Some new, amazing character art is up on my kickstarter page!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2070483758/wolves-of-the-tesseract-taking-of-the-prime-fantas
Every Monday and Friday I add updates (character profiles on Mon and completed comic pages on Fri). Would you please visit the page and support childhood literacy by becoming a backer & then share/ask your friends to do the same?
#comic #comicbook #kickstarter
When I was in 7th grade one of my teachers commented, “Reading is so important that, if all he would read is comic books, I’d buy my son a subscription to every title he wanted. It’s the foundation to everything.” A few years prior I’d gotten into comics when my grandmother gave me a box of classic golden-age titles she pulled out of storage. It certainly opened my mind to new worlds.
My crowd-funder is meant to do the same thing–inspire other readers by giving away a free comic book. The comic book, being developed by myself and my art team, is an original “one-shot” comic and a prequel to my Wolf of the Tesseract series. I’ve got agreements with 6+ local comicons who want to distribute a total of 5,000-10,000 copies of this for free to people–especially to young readers.
I’m launching this fundraiser to 1. encourage child/teen literacy by getting something in front of a specific, targeted audience and 2. promote my YA fiction series. The crossover from comics to the novel will be easy because the comic sets the stage and action that occurs in the novel and encouraging teens to read larger, print books is my ultimate goal!
The Kickstarter campaign is not meant as a money-making vehicle. The funds raised are only a portion of the costs necessary to develop, print, ship, and distribute 5,000 copies of the comic book; $2,500 is not a significant sum, but I’m only trying to cover enough of the actual cost to put books in kids’ hands; once we exceed that amount, additional funds will go towards purchasing more printed copies and paying for a stretch goal. I’ve already committed to paying the art team from my own pocket and cover artist Rebecca Alexander donated her art as a favor!
Please join this ambitious project and be a part of something amazing (and get your name listed in the thank-you/credits page!) Check it out by clicking here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2070483758/630914271?token=05122c5e
Lots happened over the weekend. I did my writing and blogging and then I used a vacation day I’d banked a while back to get out and film a set of television interviews which will run in the Twin Cities . I also sat with a blogger and recorded a podcast that day and finalized a book signing for Barnes & Nobles in St. Cloud. The big thing for me, however, is the huge comicon coming up this weekend. Come on out and chill with me at Wizard World Minneapolis (if you still need tickets, get them online and use coupon code AUTHOR to get 20% off).
My other big iron in the fire is the comic book I’m producing as a prequel to Wolf of the Tesseract. It will be done by the end of June and I’m planning to give away between 5,000 and 10,000 copies at different comicons I will attend in the upper Midwest (MN and the surrounding states). I’ve got agreements in place for distribution (“first 1,000 convention attendees” will get a free comic at the door kinda thing). Now, I’ve just got to crowd fund the rest of the costs. It’s actually pretty low for a comicbook kickstarter—I’ve just got to get the word out there as broad as possible later this week when I launch. (If you’re an author and want an advert for your book, we’re talking thousands of readers with targeted marketing for pretty cheap! Contact me for info!
I did realize that if my current novel will be done on time I’m going to need to speed up my writing from one chapter per week to two for the rest of the month. That should be possible. I usually accelerate on the homestretch anyway. I’ll try for two chapters this week but commit to one and see how it goes (especially once I launch the comic promo.)
Okay. You’re going to have to stick with this review of Prison Made of Mirrors, which I really do think is a little hidden diamond on the bookshelf—but it might not sound like it at first.
I was kind of eager to read it because I really did like the cover (even though it’s not much more than an obvious stock photo with some runes overlaid with light transparency—but it works because of the sense of story it conjures.) I was a little surprised when it arrived in such a small package; it’s actually a novella . That’s neither here nor there, just something I hadn’t really recognized… that means it’s a faster read: like a long lunch break if you read fast.
What I didn’t like:
The story doesn’t really start until chapter three. I was a little discouraged immediately when the opening paragraph was an obvious info dump to establishing the setting. There were also some grammar errors that should’ve been caught (like an unfinished sentence which started and then a new one with capitalized word began—like the author might’ve accidentally deleted a section during reedit but didn’t have a proofreader to catch the error,) and some inconsistencies with terms that didn’t really get explained. In fact, I almost gave up since Ch2 was still talking about irrelevant people and not the main character. But I’m glad I didn’t give up and the beginning makes more sense when read below (and it gets easier when the 1st two chapters worth of “narrator voice” goes away and the story really begins).
What I liked:
The first moment I really started to like the book was when Queen Aithne’s personality began to come out (not her traits—it’s easy to write about someone, less easy to make them alive)—she suddenly began to feel like Game of Throne’s Cerci, or Vikings’ Aslog. I guess I’d figured the book would be mostly passive and, knowing the Viking content, thought maybe the author was going for a story as if told by a skald at a bonfire. …but Aithne isn’t likeable and so it didn’t hook me yet. Then there was a werewolf. I’m in. Vikings + werewolves basically guarantees I’m going to read it through.
While the main character isn’t a werewolf, I was starting to enjoy the story more and really liked the Dvergar whom Brenna (the MC) met at the mid-point. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it until then, but I recognized that this is a retelling of Snow White set in a Scandinavian/Viking backdrop. The waxing passivity of the first two chapters made sense when I realized the author was writing as if this were a dark Disney movie set in a parallel kingdom to Ragnar Lothbrook—the first two chapters are that little snippet of film thrown out to lay a framework right before the main Title Screen flashes across the screen. I think it would’ve worked better as a prologue, in that sense, but it’s not my book. Maybe I figured it out later than most people… I dunno, but it made the issues I had initially with the book uncomfortable rather than unforgiveable.
Another thing I liked was the Loring, once the stage was set, maintained consistency in the world (outside of those few inconsistencies early on) and things like names and terms or an obviously Nordic origin (even alternate/archaic spellings such as dvergar versus duregar) really gave the story a well-crafted atmosphere; she did not break the setting by trying to force it either (like annunciating accents into the speech—I hate that so much, and she avoided that trap).
It’s worth picking up, especially if you liked the Vikings series or Snow White and the Huntsman movie(s). You can get the book by clicking here!
Busy day, busy weekend. I did finish my chapter while on the road this weekend. I also have a new page in the comic done which makes me glad. Looking at upcoming weeks and I’m pretty slammed. I’m hoping to get chapter 11 written in WotT2: Through the Darque Gates of Koth and maybe get my newly contracted manuscript its final facelift before it gets sent off to the publisher. Other than that, I am still taking submissions for Tuesday book reviews, but you may have noticed I didn’t post one last week and won’t again this week—just too little time for reading over this couple week busy period.
One last thing, Wolf of the Tesseract is currently on sale through a special promo service. Go check it out and pick it up for 99 cents! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JGOEKK6
It was a good week for writing. Rainy and overcast for the later half it helped set the tone, I suppose. The first part of the week, however, was super nice which made it difficult for a variety of reasons.
I think I wrote 3 1/2 chapters this week on WotT2. They were full of intense action and so it came easy. I also signed a publishing contract on my Christian nonfiction devo/humor book. The submissions editors loved my cartoons which I added as filler and so I spent much time over the weekend rescanning and tweaking a dozen of them so they could be included in the final product.
Late last night I also got an email with pencil work on page 4 of my comic book, so I’m also excited about that. I’m hoping for early summer!
The largest brick and mortar retailer of Christian books and merchandise is closing its door after eightyfive years. I wonder how much of that is related to the fact that the term “Brick and Mortar” is actually a thing. Basically, they couldn’t keep step with the pace of the world (technology, trends, etc.) especially in regards to selling a product in the age of POD, Indies, and online distribution. I think theirs is a lesson for both book sellers and Christians in general–if we aren’t alive, active, and walking within the ebb and flow of the world at large we will become stagnant, irrelevant, and die. The Bible would talk about this as being salty vs. being worthless. I’ll stop preaching now, but that’s in my nature.
What does their closing mean for writers? I think it shows a bunch of things–Indie authors may have an easier time in online venues where the purchasers of books will be pushed to, but it means the burden to prove your legitimacy is even higher as the market might swell some. I think it may also bode well for mom and pop faith-based retail stores. Other, smaller chains may feel it’s okay to drop franchise titles and be independent in the future. Overall, I’m not sure how I feel about FCS’s closing.I’m at least a little discouraged (if a big player like them can’t make it, what kind of chance do I have? …and then I think of books like Twilight or 50 Shades and realize my chances might be fine.)
Read more about their closing here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/february/all-family-christian-stores-closing-fcs-liquidation.html
So much busy-ness this week. Well, weekend. I keep pretty busy in the youth work that I do and we’ve been relaunching all of our ministry and activities into a new format, plus planning fundraisers. I don’t have much free time or gas-in-tank over the last few weeks’ worth of evenings and I’ve spent most of what I have editing. I sat down this weekend, however, and did a bunch of stuff on my to-do list… mostly promo stuff. I’m feeling pretty accomplished this week.
Worked with some illustrators overseas to do some comic book designs for a promo comic I’m putting together to help sell books at Comicon. I also got the second installment of The Kakos Realm published and live today. If you sign up for my mailing list you will get a coupon code that lets you get the first book for free!
If that’s not enough, I’ve got two other promos going TODAY ONLY. You can get my sci-fi Dekker’s Dozen: The Last Watchmen for free and you can also pick up my best-selling Why Your Pastor Left.
There sure are a lot of ugly people out there… not in a physical way, but folks are just being nasty. I’ve never been real political on this blog because it’s a writing and author forum, not a political one. But I can’t hardly work on my platform when all social media has been steam-rollered by such blatant hypocrisy and hatred. I can hardly write or edit when previously good-natured friends have depleted my mental energies. I can’t help but gear the words of John Coffey (the character from Green Mile) in my head. “I’m tired, boss. Tired of bein’ on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we’s coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There’s too much of it.”
Please stop being nasty to each other. I don’t care who you like or dislike politically, but I’m not seeing anything that represent logic or rationality. People are rioting and being nasty because they have hate in their hearts and refuse to look at a larger worldview beyond their personal microcosm. End Rant.
I didn’t get much done. I was pretty tired all week (see above). Except I did manage to complete storyboards and descriptions for my pencil artist. I’m collaborating on a short prequel comic book that leads into Wolf of the Tesseract. I plan to use Wolf of the Tesseract: Taking the Prime as a promotional tool to sell more novels. So far sales are pretty sluggish (like, I don’t know that it’s sold any copies except the ones I’ve purchased to give away or resell at cons.)
