Free Anthology and Other Happenings.

I’ll start out with the free anthology. Stories on the Go is an anthology of 101 flash fiction stories by 101 authors. Although I don’t rank top billing, my story is number ten on the list and some of the other authors include Hugh Howey & Lisa Grace. Andrew Ashling and the rest of the volunteer crew did an amazing job editing and producing this anthology. Go get it now!

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Champion Standing will be out in 14 days. The electronic book will be an Amazon exclusive for at least the first 90 days. The paperback will be available on launch day, January 2^nd. There will be different covers for the electronic and the dead tree versions. This weekend I plan to redo the book trailer with larger text. Depending on the popularity of Champion Standing, I may look into doing some sort of audiobook, but that’s further along the pipeline. You can preorder Champion Standing now.

16Sunsets has already reached the 30k point. I expect you all to see another 10k or so of the vomit draft on this blog before the end of the first quarter of 2015. I’ll figure out some sort of schedule and if the stars align, I hope to have it done before February. When the blog version is done, there will be a very limited printing available to select fans and contributors of the entire story from the blog before the rewrite gets it above the magic 50k and the long editing process begins.

For the rest of 2015, I expect to finish The Afflicted and if Saturn is in retrograde, Soul Smith. I also hope to put a serious dent in the Body Rentals sequel and/or Champion Rising. Victorious Maiden, Technophobia, Eve’s Story and a sequel to Escape won’t even be close to completion until 2016.

Preorder Champion Standing

Well, the day has come. Champion Standing is less than ninety days away. You can preorder the eBook at Amazon for only $4.99. The paperback will be available in January, with a sticker price of $9.99. I’ve decided to go with the “red” cover for the Amazon eBook and a slightly modified version of the ARC white cover for paperback and the rest of the e-tailers after Amazon has it for 90 days.

Champion Standing Proofs

I know, I know. You’ve already seen the mangled jade proofs. You’ve seen the advanced reading copies. Now, the gallery proof! The interior is essentially done. The cover will likely be the ones from the ARCs, but I just don’t know. I like the sheer beauty of the ‘red’ cover, but my author bio isn’t in the same spot as Forlorn Hope and Body Rentals. The ‘white’ cover is striking with the line art. What do you guys think? Be sure to rewatch the Champion Standing trailer below the image.

Advance Reading Copies

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but something is amiss at Thaininvain. No prompt today, so I’ll likely do it tomorrow once her glitches have been minded.

I got my ARCs for Champion Standing yesterday. Only three months until preorders start. Apologies for the poor quality image, I think my lens is dirty.

Flashback

 

#FFC52 The first proper noun on page 33 of Champion Standing is Liao. The final edit of CS is done and I was rereading it from cover to cover when you posted the challenge. The final word count for CS after edits was 49,588. I was short of the required 50k to be eligible for the ABNA and Nebula awards. This flash finished at 533 words, so it immediately went into the novel.

Liao forced the world around him to recede into the darkness of the surrounding woods. He closed his eyes and began relaxation exercises he learned as a child. Here and now, the young warrior was alone in the world. He was one with the world. He was the world. Nothing else existed at this time and in this place but himself. He opened his eyes to the gentle songs of the forest. A cricket sang hauntingly at the edge of his clearing. The creatures of the night serenaded him in a majestic cacophony of sound that only creation could compose. As he listened to the otherworldly songs of the night his mind drifted back to another place and another time.

They sat there, just the two of them, in silence for the longest time before either of them spoke, but even before the bearded man sitting in the field by his side said anything, Liao recognized his surroundings. It was a strange sensation, seeing him this way. It was if he was there, a child again, living out the endless eternity of childhood once again, and yet seeing it as an adult observer through the eyes of many years of experience. This man that was his father, and yet not. Together they sat, silently looking at the stars that shone overhead.

Perhaps, Liao thought to himself, the man who was the observer, perhaps that is what has brought this memory to the surface: the similarity of the two nights and the two cloudless, moonless skies. He watched the older man, both as observer and as participant, waited for the older man to speak the words he remembered so well, and yet was about to hear for the first time.

“I’m dying, Liao.”

The warrior who was the child watched as the tears began to well up in the eyes of the child he had been. He watched as his father swallowed the trembling, crying child in his strong but tender arms. “Yes, Liao,” the man gently answered, “I leave you to bring honor to our family.”

The child who would one day be a warrior stiffened slightly in the arms of his father, pulling his head far enough back from the man to look into his eyes. “I will look after mother for you.” He spoke with the frightened voice of a child, yet with the strength and resolution of the man he would become.

His father said nothing. He nodded as if in affirmation of what the child had said, a tear forming in his own eye.

They sat there in silence, the two of them until the first rays of dawn greeted them.

After his father died, life was not easy for Liao or his mother, but they managed to overcome all the obstacles that life threw their way. There would be many nights when Liao would sit, gazing at the stars working out the difficulties of life, but none so poignant as this first one.

Liao looked back fondly at those difficult times, realizing again how great the influence of that gruff old man had been in his life, and seeing for maybe the first time the tenderness that was ever so carefully hidden beneath the gruff exterior of the man he called Father.

Shameless Begging

I’m gearing up for the Champion Standing release in less than five months. I even joined twitter and set up some sort of wordpress tweet thing. I know there are those of you who adore twitter, but I see it as a necessary evil. I don’t know what value to the twitterverse followers have, but if you would be so inclined, follow me on twitter. Don’t expect me to tweet out a lot of stuff though. If you want to interact with me, this blog is the way to do it. To me, your comments and my followers on this blog are precious, so keep it up.

In other news, I learned from another blog that there is a ‘like’ button on my Amazon Author page. Apparently two people already liked it. I suppose I need more likes, so do me a solid and go to this page and click the ‘like’ button in the upper right corner. There is also a facebook and a twitter icon that apparently do stuff too.

I feel like the hermit living in a cabin in the woods. I shout out to anyone passing by, “Leave me alone, I’m writing!” I appreciate all your comments and feedback and I know I wouldn’t know any of you without this new fangled internet thingamabob.

While I’m dedicating an entire post to begging, I’d better mention I could totally use some more reviews for my books. I don’t need fake reviews, I’m not like that, but if you’ve read one of my stories I’d appreciate an honest review on Amazon.

Rambling Pen

I received a shipment of my books to be distributed to a local indie bookstore. If you are in Prescott, Arizona, drop by Peregrine Books and pick up a dead tree version of Forlorn Hope or Body Rentals. Arranging a book signing there for Champion Standing is on my “to do” list, but I’m just so busy with everything. I also autographed a few books for people who have supported various projects I’m working on. The progress on The Afflicted and Champion Rising has stalled so I can work on 16Sunsets. I had originally planned on writing sixteen 1,600-word chapters, but I suspect it’ll end up being longer. I haven’t talked to Telly lately about Soulsmith, so I can’t let you know much on that project. Champion Standing is off for the final edit. I’m expecting it to be published in January instead of February, with advance reading copies available in October or November. I’d like to launch with a bunch of reviews, so those of you interested in an ARC for a review, let me know. I expect inks from Joel for 16Sunsets by the end of the week, perhaps the following week. I’m lazily working on the Paradox audiobook. I’m finding it difficult to maintain focus on it. It’ll still get done, I’m just not sure when. Technophobia is super difficult to work on since I’m chained to antique technology to produce it. It’s much easier to pull my phone out of my pocket and tap out a few sentences. Finally, updated print versions of Forlorn Hope and Body Rentals will hit the distribution channels on Monday. Electronic versions will be up on Amazon sometime tonight. Kobo and B&N have been the worst for purchases – I’m not sure if those platforms are even viable any more.

Enough rambling for today, so I’ll just close the post with this: B.J., I got pages for you to look at tomorrow and welcome to the blog.

Kickstarter Finale

It’s been an interesting (almost) thirty days! Thank you to all my week one and week two backers. Unfortunately, it’s not looking like we’ll reach our goal of $1000. No worries! The book will still be out in February. As a special thank you to those of you who backed the project, I’ll be sending you a free eBook of Escape. There is still time for the project to succeed and I’ve heard there could be a big influx of pledges in the last hours, so I guess there’s still hope. Anyway, thanks again for you all believing in me.

Final Kickstarter Week!

No new backers in the last seven days. ::sad panda:: We need to drive the last $425 home in this, the last week of the campaign. I’m making Paradox free on Amazon for the last five days of the campaign, so look for it July 9^th through the 13^th. My next short story, Escape, will be out Saturday, July 26^th. Once the project is funded, all backers at any reward threshold will have the option to receive an advance eBook of Escape free of charge.

I can’t stress it enough: If the $1000 funding goal isn’t met, the campaign fails and no money changes hands. Also, it’s not a donation; you’re pledging and will receive the reward matching your pledge threshold. Let’s get the word out and finish this goal with time to spare.

Week Two Recap

The Kickstarter campaign is creeping along slowly but surely. Shout outs to my backers thus far. It’s also incredibly humbling to know that almost half of the funding goal is the result of three special backers. Anyone who knows someone in the publishing industry probably knows how insecure we authors really are. We agonize over publishing our stories and worry we’re not good enough. A funding campaign like this truly is a writers’ greatest validation. Forget about awards and sales rankings – The fact that you all believe in my work enough to pledge means a lot to me.

Champion Standing is now 57% funded. As an added incentive to pledge, anyone who pledges any amount (including $1) get a ‘thanks’ in the Champion Standing acknowledgement page. I’ve updated the rewards to reflect this update. Keep getting the word out – Facebook, Twitter and blogs. There’s only $470 to go and two weeks to get it done. I’m perfectly happy with 470 pledges of $1.