http://ncbroadband.gov/broadband_map

In 2011, while working at the North Carolina Rural Center as part of the e-NC Authority, I felt there were serious shortcomings in the existing state broadband map. It was simultaneously ahead of its time and behind the times. GIS specialist Stephanie Jane Edwards agreed. I suggested to Jane Patterson that we needed an open-source map that built upon lessons learned from the closed-source map development. Jane knew I also wanted to write books for a living, and she challenged me to stick around long enough to make it happen. I got 99% of the way there before my departure, but my colleagues have carried on.

My favorite features are the ‘auto-locate’ feature that searches based on your current location, and the smartphone / tablet interface. The enhanced ‘identify providers for a given point’ feature is also not too shabby.

Congratulations to my colleagues from the e-NC Authority, NC Broadband, Topsail Technologies, Boundless, UNC-G, MCNC and the open-source community for all your hard work. This would not have been possible without you.

It is my greatest hope that this map will continue to evolve and will be adopted by other states to enhance their broadband mapping capabilities, while at the same time lowering their costs.

Special thanks to Tim Will, who started me down this path. Stephanie Jane Edwards for teaching me about Geospatial mapping, projections, and those pesky Geodetic Datums! And to Anna Tapp for teaching me about Geocoding and Composite Geolocators.

I promised myself I wouldn’t cry…the dragons are having a good laugh at my expense.

http://www.newmobileme.com/imagochronicles9/IMAGO_FANTASY_REALM/

https://twitter.com/lornasuzuki

1)     What am I working on?

At this very moment, I am finishing up my final projects at my soon to be former day job. I’m giddy at the prospect of writing full time in just a matter of six weeks or so. This will give me time to complete the third trilogy in the Godsland fantasy series. There are four trilogies in the primary story arc, and I expect to complete the fourth trilogy in the coming year! You can’t see it, but I’m doing a little dance. You can’t see me, right?

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Writing fantasy is in my blood–as is reading fantasy. My life has often been surreal; from the barn to the board room. From high school dropout to dotcom optionaire and onto state level broadband planner and publisher. All these experiences color my writing, bringing a realistic edge to a fantastical story. Real science and physics blend almost seamlessly with magic and power. Godsland evolves throughout the story, providing an ever changing landscape in which I craft my stories.

3)     Why do I write what I do?

While I will likely write a few non-fiction titles, and I may branch out in genre at some time in the future, I will always be a fantasy writer at heart. They say there is nothing better than getting paid to do something you love, and I adore writing fantasy fiction. Most of my readers are adults, but Godsland is suitable for young adults. I accepted the challenge of telling a tale built on adult concepts without including the gory details. My writing does not coddle the young but instead accepts the fact that they are far more informed and capable than we care to give them credit for.

4)     How does your writing process work?

I write with wild abandon, without worry or fear. I give myself permission to write terrible first drafts. By doing this my productivity skyrocketed, and I find my first drafts get better and better. Confidence drives the fingers faster.

When I finish writing something, I immediately set it aside and start my next project. This gives me distance from the work I just finished, and it gets me a head start on my next project. I find it helps if I already have something in progress when I finish editing. Motivation can be difficult to find after slogging through edits.

I make multiple editing passes on each manuscript. I try to stay focused and not get caught up in making changes on the fly. I place a comment on things that need rewriting and move on. Recently, I’ve adopted a new method for proofing my manuscripts using text-to-speech. After downloading a high-quality voice onto my Android tablet and hooking it to my TV using a MHL cable, I can sit on a yoga ball and watch the words go by as they are being read to me. It’s amazing the things I find this way.

BETA readers are an important part of my process as well. I use a professional editor, Andrea Howe, but I try my best to hand her a clean manuscript, which allows her to concentrate more on the story and less on typos. Andrea and I do two reads per manuscript, which allows me to address her insightful comments and make my books even better. After that, it’s off to readers–my favorite part!

Be sure to join me on Twitter (@brianrathbone), grab a free ebook or audiobook, or even like the series on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/WorldOfGodsland

Thanks again to Lorna Suzuki for tagging me. I will return the favor by tagging Morgen Rich and Scott Baughman, but fine writers with great content to offer readers.

Scott Baughman

http://www.writegreatscott.com

https://twitter.com/scotticusmax

Morgen Rich

http://morgenrich.com

https://twitter.com/MorgenRich

The Unfinished Song (Book 1): Initiate by Tara Maya

BLURB

DEADLY INITIATION

A DETERMINED GIRL…

Dindi can’t do anything right, maybe because she spends more time dancing with pixies than doing her chores. Her clan hopes to marry her off and settle her down, but she dreams of becoming a Tavaedi, one of the powerful warrior-dancers whose secret magics are revealed only to those who pass a mysterious Test during the Initiation ceremony. The problem? No-one in Dindi’s clan has ever passed the Test. Her grandmother died trying. But Dindi has a plan.

AN EXILED WARRIOR…

Kavio is the most powerful warrior-dancer in Faearth, but when he is exiled from the tribehold for a crime he didn’t commit, he decides to shed his old life. If roving cannibals and hexers don’t kill him first, this is his chance to escape the shadow of his father’s wars and his mother’s curse. But when he rescues a young Initiate girl, he finds himself drawn into as deadly a plot as any he left behind. He must decide whether to walk away or fight for her… assuming she would even accept the help of an exile.

EXCERPT

Blue-skinned rusalki grappled Dindi under the churning surface of the river. She could feel their claws dig into her arms. Their riverweed-like hair entangled her legs when she tried to kick back to the surface. She only managed to gulp a few breaths of air before they pulled her under again.

She hadn’t appreciated how fast and deep the river was. On her second gasp for air, she saw that the current was already dragging her out of sight of the screaming girls on the bank. A whirlpool of froth and fae roiled between two large rocks in the middle of the river. The rusalka and her sisters tugged Dindi toward it. Other water fae joined the rusalki. Long snouted pookas, turtle-like kappas and hairy-armed gwyllions all swam around her, leading her to the whirlpool, where even more fae swirled in the whitewater.

“Join our circle, Dindi!” the fae voices gurgled under the water. “Dance with us forever!”

“No!” She kicked and swam and stole another gasp for air before they snagged her again. There were so many of them now, all pulling her down, all singing to the tune of the rushing river. She tried to shout, “Dispel!” but swallowed water instead. Her head hit a rock, disorienting her. She sank, this time sure she wouldn’t be coming up again.

“Dispel!” It was a man’s voice.

Strong arms encircled her and lifted her until her arms and head broke the surface. Her rescuer swam with her toward the shore. He overpowered the current, he shrugged aside the hands of the water faeries stroking his hair and arms. When he reached the shallows, he scooped Dindi into his arms and carried her the rest of the way to the grassy bank. He set her down gently.

She coughed out some water while he supported her back.

“Better?” he asked.

She nodded. He was young–only a few years older than she. The aura of confidence and competence he radiated made him seem older. Without knowing quite why, she was certain he was a Tavaedi.

“Good.” He had a gorgeous smile. A wisp of his dark bangs dangled over one eye. He brushed his dripping hair back over his head.

Dindi’s hand touched skin–he was not wearing any shirt. Both of them were sopping wet. On him, that meant trickles of water coursed over a bedrock of muscle. As for her, the thin white wrap clung transparently to her body like a wet leaf. She blushed.

“It might have been easier to swim if you had let go of that,” he teased. He touched her hand, which was closed around something. “What were you holding onto so tightly that it mattered more than drowning?”

LINKS

Tara’s blog http://bit.ly/12dFdNy

Tara’s Twitter http://bit.ly/162sCtE

The Unfinished Song on Facebook http://on.fb.me/1400mMq

Amazon http://amzn.to/15ciwYc

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/13yM5Dr

Kobo http://bit.ly/1aFhg1P

iTunes http://bit.ly/1baddhN

Smashwords http://bit.ly/17zK8Xn

Initiate is free everywhere except on Barnes and Noble (where it’s $0.99). You can download a free .epub version via Smashwords.

Greetings, Beardies!

A while back I had mentioned on Facebook (and by default, Twitter) that, in honor of reaching 500 Likes on our Facebook Page and 1000 Followers on Twitter, I would be holding a Giveaway.

A Giveaway, there shall be…and it’s a doozie! We have some great prizes, donated by some great authors. In addition to their generosity, I’ve decided to donate a prize of my own.

Lana Krumwiede’s first name rhymes with banana, and she pronounces her last name KRUM-widdy, as in a clever bread fragment. But don’t worry too much because she’s not touchy about it.

In twelve-year-old Taemon’s city, everyone has a power called psi — the ability to move and manipulate objects with their minds. When Taemon loses his psi in a traumatic accident, he must hide his lack of power by any means possible. But a humiliating incident at a sports tournament exposes his disability, and Taemon is exiled to the powerless colony. The “dud farm” is not what Taemon expected, though: people are kind and open, and they actually seem to enjoy using their hands to work and play and even comfort their children. Taemon adjusts to his new life quickly, making friends and finding unconditional acceptance. But gradually he discovers that for all its openness, there are mysteries at the colony, too — dangerous secrets that would give unchecked power to psi wielders if discovered. When Taemon unwittingly leaks one of these secrets, will he have the courage to repair the damage — even if it means returning to the city and facing the very people who exiled him?

Brian Rathbone is a former horse trainer and computer programmer.  He used his old world knowledge and love of fantasy fiction to create The World of Godsland fantasy series, which begins with The Dawning of Power trilogy.

Brian began working from home, finally finding the time to write down the story that had been growing in his mind for over a decade. At times he felt like a juggler in motley while he balanced the writing of code and the writing of fiction, but it’s all been worthwhile.

Two Copies of The Dawning of Power trilogy, the first three books of his World of Godsland series. Echoes of the ancients’ power are distant memories, tattered and faded by the passage of eons, but that is about to change. A new dawn has arrived. Latent abilities, harbored in mankind’s deepest fibers, wait to be unleashed. Ancient evils awaken, and old fears ignite the fires of war.

Paige W. Pendleton. The secrets of the Red Paint People have haunted Maine for 7000 years. Paige is busy writing those tales.

She is currently working on The Keeper and the Scimitar of Salaman, the third installment of her Black Ledge series.

Two Copies of The Keeper and the Rune Stone. An unholy ritual, a ticking clock. Four children discover that there are things that go bump in the night…

Centuries ago a group of Elves committed an unholy ritual. But the ritual was a spectacular failure. It transformed the Elves into the Noctivagae - the beings we know as vampires.

Striving to maintain a fragile peace, the ancient Elves and Dwarves negotiated an accord, which they’ve renewed every year on the summer solstice. The ceremony depends on the magical Rune Stone, but it’s missing. If it is not found—and quickly—the consequences could be dire, and not just for Elves and Dwarves.

Four children, Rob, Jack, Eleanor, and Flora, stumble into the fantastical excitement when they happen across a wise being who inhabits a nearby cave. He is the Keeper of the Realm. He befriends the children and enlists their help.

The adventure that follows is based on my suspicion that Elves and Dwarves came to Maine with the ancient Norse in the time of the Red Paint People. The story is filled with suspense, magic, adventure, and charming supporting characters. It’s both heart-warming and heart-pounding.

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Gregory S. Close has lived on both coasts of the United States (and that wholesome corn-fed part in-between) as well as Dundalk, Ireland and the tiny islands of the Kwajalein Atoll.

Greg loves travelling and sampling the native cultures, foods, customs, and beers of the world. Greg is married to a rocket scientist and lives in California with his two daughters, a cat, and one and a half dogs.

Three Copies of In Siege of Daylight. This new epic literary fantasy follows Calvraign, who is an apprentice to the king’s bard. His studies are filled with prophecy, romance, mythic enemies, and magic, and he contents himself with such fantasies until the day that he is suddenly called to the capital city. His best friend, Callagh, the most skilled huntress in their village, senses something isn’t right with Calvraign’s hasty summons and follows him. Her instincts prove true, as his arrival throws the king’s court into chaos, and the two are abruptly torn from their simple country life and plunged into a real-life version of Calvraign’s tales. A menacing prophecy reveals that an all-encompassing dark magic has already been loosed upon the world, and there is only one way to stop it. Calvraign must reverse the Darkening before treachery takes the life of the crown prince and plunges the kingdom of Providayne into chaos. And Callagh must keep him alive long enough to do it….

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Daniel Harvell wrote one short story at the age of 10 about a pit on the moon laden with poisonous hamburgers, and suddenly he was an author. That’s the way he saw it when “Murder on the Moon” became an instant hit with his fourth-grade classmates. He’d always been a voracious reader, but upon sharing his little yarn with friends, Daniel suddenly realized the freedom (and power!) of becoming the storyteller. Over the next few years, he would go on to write several short stories, mostly involving murder mysteries and his schoolmates.

The thrill of whodunits subsided when he discovered the long and (theoretically) rewarding payoffs of the soap operatic style of telling tales, which was followed quickly by his unearthing of the superhero fiction genre (which is just soap operas in spandex). Fast-forward to Daniel’s last semester at Florida State University, where he was starting to regret my decision to pursue a business management degree instead of something more literary. He had big stories in his head. Instead of second-guessing his educational path, however, Daniel used his free time to pursue his passion. A few months later, his first novel had arrived in the world—and it wasn’t pretty. Like all writers, though, he had to start somewhere.

Daniel went back to the drawing board with his ideas for The Survivors—a contemporary fantasy story about what would happen if real people found themselves empowered with superhuman abilities. But The Survivors wasn’t so pretty either. The concept was fun but the execution was rough. It was temporarily shelved while he set out to learn how to be a better—and publishable—writer. And 10 years later, Daniel thinks he may have learned a thing or two.

He wrote another novel in the interim years (more on that soon!), but The Survivors will always be his baby. In many ways, the work of an artist is like his or her child. Now his little one’s ready to play with the big kids. After the many years of edits and rewrites, Daniel is proud of the novel into which it has grown.

Two Copies of The Survivors. When seven strangers impossibly survive a horrific airplane crash, they find themselves changed in remarkable ways. The survivors are endowed with powers that defy explanation. Some are blessed. Some are cursed.

Going their separate ways, they adapt their extraordinary “gifts” to their ordinary lives. The results, however, aren’t always pretty—particularly when one of them engages in a killing spree. With little more to go on than the psychic link that they all share, the survivors seek out one another to uncover the murderer and bring him or her to justice.

The fireman, the grandmother, the psychiatric patient, the basketball player, the mute girl, the rich blonde, and the man in the wheelchair—they all have secrets worth hiding. They can’t trust each other. They can’t even trust themselves.

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S.M. White has read a metric ton of text in his life. You could probably crush a dozen men beneath the weight. He studied creative writing at Spalding University, which turns out is simply reading and writing; that was nice. He has spent countless hours watching fantasy films, at times awed and at other times disappointed. He has held swords and shields and dead things. He once undertook a daunting quest to recover the stolen car keys to his mother’s station wagon. Maidens have handed me favors ranging from bracelets to perfume-drenched letters to lengths of fake hair. When he encounters dragons, he keeps his wits about him and his gold coins close. He is a liar. He is a thief: he has stolen words out of men’s mouths and claimed them as fictional musings. His friends often question him on his whereabouts (they seldom check Medieval Outfitters). He is not a serious person; of this, he is serious. He spent his formative years training to be a ninja. In this, he can don dark clothing and climb the tallest trees, he can do a front roll and a cartwheel, and he can fashion a smoke bomb from a tennis ball and match heads. If you were to ask him a question, he would instantly become evasive and confusing (mostly as a product of his uncertainty, but also because he’s super mysterious).

Say something poignant, the Internet says.

Very well. He has won many insignificant things and has lost many precious things. This, he feels, is important. It is one thing to hold an object in your hand knowing its worth is a paltry measure in regards to what you might have been holding. This idea of loss is a vibrant and living thing. It lets you see that what is offered is not always what should be taken, and that what should be taken is hardly ever offered. And there waits cynicism, the most powerful of writerly attributes. If you don’t know hopelessness, or dejection, or heart ache, you do not know conflict. Pain can be observed on television, or read about in the paper. But to live it, that it what molds a heart and moves a soul. His writing can be dark and terrible and harsh. This is not a product of formal training, or awards, or degrees. It is a result of his humanness, of his longing to understand agony and love and how the two survive in the same world. His stories are studies of the human heart, of humanity’s need for good, and of the dreadful movements of evil as done by minds capable of love.

Three Copies The Lonely Man: The Witch’s Price. A man responsible for the downfall of a nation. The nation responsible for the downfall of a man.

Mhets and six other greedy men quested to steal the Chained God’s treasure. They were successful. The gods, in their fury, took the lives of Mhets’ companions one at a time, and now seek to snuff out the remaining thief. To survive, and to further spite the divine for their part in taking the love of his life, Mhets finds refuge in a witch’s hand. But the vile deal he enters into promises nothing but trouble. Sorcerers, mercenaries, and death wait on the horizon as he moves to complete his end of the terrible bargain. Journeying at the behest of the witch, Mhets learns just how black his heart has become, and how that darkness inside him might spell salvation for the world.

This installment starts the tales of Mhets Sorrowbringer, a man wronged and angered in life. He owns a past riddled with atrocity, betrayal, and death, but here is where his true story starts. Here is where the man called Mirthless Mhets begins to write his legend.

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The Tour Hosts:

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I Heart Books is a page whose focus is on the promotion of reading, books, and their authors. They provide service for both trad-pub and self-pub authors of all genres. They strive to bring their readers fun and positive posts, while keeping up with current news in the “book world.”

Diamonds & Coal Book Reviews is run by Anna, an unrepentant 23-year-old nerd. She loves all different sorts of books, has watched too many movies to count, and is always happy to discover new music. That said, her graphic novel/superhero passion knows no bounds. (Hellboy is her favorite—you’ll never convince her any other superhero is better!) When she’s not at work in the Electronics Department of her local Target, every waking moment revolves around her blog. Come and join her in finding more of the interesting, shiny things in life.

Fae Books is run by Sarah Fae Graham, a 24-year-old Army wife who lives in Catterick Garrison in the United Kingdom. Fae Books is all about promoting authors, bloggers, writers and everything bookish in between. It hosts a lot of giveaways as well as free book posts, excerpts, interviews, and guest blog posts from the people with whom Sarah Fae is working. She runs a reviewing team who are in high demand and tend to book six months in advance. She’s also in the process of beginning her own Tours. You can find more information on Sarah Fae and Fae Books by clicking on the above banner—it’s never too soon to get Fae Books involved.

Alexis Holcomb is currently a writer, but aspires to one day be a full-time author. She specializes in fiction and loves inspiring others to follow their passions and dreams. She’s a hands-on type of person that can just as easily fix a 3 course meal for a group of friends as she can do maintenance on her or her husband’s vehicles. She’s proud to be an Air Force sergeant, a wife, a mother, a teacher, and a writer.

Alexis is also a contributor at The Bearded Scribe.

Wordweaver. A child of the American Great Plains, Court Ellyn moved wherever the oil industry took her family. Born in the panhandle of Texas, she has lived from one end of the Lone Star state to the other, as well as New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indiana. She is settled at last, or so she hopes, in a growing town southwest of Oklahoma City with her husband, her fat cats, and her writing.

Having to move frequently, drove her to fill her playtime with characters and stories that, at first, she acted out with her sister. Then, when she was fourteen, she began writing what she calls “poor and unrealistic historical fiction,” primarily because her mother discouraged her from reading and writing in the fantasy genre. But because of films like The Never Ending Story, The Princess Bride, and Willow, her fate was sealed. Throughout high school her tastes gravitated toward the fantastical until she secretly purchased her first fantasy novel at a gas station. Her mother warned her, “Be careful.” And so Ms. Ellyn has been carefully reading and writing fantasy ever since.

Ms. Ellyn attended the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, which she claims provided an excellent liberal arts education but failed to dispel the dragons. She graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2000 with a degree in English and History and an emphasis in Creative Writing. Shortly after, she married her high school sweetheart and determined to write professionally. Sadly, she learned the hard way that a college education does not guarantee book sales. Regardless, Court’s stories have since appeared in numerous magazines such as Kaleidotrope, Silver Blade and the Dead Robots’ Society’s Explorers: Beyond the Horizon anthology. In the spring of 2012, she celebrated the publication of the first novel of a fantasy series, over which she labored for a more than a decade. After a literal outpouring of sweat and tears, both Volumes of Book 1 are available at CreateSpace and at Amazon.

Court is also a contributor at The Bearded Scribe.

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The Giveaway:

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck to Everyone!  And have FUN!

But first, many thanks to Morgen Rich, who tagged me and TS Gwilliam who tagged her. Check them out!

Morgen Rich: World Enough and Time ( http://www.morgenrich.wordpress.com ).

TS Gwilliam’s blog is roseshadows ( http://roseshadows.wordpress.com/ )

THE NEXT BIG THING - WORK IN PROGRESS
1.What is the working title of your next book?
THE FIFTH MAGIC

2.Where did the idea come from for the book?
I’ve been working on the Godsland story since the late 1990’s, though I didn’t get to start writing it until 2005. Each trilogy builds on the last trilogy, and I’m finally getting to write things I’ve been thinking about for more than fifteen years. It’s a lot of fun. And once I write it, it’s as if my imaginings are made real.

3.What genre does your book fall under?
Young Adult Epic Fantasy

4.What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ve always thought Kate Beckinsale could play Catrin, and my wife insists that Benjin will be played by Alec Baldwin. I don’t know, though, I make have to make a cameo…

5.What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Power has returned to Godsland, and no one is prepared.

6.Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
The Godsland series will remain self-published for the foreseeable future. It’s not that I wouldn’t welcome the right deal from a publisher, but asking a publisher to pick up a series that’s seven books in is a bit much, and I don’t expect it to happen. There has been some interest in my work from New York, and I may soon develop a project specifically for traditional publication. I think it and my self-published works will complement one another.

7.How long did/will it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I’ll start by saying that I’m fortunate writing is now my full-time endeavor, though I do still have some part-time obligations. Because of this, I expect to have the draft completed in fewer than thirty days. It’ll take considerably longer to be edited to my satisfaction. I’ll edit it, and then my beta readers will get it, after that I’ll edit it again. When I’ve edited it to my greatest ability, I send it to Andrea Howe at Blue Falcon Editing. Andrea has edited the entire Godsland series, and we generally do two full edits. After that, I feel comfortable sending it out to my fans, who’ve been great at finding things here and there that we’ve all managed to miss. I’m grateful for that.

8.What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The Godsland series has been compared to The Lord of the Rings, Terry Brooks’ Shannara, and Harry Potter, but I would say it bears more similarity to The Magic of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt and The Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn–those books certainly helped inspire the series (along with Shannara and Lord of the Rings, and many others.). See my bookshelf here to see many of the books that inspired me to write fantasy.
http://www.brianrathbone.com/about-fantasy-author-brian-rathbone/

9.Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As mentioned above, there have been many writers who’ve inspired me, but I find myself more motivated now by my readers. They provide me with a great deal of motivation and good cheer, and this next trilogy is all for them. I can’t wait to bring it to them.

10.What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
One of the best things about The Fifth Magic I that there are six books leading up to it, and I’m making great use of history and tying up loose ends from previous story lines, as well as bringing back some old friends. For those unfamiliar with my work, Call of the Herald is the place to start. You can grab your free copy here: http://brianrathbone.com/free-fantasy-ebook.html

That was fun! And now to tag two more unsuspecting souls…My magic crystal 8-ball selected Nick Taylor http://nicholastaylor.co/ and A.M. Hargrove http://amhargrove.com

Reeling from the loss of the Regent dragons and her son to the black armies, Catrin Volker can take no more. Armed with power never before seen on Godsland, she goes in search of her son and her enemies. May the gods have mercy on those who stand in her way.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

Fantasy author Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2011 is running from November 1 through November 30. His novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and More than Kin, all of which are available for the Kindle, the Nook and online at Smashwords . His latest novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, will be available for e-books on November 21. To find out more, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

I’d like to talk about what I hope readers will take away from my writings, and tied in with that, what I hope to accomplish with my writing.

First, as a writer, I have to come to some conclusions as to what interests readers, what draws them in, what makes readers generally approve of a novel or short story. Looking at it from strictly a business angle, a writer can study the markets and various online surveys, the bestseller lists, etc. Practical, yes, but somewhat cold. Another way to try to find out what interests readers is for the writer to look inward, to decide upon what he or she likes as a reader, because writers are readers, too, or at least they should be.

In my case, I vary in my literary interests, but I also tend to be drawn to particular genres more than others. I enjoy epic fantasy literature as well as horror. When a particular mood hits me, I enjoy classics and literary works. Historical fiction can also draw me in, if it is fairly accurate.

But beyond genre, what do I look for in my fiction reading. When I sit and ponder it, I find I enjoy a little action and adventure, as well as some intrigue. In darker tales, I often like the building of tension. In literary works, I prefer less escapism and more exploration. Exploration of what? Of the outside world as well as our inner worlds, of our thoughts and hopes and dreams but also our philosophies.

A mixture of all the elements I enjoy in fiction are what I try to bring to my own writing. I shoot for some action and adventure, with a touch of intrigue. I work to build tension, especially in my darker stories. And I try to give a brief look into our humanity, all elements of our humanity, though I hope not to be too heavy with this.

A reader might look at much of my epic fantasy works and ask, “Uh, where is this ‘look into our humanity’ you were talking about?” It’s there, though you might have to go searching for it. I use my characters to explore and discover different ways of thinking, different ways of looking at the world. I don’t mean anything snobby by this, just that it’s something I enjoy in my writing.

To go a little deeper, I tend to follow the views of late author John Gardner concerning heroes. In Gardner’s opinion, heroes were meant to be moral examples to humanity. That viewpoint might seem overly simplistic to some of today’s readers, but as a writer I find it a good starting point. I find interest in taking Gardner’s basic idea of a moral hero and twisting it some here and there. I’m not necessarily trying for an anti-hero, nor am I seeking to make a villain into a heroic figure, but I do find possibilities in walking the razor’s edge between what is heroic and what crosses the line. All of this is one of the reasons my heroes are sometimes brutal while some of my villains can have positive aspects in their character.

My horror writing takes a very different path. Usually when I’m writing horror, I am trying to build a particular mood, this mood allowing me to study the darker elements of humanity in all its forms. Also, often I’m just trying to make myself giggle in the middle of the night while writing alone in a darkened room. When I write horror, I don’t usually go for the gore factor, but I do find humor sometimes in the devilishly vile.

So, serious and silly alike, those are some of the elements I try to bring to my fiction writing. Do I sometimes fail? Yes, I’m sure I do. Often I know when I’ve failed, and I try to make sure readers never see such material, at least until I can repair it. Other times? Well, if I fail, it is up for the reader to decide, and I only blame myself. On the other hand, a writer can not always please every reader, and it would be impossible to try and do so. I try to write what interests me, and I hope it will interest others, because it is the readers who are truly important at the end of the day.

My eBooks at Smashwords

Including my latest short story: Redtooth

The following is a guest post by Urban Fantasy author Emmett Spain. You can check out his novel Old Haunts here

Having watched a copious amount of films and read a few hundred books in my 30 years on this planet, I have read/seen some absolute shockers, been compelled and terrified by the best of the worst, and endured a great deal that were more ho-hum than horrifying. And when you see that many, you start to notice some fairly obvious commonalities.

Let’s start with the scene where the villain gets introduced.

You’ve seen it before. The obligatory bad guy torturing or killing someone. The expository philosophical rant that comes before torturing or killing someone. Action movies thrive on this kind of scene in particular, and one suspects they’ll never entirely grow out of it.

For example, I saw “The Losers” recently, and watched another of these obligatory scenes. They tried to mix it up with the bad guy having an “I’m so laidback and ironic in the face of evil deeds that I’m totally cool” attitude, but sadly the performance fell flatter than a pancake dropped from a 30 storey building.

Now look at two of the villain introductions that really, really work.

Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lecter is slowly revealed, standing still and statuesque behind fibreglass.

The Dark Knight. The Joker wreaks murderous havoc in a bank, then slips off his mask for a massive close-up as he mutters in his twisted drawl, “Whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger.”

So we have two ways of setting up a villain - one with quiet poise and the other with wilful chaos. Both are hugely effective. But what really makes them work?

To find out, we need to go back a step.

In both instances the villains are mentioned before we meet them, and both times there is a sense of reverence toward them, as though they are each figures of legend to be feared and revered. Lecter we are told is a very dangerous man, and before we wind our way through to his lonely little cell we hear of his atrocities, his tendencies, and the danger he represents. These words are like salt on our palettes, kindling our appetites.

Why is that?

Because there is a part of every person that is curious, that wants to solve the mysteries of life, however small or large they may be. It’s those mysteries that keep us interested, that keep us reading or watching or paying attention. Setting up a character in hushed or reverent tones makes us eager to see them for ourselves. We want to solve the mystery.

On another level, a deeper level, there is a part of us that wants to reach out and touch the darkness, to be sickened and enthralled by the possibilities that lie within that infinite void of the soul. These characters represent a safe way to explore that darkness – a morally free way we might explore the urges buried within our collective psyches.

Does the Dark Knight take the same approach as Silence of the Lambs with the Joker? Think of the great establishing line relating to the Joker’s makeup.

“Makeup?”
“Yeah, you know. To scare his enemies. War paint.”

Of course, the Joker’s legacy followed him into the film, so I can understand the argument that the character was set up long before audiences entered the cinema. But this only serves to enforce the overall point – if you set up your villain properly before we meet them, then you can have them produce a lasting impression on readers/viewers without the need for torture scenes or pompous soliloquies.

Think of your favourite villain from books. Were they set up well before you met them?

In my novel Old Haunts I took a similar tack—I built up the idea of one of the key villains before I introduced him. Threaded throughout the novel are snippets of information regarding the vampire’s previous interactions with the characters, and their fear at the idea of running into him again. With this built throughout the novel the character has a presence before we meet him… and when we do it’s as cinematic as possible:

The archway curtain fluttered once more, revealing a hunching man draped in loose hanging rags. He looked tired, greasy, unwashed. His cheeks were sharp and sunken, his eyes deep and sad-looking. Around his eyes were dark, purplish circles that offset his pale skin. His short, roughly shaven brown hair was matted with blood and dirt, as were the patches of bare flesh exposed through the rags he wore. I spotted dark clusters of bruises at his ribs, and identical pale scars at both wrists that may or may not have been self inflicted.

He looked beaten and fragile, like a wounded animal in need of shelter and care. Yet when his sad eyes spotted the trio of vampires ahead of him, I registered a reaction from them I did not expect. Fear. In their eyes, in the way they stopped moving, utterly and completely. They were afraid of him. The man’s expression had not changed, had not come over menacing or dark in any way. He just looked at them, sad eyes regarding them with a pitiful, wounded expression. I watched as most of the vamps slowly backed away, making their way off the upper tier and toward the exit. The man turned to me and lifted his head, his brows knitting together in a pleading expression.

As his back straightened with a wince of pain, my heart fell into my stomach.

Around the man’s neck was a collar of metallic silk, an alloy pliable as fabric but hard as Kevlar. It’s the alloy of choice for mystical types—or at least it is for those who can afford it. It’s most often used as a focus for binding spells, to create a barrier that is strong yet malleable, but this … I had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t latched against his neck, wasn’t held in place by any sort of fastening or catch. At either side of the collar were small, dark holes in his neck where the alloy was sewn into his skin, leaving the surrounding flesh blackened and dry. I looked up from the collar and into the man’s pleading eyes. He looked to me for relief, for safety. To be taken away from this place, from this life. He looked at me with the desperate eyes of a man who wanted to die.

I watched as the metallic collar shimmered from dark grey to bright, reflective silver, as the metallic thread sewn into his skin tightened as if pulled upon. The man winced and keened, his neck and body stiffening as he knelt to the floor. As he settled into the ground I noticed a second shimmer in the doorway, and spotted a similar piece of metallic silk strapped to the wrist of a tall, middle-aged man wearing grey suit pants, leather shoes, and a black button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows. The alloy was not sewn into his skin but loosely clasped, and as he very slightly tilted his fist the shimmering stopped as if by command, and the collar at the kneeling man’s neck loosened ever so slightly.

As he stepped forward, the curtain of shadow that concealed his features peeled back up his arm, then slowly over his chest and head, revealing his face to my eyes.

The Vampire.

Sound good?

Old Haunts is available now.