Wreedle

First off, I'm not dead! Hooray!
Second off, I have awesome news! My cousin and I are developing an upcoming web site solely focused on helping indie authors get their books to as many readers as possible. On the flip side, the other half of the design is to help readers easily find quality indie books in their preferred genres. It's a daunting task but we are off to some great ideas here, and should have a beta site to show people very soon!

A few things that I need from you, dear reader, to help me in this endeavor.
First, if you're a self-published (or traditionally published) author and have two minutes, take this survey. This is us trying to find out exactly what authors want and need and how this will work.

Second, if you are a reader (which I'd imagine is everybody here), take this survey too. It's also short, but our attempt to get a better idea of what READERS want.

Then we're gonna mash 'em together and make a site out of it. It's gonna be great.

For now, we are accepting beta signups and will provide updates if you sign up on Wreedle.com. If you sign up there, we are giving away free stuff along the way (like adspace!) so it's totally worth it! Also, I'm in charge of the mailing list, so I don't send no spam or nothin.

In the WRITING side of things, I'm self-publishing! Steelgods 1 should be out January 1st, 2014, with any luck. I'm also going to be going crazy with a small group of friends, hopefully forming a squadron of self-publishers. Our goals are still up in the air, but just keep an eye out for that. And I'm going to be writing a lot more.

That's it! Sign up! Take surveys! Do it! Yeaaaah!

Book Review: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

I made a comment after finishing the book that The Rithmatist is what happens when Brandon:

- Read Harry Potter
- Read The Name of the Wind
- Played a bunch of Starcraft 2
- Attended a college geometry class
- Had some fever dream, and thus The Rithmatist was born

If any of those things sound appealing to you, you might as well give the book a shot, because it's a pretty good one.

The premise is simple: there's a world that I'm pretty sure is Steampunk (it is only mentioned once, and it's that steampunk horse on the cover. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the main plotline, but I guess steampunk is "in" these days so you have to put it on the cover) but the real magic lies in chalk drawings. Rithmatists, which is "Arithmatists" but without the "A," can use chalk lines formed into specific geometric patterns to create magical, living...things. Lines can become walls or attack arrows. Drawn creatures can be minions that can attack or defend. In most cases, this magic is used for either duels (hence the Starcraft II comparison) where they build their own defenses (read: bases) and attack each other with lines or minions, or is used to hold back the wave of what is basically "rogue chalk minions" on some island to stop them from taking over the world. Actually, that second one is pretty important, because it's what all Rithmatists are training to do with their lives: serve on the front lines and then retire.

Our main hero is not a Rithmatist, but he attends a high-brow school where the Rithmatists are trained alongside normal students. The guy really wants to be a Rithmatist though, so much you'd say he's obsessed. He really wants to train with a Rithmatist teacher and, because this is a YA novel, he eventually does. But behold and lo, dear reader, for mystery is afoot! Somebody is offing the Rithmatist students in weird ways, and it's up to our hero, his inept love interest slash enemy slash friend slash girl bad at magic, and a washed-up professor to crack the case! Sound like Harry Potter, just a little? Yes? No? Well, it kind of is. Just a little.

To be honest, this book has a surprising lack of action considering it's a Brandon Sanderson novel, and I'm fine with that. I consider The Emperor's Soul to be his best work ever, and even in that novella the fight scene seemed tacked on. It's fun to follow the rag-tag group of mystery solvers as they try to crack the case and discover more about Rithromancy? Rithmamancy? Rithmatism? Whatever.

Speaking of things that are "un-Brandon Sanderson-like," this book is short. While I did feel the arch concluded in the right timeframe for the novel, I wished the whole thing had gone on a bit longer. Oh well, it leaves on a scene that exists just to bait a sequel (this is more Brandon Sanderson-esque), so you'll get the rest of the story in the second novel. And third one, if he goes that far.

My other major beef with the novel is the ending "twist," and not the first one about the killer but that other one. I won't say anything for spoilers, but it's absurdly lame and almost predictable, and exists only to push a second novel. It also sort of destroys any sense of closure that the book had been building up to, which makes a lot of it feel like a waste. I understand the need to get people excited for a second book, but I was already excited before this scene popped in and made me angry. Also, the final "battle" is anticlimactic compared to the one that happens literally one chapter before it, and seems tacked on to the end just to show how all the characters have grown and can work together now. Yawn.

Complaints aside, The Rithmatist is a solid Sanderson novel, and has everything that fans of his books want: cool magic, fun characters, a splash of humor, and plenty o' plot twists. If you like the guy's work you've probably already read it, but if you're on the fence I'd say take the plunge! It's a fun, fast read and is entertaining from cover to cover. Just...sort of turn your brain off for the ending.

Four out of five stars. 

Book Review: Strangers by Michaelbrent Collings

(Currently available On Kindle for $3.99)

Home invasion stories in the horror genre work because home is where we feel like we are safe. We have to, or else we wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Home, with those we love and care about, is a bastion from the dangers of the world, a sanctuary against the hustle and bustle of outside and where we feel confident we can help and protect one another.

So taking that and tossing it on its head is always an effective method to provide scares, even if it's a common trope.

Michaelbrent Collings has, by my count, nearly covered every single horror situation by this point, minus maybe the "creepy dark haired Japanese girl" one. From foggy towns to haunted houses, insane parents to vicious fairies and vampires, to ghosts and demons and now home invasions, he's got all his bases covered. But that's a good thing, because even if the premise is something familiar, Michaelbrent does an excellent job in all his novels of taking a tried-and-true horror concept and making it his own. And Strangers is no exception.

Were I to elevator pitch the novel, it would be "The Strangers" meets "Saw." A family, innocent on the outside but harboring deep dark secrets on the inside, is trapped inside their home as an unknown assailant wrecks havoc on them. Anything else would be potential spoilers, just know that the secrets the harbor are dark, and lead to horrific consequences. While the underlying "goal" of the main villain might be predictable, there are still plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep you gripping the novel, including a rather large double (and then triple) twist at the end that felt perfect for this type of horror novel.

The pacing is, as usual, phenomenal. Once you get into the "meat and potatoes" of the book, Michaelbrent has his metaphorical hooks in you, and it's hard to quit before its over. I've always seen that a sign of an excellent writer if he can keep me gripped to my kindle all the way to the end, ignoring dishes, chores, or even sleep because I "have to know what happens next." Strangers accomplishes this, and in spaces, with one minor exception: the beginning. While the prologue chapter is a ghastly scene that does well in setting up the nightmare to come, there is a lot of idle time spent before the monster actually appears. That and the final portions of the novel do seem to drag a little (this is a long horror book), but if you persevere through the slow start the novel is absolutely worth it.

I made a comment in my review of Darkbound that the gore escalation in Michaelbrent's novels is a bit off putting, and I'm pleased to say that Strangers doesn't fall in the same trap. While there are several grotesque and graphic scenes, most are done in a way that they're actually scary rather than just desensitizing, with most of the horror in the book delightfully gore-free. I think Michaelbrent found the balance between Rising Fears and Darkbound, which makes this an appealing book for those who like both psychological and gore-scares.

Strangers is a great spin on the home invasion novel. While nothing is particularly novel in and of itself, the book is absolutely gripping, the horror and tension real, and the ending twists loads of scary fun. If you're looking for a fast-paced read for that dark evening at home, you couldn't do much better. Just be sure to lock the windows and doors before you do (but honestly...it won't help!).

Four out of five stars. 

A Call for Alphas

I'm in need of Alpha readers for A Straight Cut, which is finally finished. It's pretty easy: read the book and tell me what works and what doesn't. Simple. Even a child could do it. If the child could read, that is. If they can't that'll make things difficult.
If you have interest, either email/google+ me, or comment on this with some sort of contact information.
Hooray! Editing is over (for this book, for now!)! Next project!

Book Completed: A Straight Cut

I still use "back" and "just" too much. Also "like."

A book I wrote a concept of exactly two years and a day ago (I'll post the concept below; it isn't that great), started a year later, abandoned, and now finished in a week (40k in one week, huzzah?). A Straight Cut aka Canyon Story aka Sold Sixth is FINISHED!

Hooray and huzzah!

With one caveat: I still have to do a full read-through edit for continuity mistakes, general bad misinformation, and cutting a bit from the beginning to get to the action faster. Granted, it starts with his parents selling him into slavery so I don't know how much faster it can go then THAT, but hey...you get it.

It's also worth noting the main character of this book's name is Timothy, because my cousin was annoyed that I'd put almost every other cousin subconsciously in my other books as side characters except him. And I finished it on his birthday, so that's...great! I think.

Anyway, here's the rundown with random stats and garbage:

Book Number: 12. On to unlucky 13!
Words: 123,178
Chapters: Forty-One, plus an Epilogue
Overall Time Spent: One Month plus One Week (it started as another "write a book in a month" projects)
Hours?: Didn't record this time. But a little under 40 for the final bit. 

Random Junk!
Magic System: My own personal favorite! Very minimalist, "Conduit," involves transfer of things (heat, etc.) from one area to another using a body as a "conduit" to move it. Requires something to do something. 
Romance? Not as you'd think, but there is a boy/girl thing going down. 
Side Characters? Lots of named ones this time. At least thirteen prominent ones. 
YA or Adult? Good question. I'm not sure. Protag is 16, book deals with a lot of YA-interested scenarios, but also gets very dark at the end. 
Wait, how dark we talkin' here? It's pretty bad. 
Rape? Um...no. I don't write YA novels with rape. 
So you write adult novels with rape? ...can we get back on track here? 
How many times "A Straight Cut" is said: According to MS Word, 25 times. One of the characters says it quite frequently, and it has something like a quadruple meaning in the novel. 
Is the inspirational first chapter in here as like a prologue? No. It's bad, and unnecessary. It plays a very important role in the mythology, but other than that...no. 
Is this in Effulgent Corruption's World? YES. Very much yes. While you don't need to know anything about EC to get it, there are some very massive hints regarding that this book takes place exactly after the events of the final EC book, that hasn't been written. 
Do any EC characters show up? One, but you don't know he's an EC character. 
Any other weird world crossovers? Technically EC's world is after Where Gods and Mortal's Dance's world, after the Gangrene shows up. A Straight Cut is after the Gangrene is gone. So they're all technically the same world, though their magic doesn't collide (actually, the "gods'" in WGMD's magic is similar to the Immortal's magic in Straight Cut, but that's spoilers)
Do you have a personal favorite character? Rae. 
Back to the EC thing, give me a hint about how they're connected. Please!! Ley-lights. That's all I'll say. 
Why did you name characters "Hollow" and "Willow," "Grant" and "Giovant"? Are you trying to confuse people who skim? A few may make a change by the end, mostly Hollow and Willow being a little too similar. I make up names as I go and how I think they fit the characters. I've completely change a person's name before giving it to Alpha's with a simple find and replace, though. 
Can I read your book? Sure! If you want to alpha, let me know and I'll send you a copy in every file format known to man. After I do my read-through. 

Well, that was overindulgent, but too bad for you: my blog. Now, here's the page I wrote that "inspired" this, written two years ago. You can see how much better I've gotten. Also, I wrote it in like 15 minutes, so don't be hatin.
See you next book.

The Ragged One crossed the desert, a straight line carved behind.
The desert sands hissed around the line, the mark cutting clean across the vast expanse like a [insert something here]. The indentation stretched on for miles, a single scratch that dragged near-endlessly.
The Ragged One dragged the sword behind him, itʼs seven-foot blade pressing against the sands, making a low hiss as it lurched forward. A merciless sun beat down from above, the heat radiating from the dunes in resonating, hallucination-inducing waves. A small sand-twister billowed up, crashing directly into the cloaked figure, blasting scorching, stinging sand through him.
His pace did not slow, though The Ragged One did wipe his eyes once, pushing the small particles from his vision. He continued, the long, rusty blade trailing behind. The weapon was thick, a good three inches, and weighed more than The Ragged One who yanked it forward.
A sandstorm billowed up on the horizon, a dark, dusty flurry set against the cloudless blue sky. It grew as it moved, surging and throbbing as if a living thing, growing as it swallowed up dunes and wayward shrubs in its mad push forward. It was heading straight for the lone figure, The Ragged One the only shape in the entire desert for miles.
Still, he pushed forward, ignoring the burning heat and incoming storm. Behind him, the line ran still, ending at the point where his sword struck the dusty earth. His footprints, soft indentations, had quickly been swallowed up by the ever-changing face of the desert. But the line did not fill. It had not filled, even for the hundreds, if not thousands of miles The Ragged One had traveled.
His cloak had started whole, a white tapestry of story. Inset in the side had been sewn figures of gods and suns, lights and dreams of a people long forgotten. Before the desert, before the sands.
Before the unrelenting sun. Before the sands choked the world, swallowing up any and everything that dared try to live on its scorched, radiating surface. Before the last man had died, choking and gasping to his last, sand-filled breath.
The cloak was tatters now; like the world, it was but a remnant of its former self, pieces breaking off and fluttering into the hot breeze. Holes ordained it like stars in a dark sky, the enormous cloth floating and fluttering in the constant winds. It would have been majestic, had there been any but The Ragged One to see it.
The Ragged One had been walking for days, or was it months? Could it even have been years at this point? He knew not.
He had one final task to accomplish, one last thing he must do. He assured himself of this before plunging into the billowing sandstorm, his grip on the sword never loosening.
One final task before he could die.
The line crossed the desert, continuing until it reached the place where it had begun. There it connected, into one solid, unbroken whole.
And The Ragged One rested.

Specification

I should probably specify that "writing like a crazy person" means "writing 10-15k words a day" crazy. I'm finally hitting that old stride I had before my long writing hiatus this past year. It's good to be back.
Expect two, maybe three completed novels from me by the end of summer! Yes, be amazed! Be astounded! Wonder how many keyboards I go through (I got a new one for my birthday, thanks in-laws!)!
Also story after these might be post-apocalyptic, since that seems to be what all the kids want these days. Who knows? Well, I do, but that's not the point.
Six chapters to go!

The Final Push

This has actually been going on for a week now, but I figure I could post about it.

I'm officially writing like a crazy person in an attempt to make progress before grad school. I have a summer ahead of me to write, submit, and finish before I go to grad school and my time gets sucked down the drain, so I'm determined to at least make some serious progress in the next three months, either by traditional publish, epublishing, or both.

What this entails:
- I'm submitting like crazy. I submitted Death's Aria to around 30-40 people last Friday, and I'm only just starting.
- I'm editing like crazy. I've been burning through Death's Aria edits the past few days. I'm also adding a chapter to Aeon to make it more "novel" length, and submitting that too.
- I'm writing like crazy. Specifically books I started and didn't finish. Empty Pages being the primary one, but recently I'm determined to finish A Straight Cut (aka "Canyon Story"). That one I'm hoping to have done by the end of the week, even if it's got 10 chapters (at least 20k words) left.

The longer version is that I'm working heavily on finishing A Straight Cut, which will also include going back and adding two chapters, as well as editing current content to fit the "new" ending. The ending ultimately hasn't changed, but some of the situations around it (tying a few things together better for the finale) have been altered, which will require some edits. All for the best, if I think so. This book is kind of Lord of the Flies meets child slavery meets Nathan is killing off everybody Game of Thrones style in the Third act, so it should be interesting. It's quite a dark YA, but that's clearly all the rage these days, so I forsee good things. Also, probably the most entertaining couple I've ever written, which is actually why I picked it back up again. It's good to re-read your stuff over a year later and decide it's actually pretty good.

Empty Pages is struggling a but, but that's because I wrote my characters into a not-as-interesting situation; once they get out of it it'll pick up (and the situation will probably get axed or at least shortened in edits). I enjoy that story's overall meaning, but the actual story itself is bogging me down. Anybody ever have that? It seems to be a constant problem for me: I want my stories to have deeper meanings beyond the actual characters running around doing whatever, but sometimes I get too hung up on the meanings. Ah well.

Nobody likes a long blog post, so that's it. I'll update this more. Maybe. I make promises I don't keep, too, so watch out for that.

Confidence

Holy cow, has it really been almost two months since my last post? What have I been doing all this time?

As you can see from the header, I made a faux e-book cover for Half, should I choose to go down that path. As of this moment I'm still not sure, as Death's Aria is currently being sent out to multiple people (to be followed shortly by Aeon), but it's looking pretty likely. It all depends, as always, on whether I get rejected or not. All in the cards. Again.

Something that's been bothering me this past year is my believed lack of productivity. Don't get me wrong: I've written a fair amount of the last year. Quarter was my last finished novel, in July of 2012. After that I started Empty Pages (which I didn't finish), Eighth (which I didn't finish), Morphiam (abandoned, retitled Night Terrors, and now being revitalized), and A War of Blood and Oil (which I didn't finish). Between all my abandoned projects is enough words for probably a book and a half, though if you mixed all three that would be a pretty weird book. The only project I completed was Aeon which, oddly enough, I abandoned and then returned to. Something's not right in the state of Denmark. And by Denmark I mean my writing ambitions.

I already made a whiny, bitchy post about how frustrated I was, but don't worry: this isn't that over again. This is me trying to bring back the spark. Am I frustrated? Yeah, a bit. You don't write twelve novels and almost two million words without feeling a little sting when you realize you're still no closer than you were before to getting traditionally published. It also's frustrating when you go from being able to write five to six thousand words in a sitting to barely pulling a thousand a day, which is still far from bad but the degradation of the level of output is pretty jarring. I'm fully aware I've improved as an author over the past half-decade, and I'm pleased with where I've gotten to. I'm just curious how many more half-decades it's gonna be.

On that regard, here is the current writing lineup for the next few months. I'm determined to keep up on this. Despite the incredible amount of popularity my game review blog has been having (it still gets over 1,000 unique hits daily), it's going to need to take a backseat for a little bit until I get this all straightened out.

The following is in order of my priority, though all must be done before the start of July or else I'll go crazy.

1. Finish submitting Death's Aria to everybody and their mom

Pretty straightforward. I've been sitting on this book for ages and it's driving me nuts that I haven't done anything with it. Mostly because I haven't gotten around to doing my massive "Version 2.0" edit yet. Oh hey, speaking of that...

2. Do the massive "Version 2.0" edit of Death's Aria

I did something for the first time in my life today. I made a huge editing timeline in Word. I broke the entire book down by chapter, stating what happens in the current chapter, and what I want to have happen in revised chapters. Then we're going to go, chapter by chapter, until we hit all 28. I'm hoping 3-4 chapters a day for easy one, but the entire third act is being rewritten here, so that last bit may take a while. This book needs it.

3. Submit Aeon to everybody and their mom

I think Aeon has the best chance out of anything so far to go somewhere. It's tight, it's emotional, and it's unique (not to toot my own horn too much here...). I honestly believe it's the best thing I've ever written, and after some very minor changes (and fixing spelling errors) I think it's already set to go.

4. Figure out of Aeon is a novel or a novella

Still can't figure this out. It's at 42k, which is 2k over novella but I feel it's too short (and cuts out too abruptly) to be a novel. Or maybe not; I don't know, I'm not the expert on selling books. In either case, if it is to become a novel, it'll need to be longer. If it's a Novella, it can stay or get shortened a bit.

5. Write every day regardless of how I feel. Finish Night Terrors

I used to be good at this. In 2012, I wrote every single day, not missing a day, for eight months straight. Even when I was submitting, review writing, or editing I still wrote at least 1,000 new words every single day. Maybe it was burnout or something, but it's been hard to do that again. I need to get back into the groove. It's been going well with Night Terrors as of late, though I'm afraid I still slack off from time to time.

6. Oh yeah, I'm going to Grad School in Irvine. I guess I didn't post that on here, huh? 

I'm getting a Masters in CS with an emphasis on Informatics, basically it's UC Irvine's version of an HCI program. I start in September, so I'd imagine that'll keep me busy. I still fully intend to write, so long as I don't have to think about how much money I'm spending on schooling. Regardless, we'll have to figure out a move as well as a whole new life in a different state (I've been in Utah since 2007) so that should be an adventure.
Oh, and yes...I got into UC Irvine. Feel pretty good about myself for that.


Long post, not too interesting, point being I'm trying to make this count even if this summer is the "last hoorah" for this whole "writing" business. I think as a creative person one's greatest fear is not total, abrupt, jarring failure, but having something and losing it slowly. As Green Day put it, "I'm not growing up, I'm just burning out." Burning out is the worst thing that can happen creatively, and it's very easy to fall into the trap. Just don't be creative for long enough, and bam, it's over. Not good.

I'm not going to burn out, not yet. Though I dare say this might be my last chance at doing this. Though I intend to keep writing after leaving for school, there's a good chance I'll get my career out of this, and it isn't in writing. It hurts, because in truth being a published author was what I wanted more than anything, but I can once again quote another band in saying "you can't always get what you want." (Rolling Stones. Come on, don't be music philistines here)

Off we go!

Aeon - Postmortem

Aigis, from Persona 3

Aeon - Postmortem

Now that I've had a little bit of time to distance myself from Aeon (and prepare for my next projects), here's a brief blurb on how I designed, plotted, and was inspired to write the story, as well as some tidbits on its development. I will try to refrain from all spoilers.

Aeon was initially developed as a work of experimental fiction. I was playing Persona 4 Arena of all things, and one of the character's stories was from a robot's perspective. I liked the story reasonably well, but I felt it was lacking a good deal of information that would make her more interesting. So, I thought it might be cooler to write a story completely locked in a machine's perspective, just because it would be fun to try and "think" like a machine as I wrote.

The concepts that the story brings up regarding what makes a being sentient, the development of said sentience (are we born with it or do we learn it?), and the idea of a "ghost in a machine" and if you can kill said ghost are not necessarily new concepts, especially to sci-fi. However, I hadn't recalled someone telling the story strictly from a first-person's perpective of a robot. Most are in third-person, or deal with the concepts of robots wanting to "be human" or "feel love" or some such nonsense. I honestly never really thought this made sense as a robot "wanting" an emotion (such as Data having "desire" to have human emotions and tendencies in Star Trek: TNG basically means he already has emotions because he wants something) or the whole "what is love?" thing, because psychologists have defined love and broken it down and any robot would be able to just use that definition.

No, I want the story to be more on development, and how it would be different for a machine that was created to develop rather than a person. For those who know/don't know, I have a major in Psychology, but have always had a deep intrest in programming, robots, and computers (my original major was CS). Being able to combine both these things with my love of writing is where this story came from.

Back to inspirations, the Persona 4 thing also ties into Persona 3's Aigis (pictured above), who was starting point in terms of design for Seventy-Seven. Again; another game with a concept of a robot who has to learn things, but really is shoved aside and none of the deeper concepts examined. You could argue Data from TNG is also an inspiration, but I didn't start re-watching TNG until I was nearly done with the book, so I don't think it really applies.

Weirdly enough, the old anime Metropolis might have had the largest influence, despite me watching it nearly a decade ago. I re-watched it after finishing Aeon (and seriously, it's worth watching. It's still phenomenal) and many of the ideas regarding robotic development are there, even if they're a bit corny. It's also a visually striking picture, using a lot of contrasting art styles to paint a particular picture, and overall is just a great film if you like robots.

Initially, the story's point was extremely shallow, and it didn't have a plot arch. The story was designed to be simply the machine booting up, gaining sentience, and that was the end. I'll argue this is because it was "experimental," so I didn't want to dig to deep.

I added the concept of "Infusion" (no spoilers here) to the book after about the second chapter, which ties into the scientists' goals. I actually quit writing, however, about half-way through the third chapter. Partially because I sunk back into a writing rut, and also because I had no idea where this book was going.

Vita saved this book. The character and friend of Seventy-seven added an arch, character motivation, and lots of fun scenarios that made the book enjoyable to write again. It wasn't until I finalized that she should be in the story that everything came together, and the story essentially "wrote itself." It's worth noting I usually think of novels in terms of key scenes, usually an ending twist and one or two middle ones. All other scenes I often plan just the day before, when I go on walks and brainstorm the next chapters. I have a start and an end, but what happens in the middle is up to the magic of discovery writing.

But back to the point: Aeon ended up being much longer than I anticipated because it just ended up needing so much stuff to cram in. This was especially when the scientists started growing personalities and backstories that were necessary for the plot and actually proving relevant to the overarching story. Initially, they were all going to be bland and singular, a sort of contract to the extreme dynamic between the machines. While this might have been an interesting "moral message," in the end I tried fleshing them out a bit more (though early Alphas indicate it still might not be enough) and actually making them somewhat unique. Humanizing them made what they had to do all the more interesting, whereas if they'd simply been faceless beings their goals would have appeared shallow.

Overall, I enjoyed writing Aeon, more than most books I can think of in recent memory. It certainly had its moments where I got stuck or annoyed, but as a whole it was a very fun project to simply sit down and just churn stuff out. I got quite attached to all the characters, so much so that certain scenes were hard to write, and actually ending the novella was a bit sad because I knew I'd never revisit them. Either way, it was a fun experiment, and I'm glad I did it.

Moral: I should write more sci-fi.

Aeon Finished

My novel...or novella...or short novel...or whatever a 43,000 word thing is, Aeon, is now finished!

Hooray!

I guess I should do a stats thing.

AEON

Total Words: 43,160
Number of Chapters / Boot Cycles: 14 (counting the 0th)
Robots?: Yes 
Techno Babble: A whole lot yo

I realized I can't think of anything else that wouldn't be a spoiler, so that's all you get.

This isn't a very exciting post. I might do a post-mortem post soon (I want to start doing these with all my novels so I can remember what I was thinking when writing them).

I am uncertain what is next on my docket, but I'll be sure to let ya'll know. I should probably edit Death's Aria for reals this time.

I'm writing again.

Rather than extrapolate in great deal as to what I've been doing, I'm going to make this a "Quick Hits" so you can read it fast and get on with your day.

- I went to two days of LTUE (I had to work the other two). It was awesome. I met a lot of cool people at the signing and hung out with people I already knew on Saturday. I'm kind of over going to panels unless they REALLY interest me, and I'm thankful that I now know a lot of people (authors, agents, etc.) from across the spectrum so I can just ask them questions directly about things. If you spent time talking to me: thanks. I had a good time.

- Bec (mein wife) and I will be at Conduit, as DEALERS. Yes, we are peddling our perler wares this  May at SLC. We already have a booth bought. We will be there Friday and Saturday and will have tons of stuff up for sale. If you want to buy some perlers from us (as seen on the other blog), then please show up! We will be setting up an online shop as well if you don't like going outside.

- I have a new job that requires me to work graveyards. That's on a more personal note, but I figured somebody would be curious.

- I have been writing what started as a short story, called Aeon. I originally planned it to be a short story, but based on current length and planned projections it's certainly somewhere between novella and novel. Feedback so far has been overwhelming positive. It's my first venture into sci-fi, with the story being about a robot going from initial boot to sentience, from its first person perspective. It started as a writing experiment and kind of got out of control. If you'd like a copy after I finish, give me a hollar. I foresee good things with this.

- The next project is editing Death's Aria for reals though. I had an editor at LTUE tell me to send her stuff, and have had people I queried with Half asking me for something that wasn't vampire related. Since Death's Aria is probably the best thing I've written so far (obvious mistakes aside), I feel it is the next best shot.

- I'm seriously considering ePublishing a few of the backlog of novels. Not the truly awful ones, mind, but Half and Steelgods could probably do reasonably well finding a home on the Kindle store. We'll see how that develops.

That about covers it from me. I'm very excited about Aeon, and I'm glad to be writing again. Let's kickstart this into space.

Darkbound Review

Note: This is a review of an ARC provided by the author
Buy the novel here.

The Short
Pros
- Excellent starting setup
- Briskly paced and thrilling
- Some extremely intense suspense, particularly the first 1/2 of the novel
- I would argue this is one of Collings' best paced novels
- Ending twist is one you won't predict, but still is fantastic
- Short length makes for a quick, memorable read

Cons
- Way too much gore
- Seriously, it's almost gleeful it its grotesque violence, like the author was reveling in it
- Pacing and reveals near the end come a little too quickly and without enough foreshadowing
- Fantastic premise seems cheated out its full potential in leu of cheap thrills
- Epilogue is so predictable I knew what it was going to say before even reading it

The Long

There's no hiding that I'm a fan of Michaelbrent Collings' work. He's made a name for himself by consistently producing well edited, well paced thrillers that dip more than a toe into horror. Whenever I get one of his novels I know I need to stake out some time, because I'm not going to put it down until I finish it. So I was quite excited when this next novel, Darkbound, jumped onto the scene. Another horror novel in true Michalbrent Collings fashion? Yes, please.

So did Darkbound deliver? Well...sort of.

The premise is simple: six relative strangers get on a subway car together. Within moments, however, they realize something is wrong. The lights go out, only darkness can be seen out the windows, and they are seemingly trapped like fish in a barrel. Seeing as they range from kindly (an old latino grandmother) and downright hostile (a gang leader), tensions quickly escalate to levels near-murderous.

And that's before the supernatural killings begin.

The first part of Darkbound is excellent. It's incredibly suspenseful, with the personalities of these downright intimidating characters playing off each other in such a way you feel like you're sitting on a powder keg. These interactions remain the most entertaining parts of the novel, with the despicable and hostile characters constantly feeling like even a greater danger than the supernatural monstrosities hunting them.

It's unfortunate, then, that the novel seems to lose focus after the first killing.

I won't spoil anything here, but I will say this: Darkbound is gory. As in, stomach-churning, paragraph after paragraph of violent, horrific torture. Fingers being torn from sockets, dismemberment, pieces being painfully bent in unpleasant ways; you get the picture. And as someone who has been reading Michaelbrent's work for a while (as well as a child of the violent video game generation and a massive fan of horror films), this isn't unexpected. It's just...too much. Even for me.

Call me a wimp, but I like my gore to accent a story. Apparition, another of Michaelbrent's novels, has some downright nasty stuff in it, but it's tolerable because it's 1. Brief and 2. There as part of the story. The violence in Darkbound just feels mean-spirited. Did I really need three Kindle pages of this person being brutally tortured and executed? And while you could argue that (after reading the ending) this blood-filled horror was the point of the novel, it's still sickening. It's almost like it's reveling in itself as it goes on and on, so much so that I started just skimming the later deaths as I knew they wouldn't be adding much to the overarching story.

So how is the overarching story? Well, it's actually fairly clever. One part "Purgatory" and another "Saw," there's some genuinely disturbing and clever moments with what happens to these six unfortunate blighters (Olik's in particular was very suiting, if it perhaps could have been presented more tastefully). Call me demented, but I began to look forward to see what each person's demise would be. Unfortunately the cleverness in the kills was hampered by the copious flesh-rending.

The ending packs a twist I will openly admit I didn't see coming, and I actually thought was pretty cool. Though it could have done without the whole "recap," basically explaining the entire rest of the novel for those of us too dumb to pick up on subtlety. While I'll argue the final two scenes could have used a bit more foreshadowing, I still bought the massive twist. So if you're looking for a novel that'll catch you by surprise, this one's got you covered.

It's hard for me to come to a consensus on Darkbound. One part of me admits that I did read the whole novel in one sitting, unable to put it down until I found out how it ended. The other part remembers how my favorite (and most memorable) horror novels don't rely on being gory splatterfests to evoke "shock," instead building on the tension presented in the scenes. Darkbound has the latter in spades when the trapped victims "interact," but the second somebody died I sort of sighed and was left resigned. It wasn't scary, it was just cheap.

All that aside, Darkbound is deliciously paced, and still provides enough tension and shock (as well as that great twist) to be worth a read. I'm just hoping this "gore-horror" trend doesn't continue into future novels, as they tarnish otherwise excellent reads.

Three out of five stars.

Beginning Anew

With that downer of a note gracing my main page for the past bit of time, I figured I should put something less negative on here (as well as probably start blogging more reliably. Maybe? Maybe).

Here are a few things I've been doing:

- Working on a short sci-fi story called Aeon, which is currently in limbo because I am uncertain if I am currently skilled enough to finish it
- Re-reading Death's Aria in preparation for edits before submission
- Re-reading Half and Quarter, as I plan on e-publishing them a little while down the road (haven't decided when yet, but it is going to happen)
- Working on my newest novel, Morphean. By that I mean I just now made a .doc for it and will be starting it soon while editing Death's Aria

I realized that last year I abandoned a lot of projects. Naught But Glass (which was technically 2011 but I tried reviving it in 2012) made it three chapters before falling flat. A Straight Cut got all the way to the last 1/4 of the novel (the biggest reveal happened, everything went crazy, and I stopped. Not sure why) before it got put in the backburner. I believe that one was actually victim of "realizing that in order to make it work I would have to rewrite the first 1/4 of the novel" syndrome (aka "attack of the internal editor") and I lost drive to finish it. Lastly, Empty Pages, which I was very excited for also flubbed out after about five or six chapters. This one was mostly because I had an idea for an ending but one of the pieces I just couldn't latch together. Until I figured that out (which would make the twist make sense), I couldn't proceed as I had foreshadowing to do. So it kind of just died.

I also started Eighth (which I actually will finish, I assure you) but I decided it would be best to write something I could actually pitch, seeing as Eighth's grandaddy Half already got the reject stamp (it's what I get for trying to sell a vampire book in this day and age). So that one is down but not out.

I've found it very motivating to visit local bookstores, be they small one or chains. With this day of eBooks I usually can just buy anything I want to read off Amazon, but last night I had some free time and was in the area so I wandered around Barnes and Noble a bit. Walking through both the fantasy and especially YA sections I realized that I really wanted to have something on those shelves, and also I could totally write something that would work (or have already written something and haven't submitted it. Lookin' at you, Death's Aria). It was very motivating for writing and also uncorked that little well of writing ideas that's sort of been running dry these last few months.

I spent the rest of the evening plotting and devising the world for Morphean, a tentative title for a tentative series called "Dreamkiller Chronicles." Essentially our conscious thoughts and emotions create a sort of residual haze over everything (where do all those emotions/thought go after we dissipate them? To Morphean) kind of like a Wifi network I guess; a world we are always connected to but not aware of. When we dream we actually set foot in that world, but a few people can actually control how they react in their dreams and eventually break out, getting to the heart of Morphean. Of course, some people are scumbags and can bust into other people's dreams and corrupt them, essentially destroying their subconscious and killing the person. Can't let that happen.  

So it's Nightmare on Elm Street meets...I dunno, something else. Young adult. The funnest part is this story directly links to Death's Aria's world, but not so much that you'd have to have read the previous book to get it, just enough for some cameos. There's obviously more to the system than just that, but that's the basic gist. It's one part fantasy, one part the teen-empowerment stories that all YA novels are, and a big part mystery. Should be interesting. Maybe. Hopefully not a carbon-copy of Death's Aria.

Anyway I'm trying to start up writing again. I have been writing regularly for ARPGamer.com, as well as a bit on my video game blog, so those are available as well. That's it from me! I'll post less "here is Nathan's life" posts in the future.