Final Maelstrom of Fate Redshirt Winners

I wish to thank Sandra Ward, aka Con Mommy, for her assistance with the final redshirt drawing for Maelstrom of Fate, held at LibertyCon 30.

I extend a hearty congratulations to Doug Crowe and Aaron Plotkin for winning the final two slots. You both are killed fairly quickly, but you get the honor of getting one shot in each before your demise. (Read below the video for additional redshirt news.)

Doug, since you managed to win in this drawing, I will be removing your Tuckerization (where you’re written in as a character but not killed off) from season two of The Adventures of Pigg and Woolfe, my upcoming Steampunk serial, and awarding that spot to Snow Hawkins.

Also, as stated in an earlier post, my ConNooga redshirt winner, Jonathon Morris, was disqualified from appearing in Maelstrom for being excessively annoying. I have slightly relented my stance and will be redshirting him in season two of TAoPaW by incineration after taking a bullet for one of my main characters. (A back broken by a hungry vampire was just too swift and easy a death for him.)

Prepping for LibertyCon

Sorry about no post this past weekend. Work has been busy, and I’ve had a convention to prep for.

You may notice the “sold out” stamped on the LibertyCon banner. This is because LC limits membership to 750 people, con staff included. (That’s right, even the organizing committee members have to purchase a ticket. All proceeds from the convention above costs go to the chosen charity of the year.)

Liberty is perhaps my favorite convention so far, although ChattaCon’s revitalization has made it a contender, as well. I reserve offering an opinion on HallowCon until after I’ve attended this October.

Speaking of HallowCon, I will be debuting Maelstrom of Fate at that convention (God and my publisher willing). In honor and anticipation of that, I will be offering a pre-order sale for signed copies at LibertyCon. For now, this will only be available to LibertyCon attendees. The book will be offered at a discount plus sales tax and two options on shipping. Everyone who preorders will have to pay shipping, but those who pick up their copies at HallowCon will have that fee refunded to them then. I’m doing it this way because there is always the possibility the book might not be released on time, and I want to make sure everyone who preorders GETS their copy.

I might make this offer available online at a later date (before the book release, of course), but I’ll have to figure out how to best set it up. It may mean having to change my PayPal account from personal to commercial, or creating a separate commercial account. More on this at a later date.

Back to Con Prep: I will have 10 full sets of the 6 titles currently available in my Waves of Darkness series to sell at the con. I have my banner. I have author cards. I have a new set of convertible hand trucks (they can be turned into a 4-wheeled cart). I have preorder forms printed up. I have my garb. I have my cash drawer and my Square card reader.

I will also be holding the final Red Shirt contest drawings for the last two spots. (As you may recall, I revoked Jonathan Morris’ status as a winner after he overly annoyed me; he had won the ConNooga drawing.)

Hopefully, I’ll be taking EMPTY book boxes home at the end of the con.

As usual, I will make a “Captain’s Log” convention report and take lots of pictures to post on FB and Plurk.

I’m off from work all next week (Summer shut down in the auto industry), so I’ll finally have time to work on the cover art for Maelstrom. I may even get some writing done on The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe. I promise I’m going to start shopping that serial to potential publishers before the summer is over. I’m only two and a half episodes shy of having two full seasons drafted.

I’ll post again after the con!

Maelstrom of Fate Progress Report 3 & Redshirt Contest Update

First, I have typed through to the end of chapter 9 of Maelstrom of Fate. The page count in its current format stands at 66. The word count is 20,119.

Second, I have an announcement to make regarding the current Redshirt Contest I’m running.

There are still TWO spots available for the drawing. The spot which was awarded to Jonathon Morris in the drawing I conducted at ConNooga has been revoked. Mr. Morris is a coworker of mine and doesn’t seem to realize when to stop with the teasing (like when I am dealing with a genuine issue with the current task and not in the mood for it). The character his name was to be applied to dies too quick of a death to appease my current annoyance with Mr. Morris.

Therefore, his spot is once again available.

The final drawing will be of two names and will still be held at LibertyCon during my first Authors’ Alley appearance.

Maelstrom of Fate Progress Report #2

This is why I’m the ship’s scribe, not Viktor. Just kidding.

This has been a productive weekend, both in typing and revising on Maelstrom of Fate, and in catching up on my video readings.

The typed manuscript currently stands at  39 pages typed in the Smashwords’ submissions guidelines format, which my publisher uses. The word count is at 11,898. I am three paragraphs into chapter 6 out of  31 chapters total plus the Once Upon a Tide prologue and an epilogue.

There is still a lot of work ahead of me. I also still have the final redshirt spot to award, which will be done in the drawing at LibertyCon the last weekend of June. (In a side note: I saw on their website, when I sent in payment for my three Authors’ Alley time slots, the convention is sold out.)

I firmly believe that I will have the manuscript in a suitable form to be ready for publication by October. I only hope my publisher is able to do so at that time. I would dearly love to debut the book at Hallowcon in East Ridge, TN.

I also started writing episode 16 of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe, which is my current writing project during work breaks. And I’ve done a quick, preliminary sketch of the cover art for Maelstrom of Fate. One element will be a new challenge for me. I have never attempted to paint an explosion, and haven’t done a line-art (comic book style) drawing of one in decades.

Maelstrom of Fate Red Shirt Drawing: ConNooga X

Congratulations Jonathon Morris!

Thank you, Hope Holloway for helping with the contest drawing. Check out her performances as Lady Gwendolyne in the podcast episodes of Dark Princess Theatre!

Videos and Writing and Conventions, Oh My

Let us start with the conventions.

I will have an author table at Con Nooga X in the Exhibitor hall, Row B, table 8. I have 9 full sets of all six titles currently available in the Waves of Darkness series. (I am short one copy of Blood Curse of having 10 full sets.)

I will hold the drawing for the next to last Red Shirt spot in Maelstrom of Fate during the convention.

I do not have any panels this year at this convention, so I’ll be in the exhibitor’s hall from open to close each day, and wandering the con the rest of the time.

I am currently working on the second video in my Readings from the Log of the Pirate Ship Incubus series. I should have it live on Youtube sometime tomorrow.

Finally, on the writing front I’ve been making decent progress on the episodes for the second season of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe. I’ve reached new territory on it, meaning I hadn’t plotted this far ahead when I set it aside a few years ago to finish up Waves of Darkness.

I will probably start shopping the serial around to publishers in late summer or early fall. Hopefully, I can have the first episode live by the start of next year.

 

Captain’s Log: Chattacon 42 and Other News

Despite only selling one copy of Blood Curse at the convention (to my tablemate J.L. Mulvihill), I had a great time at Chattacon. I made some new friends and said hello to some old ones I hadn’t seen in person since last year. The weather was unnaturally balmy for January, but crowds were almost as small as they’d been two years previously when the temps were in the single digits (also unnatural weather for this area). I think this was largely due to the lack of available hotel rooms at the Choo Choo.

Slowly but surely, the facility is shifting away from being a hotel. Already one of the three hotel buildings has been converted to apartments, and a second is in the process of being converted. This left only one hotel building and the rail cars for hotel space. What this means for future conventions which use the Choo Choo is uncertain.

Another factor which hurt was the passing of one of the largest, and longest attending vendors Friday morning before the start of the convention.

Since I only had a signing and two panels, I spent most of the convention in the dealer room. I forgot to get over to the art show, something I usually manage to do; but I did attend Jen’s reading. She has a delightfully twisted imagination, I must say. I also attended the LibertyCon room party, the Molly Maguires concert, and most of the Vamp Valley Vixens burlesque show.

They did a silly game show, The Giant Wheel of Whatever!, during intermission and gave away prizes. Winners got nifty donated prizes ranging from anime toys to a pair of Hypericon tickets. Losers got their choice of white chocolate or milk chocolate dick pops with real nuts in the nuts. (Those were exactly what they sound like.)

The theme of the convention this year was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, yet a very large portion of the cosplay was Steampunk. It varies year to year. One year saw several pirates at the convention.

I’d like to congratulate Brandon Garrison for winning the dubious honor of being red-shirted in Maelstrom of Fate. (The link is for the Youtube video of the drawing.) There are still two spots open and six current entrants in the running. If you’d like your name added to the hat, just comment here, Facebook, or Plurk.

I also picked up three new books from Stephanie Osborn: Division One: Alpha and Omega (her new SF series), Fear in the French Quarter: Displaced Detective #6 (I LOVE this Sherlock Holmes series), and Science Fiction by Scientists anthology.

I will be back in the dealer room at next year’s Chattacon.

In other news: I will be an author guest at Hallowcon this year the last weekend of October. This convention is under new management determined to revitalize the convention, and has been moved from Dalton, Georgia to East Ridge, Tennessee. Joe Dog plans to have at least 20 hours of programming. The theme will be The Late Night Double Feature Picture Show (you know the one). Last year’s theme was Vampirates. Really wish I could’ve made that one.

Anywho, I will be starting on my first round of revisions on Maelstrom of Fate very soon, so I can get it in to my publisher. I hope to get the book out IN October this year. I’d like to launch it at Hallowcon.

Reader’s Poll Results and Other News

Although the official final tallies are not up yet, the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll has ended. Unofficially, the current tallies show The Daedalus Enigma tied for 8th place in the Horror Novel category and placed at 18th in the Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel category. The SFF competition is always tough.

I want to thank everyone who voted! This makes six years running a Waves of Darkness title has placed in the top ten in Horror Novel!

I’ve stumbled across a new potential model to use for Viktor’s profile pic: Alessandro Etrusco, an Italian actor and model best know for his role as Jesus in the Italian film 7km from Jerusalem. All I need is someone with the PS skills to darken his hair a little and change his brown eyes to green. Otherwise, he has the features and body language which comes the closest I’ve seen yet to how I picture Vik Brandee.

 What do you guys think?

In writing news: I’ve finished the rewrite of Ghost Riders in the Sky: The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe Episode 11 and gotten a good start on completing Castle In the Clouds: The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe Episode 12.

In convention news: Chattacon 42 is this coming weekend! I will betaking pictures during my convention-long costume hunt which will be posted in a Facebook album on my wall and author page. I will also be holding the first drawing for the last three Red Shirt spots available in Maelstrom of Fate, Waves of Darkness #7.

I’m still not sure if I will have a table on Author’s Alley at ConNooga X in February or not. I am still waiting to hear if I will be seated on any panels at that convention; and the convention has changed their policy on Author’s Alley tables this year. They will no longer be providing free author tables for panelists, as they have been steadily losing money due to authors not showing up. The table fee for authors will be $70 USD, which is rather reasonable. A table and badge will total $110 USD, only ten dollars more than what I pay for an Author’s Alley table at Chattacon; and ConNooga is a much larger convention. I have already purchased my badge; I just don’t know if any tables are still available, or if I can currently afford the fee. (There have been some rather large and unexpected expenses pop up this past week.)

I may tap a few of my fellow authors who’ll be in attendance and see if they would like to split a table. It is allowed. (Why didn’t I think of that earlier, when I first got the news about the fee?)

That’s all the news I can think of to share right now. If something else occurs before the convention, I’ll put up a bonus post.

Thanks again to everyone who voted for my book!

Bizzy Stuff

The Daedalus Enigma is doing well in this year’s Preditors & Editors ReadersPoll so far. It is tied for 7th place in the Horror Novel category and currently positioned at 11th in the Science Fiction/Fantasy Novel category. If you haven’t voted yet, I encourage you to do so now. All you have to do is click on the link above and follow the prompts. They only allow you one vote per category, but you CAN vote for the same book in more than one category.

Your support is greatly appreciated. Every title in the Waves of Darkness has placed in the top ten in this poll for its respective year. I’d love for this one to follow suit.

In other news, I’ve received my schedule for Chattacon at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo, January 20-22. While I don’t have any signings or readings scheduled, I do have two writers’ panels scheduled on Saturday, January 21. The first is at 11 am in the Finley Auditorium: Writing for Specific Genre: Steampunk, pirates, vampires, and zombies are all examples of popular genres that have become franchises. To write within a specific genre and keep it fresh and original is no small feat. Our panelists will discuss do’s and don’ts of writing genre specific fiction. Jen Mulvihill, Gregory Nicoll, Tamara A. Lowery, and Scott Baker. The second is at 3 pm in Classroom A: Writers’ Workshop – World Building: The richness and depth of a good story begins with the world that it is set in. But building an entire world can be a daunting task! How do you do it? Glad you asked! Our panelists will share their knowledge on how to create worlds that ring true to the reader. Wendy Webb, Scott Baker, Tamara A. Lowery, and Robert Sommers.

[edit] I will have a book signing/meet-the-author slot in the Dealer Room Lobby at 5pm Friday, January 20. [end edit]

I will post this on my Appearances page, as well.

Even though I wasn’t scheduled for any this year at Chattacon, I may still do an impromptu reading from my table in the Dealers’ Room.

I will also hold the drawing for one of my final Red Shirt spots in the series. So far I only have 7 entrants, but there’s still time to put your name in the pot. Just post a comment to this blog here or wherever you see it shared on Facebook or Plurk that you’d like your name included for a chance to be listed as a Colonial era Royal Marine who meets a horrific end.

I will have 10 copies each of all six current titles in the Waves of Darkness series, and I do have special convention rates if you buy more than one book or buy a full set. I would LOVE for the only books I bring back home from this convention be the ones I bought from other authors.

In writing news, I have the first ten episodes of The Adventures of Pigg & Woolfe typed up and ready to run past my beta readers. I’m currently rewriting episode 11 to expand it; and I will be rewriting/finishing episode 12, since I never finished it the first time. After that, I’ll have to map out where I want the story to go for the second season of the serial. I plan to shop the serial to a few publishers, but I may end up self-publishing it. I am determined readers will get a chance at these stories.

It Is Done (Roughly Speaking), and Other Interesting Shi…, er Stuff

This will probably be my last blog post of 2016. I’m ready for this killer Bi*** of a year to go away now. It’s killed more people than Cecil B. DeMille.

Lotsa stuff to cover here, so strap in and pay attention, kiddies.

First: I have finally finished the rough draft of Maelstrom of Fate. I will probably tweak the hell out of that epilogue when I do first revisions; but it is down on paper now, so I can set it aside for a well-deserved break. I may be adding another convention to my line-up this coming year: Hallowcon has moved to a venue considerably closer to me. (It used to be in Dalton, Georgia and has moved to a hotel in East Ridge, Tennessee… just a few blocks from where LibertyCon used to be when I first started attending it.) Since it falls on the last weekend in October, I think it would be a fantastic venue for launching Maelstrom of Fate.

Okay, I realize that was technically two items. Deal with it.

Next: There is a new interview on my About page and a new review of Blood Curse on its page, both courtesy of J.B. Garner. You should visit his site and check out his books. Seriously.

Moving right along: The Daedalus Enigma has been entered in the 18th Annual Preditors and Editors Readers Poll in both the Horror Novel and the Science Fiction/ Fantasy Novel categories. The poll is free; although you have to give your email addie to finalize your votes, you do NOT get spammed… EVER; and it ends January 14. They do limit you to one vote per category (if you vote for more than one book in the same category, only the last one voted for counts).

Every book in the Waves of Darkness series has placed in the top ten in Horror Novel. Please help make that happen for this book, too. I don’t get any money for placing, just bragging rights and a digital badge.

Build-a-Blog news: Over the next few weeks, I will be adding to the Readers’ Refuge section of the site. Expect the Once Upon a Tide as well as a few other selections from The Daedalus Enigma to show up for your reading pleasure. I will announce them here on the main blog as/when I add them.

Artistically Speaking: I’m still in the mental planning stages of rebuilding my old Steel Rose Gallery. I will probably build it as a WordPress site simply because of the ease of organizing it like I want it.

I also have a good idea of what I want to do for the cover art for Maelstrom of Fate. I just hope I’m up to the challenge and can get Viktor looking like I want him to.

I’m a slacker: I still haven’t started the serious research I need to do for There Is No Arizona.

I will, though; I will.

Red Shirt Contest: Just a friendly reminder that it’s not too late to put your name in the hat. So far, I have all of six people willing to let me attach their name to one of the three remaining Royal Marines doomed to die a horrible death in Maelstrom. One will be drawn at Chattacon; another at ConNooga. Names of contestants remain in the pool until the last winner is drawn at LibertyCon. You can do so in the comments here, on Facebook, or on Plurk.

Other convention news: I finally bought my membership for ConNooga. I also just today confirmed with the Chattacon program director I would be available for panels.