It was a Dark & Stormy Night ...

Ninja Elves, the Ghost of Christmas Past and Nutcrackers

2011-12-21T17:48:00.000-05:00

Joyeux Noël, Bonne Christmeusse, Fröhliche Weihnachten, God Jul, Feliz Navidad, Maligayamg Pasko, Merry Christmas! It has been a fun filled couple of weeks at the Ellis household. Click the card for a full blown visit from the Ninja Elves! After many years of planning to send Christmas cards, this year we managed.

I’ve been fighting a sinus infection off and on for several weeks. As a result, I haven’t done a lot of posting. Time to remedy that. I’ve got several irons in the fire and a fairly busy holiday season planned. Aside from the holiday cheer on the left, I’ve also participated in a group reading of A Christmas Carol with The Podcast Community on Facebook.

My part starts about 10:29 in and you can tell from the outset that I’m the neophyte. The audio is low and a little muddy. I’m still working out the kinks with my audio setup. Still, I had a lot of fun so hopefully the enthusiasm will shine through if nothing else does. You can ~~listen to it below or~~ download it from here. For whatever reason, I fail at embedding the player. I'll do some more research and try again later.

Between now and Christmas, I’m working on a very short story for the weekly challenge at 100 Word Stories involving a Nutcracker, tinsel and three blind mice. I’ll let you know when I’ve submitted it. I’ve also signed up for Starship Modeler’s Seeds contest. I don’t know that I’ll have the gas to get that one completed by January 2nd. We’ll have to see. Plus, I’ve got another project simmering on the back burner that I’ve been playing with for a for a while. More on that later; later being another post.

Progress on Project Mjölnir proceeds apace and I’ve had the opportunity to clean up the blog a bit. The Hierarchy of Dominance is coming together nicely with the help of my good friends at The Midlothian Writers' Workshop. They have had to plow through an enormous amount of deathless prose so you won’t have to. Thanks Jarod, Anita, Gail, Pat, Blaine and Louis! (Mel, where are you?) One of my questions was featured at I’ve become my parents. And, I’m sure there will be cookies, joyous Christmas cookies, to eat along the way.

Of course, all these plans presuppose that the offspring are willing to allow it.

There are also Legos to build, models to complete, school work to grade (ah, home schooling), hallways to paint, offices to clean and year end paper work to complete. Good thing I took a week off.

Yes, my sick days do roll over into the next year. Why do you ask?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Project Mjölnir - Phase 1 is Over ... But Wait, There's More!

2011-11-30T19:25:00.001-05:00

We have a winner! After an interesting month, I finally stumbled across the finish line about 2:30 this morning with a total of 50,192 words! I done, but I'm not done-done, I still have more story to go. I'd have to say that I'm about half way through a tale of heartache, angst, passion and things that blow up ... in space. Oh, and starships, hostile aliens, giant killer robots, nefarious politicians and damsels-not-in-distress. ("We can take care of ourselves, thank you very much!") I have managed to pull off Phase 1, but that was the easy part! Project Mjölnir rolls on; I have December and January to finish the draft and complete the edits. This is no time to shilly shally.

NaNoWriMo was a win, but is wasn't a pretty win. Thanksgiving week I spent four to six hours a day, hammering out deathless prose at a rate of eight to ten thousand words per day. That saved me. I would have been far better off if I'd stuck with the 1,667 words per day suggestion, but I'll get to the hard lessons learned a bit later. How much of the final push am I going to keep? Well, all of the ideas generated in the final seven days will be incorporated in some fashion, however looking over what I actually ground out; very little of the prose, at least in its current form. There's going to a world of editing and rewriting in my future.

I did (finally) pick up some tips I found useful and some habits I found helpful. I may sound like I’m weaseling around, but after all of the pep talks, write-ins, critique groups and helpful family suggestions, the only thing I found to be universal is you need to pick what works for you! And this is what worked for me:

Adhere to the BIC principle. Whether it's your happy place, man cave, bomb shelter, whatever; park it and write.
Turn Twitter off. Yep, I’m addicted, there are so many interesting people. I’ve detoured several times to follow threads of conversation. So, remove as many distractions as possible. There will always be a reason to not write. Learn to ignore it.
Don’t edit until the first draft is completed! Don’t continue to pick at it, you’ll leave a scar.
Follow the outline until it doesn’t make sense. Then, set the outline aside. I lost whole days trying to make some plot point fit in my outline. As we say in broadcasting, “We’ll fix it in post.”
No, you can’t catch up tomorrow, do it now! Set aside a regular time, whether fixed point in the ever changing temporal stream or after the baby goes down for her nap, and write.
No, you can’t cut your writing time short and make up for it by writing for a longer period of time tomorrow. Instead, write the normal length of time today and then write for a longer stretch tomorrow.
Karate is physical exercise, writing is mental exercise. With both, the only way to improve, to get stronger, faster and more graceful, is to practice every day. You have to push yourself in order to improve. You have to challenge yourself to build confidence.
Take notes, lots of notes. Life is easier with a crib sheet.
Don’t feel like you have to write your story linearly. I was stuck near the middle of the tale and the only way I crossed the word count finish line was by writing the final epic battle scene and the resulting comeuppance. I’ve got a couple of characters I really don’t like, so I justly desserted them. (And no, I spelled that correctly!) We all can’t be Robert E. Howard.
Take all advice with a grain of salt. Or, if you prefer, pepper. Season it the way you like and don’t allow someone else to unduly flavor your story for you.

There are likely more, but a sensed a theme when I started repeating myself, so I stopped. Now that I have established something of a habit with my writing, I'll be back on a more regular basis.

No, seriously, I will.

Stop laughing!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Hard Lessons learned from Week 1 of NaNoWriMo & Bonus Draft!

2011-11-07T01:45:00.001-05:00

This first week started out with a bang and ended in a sputter. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I cranked out what is for me an impressive 8,695 words. Then on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, nothing. Not a squeak. Now, I could come up with a host of excuses for the drought but the main reason is lack of BIC. All of this means I have a lot of sitting in the near future, cause with Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month I won’t have a lot of time to play catch up. For my money, the single best thing an writer can do to improve his writing is, well, to write.

Another lesson learned, don’t lose momentum. I had a ton of momentum going into Friday, then I squandered it. It’s hard enough to develop the discipline to write, try getting it back after an attack of slacktidous!

Standard Caveats Apply

Again, not wanting to appear like I'm whining, just trying to convey the difficulty I'm having getting back into that groove I had.

I had a hard truth to face; no matter what grand plans I may have, the plain and simple fact of the matter is unless I continue to write, Project Mjölnir isn’t going to get finished. That was quite the reality check.

Last lesson learned actually came from Jeff Hite, a podcaster I follow on Twitter. He (along with others) suggested posting some of the raw drafts from NaNoWriMo on his blog. I balked at the thought initially, but after some consideration (and reading some of the other authors entries) I’m going to float an example for comment. In other words, why or why didn’t you like it. I’m not sold on this. My initial drafts are tedious and filled with errors and clearly not my best effort.

This is also the draft I’m going to float by my writers group. Please remember, this is a draft copy. That means that it is a raw, unedited story likely to be replete with misspellings, questionable grammar, odd phrasing and tenuous logic. This copy may or may not appear in the finished product, or it may be substantially changed, altered or edited. In other words, enjoy it while it lasts, it may not come around again.

They are dancing under deep blue skies.
His little girl stands on his feet and grabs his hands. They dance in a meadow, turn after turn, to the sounds of joy and laughter. Gentle breezes waft dandelion seeds to and fro in the warm summer sunshine.
“Spin me, Daddy! Spin me!” she cries and leans back, clutching his hands tighter and tighter. Her bright face is upturned, her sparkling eyes watching the skies.
“Faster, Daddy! Faster!” She shrieks in exaltation as she and her father whirl about.
“Careful, honey,” her worried mother admonishes from their picnic blanket. “You hold on tight to your father, you hear?”
Now, he is worried, too. He begins to slow his spinning.
“Now, chere, you listen to your mama,” he says, “won’t be fun for any one, if you fall.”
“You’ll catch me, Daddy,” she shouts. “You’ll catch …”
Her little fingers, slick with perspiration, slip from his grasp and she tumbles into the grass, looking, for all the world, like a porcelain doll in a pinafore, tossed carelessly into a corner.
He didn’t catch her! She trusted him and he didn’t catch her! He rushes to her, as she begins to wail …

---

… making it hard to think. Every alarm had never gone off during training.
The console next to him exploded into searing fragments of circuitry and blobs of molten plastic. Lieutenant Montauk was blown into the opposite bulkhead where she fell to the deck with the grace of a discarded ragdoll. The unnatural position of her limbs and what remained of her head, told the commander his next action was futile. Still, he stabbed the “All-Call” button.
“Medic! Officer down on the bridge; I repeat, officer down!”
He felt like he was screaming into the com. The blast had momentarily deafened him. The noise of the life-support fans and the cacophony of alarms had combined into a roar that made concentration difficult. Even his normally taciturn XO had to yell to get his attention.
“Sir, the Orr vessel is attempting to lock on!”
The view screen was hard to see, through the thickening, smoky haze, but the command readouts at his station indicated the saucer shaped ship was ready to fire another volley.
“Evasive maneuver Delta-Delta-Five,” he barked.
“Delta-Delta-Five, aye,” his XO answered.
His corvette, The City of New Orleans, danced away from the pulsed fire of the Orr. Lieutenant Montauk was dead. That was on him. It was also on him to make her death count for something.
“XO, charge the primary and light me two sticks!”
“Primary charged,” his XO replied. “And we’ve got 75’s in both tubes.” The XO grinned at his commanding officer. “Though you might’ve had something like this in mind.”
He grinned back, but there was little humor involved. The siege of the Centaurus System was well into its second day and it was looking grim for the 3rd Battle Fleet of the Terran Sphere. The Rio Estrellas shipyards, where the bulk of the fighting was occurring, didn’t even belong to them. The yards belonged to their allies, the Republic of New Texas. If the Orr hadn’t been so insistent on ramming their agenda down the collective throats of humanity, the Terran Sphere might well have sat this one out.
But, the Quorum had been adamant on this point; when one sovran state presumes to dictate the actions of another, the latter must either capitulate and become a vassal or, stand ready to preserve their sovereignty. The Quorum voted for preservation. All of which meant he had a butcher’s bill to deliver.
“Guns,” he said, “I want the full five second burst from the spinal laser into their sensor array. Slave the tubes to the primary. Port launches when the laser fires. Starboard launches a half a second later.”
“Sir,” his XO said, “if we discharge the primary weapon completely, it’ll take five minutes for it to recharge. We’ll be essentially defenseless. ”
“I’m aware, XO. If you know another way to blind their point defense, I’m all ears.”
The XO shook his head.
“Alright, then; Guns, prepare to fire on my mark”, he said.
“Primary full discharge, aye. Birds in port and starboard, aye,” the gunner reported.
“Nav, on my mark, Crazy Ivan.”
“Crazy Ivan, aye!”
“Nav … wait … wait … Mark!”
The main engines went silent and the nose thrusters thundered to life. The ship flipped end for end, lining up rather exactingly on the Orr vessel.
“Guns … Mark!”
The City of New Orleans’ primary weapon, the spinal laser, lit the dark with 975 gigawatts of star fury. At the same time, the ship shuddered as 75 megaton Lancer anti-ship missiles roared from first the port and then, the starboard launch tubes.
“Heads away!”
“Hostile fire incoming,” the navigator reported.
This wasn’t going to be pretty. The corvette had to maintain position until the laser completely discharged. This left them, more or less, a sitting duck.
“Guns, give me a countdown clock. Nav, execute Whiskey-Serra-Golf on my mark.”
“Whiskey-Serra-Golf, Aye!”
“Countdown, aye, in three … two …”
“Brace for impact!” The navigator warned.
“Zero”
“Mark!” He cried.
The nimble corvette flipped end for end, again, while rolling to the port side. The main engines thundered to life. But, they had waited too long.
Return fire from the Orr battleship turned the aft sections of the ship into so much metallic confetti. Hull breach and structural integrity alarms wailed, complete with the warbling containment siren. If containment was breached, then it was all over.
Suddenly, the return fire stopped.
“Give me eyes on my sky!” he commanded.
The XO pointed the viewer aft. The Lancer missiles were essentially scaled down versions of the Longhorn weapons systems. These birds were capital ship killers, designed with a reinforced warhead to allow the missile to penetrate two or three decks into the target vessel before detonating.
The first missile had impacted the main sensor array. The resulting explosion had opened a four deck crater in the saucer, like a giant ice cream scoop making a hollow. The navigator of the Orr vessel jerked the ship away from the first missile and put it directly in the path of the second.
The second missile drove in amid-ships. This explosion breached containment. A small sun erupted in the center of the Orr vessel; the expanding plasma pushing the broken ship apart in two halves.
The bridge erupted in cheers. The XO grabbed his hand and shook it, pounding on his back with the other hand. He felt a smile stretching tightly across his face.
“Settle down,” he thundered. “Let’s not get too carried away! It’s a bit early to celebrate!” But, even he didn’t believe it. They had bested an Orr battle saucer! Not many in the fleet could say that!
“Sir,” his navigator barked, jerking him from his revelries. “It’s the Cole!”
The two halves of the Orr ship had drifted far enough apart to reveal, in the distance, the Galactic Cruiser SSC Cole breaking apart under concentrated weapons fire from another Orr battle saucer.
“Kelly Anne,” he whispered, involuntarily. He gave his head a shake and got back to business.
“Engineering, damage report!”
“Too soon to tell commander,” a tinny voice said from the speaker. “The Mains are offline. We have a massive coolant leak and …”
“Belay that,” he said, his eyes glued to the view screen. “Guns?”
“With the Mains down, the primary weapon is offline. Both port and starboard tubes are compromised. It’ll take about …”
He didn’t hear the rest. He was watching the Cole, literally coming to pieces under the relentless, withering fire of the Orr. The Cole would lose containment any minute now. At least her end would be mercifully quick.
“Sir,” navigation reported. “We’re getting a weird field reading.”
Suddenly, the elongated shape of an Inbetweener ship phased into normal space/time, directly in the path of the Orr barrage and shielded the Cole. The stricken vessel continued to be racked with explosions. The faint nimbus of the ship’s atmosphere could be seen, gushing from the wounds and streaming along behind it. Life support was down and the cold, hard night of space dominated the corridors and rooms on the Cole.
The Inbetweener ship enveloped to SSC Cole in white light, too bright to be directly looked at. When the light faded, the Inbetweener vessel and the Cole were gone.
“Kelly …”

---

“Anne!”
Captain Thomas Wyatt Swift awoke with a start, breathing hard. His undershirt had stuck to him, cold and clammy. The acrid smell of fear and the bitter taste of loss permeated the room. He swung his legs over the side of the bunk and sat on the edge, his head in his hands.
It was the 25th anniversary of Kelly Anne’s death. He took the picture of his sunny faced bride from the night stand. She had been the youngest surgeon to serve on a capital ship. He was so proud of her.
They had been career military, the bright and shining couple of promise. She was the youngest surgeon and he was the youngest officer ever to be given his own command, even if he had to jump services to do it. When the Epsilon Eridani massacre occurred, the Terran Sphere had more vessels than captains. So, a brash, tactically brilliant Marine 2nd lieutenant was detached to the Republic of New Texas and bumped to Commander of the corvette, SSC City of New Orleans. He had been twenty-five, as had his bride. Their daughter had been four.
He traced the edge of the frame with his finger, contemplating the image. In the picture, he was holding her and she was holding Victoria, dandelion seeds wafting all around them. His baby girl so resembled her mother.
After the battle, he sent Victoria to live with Kelly Anne's parents. His parents were deceased and a ship of the line was no place to raise a toddler. He couldn’t have her underfoot, distracting him, reminding him of her mother. At first, he visited as often as he could, but he didn’t know what to do with her, so the visits became fewer and farther between. Calls turned into vidcards, vidcards into generic gifts on special occasions. Slowly, he extracted himself from his daughter’s life.
He liked to fool himself into thinking he had kept tabs on her. She had been fascinated with other races, especially the Heavy Worlders and Inbetweeners. That fascination paid off, for she graduated summa cum laude in extraterrestrial anthropology and biology and landed a job, fresh out of college, in the private sector, working for one of the MulitCorps. But that had been five years ago. His gifts had long been returned unopened and his attempts to speak with her, rebuffed. He had no idea what she was doing now. His first failure had been as her father.
He put the picture down and stepped over to the shower. Under the sonics and water vapor he took stock of the situation. This was the beginning of the end for him and he knew that. The Knights of the Southern Cross would be withdrawing from New Galveston by the end of the month to go back to wherever they had come from; a direct result of the Unity movement in the Quorum and the cancellation of the Mjöllnir Project, the very thing that had given the Sphere the tactical edge for the past quarter century. It seems he had gone from failing personally to failing professionally.
As consolation, he would be given his final command today, on the anniversary of the Centaurus Cease Fire. The symbolism wasn’t lost on him. The Battle of New Galveston and the Rio Estrellas shipyards were where his career began. It would also be where it ended. After this tour, he would probably be forced to retire. He had been too vocal in his support of the Knights. That didn’t sit well with the members of the Unity Movement.
This command was a balm, to keep him quiet, he was sure; the hybrid battle cruiser SSC Matthew Mason, experimental flagship and proof of concept vessel for the ideas realized by the Mjöllnir Project. There had originally been plans for twenty-two of this class. Now, there would be only the one. Members of the Quorum had recognized his vulnerability. The past ten years of his life had been devoted to the realization of this vessel. It was more his child than Victoria.
Stifling morbid thoughts, Swift toweled himself dry and exited the shower. He might as well get a jump on the day’s event. Ship launches absorbed enormous amounts of time and he had other things to do today.
He could go to the launch in his full dress uniform, but it didn’t seem appropriate. That would appear to be an endorsement of the Quorum’s foolishness. Better to go out like he came in, duty before honor.
He put on his duty uniform, black trousers, crisp white shirt and a black waist coat, with captain’s bars in the shoulders and, the white beret of Captaincy. He hadn’t worn this in a long time. The media had been reporting that his head had grown. Perhaps he should try it on now. It would be terribly embarrassing later, at the podium, if he had to tug and stretch to get this thing on. Not only that, but it would prove the media buzzards right. That was unacceptable. He stepped to the mirror.
Eyes blue as the Gulf and as hard as space stared back at him. But, there were signs of softening. His nose was just as aquiline as ever, but his hair had fled and his square jaw was getting some additional padding. So was his middle.
Swift tugged his waistcoat into place and looked, really looked at his trademark scar. It was the one thing that made him instantly identifiable. Starting at what would have been his hair line, the scar ran vertically through his left eyebrow, down his cheek, to bisect his jaw line. It was a punctuation mark to hang his beret on.
He never dreamed or had nightmares about that; pulling the KSC Fleet Admiral out of the wreckage of his flag ship, The Celestial Hand. Of course, he couldn’t remember much about it at all, not after what had happen to the Cole.
He put the beret on. It still fit.
There was a knock at his door.
“Enter,” he said.
“Nice hat. I got coffee and booze,” Commander Nathaniel Newton said upon entering. “Which do you want?”
“Coffee, please,” Swift replied, pulling the beret off of his head and tucking it into his waistcoat. “Good morning Nat. I guess you’ll have to drink the booze.”
“Nah, I lied. They’re both coffee, “the commander replied good-naturedly, handing his captain an insulated cup. They were of an age. Newton had been Swift’s XO ever since he lost Thomas Hardy to the wreckage of The Celestial Hand. He knew what today meant to his captain and he had come prepared.
“Any idea what pasture they’ll be sending us to?” he asked.
“Actually, I get to choose. I’ve been thinking about investigating the rumors of the Mnoran cache on Epsilon Eridani,” Swift replied.
Newton raised his eyebrows.
“I know it’s been picked over, Nat, however, I believe the new Helios sensor suite can pick up an outline of the cache, if it exists at all,” Swift explained.
“And, of course, The White Ship’s been spotted over that-a-way,” Newton said, with a grimace. His captain got a bit maudlin this time of year.
“The White Ship is a myth, Nat. The Cole was destroyed a long time ago. Kelly Anne's ship wasn’t just venting when it disappeared, it had haloed.”
Newton winced. The halo effect was produced when enough water vapor had crystallized to reflect star light. As a rule of thumb, it was generally the same amount of water vapor you would normally find in the life support plant of the vessel sporting the halo. That would only occur if the atmosphere in a ship fully vented.
“Sorry, my friend,” he said. “I didn’t mean to open old wounds; I just thought you might be chasing moonbeams.”
“It’s an old scar,” Swift replied. “Older than this one, at any rate,” he said, rubbing his cheek. “Well, XO, drink up, we’ve a busy day ahead of us.”
Swift took a long pull on the now cool coffee, swallowing a mouthful. The flavor of roasted beans was overcome by the burn of alcohol as it singed down his throat.
“I thought you said this was coffee,” he gasped, at his grinning XO.
“Oh, it is,” the cheerful executive office replied, taking a swallow; “Irish coffee.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

NaNoWriMo Notes - Day 1: Project Mjölnir - Phase 1

2011-11-01T18:03:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note. You're liable to get a lot of these one offs in the coming weeks. Interesting day so far. I was able to crank out 2111 words before work this morning, so I'm feeling pretty good about my first day's progress. I'm not even going to look at it. I have a feeling that it's mostly dreck, but that's okay.

NaNoWriMo has been having issues with their site, so they haven't published their widgets yet. My home rolled ones failed in Internet Explorer requiring a work around. That was fun. Over on the Project Mjölnir page, I was able to get all my preliminary work done, except a trial podcast. I had been hoping to limber up with a reading of The Raven for Halloween, but I ran out of time. I’ll have to move that down into another phase, along with the forgotten task of obtaining cover art.

Standard caveats apply

I’m going to take a moment here to talk about one the primary tools that I’m using for NaNoWriMo; yWriter. This is near and dear to my heart for a couple of reasons. First, it lends itself very nicely to the research, outline and storyboard approach to novel writing that I’m happiest with. It has a ton of features and is easy to use. Heaps of useful information out on the site.

Secondly, Simon Haynes, creator of yWriter, is not only a successful application programmer, but also a published novelist. I just love that!

I follow Simon on Twitter and I believe he is in one of my circles on Google+. Other than that, I received no consideration or remuneration for this review. Simon wouldn’t know me from Adam. Well, maybe if Adam has hair.

Until tomorrow (or the next time I can take a breath).

With all the excitement of NaNoWriMo, it's easy to forget what this is all about; raising money to benefit writing programs for children and adults. NaNoWriteMo is a marathon and like a marathon runner, I am seeking sponsors to help me raise $2500 dollars.

With massive cutbacks in liberal arts funding to public and private schools, now is the time for organizations like The Office of Letters and Light, creators of the National Novel Writer's Month, to step up and bridge the gap. A $10 donation, the price of a single lunch, can help provide needed instruction and foster a life long love of writing in a child. This donation is fully tax deductible.

I'm also giving a private reading of selections from the novel in January for those who donation here. (If you can't attend, I'll be recording it and I'll be happy to send you a link to a downloadable copy.) There will also be a Q & A session after the reading where you can find out about my creative process.

Thank you for your support!

</pitch>

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Twitter Addiction, Podcastitis & NaNoWriMo in 5

2011-10-27T04:47:00.001-04:00

You really don’t know what effect you have on people, especially people you barely know.

Let me get this out in the open; I have a compulsive personality. It's a quirk, to be sure, but it's one I fully embrace and own. So, when presented a new and shiny toy, there is a great likelihood that I will wear it out; for instance, my current infatuation with Twitter. That's really a half truth, I've become somewhat enamored with all social media, from the cotton candy favored confection that is Facebook to the more sophisticated and professional LinkedIn.

Competing with this overwhelming need to comment on everything is a secret love that I have hidden away, lo these many years. That love is air-time. I'm not talking grabbing some sky on a half-pipe. No, I'm talking about talking; platters spinning, cans on and mic hot. You see, for the first thirteen years of my professional career, I was a broadcaster.

I did voice work at many of the radio and television stations in and around the Richmond area. To be honest, I'd forgotten how much fun it was. That is, until I met (virtually) these four guys: Tee Morris, Odin1Eye, Richard Green & Jeff Hite. To be fair, they probably had no idea what was about to happen … probably.

Jeff is likely wondering how he wound up on the list. Well, it’s Odin’s fault. Wait for it, we’ll get there. Jeff put out a call, on Twitter, for bit parts in the Pirate’s Cove rendition of Treasure Island. I sent him a quick read of the first couple of paragraphs of Little Fuzzy. He replied “with a voice like that there are going to be a lot of people after you.” Yes, I know he could have meant that in many ways. Hopefully, DHS will not come knocking. It was a little compliment, but it meant a lot to me, having not stood in front of a microphone for any extended time in over a decade. Thanks, Jeff!

Nice as it was, that alone wasn’t enough to get me motivated. Cue Odin1Eye, who put out a call for promos for his podcast, View from Valhalla. It got me to thinking (never a good sign, especially when breakables are around). I was going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year anyway and I had been toying with the idea of podcasting for a while (due in large part to Tee; yes details later), so why not promote my idea as a Project! A Project that had thought and stuff behind it! I cut Odin a promo and he used it in VfV Episode 93. That gave me the courage to try out for the bit parts in Treasure Island. See, told you I’d wrap it back.

Okay, so I’m going to do this podcast thing. I thought I’d lost my stealth-like, ninja assassin voice. Evidently not. And the project, the carefully considered, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants project; I’ll be doing that too. Again, I’m sure that Jeff and Odin had no idea that just encouraging me would provoke this kind of response. So don’t blame them … entirely.

Richard’s contribution was even more innocuous; he listed me as a source in The “Geek Out!” Daily for the Japan’s Defense Ministry Would Like to Introduce You To Their Little Friend story. I had no idea anyone was taking me all that seriously on Twitter. He probably didn’t intend for me to feel so validated, yet I was and fired up enough to take completing the NaNo challenge seriously.

Which brings us to Tee. Frankly, the more I find out about his accomplishments, the more intimidated I am. He’s an award-winning author and podcaster. He is also a really smart guy when it comes to operating in the social media arena. (No, I don’t call anyone a guru, but if I were to call anyone a social media expert, Tee would be the guru to see.) In fact, it was his Podcasting for Dummies books that I used as a foundation to build my studio. He is one of the most effective communicators I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. In short, he’s doing many of the things I want to be doing, except he’s doing them well. And younger. I’d like to say we’re of an age. I’d like to say it, but it wouldn't be true.

Naturally, in what should come as no shock to those that know me, I got competitive. Perhaps I should have said, inspired. Clearly, I’m behind the curve. Audio has changed a lot in the past ten years. All the editing is done digitally now; no more adhesive tape, grease pencils and razor blades. No more open reel tape recorders or having to hand wind your cartridges. No more dinosaurs roaming the Earth. Time for me to study up, buttercup.

Not content to just do NaNoWriMo, I’ve obligated myself to podcasting the finished product. No, I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into; but I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m about to find out.

I’m still working on the back story, history and story outline together. I’ll update the Project Mjölnir page as I get the tasks completed. This Project and all the shenanigans associated with it are due, in large part, to the encouragement from these kind people, who (whom? gets me every time) I’ve never met IRL. All they did was take a little time and acknowledge my interest. Many thanks to you four, whether you realize it or not, you’ve given me a great deal of motivation. As it turns out, that’s exactly what I needed.

Thank you for your support!

</pitch>

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Phase 1 of Project Mjölnir Underway

2011-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:00

I continue to gear up for NaNoWriMo. Looks to be an exciting time. Be sure to check out the Project Mjölnir tab above for schedule and progress updates. Be warned, it's liable to change frequently.

I have started Phase 1 of the project, busily filling in the outline for the story, working on the characterizations of the races and people we'll meet. I'm also pulling together my world building notes to draft some of the back stories and history. These are incredibly raw and subject to massive change and revision, but if there's enough interest, I'll post some of these for feedback.

Speaking of posting for feedback, here is the promised synopsis. Let me know if this sounds like something you would read.

Technology from the lost Mnoren Empire could save a race, or destroy it!

Twenty-five years ago, Captain Thomas Swift of the Strategic Space Command witnessed the aftermath of Epsilon Eridani Massacre; Terran Sphere colonists slaughtered by the rabidly xenophobic Scorpio Tetrarchy. The planet was scorched and the atmosphere burned off in order to claim a Mnoren technology cache that was not there.

Two weeks later, the infuriated Terran Sphere responded by literally battering a Scorpio-held planet to pieces. But, the intelligence was incomplete, for that planet had been the Scorpio homeworld, the only place in the known universe where the hivemind could reproduce. The Tetrarchy's death throes wound up costing Swift his wife and only child.

Now, humanity chafes under the supervision of the Orr, the self-appointed inheritors of the Mnoren Empire and chief among the Known Races. The Orr limit the Sphere's access to advanced technologies for the rash humans "own good". The SSC views the Orr as weak and indecisive. They order Swift to procure advanced tech, regardless of cost and create a new type of weapon; one to throw off the yoke of the Orr.

As he completes the weapon, Swift uncovers something unexpected and profoundly unsettling: there is a new player in the great black of space. One that is cunning, elusive, better armed and armored. One that appears to violently detest humanity. One that has proven it knows the location of Earth and is unafraid to destroy humanity's cradle.

One that he cannot stop.

Thank you for your support!

</pitch>

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

What is Project Mjölnir?

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Life has been intruding a lot lately, the way it always does when you’re not paying it any attention. I’ve been guilty of starting several projects at once and not finishing any of them. I want to finish them, I just lack the focus. I believe I have discovered a way to fix that.

November is National Novel Writer’s Month, NaNoWriMo for short. Check out the link for the low down. The short version is: 30 days, 50,000 words, a lifetime of therapy. Well, perhaps not the last part. I attempted NaNoWriMo two years ago and did not succeed. Of course, I didn’t have a plan. Now, I have what resembles, on a dark night, in the rain, and fog, a plan: Project Mjölnir.

Standard Caveats Apply

A big part of Project Mjölnir is NaNoWriMo & finishing a novel. I seem to have a particularly hard accomplishing that. I have a Steampunk novel languishing, half completed because I can’t seem to get past the distractions, so this time I’m not going to try, I’m incorporating them.

Project Mjölnir is a six month effort for me to write a novel, edit it, and finally podcast it, right here on this tiny blog. I’m using it to jump start that creative part of myself that I’ve allowed the demands of living to strangle. Enough maudlin meanderings, let’s get to the *plan*.

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine, Davey Jones, (no, not the captain & no, not the Monkey) and I created a shared universe that we were going to populate and develop collaboratively. It was a good idea that wound up crushed by reality. Meanwhile, I have all these notes and no story. Cue NaNo.

Great, so why call it Project Mjölnir? Well one; there is a Project Mjölnir in the notes that winds up being central to the plot and two; I think it’s a really cool name. Also, this is starting with NaNo, but November 30th will not be the end of this project. That’s what got me into trouble two years ago. No, the goal this time is to blog about my serialized podcast experience from conception, during this year’s NaNo, to delivery of the audio book, The Hierarchy of Dominance sometime in April 2012.

Along the way, I’ll post tidbits of back story, research and musings about this process. And family stuff. And tweets. Actually, a bunch of stuff.

Why am I doing this, you may ask? My family is a dojo family. We go to karate and after four years, my takeaway from the experience is that old saw, “practice makes perfect”. I’ve gotten better because I do it a lot. Muscle memory and the ability to react without thinking about it.

When I was doing voice work for radio and TV, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, the more you were on the air, the better you got. There is a natural rhythm and flow to working with a microphone. Plus, it’s a rush!

And when I write, the more often I do it, the easier it gets. Whether or not it gets better I’ll leave as an exercise to the reader.

Project Mjölnir is a multifaceted exercise: a story, a blog and a podcast. What will I get out of it? The goal is structured writing habits and the creative spark to finish my Steampunk novel. Okay, that’s the project, what’s the story?

I’m classifying it as fan fiction, military science, fan fiction, mind you, but fan fiction nonetheless. Davey and I borrowed stuff from many sources. We have the Mnoren & Cidri from The Fantasy Trip, elements from MechWarrior, tech from Ogre, GEV & Battlesuit from Steve Jackson games, ships and tech from AMT’s Strategic Space Command universe, including Leif Ericson class galactic cruisers and species & characters from Mattel’s Major Matt Mason line of action figures.

I want to be careful to acknowledge the copyright holders of the products and services I have taken inspiration from, so I’m keeping a list.

I’ve written a synopsis as an exercise for NaNo. I’ll see about getting it posted in the next couple of days. No, I haven’t copied existing story lines, but I did use published material to help develop timelines, back story elements, plot devices and so on; some of which you’ll get to see right here. So, stay tuned!

Finally, here’s my pitch; the National Novel Writers Month is a marathon and like a marathon runner, I am seeking sponsors to help me raise $2500 dollars for adult and children’s writing programs in areas where there may not be any. It’s for a good cause and it’s tax deductable.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

The Excitement Mounts …

2011-09-15T17:47:00.001-04:00

I still get amped seeing my name in print. Must be an (un) repressed need for attention. I received a package of 100 postcard flyers from the festival on Tuesday. My name is surrounded by the red circle. Really, I’m on there, in tiny print, on the back. Click for a close up.

I don’t think I realized just how big a deal this was until I got the confirmation, parking instructions and “meet at participants’ courtesy room 30 minutes prior to your panel”. Back in the bad old days, when I was the Fox 35 fox, I had to change in the car. Getting out of the vehicle proved challenging.

I’m getting ready for the panel, polishing my take on the genre, fiddling with my WIP and working out exactly what I’d like to say. For those you that attend these events regularly, you probably think I’m being a bit silly and going overboard with the excitement of it all. You may be right. I still think it’s cool!

I’m still waging war on the time suck of my day job. I have a feeling that it’s going to be an ongoing process. After some introspection, there are a couple of things I can do to make the writing process a little easier. One of them is my own expectations.

I need a schedule. I know, I know, it’s constraining, it doesn’t provide for a free flow of ideas, it sets artificial goals. My Twitter bio says “Aspiring author & podcaster. Actual husband, father & martial artist.” I’d like to get rid of the aspiring & actual altogether. I’m terribly goal oriented if I have a minder, even one as artificial as a schedule, so as boxy, constraining and artificial as it is, it is my path.

Besides, with a schedule I won’t have an excuse to not write. I’m afflicted with verbal story telling anyway (probably another reason I’m so stoked about the Baltimore Book Festival). Once I say it, I don’t feel compelled to write it down. Looks like I’m in the market for a digital recorder. Anyone have any suggestions?

I’ll share more speed bumps and solutions later. I don’t want to come off like Whineakan Skywalker. No, it’s not too late.

While I’m asking for help, does anyone have a good blogging client they would recommend? I use primarily use Windows Live Writer. I’m not opposed to Apple products on principal, but way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I’d tell an Apple user that I used Windows and I was treated like the devil incarnate. Didn’t I know that Bill Gates was the Anti-Christ? Was I stupid? It left a bad taste in my mouth for Apple, a knee jerk reaction I have to compensate for. My daughter has an iPod Touch, all the other apples are in the crisper drawer. All that is my long winded way of saying I’m looking for a Windows solution, not a discussion about operating systems.

Sorry about all that, reacting to a particularly trying day with a vendor. This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Long absent … but not dead

2011-09-10T03:49:00.000-04:00

I’m afraid I’ve been infected with a case of the urgent overwhelming the important. My mundane job has been sucking up all my free time lately. Apologies for the long silence. I’d like to say that it won’t happen again. I’d like to say it, but I can’t. Like any habit, if your ignore it long enough you lose your edge; which makes it all the harder to recapture. So, what have I been up to?

It happens, I’ve gotten conformation that I’ll be appearing at the Baltimore Book Festival, Saturday, September 24th and 4:00PM. The Maryland Romance Writers have asked me to participate on their panel, Steampunk: Gear Up for Adventure!

I know, you may be saying, “Gee Paul, you don’t live in Baltimore or anywhere in Maryland. And, you’re not a Romance writer. How did you swing this gig?”

All true, however through the good folks over at writingsteampunk were gracious enough to invite me and I couldn’t accept fast enough. Thanks for the opportunity!

As you can well imagine, the topic will be centered around the writing genre of Steampunk. There are plenty of good articles online that give in-depth insight into this exploding niche. (Naturally I’ll be posting my on take on it shortly.)

There will be readings, including a bit of my WIP, The Order of the Silver Rose. I may even be dressed in appropriate attire. I’ll get pictures, it’ll be great!

Fellow panelists include Karen S. Garvin, Bill Gawne, Elektra Hammond, Lea Nolan and Laurel Wanrow.

If you live in the area, I hope to see you there!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Reviewed: Phoenix Rising By Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris

2011-05-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

It's the highly anticipated, often promised, much delayed and completely unsolicited review of Pip and Tee's Phoenix Rising! Yup, I finally finished it, after a series of fits and starts that won't be named here.

Grab your brass goggles, pith helmet and Webley … the game’s afoot! From their explosive first hello until the thundering finale, Eliza D. Braun (Field Agent) and Wellington Thornhill Books, Esquire (Chief Archivist) deliver a crackle and spark worthy of Powell and Loy!

I consider myself something of a steampunk purist, if there is such an animal, and this tale suits my Victorian cup of tea quite nicely. Set in a London that never was (sometime between March/April 1894 and January 1901), we have airships, a madcap coach chase through the downtown streets, a secret society bent on world domination, a series of Lovecraftian deaths and steam powered cyborgs!

I wish I'd had the time to sit down and read this all at once! It is extremely well written, with fully realized characters and engaging situations. This is no surprise as both Pip and Tee have rather impressive personal publishing pedigrees. I'm not really sure this qualifies as a freshman effort, even if it is the first book they have co-authored.

Standard Caveats Apply

Phoenix Rising spins a fantastic pulp yarn centered around the odd couple interactions of the protagonists: Books and Braun. Sharp and witty dialogue virtually spits fire off of the page! “Chaos and mayhem comes naturally to you, don’t they, Miss Braun?” And I have to take my hats off to them, Pip and Tee refrained from “the hapless partner” syndrome. I think we’ve probably all seen this before, where one member of the team is almost helpless, making the other team member appear to be super-proficient. Not so with our heroes.

Despite the role reversal, the upper class Books is neither helpless or flailing. He over comes his aversion to firearms and proves to be a most proficient shot. Likewise, in spite of her rash propensity to blow things up and start fist fights, Eliza shows herself to be thoughtful, loving and caring. We’re not dealing with a set of one dimensional characters here.

The story is multi-layered, with one plot twist coming full circle. The antagonist, the Phoenix Society, in the person of Lord Devane, is just about as despicable as it gets. Which brings me to my one lingering criticism: the initiation ceremonies and the orgy.

I stopped reading Laurell Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series because it just seemed to heading more and more into soft-core porn. I understand that a writer may want to explore their sexuality and I understand that stories where no one has sex or goes to the bathroom are a tad unrealistic; but come on! We’ve got steam powered listening devices recording conversations happening one floor below. I think a certain realism has been suspended anyway.

Ah, yes! The initiation ceremonies. I held my breath through the end of chapter 22 and except for (very) brief mentions in chapters 23 and 24, the subject isn’t brought up again. I think that Pip and Tee were trying to show just how arrogant and depraved the Society in general and Devane in particular were. I was already there, what with their poisoning one of their own and their constant chicanery and backstabbing; I didn’t need the visual. I don’t think it was needed. However, they are published and I am not. So, your mileage may vary.

Aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed Phoenix Rising and look forward to what comes from the Archives next!

Final Verdict: Highly Recommended

Reviewed: Maiden Flight of the Avenger by Alex White

2011-05-13T18:57:00.000-04:00

Journey back the universe of The Gearheart. In this prequel novella, agents Augustus Elsworth and Isabelle Carriker battle wise guys, betrayal, nefarious powers on high and each other, while attempting to unlock the secrets of Augustus’ mentor and harness the full potential of a hybrid mechano-alchemic engine before its power is unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Just so you know, I hadn’t intended for this to become the Alex White month of reviews, it just worked out that way.

We get to see Augustus in a completely different light in this story. In The Gearheart, he was much a follower. In this tale, he is a rebel; loud, cantankerous and proud, not at all the shy and retiring Elsworth we were used to. And while this tale is clearly about the mechanic, we also get to see another side of Isabelle; one where she isn’t defined by her relationship to Jonathan.

Standard caveats apply

There seems to be a working formula in Alex’s stories. In Maiden Flight of the Avenger, as with The Gearheart, the story begins with the heist of a magical geegaw (currently in the possession of the mob) that goes awry. As events unfold, the doodad is more a MacGuffin than anything else. Then, the fun truly begins.

Fans of the first tale will definitely enjoy this one. Alex has woven subtle clues into plot that serve to enhance and define this world. The Seekers of the Arcane Unknown are prohibited from revealing themselves to the general public, which wasn’t the impression I got from the first novel. It’s not a retcon so much as a clarification.

Using a splash of realism, the mob does know about them, but the Seekers dismiss this breach as the price of doing business. I marked that as a precursor to the corruption evidenced in the latter (story-line-wise) work.

When world building, there is a certain consistency required, especially with magic. Today’s readers aren’t all that fond of having a wizard pop in and solve all the problems with a “Poof, there it is.” David Eddings addressed this particular issue in his novels by making magic use as difficult as physical labor. Alex places limits on this use in a delightfully different way: Magic is the exploitation of the fundamental laws of reality; alchemy rewrites them. This makes alchemy dangerous and prohibited by the Seekers.

This doesn’t stop Augustus from utilizing it. In what I consider a stage-setting moment, Augustus is reprimanded for this breach of Seeker protocols, but not held accountable for it. We find out the the practice of alchemy is a very bad thing; however Augustus is not thrown out of the Seekers for practicing it. He is not killed (though it is hinted that he should be) or demoted or even censured. Instead, he is rewarded!

The Seekers allow him to complete The Avenger and participate in the Cliffside Aeroprix. In a nudge, nudge, wink, wink moment, we get a glimpse of the fallen nature of the Seeker council. They want results, period, and are perfectly willing to look the other way while Augustus creates the results for them. This dovetails nicely into the actions of the Council in The Gearheart.

The podcast of Maiden Flight of the Avenger is eight episodes, each about half an hour or so in length, created with the same zest and pizzazz as The Gearheart. What I found to be the most striking technical change was Alex’s voice. It has matured considerably in timber and pitch since the first episode of The Gearheart. It is much smoother and richer and is very easy to listen to.

His wife, Renee continues to voice Isabelle, one of my favorite characters. <SPOILER>(no Alex, I haven’t quite forgiven you for Isabelle yet)</SPOILER> She brings back all the verve, sass, nerve and pluck one expects from an Agent of the Seekers of the Arcane Unknown. New to the ‘cast is Brooke Fox and she does a splendid job as well. Makes me wonder if she has done any other voice work.

For this next bit and by way of disclaimer, I listened to the majority of the podcast on my handy, dandy Bluetooth earpiece --- not headphones. Some of the dialogue sounded a bit overproduced and clipped and at times the fantastic soundtrack (kudos there) overpowered the actors. Let me emphasis this didn’t appear to be chronic and in no way detracted from the story as a whole, but when it happened, it did stick out.

Alex has pulled out all the stops with this release. It’s available in podcast, Kindle and dead tree editions. He has also released the soundtrack (@ iTunes) and beginning May 18th, Maiden Flight of the Avenger will be available at Podiobooks.

All in all, an outstanding romp in The Gearheart universe. Now, I wonder if Alex can be coaxed into the prequel where Jonathan finds Cog and discovers his genetic possession by Audun Slade …

Final Verdict:

Highly Recommended

Reviewed: The Gearheart by Alex White – a free Podiobook

2011-05-04T19:02:00.003-04:00

I stumbled across this novel by happy accident. It was a joy to listen to. Alex has created a rich world with relatable characters and a deep back story that serves to flavor, rather than overwhelm his tale: secret organization recruits callow youth to save world. Along the way he encounters: souls trapped in immortal automatons; fractured alchemy; shape-shifters; unkillable assassins; genetic ancestor possession; mechanical magic run amok and hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional, brain-sucking arachnids. It’s a fast-paced, rollicking ride; so grab your gat & fedora, hop on the sideboards and let’s go! I highly recommend that you reserve the time to give this a listen. You won’t be sorry that you did.

Standard caveats apply

Gah! It’s Wednesday and I’m just getting to this. Tough week. The Phoenix Rising review had to be put on hold because I haven’t finished it yet. Not to worry though, it’s coming. Meanwhile, The Gearheart has been out for a while. I just discovered it. However, I’m going to act like it has just been released and review it.

I really enjoyed this one, it appealed to the pulp nerd in me. I searched Podiobooks looking for Steampunk books and up this popped. There is a debate akin to a holy war going on over what does and does not constitute Steampunk that I’m not going to get into right now. Suffice it to say that The Gearheart does have airships and appears to take place in a world on technological par with our late 1920s to early 1930s. It’s a world where magic is hidden, alchemy is suspect and a group with one incredibly cool name (Seekers of the Arcane Unknown) hoards secret knowledge and practices the forbidden arts. It would appear to be closer to Dieselpunk than Steampunk, with a hefty dose of magic thrown in for good measure. Normally, I don’t care to have my genres all that mixed, but Alex has made it work very well. So, call it whatever makes you the most comfortable, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy it.

We open in a gritty, noir atmosphere. There's a warehouse heist replete with wise guys, Tommy guns and soul swords, topped by a biplane’s strafing run and a Bruckheimer explosion. Then, the action starts. It’s an ensemble cast of distinct characters that almost fits the classic quest model. We have the naïve youth, the experienced mentor, the love interest, the lovable rogue, the plain spoken fixer and the impenetrable warrior, among others. They retrieve the magical whatnot from the warehouse and set off on the heroic quest.

Here’s where Alex goes sideways. It’s not the classic quest model after all. The Seeker organization isn’t what it seems. Corruption has crept in and governments are plotting to diminish the Order. Villains flourish, heroes die (including one shocker I won’t spoil here) and our besieged group reluctantly finds itself in a race to literally save the world.

Each of the 37 episodes is set up like an old movie serial reel: a brief synopsis then straight into action for about 20 minutes, followed by a short close and some of the funniest faux commercials I’ve ever heard. Each episode ends in an evil cliffhanger (including the last one). I was fortunate enough to download all the episodes at once from Podiobooks and so was spared the agony of waiting a week between each of them. The episodes clock in about 20 to 25 minutes in length apiece; perfect for my day job commutes. The exceptions to this rule are the final three; episodes 35 and 36 are double length and 37 is triple length.

Alex is a jack-of-all-trades, writing both story and soundtrack and performing the male voices and soundtrack (with the occasional guest artist). His wife Renee handles the female characters. Both actors have more than sufficient range to provide separate and distinct characterizations for the cast, although one character’s accent required a couple of episodes to settle into a regional one I could recognize.

The pacing and delivery are transparent, so much so that I found myself resenting the end title when the music began playing under. That’s a thumbs up to the quality of the writing as well. Though, there were a couple of places where I was taken aback. One instance is the description of the shapeshifter’s teeth. They were described as ebon and sharp, invincible with the ability to puncture and rend everything. The teeth were glassy … Glassy? Hmmmm. Not a show stopper, just not the choice I would have made. These instances were few and far between. I mention it because the overall quality was such that it made these instances stand out.

Technically, there were some episodes where the end title music tended to overwhelm the dialogue. Your mileage on this may vary, however. I was listening to the podcasts on a single ear Bluetooth headset. Better headsets may very well diminish or remove this issue.

The story line started out with a bang and keeps up a fast pace through the first 18 or so episodes. Then the pacing slows. In comparison to the first half of the podcasts, it almost wanes. However, that doesn’t last long, the action picks right back up and the series finishes with a bang, a zinger and an unexpected twist.

I downloaded The Gearheart from Podiobooks. The complete novel is available there, at The Gearheart site and from iTunes. The Gearheart site is very well done, easy to navigate and well organized. Alex has quite a fan base and has completed a prequel story, set in the same universe.

The Gearheart has an open ending. Given the amount of craft I’ve seen invested in this, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sequel. I know I’d like to see one.

Final Verdict:

What are you doing still here? Go download it!

A Brand New Start

2011-04-25T23:34:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the relaunch of “A Dark & Stormy Night”. It was time to give the place a makeover. It’s been over a year since I posted an entry, so I figured I’d better repurpose the page or return the storage so someone else could make better use of it.

I’m going to be adding bits and pieces as I go along in addition to (at least) weekly posts. A buddy of mine got to give me an “I told you so” after my initial effort petered out. I think that was in large part due to the lack of anything remotely resembling a plan. To prevent him from being able to snicker up his sleeve at me again, I’m going to try something a little bit different.

I’ve had a project languishing in the weeds for about two years now. It’s been a challenge trying to find motivation, inspiration and plain old perspiration to complete the work. I think I’ve found my muse or rather, a helpful convergence of things that have rekindled and sparked my interest.

I’ll put up a complete brag sheet later because the details are hazy and it’s the high points that really sell the story. I began my professional career as a radio broadcaster, way back when you had to pass a written test from to get your license. I loved that job. But it paid rather poorly; which was fine as long as I was single. But, wife and child later I jumped job paths into IT and suppressed how much I missed being on the air.

Fast forward two decades later. I discover Podiobooks on line. I had already run across Librivox, but those guys just wanted a straight read and only public domain stuff. So, if I finish my book, I can put it on line, in much the same fashion the OTR programs were originally broadcast. Am I interested? You betcha! Hmmmmm.

And then, there was RavenCon. This year, my oldest wanted to come with me. She’s a teenager, so her wanting to hang out with the old man was a treat I couldn’t pass up. We were only able to go one day, but it turned out to be the right day.

The first event we sat in on concerned itself with the technical aspects of voice work for podcasting. As an old radio personality, this was fascinating. To my daughter, it was worse than boring, it was simply uncool. She wanted to go home. Now.

After a bit of fast talking, she was persuaded to choose the next workshop we went to. Luckily for me, she chose Phillipa Ballantine’s. It was lucky because Pip read from her upcoming collaboration with Tee Morris, Phoenix Rising. My daughter loved it! I did too, but I still had to get my cool back. So we bought a copy of Geist and had Pip autograph it.

That one thing did it; it got my cool back. Guest authors go to dozens of these events a year and meet thousands of people. I’m quite sure Pip & Tee don’t know us from Adam, but that’s okay. They were two of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet and Pip took the time to engage with and talk to my daughter; a seventeen year old at her first Con. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, but those minutes made an impression.

So, we are reading and listening to a lot of Ballantine and Morris at our house and not just because they tell an excellent story; but because they shared a genuine moment with a couple of their new fans.

(I’ve also begun reading Tee’s books on Podcasting; the Dummies series first. I can already see how I might be able to leverage my broadcasting background … yes, must finish novel first.)

The repurposing part. Good writing means good research (big H. Beam Piper fan), so I’ll be relating some of the things I’ve come across on my journey; music, art, books, podcasts, etc. All aimed at a unified goal: to finish writing my novel (multiple drafts and all) and then podcasting it. I’ll also be posting regular updates on the process, maybe some character sketches and background notes too. Probably need to find a good editor, given the cavalier way I treat the written word.

I still have a lot that needs doing, so check back regularly, please.

Thanks!

Reviewed: The Demon Cross

2011-04-25T23:32:00.002-04:00

I owe Nathan Shumate an apology. He was kind enough to give me an advance copy of the first of his Avalon & Company novels, The Demon Cross. Naturally, I dropped the ball. So, one of the inaugural posts of this blog’s relaunch will attempt to rectify that oversight.

Nathan popped up on my radar at his Pulp of the Day site. I consider myself a dilettante of the highest caliber when it comes to things pulp-ish and noir; which means I loved it! Every day, he gives us one cover from an old pulp magazine or novel and invites us to come up with captions. There’s even a contest. It’s a lot of fun! You may be wondering what this has to do with his novel. Patience, I’m getting there.

I read The Demon Cross in one evening. I hadn’t planned on completing it that fast, I just found I couldn’t put it down. It was a short and quick; novella length and just enough to whet my appetite. Was it tautly written? Yes. Was it fast-paced? You bet! Was it a fun read? Absolutely! Nazis, demons, lost books of power! So, what was the problem?

Well, I kinda felt betrayed. Here’s this story involving Rennie Avalon, an attractive, single mom who has the scratch and skills to open a private investigations firm (and buy a duplex – half as investment), has a cute child (Beth) who is recovering from some (as yet) undisclosed trauma, docile tenants, a snarky secretary, clients that lie to her or at least don’t tell the whole truth and some mysterious history with the arcane unknown. Do we find out about the bankroll she used to set herself up? No. Do we find out about the incident that is giving young Beth night terrors? No. How about Beth’s father? Forget it! Do we get a hint about her first foray into the weird? No. So, what did I get?

I got a rocking good story full of mystery and danger, skinheads and demons, chaos and anarchy; all in 91 pages! Nathan has mastered an economical writing style that sucked me right into Rennie’s world and made me care about these characters. I wanted to know more and was sorry to turn the final page.

All in all, the novel very smoothly sails between a gritty, detective story and Lovecraftian horror, leading the reader to realize the genres aren’t as far apart as one might think. Nathan is no stranger to “things that go bump in the night” as a past editor of and contributor to “Arkham Tales” and current editor of “Arcane”. As a bonus, he has a good grip on the pulse of the noir genre, as well.

We do get occasional breathers on this rollercoaster. The dialogue and general feel when Rennie is with Beth, the normalcy of raising a small child; finding a baby sitter, taking time out for dinner, etc.; all rings true.

I do have a nit to pick. At one point in the story, Ernst Vielstich, the client, saves the day with a decidedly “and a wizard walked by” air. The client saves the day? Really? Well, it is a different approach to the genre.

If Ernst is going to be a permanent member of the cast (and my vote for that would be YES), then okay, I retract my objection. We still have a lot to learn about all the characters. If he’s not going to be a member, then make him a reoccurring villain. He might be a tiny old man, but he appears to be packing a ton of power.

I initially had an issue with Sammy Moapa. He seemed to be a bit cliché. Hulking Samoan with a heart of gold; scares the bad guys and loves kids. For those of you who have seen the reboot of Hawaii Five-0, Sammy seemed reminiscent of the Kamekona (Shaved Ice) character that is constantly helping McGarrett out.

However, I reconsidered my issue. Firstly, because Nathan’s novel predates the CBS retcon, making Sammy more like the template for Kamekona than the other way around and two, because Rennie isn’t Steve McGarrett. She’s 5’5’’, a buck-ten soaking wet; not really all that intimidating. Sammy, on the other hand, is a mountain.

I was a bit confused about the relationship between Rennie and Detective Fleming. Usually the cops don’t want a PI monkeying around, yet Fleming seemed to give our heroine a bit of leeway. Then there was the issue of sexual tension, or rather the lack there of. A divorced detective should at least be a little flirty, right?

There is a scene, where a white supremacist gives an apology (in the classical sense of the word) for his ideology. For me, this was the one of the creepiest parts of the novel; the lengths that people will go to in justifying their actions. The language sounded so natural as to make me wonder if I had not heard the excuse somewhere before.

In the end, the day is saved, the client is satisfied, the gumshoe is paid and the reader is left wanting for more. It is an altogether fun read and one I’d highly recommend. I look forward to the next case from Avalon & Company.

Final Verdict: Highly Recommended: