If you came here looking for news, go to elliottkay.com now -- there's new content there that you'll want to see!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
New Author Site: Elliottkay.com
I have moved on to a new website! Having outgrown blogspot here, elliottkay.com will now be my official blog/repository of awesome. Still working on transferring comments from this blog, but pretty much everything else is on the new site with a much cleaner look.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Something for Good Intentions Fans
I don't want anyone thinking that I've forgotten about my other series.
Yeah, I know, its' not a short story or anything, but haven't you always wanted to see what Molly and Onyx look like?
This one was done on commission by scarypet on DeviantArt, whose stuff is gorgeous.
At some point, I think these two really need their own book.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Writing Military Fiction: Resources
This weekend at Norwescon in Seattle turned out to be one of the most mind-blowing weekends of my life. I went to my first SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) meeting, hung out with my regular cover artist Lee Moyer and his assistant Venetia, and got to meet the incredible Cat Rambo and Hugo-winning artist Julie Dillon. Jennifer Brozek was super gracious and offered a lot of great advice to me about being on panels. Honestly, I could go on with the shout-out-fest until it just got ridiculous (Annie Bellet! Erik Scott de Bie! See what I mean?)
This was my first time as an "attending pro." I've never had an interaction with a pro at Norwescon where I didn't feel completely welcome and appreciated, but being a fellow pro does bring a new context to it. This weekend was something I've wanted for years.
Part of that was the chance to be one of the folks up at the table of panelists. The panel on writing steamy fic (and fanfic, as if that's any different) was such a riot that my face hurt at the end. The panel that made me want to come home and share things on my blog, though, was the one on Writing About the Military. I felt privileged to be on it, and I made sure to put together a list of resources for attendees that I wanted to share here.
These are all resources I use in my writing, or books & authors whose influence I continue to feel while writing even if I don't reach for them.
The biggest influence in my writing is, of course, my prior military experience. Four years in uniform will teach you an awful lot, and everyone on that panel, male and female, was a veteran. A couple of them were combat vets, who will tell you that you really can't understand combat unless and until you've been there. Obviously, there's a lot of truth to that, but it shouldn't hold you back in your writing. A good writer should make every reasonable effort to speak with people who've been in (or at least close to) the situations they want to write about, though.
As an important aside to that: I've had a number of military vets, including combat vets, write to me privately or leave reviews to say that I have really nailed combat in my books. I've had others say that I'm on crack and that my protagonists wouldn't last two minutes in real combat. I fully believe that both of these reactions are true. Mileage always varies. Those two different reactions come from very different places, but they are both real and legitimate places deserving of respect.
At any rate: my list of links and books that will hopefully be helpful to other writers out there.
LINKS
US Navy Style Guide: Short, easy reference for modern military writing grammar, mechanics, etc. Obviously I don't follow this to 100% accuracy in my books, but then, I am writing about a futuristic space navy.
Dictionary of Navy Slang: Accurate, explicit and often very amusing. It goes on, and on, and on.
Official Department of the Army Publications and Forms: It's just plain stunning how much material the US military offers for free. Manuals, tech documents...if you wonder how something works, this is a great place to start digging.
Medal of Honor Society Archive: Every medal comes with a citation explaining why it was awarded. This site collects most if not all of the citations for the Medal of Honor. If you're wondering whether or not your protagonist's battlefield heroics are over the top, check here for the real thing. Fair warning, though: some of this stuff is just as unbelievable as anything you'll see in fiction. If you want to take it that far, you need to earn it with your readers.
Victoria Cross Registers: Offers much the same benefits as the MoH link above, but with a different country's perspective -- and with fascinating scans of primary source documents. I'm a history nerd. I think this is amazing.
Basics of Shipboard Life: Honestly, I lean more on personal experience and my old Coastie's manual, but this is a good online resource for people who don't have such things handy.
US Naval Academy Because your space captain probably learned something in school, right?
This blog post by Chuck Wendig about GUNS GUNS GUNS is super useful.
Interrogations: If there's one thing I would point to about how Hollywood consistently Gets It Wrong, it's interrogations -- in cop shows, in espionage dramas, and in military fic. Yes, abuse and torture happen. They happen all too often. In addition to being morally wrong, though, it's stupid. Hurting your prisoner/suspect doesn't get him to tell you the truth. It gets him to tell you whatever you want to hear in order to stop the pain, and that's a very, very different thing from truth.
Forget about 24. The Commandant of West Point arranged a meeting with that show's producers to explain to them how they were quite literally hurting our military with their product. The show's top dog didn't even have it in him to make the meeting.
An even better resource than the article above is the US Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook. Again, I'm not saying violence, torture and abuse don't happen. I am, however, saying that writing that into fiction as effective and justifiable methods is inexcusably lazy and stupid. There are better techniques and experts have explained how they work. Use them. Be unique. Don't be lazy. Don't be Hollywood.
BOOKS
WAR IS A RACKET by Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC (ret). This should be required reading in our high schools, or at least for anyone considering a military career. It's a product of its time, and Butler's voice is more than a little quirky, but to me that just makes it all the more engaging. Butler warns of the military-industrial complex years before Eisenhower's farewell address. This is not a book about writing on life within the military, but if you're going to write such a tale, you need this perspective.
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR by Karl Marlantes is just flat-out amazing. I can't think of a non-fiction work that I have read that is more painfully honest. Marlantes is a decorated former Marine officer who offers the sort of war stories that you don't expect: the failures, the missteps, the rash actions that may have been why some comrades didn't come home alive. He also talks about both the awful feelings that go with combat--fear, guilt, doubt--and, perhaps more importantly, the feelings of excitement and even joy that he experienced. As Marlantes relates, one of the greatest problems for vets is that nobody back home wants to hear about that latter half of the experience. Civilians are often eager to pat a veteran's hand sympathetically while hearing about how awful it was, but very few want to hear anything about pride or a sense of triumph if it's going to include any ugly details. There's not a lot of closure for anyone who only gets to explain half of their experiences.
If I have one caveat to offer about this book, it is that it's severely gendered. His book frequently talks about war being a masculine enterprise and only offers up childbirth as a parallel crucible for women, which grates on me. He doesn't say it with malice or disdain. I'm not calling him a sexist so much as I'm saying there's a blind spot. To be fair, the book is grounded in his experience, which was entirely concerned with his masculine viewpoint--but that blind spot is there. Only at the very end did I find any acknowledgement of American women serving in combat. If you can forgive that blind spot, it's a great book. If you can't, you may want to leave it aside...and if you're strongly of that mindset yourself, I'm not sure how you wound up following me as a writer. :)
The Making of a Legionnaire by Bill Parris and Life in the French Foreign Legion by Evan McGorman, because you shouldn't limit yourself to just the US military. I've always been fascinated by the Legion. They're about as different as you can get while still being a modern "Western" military. They pick up recruits from all over the world. Melding different regional cultures together in the US military is enough of a trick, but what the Legion pulls off with global cultures is just amazing, and I've heard nothing but firm endorsements of the Legion's capabilities from military professionals who have worked with them.
The Combat Leader's Field Guide and The Ranger Handbook. So many straightforward nuts-and-bolts explanations and diagrams. These are extremely useful. Even when you're not writing about things "by the book," they are wonderful for helping you keep perspective.
This was my first time as an "attending pro." I've never had an interaction with a pro at Norwescon where I didn't feel completely welcome and appreciated, but being a fellow pro does bring a new context to it. This weekend was something I've wanted for years.
Part of that was the chance to be one of the folks up at the table of panelists. The panel on writing steamy fic (and fanfic, as if that's any different) was such a riot that my face hurt at the end. The panel that made me want to come home and share things on my blog, though, was the one on Writing About the Military. I felt privileged to be on it, and I made sure to put together a list of resources for attendees that I wanted to share here.
These are all resources I use in my writing, or books & authors whose influence I continue to feel while writing even if I don't reach for them.
The biggest influence in my writing is, of course, my prior military experience. Four years in uniform will teach you an awful lot, and everyone on that panel, male and female, was a veteran. A couple of them were combat vets, who will tell you that you really can't understand combat unless and until you've been there. Obviously, there's a lot of truth to that, but it shouldn't hold you back in your writing. A good writer should make every reasonable effort to speak with people who've been in (or at least close to) the situations they want to write about, though.
As an important aside to that: I've had a number of military vets, including combat vets, write to me privately or leave reviews to say that I have really nailed combat in my books. I've had others say that I'm on crack and that my protagonists wouldn't last two minutes in real combat. I fully believe that both of these reactions are true. Mileage always varies. Those two different reactions come from very different places, but they are both real and legitimate places deserving of respect.
At any rate: my list of links and books that will hopefully be helpful to other writers out there.
LINKS
US Navy Style Guide: Short, easy reference for modern military writing grammar, mechanics, etc. Obviously I don't follow this to 100% accuracy in my books, but then, I am writing about a futuristic space navy.
Dictionary of Navy Slang: Accurate, explicit and often very amusing. It goes on, and on, and on.
Official Department of the Army Publications and Forms: It's just plain stunning how much material the US military offers for free. Manuals, tech documents...if you wonder how something works, this is a great place to start digging.
Medal of Honor Society Archive: Every medal comes with a citation explaining why it was awarded. This site collects most if not all of the citations for the Medal of Honor. If you're wondering whether or not your protagonist's battlefield heroics are over the top, check here for the real thing. Fair warning, though: some of this stuff is just as unbelievable as anything you'll see in fiction. If you want to take it that far, you need to earn it with your readers.
Victoria Cross Registers: Offers much the same benefits as the MoH link above, but with a different country's perspective -- and with fascinating scans of primary source documents. I'm a history nerd. I think this is amazing.
Basics of Shipboard Life: Honestly, I lean more on personal experience and my old Coastie's manual, but this is a good online resource for people who don't have such things handy.
US Naval Academy Because your space captain probably learned something in school, right?
This blog post by Chuck Wendig about GUNS GUNS GUNS is super useful.
Interrogations: If there's one thing I would point to about how Hollywood consistently Gets It Wrong, it's interrogations -- in cop shows, in espionage dramas, and in military fic. Yes, abuse and torture happen. They happen all too often. In addition to being morally wrong, though, it's stupid. Hurting your prisoner/suspect doesn't get him to tell you the truth. It gets him to tell you whatever you want to hear in order to stop the pain, and that's a very, very different thing from truth.
Forget about 24. The Commandant of West Point arranged a meeting with that show's producers to explain to them how they were quite literally hurting our military with their product. The show's top dog didn't even have it in him to make the meeting.
An even better resource than the article above is the US Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook. Again, I'm not saying violence, torture and abuse don't happen. I am, however, saying that writing that into fiction as effective and justifiable methods is inexcusably lazy and stupid. There are better techniques and experts have explained how they work. Use them. Be unique. Don't be lazy. Don't be Hollywood.
BOOKS
WAR IS A RACKET by Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler, USMC (ret). This should be required reading in our high schools, or at least for anyone considering a military career. It's a product of its time, and Butler's voice is more than a little quirky, but to me that just makes it all the more engaging. Butler warns of the military-industrial complex years before Eisenhower's farewell address. This is not a book about writing on life within the military, but if you're going to write such a tale, you need this perspective.
WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GO TO WAR by Karl Marlantes is just flat-out amazing. I can't think of a non-fiction work that I have read that is more painfully honest. Marlantes is a decorated former Marine officer who offers the sort of war stories that you don't expect: the failures, the missteps, the rash actions that may have been why some comrades didn't come home alive. He also talks about both the awful feelings that go with combat--fear, guilt, doubt--and, perhaps more importantly, the feelings of excitement and even joy that he experienced. As Marlantes relates, one of the greatest problems for vets is that nobody back home wants to hear about that latter half of the experience. Civilians are often eager to pat a veteran's hand sympathetically while hearing about how awful it was, but very few want to hear anything about pride or a sense of triumph if it's going to include any ugly details. There's not a lot of closure for anyone who only gets to explain half of their experiences.
If I have one caveat to offer about this book, it is that it's severely gendered. His book frequently talks about war being a masculine enterprise and only offers up childbirth as a parallel crucible for women, which grates on me. He doesn't say it with malice or disdain. I'm not calling him a sexist so much as I'm saying there's a blind spot. To be fair, the book is grounded in his experience, which was entirely concerned with his masculine viewpoint--but that blind spot is there. Only at the very end did I find any acknowledgement of American women serving in combat. If you can forgive that blind spot, it's a great book. If you can't, you may want to leave it aside...and if you're strongly of that mindset yourself, I'm not sure how you wound up following me as a writer. :)
The Making of a Legionnaire by Bill Parris and Life in the French Foreign Legion by Evan McGorman, because you shouldn't limit yourself to just the US military. I've always been fascinated by the Legion. They're about as different as you can get while still being a modern "Western" military. They pick up recruits from all over the world. Melding different regional cultures together in the US military is enough of a trick, but what the Legion pulls off with global cultures is just amazing, and I've heard nothing but firm endorsements of the Legion's capabilities from military professionals who have worked with them.
The Combat Leader's Field Guide and The Ranger Handbook. So many straightforward nuts-and-bolts explanations and diagrams. These are extremely useful. Even when you're not writing about things "by the book," they are wonderful for helping you keep perspective.
Monday, March 30, 2015
My Favorite Bad Habit: Art Commissions
As I've mentioned before, my favorite new hobby is all about commissioning artists to create illustrations of characters from my books. I love seeing what different artists will do with the information and ideas I give them. Part of it is a matter of developing some concept art, because even I'm not 100% sure what the futuristic setting of Poor Man's Fight looks like. I've been working on that, though (or, more accurately, I've had some artists working on it), and here's what I've got so far:
Again, if by any chance you'll be at Norwescon this coming weekend, I'll be there, too! Check my previous post for details.
Russel Roehling put together this piece and delivered it for me at Emerald City Comic Con this past weekend. His stuff is gorgeous! The slight blurring effect at the bottom happened because the picture doesn't quite fit into my scanner, but you're not missing anything for it. I love how much energy Russ puts into his art. A lot of artists I talk to are happy to do relatively still portraits, but Russ is more than happy to put some action into his work. I'll be going back to him for more!
This one was done by Chuck Pires, who I found on DeviantArt. I offered him a couple of different concepts, but in the end, the thought of highlighting the "Cinderella In Space" aspect of Poor Man's Fight kinda won us both over. He offered a quick escalation of poses from "tired and miserable" to "seriously irritated" and finally the full FML treatment above, which makes me very happy.
I've shown this one before: Alicia and Janeka, as drawn by Lelia, another artist I found through DeviantArt. Feels like it should make a second appearance here with the others, y'know? This one came to me without as many step-by-step check-ins as I've had with other art, so when I saw the final product I was really thrilled.
More art is on the way. There's a piece with Casey in it that's so close to being finished I may just add it to this post as an edit. Another piece underway will be an ensemble of most of the pirates from Vengeance. That one's being done by Tadd Galusha, who recently did this glorious Ninja Turtles cover for IDW. I've also got a lady in the Philippines working on a portrait of Molly & Onyx from Good Intentions that has me really excited -- I'm almost tempted to show the preliminary rough sketch, because it's awesome enough all by itself.
Again, if by any chance you'll be at Norwescon this coming weekend, I'll be there, too! Check my previous post for details.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Conventions! Audiobooks! Exclamation Points!
Gosh, it's been a while since I updated, huh? Guess I've been a bit busy! Lots of news to relate here.
First things first: If you're in the Seattle-ish area, I'll be making my first convention appearance as a panelist at Norwescon from April 2 - 5. This year's Author Guest of Honor is kind of a big deal (George RR Martin), so it's looking to be a bigger-than-usual con. I'm told selection for panelists & such was pretty competitive this year, so I'm excited to have been chosen!
My schedule for the con has me on the following panels:
Name All the Things!
Thu 5:00pm-6:00pm - Evergreen 1&2
Dean Wells (M), Frances Pauli, Erik Scott de Bie, Brenda Carre, Elliott Kay
Thu 5:00pm-6:00pm - Evergreen 1&2
Dean Wells (M), Frances Pauli, Erik Scott de Bie, Brenda Carre, Elliott Kay
One-on-One Combat for Writers
Fri 10:00am-11:00am - Evergreen 3&4
GregRobin Smith (M), Norman K. Moss, Bill Gruner, A.M. Brosius, Ogre Whiteside, Michael 'Tinker' Pearce, V Whitlock, Ann Schilling, Alan Paulsen
(I'm not on the published schedule for this one, but the track lead invited me this weekend and I jumped at the chance. This is a great panel.)
Writing About the Military
Fri 4:00pm-5:00pm - Cascade 7&8
Russell Ervin (M), Bart Kemper, S. A. Bolich, Jennifer Brozek, Joseph Malik, Elliott Kay
Level Up Your Indie Skillset
Sat 6:00pm-7:00pm - Cascade 9
Matt Youngmark (M), Annie Bellet, Luna Lindsey, Elliott Kay
Beyond Insert Tab A Into Slot B
Sat 9:00pm-10:00pm - Cascade 6
18+ Only, please
Zap! Pow! Bam!
Sun 3:00pm-4:00pm - Cascade 9
Grant Riddell (M), Elliott Kay, Erik Scott de Bie, Craig English
Fri 4:00pm-5:00pm - Cascade 7&8
Russell Ervin (M), Bart Kemper, S. A. Bolich, Jennifer Brozek, Joseph Malik, Elliott Kay
Level Up Your Indie Skillset
Sat 6:00pm-7:00pm - Cascade 9
Matt Youngmark (M), Annie Bellet, Luna Lindsey, Elliott Kay
Beyond Insert Tab A Into Slot B
Sat 9:00pm-10:00pm - Cascade 6
18+ Only, please
Zap! Pow! Bam!
Sun 3:00pm-4:00pm - Cascade 9
Grant Riddell (M), Elliott Kay, Erik Scott de Bie, Craig English
Norwescon has been an annual event for me since I arrived in Seattle ten years ago. I've been a regular attendee, I've been a vendor('s boyfriend), I've found myself in after-hours room parties until far too late at night, and now I'm an attending pro! Hooray, progress!
But if you're on my blog here, you're probably wondering what I've been up to since my last update. I've been focused on my sci-fi books for the last couple of months. Some of my efforts have been drawn off by edits and proofreads of Poor Man's Fight and Rich Man's War in preparation for its publishing re-launch through Skyscape, but for the most part I've been hard at work writing the still-not-titled Book Three in the series. As I may have noted elsewhere, there's a lot of world-building to do for this one. Tanner is at the end of his enlistment term, with major decisions to face for his life while Archangel, the Kingdom of Hashem, the big corporations and the rest of the Union brawl their way toward a new status quo.
Additionally, I have some more good news if you're a lover of Audiobooks: Audible.com and I have reached a deal for producing audio versions of Good Intentions, Natural Consequences and Days of High Adventure! I can't offer much in the way of details there except for the fact that the papers are signed and I have received word from Audible that the process is underway. We don't have a narrator chosen or a release date yet, but I'm told it should all be a matter of just a few months.
I hope to have more news soon, and if you're at Norwescon, please come say hi!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Traditional Publishing: Achievement Unlocked! I'm Signed with Skyscape!
I’ve been
holding out on my readers since about December 4th, and it’s time to
come clean.
I really don’t
remember much about December 4th. The calendar says it was a
Thursday. I know that was a “stay at home and write” day, or at least it was
intended to be. Maybe I wrote. Maybe I didn’t. I don’t remember.
All I
remember is this email that turned up in my inbox, with the subject heading, “Hello
from Amazon Publishing!”
Kindle and
Amazon send out mass emails, of course. They happen. I didn’t expect this to be
anything different, but when I opened it up, I found this:
Hi Elliott,
I hope you’re well!
I’m writing as an editor for Skyscape, Amazon’s traditional YA/new adult
publishing imprint. I encountered POOR MAN’S FIGHT while browsing the Kindle
store, and was instantly drawn in by your fantastic description. I purchased
the book immediately and read it over the course of one night…
Have
you enjoyed your self-publishing experience? And have you ever considered
traditional publishing?
I responded,
of course. I had some hopes. But I’ve also learned not to get my hopes up too
high since I first started writing these books. I have been contacted by agents
before, including agents from very big and reputable companies, and one time a
guy in Hollywood working for a yes-for-reals television agency inquired about
the rights for Poor Man’s Fight…but usually it’s just a very brief query that
doesn’t go far beyond that. So I responded, I mentioned it to some friends, and
my hopes perked up more when Miriam (the editor) and I arranged a phone call.
But again, I didn’t let those hopes run away with me.
As it turned
out, Miriam said pretty much exactly what I wanted to hear: that Skyscape
wanted to take Poor Man’s Fight and Rich Man’s War under their label for
traditional publishing!
The deal is
signed. We’re full speed ahead. I’m actually reviewing copyedits of Poor Man’s
Fight now, and I’ve just filled out the first little bits of paperwork for the
audio book.
What does
all this mean for Poor Man’s Fight, Rich Man’s War, and the following book(s)?
Am I gonna have to Young Adult this thing up and take out all the swearing and
face-stabbing? Do I have to slap on a WB-style makeover for the characters and
set everything to a mopey emo soundtrack? WILL THERE BE HUGE CHANGES?
No. Well,
not HUGE changes. The one big change I’m looking at is a name change, because
let’s face it, I made a goof when I named Allison, Alicia and Andrea. That’s
one too many A-names to track, especially given what they have in common. Allison’s
now looking at a name change. Past that, we’re just looking at fixing some
editorial mistakes, and I’m very grateful for the help I’m receiving.
However, the
action is still there. The language is still there. Tanner is and will remain a
serial interstellar blasphemer. Casey is still Casey. Janeka is still Janeka. The
books will remain available on Amazon as they currently are until Skyscape
re-launches them, which at the moment looks like June of this year. And I’m extremely
happy about all of it.
My other
books, for the record, are untouched by the deal, and will remain as they are. I
don’t find that disappointing at all; I like them just fine as indie-published
works. My racy, not-for-kids urban fantasy line will continue. I need to finish
with Volume Three of Well, That Escalated
Quickly: The Tanner Malone Story (still no projected date on that yet!), and then it will be time to assess
where I go next.
The only
real change I’m looking at here is the prospect of reaching many, many more
readers, and what writer doesn’t want that?
THANK YOU to
all my readers—to everyone who left reviews on Amazon and elsewhere, to
everyone who mentioned the book to a friend and who emailed me privately to
give their thoughts. This ride just keeps getting better, and I’m so truly
grateful for all the support!
Friday, January 23, 2015
It's like that joke about God sending boats to the dude in the flood...except totally not.
(This may well sound grumbly, but I swear things are going well for me overall.)
Probably the first rule of becoming a writer is Don't Quit Your Day Job. If it's not, it should be.
I have a day job. I've had the same day job for ten-ish years now. I won't tell you what it is, but it's one of those socially responsible jobs that our society desperately needs to function, and yet going into said job means you often won't be treated well...by society. The job has plenty of drawbacks. You tell people this is your job and they make a face and say, "Wow, I couldn't do that," but they know it needs doing. It's also the sort of job where you need a college degree, and then you need more college after that, but good luck paying it all off on the salary you'll probably make.
For a long time, I liked the job, even though it could often be a drag. My actual time commitments were pretty malleable, though the low pay meant that I worked as often as I possibly could and still didn't really get far ahead. I tried to get more entrenched in my job, in the hopes of both professional growth and improving my economic standing (again, low pay, no benefits at all...not a lot of security). I didn't get very far. Part of that was the downturn in 2008; part of it was just the nature of my field; and, sure, sometimes I got beat out by better candidates. It happened.
I never lacked for dedication, or talent, or diligence. It just didn't get me anywhere. It certainly didn't help my wallet. The truth of the American Dream is that it still involves a lot of luck. I think my favorite quote in the last ten years is from George Monbiot: "If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire."
Writing wasn't a thing I ever planned on doing for a living. It sounds like saying you're gonna grow up to play in the NFL or be a rock star. It doesn't seem practical. I wrote for fun, and things have sort of grown from there.
I still have my day job, but I don't go in a whole lot anymore. That's a wonderful thing, too, because as the years went on and the growth never really happened, the day job became more of a drag than a calling. Good Intentions helped a lot when I went through a brief and entirely predictable bit of seasonal unemployment. Poor Man's Fight pretty much changed my life. Occasionally, a reader or a reviewer will say that Tanner is a bit too heroic, and I think, "Tanner bought me out of debt, paid for multiple book covers and my appendectomy and gave me the best summer vacation I've had in ten years. You're damn right he's a hero!"
The thing is, I'm not what you'd call rich. I'm just finally making what a college-educated guy who just hit 40 should maybe make, contrasted against a pretty modest lifestyle developed from years of not making all that much money.
Again, the rule is: Don't Quit Your Day Job. And I've more or less followed that. I've taken a lot of time off the day job to write, because I love writing and because the writing is demonstrably more profitable. But I haven't quit the day job...I just don't go in a lot anymore.
I went in this week, partly by request. I drove to work today in the car that I bought this summer, the first new car I've ever owned, the car that I could only afford because so many people have been so good to me and my writing.
...aaaaand I got rear-ended about a block away from the office. Trunk and bumper are just smashed. I'm okay, the other guy's okay. He got out of his van and passed along his insurance and he was cool, and given how common hit-and-runs seem to be in Seattle, I'll take that as a blessing. But still: I went in to work like a real person, and naturally my car took the hit.
I think the universe is trying to tell me something.
General updateness:
Tanner: Well, That Escalated Quickly (Book Three) is currently at 33,000 words, and this week I managed to get over a particularly concerning plot point, so I feel like it'll keep rolling along well. I have no projections as to when it'll be done. I desperately WANT to be done by early summer. The last time I shot for that, however, it wound up being late August, which as it turns out isn't the best time to release a book.
I've received confirmation that I'll be an attending pro at Norwescon this year (April 2-5). As the website will tell you, it's the Pacific Northwest's Premiere Science Fiction and Fantasy convention. All these years of being a regular attendee, and now I'll be a panelist!
I'm also working with a few different artists (mostly discovered at conventions or through DeviantArt) for some illustrations of Tanner, Casey & Co. that I'll share once I have them. I've wanted to get some more such pieces done for a while now. It's in the works. Hopefully we'll all like what we see.
As it's a common question, I'll just state here again that yes, I will someday write another book in the Good Intentions series. Maybe after the current book is done, maybe not. I can't say. I love those characters. I feel like there's much more to do with them. But I'm sticking to one book at a time right now.
There's other good news to relay, but I kinda need to keep it under my hat for a little longer just yet.
Couple last bits: I've finally taken to Twitter and Tumblr. Not all that much on either yet, but if you follow those outlets, I'm @ElliottKaybooks on Twitter and I'm elliottkay.tumblr.com on tumblr, obviously. Fair warning: I don't do a whole lot of advertising there. Just a little more of my regular voice getting out into the world.
Take care, everyone!
Probably the first rule of becoming a writer is Don't Quit Your Day Job. If it's not, it should be.
I have a day job. I've had the same day job for ten-ish years now. I won't tell you what it is, but it's one of those socially responsible jobs that our society desperately needs to function, and yet going into said job means you often won't be treated well...by society. The job has plenty of drawbacks. You tell people this is your job and they make a face and say, "Wow, I couldn't do that," but they know it needs doing. It's also the sort of job where you need a college degree, and then you need more college after that, but good luck paying it all off on the salary you'll probably make.
For a long time, I liked the job, even though it could often be a drag. My actual time commitments were pretty malleable, though the low pay meant that I worked as often as I possibly could and still didn't really get far ahead. I tried to get more entrenched in my job, in the hopes of both professional growth and improving my economic standing (again, low pay, no benefits at all...not a lot of security). I didn't get very far. Part of that was the downturn in 2008; part of it was just the nature of my field; and, sure, sometimes I got beat out by better candidates. It happened.
I never lacked for dedication, or talent, or diligence. It just didn't get me anywhere. It certainly didn't help my wallet. The truth of the American Dream is that it still involves a lot of luck. I think my favorite quote in the last ten years is from George Monbiot: "If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire."
Writing wasn't a thing I ever planned on doing for a living. It sounds like saying you're gonna grow up to play in the NFL or be a rock star. It doesn't seem practical. I wrote for fun, and things have sort of grown from there.
I still have my day job, but I don't go in a whole lot anymore. That's a wonderful thing, too, because as the years went on and the growth never really happened, the day job became more of a drag than a calling. Good Intentions helped a lot when I went through a brief and entirely predictable bit of seasonal unemployment. Poor Man's Fight pretty much changed my life. Occasionally, a reader or a reviewer will say that Tanner is a bit too heroic, and I think, "Tanner bought me out of debt, paid for multiple book covers and my appendectomy and gave me the best summer vacation I've had in ten years. You're damn right he's a hero!"
The thing is, I'm not what you'd call rich. I'm just finally making what a college-educated guy who just hit 40 should maybe make, contrasted against a pretty modest lifestyle developed from years of not making all that much money.
Again, the rule is: Don't Quit Your Day Job. And I've more or less followed that. I've taken a lot of time off the day job to write, because I love writing and because the writing is demonstrably more profitable. But I haven't quit the day job...I just don't go in a lot anymore.
I went in this week, partly by request. I drove to work today in the car that I bought this summer, the first new car I've ever owned, the car that I could only afford because so many people have been so good to me and my writing.
...aaaaand I got rear-ended about a block away from the office. Trunk and bumper are just smashed. I'm okay, the other guy's okay. He got out of his van and passed along his insurance and he was cool, and given how common hit-and-runs seem to be in Seattle, I'll take that as a blessing. But still: I went in to work like a real person, and naturally my car took the hit.
I think the universe is trying to tell me something.
General updateness:
Tanner: Well, That Escalated Quickly (Book Three) is currently at 33,000 words, and this week I managed to get over a particularly concerning plot point, so I feel like it'll keep rolling along well. I have no projections as to when it'll be done. I desperately WANT to be done by early summer. The last time I shot for that, however, it wound up being late August, which as it turns out isn't the best time to release a book.
I've received confirmation that I'll be an attending pro at Norwescon this year (April 2-5). As the website will tell you, it's the Pacific Northwest's Premiere Science Fiction and Fantasy convention. All these years of being a regular attendee, and now I'll be a panelist!
I'm also working with a few different artists (mostly discovered at conventions or through DeviantArt) for some illustrations of Tanner, Casey & Co. that I'll share once I have them. I've wanted to get some more such pieces done for a while now. It's in the works. Hopefully we'll all like what we see.
As it's a common question, I'll just state here again that yes, I will someday write another book in the Good Intentions series. Maybe after the current book is done, maybe not. I can't say. I love those characters. I feel like there's much more to do with them. But I'm sticking to one book at a time right now.
There's other good news to relay, but I kinda need to keep it under my hat for a little longer just yet.
Couple last bits: I've finally taken to Twitter and Tumblr. Not all that much on either yet, but if you follow those outlets, I'm @ElliottKaybooks on Twitter and I'm elliottkay.tumblr.com on tumblr, obviously. Fair warning: I don't do a whole lot of advertising there. Just a little more of my regular voice getting out into the world.
Take care, everyone!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Good News, for a Change
Not exactly a serious blog post. Book Three is progressing for Tanner. Not much more to tell on that score right now.
But I feel like this should be shouted out from rooftops:
Christian Science Monitor: In a US first, New Orleans finds homes for all its homeless veterans.
I'm sure the program will have its flaws. I have no doubt that some vets will slip through the cracks. But the fact that this effort is being made and is having genuinely good effects is wonderful.
Like pretty much anyone, I want to see homelessness ended, for everyone, period. Veterans or not. Salt Lake City is apparently doing great things in that regard. But just from the standpoint of having to start somewhere, this is a beautiful thing.
I drive past homeless people all the time in Seattle. Sometimes I give to panhandlers. Sometimes I don't. But it kills me every time. And I know that Seattle isn't exactly doing nothing, but...I'm so glad to see cities making progress. Here's hoping it spreads.
But I feel like this should be shouted out from rooftops:
Christian Science Monitor: In a US first, New Orleans finds homes for all its homeless veterans.
I'm sure the program will have its flaws. I have no doubt that some vets will slip through the cracks. But the fact that this effort is being made and is having genuinely good effects is wonderful.
Like pretty much anyone, I want to see homelessness ended, for everyone, period. Veterans or not. Salt Lake City is apparently doing great things in that regard. But just from the standpoint of having to start somewhere, this is a beautiful thing.
I drive past homeless people all the time in Seattle. Sometimes I give to panhandlers. Sometimes I don't. But it kills me every time. And I know that Seattle isn't exactly doing nothing, but...I'm so glad to see cities making progress. Here's hoping it spreads.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Best Christmas Gift Ever
I read the news and watch my usual internet haunts and I keep thinking what a crummy year 2014 has been for a whole lot of people.
I could go off about Gamergate and racism and political paralysis and torture, but I sort of doubt I'm going to add anything to those subjects that hasn't been seen elsewhere. I don't think anyone would be shocked to find where I stand. Not if you've read my blog before now, at least.
So, yeah. Ugly year. There were also some good things that might easily go unnoticed, but good news doesn't often make the biggest headlines.
And yet, 2014 was a great year for me on a personal level.
I've had some wonderful developments that I'm not ready to talk about just yet. I can say that I'm hard at work on Book Three for Tanner and Co., and I have more good news to share on the horizon. But for now, I just wanted to share this, because it arrived just in time for Christmas. It's pretty much the best thing I've ever received at Christmas time.
Dear readers, I did exactly as I promised with Poor Man's Fight profits after Rich Man's War came out. Thank you so, so much for all your support. I realize it's all just fun and silliness and space pirates most of the time, and usually that's all I'm after -- but I'm so glad that we could turn some of the profits from all this popcorn into something worthwhile. The letter below is the result of a whole lot of people giving me a shot, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.
Thank you. Happy holidays, and I hope 2015 is a good year for everyone!
I could go off about Gamergate and racism and political paralysis and torture, but I sort of doubt I'm going to add anything to those subjects that hasn't been seen elsewhere. I don't think anyone would be shocked to find where I stand. Not if you've read my blog before now, at least.
So, yeah. Ugly year. There were also some good things that might easily go unnoticed, but good news doesn't often make the biggest headlines.
And yet, 2014 was a great year for me on a personal level.
I've had some wonderful developments that I'm not ready to talk about just yet. I can say that I'm hard at work on Book Three for Tanner and Co., and I have more good news to share on the horizon. But for now, I just wanted to share this, because it arrived just in time for Christmas. It's pretty much the best thing I've ever received at Christmas time.
Dear readers, I did exactly as I promised with Poor Man's Fight profits after Rich Man's War came out. Thank you so, so much for all your support. I realize it's all just fun and silliness and space pirates most of the time, and usually that's all I'm after -- but I'm so glad that we could turn some of the profits from all this popcorn into something worthwhile. The letter below is the result of a whole lot of people giving me a shot, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.
Thank you. Happy holidays, and I hope 2015 is a good year for everyone!
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Casting Call, Part II -- And Info on Paperbacks!
First things first: paperbacks for Rich Man's War and Natural Consequences are now available through Amazon! I apologize for the wait on NatCon -- to be completely honest, I got very focused on putting RMW together and so that project languished despite my having a printed proof to work with for a good long while. At any rate, if anyone's looking for, oh, holiday gifts or whatnot, I've got four books to offer... :)
On to sillier business!
I wanted to let the "casting call" question hang for a bit to see if I'd get any bites on it, and I got a few. I'll confess that I did this in part because I wanted to hear some ideas, and I found a few in the comments that I found intriguing.
This question kicked my ass for two reasons: First, I just plain don't watch all that much television or film. I'm very often That Guy Who Hasn't Seen That Thing (OMG!), and often I'm still not interested no matter how many people tell me I totally have to watch/see/read this. If the dust jacket or the preview or the Netflix descriptor doesn't interest me, I can be very hard to motivate. The second, perhaps more interesting reason that this question was tough for me is that a great many of my characters are drawn from people I know. Rachel and Wade from Good Intentions, Gunny Janeka, Cpl. Brent Collins and a great many others from Poor Man's Fight--these are all based heavily on people I know or have known in the past, and that's part of how I bring them to life.
But I'm gonna go ahead and try to come up with more recognizable options for this.
Also, for what it's worth, we have to remember that actors get older, but we don't necessarily remember that because we think of work they did ten or twenty years ago. A lot of the characters in both my series are pretty young people, making them tough to cast. Hell, it's even tougher when you consider the longevity treatments that keep people younger longer in PMF/RMW; remember, Andrea is supposed to be in her early sixties, but she only looks twenty-five or so.
So here goes:
Poor Man's Fight / Rich Man's War
Tanner Malone -- Argh. That's a problem right out of the gate for me. My gut answer is "go for an unknown, maybe Latino, maybe Caucasian." The role would require a serious tan; Tanner is literally tanner than most of the people around him. But my first choice would be a young Shane Taylor, who played Eugene "Doc" Roe in Band of Brothers. Beat up, demoralized, almost empty inside but still moving and still feeling...if I can get that performance into my books at any point, I'll have won at writing.
Someone suggested Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the new Star Trek films) for Jason from Good Intentions, and I honestly think it might be interesting to get him a good tan, buzz down that hair and see how he'd do.
He's not named for the tan, btw; that's just a happy accident. Tanner is named for a Harry Chapin song I heard years ago called Mr. Tanner. It's about a man whose talents don't match his passions. And I can more or less promise you that I'll never write anything as sad as a Harry Chapin song, but the name stuck with me!
Casey -- Wow, so the James Spader suggestions really surprised me. I haven't seen his more recent stuff, though. It's certainly an interesting thought. From the beginning, though, I always envisioned Casey as a blend of Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (NSFW!!) from Deadwood and Michael Wincott's Top Dollar in The Crow. (Also NSFW, really) Either one would make me really happy.
Lauren Williams -- Uma Thurman. Versatile actress who can convey confident experience and is clearly comfortable with a stabby role.
Also, at least one of the pirate ensemble would have to be played by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. Because why wouldn't he? Hell, he could just be there as himself. He's Lemmy. Needs no other explanation.
Darren Mills -- James Franco. Heh.
Gunny Janeka -- My first thought is Angela Bassett, because her performance as Tina Turner really blew me away. However, the suggestion of Jada Pinkett Smith also works pretty solidly for me.
Chief Everett -- A somewhat younger Bruce Greenwood (Capt. Pike in the new Star Trek films) would kick ass in this role, but to be honest, he's one of the best parts of those films. He may just kick ass at everything.
Admiral Yeoh -- She's straight-up named for Michelle Yeoh. That one was set in stone in my head the moment I started writing her.
Allison -- Eliza Dushku, maybe? This one's still somewhat open for me because I see someone I knew years ago.
Andrea Bennett -- Eva Green. Done.
President Aguirre -- Mark Consuelos, maybe aged up a bit. (btw, if you have Amazon Prime and you're not watching Alpha House, you're missing out. It's amazingly funny.)
Vanessa Rios -- Rosario Dawson or Michelle Rodriguez.
Einstein -- Um. Honestly, I'm at a loss on this one. Damn.
Alicia Wong -- I wince while I write this, but I really think of Rinko Kikuchi. That bothers me a little bit because Rinko is Japanese, while "Wong" is a pretty clearly Chinese name, and I don't want to sound like I don't know the difference...but if you saw Pacific Rim and didn't absolutely fall in love with Rinko, I feel you may need to take your soul in for a diagnostic. Hell, maybe Alicia has some blended Chinese & Japanese ancestry. Who knows? It's never been spelled out... :)
Sanjay -- Inspired by Sanjay Seran, vocalist for Delhi 2 Dublin -- an amazing band to see live. I kinda doubt the guy does any acting, but that's who I see in my head.
Booker -- Oh, man, can we get Anthony Mackie? I thought everyone in Captain America 2 was amazeballs, but Mackie just stole scene after scene that I thought had already been stolen by somebody else.
Lt. Kelly -- Here's where my West Wing fanboy comes out (you'll see plenty of it). I'd want Allison Smith in her earliest days as Mallory (Leo McGarry's daughter). I haven't seen any of True Blood, but I liked the suggestion of Deborah Ann Woll, too. She's definitely got the look.
Harris -- Brian Bloom (Pike from the ridiculously fun A-Team film)
Jesse (Jessica) Baldwin -- I like the Ellen Page suggestion, but I also think of Kat Dennings.
Good Intentions / Natural Consequences
Again, we run into the youth thing here. Also, this is a much racier story. I have no clue if any of these actors & actresses would want in on such roles. But, to my thinking, It's Not Porn. It's HBO. (NSFW language and goddamn hilarious.)
Alex Carlisle -- As with Tanner, I'd be happy to go with a young unknown. Otherwise...if we could get a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I think we'd be set.
Lorelei -- Changed in my head so many times while writing those books I can't even articulate it. One minute she was Sophia Loren, the next minute she was Morena Baccarin. But in the end, the voice that came through strongest for me and kept selling it over and over again was Claudia Black. I also think that Polly Walker (Atia from HBO's Rome) would knock this out of the park.
Rachel -- Another one that is basically someone I know. However...Emily Procter, who played Ainsley Hayes on the West Wing could totally have fit this role. My other thought would be: get Taylor Swift and have her do her Kesha impression. Done.
Drew Jones -- Dulé Hill. Done. (My West Wing fanboyness coming out again.)
Wade Reinhardt -- Again, I already know him, but you don't. My girlfriend recently got watching Supernatural, which I'd (amazingly) never watched despite the things I write. Having seen some of that over her shoulder, I think Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) would be great in that role if we could, y'know, roll back the clock about fifteen years on him.
Jason Cohen -- I'm kinda back to the Anton Yelchin suggestion here.
Taylor -- Summer Glau.
Onyx -- Kat Dennings.
Molly -- Natalie Dormer (as suggested). I don't watch GoT, but I've seen the pics, and I remember her brief moment in Captain America. She'd be great.
Vincent -- Kevin McKidd (If I'm not mistaken, he's already played one angel...)
I think that's all I can handle of this for now. At any rate, Book Three for Tanner's story is in the works! I'm only recently through with the prologue & pushing on through Chapter One, but I wanted people to know that I'm not wasting a whole lot of time there.
Talk to you again soon!
On to sillier business!
I wanted to let the "casting call" question hang for a bit to see if I'd get any bites on it, and I got a few. I'll confess that I did this in part because I wanted to hear some ideas, and I found a few in the comments that I found intriguing.
This question kicked my ass for two reasons: First, I just plain don't watch all that much television or film. I'm very often That Guy Who Hasn't Seen That Thing (OMG!), and often I'm still not interested no matter how many people tell me I totally have to watch/see/read this. If the dust jacket or the preview or the Netflix descriptor doesn't interest me, I can be very hard to motivate. The second, perhaps more interesting reason that this question was tough for me is that a great many of my characters are drawn from people I know. Rachel and Wade from Good Intentions, Gunny Janeka, Cpl. Brent Collins and a great many others from Poor Man's Fight--these are all based heavily on people I know or have known in the past, and that's part of how I bring them to life.
But I'm gonna go ahead and try to come up with more recognizable options for this.
Also, for what it's worth, we have to remember that actors get older, but we don't necessarily remember that because we think of work they did ten or twenty years ago. A lot of the characters in both my series are pretty young people, making them tough to cast. Hell, it's even tougher when you consider the longevity treatments that keep people younger longer in PMF/RMW; remember, Andrea is supposed to be in her early sixties, but she only looks twenty-five or so.
So here goes:
Poor Man's Fight / Rich Man's War
Tanner Malone -- Argh. That's a problem right out of the gate for me. My gut answer is "go for an unknown, maybe Latino, maybe Caucasian." The role would require a serious tan; Tanner is literally tanner than most of the people around him. But my first choice would be a young Shane Taylor, who played Eugene "Doc" Roe in Band of Brothers. Beat up, demoralized, almost empty inside but still moving and still feeling...if I can get that performance into my books at any point, I'll have won at writing.
Someone suggested Anton Yelchin (Chekov in the new Star Trek films) for Jason from Good Intentions, and I honestly think it might be interesting to get him a good tan, buzz down that hair and see how he'd do.
He's not named for the tan, btw; that's just a happy accident. Tanner is named for a Harry Chapin song I heard years ago called Mr. Tanner. It's about a man whose talents don't match his passions. And I can more or less promise you that I'll never write anything as sad as a Harry Chapin song, but the name stuck with me!
Casey -- Wow, so the James Spader suggestions really surprised me. I haven't seen his more recent stuff, though. It's certainly an interesting thought. From the beginning, though, I always envisioned Casey as a blend of Ian McShane as Al Swearengen (NSFW!!) from Deadwood and Michael Wincott's Top Dollar in The Crow. (Also NSFW, really) Either one would make me really happy.
Lauren Williams -- Uma Thurman. Versatile actress who can convey confident experience and is clearly comfortable with a stabby role.
Also, at least one of the pirate ensemble would have to be played by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead. Because why wouldn't he? Hell, he could just be there as himself. He's Lemmy. Needs no other explanation.
Darren Mills -- James Franco. Heh.
Gunny Janeka -- My first thought is Angela Bassett, because her performance as Tina Turner really blew me away. However, the suggestion of Jada Pinkett Smith also works pretty solidly for me.
Chief Everett -- A somewhat younger Bruce Greenwood (Capt. Pike in the new Star Trek films) would kick ass in this role, but to be honest, he's one of the best parts of those films. He may just kick ass at everything.
Admiral Yeoh -- She's straight-up named for Michelle Yeoh. That one was set in stone in my head the moment I started writing her.
Allison -- Eliza Dushku, maybe? This one's still somewhat open for me because I see someone I knew years ago.
Andrea Bennett -- Eva Green. Done.
President Aguirre -- Mark Consuelos, maybe aged up a bit. (btw, if you have Amazon Prime and you're not watching Alpha House, you're missing out. It's amazingly funny.)
Vanessa Rios -- Rosario Dawson or Michelle Rodriguez.
Einstein -- Um. Honestly, I'm at a loss on this one. Damn.
Alicia Wong -- I wince while I write this, but I really think of Rinko Kikuchi. That bothers me a little bit because Rinko is Japanese, while "Wong" is a pretty clearly Chinese name, and I don't want to sound like I don't know the difference...but if you saw Pacific Rim and didn't absolutely fall in love with Rinko, I feel you may need to take your soul in for a diagnostic. Hell, maybe Alicia has some blended Chinese & Japanese ancestry. Who knows? It's never been spelled out... :)
Sanjay -- Inspired by Sanjay Seran, vocalist for Delhi 2 Dublin -- an amazing band to see live. I kinda doubt the guy does any acting, but that's who I see in my head.
Booker -- Oh, man, can we get Anthony Mackie? I thought everyone in Captain America 2 was amazeballs, but Mackie just stole scene after scene that I thought had already been stolen by somebody else.
Lt. Kelly -- Here's where my West Wing fanboy comes out (you'll see plenty of it). I'd want Allison Smith in her earliest days as Mallory (Leo McGarry's daughter). I haven't seen any of True Blood, but I liked the suggestion of Deborah Ann Woll, too. She's definitely got the look.
Harris -- Brian Bloom (Pike from the ridiculously fun A-Team film)
Jesse (Jessica) Baldwin -- I like the Ellen Page suggestion, but I also think of Kat Dennings.
Good Intentions / Natural Consequences
Again, we run into the youth thing here. Also, this is a much racier story. I have no clue if any of these actors & actresses would want in on such roles. But, to my thinking, It's Not Porn. It's HBO. (NSFW language and goddamn hilarious.)
Alex Carlisle -- As with Tanner, I'd be happy to go with a young unknown. Otherwise...if we could get a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I think we'd be set.
Lorelei -- Changed in my head so many times while writing those books I can't even articulate it. One minute she was Sophia Loren, the next minute she was Morena Baccarin. But in the end, the voice that came through strongest for me and kept selling it over and over again was Claudia Black. I also think that Polly Walker (Atia from HBO's Rome) would knock this out of the park.
Rachel -- Another one that is basically someone I know. However...Emily Procter, who played Ainsley Hayes on the West Wing could totally have fit this role. My other thought would be: get Taylor Swift and have her do her Kesha impression. Done.
Drew Jones -- Dulé Hill. Done. (My West Wing fanboyness coming out again.)
Wade Reinhardt -- Again, I already know him, but you don't. My girlfriend recently got watching Supernatural, which I'd (amazingly) never watched despite the things I write. Having seen some of that over her shoulder, I think Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester) would be great in that role if we could, y'know, roll back the clock about fifteen years on him.
Jason Cohen -- I'm kinda back to the Anton Yelchin suggestion here.
Taylor -- Summer Glau.
Onyx -- Kat Dennings.
Molly -- Natalie Dormer (as suggested). I don't watch GoT, but I've seen the pics, and I remember her brief moment in Captain America. She'd be great.
Vincent -- Kevin McKidd (If I'm not mistaken, he's already played one angel...)
I think that's all I can handle of this for now. At any rate, Book Three for Tanner's story is in the works! I'm only recently through with the prologue & pushing on through Chapter One, but I wanted people to know that I'm not wasting a whole lot of time there.
Talk to you again soon!
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Casting Call?
In a comment on my last post, Sean asked,
Kind of off topic for this post, but if you could cast both of your series as movies, who would you choose for the main characters? (no budgetary constraints, it's perfectly okay to choose all A-listers)
...and I'm absolutely interested in hearing what anyone else would have to say!I'll come up with my own answers here tomorrow-ish. But feel free to throw out ideas!
Kind of off topic for this post, but if you could cast both of your series as movies, who would you choose for the main characters? (no budgetary constraints, it's perfectly okay to choose all A-listers)
...and I'm absolutely interested in hearing what anyone else would have to say!I'll come up with my own answers here tomorrow-ish. But feel free to throw out ideas!
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Inclusion By the Numbers
As I noted in a previous post about "Milestones and Principles," my third rule for Tanner's world is that it is not all that white. I never set down a ratio formula or anything like that, nor did I go through the text and start changing names or inserting descriptors for the sake of diversity. I just tried to keep diversity in mind as I wrote, but I also knew that on some level I'd be doing this out of habit. There are three reasons for this. One is that I grew up in Phoenix and Los Angeles, so I'm used to diversity to begin with. Second is that I can't look at things like global population growth and think that the future will look anything like it does on American television. The third factor, though, is that I genuinely believe inclusion matters. It matters a lot. And it doesn't come without a healthy, sometimes jarring bit of introspection.
So, yeah. No statistical formulas or anything. Just a general principle that I wanted to include as I wrote. I don't plan on establishing any sort of ratios in the future, either, but lately I've done some small bit of unscientific analysis of my work and seen room for improvement on this score.
It's worth noting that a great many readers (certainly American readers, at least) will presume that characters are white unless shown otherwise through descriptors or names with obvious ethnic origins. It's easy to assume that Joe Smith is a white guy, when of course he could be anything (or maybe even a she), but it's also pretty reasonable to assume that Takashi is probably Japanese. Yet sometimes readers will even assume whiteness when told otherwise, as was the case with Rue from The Hunger Games. (I still haven't read the books or seen the movies. Yes, I know that's a crime. I'll get to 'em. I hear nothing but good things.)
It's also worth noting that a lot of writers have unfortunate habits in describing people of color. I don't claim to be free of this myself. I know I've used "mocha" to describe skin at least once, probably more.
Recently, I've completed a project of going through Poor Man's Fight and Rich Man's War to draw up a continuity database (technically a spreadsheet, but whatever). The primary purpose of this was, as noted, continuity: I didn't want to lose track of who had red hair or a scar on their cheek or who hadn't survived from one book to the next. It might be a bit embarrassing for someone who died in Rich Man's War to show up alive and well in my next novel. I also needed to make sure I was keeping track of names, lest I use one repeatedly for different characters (and I've caught myself doing it once already).
The exercise gave me a chance to tally up some numbers on that concern for inclusion, just to see how I'm doing for myself. I shared this with friends. I figured I'd share it here, too. These numbers, by the way, come mainly from me staring at my database and counting out loud. I don't have fields for gender or ethnicity. I just try to keep track of that through names and by writing down physical descriptions when they appear (again, I wanted to keep things like hair color consistent).
To offer a quick but very important caveat: MANY names in these two books are only names thrown out a couple times over the course of the book. Things like ethnicity and gender are never really specified, and left open to interpretation. In my head, a lot of characters are of mixed-race backgrounds -- it's a couple hundred years in the future, after all -- but if it's not specified, I believe the default assumption many readers will make is that these are all white males, which I think is worth remembering when looking at the numbers.
Poor Man's Fight has 138 named characters.
44 of those named characters are explicitly killed by book's end.
7 more (named character) deaths are strongly implied, but not explicit.
44 of those named characters are explicitly killed by book's end.
7 more (named character) deaths are strongly implied, but not explicit.
18 named characters are (explicitly) women. Almost all of them
speak and most play significant or major roles. PMF passes the Bechdel Test, though it could've done better there.
The cast includes only one named character whose homosexuality is explicitly referenced. The character
is of great significance, while his sexuality is pretty much irrelevant to the story.
This is by design -- I wanted to establish that these things are not such huge issues in Tanner's day as they are in current society, but it is also how I originally imagined that character. Nobody is a "token" representative of anything. 1 other major character (female) is hinted to be either bisexual or
homosexual.
Only 2 characters (Gunny Janeka and Ravenell) are specified as
black. Several others were black in my head but it's not explicit in the text.
19 names are Hispanic (including Gomez and Other Gomez). Obviously there's some potential crossover there between Latino and European Spanish, but in my head they're overwhelmingly Latino.
18 names are East Asian.
5 names are South Asian (Indian, etc).
11 names are Arabic/Middle Eastern.
3 characters are known by nicknames without ethnic details, though easily inferred to be white males. (1 is Latino, actually, but I never made that explicit.)
...aaaand 74 names are presumptive white Europeans.
19 names are Hispanic (including Gomez and Other Gomez). Obviously there's some potential crossover there between Latino and European Spanish, but in my head they're overwhelmingly Latino.
18 names are East Asian.
5 names are South Asian (Indian, etc).
11 names are Arabic/Middle Eastern.
3 characters are known by nicknames without ethnic details, though easily inferred to be white males. (1 is Latino, actually, but I never made that explicit.)
...aaaand 74 names are presumptive white Europeans.
6 characters are straight-up Tuckers (people I actually know
inserted into the book).
16 other characters are strongly based on people from my past, including the entire crew of St. Jude (minus the protagonist).
16 other characters are strongly based on people from my past, including the entire crew of St. Jude (minus the protagonist).
Rich Man's War adds 111 named characters, bringing the total to 249.
30
characters who appeared in RMW are explicitly dead by book’s end, along with 6
deaths of characters who first appeared in PMF.
RMW
has a far bigger body count in unnamed “on-screen” deaths, and then there are a
couple little matters of planetary bombardments/invasions, but do those really
count? J
Additions by gender and ethnicity:
RMW adds
15 women, along with giving a female face/identity to a character mentioned
only by name in PMF. RMW passes Bechdel
repeatedly.
Still
only 1 (explicitly-noted) homosexual character, but he appears again in this
book, along with the 1 strongly-hinted bisexual character from PMF. RMW
also features a prominent bisexual male character, which becomes a point of
conversation and an opportunity for the protagonist to stick his foot way, way
down his own throat. Of all the books I’ve written, RMW places the least
attention/relevance on sex and sexuality. No time for love, Dr. Jones!
Black
characters: Both from PMF return in RMW to greater prominence. RMW introduces
at least three characters whom I imagine as black but whom I left
un-specified (Lt. Booker being the biggest example), but only one new character
(not of those three) is specifically described as black (Capt. Bernard).
16
new names are Hispanic/Latino.
5
names are East Asian.
5 new
names are South Asian.
1
name is Arabic/Middle Eastern.
9
characters are Tuckers (people I actually know whom I made into characters),
though two are just name call-outs. There are 2 other semi-Tuckers, in that I
cast them in my head as people I know, but changed either the first or last
name because reasons.
So as
for inclusion: There’s a definite downturn in overall numbers in RMW compared to PMF, but it’s masked in part by how many of the women, people of color and
gay/bi characters return from PMF. This also doesn't reflect the attention placed on those characters over the course of the narrative, which goes well beyond what those numbers show. Still, I definitely feel like I could do better.
Also, for what it's worth, Tanner Malone himself isn't entirely white European by descent, either. That's something I've known from the beginning, but it hasn't worked its way into the narrative yet.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Numbers!
This post has been a long time coming. Sorry for anyone who
was waiting to hear these details. Partly, I’ve been easily distracted lately,
and in part I also just haven’t been quite sure how to compose it.
As noted earlier, I’m donating everything I made off of Poor
Man’s Fight from 7/22/14 – 8/31/14 to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America. Again, that’s not an endorsement from them or anything; it’s just
something I’ve decided to do to support their cause.
Sales of PMF for that time period juuuust cracked over 4,900
copies. After the vendors’ cut of the royalties and after withholding for
Federal taxes (I’m just gonna go ahead and eat the state taxes), this comes to
$6667.57 – which I’m gonna go ahead and round up to a full $7,000!
I’m not giving them the money just yet, ‘cause in the
immortal words of Han Solo, “I don’t have the money WITH me…” Those payments
should roll in at the end of October, though, and at that point I’ll happily
post a picture of the check (or a screenshot or whatever) of the donation,
along with a follow-up of whatever documentation I get from the IAVA.
As an aside, if anyone really wants the boring nuts and
bolts accounting of these numbers, just let me know and I’ll be happy to
provide it. I’ll admit that the data I see from my vendors like Amazon can be a
little difficult to follow, which is why I’m rounding up on my donation rather
than sticking to the specific numbers that arrived. I’d rather overshoot than
get all miserly over a good cause.
In other news, paperback copies of Rich Man’s War should be
available really soon. I already have a physical proof on the way. I’m thrilled
with the reception that book has enjoyed. Thank you again to everyone who left
a review or who recommended the book to friends. All of things matter a great
deal and help keep me going!
Currently, I’m working up a character continuity database
for PMF & RMW, just to make sure I don’t have any awkward moments of “Wait,
isn’t he dead?” in the next novel. I just finished the PMF portion of that,
with RMW left to go.
From there, my *plan* is to continue on to the next book for
Tanner. I say that because there’s always a chance I’ll get something else done
first – I’m toying with the idea of a collection of short stories for the Good
Intentions crowd, but many of those are already written or partially-finished.
Tanner holds top priority, but I haven’t forgotten about Alex & Co. They’ll
get another book some day!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Happy News!
Hey all,
So it turns out that Rich Man's War is doing awesome -- been at #1 in Kindle Military Sci-Fi repeatedly, with generally awesome reviews and a nice buzz. Thank you so much to everyone who picked up the book, and doubly so to anyone who left a review! They truly do make a difference, and I'm really grateful.
But in slightly awesomer news (yes, I called it that), my decision to put all of my profits from Poor Man's Fight (from RMW's release date of 8/22 through the end of August) to the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America has already shown me a tally of over $5,000! That's far more money than I realistically expected. I can't tell you how good that feels...although I imagine I'll feel better once I've actually gotten that money from Amazon, Smashwords, etc. and I can write the check to the IAVA.
That's just about all for now--but once again, I found someone on DeviantArt whose style I love and who was open for commissions, and I thought, "You know who needs some attention? Alicia and Janeka." Here's the results. I think they look pretty good!
That artist, by the way, is Lelia on Deviant Art.
So it turns out that Rich Man's War is doing awesome -- been at #1 in Kindle Military Sci-Fi repeatedly, with generally awesome reviews and a nice buzz. Thank you so much to everyone who picked up the book, and doubly so to anyone who left a review! They truly do make a difference, and I'm really grateful.
But in slightly awesomer news (yes, I called it that), my decision to put all of my profits from Poor Man's Fight (from RMW's release date of 8/22 through the end of August) to the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America has already shown me a tally of over $5,000! That's far more money than I realistically expected. I can't tell you how good that feels...although I imagine I'll feel better once I've actually gotten that money from Amazon, Smashwords, etc. and I can write the check to the IAVA.
That's just about all for now--but once again, I found someone on DeviantArt whose style I love and who was open for commissions, and I thought, "You know who needs some attention? Alicia and Janeka." Here's the results. I think they look pretty good!
That artist, by the way, is Lelia on Deviant Art.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Milestones and Principles
Hi all,
I figured that today would be a good day for a slight progress report given that it's the end of the month, and maybe a little insight into the rules I've set for myself regarding my sci-fi.
Rich Man's War is #1 in military sci-fi and #5 in sci-fi adventure on Amazon as of this writing, which is super exciting and very gratifying to me. Those stats may well change quickly--they can rise and fall on an hourly basis sometimes--but it hit those numbers yesterday, and that made me feel good.
Per my announcement when RMW was released, anything I make off of Poor Man's Fight from 7/22 through the end of August will be donated to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Again, that's not an endorsement from them (we've had no contact) and that's after Amazon gets its share of royalties & after taxes...but I'm pleased to say that as of this writing, I am now on the hook for about $528 there (assuming I can do math), and I sincerely hope it keeps growing!
So I figured, for anyone who might be interested in things like "world-building," that I might share something I wrote up for the PMF setting a few weeks ago. As some people may have noticed, I try to avoid lengthy third-person info-dumping in my stories. Sometimes a little of that is necessary, but I find that it's best to keep it to a bare minimum. But in getting into the climactic battle at the end, I decided it might be time to maybe write these things down in a single list just to help me keep them straight. Obviously not all this is technical or historical; some of it is the make-believe space opera physics of the setting, but some of it is thematic. I thought, just for the hell of it, that I would share it for the sake of anyone who might be interested.
Also, please note: very little of this is truly set in stone. One of the guiding philosophies in my books is, as a college professor once told me, "Change is the only constant." Tech moves on. Cultures change. People really do change, though not as deliberately as they would like. But here, as the world of Tanner and Janeka and Alicia and Casey stands, are The Rules:
I figured that today would be a good day for a slight progress report given that it's the end of the month, and maybe a little insight into the rules I've set for myself regarding my sci-fi.
Rich Man's War is #1 in military sci-fi and #5 in sci-fi adventure on Amazon as of this writing, which is super exciting and very gratifying to me. Those stats may well change quickly--they can rise and fall on an hourly basis sometimes--but it hit those numbers yesterday, and that made me feel good.
Per my announcement when RMW was released, anything I make off of Poor Man's Fight from 7/22 through the end of August will be donated to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Again, that's not an endorsement from them (we've had no contact) and that's after Amazon gets its share of royalties & after taxes...but I'm pleased to say that as of this writing, I am now on the hook for about $528 there (assuming I can do math), and I sincerely hope it keeps growing!
So I figured, for anyone who might be interested in things like "world-building," that I might share something I wrote up for the PMF setting a few weeks ago. As some people may have noticed, I try to avoid lengthy third-person info-dumping in my stories. Sometimes a little of that is necessary, but I find that it's best to keep it to a bare minimum. But in getting into the climactic battle at the end, I decided it might be time to maybe write these things down in a single list just to help me keep them straight. Obviously not all this is technical or historical; some of it is the make-believe space opera physics of the setting, but some of it is thematic. I thought, just for the hell of it, that I would share it for the sake of anyone who might be interested.
Also, please note: very little of this is truly set in stone. One of the guiding philosophies in my books is, as a college professor once told me, "Change is the only constant." Tech moves on. Cultures change. People really do change, though not as deliberately as they would like. But here, as the world of Tanner and Janeka and Alicia and Casey stands, are The Rules:
The Rules
- Everyone thinks they’re the good guys. Every crime, every lie, every act of oppression comes with a justification or at least an excuse.
- People can always be lazy, careless, irritable, backstabby, selfish and well-meaning but ignorant, even in space.
- The future is not all that white. Unless a character appears in my head fully formed including an ethnicity, the character will likely have a name that is Chinese, Indian, Latino or from sub-Saharan Africa. In any case, many people are of mixed heritage regardless.
- The Union of Humanity binds humans to a common defense and diplomacy vis-à-vis alien powers. It maintains a Union fleet with funding quotas for member worlds, standardizes weights and measures and basic regulations for interstellar travel… and that’s IT. There is NO universal standard for human rights, no supreme court, no common process for extraditions, no common currency and no prohibition against member states going to war against one another. It’s the best anyone could manage. The Union is a confederacy. Hah.
- Aliens are really, really alien. You don’t hang out with them in bars. The most powerful aliens think “economics” is a stupid concept. The two known alien civilizations keep their distance and don’t trust humanity because they aren’t stupid.
- Combining #4 and #5: neither alien civilization enters many binding agreements with humanity, because experience has shown that the right hand of humanity has no real control over the left.
- Faster Than Light travel requires an FTL engine. You cannot “see” or “hear” faster than light. If you want to contact someone on another planet, you either suffer from transmission lag (Earth to Mars is two minutes at their closest points), or you put your message on an FTL-capable ship or drone and they get it when it gets there.
- Because of FTL lag, electronic cash has returned to prominence. Electronic bank transfers (a la ATM purchases) are only practical on a planet’s surface or in large-scale matters of corporations or government entities. Individual travelers rely mostly on some form of secured electronic (or even physical) cash.
- FTL travel within a star system is exceedingly dangerous, and therefore typically illegal. Travel too close to a gravity well in FTL, or come out of FTL too close, and your ship is torn apart.
- An object in FTL undergoes funky changes in mass; a dime fired at a planet at or near FTL speeds will not cause catastrophic damage. However, it will suck for the dime and possibly the immediate vicinity of its impact. This is narrative space magic counter to real-world physics, and thus will not likely come up in the books.
- A pretty hot-shit FTL starship can cover one light year in two hours. (Sun to Alpha Centauri = nine-ish hours)
- Maximum starship weapons range is 120,000 km. Anything that moves fast enough to make space travel practical is an inherently difficult target, even with computer assistance.
- There are no energy shields. Spaceships and some other objects can undergo electrostatic reinforcement—the molecules hold together with greater strength, but that doesn’t make anything invulnerable.
- Interstellar economics is mostly about finished goods and specialized services. There is some trade in rare raw materials, but this is a minor factor in the overall scheme of things.
- Most current human art forms are alive and well, including specifically rock’n’roll music and cinema.
- To quote my real-life Chaplain in basic training, “Nobody listens to the fucking Pope,” but there is still a Catholic church, and it doesn’t give a damn about anyone’s sexuality. Islam is alive and well, though life in the stars makes practices like the hajj and prayer toward Mecca into complex issues, leading to new sectarian divisions.
- [Redacted--Tanner's love life] If I ever sell off film rights, this will be in the contract.
- Tanner will always be a shitty pilot.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
RICH MAN'S WAR IS OUT!
IT'S OUT!
“They will never let you go…because
there’s no money in it.”
No one walks away from business with
the three biggest corporations in the Union of Humanity. Cutthroat trade deals,
relentless propaganda and bloody covert operations drive that point home as the
star system of Archangel slips further away from corporate dominance. Yet
despite all their power, the Big Three are more vulnerable than anyone knows—leaving
them desperate to make an example of Archangel.
Tanner Malone would gladly avoid such
struggles. He’d rather just run out the clock on his enlistment in the
Archangel Navy. Instead, he’s been ordered back into the front lines of a cold
war that quickly grows hot. He doesn’t know about his government’s shady deals,
or about the old enemies lurking in the shadows. All he knows is that the sky
is falling—and he’ll have to fight like hell if he doesn’t want to be crushed
beneath it.
And yes, the paperback version is in the works!
AND IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS: All author profits from Poor Man's Fight for sales from today (7/22/14) through the end of August 2014 will be donated to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). This is, just to be clear, the author's portion only; Amazon and the other vendors still get their regular cut, and unfortunately I can't really afford to eat the taxes levied on my sales. However, experience has shown that I tend to see a sales bump in all my titles when a new book comes out, and I'd like to do something good with at least some of that money. Please note: this is NOT an endorsement from the IAVA. I have had no contact with them. Their website says that anyone doing a fundraiser for them can use their name, and so I have. But I don't want to go putting on any pretenses of affiliation or anything like that.
Once I've received royalty payments from the vendors for sales covering the time period listed above, I will make the donation and post pictures or other proof of said donation here on my blog (sans personal info--yes, I write under a pen name).
As always, thank you so much for your interest and support! Remember, nothing helps me out like reader reviews--so when you're finished, a few words wherever you picked up this e-book would be much appreciated!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Release Date...ish!
It's looking like sometime next week. Maybe Monday, in order to hopefully make someone's Monday less like a... well... like a Monday. :)
I'm in the process of squeezing out unnecessary words. I am hoping to hear from a few more of my beta readers because I value their opinions, but I really want to get this book out soon.
Here's hoping I didn't just jinx myself by making a prediction!
I'm in the process of squeezing out unnecessary words. I am hoping to hear from a few more of my beta readers because I value their opinions, but I really want to get this book out soon.
Here's hoping I didn't just jinx myself by making a prediction!
Monday, July 7, 2014
Progress Report: Getting Closer!
So as of this evening (Monday the 7th), the current draft of Rich Man's War is now in the hands of my trusty beta readers. I have seen a very recent version of the cover art, and I'm thrilled with the progress and excited to see the final product.
At this point, I know I'll need to do one last round of edits to squeeze out every last unnecessary word and to make sure I have all my punctuation straight, but it's looking like it won't be long now. That is, unless my beta readers all come back to me and tell me that these words I've been seeing on my computer screen are all just a giant incoherent illusion and really I've spent all this time mashing keys on my keyboard and telling myself it's a story.
This is always a weird feeling.
But on the bright side, the still-undetermined release date is now closer than it has ever been!!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Rich Man's War: Prologue
I feel like I have money burning a hole in my pocket.
I've wanted to share this for a while. I have often thought that having this piece available would propel me into getting the rest of the book done faster. But I wanted to make sure the biggest hurdle was cleared first, and that's the rough draft. That part is done now. I'm on to revisions. I do not know how long it will be before Rich Man's War is released, but I know that the hardest part is done and that I'm more excited about getting it out than anyone else could be about reading it.
For the record, the piece below may still be subject to slight changes and edits for the novel. Regardless, here it is: the prologue for Rich Man's War.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Almost There (kinda)!
An Update:
This is all rough draft stuff, so please don't take this the wrong way.
But.
I got to the end of the last full chapter on Rich Man's War last night. That brings me to 140,021 words and only the epilogue left to go.
Again. Rough draft. I still have to start from the beginning with revisions, and then when I'm done with that hand it to people and see what needs to be fixed before it's ready for prime time.
If I haven't mentioned this before, Rich Man's War holds much more action than Poor Man's Fight. It's a bigger story on a bigger scale, and while Tanner is a very consequential figure in the scheme of it all, he's also just one more grunt in the middle of big events.
When I have the epilogue finished, I will post the prologue here on my blog. I hope to have that done this week, mostly because I have family coming in to visit next weekend and that will surely derail me for a couple of days. So if you're really looking forward to Rich Man's War, watch this space!
This is all rough draft stuff, so please don't take this the wrong way.
But.
I got to the end of the last full chapter on Rich Man's War last night. That brings me to 140,021 words and only the epilogue left to go.
Again. Rough draft. I still have to start from the beginning with revisions, and then when I'm done with that hand it to people and see what needs to be fixed before it's ready for prime time.
If I haven't mentioned this before, Rich Man's War holds much more action than Poor Man's Fight. It's a bigger story on a bigger scale, and while Tanner is a very consequential figure in the scheme of it all, he's also just one more grunt in the middle of big events.
When I have the epilogue finished, I will post the prologue here on my blog. I hope to have that done this week, mostly because I have family coming in to visit next weekend and that will surely derail me for a couple of days. So if you're really looking forward to Rich Man's War, watch this space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)