The mess we're in

All Time's Exodus, book four in Stars of the New Gods, is taking much longer than expected.  Not that many of you are out there waiting with bated breath, but I thought it was fair.  I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the fall and hopefully have it up on Amazon by December or January.  Life has taken the front seat, and unfortunately composition is somewhere between the backseat and the trunk.  Nothing terrible, just find myself watching the hours in the day run out before I can sit down at the computer to start back up on the story.

Composition is a tricky thing for me.  Stephen King wrote a fantastic memoir about his approach to composition, simply titled On Writing.  He stresses trying to get at least 2000 words (roughly 6-10 raw pages) down everyday.  He also stresses trying to do it as fast as you can, in other words, writing at least five days a week.  The Stephen King approach has always worked for me.  Sure, it takes me about a year to turn out a book, but I feel that's pretty good considering I work a full-time job on top of that.  All Time's Exodus has strayed very far during the last year.  Sometimes there were weeks between composition sessions, and the fact that I lost a great chunk of the first draft to a faulty computer made the work pretty demoralizing.  I'm sure I've romanticized that draft in my head and it probably wasn't as great as I thought it was, but I do know I was having a very fun time writing it.  When I came to the conclusion that the many pages and chapters I pumped out with a pretty good cadence were lost, I began the demoralizing work of trying to rewrite them.  It was not fun...it was work.  Stephen King also refers to work as the "kiss of death for many writers".  I was determined and I do feel the story benefited from it, but the pace slowed and I wandered very far from what should have been straightforward composition.

I've always set a deadline for myself.  My goal has always been to start writing a book in the fall and have it ready to go up on Amazon by August or September.  It's almost August and I'm pretty sure All Time's Exodus is not going to be going up.  So, I put my chin up and work toward my new goal of a January publication, as well as a set of short stories I've started working on.

The anthology of short stories will cover the eight year gap between When The Red Moon Runs Dry and The Falling Stars.  Three stories, each one devoted to a single character.  Violetta's is my favorite so far.  Marshal and Charles will get theirs as well, and hopefully it will enrich your enjoyment of the characters despite the fact each story has little consequence on the overall Stars of the New Gods series.

That's all for now.  Hope you all stay sane throughout the fucking farce that is this upcoming election.  Donald Trump is evil.  Hillary will make a great president, and Bernie did a stupendous job bringing his issues to the Democratic convention.  I think that's about the cut and dry of it all.

So long from a very toasty Portland.

Block, Wall, Hit, Writer...All of the Above

It feels like we are coasting out of a very dull winter into an earlier spring here in Portland, Oregon.  The rain is still falling, but the days are starting to feel a little warmer and longer.

I wish I could say the weather has improved my creative energy.  It has not.  To be honest, I've fallen considerably behind in the fourth Stars of the New Gods.  I took a risk– at least in my opinion it was a risk– and the road I took at the crossroads of the story seems to have reached the end of ideas I originally thought it was paved with.  When I wrote Find the Star, I had very little idea where the book was going as I put the chapters together.  It was, more or less, a creative exercise with an underlying ambition to actually finish a novel.  I was pleasantly surprised I could put together a story with a sort-of end.  When the Red Moon Runs Dry and The Falling Stars were all but mapped out when I opened my computer to put them together.  They began and ended how I predicted they would, with only a few changes in the composition and revisions.

This fourth book, at this point it's titled All Time's Exodus, has me up against the wall.  I think I'm a little over halfway finished with the first draft, but I honestly don't know how the story is going to end.  I'm faced with some interesting prospects, but the pages seem to be devoted to justifying the strange turns I've been taking with certain characters.  I don't think I'm ruining anything by saying this, but the fourth book picks up only a few weeks after The Falling Stars.  I often found the time gap between books as way to cheat immediate explanations of how characters reflected on events.

Take Violetta, for example; she suffered a tremendous loss during the events of the third book, so she is still dealing with very raw grief during this fourth story.  It's difficult to navigate her through this fourth story without that grief controlling her every action.  I put her through hell and now the decisions she makes are so greatly shaped by her sense of complete loss, and it's become difficult for me to move the story forward when I continue to address the grief.  For now, I'm just rolling with it and hoping I will find answers in the revisions of this story.  I am very fond and protective of Violetta, despite the misery I've piled on her plate.  I guess me continuing to detail her sense of sorrow in this story is my way of showing concern and regard for what she is going through.

I used to sit down and write at least 2,000 words a day during the initial composition.  That's what I should be doing now, but I just stared at the bits of an unfinished chapter, and decided to step away for a moment.  I figured if I came over to this much neglected blog of mine and aired a few frustrations that might get the wheels turning.  We'll see.

I suppose I should be excited that I don't know the end of this book.  I do not see it concluding Stars of the New Gods.  There will be a fifth book and my little plan is for that one to be the finale.  I'm drafting outlines, making character sketches, and coming up settings.  I figure if I put enough creative energy into the elements of the story then the story will speak to me.

Suppose, since it's that season, I should talk politics.  I support Bernie Sanders.  I have strong feelings about it, but I think people need to get off of their high horses about Bernie.  Yes, I'm proud to support Bernie, but I'm not out to make people who would support another candidate feel like shit about it.  I think Hilary Clinton would make a great president, and if she gets the nomination, I'll gladly get behind her.  Donal Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio scare the living shit out of me.  I think republicans could have done a hell of a lot better and I'm ashamed of our collective American image pretty much every time one of those guys opens their mouth.

Well, not sure when I'll write again.  Hopefully it will be to announce I've finished the rough draft.

Fully staffed

Having a staph infection fucking sucks.  There is no elegant way to put it.  Especially when you are 34 and it is caught relatively late in the game.  The only way to treat it is with a myriad of antibiotics and the prospect of surgery.  Thanks to said antibiotics I have been chained to the porcelain goddess for close to 24 hours now...and that's about as graphic as it gets.

Still...life could be much worse and I'm grateful for my health overall.  A relatively young man named Daniel Fleetwood does not know if he will make it until December.  Among the prospects of not being able to wake-up again within the next 30 days, Daniel is a HUGE Star Wars fan and is not sure he will be around for the almighty Episode VII The Force Awakens.  A huge push has gone on over the last couple days and I encourage anyone reading this to stop and share his story.  You can find it here.

It is a true testament to the staying power of not only Star Wars, but modern-day storytelling and mythology, when so many people get behind a person like Daniel.  Many of us, for our own selfish reasons, can't imagine not seeing The Force Awakens this December.  We take for granted our good health and the prospect of a future beyond 2015.  Daniel has fought a long, hard battle against a disease that is unfortunately winning.  He has not given up and puts one-step forward each day toward small victories.  We should all take a page from Daniel and realize how lucky we are to win our own small victories everyday.  I'm very inspired by him.

Book 4 is well on it's way to completion.  The short story anthology I mentioned last month is most likely not going to happen by late December.  It was a nice thought.  Look for it early 2016.

Though sales of my book are slim at best, I will be donating all of this November and December's sales to Daniel Fleetwood's GoFundMe page.  I encourage anyone reading to make a straightforward donation to his page before buying any of my books, as that $$ amount is a much more direct and economical way to get his family the funds they need.  If you do that and buy a book, the $2.99 you pay for my book will also go to Daniel and his family.  So, make a donation to Daniel your first priority, but if you want to put a cherry on top, buy a book from me and I will make a donation for the retail price amount you pay.

Thanks for reading!

It's been a while

I've been busy, which is a good thing.

Last month I was gifted a semi-used MacBook Pro.  I was able to retrieve a good portion of one book, but the one I was on a roll with was gone.  I've been busy rebuilding it.  Take notes with a pen and paper.  With Scrivener (my word processing and composition software), it offers a pretty fantastic note window, which I luckily neglected by choosing pen and paper.  Using those notes, the reconstruction was not as hard as it could have been.

Holiday is fast approaching.  I'm attempting to finish a small collection of short stories, but the window is closing, so it may not be until after the New Year.  If you do any shopping, make sure to use those handy Amazon windows on my page.  They give me a cut.

Happy Autumn

Back to Google

Well, the MacBook was officially pronounced dead.  There was a great fourth Stars of the New Gods book, not complete, but close to a couple hundred pages.  Along with that, the first novel of my new trilogy, The Order of Devotion.  Those books, what they were, are now gone.

Let's find the silver lining.

I was honestly struggling with The Order of Devotion.  I know exactly what I wanted to happen story wise, but there were so many characters to guide through the narrative it was overwhelming.  Now that I was forced to step away from the story I am beginning to form some more economical ways fo characters to get from chapter to chapter.

It's a damn shame I lost book four, though.  It's always been one of my worst nightmares, and like a motorcyclist putting their bike down at 60 mph, I learned the hard way and it won't happen again.  If you use Scrivener make sure to set up a Dropbox account and back EVERYTHING up.  I can't imagine how many times I will be hitting the SAVE drop down.

Luckily, I still have a pen and paper.  I remember a good deal of what I've written, so once I'm ready I can start shopping for a new computer and step up to the keyboard well prepared.  

Thanks to whomever has been buying stuff through my Amazon widget.  Every bit counts at the moment

Still working...

I've actually put the logic board of my MacBook in the oven.  Hoping to at least get it to turn on.  Until then I've been using my iPad, notepad, and getting a lot of reading done.  Taking this as a sign that I need to write this story the long way.

Pretty sure there will be a fifth book at this point in the outlining.  Yay

Feeling cursed and asking for a little help from my readers and friends

I was off to a great start.  About 200 pages into the first book in The Order of Devotion trilogy, tentatively called Worse Things Than Death; as well as book four in Stars of the New Gods.

A few months ago I decided to start using a composition software called Scrivener.  For everything published up to this point I used a combination of Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  Scrivener is excellent for raw composition.  You can tailor the templates however you like.  The sidebars offer notecards, character descriptions, outline, location descriptions and a nice bar to separate your chapters neatly.  There is even a built in Name Generator, my most used tool! Once finished, the software preps your book with page breaks and a table of contents.  It's amazing and I love it.  I could not give it a higher recommendation.

All that being said, I was so head over heels for this software I forgot to back up my work as I went along.  Partially out of neglect and also taking for granted Microsoft Word and Google Docs have cloud based back-ups that do it automatically.

Two days ago I go to turn on my MacBook and nothing happens. To make a long story short, the black screen of death greeted me.  In all likelihood my MacBook is dead.  There are a few technical possibilities of salvaging it and the parts are in the mail.  We will see, but everything I have read points to the computer being either dead or in the throes.  All I'm hoping for at this point is to boot it up a few more times long enough to get my books (between 200-300 pages of hard work) in Dropbox until I can find another computer.  Time is of the essence because I'm pretty sure I can keep the momentum if I get back in the saddle quick.

Here's where I turn to you, any of my readers who may be listening.  There is an Amazon search window on this site.  It should be in the upper right hand corner above this post.  I'm hoping to buy a used MacBook off eBay, which can run anywhere from $300-400.  That's not too much, but it's more than I can spend in the immediate future due tomonthly budget.  If you feel inclined to share any of my books you may have enjoyed with your friends, please ask them to purchase my books through the Amazon purchase window on this site.  That way I will get a bigger percentage of the sale through Amazon. If you buy anything through that Amazon window, I get a cut.  Yay! They can also click on any ads here and that might put some change in my pocket.

I hate asking this of any of you.  I appreciate your support and any kind words you all have shared with me.  I plan on keeping the stories coming for as long as I can come up with them.  Assure your friends there will be no shortage of creativity.  Any help is much appreciated and I will make my books free to download anytime Amazon allows it (they authorize special sales, not me).

Thank you.  *hat in hand*

^^^world map I'm drafting for the Order of Devotion trilogy

Blog Hell

When I first started this blog it was done with the intention of adding something to my Amazon Author page.  I did not, nor do I now, have the intention of spending my time writing about my fun trip to the grocery store or whatever other meaningless shit you find on most blogs.  To be honest, I'm not a fan of them and think if one has the desire to invest the time writing stories it is an absolute squander to waste it on a goddamn blog.

My point with this rant is I have just spent a good portion of my day trying to get Google to remove the malicious spam advertisements that keep taking over this blog.  Yes, I've allowed Google to post their AdSense ads on this blog.  I've also added an Amazon.com search bar that can take you directly to Amazon to purchase one of my books.  Simple additions for what should be a simple blog.

The malicious ads are gone for now.  Hopefully they won't be back.  Google has done about fuck-all to help with the situation.  I toyed with moving this blog to WordPress, but that turned out to be even more of a nightmare.

Anyways, when I get a chance and my web developer skills are a little more savvy, expect this blog to get a massive overhaul so it becomes more pleasing to the eye and I don't have to toy with malicious adware or other distractions.

Book Four was started this morning.  First chapter in the bag and loving it so far.  A ways to go, but feeling good about it.

Reboot

Hello.  My blog was hacked by spammers, shut down by Google, and reinstated after I asked the powers that be to review it.  Should be working properly now.

The fever

Sometimes people need change.  Sometimes the best thing to do is not force routine.  Routine is something I cherish.  There is nothing mundane to me about taking a couple hours out of my day, putting on headphones, and trying to use a keyboard to spell out the stories in my head.

I forced myself to step away from the keyboard the last few weeks.  I've been writing some articles for a sci-fi website, taking online classes to learn about web development and coding, and focused a lot on running.  It's been nice to be free of the urgency I often feel to finish a book.  Exercise truly is the best way to clear the mind and keep the gears moving.  It is a great time for thinking up more stories as well.  Endorphins are pretty great.

When I sat back down to routine for work on the first book in The Order of Devotion Trilogy, I hit a wall.  This wall came to me because I realized I depended almost entirely on the notes and outlines I made.  Outlines have always helped me establish the pace of a chapter, as well as setting up the following one.  I'm a huge fan of the scribbled legal pads and note books that help me design the flow of a story.  It's a loose design, and I know it's malleable, so that's helpful to know I can grab those ideas out of my head that super cede the outline.

The problem with the first book in this trilogy, which is tentatively titled Worse Things Than Death, is the words were not coming to me.  My mind was a vacuum and when I wasn't writing I could not stop thinking about what Marshal Noel and Violetta Iolanda are up to.  

There is a story cooking and I think this series needs to be finished before I can write anything else.  I intend for this fourth book to be the last.  The two characters have become real to me and I cannot ignore my thoughts turning to them and what needs to happen next.

I intend to begin writing the fourth book in the next week.  I'm taking a week to write up a rough outline and then I'm going to hit the ground running.  

From the last three novels I should have this done and published within the next year.  I'm excited to spend the rest of the summer and the remainder of 2015 with Marshal and Violetta.  The Order of Devotion Trilogy will be next, but I need to finish what I started first.

It's really done

The Falling Stars, Book Three of Stars of the New Gods, is out.  You can buy it here

It dropped on Amazon early this morning.  I have no control over when they actually put it on their site, all I know is once the final draft is submitted it can happen anywhere from 12-24 hours.  Thankfully, they put it up quick.

My goal was to have it out between May and June.  This is the first time I've met that goal, so I'm patting myself on the back.

By the time I was finished proofing this book I felt really happy that the end is a crucial turning point for all parties involved.  Up until this point, these characters have been put through the every bad thing I could think up.  It was my way of making them stronger so once the end of this series is upon them they will have the strength to proceed.  The end is very close now and I'm confident these characters are up for the challenge.

The blog has and will most likely continue to take a backseat to life and this terribly hot Oregon summer.  I published a novella called The Necromancer Queen (buy it here).  A new series of stories based in that world are hot on my mind.  That's where my focus will be for the next few months.  The currently untitled Book Four in Stars of the New Gods is very foggy at the moment, but I have an idea of where it will need to go.   I'm pretty sure it will be the last book of the series, so I intend to take my time.

Bring on the fall.  I'm sick of summer already.

The Falling Stars is finished

Wow...

That was a hard one.  That was by far the most difficult thing I have ever written.  Sometimes, it writes itself.  Not the case here.  When I started out, last September, I had a broad idea about where this story was going to go.  For the most part, I stuck to the architecture, but there were a few more things that popped up that I did not expect.

Not sure how many people read this blog or have read my novels.  I am officially on vacation from Stars of the New Gods after this entry to the series.  There are potentially three more books, at least two, that will round out the series.  In the meantime, there is another project that demands my attention.  I hope to have The Falling Stars edited and living on Amazon somewhere between July and August (realistically, but it may be sooner than that).

Not much else to say.  I hope everyone is having a nice Spring and is looking forward to the summer. Here in Portland it feels like summer is catching up way too fast.  That's just how it goes, though.

Anyways, that's all I have for now.  I will try to get back here before the publication or if the books go on sale.

Irons in the fire

Just doing my monthly check-in.

The third novel is coming along fine.  Much slower than I would like, but bit by bit I am discovering that Marshal Noel and Violetta Iolanda have much more to share with me than I previously thought.  It's fun, when the characters start to remind you who they are and how they need to grow.  I've got over 700 pages their lives documented, and I'm excited to add more layers while I peel back others.

Life in Portland is bearing witness to climate change.  This winter has been anything but and the terrible summer we have in store for us will be something to behold.  I say that to the brunch and afternoon beer drinking crowd, as they are the ones most vocal about our lack of rain and 60 degree Farenheit weather.  I like the four seasons, the way I grew up and why I live in the north.

Television is continuing to prove itself one of the best mediums of storytelling.  The Walking Dead has rebounded in the second half of what I consider to be it's weakest season.  The new show, Togetherness, on HBO, is one of the most touching shows I watch.  The Americans is on par with itself, raising the stakes with each episode.  Peaky Blinders, along with House of Cards upcoming season, shows that Netflix has a stake in the game.  Game of Thrones fans will finally be able to hold something over the snobbish readers of the books (myself included) that the playing field has been leveled.

Music has been a tremendous source of relief and inspiration this past couple of months.  I have discovered that I am a doom/stoner metal fan.  My coworker plays in a band called YOB, who had their record ranked by Rolling Stone as the best metal album of 2014, and I took interest.  YOB plays extended songs as compared to the traditional 10-12 track album.  It is fantastic music and it is the best thing I have to write with.  A couple of cups of coffee, accompanied by a YOB album, produced over 4,000 words last weekend.  I hear Stephen King writes to hard rock and metal.  There is something to be said with that type of musical composition and arrangement.  YOB is a fantastic band regardless, and you would do well to check out anything they have to offer you.

I'm very excited to finish this third novel.  I'm quite certain, at this point, there is a fourth and fifth novel to complete the story.  The Stars of the New Gods will hopefully end in five books, and then I can get on with the other stories that are waiting in line.  I have fantasy, general fiction, and a nice little horror story, all of which I really want to get to.

2015

Well...there are still no hoverboards.  I've been holding my breath since I was 8-years-old and watched Marty McFly skip across water on a neon-pink floating skateboard.  If I can get my grandkids one for Christmas in thirty-years, I'll call it even.

I'm very excited for the year ahead.  If I keep the pace and writing schedule I'm on now, I should have The Falling Stars, Book 3 of Stars of the New Gods, finished and ready for publication early-to-mid-summer.  I also started working on a novella I would like to publish in tandem with the book.  It's solely a story about Marshal Noel, taking place between book two and book three.  It's kind of inconsequential to either book in the series, but it's a good yarn I started spinning one day when I hit a creative wall on The Falling Stars.  I really hope it works out that I can release them both at once, but if I had to guess, the novella will come after the novel.  Book Three is taking first place in my scraps of time to write.

2015 is an exciting year for science-fiction fans.  I would be lying if I said I was not counting down the days until the new Star Wars film premieres.  Until that day, I will be gobbling up any of the new content Lucasfilm and Disney throw our way.  If you haven't been paying attention, the Star Wars universe is launching two new comic book series through Marvel, four new novels through Del Rey, and the new animated series Rebels is doing a great job in the television department.  As a new Marvel fan, I'm also excited for Ant-Man and the second Avengers film.

Part of me is awaiting for the announcement of George R.R. Martin's sixth A Song of Fire and Ice, or Game of Thrones.  I hope we at least get an announcement and a publication date.  Many people have been down on the man about how long he takes to write novels in his series.  These are not just novels.  There are incredibly complex, detailed, and rich accounts of the stories and characters in his head.  They should not be rushed and we will all be rewarded when we sit down and open the first page of The Winds of Winter.

We are also experiencing somewhat of a cultural renaissance in good television.  The division seems absolutely cut-and-dry right now between absolute garbage and quality storytelling.  A new season of True Detective, quite possibly one of the most intriguing dramas of all time, awaits us with a new tale.  The Americans, my favorite show of 2014, starts it's third season after an earthquake of a second season finale, making the characters question everything they know.  Mad Men ends it's frustratingly extended finale, which I will still watch despite how pissed I am AMC is milking it by extending it a year longer than they should.

John Scalzi will be debuting the television adaptation of his series, Red Shirts, this year.  Scalzi is the Stephen King/John Grisham/JK Rowling of science-fiction right now.  Whenever he or Brandon Sanderson publish a novel, it reminds you how astonishing the gifts of good writers are.

It is also rumored that posthumous publications from J.D. Salinger are to be expected in 2015.  I am both thrilled and nervous about the publications Mr. Salinger spent the better part of his life working on in the quiet, New Hampshire forests.  Nervous because, well, if you have read his last published work, Hapworrth 16 1924, it suggests that the author has become so engrossed in the process of fleshing out his own characters that it became borderline delusional.  Whatever my hesitation is, I will read, and I'm sure enjoy whatever Salinger has deemed fit to publish from his vault of manuscripts.

It seems dumb to voice excitement for the new year, because in two months the daily problems of life will whisk away the excitement.  We always dress-up our best selves for the end or the beginning of each year.  Why is it that somewhere in the middle the threads start to run and the polish on our shoes starts to fade?  Why can't everyday be the year we bring out our best, our optimism, and the lists we should be checking off and not making.

Happy 2015, belated!  We're not there yet, but we'll get there soon.

We have a series title!

Hello,
The holiday season is upon us once again.  If you are looking to share either of my books this holiday season, they will be on sale for $0.99 a piece December 16th-23rd.  What a deal!  If you have already shared them and are looking for something else, may I recommend what I am currently reading right now, The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie.  Fantastic read so far!

In some personally exciting news, I have a name for the series of novels I've been working on for the last year and a half.  Two books in and still without a name to the series.  I'm currently at work on book 3, The Falling Stars, and I stalled out for a little bit trying to finish up a chapter.  Instead of closing my laptop in frustration, I decided to take a detour and spend some time thinking of a name for the series.  I got one.

Stars of the New Gods.

That's it.  Find the Star and When the Red Moon Runs Dry are currently having their Amazon status updated to reflect the new title of the series.  It might not be much of news, but it's fun for me.

Thanks everyone and happy holidays!

The worlds we build....

As a writer and admirer of science-fiction, I don't imagine myself or my peers in either of those classifications would be here today if in 1977 a young man named George Lucas had not given us and the world Star Wars.

Star Wars is inexplicable.  The universal appeal and adoration of those original films is as mystical as that galaxy far, far away.  Maybe some people can justly describe the first moment they saw those two words blast from the surface of a theater or television screen, disappear as they got smaller and smaller, only to be followed by a scroll of an ominous introduction to the story you were about to see.  I'm always at a loss to translate that complete sense of wonder.

Over a year ago it was announced Star Wars fans would be given a third trilogy, and it would be a continuation of Luke Skywalkers, Han Solo, and Princess Leia.  It is the follow-up trilogy we had always hoped for.

In what I think is an even more exciting development is that they have also decided to reboot the entire Star Wars Extended Universe. 

If your age is close to mine, you grew up reading the Star Wars novels of Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson, eager to get your hands on any new Star Wars story out there while you waited for George Lucas to make the next trilogy.  I devoured many a Star Wars book that was released throughout the 90's.  Not all of them, but pretty close.  Flash forward to around 2012, when I get my first Kindle and decide it would be fun to journey back to the Star Wars universe.  Unfortunately, I had no idea where in the hell to start.  Numerous trilogies, one-offs, short story collections, and comic books left my beleaguered as to what was actually Star Wars-canon.  I'm sure a lot of it was good stuff, I read two of the James Luceno books about the Sith and Darth Vader that were both excellent, but the rest of the timeline seemed jumbled.  Stories seemed stacked together, many times contradicting events of the others or the films.  Honestly, it seemed like a giant mess and much too daunting for someone like me to sort out.  I was just looking for some casual reading before bed or in the morning over coffee and cereal.

So I walked away, aside from the Darth Plageius and Darth Vader novels by James Luceno, and decided to come back another day when I had the ambition to figure out the order to tackle the Star Wars monstrosity of an Extended Universe.  I had also just discovered the work of another George and his stories of the seven kingdoms of Westeros, so it was pretty easy to walk away with that beckoning.

On October 30, 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas and immediately announced the first chapter in a third trilogy would be released come 2015.  Over the next year, word trickled out JJ Abrams would be directing a Lawrence Kasdan penned script, with all of the original three cast members returning.  The film is called The Force Awakens, and comes out next December.  I'm drinking coffee, staying up to see if the first trailer arrives at midnight tonight as it is rumored to.

One of the developments, the one I mentioned before that most intrigues me, is that this past April, the Lucasfilm powers that be hit the rest button on the expanded universe.  Not only did they do that, the put a stamp on everything considered official canon.  Prequels, Clone Wars animated series, original trilogy, and the new animated series Rebels.  So basically, aside from the Rebels series, I knew everything I needed to enter this new, canonically correct Star Wars expanded universe.  Not only that, I would be be prepared to move forward as it grew with the new films, books and comics Disney/Lucasfilm planned to pump out for years to come.  Most people would probably be skeptical, but what reassured me that Lucasfilm had learned from their mistakes was that they put together the Star Wars Story Group.

 Those four people have been tasked with keeping the continuity straight, the contradictions nill, and making sure Star Wars fans have a streamlined experience when they venture into the films, literature, television shows, and video games.  I cannot imagine a more dream job.  The four of them are, in a way, the overseers of Star Wars universe building.

Now, how I've found this inspirational, aside from the relief my Star Wars fandom will be that much more nurtured.  I've hit a wall the last month with the third novel, The Falling Stars.  It's the third act, not the final act, but it is where I plan to turn the tide of the story and bring a much broader picture of the universe Marshal Noel and Violetta Iolanda live in.  As I have been moving slowly along this story, I keep getting distracted because I don't know the story behind a planet or a group of people.  Sometimes I think to myself that it doesn't matter that much, and that I can come back later and fill in the blanks.  The most important part of a rough draft is just getting it done.

That doesn't seem to work, though.  So, I move laterally and start handwriting a story about a planet or a person, just to make that character or setting a little bit more dimensional.  It is taking away significantly from the progress of the actual novel, but I feel like the world building will make this story much more enjoyable and clearer to myself and the reader.  It's always been a dangerous line of distraction for me, the lateral writing and character notes, but I'm embracing the risk and hoping it pays off.  I'm not working under a deadline other than the one I have in my head, and I feel it's a worthy experiment and investment in the story.  I know I have a few more stories to tell about Marshal and Violetta after this novel, so this story will be sturdy enough to hold however many others come after it.

My favorite science-fiction and fantasy series have one thing in common:  solid world building.  Star Wars, Star Trek, A Song of Fire and Ice, Lord of the Rings (especially LOTR!!!!), and the Arthur C. Clarke 2001-3001 novels.  Marvel's new cinematic universe has also taken great lengths to make sure the films all exist and ripples from one and other's events are felt.  It's resonating all around me how important world building is, and now I don't feel so guilty for slowing down and highlighting the finer details of the world I'm trying to tell you all about.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.  Anxiously awaiting the Star Wars trailer while scribbling out a few of those details in my beat-up notebook.

Goodnight.

When the Red Moon Runs Dry

Good evening.

This post is a long time coming.  I finished When the Red Moon Runs Dry.  It's done and up on Amazon if you would like to buy or borrow it.

I have a few things to share about it since I'm done and can reminisce about the story.

This story was in my head for a very long time.  Before I even knew who Marshal Noel or Violetta Iolanda were, I knew very well who the Masokan Pirates were.  A poor group of slaves and misfits, on a drug-induced crusade, with the most powerful weapons at their disposal.  When the Red Moon Runs Dry was almost the first novel I wrote, but the problem I kept running into was that these Masokan Pirates would have been easily dealt with by the hundreds of governments and warlords that exist in the future.

Find the Star was my answer to that problem.

Shattering the military infrastructures around the galaxy made it a perfect time for the Masokan Pirates to start building a galaxy in the eyes of their God.  Six years after the cataclysm in Find the Star is where the story of the Masokan Pirates attempts to do just that begin.

This story was in my head, but I did not begin to flesh it out until I discovered a podcast called Hardcore History, narrated and produced by a man named Dan Carlin.  He happened to be doing a series of podcasts on Genghis Khan, followed shortly there after on the reformation of Christianity in Europe.  Those two historical events are what gave me insight into why human beings might do the things they do in a harsh existence.  I do not mean to infer that the Masokan Pirates are based on Christians or any other religion, only religious extremists of all creeds.  It was a perfect storm of historical perspective for me as I was finishing my editing on Find the Star and could not wait to begin writing When the Red Moon Runs Dry.  If you have never heard Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast, I highly recommend you do so.  It's free on iTunes and other places.

While creating a universe in which When the Red Moon Runs Dry could take place, I realized that it should set the stage for the next story of Marshal Noel and Violetta Iolanda.  I was planning on taking a break from this universe, but a story came to me I could not ignore.  I just started The Falling Stars, which will be the third book in this series I still do not have a name for.  I stand by that this series will end with either four or five books, and I really hope it does.

Anyways, I don't expect there are a lot of you out there reading, but I'm grateful for the few who are.  I will try to update this more, but The Falling Stars is drawing much of my attention.

Spring Cleaning

Hi there,

So, I finished the first draft of When the Red Moon Runs Dry.  Very happy with it!  No doubt there is still a ton of work to do on it, but for now, I'm taking a break from the lives of Marshal Noel and Violetta Iolanda.  I plan to start editing and rewriting in the middle of May, so whenever that's done, I will do my best to get it up on Amazon as soon as possible.  Again, I know I still have a lot of work ahead on it, but I'm very excited to share it.  After that, I'm thinking I have one or two books left in the still-untitled series.  I'm hoping it's just one more book, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be two.

Took a few days off writing to "recharge".  Found myself just kind of wasting time.  I had all these great ideas, or at least I thought them so, floating around during this last composition, but each time I sat down to start writing them, they just felt dull.  A friend of mine has been using writing prompts lately from a website we both read, io9.  I started writing based on one, but two sentences in an idea just came to me and I had to stop working on my writing prompt.  I wasn't sure what it was, but then 40-pages later, I realized I started my next book.  I guess the writing prompt worked, even if my book has absolutely nothing to do with the prompt I initially started on.

I'm a big believer in pushing through creative malaise or frustration by simply continuing to write.  It has never failed me, and has often lead to bigger and better things creatively.  The ideas that have been stored away either in outlines, rough drafts, or my head will always be there and I can get to them when I am ready.  I just was not ready, and felt lazy for not being able to get one of them going.  By turning my attention to something out of my comfort zone, the writing prompt, it got the wheels turning and something completely unexpected and exciting came out of the process.  Not trying to sound like a preachy writer or anything, but I would encourage anyone stuck trying to start a story or come up with an idea to make sure you don't stop writing, because if the motor is not running and the wheels aren't turning, you won't go anywhere.

Happy spring, everyone.  It seems funny to write that on a particularly dismal rainy, April day.  I live in Portland, Oregon, so my part of the world takes baby steps toward warmer and brighter days.  I hope wherever you are that your part of the world is finding its way towards bluer skies and warm nights.

Thank you for reading.

Home stretch...

In the home stretch of finishing the sequel to Find the Star.  It's called When The Red Moon Runs Dry, and I guess it won't be anywhere near finished, just a big first draft I can set aside for a few weeks.  The momentum I've had on this story surprised me, especially here in the last few weeks as the candlelight of the story usually starts to dwindle for me.

Find the Star was a real learning experience in terms of composition, and I tried to make good habits while writing this follow-up novel.  I kept thorough notes while writing.  I utilized outlining when I had trouble formulating a character or scene in my head.  I corrected glaring spelling and grammatical errors as I went along.  Basically, I tried to stay organized so once I come back to start the editing process, it is a little less daunting than last time.

There is at least another week, probably two, left of writing on this first draft.  It's a bit self-congratulatory to be talking about the finish line when I'm not there, and not really that close.  Who knows?  Some idea could pop into my head in the middle of the last chapter, and then there are another hundred pages of writing to do.  I guess I am just happy that for all the errors I will surely find when I revisit it with a critical eye, I feel like I have the story I want.  I feel like I better know the characters I had before, and am enjoying giving life to the new ones here.  This universe in which they live is one I feel much more comfortable bouncing from planet to planet in.  It's mostly those things that compelled me to write this post.

I have no idea when this unfinished book will be published, but hopefully soon.  Hopefully.

Hi Reader

Hello,
Not a huge fan of blog writing, more of blog reading.  However, I have entered the world of self-publishing in the last few months and every piece of advice garnished from my fellow authors demands the self-published author have a blog.  Here it is.

No promises here.  I will try to update this as much as I can, but when I have spare time to sit in front of my computer, it is either to work on my current book or update my fantasy basketball team.  I hope you understand.

If for some reason you have stumbled upon this blog and are shaking your laptop, wailing, "Kyle!  No!  More, please!  You must give me more of your words!", then I will point you in the direction of my first novel, Find the Star.  It's my first novel, and the first in a series of which I don't have a name for but am currently deep in composition of its sequel.  If you decide to spend your $2.99 or $0.99 on it, I very much hope you enjoy it.  To shamelessly self-promote myself and my publisher, Amazon, if you sign up for their Prime Membership, you can download my book and any future books I put out for free from the Kindle Lending Library.  There is also a treasure trove of authors and books in the Lending Library you have access to.

Again, no promises here and I doubt there are more than three people who will read this before my next update, but I will try to keep this fresh.  Thanks for being a reader, reader.