So, you know, if you want something awful to read, have at it:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00C9IVXH0
(I wouldn’t recommend it, though)
All Of My Books Are FREE today (May 10, 2014)
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Tag Archives: story
It’s Harder This Way – update
Right. So… apparently over the last few days, “It’s Better This Way” shot up from its normal rank of around #3000 in the Amazon free store and peaked at #96 (last I checked, anyway). I suppose a lot of you reading this might be here to find out what the hell I’ve been up to, and why, after an entire year, is there still no more to this story?
Imagine my surprise when someone alerted me to the fact this story started climbing up the rankings. Also imagine my dismay that this story, which has always done very well for almost the entire year it had been out, is suddenly shooting up the charts and I still don’t have a single word typed for a sequel or a prequel.
Yeah, I know, it says at the back of the book that I’ve been working on it. Imagine more of my dismay when I had to fix the Amazon version because I changed covers and forgot to credit the new cover artist, and read the end notes again.
I asked myself why I had yet to write another word in this universe, knowing that I could have written something, ANYTHING, and made a few bucks. Enough to finish painting the interior of our house (long story, don’t ask, fills me with rage to even think about it), or at least buy a new toilet (a scary story, and one that fills The Wife with rage, so let’s not talk about it either).
I realized the answer was that I haven’t written a single word yet because I just didn’t feel it in my heart. I DO love this story, and it will always be special to me because it was the first real story I ever published. And I do love the universe I set up. However, the few times I’ve actually tried to come up with more of this story, it has always felt forced, fake, as if my heart just wasn’t in it.
“Henchman” – Randy the Tech #1A
Right. This is part one of a two part chapter about Randy the Tech. This is still a bit rough, but hopefully not too rough. Don’t worry, all of these stories go through an editor before being published. I just like to give away pretty much every chapter for free now before actually publishing.
*
Henchman – Author’s Note
Henchman – The Day Dave Subbed
Henchman – Randy the Tech #1A
Randy the Tech Tests Out A Mind Control Unit
“Hey, dude,” Washington said to me from his side of the doorway.
I looked over at my co-worker, a huge, scary, pipe-hittin’ brother who towered over me by a good six inches, and could snap me in half as if I were dry spaghetti. He looked distressed, yet his voice was casual, calm. Maybe he looked distressed. When he gets all crazy, his eyes get real big, and it makes me begin to shake inside because I start getting little movies playing in my head that feature Washington on a rampage, picking me up, and literally pile-driving me through the concrete floor like we were in a cartoon. But he didn’t look like enraged Washington. He looked like he might have had an accident in his fatigues.
The fact that he sounded casual and called me “dude” made me possibly more frightened of him. Washington didn’t talk much, but when he did, it always seemed like he was a drill instructor and you were some lowly piece of shit new recruit that just caused the entire platoon to lose out on a three day weekend where they’d all planned to hit Tijuana for some female company. I’d never heard him say a single casual thing to anyone but the Vils, and that was maybe three times in the eight years I’d known him. All three times, he looked like he was strategizing just how quickly he could kill everyone in the room and escape.
“Henchman” – The Day Dave Subbed
So… here’s some more of this ‘Henchman’ book from my uh… buddy… Mike Williams. It’s probably really rough, as I… er, I mean HE just wrote it, so if you notice errors, rest assured that HE will get around to squashing them before HE actually charges money for this nonsense. More to come!
Henchman – Author’s Note
Henchman – The Day Dave Subbed
Henchman – Randy the Tech #1A
The Day Dave Subbed
I watched Dave hustle down the hallway toward me, still tucking in his dark red shirt into his jet black fatigues. He grinned when he came to a stop on his side of the doorway. I nodded toward his crotch to let him know that he’d missed something. He looked down, back up at me with a sheepish grin, then back to his zipper, giving it a light tug.
“Why are you checking out my package, anyway?” he asked after finishing his task and turning to look straight ahead, standing at attention like me.
“It’s obvious with your tighty-whiteys and showing up half-naked,” I replied without looking at him. “What the hell are you doing here, anyway?” I asked, finally glancing over at him. “This is still Washington’s gig for the next eight weeks.”
“What’s the matter, I’m not black enough for you?” he asked, doing his best to stifle a laugh.
“It’s not funny,” I said in a low voice. “The dude scares the bejesus out of me.”
Washington, that’s the only name we’ve ever gotten from him, is a fellow henchman. He’s six and a half feet tall, chiseled like that guy on the Old Spice commercial, and about ten times more frightening than when the Old Spice guy gets all crazy-looking like he’s about to rip a car door off and hurl it into the sun. If he wasn’t so scary, it would be funny how militant he is about everything, not just white people. It’s like the guy is always on, his inner amplifier cranked to eleven.
“General Megatron: Defender of the Galaxy, Saviour of the Human Race, Hero of the Human Resistance” – Chapter 1
Yay! A children’s story! There are no bad words in this, and it should be suitable for all of the ornery little Calvins in the world (yes, this is a bit of an ode to Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes).
CHAPTER ONE: The Doom Lord
General Megatron heard the gnashing of teeth and froze in the middle of his latest scheme to escape the forced labor prison camp he’d been trapped in for more than six years. The roar of rage echoing through the twists and turns of the cell block’s corridors from below made him shiver. It was a noise that was far too familiar to his ears, one that he’d unfortunately encountered far too many times before. The creature’s heavy, clawed feet scraped and crashed into the floor in a succession of minor earthquakes, punctuated by the enraged bellowing coming from the galaxy’s most feared tyrant: The Doom Lord.
“SPACEMAN!!!” howled the monster as it reached the prison deck of the ship. “I’m coming for you!”
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Q&A With Science Fiction Writers – #1: Richard Tongue
One of my fellow SciFi authors, Edward Lake, interviewed a lot of his colleagues (including me!), and has started posted them on his blog. A lot of us authors are interested enough, and we hope you’ll be interested enough as well, to read some of them.
Who knows, you might find a new author that you’ve never heard of and begin enjoying their work!
First up: #1 – Richard Tongue
EL: What inspired you to be a writer?
RT: Wow, that’s a long story! I’ve been reading fantasy and science fiction since I was a very small child, and I think the two genres have always fascinated me; further, I’ve been a complete spaceflight nut since I was about the same age. That definitely explains the genre, but as for writing itself – I guess I just want to tell stories. I think it’s as simple as that!
EL: How did you become a science fiction writer?
RT: Lots of reading around the genre and a good grounding in actual science were the keys here, as well as an understanding of history and current events. I think those are the keys to success as a science-fiction writer specifically; as for the craft, it was a question of writing the ‘million words of crap’, I think.
(hit the link above to read the rest of the interview and more!)
Ability – Part III (Update)
Key kids, so I finally decided to publish Part III of “Ability.” I’ve been kinda holding it back because I had serious doubts about how readers would feel about it. It’s definitely where the story begins to take a much darker tone in preparation for the next book, which will be called “Progeny.”
After almost six weeks of waffling, my wife beat me about the neck and head with a blunt object to let me know I should publish it. Readers want to know how the first book ends, and as I was reminded by her, my major rule is to not worry about what readers will think and just write the stories I want to write.
This isn’t supposed to mean that I don’t give a damn at all what readers think. I most certainly do, but in terms of when I’m writing a story, I most certainly don’t. I always write stories that I want to read that no one else is writing. My stories are darker, grittier, harsher than the majority of self-published authors (and a majority of traditionally-published authors as well).
For some reason, I’ve spent the last six weeks worrying too much about the reaction from some readers. Part of this stems from the fact that Ability is a story I’m charging readers to read, and part of it stems from the fact that I’m only a few more days away from publishing my ‘debut’ novel (my first full-length novel, and one I will charge money for). The novel, “Alive, or Just Breathing” is a Young Adult / New Adult fiction novel, and it is pretty damn dark. I think having two books of this nature at once have messed with my psyche a little.
On a brighter note, I’ve finished one time-travel story, 60,000 words (about the length of the full “Ability” story). I’m 50,000 words into a second time-travel story, which should end up at about 100,000 words or so. I plan on combing them into a single book, giving readers two books for the price of one. The finished story is a supposed to be a bit of a light-hearted romp through time as an agent chases an ‘evil’ scientist. The Work In Progress is a bit light-hearted as well, but it has a much darker theme (notice a pattern here???). I had to stop writing last night after 3k words as I kind of depressed myself and freaked myself out a bit haha.
Anyway, that’s the update. Stay tuned for “Ability – Part III” and soon after the full “Ability” omnibus edition (in paperback!). Any day now, “Alive, or Just Breathing” will be available to read as well. I’m planning on publishing anywhere from 6-10 books in 2014, and a number of short stories and novellas. Things are picking up!
Travis
Why Can You See Human Eyes on a Moth’s Wings?
I am,
A moth among
Butterflies.
I tried,
So desperately,
To drink the milkweeds
And fly,
Into golden sunlight.
I played
An endless game of
Tag with the monarchs.
But,
I am a creature
Of the moon,
My wings are made
Of stardust.
I see the whole world
On my wingspan,
And,
I find hope
In the brightest light
During the darkest
Of midnights.
I,
Will never
Have the freedom
Or reason
To fly aimlessly
Into the daytime.
For I,
Am a lonely traveler,
Among many,
A creature of the moon,
And a moth among butterflies.
I remember the first time I saw one of these moths. It was somehow wounded, lying in a field near a playground during summer school when I was a small child. Everyone excitedly gathered around this strange creature. It had strange eyes displayed intimidatingly on big brown wings. The other children were screaming at how disgusting and freakish this creature was.
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It’s Better This Way (novella) – update
Hi everyone. I would just like to say that I’ve re-read the novella “It’s Better This Way” and found a few errors that need to be corrected. I always try to wait a couple of weeks to re-read things to make sure all the punctuation, grammar, spelling, and extra/lack of words are correct. If I wait a bit, the story becomes fresh in my brain again, and I can spot them easier.
As an independent, self-published author, I hate mistakes. They annoy me more than anything. Unfortunately, I do not have a professional editor at this time. So please hang tight while I make sure everything in the book is correct and proper. I’ll be uploading a new version in a few hours, so if you planned on downloading the book, wait a little bit and let me get the fixed version up so your reading experience won’t be marred by a few issues here or there.
The story won’t change one bit, but I’ve found a couple of places that were missing an important word and a few that either needed a comma or didn’t have a comma. Thanks for being understanding!
Travis
Publishing Shills Still Trying To Convince Us They Are Important
Caught a post on my Tumblr dashboard today. While I appreciate Mr. Green’s passion, I have to call bullshit.
Give a read HERE