Every now and then, I have a month where I'm so crazy busy that I forget that I have a blog to write in. This is one of those months.
Mostly, it's because I've been gaining more and more responsibility at Comic Booked in the past couple of months. In addition to my usual reviews and editorials, I've been writing a weekly series called Story Mode: Justice League Alternates that is, at its core, a narrative retelling of my gaming group's weekly misadventures. I'm also their designated Aspen Comics liason, and I've been writing up press releases and overseeing staff review copies sent to me by their Sales and Marketing genius, CJ. So, between balancing comic books and gaming for the site, I'm pretty busy.
Don't think that means my trilogy is on hold, however. It's a fine balancing act between Comic Booked, the day job and my original fiction, but none of these are lacking these days. It does, however, mean that I've been focusing on other writing and neglecting my blog, for which I offer my deepest apologies. This is a new kind of busy for me, and I'm still trying to figure out how to fit everything in my day so I can still relax and unwind!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Quotables
"But writing does, at least for me, require quite a lot of concentration and to concentrate, you must be prepared to face the terrifying spectre of boredom without fear."
— John Green, Author, The Fault in Our Stars
— John Green, Author, The Fault in Our Stars
Monday, January 30, 2012
I Launched A New Weekly Series!
Talk about the best of all possible worlds!
This past Saturday, I merged my love of writing, comic books AND gaming into one glorious project for Comic Booked. It's been a long time coming, to be honest. I knew right from the first month working with the Comic Booked staff that I wanted to carve out my own corner of the site with some original content, likely a series of articles that would let me geek out on my favorite topics, comics and gaming. I wasn't sure what sort of format I wanted to use for that, though. Do I do it all as editorial pontification? How would I mix the two topics without it being a horribly mismatched explosion of geekitude in text?
The answer came to me, of course, through my Tuesday night gaming group. We were all bringing different games to the table that we could each run: D&D, Cyberpunk, World of Darkness. I tossed DC Adventures into the arena, and declared my intention of putting the players' superheroic adventures onto Comic Booked as a weekly series. It would definitely be original content, and it'd explore previously uncharted geek territory on the site in terms of gaming. The players were all on board, so I started planning for our game.
Once we wrapped our in-progress games, we got to work on DC Adventures. It was a shaky start, to be sure, because it was a new roleplaying game for all of us. We were still learning the character creation system (even well into our second game session), and combat is still a work in progress in our fifth session. Still, we put the focus on the story and let the rules complement the adventure instead of getting in its way.
Meanwhile, I presented my idea to the staff. They loved it, and while we didn't have a solid category for it at the time, a tabletop gaming division was born from the discussion. Sure, it was an idea that was already simmering in the company's developmental pot, but I'd like to think that the energy and enthusiasm that rose up from the discussion of my idea helped to fast track its implementation.
The end result? Well, see for yourself! Read all about the roleplaying game I run for my group in Story Mode: Justice League Alternates, Part One at Comic Booked!
This past Saturday, I merged my love of writing, comic books AND gaming into one glorious project for Comic Booked. It's been a long time coming, to be honest. I knew right from the first month working with the Comic Booked staff that I wanted to carve out my own corner of the site with some original content, likely a series of articles that would let me geek out on my favorite topics, comics and gaming. I wasn't sure what sort of format I wanted to use for that, though. Do I do it all as editorial pontification? How would I mix the two topics without it being a horribly mismatched explosion of geekitude in text?
The answer came to me, of course, through my Tuesday night gaming group. We were all bringing different games to the table that we could each run: D&D, Cyberpunk, World of Darkness. I tossed DC Adventures into the arena, and declared my intention of putting the players' superheroic adventures onto Comic Booked as a weekly series. It would definitely be original content, and it'd explore previously uncharted geek territory on the site in terms of gaming. The players were all on board, so I started planning for our game.
Once we wrapped our in-progress games, we got to work on DC Adventures. It was a shaky start, to be sure, because it was a new roleplaying game for all of us. We were still learning the character creation system (even well into our second game session), and combat is still a work in progress in our fifth session. Still, we put the focus on the story and let the rules complement the adventure instead of getting in its way.
Meanwhile, I presented my idea to the staff. They loved it, and while we didn't have a solid category for it at the time, a tabletop gaming division was born from the discussion. Sure, it was an idea that was already simmering in the company's developmental pot, but I'd like to think that the energy and enthusiasm that rose up from the discussion of my idea helped to fast track its implementation.
The end result? Well, see for yourself! Read all about the roleplaying game I run for my group in Story Mode: Justice League Alternates, Part One at Comic Booked!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Down With SOPA/PIPA!
And in another deviation from the norm on my blog, today's post is in honor of the internet blackouts happening on some key cornerstones of the web. While putting my site in a blackout wouldn't make much of a difference except to my small but loyal followers, I can use this space to post a very important link:
http://www.google.com/takeaction/
As someone who spends a lot of time generating content for the online community, this is a very important issue to me, and one that may very well change how the internet operates in the future. Please, take a few moments and click on the link above to find out more about the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and what you can do to make sure these horrible bills do not become law.
Protect your internet, or lose the wealth of creativity and information that it presents forever!
http://www.google.com/takeaction/
As someone who spends a lot of time generating content for the online community, this is a very important issue to me, and one that may very well change how the internet operates in the future. Please, take a few moments and click on the link above to find out more about the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and what you can do to make sure these horrible bills do not become law.
Protect your internet, or lose the wealth of creativity and information that it presents forever!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The Greatest Batman Game You'll Never See
In addition to finishing the rewrites for Book One of my trilogy, I'm still creating new content for Comic Booked. Why, in just a few hours, I'll be meeting with some of my fellow writers through Skype about a new division of the site that I'll be contributing to, one in line with a passion of mine that I discovered back in high school. More on that, however, when plans are firmed up and I can give solid information on it.
One of the things I love about writing for Comic Booked is getting all of the comic book related news as it happens. Sometimes this is as simple as finding out if a book is cancelled or switching creative teams, but sometimes it means getting a first look at something that the rest of the public won't see for another couple weeks yet. And not just comic books but the products spawned from them: TV shows, movies... and video games.
Artwork surfaced just a couple days ago about an allegedly rejected pitch for a video game that would introduce the world to a whole new way of looking at Batman. It's based off of an excellent and highly recommended comic book story created over 20 years ago, and while the video game developers passed on it, I eagerly volunteered to snatch it up and give it some excellent publicity.
Read all about why I think this is The Greatest Batman Game You'll Never See at Comic Booked!
One of the things I love about writing for Comic Booked is getting all of the comic book related news as it happens. Sometimes this is as simple as finding out if a book is cancelled or switching creative teams, but sometimes it means getting a first look at something that the rest of the public won't see for another couple weeks yet. And not just comic books but the products spawned from them: TV shows, movies... and video games.
Artwork surfaced just a couple days ago about an allegedly rejected pitch for a video game that would introduce the world to a whole new way of looking at Batman. It's based off of an excellent and highly recommended comic book story created over 20 years ago, and while the video game developers passed on it, I eagerly volunteered to snatch it up and give it some excellent publicity.
Read all about why I think this is The Greatest Batman Game You'll Never See at Comic Booked!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Quotables
"As a writer I live, not from logic, but from imagination. From a profound belief in the power of the impossible."
— J.M. DeMatteis, Writer, Brooklyn Dreams
— J.M. DeMatteis, Writer, Brooklyn Dreams
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Between the Lines - The Cell Phones
Here it is, the last "behind the scenes" look at my Everyday Divinities short stories! If you haven't read it yet, stop reading this and pick it up on either Kindle or Nook right this second! It's only $2, and you'll get to read some neat little fiction pieces that take place in the setting I've been building for my trilogy. Plus, the rest of this blog post will make much more sense after you've read it.
Ready? Here we go!
The Cell Phones
First off, I should say that this is my favorite of all of the short stories in Everyday Divinities. It's certainly the one I'm most proud of in the collection, which makes me wonder why I put it in the back of the collection instead of up front. I suppose I was trying to order them chronologically so new readers would experience them much like my blog readers have, only faster. Or maybe I just wanted to save the best for last. Yeah, I'll go with that.
The inspiration for this story came from a dear friend of mine, Natalie, who posted on Facebook one day that she'd destroyed yet another phone. Naturally, I made an off-handed comment about how her cell phone body count should be one of my next short stories. Barely a week later, and it was so. The horrible history of her cell phone abuse is now immortalized in a short story, going back to her first phone and all the way up to that latest tragedy. And yes, I asked her for a history of each cell phone and why it had to be replaced, which she was more than happy to supply.
Character-wise, Sal got his name from a bastardization of the "cell" in "cellular phone." I know, it sounds like I ripped it straight out of a mafia movie, but I promise you that's not the case. B.B. Tana got her first initials from Blackberry, the brand of phone that Natalie ended up getting to replace her latest victim, and "Tana" came from... Huh. I'm not sure where Tana came from, actually. Probably a name I'd heard before and thought it'd fit nicely into a story. Sometimes it's not any deeper than that, really. The personalities were easy enough to nail down, with Sal as the grudgingly accommodating god of cell phones and Tana as the employee who's not afraid to call foul when the system doesn't work.
Speaking of which, this is the first time a god refuses to do his or her job in any of my stories. All of the others feature gods who dutifully do what they're told, even if their job stinks, but this one focuses on a goddess who not only refuses to do her job as the embodiment of an object, she threatens to unmake herself in the Great Void if she's forced to go along with it. The Great Void is a concept that took form in this story as the ultimate expression of destruction, the bane of any being who embodies something that was created in our world, and it quickly found its way into my trilogy since then as a fate worse than simply having a god's domain destroyed. Objects can be rebuilt, after all, and a god whose object was destroyed is essentially unemployed until a new object/job is assigned. But if a god is unmade, then both the object and the entity that embodies it is toast. Gone. Eradicated.
Understandably, a force that can kill an immortal is something of great dramatic use to me as a writer, especially in this setting.
We also get our first teasing glimpse of the other powers that operate in this setting. The gods of inanimate objects, or Inanimates, are the focus of these stories and my trilogy, but they're not the only pantheon around. The Animates who embody all living things are the other side of that divine coin, though their interaction with the Inanimates is limited. As for the Ephemerals, their power is much greater and much broader than either of the other pantheons. If the Inanimates and Animates are divine companies set up to administer every facet of the modern world, living or not, the Ephemerals are the parent company that owns and operates the other two.
Will we see these other pantheons in stories? That certainly would make a fine way to follow up a trilogy about the Inanimates, wouldn't it?
Finally, major props once again to Karuna Tanahashi for giving this story a little editorial TLC. She made some excellent suggestions, some of which were integrated into the finished product, and some of which were not. I choose my battles wisely when it comes to keeping certain elements in, and I think it paid off.
Got a question you'd like to ask about The Cell Phones story? Feel free to post it in the comments section below, and I'll answer it right on this very page!
Ready? Here we go!
The Cell Phones
First off, I should say that this is my favorite of all of the short stories in Everyday Divinities. It's certainly the one I'm most proud of in the collection, which makes me wonder why I put it in the back of the collection instead of up front. I suppose I was trying to order them chronologically so new readers would experience them much like my blog readers have, only faster. Or maybe I just wanted to save the best for last. Yeah, I'll go with that.
The inspiration for this story came from a dear friend of mine, Natalie, who posted on Facebook one day that she'd destroyed yet another phone. Naturally, I made an off-handed comment about how her cell phone body count should be one of my next short stories. Barely a week later, and it was so. The horrible history of her cell phone abuse is now immortalized in a short story, going back to her first phone and all the way up to that latest tragedy. And yes, I asked her for a history of each cell phone and why it had to be replaced, which she was more than happy to supply.
Character-wise, Sal got his name from a bastardization of the "cell" in "cellular phone." I know, it sounds like I ripped it straight out of a mafia movie, but I promise you that's not the case. B.B. Tana got her first initials from Blackberry, the brand of phone that Natalie ended up getting to replace her latest victim, and "Tana" came from... Huh. I'm not sure where Tana came from, actually. Probably a name I'd heard before and thought it'd fit nicely into a story. Sometimes it's not any deeper than that, really. The personalities were easy enough to nail down, with Sal as the grudgingly accommodating god of cell phones and Tana as the employee who's not afraid to call foul when the system doesn't work.
Speaking of which, this is the first time a god refuses to do his or her job in any of my stories. All of the others feature gods who dutifully do what they're told, even if their job stinks, but this one focuses on a goddess who not only refuses to do her job as the embodiment of an object, she threatens to unmake herself in the Great Void if she's forced to go along with it. The Great Void is a concept that took form in this story as the ultimate expression of destruction, the bane of any being who embodies something that was created in our world, and it quickly found its way into my trilogy since then as a fate worse than simply having a god's domain destroyed. Objects can be rebuilt, after all, and a god whose object was destroyed is essentially unemployed until a new object/job is assigned. But if a god is unmade, then both the object and the entity that embodies it is toast. Gone. Eradicated.
Understandably, a force that can kill an immortal is something of great dramatic use to me as a writer, especially in this setting.
We also get our first teasing glimpse of the other powers that operate in this setting. The gods of inanimate objects, or Inanimates, are the focus of these stories and my trilogy, but they're not the only pantheon around. The Animates who embody all living things are the other side of that divine coin, though their interaction with the Inanimates is limited. As for the Ephemerals, their power is much greater and much broader than either of the other pantheons. If the Inanimates and Animates are divine companies set up to administer every facet of the modern world, living or not, the Ephemerals are the parent company that owns and operates the other two.
Will we see these other pantheons in stories? That certainly would make a fine way to follow up a trilogy about the Inanimates, wouldn't it?
Finally, major props once again to Karuna Tanahashi for giving this story a little editorial TLC. She made some excellent suggestions, some of which were integrated into the finished product, and some of which were not. I choose my battles wisely when it comes to keeping certain elements in, and I think it paid off.
Got a question you'd like to ask about The Cell Phones story? Feel free to post it in the comments section below, and I'll answer it right on this very page!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Out With 2011, In With 2012!
I totally meant to write an elaborate blog post last night to wrap up 2011, but then I went out with a friend and came home to SWTOR. Bad blogger, no biscuit! But I will say this much, even though I'm not ending this year on the high note that I did last year, I still accomplished a lot this year:
I moved out of my apartment and into a house. I still have roommates (housemates), but it's a far better living situation than I was in before. I can now rest easy in a place that feels like home with people who don't make my skin crawl, and I feel like I'm one step closer to living on my own at last.
I had a great relationship that didn't last. I'm sad that it ended the way it did, but glad that I was able to share something wonderful with someone while it lasted. She helped me open my life up to things I'd been denying myself over the years, and for that, I'm very grateful. I wish her nothing but peace and joy.
I let my writing take flight in the public domain, first as staff writer for Comic Booked, then as a self-published author. My writing is now up on Kindle and Nook, which was a huge step for me in getting my fictional world out to a wider audience, and I look forward to watching that seed grow in the new year.
Finally, I survived a number of hardships thrown my way this year. Between losing my job, getting into an accident, and going through a break-up, there were times when the old me, the mid-20s me, would have thrown in the towel. But I persevered, and the challenges of this year have fueled my writing in unexpected ways.
2011 wasn't a horrible year. It held great promise, some of which delivered and some of which fell short, and built the foundation for what will surely be a successful 2012. Even so, I'm not sad to see this year pass. If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I'd change a thing. Well, I might have released Everyday Divinities a little earlier, but aside from that...
Now, let's hit the ground running in 2012 and make some magic happen before the world ends in December!
I moved out of my apartment and into a house. I still have roommates (housemates), but it's a far better living situation than I was in before. I can now rest easy in a place that feels like home with people who don't make my skin crawl, and I feel like I'm one step closer to living on my own at last.
I had a great relationship that didn't last. I'm sad that it ended the way it did, but glad that I was able to share something wonderful with someone while it lasted. She helped me open my life up to things I'd been denying myself over the years, and for that, I'm very grateful. I wish her nothing but peace and joy.
I let my writing take flight in the public domain, first as staff writer for Comic Booked, then as a self-published author. My writing is now up on Kindle and Nook, which was a huge step for me in getting my fictional world out to a wider audience, and I look forward to watching that seed grow in the new year.
Finally, I survived a number of hardships thrown my way this year. Between losing my job, getting into an accident, and going through a break-up, there were times when the old me, the mid-20s me, would have thrown in the towel. But I persevered, and the challenges of this year have fueled my writing in unexpected ways.
2011 wasn't a horrible year. It held great promise, some of which delivered and some of which fell short, and built the foundation for what will surely be a successful 2012. Even so, I'm not sad to see this year pass. If I had to do it all over again, I don't think I'd change a thing. Well, I might have released Everyday Divinities a little earlier, but aside from that...
Now, let's hit the ground running in 2012 and make some magic happen before the world ends in December!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Everyday Divinities Is Available On Nook, Too!
Wow, is it Wednesday already? It seems like just yesterday I'd put my short story anthology up on Kindle, and now I have more wonderful news just in time for the holidays!
Everyday Divinities, a collection of 5 short stories originally released on this very blog, is now a digital book available on BOTH Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
Man, this week has been so draining on me. It's hard maintaining so much excitement for so many days! I've always wanted to present my writing to a much larger audience, and now it's up in the two major e-reader stores. It's crazy!
Aside from all that good news, I also have an author page on Goodreads! And you can add Everyday Divinities to your Goodreads bookshelf! Can you believe it?! It's too awesome, and it makes me very excited every time I log into that site now. I'll be making use of its various features come January, so keep a watch for that in 2012.
I hope all of you have checked out the anthology, or are about to over the holidays. If you like it, recommend it to friends! If you REALLY like it and feel that $2 is not nearly enough for the extraordinary short stories you've read, or you want to see more stories in a second collection, I'd encourage you to vote with your wallet and use that wee little "Donate" button just to the right of The Everyday Divinities Project links. If you didn't like it... well, constructive feedback is always welcome and encouraged, and knowing what doesn't work for you is just as important as knowing what does. Leave your feedback in the comments below and let me know what I could do differently.
Also, if you'd like to see my digital anthology in another e-reader format, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do. I'm no miracleworker, but I do want to make sure that everyone who wants to read my writing is able to, regardless of the device they use.
I think that about covers it for now. I'll keep you all posted on Everyday Divinities news, as well as my other projects. Enjoy the anthology, and happy holidays!
Everyday Divinities, a collection of 5 short stories originally released on this very blog, is now a digital book available on BOTH Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
Man, this week has been so draining on me. It's hard maintaining so much excitement for so many days! I've always wanted to present my writing to a much larger audience, and now it's up in the two major e-reader stores. It's crazy!
Aside from all that good news, I also have an author page on Goodreads! And you can add Everyday Divinities to your Goodreads bookshelf! Can you believe it?! It's too awesome, and it makes me very excited every time I log into that site now. I'll be making use of its various features come January, so keep a watch for that in 2012.
I hope all of you have checked out the anthology, or are about to over the holidays. If you like it, recommend it to friends! If you REALLY like it and feel that $2 is not nearly enough for the extraordinary short stories you've read, or you want to see more stories in a second collection, I'd encourage you to vote with your wallet and use that wee little "Donate" button just to the right of The Everyday Divinities Project links. If you didn't like it... well, constructive feedback is always welcome and encouraged, and knowing what doesn't work for you is just as important as knowing what does. Leave your feedback in the comments below and let me know what I could do differently.
Also, if you'd like to see my digital anthology in another e-reader format, leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do. I'm no miracleworker, but I do want to make sure that everyone who wants to read my writing is able to, regardless of the device they use.
I think that about covers it for now. I'll keep you all posted on Everyday Divinities news, as well as my other projects. Enjoy the anthology, and happy holidays!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Everyday Divinities Is Available On Kindle!
It's here! The long awaited arrival of my short stories to the world of digital publishing!
Everyday Divinities, a collection of 5 short stories originally released on this very blog, is now a digital book on Amazon Kindle!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
I can't even begin to tell you the gauntlet of emotions that I've run since clicking that "Save and publish" button last night. This is the first time I've really put my writing out there to see if people are willing to pay money for it. It's new territory for me, which is exciting and scary and awesome and terrifying and joyous and... well, you get the picture. This is a BIG DEAL to me, and you, my loyal followers, are here to witness how crazy it will make me! Isn't that exciting?!
Now, let's talk a bit of business. This is only the tip of the digital iceberg for this mini-anthology. True to my word, I'll be converting this document into file types for use on other devices this weekend, starting with the Nook's "PubIt!" service. If there's a particular file type you'd like to see it in, post it in the comments section below and I'll see what I can do. I can't make any promises, especially if it's an obscure file type that my conversion software doesn't support, but I'll definitely make every effort to give my work the widest audience possible.
Speaking of which, those of you who know about such things will be happy to know that my anthology is completely DRM-free. I hate it when I can't transfer music or books to other devices easily, and as much as I'd appreciate the extra income, I won't make my loyal followers buy more than one copy of my work just so they can have it on multiple devices. Put it on your e-reader, your phone, your computer, even all of the above. If you like it, recommend it to friends! If you REALLY like it and feel that $2 is not nearly enough for the extraordinary stories you've read, or you want to see more stories in a second collection, I'd encourage you to vote with your wallet and use that nifty little "Donate" button up there in the upper right corner of my blog. If you didn't like it... well, I always encourage feedback, and knowing what doesn't work for you is just as important as knowing what does. Drop me a line and let me know what I could do differently.
I think that about covers it for now. I'll keep you all posted on my further plans to bring Everyday Divinities to new devices, as well as my other projects. Enjoy the anthology!
Everyday Divinities, a collection of 5 short stories originally released on this very blog, is now a digital book on Amazon Kindle!
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!
I can't even begin to tell you the gauntlet of emotions that I've run since clicking that "Save and publish" button last night. This is the first time I've really put my writing out there to see if people are willing to pay money for it. It's new territory for me, which is exciting and scary and awesome and terrifying and joyous and... well, you get the picture. This is a BIG DEAL to me, and you, my loyal followers, are here to witness how crazy it will make me! Isn't that exciting?!
Now, let's talk a bit of business. This is only the tip of the digital iceberg for this mini-anthology. True to my word, I'll be converting this document into file types for use on other devices this weekend, starting with the Nook's "PubIt!" service. If there's a particular file type you'd like to see it in, post it in the comments section below and I'll see what I can do. I can't make any promises, especially if it's an obscure file type that my conversion software doesn't support, but I'll definitely make every effort to give my work the widest audience possible.
Speaking of which, those of you who know about such things will be happy to know that my anthology is completely DRM-free. I hate it when I can't transfer music or books to other devices easily, and as much as I'd appreciate the extra income, I won't make my loyal followers buy more than one copy of my work just so they can have it on multiple devices. Put it on your e-reader, your phone, your computer, even all of the above. If you like it, recommend it to friends! If you REALLY like it and feel that $2 is not nearly enough for the extraordinary stories you've read, or you want to see more stories in a second collection, I'd encourage you to vote with your wallet and use that nifty little "Donate" button up there in the upper right corner of my blog. If you didn't like it... well, I always encourage feedback, and knowing what doesn't work for you is just as important as knowing what does. Drop me a line and let me know what I could do differently.
I think that about covers it for now. I'll keep you all posted on my further plans to bring Everyday Divinities to new devices, as well as my other projects. Enjoy the anthology!
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