Real News of Fictional Worlds, November 2018

Earth Present
Many things happening in November!

What happens in Vegas comes back from Vegas
….if what happens involves books.

I’m going to Vegas! Specifically, to a great convention of and for independent writers and publishers such as me. : )

And, on November 8th I’ll be proud to be part of an author signing with a lot of very big new names in science fiction and fantasy. Including Craig Martelle, Michael Anderle and more.

NaNoWriMo
As I send this out, it’s a few days before National Novel Writing Month. One of the funnest month-long marathons I’ve ever been on.

Since a lot of people who read also want to write, I heartily recommend this as a fun way to just step in and do it.

(If you can’t see any of these images, select “Display images below” or similar in your email viewer.)

For those who haven’t heard of it, it’s a challenge to write a novel from start to finish in one month. You can plot beforehand – or not. The rules are simple: write a new block of 50,000 words from Nov 1st to Nov. 30th.

It’s a great way to explore ideas you otherwise might never get to – and even better, it’s a fantastic way to get past the unhelpful amount of self-criticism many people can have. It’s a lark. And also, it’s statistically near impossible for all 50,000 of those words to be bad.

And if you hit that 50k, then in just about a month from now you can legitimately call yourself a novelist. 🙂 🙂

For me, since I’ve done this almost every year since 2005, I’m upping the challenge on myself – I’m going for writing two novels for at total of at 100,000 words. I’m training up for it by breaking in a new coffee maker. So far, so caffeinated, so good.

This month’s out-there pictures
A lot happened in October, but this caught my eye. It was Fleet Week, and the Blue Angels acrobatic team were performing acrobatic air stunts over San Francisco. Pretty amazing. I brought my camera.

This guy wanted to take pictures too. So he somehow bribed or scaled his way up to the top of this tower…

…to take pictures with his cellphone.

That was in some ways more amazing than the Blue Angels.

….and Halloween
Halloween pictures, fresh from last night. Much fun was had. With these below, part of the fun for me was figuring out who they were. If you want to play along, the answers are below my signature in this newsletter. Enjoy. : )

November novels already written

This upcoming month brings us Thanksgiving, also known as Turkey Day. I’m rather sentimental about it – I consider it an opportunity to celebrate family and friends, and be thankful for what we have. So do enjoy it, and consider that Christmas will be here soon enough.

Also for this month, in addition to traditionally sleep-inducing amounts of food, are some book giveaways.

First and foremost is a book by the team of J. T. Lawrence and M.J. Krauss. They have a new urban fantasy novel “The Highfire Crown“.

My novel “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales: Book 1” is part of “Bleak Midwinter“. So stay warm and indoors with my tale of Jesus as Chuck Norris.	My own little Twilight Zone, the Hyperspace Radio short story collection has been doing quite well. I’m proud to have it in good company with the StarVember giveaway.
My novella about a young man who becomes a troubleshooter for magical startups, Wishful Thinking, is available in the promo at Prolific Works. I’ve also finished the second in this series, and expect to release it soon.	And last but never least, I’m proud to have my tale Ghost Magnet in a fine collection of horror thrillers, The Hunger paranomrmal and horror fiction giveaway.

Real News of Fictional Worlds, October 2018

Earth Present
It would have been great to rest a bit after something as big and fun as last month’s Worldcon76. It is also almost always great to do things.

With Halloween on it’s way, I chose to do things. : ) So, in addition to writing and editing as per usual, I had a huge amount of fun photographing the costume creators, audacious models, and good friends Chanterelle Grover and Shelby Pujol. Their typically superb, unique and evocative outfits marked our fourth shoot this year.

I’m planning to make a book from all of these ventures, including an exploration of the creative processes that went into bringing these images to life. It would be technically nonfiction, but the art itself as shown by their costumes is fantastic and therefore fantasy.

One of the biggest rewards for this batch of artistic effort was just the big-eyed wonder on little ones’ faces, and the wide smiles on the faces of older ladies. Compliments abounded for Shelby and Chanterelle, as they should.

Next on the launchpad
Two-Fisted Jesus Tales #2
I’m very glad to be working on the sequel to “Two-Fisted Jesus Tales, Book 1“.
It’s titled “Doublecrossed” : ) I had originally planned these satirical adventure tales as a trilogy, or a trinity if you will; but now I think publishing it in two parts works perfectly.

The first draft for the whole series was done in one continuous 3-month stint. Then I split off “Book 1” to bash it further into shape. It’s interesting to return to the next set of first-draft words, preserved fresh like salmon splashing in a flash-frozen river.

If I can keep to the schedule I’ve set for myself, I’ll have an alpha version ready by the end of this very October. At which point Halloween and National Novel Writing Month both happen, and all bets are off.

Underclass
I’m also putting the finishing touches to “Underclass” – a tale of an Artificial Intelligence solution to income inequality, and it’s aftermath.

This will be ready to hit ebook e-shelves by the end of November. Want to read it for free, and before it’s released? Just let your eyes continue their journey to the next paragraph.

Want to join a team of elite ARC professionals?
For those who may not know, ARC stands for “Advance Reader Copy”. It also means I’ll send you a free Kindle copy of my next novella. Once you’ve read it, it would be fantastic if you’d post an honest review on Amazon within a month and send me a link to your review. Limited spots on this elite force are available. First come, first served.

Strange worlds for sale

This month some of my tales are served with many authors in a ghoulish smorgasboard. All for the very reasonable price of free, with additional free virtual pumpkin spice.

I mean, it might look like blood in some light. But that’s red pumpkin spice those ebooks are covered in, I swear.

My short novel “Lessons Learned” is part of the above Halloween Spooktacular Giveaway – a dangerous treat of chilling tales just in time for Halloween. It’s about a child who wakes up with an alien attempting to take over his mind. Perhaps he could hold it at bay and defeat it – if he didn’t have to go to school, in the society they’ve already taken over.	I’m also proud to have my recently completed  supernatural thriller “Blood and Hope” in the Short and Awesome book giveaway. Many other author’s quick reads with strong impacts are also available.
And new for me, I had just decided to start working with Instrafreebie – and then they changed their name to “Prolific Works”. : ) They have many fine books to offer, by any name. I’ve just put my short story collection Hyperspace Radio into their Ex Machina SF Giveaway.	Also newly available for via Prolific Work’s Discover the Magicgiveaway: my novella Wishful Thinking. This is the first in another episodic novella series, on a troubleshooter for magical startups in San Francisco.