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.