Rye, The Hobbit</i>, the first three <i>Harry Potter</i> books as apposed to the last three <i>Harry Potter</i> books (the fourth being this really weird bridge between the styles of the early and later books), and I could go on but you get the point.</div>
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I think the biggest thing that bugs me about this is that we're readers. Most of who read books are pretty bright people. (Readers of <i>Twilight,</i> <i>Fifty Shades of Gray</i>, and <i>Dan Brown</i> aside.) For the better part of the Twentieth Century, we were pretty adept at navigating books stores and libraries to find stuff to read. Really, we did. In a lot of ways this constant redefining of book categories makes it harder to find stuff, because it pigeon-holes so many books that someone might be interested in reading into categories that might very well turn that particular reader off. For example, I'm pretty sure I've missed out on some terrific reads because I don't really delve into this whole YA thing. I'm sure the same will be true of books in the "New Adult" market.</div>
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I guess what I'm really trying to say is: Publishing industry! We're adults and smart enough to find books we like to read on our own. In fact, that's part of the fun of being a voracious reader. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. </div>
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K thnx buh by.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-39984734341721640592012-10-11T16:51:00.000-07:002012-10-11T16:51:47.255-07:00All Empty - Channeled Optimism Anyone who knows me as only an acquaintance from one of my various might be surprised to to find out I consider myself an optimist. Heck even some of the people who know me only from my online presence might agree with them. I generally present myself as sarcastic, skeptical, and with zero tolerance for suffering fools. Okay...so I'll admit, that's not really a "presentation" as much as it is who I really am. I'm also curmudgeonly, brash, abrasive, and if truth be told, having a zero tolerance for suffering fools is like saying old-school <i>Star War</i>s thought Jar Jar Binks was a little silly.<div>
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So where does the optimism come in?</div>
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We'll, it's in that part of me that writes and seeks to write on a professional level to the point where my family is not only comfortable, but that my income will be such that my kids don't have to touch a dime of student loans for their higher education. See, I don't just want this; it's not some passing fancy; I <i>BELIEVE</i> with the firmest conviction that this will come to pass. That is optimism in the truest sense of the word.</div>
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The world of publishing does not look kindly on fiction writers. It is a Darwinian jungle where survival of the fittest doesn't even come close to being an accurate description. The food chain out there in publishing land is a constantly changing food chain where yesterday's apex predictor is today's carrion for the hyenas and vultures. And that's just if you're looking at traditional publishing. I'm one of those naive, starry-eyed dreamers who dove into the sea serpent infested waters of the Indie book revolution. Being a part of that world is a wake up call to the nature of publishing.</div>
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Because I'm my own publisher, I can log into my profile in Amazon's KDP, or Kindle Direct Publishing, any time I want and check my sales numbers. (Yeah, so I do it a lot...like really a lot...chain smokers got nothing on me...but that's a blog post for another day...) So, I can see just how much I am...or more to the point...am not selling at any moment. Yeah, that's a kick in the teeth...over, and over, and over again. Those numbers don't care about how I feel. They just stare back at me, giving me an up-to-the-moment dose of harsh reality.</div>
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And yet I keep plugging away, promoting myself, tweet by tweet, blog post by blog post, struggling to keep up with market changes, all while figuring out how to scrape together some time to get that next book written. Everyday the world reminds me why it is that so many writers, especially Indie writers, don't make it. On the lucky days, I'm just getting my teeth kicked in. Sometimes, it's just a swift ball-peen hammer to the groin. </div>
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Here's a sobering statistic: Last year about this time, the average eBook sold four copies a month. I'm sure it's much lower than that now. That number was taking into account writers like J.K. Rowling, George RR Martin, Neil Gaiman, and even breakout Indie writers such as John Locke and Amanda Hawking. Think of all copies of <i>A Dance with Dragons</i> George RR Martin sells per month to maintain a foothold in the top 100 books sold in the Kindle store...and that's just one book. Now, think of all the books that don't sell any thing for the average to be four.</div>
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Yeah, that's a sobering thought.</div>
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And still, I persevere. I keep going. Failure is not an option. To succeed in this game, you can't be a half-empty kind of person. Hell, you can't even be a half-full kind of person. You need to be the kind of person who takes a look at that glass that has 50% of its volume containing liquid and 50% of its volume containing air, take a good long look at it, then grab that glass, power slam however much that 50% of it that's liquid is, slam that glass down on the bar top, look that bartender right in the eye, and say, "The glass is <i>all empty</i>! Give me another, only make it a double."<div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-14307097448879561172012-10-08T23:39:00.000-07:002012-10-08T23:39:14.562-07:00Daily Rant - A Statute of Limitations Over on my official writer/storyteller page on Facebook (<a href="http://facebook.com/bardscloak">http://facebook.com/bardscloak</a>) I have this thing I do every once in a while I call a "Daily Rant." The "daily" part of that is a misnomer, as they don't come every day; however, the "rant" portion of the title is pretty much 100% accurate. I post one whenever I see or experience some portion of the human behavior that pisses me off to the point I need to rant and rave over it. I decided to post them here, so everyone on all my social media can enjoy them.<br />
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I can't wait to see the flack I get for this one!<br />
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It's Columbus Day. Can we please chill the ever-loving hell out? Oh wait...it's the internet, and something's going on...of course we have to give something grief. Isn't that like one of the first requirements to even be considered for the troll of the month club?<br />
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Here are some of my personal favorite posts I've read on the internet about today's holiday:<br />
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<i>"Columbus was a fucking idiot...the faggot couldn't even find China."</i><br />
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<i>"Is celebrating Columbus Day in America like celebrating George W. Bush Day in Iraq?"</i><br />
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<i>"My kids asked me to explain Columbus Day so I went in their room, told them now it was mine, ruined their stuff and threw them outside."</i><br />
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<i>"The moral of Columbus Day is if you're looking for gold kill everything that gets in your way."</i><br />
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<i>"Columbus as an inner-city youth: 'Well, your honor... I was out exploring the fire escape when I discovered this elderly couple's apartment. So I planted a flag in their living room and all their belongings became mine. When they returned they acted like a couple of savages, so I had to shoot them.'"</i><br />
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Now, I'm not going to go into an in-depth discussion about the historical accuracy of any of these claims. It's been so long, and so much distortion has taken place over centuries, that making any claims to Mr. Columbus's character or true motivations is pretty pointless, aside from the fact that he was trying to find a new trade route to Asia. That's it.<br />
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As for all the crappy stuff that's happened in North and South America in the last 500+ years...well, I'm pretty sure home boy has been dead for most of it. In fact, I'd put a healthy amount of money on it. Any takers? And really...if you have even a drop of European genetics floating around in your body, and you live ANYWHERE in the Western Hemispere... SHUT THE HELL UP! You have no room to say a goddamn thing! Because, here's a secret: You're living pretty off the exploits of one Mr. Christopher Columbus.<br />
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With everything going on in the world, you seriously have nothing better to bitch about? With all the screwed up things humanity has done to each other over the years, that's what you have to complain about. Oh...wait...it's about it being a holiday where some dude did something bad to a bunch of other dudes...and now we gotta get on our moral high horse about it. Cool...I supposed I can get behind that...but wait...then why aren't people on their moral high horses about St. Patrick's day? Talk about a first rate bastard. That homeboy went to Ireland specifically to wipe out the indigenous religion of Ireland... Oh, wait... I guess it's okay when one white dude does it to other white dudes.<br />
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I could go on, and on, and on... Pretty much any holiday has something that we can poke at in it's history, except for those ones we make up just for fun, like last month when we had International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Because, we all know pirates were all like lovable Jack Sparrow and Will Turner.... No really!<br />
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The point is, maybe exercise some critical thinking skills and understand that just because a lot of craptastic stuff happened because of Columbus, a lot of cool stuff did too, but the man himself probably didn't do or even plan any of the stuff people are giving him flack over today. If you want to rant and bitch about something, there's a lot more going on in the world that's actually relevant to our lives that we actually have a shot in hell at affecting the outcome over. But then, I guess if people started bitching about those, someone might come along as say, "Well, if that pisses you off so much, why don't you do something about it." I guess Columbus is a safe target, and award for troll of the month is still up for grabs.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-31433928009203395822012-10-01T23:49:00.001-07:002012-10-01T23:49:08.028-07:00Overcoming Obstacles Last Saturday, the 29th of September, I participated in an event called <a href="http://toughmudder.com/" target="_blank">Tough Mudder.</a> This event takes place all over the world as a fundraiser for the <a href="http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/" target="_blank">Wounded Warrior Project</a>. It's a ten to eleven mile course with twenty-five obstacles designed by British Special Forces. To get an overview of what this event entails, I've linked their promo video.<br />
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Well, after jumping into cold water, mud, more cold water, more mud, crawling through dark tunnels, getting shocked by electric wires, and hiking and jogging up and down some pretty steep and gravelly hills, I completed the whole thing with two of my friends. You see, it's nearly impossible to complete Tough Mudder on your own. Due to the mental and physical challenge of most of the obstacles, most individuals can't complete them alone. In some places, our team of three wasn't enough, but we got help from our fellow Mudders. I'm proud of myself and my team for making it through. At the end of the day, wearing the bright orange headband they gave me at the finish line and drinking the best beer I've had in my life, I felt a sense of accomplishment paralleled by two other experiences in my life: Watching my son being born and hitting the top ten in an Amazon bestseller list.<br />
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On the way home, my mind flittering about in an exhausted stream of consciousness that would have done Faulkner proud, I realized that the Darwinian struggle of survival in the self-publishing/Indie writer food chain is kind of like running Tough Mudder - only on a longer time frame and it requires a much broader skill set if you're going to try and go it alone. Just like being and Indie writer, it's possible to succeed as an individual going through a Tough Mudder course; However, you're much more likely to have a rewarding experience as part of a team - even if it's just for moral support.<br />
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For example, one of the obstacles is called "Walk the Plank." You climb a fifteen foot wall to a platform, then jump off the platform into muddy waters. The platform is big enough and sturdy enough to hold about fifty people at a time. One girl near me on the platform was flipping out about the jump. She was going to back out, climb back down the wall, and not jump in the water. Part of the Tough Mudder pledge is, "I will help my fellow mudders complete the course." The girl was not part of my team, but she was a fellow mudder. I stopped her, saying something like, "Naw, you can do it, it's easy. Only a couple of feet down. Just one step off, you'll be done in no time." At which point, I launched myself off the edge. As I was climbing the rope net out of the water, I saw her swimming up behind me. She gave me a big hug, thanked me, and told me I was awesome. For those of you who aren't writers, there are a lot of moments for us that hold the same kind of fear as events like these. In times like those, when that fear grips our chest with an ice cold dread, we think, "Why did I ever think I could actually make anything with this writing stuff?" we need the same kind of moral support from someone playing the game as we are, someone who <i>knows.</i><br />
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I've been a part of several teams in the Indie writer game. My current team is a little group of writers I put together called the <a href="http://www.genreunderground.com/" target="_blank">Genre Underground</a>. Like my Tough Mudder team, it's small, but we're strong and growing. We've had some obstacles, but that's how it is with any goal worth achieving. We'll always have stumbling blocks, just like with Tough Mudder; because, even when its over, it's not really over. You see, my family is moving right now. So, the morning after I returned from my physically, mentally, and emotionally draining day on Saturday, I was schlepping boxes and furniture from the old house to the new. When you hit a milestone in writing, it's never over. There's the next book to write, the next blog tour to arrange and carry out, or the next one star review to get over.<br />
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The biggest thing stumbling block that we've come across is with our mission statement, which I think is a good one: "Fitting the right book with the right reader. Dedicated to finding you the very best Indie and small-press science fiction, fantasy, and horror." My goal with the Genre Underground is to create a community as supportive and dedicated to the success of quality Indie and small-press genre fiction as the founding members of the Genre Underground. <br />
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Here's the catch. One of the other parts of the Tough Mudder pledge is, "I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time." I'll be the first one to tell you I love to sell my books. I want to make my living as a writer, and I do a lot of promoting my books outside of the Genre Underground, and yes, I founded the Genre Underground to help promote my books in a round about way. BUT, more to the point, I felt that readers needed somewhere to go to find the quality writing going on in science fiction, fantasy, and horror that's not coming from the big traditional publishing houses in New York. I write genre fiction because I'm a genre fiction reader and fan. I'm more interested in the Genre Underground becoming a community of readers, whether or not some of them also happen to be writers, interested in discussing quality writing going on in the Indie genre scene. I'm fairly certain that I can say the same for the other Genre Underground writers. There's some good, really good, fantastically great, like holy-crap-why-isn't-this-writer-better-known great books out there. We all want to know about them.<br />
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So, to help plant he seed of this community I hope the Genre Underground will grow into, we're having an event throughout the month of October on the <a href="http://www.genreunderground.com/" target="_blank">Genre Underground website</a>. It's a little something we're calling Trick AND Treat. We're getting a bunch of Indie and small-press writers - some Genre Underground, some not - to do a blog swap at the end of the month, with a Halloween twist: We're not going to tell you who is swapping blogs with who. Part of the fun is you guessing. The treats come with the prizes from each writer, with a massive GRAND PRIZE going to be person who has the most correct guesses. We don't have all the prizes solidified quite yet, but there's something for everyone, readers and writers alike, including a book distribution package from <a href="http://www.bookbaby.com/services/ebook-publishing" target="_blank">Bookbaby</a> and a Kindle Fire.<br />
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Trick AND Treat is going to be loads of fun, with tons of great blog posts by a bunch of great writers, great prizes, and above all, great new books for readers to discover. Keep checking back at the <a href="http://www.genreunderground.com/" target="_blank">Genre Underground website</a> for further details, we'll be updating everything almost daily throughout the month of October. It may be a bumpy road at first, hell, maybe all month long, but it's going to be an adventurous bumpy road full of stories we'll tell later about how crazy we all are. Whether you're a reader or a writer, Come be part of the adventure now, rather than hear about it later!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-3043127020550473142012-09-07T09:39:00.001-07:002012-09-07T09:39:56.098-07:00National Buy a Book DayThis is a holiday I can get behind. Well...I can get behind most holidays, but I'm particularly fond of this one. Encouraging people to go out and get a book is a really cool idea! <div>
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At first this might seem like just one more "commercial" holiday, but rest assured, it is not. Yeah, you gotta go buy a book, but really, in the grand scheme, that's not really a big deal. Between used book stores, discount tables, and the low cost of many ebooks by Indie authors, getting a book won't really break you. </div>
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Here's the official statement from <a href="http://www.buyabookday.org/">http://www.buyabookday.org/</a>:</div>
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The National Buy a Book Day Foundation's primary activity is educating the American people on the importance of books to our culture and community by encouraging citizens to go to any bookstore on September 7th of each year, which we hope to establish as National Buy a Book Day, and buy a book. By buying a book, as a community, every year on the same day, we come together in support of books, booksellers, authors, and publishers alike. This is the exclusive goal of the organization, and it is funded entirely from public and corporate donations.</blockquote>
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How cool is that?</div>
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So, it doesn't matter if you get it online or in a brick and mortar store, just get out there and get a book. Maybe you decide to check out a book by that writer you've been hearing about or discover someone absolutely new. Take your kid to a bookstore as a special treat after school! That's what I'm doing!</div>
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As a writer and publisher of my own works, I understand how much effort goes into producing a single book. It's a pain in the butt. I can't imagine trying to juggle the insane amount of books a publishing house puts out. Let's celebrate the wonder of books together, because really, they are magical things that take us to worlds previously undreamed of and allow us to know the thoughts of great men from centuries past.</div>
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Go thou forth! Buy a book! Then...maybe...just maybe...read it!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-39277980966270328142012-09-05T06:37:00.000-07:002012-09-05T06:37:53.785-07:00World Con Wrap UpI just back from Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention.<br />
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First off, for all those people keeping up with <i>SPELLPUNK</i>, I apologize for missing last Friday and Monday. I got really wrapped up in the whirlwind that was World Con. I'll be making it up to you this Friday, by posting three chapters to catch up.<br />
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Back what I came here to talk about. WorldCon. This was my first World Con as a "Pro." I was excited and terrified all at the same time. Here is a random sampling of my thoughts and experiences while there.<br />
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I believe I was one of two strictly Indie writers on programming at the convention. The other was Hugh Howely, author of the <i>WOOL </i>series. I've read the first two, and so far, I'm enjoying them very, very much. If there were any other Indie authors at the convention, I either missed them by being completely obtuse, or they were being very very quiet. I had the chance to speak with Hugh several times, he is a charming, gracious man and I very much look forward to getting to know him better over the years. I haven't read any of his work outside of <i>WOOL</i>, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he is the first Indie author nominated for a Hugo award. I gave Hugh this prediction, and he blinked disbelievingly. So, for the record, I'm going out here and saying it: I believe Hugh Howley is going to be the first Indie writer Nominated for a Hugo, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens next year. Even if doesn't happen next year, it'll happen sometime. I called it first.<br />
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Speaking of Indie books and writers, the tone of the conversation surrounding the Indie book revolution has changed drastically from last year. I'll sum it up with one anecdote. Last year, I asked a senior editor at a very high profile publishing house what he thought of the Indie book "thing." He went on for some time about how it wasn't "Indie" that it was self-publishing, about what publishing really was, and how very bad it could be for a writer's career. Blah, blah. DOOOM! gloom... all that sort of thing. Now, fast forward a year. Same editor. I thanked this editor for that conversation, because I am honestly grateful for the conversation, as it rewired part of my brain and how I thought about my career. Because of it, I changed the way I approached my books and writing to the point where I now have five ebooks on Amazon bestseller lists. I told the editor this, and maybe it was a little spiteful, and I take a bit of pride in the fact that I'm outselling a few of the authors in his house. He said, "Well there's nothing wrong with self-publishing your books." What a turn around from last year. All across the board, the tone of this conversation has changed. I like the change. I even heard whispers and rumors that SFWA understands that it's going to have to change the way that defines the term "professional."<br />
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The fans are accepting us, or at least, they are accepting me in small numbers. Despite being up against Pat Rothfuss (you know, that <i>Name of the Wind </i>guy), I actually had quite a nice turn out for my reading. More that half the people who showed up weren't friends of mine. We had a grand time, I gave some books away, sold a few more. Had some people come by my signing, which was awesome. Okay, so I told people that I'd only sign there books if they came to my signing just so I didn't feel terrible about myself sitting alone next to Mike Resnick, the guest of honor. And it worked. Even had some people come to my signing and buy some books from me.<br />
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I'd like to thank a handful of pros for being massively cool and welcoming me with open arms into the "cool kids club." Kat Richardson, writer of the <i>Greywalker </i>series. Jennifer Brozek, author and editor. Jim Minz, editor at Baen. Jeremy Lassen, the Nightshade books guy. David Brin, who stated again how proud he was of me. Finally, Howard Taylor, creator, artist and writer of <i>Schlock Mercenary</i>, a web comic that's been nominated for the Hugo six or seven times. He is also one of the voices on <i>Writing Excuses</i>, a podcast about writing by four very talented people. Howard and his crew of minions (the minions call themselves this) welcomed me into their little community right from the start. We joked and talked here and there throughout the weekend, and the camaraderie I felt with them really helped to make this my best World Con to date.<br />
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I hung out with some old friends and made new ones. I talked about the truth of Indie publishing from the perspective of someone making something of himself in Indie publishing. Turned few minds around to take a look at it from a publishing perspective. Turned a few people away from it as a publishing option, because I felt that Indie was not the right road for them to try. It's not for everyone people. It's probably not even really for me outside the fact that I'm too darn stubborn to let it not work out. The dancing thing passed me over already. I can only go so far from the storytelling. And I'm pretty sure I can't turn playing Airsoft into a legitimate career. So...writing is it. Failure is not an option.<br />
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As a side note, Amazon just sent me one of it's many "we recommend these books" for you emails. Here are first four books they recommended:<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008P8DE0C">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008P8DE0C</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005XJ0V7A">http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005XJ0V7A</a></li>
</ul>
Oh, irony... How do I love thee.<br />
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So, yeah, things are going well. WorldCon was awesome on pretty much all levels.<br />
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One final note, though she may never read my blog, thanks to Bobbie, the programming director for having me on Chicon7's program. She took a risk on an Indie writer with very little street cred and let him have a voice. Thank you, Bobbie. You helped jump start my career and confidence in my work more than you'll ever know. Thank you.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-44829584100894925332012-08-28T18:52:00.000-07:002012-08-28T18:52:00.647-07:00Brevity Is...Many things, but in this case I'm specifically speaking about short fiction.<br />
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I both am and am not a short story guy.<br />
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I appreciate the short story as a form for several reasons. For one, the short story is the back bone of science fiction and fantasy. If not for the short fiction pulp magazines in the early part of the 20th century, genre fiction as we know it today would not exist. I also acknowledge that while learning to write, the short story will teach the hopeful writer so much more about the crafting of great fiction than writing novels will.<br />
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On the other hand, I don't do well working in the short story format. My brain tends to go too big. I think on an epic scale. The book I'm working on now, <i>SPELLPUNK</i>, started as a short story and blew up into nearly 200,000 words for the first draft. Confining my writing is one of the biggest challenges I face. When other students were arguing to be able to write essays with a smaller word count, I was begging my teachers to let me go over as much as possible, usually by at least a thousand words. I have a few short pieces, and even a short fiction collection available only at my storytelling shows at Renaissance Faires. Ironically, my short story "The Half Faced Man" received an honorable mention for the Writers of the Future contest and is probably the work I'm most proud of.<br />
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I love reading short stories. I have few greater reading pleasure than to lose myself in a completely contained work that lingers with me. Yeah, the lives of the characters go on, but that one snapshot of their lives is complete and satisfying. I wish I could to it well more often.<br />
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A writer friend of mine, Frances Pauli, who does really well with her short fiction, is giving away coupons for her short story collection <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/215603" target="_blank"><i>A Little Short For An Alien</i> </a>over on smashwords. There's a catch. Leave a comment below with your email address, or head over to her blog, <a href="http://francespauli.blogspot.com/">http://francespauli.blogspot.com/</a> and see what she has to say about short stories, and leave a comment there. She'll email you the coupon for her book, and you can sit back and enjoy the form of fiction that launched our genres.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-81850835101712977612012-08-06T23:30:00.002-07:002012-08-06T23:30:16.953-07:00The SPELLPUNK experiment!I've been working on <i>SPELLPUNK</i> off and on for the last twenty or so years. It's odd that with all the changes and mutatations I've taken it through, it's still roughly the same thing I started with. Yes, it's gone from third person to first person narration and back again. It started on an alternate earth where people went once they discovered their magical abilities, to a completely different world, to essentially our world with a twist. I added gods and spirits and took them out again. Several characters got sex changes. The main character got a name change and a little change in his back story, depending on which change I made to where the <i>SPELLPUNK </i>world actually was. However, with all these changes so much has stayed the same. I won't give too much away, because we're only in Chapter 3 in the "Sample" section of the blog. Just know that I've been working on this particular piece for a very long time. Currently, "Jaludin's Road" is the only piece of mine that's had a longer, and even greater level of modification than <i>SPELLPUNK</i>.<br />
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This story is one that I've truly felt compelled to tell. I came upon many moments in <i>Tears of Rage</i> when I could have easily tossed in the towel, walked away, and not looked back. A couple of times I was close. The closest when I was 1,400 pages into the original manuscript and wasn't even within spitting distance of an ending - that was back when I thought all that I'd written was all part of "book one." I've walked away several novel projects I've started (and won't name or go into details on). <i>SPELLPUNK</i> is different. I've gone years without touching it, as in physically working on it, but it's never been far from my mind. It's been back there in the corners percolating, whispering, and sometimes screaming at me, "Write this scene now!"<br />
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So, here we are, getting the great <i>SPELLPUNK</i> experiment going.<br />
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What is it, you ask?<br />
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It's an ambitious and risky project - one that I hope will pay off. If you've been paying attention to this blog for the past few weeks, I'm sure you've noticed that I've posted a few chapters of <i>SPELLPUNK</i>. I'm going to keep posting them, first here and then over at the official <i>SPELLPUNK</i> website once it's up and running. Every Monday and Friday will see a new chapter until the whole book is online. So...if you are patient enough, you will be able to read the whole massive thing. All 180,000ish thousand words of it for free. Long before that, I will publish it in print and ebook formats, for those who aren't patient and don't want to wait.<br />
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But wait! There's more!<br />
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I've also got the very talented Alyxx Duggins working on the web comic series of the book, and I'll be doing a podcast reading of the book. You'll be able to get these free as well, once the official site goes up.<br />
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What's the point? Well, honestly, I 'm hoping that people won't be able to be patient enough to wait for <i>SPELLPUNK</i> to be posted chapter by chapter. That it will be so awesome that they will <i>need</i> to buy it to see what happens next. Will it work? Who knows. But that's the beauty of the times we live in. The game is changing on ALL levels. It's an exciting time to be an artist in any medium, because there are so many ways to get our work in front of people. All you have to have is a little courage, faith, and a metric crap ton of chutzpah!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-22354176743923086722012-07-26T22:10:00.000-07:002012-07-26T23:49:10.368-07:00Here we go again. Book launch. Nerves and jitters and borderline freaking out. Most writers I know, no matter how cool they appear on the outside have a little bundle of "Please, please, please let people buy and like my book." I'm no different, except that I don't really look that cool on the outside. I'm fidgeting all the time, pacing, and that's when I'm not bouncing off the walls. So that's how I've been today with the release of:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Storm-Tears-Rage-ebook/dp/B008P8DE0C"></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Storm-Tears-Rage-ebook/dp/B008P8DE0C" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PYrVUPnkZto/UBIdNjFD_6I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/a8lUBa1CB6c/s320/Arms225x320.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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I'm very excited about this book, third in the <i>Tears of Rage</i> series. It's <b>double </b>the size of <i>First Chosen</i> and about <b>forty thousand </b>words longer than <i>Once We Were Like Wolves. </i>My beta readers and editor tell me that each book in the series is progressively better. I hope those of you who enjoyed the first two books continue to enjoy Julianna's adventures.<br />
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In this volume, we've got more characters, more action, more miracles, more schemes and plots from both mortals and the gods. Julianna is back, of course, as is Faelin. The survivors of the Shadybrook Morigahnti are back, and we also get more with everyone's favorite smuggler Zephyr. Oh, how he just jumped right out there and took control of his story line. We've got new characters, Komati, Morigahnti, and from the Kingdom, and everyone has their own agenda. Some you'll like, some you'll hate, and some I'm hoping that you'll love to hate. As with the previous two books, the <i>Tears of Rage</i> world is a dangerous and bloody place, so don't expect everyone to see the final pages of these books. This shouldn't be too much of a spoiler by this point if you've read the first two books.<br />
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In celebration of the release of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arms-Storm-Tears-Rage-ebook/dp/B008P8DE0C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Arms of the Storm</a> I'm giving away free Kindle editions of <b>ALL </b>my other books. That's right! <b>FREE</b> books! All day long Friday 7/27/2012, my books will be free! Seven ebooks for your reading pleasure. If you haven't taken a chance on the <i>Tears of Rage</i> series, this is a great time to start. Feel free to tell your friends or anyone you know who might like <b>FREE </b>books.<br />
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Which <i>Tears of Rage</i> character are you looking forward to reading again most?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-83409748485456739942012-07-09T22:56:00.001-07:002012-07-09T22:56:59.837-07:00Affirmations at WesterconWow...and again...wow! What an awesome weekend.<br />
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For those of you who don't know, this last weekend being July 5th through 8th, I attended my first science fiction convention, WesterCon65 as a pro. True, I'd gone to BayCon in May, and I'd evening managed to talk my way onto a single panel, but I didn't have that "Pro" listed on my badge nor the ribbon that said "Panelist." And let me tell you, it makes all the difference.<br />
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Over the course of the weekend, I had eleven panels, a reading, and a book signing. I'd like to thank all four people who came to my reading, the four people (not all of them the same people) for coming to my signing, and all the people who came to the panels I was on and took me seriously.<br />
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Highlights:<br />
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Sitting next to Robin Hobb on the "High Fantasy vs Urban Fantasy" panel and having her pimp my books for me, holding them up and gesturing "Vanna White" style. After the panel, she and Kat Richardson told me it was a pleasure to have me on the panel, and they're both looking to forward to being on a panel again. Also both of them being very supportive of my Indie writing career.<br />
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Networking for the Genre Underground. I got together with several representatives from small presses who have expressed interest in partnering with the Genre Underground for cross promoting. Since we don't have anything set in stone, I won't mention specific names, but it's very exciting. At least one is extremely interested in participating in the GU's August promotion. I also spoke with several artists that we'll be linking in the "Resources" section of the GU website. If you haven't checked it out yet, head over to <a href="http://www.genreunderground.com/">www.genreunderground.com</a>.<br />
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Hands down, the coolest thing that happened for me personally was meeting David Brin. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Brin, he's a traditionally published author of some fantastic science fiction novels. He's won the Hugo and Nebula award and been nominated for both several more. So, he's pretty hot shit. He also has a reputation for being firm in his opinions with no hesitation in expressing those opinions.<br />
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I met Mr Brin when I picked up his new book <i>Existence</i> and asked him to sign it at his book release party. He asked everyone who came for a signed book what they did for a living, and I told him I'm a storyteller and writer. He signed the book "fellow bard and magician." Very cool, part one. Then he asked me what I write.<br />
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I decided a last year's World Science Fiction Convention that I was not going to be shy about my Indie writing at conventions in front of other professionals. I'm proud of my books and I'm proud that I have a small, yet very loyal readership of my books. So I told David Brin about my Indie publishing career, including how well the <i>Tears of Rage</i> books are doing in the Dark Fantasy and Fantasy Series list. The space between my giving him this information and his reaction seemed really long. Probably wasn't. He broke into this wide grin, clapped me on the shoulder three or four times, and said, "Good on you! You're looking me in the eye now." And then he had to wander off to play the book trailer for the large group of people who had just arrived at the party. Later, as the party was shutting down, we bumped into each other again. He shook my hand, looked me right in the eye, and said, "I'm proud of you Todd. Keep up the good work."<br />
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David Brin gave my Indie writing career his stamp of approval. He was genuinely pleased for me. David Brin is not the kind of guy that fakes something like that just for the sake of being polite. Yeah, I went to that convention as a pro, but man, the fanboy part of my soul went into massive overdrive. I'm still riding the high from that!<br />
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The weekend had so many great moments for me, but those are the highlights. Stay tuned to the blog over the next few days as I give some commentary and thoughts on fannish culture and observation on the community.<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-19587975153842227402012-07-02T17:29:00.001-07:002012-07-02T17:48:07.050-07:00I Am Not a BrandEver since I dove into the world of Indie publication, I've been hearing over and over, "You have to brand yourself," from a variety of successful writers. The explanation is that a "writer" transforms him or herself into a "brand," he or she will have created an "Image" that will attract new readers. To do this, a writer must have a consistent voice across all his or her works, write pretty much in the same genre, never discuss anything that doesn't fit the "brand" "image," and even one person went so far as to suggest only dressing in clothes that fit the "brand" a writer was trying to create.<br />
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This might work for some writers...I guess...but not for me. And ultimately, it sounds very, very short-sighted and narrow minded.</div>
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Now, I can partially understand why some people think this is the way to get to SUPER MASSIVE BESTSELLER STATUS. I mean after all, when we think of the writers who are superstars, some names come to mind more readily than others: Steven King, J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, Dan Brown, Danielle Steel, Stephanie Meyers (just because she's super big right now) - and if you're a fantasy/Science Fiction guy like me, some names that might pop up are: George RR Martin, Harlan Ellison, Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Issac Asimov, Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman, maybe even M.Todd Gallowglas. (Hey, a man can dream.) With each and every one of these writers, someone even casually familiar would probably be able to come up with at least half-a-dozen words that could define the writer's "brand." I started to, and stopped myself at "sparkle" out of self respect.</div>
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Here's the thing: I can't make this claim with 100% certainty, but I'm fairly certain not a single one of them sat down at the beginning of a writing career and said to themselves, "I better figure out how to brand myself." If that were the case, Neil Gaiman would still be doing <i>Sandman</i> comics and never have written novels, Stephen King wouldn't have written even half of his masterful novellas that have 0% horror in them, let alone the <i>Dark Tower</i> series which really defies genre classification, one traveling storyteller wouldn't have been able to write both the dark and grim <i>Tears of Rage</i> books along side the rollicking adventure tales of Halloween Jack, and who knows what the hell Harlan Ellison would have done. These things wouldn't have happened because, they wouldn't have fit in with the original "Brand."</div>
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These writers put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard and wrote their hearts out. Yeah, even Stephanie Myers and Dan Brown. The brand that comes with their names came later, after they found their audience, and in some cases, wrote a bunch of stuff that would shatter the brand thing...if they'd started things the other way around.</div>
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Honestly, the only way you can find out what kind of writer you are is by writing a metric crap ton of work that you're probably not going to do a whole lot with. The early work you slave over while finding your writing self is unlikely to sell, unless you self publish it, and even then, you probably don't want to do that. It's going to be bad writing, because almost everyone does bad writing, especially in the beginning - hell, even later on, you'll pen some stuff that can't be saved. You have a lot of exploring to do inside your imagination.</div>
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"Write what you know," is one of the most used phrases of advice writers get. You know far more than you can fit into an artificial brand. I know old stories. I know Renaissance Faires. I know Arisoft. I know Boy Scouts. I know Ballroom, swing, and Latin dancing. I know a little about music. I know being a kid in a broken family. I know being a father and husband in a family fighting tooth and nail to make it work in crazy and insane world. I know intellectual elitism from both sides of that particular coin. I know all this and so much more. Everyone who ever dreamed of being a writer knows so much more than they could ever squeeze into a brand. I've either worked everything I know into my writing, or I've got something planned that draws on something. If I was going to stifle myself behind the M Todd Gallowglas "brand," I'd be severely limited in how I used all the things I want to write about - probably couldn't write about some of them at all.</div>
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Writers, don't worry about silly things like marketing or branding yourself while you busy building a writing career - and every writer I know is always working on building his or her writing career. Work on putting out the best quality writing you can. Put out your best work.Put your heart, mind, sweat, blood, tears, and Truth As You Know It into your work, and the brand will come. Do that enough times, and your readers will love you. They will tell others about you, and some of them will love you too. Eventually, enough people will be reader your work, and they will brand you. By then, your career will be at a point where you won't have to worry about it any more.</div>
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<i>Normally, I don't ask for comments. Some of you do, and I'm thrilled by it, but this time around, I'm honestly curious to see what you have to say about this.</i></div>
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<i>MTG</i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-74819450645963956492012-06-28T01:11:00.002-07:002012-06-28T01:11:51.327-07:00Pride and the writing life.<div class="tr_bq">
Every so often, after I have a really good storytelling show, after I've passed my bag around (I use a bag rather than a hat because the bag holds more money) and sold some books, I'll get a straggler who wants to speak to me a bit longer than telling me they liked my show. I've learned to spot them fairly easily: they are in their late teens or early twenties, they usually have a partial costume or have purchased a few accessories from their day at the faire, but most telling is that little glimmer in their eyes - a mix of awe and hope. The conversation goes usually goes like this.</div>
<br />
Them: "Do you really do this for a living."<br />
Me: "Yes, even with a college education, this is my primary source of income."<br />
Them: "Wow. I'd love to be able to do something like this. How do you get started?"<br />
Me: I sigh. (I can't help it. I don't mean to, but I almost always do.) "You really want to know what you have to do to do something like this for a living?"<br />
Them: "Yes oh master of the stage! Share with me your sacred knowledge of how to be awesome and not have to get a real job."<br />
<br />
It's not a surprise. It goes like this every time, and every time I give them the same little speech I've worked out. It goes something like this.<br />
<br />
"In order to do what I do, you have to take every little bit of pride and self-worth, cuddle that up nice and gentle like, put it in a nice little cradle, then smother every last shred of pride you possess." (At this point the look of awe and hope transforms magically to shook, confusion, and sorrow.) "Because you've seen a really good show. You saw me make a decent bit of cash. What you haven't seen are the shows where it's raining, or the promoter really didn't advertise, and you're hoping that by the end of the weekend, after totally all of your shows together, you can afford to eat and get enough gas to get home, never mind paying the bills this month. If you have any pride, you won't make it through those times to the good shows like this one."<br />
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I bring that up, because I'm discovering the same thing is true of my writing career. Now that I'm having some modicum of success as an Indie writer, people on various social networking sites and other places are starting to ask me the same thing about this Indie writing thing with the same awe and hope I get from my storytelling shows. They see my books sometimes creep onto Amazon's best seller lists, my four and five star reviews, and hear me talk about how excited I am to be a writer and that now I'm starting to pay some of the bills through that (and even better, pay for my airsoft habit.) They don't see me fretting over my sales reports from November 2011 (my worst month by far - I think I managed a tank of gas from that royalty check...maybe.) They don't see me wanting to scream at the world around me so I can get the next book in the series done before I burn out on the story so I can get to the one I'm REALLY excited about. AND they really don't know what it's like to get a one star review. Well, in all fairness, I didn't know what that was like until earlier today. Wow... what a kick in the teeth... all the way into my gut.<br />
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Here's my very first one star review for <i>First Chosen</i> on Amazon, titled: <i>Gallowglass can write but this is a poor effort.</i><br />
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
First, anyone who selects a Christopher Stasheff character (Warlocks of Gramayre)as a nom de plume gets a nod of approval from me. Second, anyone who can craft a young adult gem of a story like the "Dragon Bone Flute" gets moved onto "my one to watch" list. The Dragon Bone Flute was truly excellent, a novella written in a flavour of Ursala K Leguin's Wizard of Earthsea sagas.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
So based on the novella and the overwhelming good reviews I left better judgment behind and bought "First Chosen" without reading the sample chapter. Big mistake - do not trust simpleton reviewers - this is truly awful.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
First chosen is adolescent dreck. I forgive the spelling mistakes; you cannot expect much with self-published works but I can barely believe this was written by the same author as "Dragon Bone Flute". The world is poorly conceived and unbalanced (you either want to be capable of saying "miracles" or you might as well cut your own throat because you're cannon fodder), the characters are written to be stupid and they act inconsistently, the action scenes are not well written and the bad guys are juvenile sex-addicts. Oh and "strong-willed" noble women who hate their captors will apparently willingly perform sex acts on common guards rather than get a little chilly. Worse, "First Chosen" isn't a novel. It doesn't have a identifiable progression.Sigh. This was so obviously written by/for teeanage boys.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Oh well I guess for every "Wool" or "Dark Angel" you will get 10-15 "First Chosen".My advice to the author is to continue plying his trade in novellas until her gets good enough to go for another novel.</blockquote>
First off: I'd like to thank K. Griffen "K." for several things: first, being passionate enough about <i>First Chosen </i>that he took the time to write this review; second, actually finishing the book, or at least most of it, because he cites some things that happen pretty late in the book; third, giving a shout out to "The Dragon Bone Flute," to prove that he's not just one of those reviewers who goes around slamming Indie authors. (There's a lot of those.) In a way, I'm flattered that "K." put so much effort into this review, especially considering how little he liked the story.<br />
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A few points I'd like to make:<br />
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One: I'm not using a nom de plume. The name is actually Gallowglas. (Note the single "s" at the end of my name. "K." is not the first critical reviewer to make this mistake.) This is not the first time I've been asked about or compared to the Stasheff books - it's a rare name, but its really mine, the same one that's on my driver's licence and passport.<br />
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Two: There wasn't any need for "K." to belittle the other reviewers who enjoyed <i>First Chosen</i>more than he did. That's just uncalled for, even if "K." didn't agree with their experience of the book.<br />
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Other than that, "K." is entitled to his or her opinion of First Chosen. I'm the first to admit, it's not for everyone. Whenever anyone asked me where they should start, I try my best to make sure they are going to enjoy <i>First Chosen</i> before recommending it.<br />
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Back to my original point: If I was all wrapped up in my pride and sense of self worth as a writer, this one star review might have ruined my day, if not my week or month. I know writers who do kind of freak out at those one and two star reviews, and when those writers get those kinds of reviews, it takes them weeks to get back into the rhythm of writing again.<br />
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Pride, it'll get you every time. It'll suck you down at the first cast stone. Pride is fleeting.<br />
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On the other side of the coin, confidence will get you through those hard times. Confidence in your abilities, talents, and that you can make the most of the next opportunity. Confidence is what makes you turn away from that one bad review and remember all the good ones, all the people who enjoyed reading your book, and how much fun you had in the crafting of it. When I talk about smothering that pride and killing it dead, you have to do it with your confidence. I don't tell that to the young men and women who come up to me at the end of my shows, because I'm pretty sure they won't understand. Heck, I'm not even sure if I could truly articulate the difference between having pride and having confidence; however, I truly believe there is an utter and profound difference between the two, and that if you have confidence, true confidence, then pride mostly goes away.<br />
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One last time, I'd like to thank "K." for his or her passionate review of <i>First Chosen</i>. I'm hoping to see him or her review "The Dragon Bone Flute" sometime soon, because I'd like to see the other side of the coin from what he/she gave me today. Also, in the aftermath of reading that review and thinking about it all day, I managed to learn something important about myself as a writer. I actually can roll with those things that kick my teeth in down to my gut, dust myself off, and get back to writing. I can't wait to see what "K." thinks of <i>Dead Weight</i>when it comes out.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-52774889840547345222012-04-24T12:19:00.000-07:002012-04-24T12:19:02.577-07:00Update on Arms of the Storm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mgallowglas.blogspot.com/p/sample.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yo7LgigshxI/T5b4TQXbZAI/AAAAAAAAAIc/kX89xUVNkT0/s320/toraots_front_800_facebook.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
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Greetings everyone! I know I promised some people that <i>Arms of the Storm</i> would be available today, but due to life circumstances, It's not 100% ready. I'd originally planned for book three of <i>Tears of Rage</i> to be in the 90,000 word range. As of this morning, the book is climbing up toward 109,000 words. I'm hoping to have everything tied up and off to beta readers and editors by the end of the week. I have plans for much coffee, jolt cola, junk food, and little sleep to get back on my writing and publication schedule.<br />
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Just to tide you over, I've posted a fairly lengthy chuck of <i>Arms of the Storm </i>to the "<a href="http://mgallowglas.blogspot.com/p/sample.html" target="_blank">Sample</a>" portion of the blog. I hope you enjoy that. As it's from the third book in the series, the sample has some spoilers of the other two <i>Tears of Rage </i>books, so you might want to check those out first.<br />
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Hope you enjoy!<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Medan kerta voida johta tas</i>!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-89606918777040018142012-04-18T13:26:00.002-07:002012-04-18T13:26:51.163-07:00Burning in Hell and Other Well WishesI'm not one to use the internet to rant overly much. I make snide, snarky, and sarcastic comments on Facebook and Twitter, but I tend to leave my ranting to my real life interactions with people. I've never considered exactly why. Perhaps it's because I prefer to see the expressions on people's faces when I go fully into "Harlan Ellison Mode" because so few people are as candid as I am about so many things. On the other side of the coin, maybe it's because so many other people seem to use the interwebz as a perpetual rant machine that makes me avoid this habit. Or, both of the above.<br />
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That being said...<br />
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/beginrant<br />
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Over the last few months, I've been involved in several discussion concerning ebook piracy. I haven't started any of these discussions, but I have piped up when I've seen people express the opinion that writers shouldn't care so much about it. Until now, I've not felt the need to bring the topic up...<br />
<br />
...until now...<br />
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This last weekend I attended the San Jose Fantasy Festival. I had a great time. Did my shows, hung out with fellow writers, sold and signed some books. Great time. Then I came home and did an inventory. Over the course of the weekend, three of my 1st editions of <i>First Chosen</i> went walkabout. I will not speculate on exactly who it was that helped themselves to these irreplaceable copies of my first print novel. Rather, I will use this to discuss what eBook piracy actually is.<br />
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Contrary too what some people in several Facebook discussions believe, file sharing is not sharing; it is theft. While I'm upset that my very rare first editions are gone, that's not really what has me fuming. (The value of those 1st editions at this point is all in my mind, and based on a dream that one day, I'll be big enough that those books actually become valuable outside of my own ego.) I'm not even really upset that I'm out the printing cost for those volumes. I've spent the better part of ten years working on the <i>Tears of Rage</i> story in it's current form. And now someone got their grubby little hands on it for free.<br />
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At this point, those paying close attention might ask, "But Mr. Gallowglas, didn't you just have a promotion where you were giving away free copies of several of your books leading up to the Fantasy Festival?"<br />
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And that's correct. I did. Just as many publishers offer free copies of books at conventions, signings, events, etc. I've given away free copies of all my books. I will give away copies of all my books in the future. I gave away print copies of<i> Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i> at my shows this weekend. The point is, those giveaways are on my terms, my choice. I did not volunteer those three copies, just like I don't volunteer to give away any of my books that people might steal via some file "sharing" site. I do not harbor the illusion that I'm that big yet; however, I number some writers who are that big among my close friends and we've had conversations about this among ourselves and with readers.<br />
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Here's the deal: Writing is hard work. Really hard work. It's even hard to write will over the course of sixty thousand, eighty thousand, several hundred thousand words. Those of us who can do that and keep readers coming back should be paid for our ability to entertain. For the most part, if we calculate all the time we put into rough drafts, learning our craft to the point where our writing is publishable, we make pennies on the hour once we actually start publishing and getting paid for our work. Fiction writing is one of the few professions where you don't get paid training. We writers slog through on a dream, a labor of love, the hope that one day we'll be able to pay ourselves back for all the hours and hours we've neglected other parts of our life.<br />
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Theft is theft, no matter what form it comes in. Even though I'm pretty sure it's unlikely that the individual(s) enjoying <i>First Chosen</i> and/or any other stolen book reads this blog, I'd like to put this little nugget out into the universe: I hope that any book that you desperately needed so bad that you felt so compelled to take my work without any form of compensation has something to offer you, that you need some of the jewel lights within so badly that you need to steal it. When I started this post, I thought by this point I would have some choice words for the type of individual that engages in epiracy, but now I find I have only pity.<br />
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To anyone who helped themselves to my 1st editions of <i>First Chosen</i>, because I do have a dream that they will become rare collectors' items someday. I hope you are a book lover and you find yourself in a special place in Hell where you're in a room with only books you haven't read, and every time you get halfway through a book, the book bursts into flames, so you'll never be able to get to the end. Have a nice day.<br />
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/endrantAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-45279115873657869552012-04-11T23:03:00.000-07:002012-04-11T23:03:34.343-07:00Conversations with Fictional Characters<br />
Greetings all. I'm getting ready for the San Jose Fantasy Festival, which is going down this weekend, April 14th and 15th. I'm especially excited about this weekend because it's the first time I'm going to be hanging out with my fellow fantasy writers at an event like this. Yeah, I go to conventions now and then, but this is the first time they'll be coming out to my territory. If you head over to the festival web site, you can check out all the event info, <a href="http://www.sjfantasy.com/" target="_blank">www.sjfantasy.com/</a> including all the writers who will be there.<br />
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One of the writers, Christopher Kellen, is a talented indie author, who I've developed a friendly rapport with over Twitter, Facebook, and email. Christopher has had some very nice things to say about my <i>Tears of Rage</i> books and <i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gat</i>e. He's becoming quite the book reviewer over at his web site: <a href="http://christopherkellen.com/" target="_blank">christopherkellen.com</a><br />
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I've recently read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elegy-The-Arbiter-Codex-ebook/dp/B005ESFMMY" target="_blank"><i>Elegy</i> </a>and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corpse-King-Tales-Eisengoth-ebook/dp/B005MDD0PC/" target="_blank">The Corpse King</a></i> by Christopher Kellen. I've heard through the grapevine that is social networking that he's completed a rough draft of <i>Legacy</i>, Book Two of <i>The Arbiter Codex</i>, and he's shipped off copies to his beta readers. (Psst, Chris... I still haven't gotten mine yet.) Perhaps the reason I haven't gotten my copy is the same reason that Julianna and Faelin haven't been available for their scenes in Arms of the Storm is because Mr. Kellen <i>"borrowed"</i> them for a bit of an interview. I have a feeling you can read that interview over at Mr. Kellen's web site.<br />
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Well, two can play at that game. You see, Mr. Kellen has a pair of characters who are also up to their necks in their own troubles. I happened upon a pair of Arbiters (a kind of warrior-priest inquisitor) D'Arden Tal and Elisa as they left the city of Calessa. I've got a few insightful questions for them, and I'm sure we'll get<br />
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If you haven't read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elegy-The-Arbiter-Codex-ebook/dp/B005ESFMMY" target="_blank">Elegy</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corpse-King-Tales-Eisengoth-ebook/dp/B005MDD0PC/" target="_blank">The Corpse King</a>, you can get them free for the Kindle on Amazon right now until 4/14. You should read these before continuing to the interview: one, because you may find some slight spoilers; two, because they are entertaining reads.<br />
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<b><i>MTG: Manna, the magic of your world, is a rather dangerous thing. Do you think your world would be better off without it?</i></b><br />
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The Arbiter, with ice in his eyes, answers swiftly and certainly, as though by rote: "Though it is true that direct exposure to manna is dangerous for anyone not protected by the heartblade, it is also the flows of that same power which cause life itself to exist. This is why it might be defended from corruption, for when the manna is corrupted, it is always death. Without it, the world itself would be barren and lifeless."<br />
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<i><b>MTG: Considering the astonishing revelation brought on by Elisa's transformation into an Arbiter, what other beliefs the Arbiters hold to be true do you think might also be misleading or completely wrong?</b></i><br />
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"It is… difficult to say for certain." A war between reactionary anger and careful thought rages across his expression. His tone is measured and careful when he at last responds. "Naturally, one does not like to question the fundamental beliefs with which he has lived his entire life… yet, one must wonder whether the information is not known, or has been purposely kept a secret."<br />
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<b><i>MTG: As you two worked together in Calessa, we witnessed several moments that might be considered to reveal an attraction between you two? Was this due to the life-and-death struggle you found yourselves in, or do you think you harbor emotions for each other that run deep that, for whatever reasons, you cannot express?</i></b><br />
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Elisa blushes fiercely. D'Arden's face becomes a mask of stone. "It is unthinkable for a Master to covet any such feelings toward an apprentice. The bond must be that of a teacher and student, and nothing more. Elisa is a strong girl with much potential. She is my student, my ward – and to a certain extent, my child; for she is utterly my responsibility, in a way that can barely be fathomed."<br />
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After a moment, Elisa speaks in a quiet voice. "He saved my life, offered me a second chance – a chance to be something more. The whole world is different now. I'd be lost without him, but he is my teacher. That's all."<br />
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<b><i>MTG: D'Arden, what do you expect the response will be when you and Elisa arrive at the Arbiter's Tower?</i></b><br />
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D'Arden's mask-like expression does not change, but a glimmer of despair can be seen in his glittering gaze. He speaks slowly, choosing his words very carefully. "To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever happened before. The use of a heartblade on anyone other than a trained Arbiter is… unprecedented. I hope that the Council of Masters will be… understanding."<br />
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<b><i>MTG: Do you believe the Arbiters will ever be able to completely cleanse your world of corruption?</i></b><br />
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The Arbiter lifts his head, and his confidence returns. His harsh voice returns to the comfortable recitation of a rote answer. "Corruption lives in the hearts of evil men. It is personified by the dark gods, and their slaves. As long as there is greed and violence among men, as long as the weak are willing to sell their own existence into slavery for a taste of power, corruption will never truly die. The battle to protect the sanctity of the manna is eternal; and so are the Arbiters."<br />
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<b><i>MTG: Elisa, do you fear ever having to face the same dilemma with D'Arden that he faced with Khaine?</i></b><br />
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The blond-haired girl looks at D'Arden, and then back down at the ground. "Khaine offered him everything, down in those catacombs. He refused to give in, refused to be seduced away from purity, even in the face of such tremendous power. If that doesn't say everything that needs to be said about his character, I don't know what would."<br />
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There is a fierce pride in the Arbiter's expression as he gazes at his apprentice, but there is also a hint of sadness – and, if one looks very closely, a glimmer of fear.<br />
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<b><i>MTG: Does the name Christopher Kellen mean anything to you?</i></b><br />
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Both Elisa and D'Arden immediately lock their eyes on the interviewer. "Yes," they say in unison.<br />
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<b><i>MTG: If you could say something to Mr. Kellen, what would it be?</i></b><br />
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Before D'Arden can say anything, Elisa speaks up. "Just… tell the story the right way, okay? Try not to imply things that aren't there. Oh – and find a new synonym for 'blue', would you? We're all sick of 'azure', already."<br />
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Well, that concludes my interview with D'Arden Tal and Elisa. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed having these two great characters stop by my blog. Again, I believe Mr. Kellen has a similar interview (only with a few of my wayward characters) over at his blog, <a href="http://christopherkellen.com/" target="_blank">christopherkellen.com</a>. I also hear he'll have a few hard copies of his books at the <a href="http://www.sjfantasy.com/" target="_blank">San Jose Fantasy Festival</a>, and like me, he doesn't charge any extra for his signature.<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-41079855279744998342012-03-01T08:41:00.001-08:002012-03-01T09:47:13.464-08:00Why I Love the Indie Book Revolution<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f5ede3;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">First and foremost, because I have a writing career.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">How specifically has the rise of available indie/self publication helped me with this? As many of my close acquaintances can tell you, patience is really NOT one of my virtues. Also, while I love to write, without some sort of deadline, I don't necessarily love to to finish something before starting on the shiny new story idea takes hold of my imagination. The traditional publishing model requires me to finish a project and then HOPE and PRAY that someone, agent or editor, will like it enough to argue with other people that is should get published. I love being an indie author, because now I can write a project with a specific deadline, get it through my beat readers, and now my editor, publish it, and see instant results. If I'm not liking those results, I can take personal steps toward changing the results.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">The second reason I love the Indie Book Revolution, is because so many other writers are also getting a shot to live their dreams. Here's a little known factoid about the tradition publishing model, with a slant toward science fiction and fantasy publishers. I might have an epic fantasy book that's going to be bigger than Robert Jordan and George RR Martin put together. I submit to publisher after publisher, and editors like it, say one or two even LOVE it; however, all their big-fat-fantasy-uber-epic slots are filled for the next three years. Well... then... I get the unpleasant "Thanks, but not for us right now. Best of luck finding a home somewhere else." Publishers have a finite amount of room for each sub genre of fiction they handle. The result, many fine and talented writers aren't getting publishing deals simply because of space on the bookshelf.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">The Indie Book Revolution changes that. Truly, for the first time, writers are in control of their own destinies. I've discovered some great writers, who are developing into good friends: I count Christopher Kellen, Jen Wylie, and Shay Fabbro among the closest of them. On the other hand, I've read some bad stuff too, I mean REALLY bad indie books. Though this is not unique to indie writers. The last Stephen King book I listened to on audio made me want to SCREAM. Oh wait... I did. A lot. Over and over. But this serves to further my point. In many ways, control over what books get read and become popular are in the hands of readers and a writers, rather than publishers. Readers have access to more books, written by more writers, than we ever dreamed possible before.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">With readers in mind, I'd like to direct you, my readers and followers, to the Magic Appreciation Tour. You can get there by clicking the tour badge on the from page of my blog. The tour is a celebration of fantasy fiction going on from now through the end of May. I'm taking part in it, as are some writers I know and enjoy reading their work. I don't know everyone, and I haven't read everyone's work. I won't say one way or the other, so I don't rob you of the joy of discovering new writers who may grow into new favorite writers.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px;">Check out the site. Stop by the writer's blogs and book pages. Who knows what you might discover. If you do discover someone you like, post a comment here. I'm so busy working on my own writing, I won't be able to get to all the other writers right away, and as most of you read my stuff, I'd be interested to hear who gets your imaginations flowing.</span></span><br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-71761941139682882342012-02-07T22:55:00.000-08:002012-02-07T22:55:26.644-08:00Fighting with Robert Jordan Post MortemAlmost twenty years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Robert Jordan, writer of the <i>Wheel of Time</i> series. Book four, <i>The Shadow Rising,</i> had come out in hardback, and Mr Jordan was signing books at a independent bookstore in Sacramento, California. I do not recall the name of the bookstore, and it, like many independent booksellers closed down. This was before Robert Jordan was the international mega star who reportedly had limousines picking him up from the airport and driving him to the San Diego Comic Con. (I cannot speak to the validity of this rumor, but the hopeful, future, international mega star in me likes to dream that will be me someday.)<br />
<br />
At that point, I'd been reading <i>The Wheel of Time</i> for about two years, maybe two and a half. My god mother had gotten me <i>The Eye of the World</i> for my birthday and I devoured it and immediately went onto <i>The Great Hunt</i> and <i>The Dragon Reborn.</i> Upon finishing book three, I sat down to wait for book four. Yeah, I've heard some newer readers complaining about the time some writers take between books. Well, I've been reading Jordan since 1990, that's longer than some of his current fan base has been alive.<br />
<br />
But, enough of my digression.<br />
<br />
Mr. Jordan was the first writer I ever met in person, and the first writer to ever sign my books. He was a charming man, very gracious. The line was short enough that he took several minutes to speak with each of his fans who cam to see him. Of course, I asked him about writing. My twenty year old self had dreams of making it as big as Jordan, despite that I didn't really know anything about writing at the time. (I thought I did, but didn't you know everything about everything when you were twenty?) He spoke to me about his process, and how he approached the writing as a linear process, as opposed to some writers who bounce around, writing whichever scene they feel like. The last thing he said, after I asked for the one piece of advice he'd give to a young and hopeful writer was, "Don't give up."<br />
<br />
This was two years before I started the short story that would eventually blow up into <i>Spellpunk</i>, six years before the first pages of the first attempt at <i>Tears of Rage</i>, nine years before I figured out that the main character of that project needed to be a woman, ten years before I wrote the original first line on my birthday, "The god Grandfather Shadow opened his eyes in a mortal host for the first time in a thousand years (a line that never made its way into the final draft of book one), seventeen years before I received my B.A. in creative writing from SFSU, and nineteen years before Halloween Jack went in search of the Tomahawk of the Four Winds so he could try and kill the Devil.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WUXiQp5ldhc/TzIYy1FSaYI/AAAAAAAAAHY/fTSbMlTGbxU/s1600/rjfight1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WUXiQp5ldhc/TzIYy1FSaYI/AAAAAAAAAHY/fTSbMlTGbxU/s1600/rjfight1.jpg" /></a>In all the years between my one meeting with Robert Jordan I've had some dry spells that lasted months and in one case years, but deep in my heart, I've never given up. I always dreamed I'd be up there with Robert Jordan, with people asking me to sign copies of my books for them, giving advice to young and hopeful writers. I never gave up. Thanks to the ebook revolution, I can say that twenty years later, I'm scratching it out on a bestseller list with Robert Jordan.<br />
<br />
So, there we have my little indie book <i>First Chosen</i> right there in the top of the bestselling "Fantasy Series" in the Amazon Kindle Store. I think it's pretty cool. I wish Mr. Jordan could have lived to see this, although I don't delude myself that he would remember me from all those years ago. I would however, politely remind him of our conversation as I asked him to sign the last several books in his series for me. I guess I'm going to have to settle for recounting the story to Brandon when I see him at Bay Con at the end of May.<br />
<br />
I'm sure that I'm going to get knock off this list eventually. It happens to almost every writer, and I'm not big enough yet to dream that I'm at the point where I have this kind of sustainability. I will however continue to live up to those words that got me here in the first place, "Don't give up." Thank you Mr. Jordan for telling a twenty-year-old know it all what he needed to hear, even though he didn't put it to practice for more than a decade.<br />
<br />
Oh, and just because I think it's cool, here's another writer I'm catching up with:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8NH843NXZtQ/TzIcN76S5yI/AAAAAAAAAHg/ekuzUlqVLPs/s1600/nexttomartin42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8NH843NXZtQ/TzIcN76S5yI/AAAAAAAAAHg/ekuzUlqVLPs/s1600/nexttomartin42.jpg" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-27282714853498013602012-01-21T12:08:00.000-08:002012-01-21T12:23:11.944-08:00Two Small Requests With Offers<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" target="_blank"><i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i></a> has been out for exactly one month today! It's opened bigger than any of my previous books, and while I know I have both the Indie Book Collective and the Amazon KDP Select program to thank for much of that, I also owe deep gratitude to my faithful readers that have stuck with me from<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YR54LU" target="_blank">Knight of the Living Dead</a></i> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG" target="_blank"><i>First Chosen</i></a>. If it weren't for my early readers, who, while small in number, you were loud in voice, kept me going as I got my feet underneath me and my spirits up long enough to see my first Amazon bestseller in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005XJ0V7A" target="_blank"><i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i></a> to last December when every book I've put out saw some time on a bestseller list, to now, as I write this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">First Chosen</a> is holding steady in the middle of the top one-hundred fantasy series list in the Amazon Kindle Store.<br />
<br />
Thanks again to everyone who has supported me and my books as I live this dream. I really couldn't have gotten here without you guys. However, now that I've got a taste for success, I'm realizing that we could get more. And yes, I mean <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">WE</u>, because this journey I'm on is not a solitary one. My success here is a shared thing between all of us. Now we're ready to take the next steps toward even bigger and better things.<br />
<br />
<b><i><u>Reviews</u></i></b><br />
The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Once We Were Like Wolves</a> Amazon page is looking sparse on reviews. It's got four, and that's pretty good, but I'd like a few more. So, anyone who posts a review by January 31st, <i style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">AND</i> sends me an email to <a href="mailto:bardscloak@gmail.com" target="_blank">bardscloak@gmail.com</a> will get a PDF copy of my award winning story The Half-Faced Man." This story takes place in the same world as the <i>Tears of Rage</i> books, but like "Jaludin's Road" it is set in the continent across the southern sea in The Lands of Endless Summer. The review doesn't have to be a 4 or 5 star, just your honest and well-written opinion of the book. For those four who have already reviewed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Once We Were Like Wolves</a>, shoot me and email, and I'll send you the story.<br />
<br />
<b><i><u>Tagging</u></i></b><br />
This is where things get trickier. See, Amazon has these "<i><u>hidden</u></i>" lists that authors can't just put their books in. The only way to get into these lists is for people to "tag" the book into the list. That's how <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">First Chosen</a> got into the "Fantasy Series" list. Enough of you guys tagged me there. Thanks for that! But we're not done. Not yet. We still need to get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Once We Were Like Wolves</a> into the "Fantasy Series" list. I also want to get both books into the "Dark Fantasy" list.<br />
<br />
Now this whole "tagging" thing confuses some people, so I'll try to make it pretty simple. All you have to do is go to each of the links below and click on the boxes that have anything to do with "series" and/or "dark fantasy." If you want to click on any others, that's cool too, I will not mind in the least, but those are the important ones. Being in those two lists will gain me a huge amount of exposure and discoverability.<br />
<br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tags-on-product/B0055I14BG/ref=tag_dpp_cust_edpp_sa" target="_blank">Tag page for <i>First Chosen</i></a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/tags-on-product/B006OSSF7C/ref=tag_dpp_cust_edpp_sa" target="_blank">Tag page for Once We Were Like Wolves</a></li>
</ul><div>Just like with the review offer above, I've got something to give back to you guys. I'm going to be taking part in a HUGE promotion with a bunch of other Indie Book Collective writers during the first weekend of February. When you guys marshal forth and get <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055I14BG" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">First Chosen</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Once We Were Like Wolves</a> both into "Fantasy Series" and "Dark Fantasy" list, I'll publish the novella I'm working on about how Julianna's parents met, which also has some revelations about two of the important secondary characters we see at the end of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OSSF7C" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Once We Were Like Wolves</a>. It's a love story <i>Tears of Rage</i> style... best of all... I'll make it <u style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">FREE</u>! for a couple of days after I publish it.</div><div><br />
</div><div>So, there we have it. Two requests for aid, coupled with what I hope are suitable rewards for my loyal supporters. As I said, my success is really our success. Thanks for getting me this far. Let's see how much further we can go!</div><div><br />
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-38988481001645462672012-01-17T12:51:00.000-08:002012-01-17T12:57:06.103-08:002012 Begins with a Wake-Up Call"We're all in the dark, and we're all not guilty." This one sentence is the most valuable thing I learned while pursuing my Creative Writing degree at San Francisco State University. Thanks to Matthew Clark Davison for this nugget of enlightenment, not just for characters in my fiction, but also for every single person trapped in the human experience. Since graduating, I've really tried to keep this at the forefront of my mind when looking at myself, my flaws, and where I am in my life. I know I keep blinders on for a lot of things, but I also like to think that I'm raising the blinds slowly over time. This blog chronicles a part of my life where I'm stepping out of the dark and realizing where I am guilty, and the steps I'm taking to rectify the situation. And while this blog post is about my recent Joycean epiphany, I have to start last October, because, like most epiphanies, this one came to me in steps.<br />
<br />
Last October I opened the first proof copy of <i>TEARS OF RAGE: First Chosen</i>. I've got to say it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I'd been published on Amazon since May, and sold a few books here and there; however, not one of those sales or reviews posted compared to the feeling of holding a copy of the print book. I took that book to the Folsom Renaissance Faire and showed that puppy off to anyone who would stand or sit still for more than a few seconds, and since I had 3 stage shows a day, that proved to be a considerable amount of people. Okay, let me be honest. I carried that book everywhere and sometimes forced people to stand still long enough to show it off. I was a author with a book, <i>dammit</i>, and people needed to see it.<br />
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Several days after Folsom Faire, I went to lunch with my dad. We have lunch once a week at De'Vere's Irish Pub in Sacramento. We've been doing this for at least two years. Of course I had my book to show off. When my dad dropped me off back at home, I couldn't find my book anywhere. This was odd, because I could have sworn that I'd knocked on it in my pocket to make sure I had it when we got into car after lunch. Asked at the pub - they didn't have it. I called my dad to see if it had fallen out of my pocket in his car - no luck there. As far as I knew, the book was gone.<br />
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Counter to form, I did not freak out. I was a bit bummed, but shrugged it off as best I could.<br />
<br />
Now, one detail I'd neglected to mention about that day my dad and I had lunch: It was raining.<br />
<br />
A few days after that, my mother called me and explained that she found my book on her front lawn - where I'd gone after Dad and I had lunch. She found my book on the front lawn, soaking up water. She had it drying in her kitchen. Again, I didn't flip out. I realized that I could use this as a symbol and metaphor for a writing career. If I don't pay attention and handle career carefully with near constant vigilance,disaster could strike. I carry the book around with my now, all the time, to remind me that I am responsible for my success as a writer.<br />
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So here's the next problem that lead to my most recent wake up call: Back in October, I still wasn't taking this whole Indy writer career thing seriously. I sold a few books every month - better than the vast majority of self-published authors, and I'd gathered a modest group of loyal readers. I was getting a nice royalty check at the end of each month - enough to buy a tank of gas or two. I was looking at it as, well, it's not that big a deal if I have little hiccups, because it'll be okay, just like the water-damaged, original proof copy of <i>First Chosen.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
Then December happened.<br />
<br />
All those people with new Kindles were looking for books started buying. December sales on all my books dwarfed everything I'd done in the previous months. I was giddy with all those sales. I was making it! For the first time, the very real possibility of this self-published career thing was drilling itself into my head. Happy dancing happened. Happy dancing happened a lot.<br />
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Then December 23rd happened. I received two reviews, one of them being my first two-star review for <i>First Chosen</i>.<br />
<br />
Sarah Smith "Rhubarb" wrote in her review of <i>First Chosen</i>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">When I came across "conscious" when the author meant "conscience", I could read no further. Time and again the author made egregious errors ("to" for "too" for instance), and finally I had to stop, delete it, and go on to another author.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">Too bad, because Gallowglass shows a lot of promise as a writer. Needs a good editor.</blockquote><br />
<br />
The same day, my Twitter buddy, Christopher Kellan, wrote this in his five-star review of <i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">I do have to deduct minor points for a few technical issues - namely, editing ones. More than once, there is a homonym confusion. The most prevalent one is "heals" to refer to the back of one's feet - the correct word is, of course, "heels". There was one other homonym confusion I noticed which I do not now remember.</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">On the more technical side, I only encountered one actual typo, and for a ~40,000 word work, that's excellent.</blockquote>Two different reviews of two different books, while each mentioned typographical/proof-reading errors. Both with very different star ratings. Now, I didn't take Ms. Smith's review too seriously at that point, just blowing it off that she was one of those overly-critical, spiteful reviewers who likes to bring people down. She's entitled to her opinion, but not that big a deal. Besides, Christopher had given <i>First Chosen</i> an amazing review and named it one of his top five books of 2011. I immediately went and made the changes in each book and loaded the corrected versions to Amazon, as Christopher also said in his review:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">One of the joys of indie publishing is that all of these things could easily be fixed with a quick edit and re-upload to the sites, and nothing is committed to a massive print run where these minor mistakes would be set upon parchment in indelible ink.</blockquote>So, there we go, problem solved.... or not... Because, really, I still wasn't taking it seriously. I'd uploaded <i>TEARS OF RAGE: Once We Were Like Wolves</i> to Amazon without really doing a thorough proof read. But in my mind, I was still of the <i>good enough</i> mentality. I could fix the few minor errors as they came up.<br />
<br />
Then came January 9th. Targetswife wrote reviews for <i>First Chosen</i> and <i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i>. Again , another wake up call.<br />
<br />
For <i>First Chosen</i>, she said, in her four-star review titled, "Where' is my red pen?"<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">So first off, the good: I loved the story line, the characters and the mythology. There was intrigue and mystery, deception and heartbreak and the ever important hope. I found myself rooting for and identifying with the heroine with ease. There is obvious planning behind the story, and I appreciate the subtle details that all tie together. The bad: there is a dire need for an editor as the grammatical errors were abundant. I know this may not bug some people, unfortunately it drives me bananas. I found myself reaching for my red sharpie and had to stop before I colored all over my phone screen. Still, when I finished this book I promptly ordered the second one and will also order any future ones. A little proofreading will go a long way (in this case it would have gone all the way to five stars). My suggestion is to give it a read, but take off your teacher glasses first :)</blockquote>For <i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i>, she wrote a four-star review titled, "Almost" (Which, incidentally is the same title of Ms. Smith's two-star review above.):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">I loved this second book in the "Tears of Rage" series. Mr. Gallowglas has penned a comprehensive story line with rich details that leaves me yearning for the next installment. Colorful and imaginative lore make this book a very fun and enjoyable read. My only complaint (and the reason for four stars) is in regards to the type errors that were sadly abundant. All were minor, nothing that ruined the book but a distraction nonetheless. I look forward to the next one!</blockquote>That Mrs. Targetswife wrote four-star reviews that both praised my storytelling while also calling me on my proofreading (or lack there of) made me sit up and take notice. I printed <i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i> and started going though it for errors. I was horrified and ashamed at the product I'd allowed myself to publish.<br />
<br />
Then, one of my Facebook friends posted this to her wall:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">To anyone who writes and self-publishes novels: please have someone do a GOOD editing job! Even if you think your spelling and grammar are okay, it's a good idea to have an editor.</blockquote>I thought my friend was talking about my books. I've spoken with her since, and she assures me she was not referring to my work, but she still helped kick my butt into taking this self-publishing thing more seriously.<br />
<br />
Long story short, I got in contact with an editor, and as a trial, sent her a file of <i>First Chosen</i>. While waiting for her to get that back to me, I went through <i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i>. Errors abounded. My editor returned <i>First Chosen</i>, having pointed out errors I'd missed and even making some suggestions on where I could clarify some things. Having finished my proof read of <i>Wolves</i>, I loaded the corrected version of <i>ToR Book Two</i> to amazon and sent the file off to my new editor. I know that even after my proofing <i>Wolves </i>isn't going to be perfect, but it's much better. It'll be pretty close to perfect after I get it back from my editor. I have since made the corrections to <i>First Chosen</i> and loaded it to Amazon. Now, I'm waiting to get <i>Once We Were Like Wolves</i> back from the editor. Then, it's going to be <i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i> and so on until all my current works have gone through the process.<br />
<br />
So here I am, stepping out of the dark and realizing that I am guilty. I've got to be even more steadfast in taking care of my writing career, and that means that I can't do everything myself, because, like everyone, I have weaknesses. One of my weaknesses, a serious one at that is my proofreading skills. While I am still ashamed of myself for putting out such shoddy work in 2011, I am making the proactive choice to straighten myself out and become a professional. So, to counter my weakness in proofreading, I've got an editor and will not release another title until it's been through the complete process of getting filtered through my beta readers, editor, and copy editor.<br />
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For those of you who have stuck by me, despite the errors and shoddy proof reading, thank you. You can look forward to a much more polished reading experience from M. Todd Gallowglas from this point forward. I'd like to thank Ms Smith, Christopher, Mrs. targetswife, and Jen on Facebook (even though she wasn't actually addressing me) for being so candid about my work to get me to take my writing to a true profession-level mindset. 2012, here we come!<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Oh, and because I'm in a snarky mood, I can't resist adding this Post Script. While I truly appreciate Ms Smith for being the first to call me on my crap, and while she's unlikely to read this blog, I think if you're going to call a writer out for proof-reading and copy-editing errors, it would behoove you to spell that author's name correctly. #JustSaying. #MomentOfSnarkDone</span></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-75480231625563297812011-12-28T23:24:00.000-08:002011-12-28T23:24:55.250-08:002011 in Retrospect.I'm sitting at the dining room table, a place where I have done a vast amount of the writing on my last two books. The cats are racing all over the place, chasing each other in and out and over and under boxes left over from the holiday making a racket, as they are wont to do when I'm writing. I'm drinking coffee out of my Boba Fett coffee mug that I just received as a belated gift, and I'm thinking that 2011 has been a rough, weird, surreal ride.<br />
<br />
A few weeks ago, I saw the movie <i>Hugo</i>. It is an inspiring fill about a boy who fixes things and, even though he doesn't know it, people. The underlying premise of the movie is that everything has a function, even people. People are meant to do things, the trouble is, we usually don't know what we're meant to do, and even if we do figure it out, the world often conspires against us.<br />
<br />
I was meant to tell stories. It doesn't matter if it's on a stage, or in a role-playing game, or typing them into a computer, or just teasing my son about why we don't use Scottsman's heads when playing golf any more. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, stop by one of my shows and ask me to tell you "The True Life Story of How I Invented Golf") I am, in everything I do, a storyteller. I'm one of the lucky ones that has figured out what I'm supposed to do, found myself blessed enough to have opportunities to do it, and fortunate enough to have people willing to see my shows and read my stories to make me successful.<br />
<br />
In the last week of 2011, I sat down to lunch in my favorite pub with Damon Stone, one of the creative geniuses behind several of the trading card games produced be Fantasy Flight Games Inc. We spoke for several hours about bringing me in to write fiction for the Call of Cthulhu card game. In the middle January, I had my first contract as a professional fiction writer. We're off and running.<br />
<br />
Flash forward pretty much twelve months later: I have four ebooks in the top 100 fantasy books on Amazon. They stayed there for about a day, except <i>First Chosen</i> which held onto a best seller spot for three days in the US and the UK. In October <i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i> topped out at #14 on the Historical Fantasy list. I've written ten stories for Fantasy Flight Games. I've been invited to participate in a Horror Anthology. I received an honorable mention from the Writer's of the Future contest for my story "The Half-Faced Man." I had three books in three separate genres hold the #1 best seller spot on Smashwords for about two weeks. I even spoke as a professional writer for the Literature of Science Fiction and Fantasy class at American River College (a class I had taken when I was attending.)<br />
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My experiences at Renaissance Faires have been up and down. Some faires were great, again! Others weren't so great. Some were due to environmental factors that I really couldn't do anything about. Others were due to more human factors that, due to being just a stage show guy, also couldn't do anything about. I've made new fans and met old ones. At the Valhalla Renaissance Faire, someone recognized me from over ten years ago. At the Foslom Renaissance Faire, I had over twenty people tell me they come to that faire every year just to see my show. Not the Joust, not the parade of the dancing dead, not even the queen, (I do love you Deborah, but it's pretty cool to be the main attraction for people) they come to see the storyteller. And now they are buying the storyteller's books. I also had a brilliant man who has been a stage and street performer all his adult life, take a look at my show and demand me to believe better of myself. By the time the faire season ended, I was having bigger crowds and better reactions than ever before. Normally as November comes around, I'm ready for the few months break winter gives me. Now, I'm ready to go into next season with stories blazing. I've got at least one apprentice, and it's going to be a whole new "Bard's Cloak of Tales Show."<br />
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I won't bore you with the details of my personal drama, but there was much of it. Some is spilling into 2012, but that's what personal drama does. It's all going to work out, because things always do. Just know that when anything gets me down, I now turn to the words of Ray Bradbury, "You must stay drunk on writing so that reality cannot destroy you."<br />
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In 2011 I learned that I was meant to be a storyteller. I'm living a dream I've been chasing since I was in the third grade. The think is, I can't be a storyteller without an audience. Thank you all for helping make my dream come true.<br />
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Watch out 2012, here we come! For now, Boba Fett needs a refill.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-9399834870766610622011-11-24T13:46:00.000-08:002011-11-24T13:46:51.653-08:00Black ThanksgivingI've got a list of blog posts sitting there in my Microsoft OneNote file, just waiting around to get written. I've even sat down to crank one of them out, but I keep looking at the response I received from my last post, that I've really been wondering what I could possibly write to follow that up with. Over the past few days I've noticed a lot of hype over a day that is becoming notorious in American culture, and so I'm going to write on the juxtaposition of and irony surrounding Thanksgiving and Black Friday.<br />
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Let's start with Thanksgiving. Wait... Let's start with a brief note on holidays in general. Every holiday in the world has two foundations: the truth behind the holiday (which can be very challenging to find) and the spirit behind the holiday.<br />
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Some claim that the foundation of Thanksgiving as a national American holiday stems from a political maneuver be Abraham Lincoln toward the end of the civil war. I've heard and seen posts on various websites about how it is a celebration of the subjugation of the Native American peoples by the Puritans. (I am pleased to see other people claiming to be of Native American descent telling these people to, "Shut up and stuff yo face with turkey.") We can argue about these and other ideas on where Thanksgiving started. I'd rather talk about the spirit of what Thanksgiving is. Thanksgiving celebrates a bountiful harvest so that the Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth rock wouldn't starve to death over the winter. It's a time when we come together with friends and family and celebrate the blessings we have in our lives.<br />
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Then we have BLACK FRIDAY! the first day after Thanksgiving where most of America is transitioning to the Christmas Season, we have the most brutal shopping day of the year. And no, I don't want to get into a religious discussion about the nature and history of the Christmas Holiday. To me it's about "Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men." If you can't get on board with that, no matter you religious, philosophical, and spiritual beliefs, we can't really continue that conversation can we?<br />
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I had a bunch of stuff that I was going to say about Black Friday, but I think I can sum it up with this. As of yesterday afternoon, people in Sacramento, CA were starting to camp out in front of Best Buy stores, to spend their Thanksgiving alone, in the rain, just to get the first shot at Black Friday sales. Do I really need to say anything else? Besides, I'd rather focus on this day rather than worry about tomorrow.<br />
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Between last Thanksgiving and this one, I have so many things to be thankful for that I couldn't possibly hope to list them all so I'll pick the one I'm most thankful for:<br />
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I'm thankful for my fans, both at my storytelling shows and of my books. I'm living a dream, a dream I've had since I was in third grade. You are the measure of my success, and I am humbled by your response to my shows and my books. You are the reason I am an Amazon bestseller, and that three of my books hit the #1 spots on Smashwords.com in three different categories at the same time. I'll never be able to thank you enough.<br />
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I can't wait to see where this next year takes us.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2121153669011167070.post-77421791314889776062011-11-14T00:42:00.000-08:002011-11-14T07:35:22.601-08:00The Penultimate ToastWell, here we are. Welcome to my little corner of the blog-o-sphere. It's been one heck of a ride since Friday when we started this grand adventure. If you followed the tour schedule, you're coming here from JL Oakley's blog over at:<a href="http://historyweaver.wordpress.com/"> http://historyweaver.wordpress.com</a>. And now you're here, at the end of it all.<br />
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First off: if you've missed any of the other blogs during Blog Tour de Troops, you should go check those out. My post can wait until your done. This is one of those things that you're really going to want to save for the very end.<br />
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Second, I've been so moved by the support everyone has shown for our troops, I'm not going to give just one book coupon to people who comment, I'm going to give three, and send those three books to a soldier for everyone who posts. You'll be getting coupon codes for <i>First Chosen</i>, <i>Halloween Jack and the Devil's Gate</i>, and <i>Knight of the Living Dead</i>. Surprise!<br />
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Third: When I saw that I had the last spot on the tour, and that I was going to be wrapping the whole thing up, I must admit to feeling a little intimidated. I started wracking my brain, trying to come up with something to bring all these wonderful posts together with some semblance of a conclusion. Here is my contribution to our collective honoring of the men and women who serve our country and defend our freedoms.<br />
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In the 19th century, toasts were a very important and formalized part of military conduct. Toasting at meals and social gatherings both in the army and navy was highly ritualized. The last, or ultimate, toast of the evening was reserved for the country the soldiers served. The second to last, or penultimate, toast was to honor those comrades in arms who had fallen in service to their country. After any exchange with an enemy where the forces were even remotely closely matched, it could be almost guaranteed that one of their brothers in arms was absent, and would never be joining them again.<br />
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The glasses would be raised in honor of the fallen, and the words spoken were simple, "To absent friends."<br />
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We are fortunate in the United States to have a volunteer military. Men and women choose the wear a uniform knowing that they might one day be called upon to lay down their lives in those uniforms, and it means that sometimes, all to frequently, someone is missing from the table at the mess who will never join his or her fellow soldiers again. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, and children will also never sit at a holiday meal with these heroes. Too many of us know of someone who has chosen to wear a uniform, gone off to defend our way of life, and will not return.<br />
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And so, as I close out the Blog Tour de Troops, I can think of no more fitting words than simply:<br />
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<i>"To absent friends."</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09056596421731911345noreply@blogger.com144