My New Series is Launching Now!

I have, in the past, discouraged the idea of launching books on kickstarter. However, ever since Brandon Sanderson made it sexy, I think there has been renewed interest in the platform by outsiders and there have been a lot of folks sharing their knowledge about how to launch genre-niched books effectively.

That said, I’ve been following their advice with great interest and I’m launching my new series with the help of backer funding. Please click here and check out the campaign which is live, now!

Please join as a backer and get some cool stuff with it!

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^{Start a scary-good new series.}

My Post-Apocalyptic SF/Horror has just released and it’s just 99c through Halloween. This story is my baby. Please pick up a copy and tell the world!

Dr. Swaggart must race against time, failing lights, and a leaky oxygen tank to save his new family: the last remnant of mankind who dwells in the underground bunker Ark 1. If he fails, the monster infecting his friends will finally succeed in destroying humanity once and for all!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DWJZKS7

Writing Sci-Fi Space Battles? Watch this!

I stumbled upon this video while in the midst of writing my MilSF book with a kind of Star Trek/BSG vibe and I fully agree with this guy. Kudos to youtube for an excellent video suggestion. If you’re writing space battle sci-fi, you should watch this video and pay attention to what he talks about regarding stakes, movement, and knowing who’s in the battle.

State of Writing

I got some writing in over the weekend while selling books at a rather slow convention. The next Dekker’s Dozen book, Austicon’s Lockbox, is underway. A lot of the regulars at this convention reminded me exactly how important having an audio version is; several of them had previous books of mine in their audible account already, so I’m planning to begin the audible version of my latest book (Dekker’s Dozen: Seed Child of Sippar Sulcus) this week. I’ve had some software holdups preventing me from beginning (Wolf of the Tesseract 2 has been “in review” for 2 months now and I don’t want to do my hardware and software changes, which are a real necessity, before that clears the queue.) I’ll start anyway and hope I don’t have to re-record WotT2.

This week I hope to write 2 chapters and have my audio software changeover complete and new hardware installed! I’ve probably got to count my books, too, and make sure I have enough on hand for Planet Comic Con at the end of the month.

Review of The Dinosaur Lords

This high concept novel seems it has such an amazing potential. George RR Martin himself called it “Game of Thrones meets Jurassic Park.” I first discovered it while scavenging the bones of a failing bookstore chain like a procompsognathus during its “going out of business” sale. It went on my Christmas reading list… and there it stayed. Despite it’s amazing potential, Victor Milan’s Dinosaur Lords took me a year to complete. That is not my norm.

PreOrder new Sci-fi Now!

I wanted to let you all know that the newest Dekker’s Dozen Story is available for preorder now! Get it by clicking here!

It should also be available right away via Audible as well and will drop on the 27th of December.

Are You Using Social Media Correctly?

Hey Indie authors of all stripes, we need to keep this in mind… especially when it seems tough to find your tribe, don’t opt to start spamming people on social media (and yes…that’s exactly what it is.)
Have you ever been having a great conversation with friends and had a very loose acquaintance interrupt and try to sell you all on Amway/whatever pyramid scheme is currently popular? That’s an exact parallel to “using social media as a sales channel.” Read this article for more!

State of Writing

I’m so close to having this short story done! It’s taken me almost as long to write as my last novel… partly because of content and partly because of my schedule. This is my last super crazy week, though, and I do hope to finish it this week.

“Grandma Ethel’s Donuts and Hollowpoints.” Grandma Ethel’s got a long day ahead of her: a pile of cancer medications, a fistful of bullets, and a plate full of donuts. Good thing her car does 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds… if only she could see over the steering wheel.

State of Writing

Very little writing done this week… But I guess it’s not all about the keyboard. I did get a few very minor things accomplished. Mostly, however, I worked on my rental property that got trashed by renters (but at least they also jacked me on 5 months rent, too.) I’ve spent every spare scrap of time these last two months doing major renovations and I finally finished! The market’s hot, so hopefully I can flip this thing and recoup some lost income and pay down debts!

As for my goals, I did not finish my short story. I don’t think I can venture a guess about its eta. I’m pretty well consumed by this month of camps I’m in charge of. It’s a ton of spinning plates and it seems that people are insisting on trying to knock them off.

Still, keep your fingers crossed. I might yet get to it. Also, please stop by and visit the big SF/F event at Roseville MN Barnes and Noble that I’m co-hosting with some friends this Saturday! It’s gonna be a fun one.

State of Writing

I got to spend all weekend at a SF con and hang out a little with one of my literary heroes who inspired me to begin writing my own SF in a round about way. Sold some books, met lots of great people and made some solid contacts! (Timothy Zahn put me in touch with his son who is a pro editor, so keep your fingers crossed there. Maybe something comes of it.)

Though it was a successful con for me, it had lots of downtime–good for networking and writing. I outlined my new short story I’m doing and wrote another 500 words. I’m about a thousand in so far and want to keep it between 10-15k. I guess my goal is to finish it by next week… two weeks tops… also to catch up on sleep. I hope to still be in bed by the time this auto-posts in the morning. I love cons. I hate the travel and hotels.