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.

The Cheat is not Dead!

Yeah, a really old Homestar Runner reference for the title. I'm up with the times, yo.

So what have I been doing, you ask? Well, mostly making movies! I've made two movies in the past month, which is a pretty good clip if I do say so myself, with more on the way. They'll be going public sometime in October or November, so keep an eye out!

What about writing, you ask? Well...I'm actually writing a new novel! It's called Empty Pages and it's me doing the same approach I had with Half (only less breakneck): Write something that's fun, silly, and I don't worry too much about. Except this one is YA fantasy vs YA vampires, so there's that.

Not surprisingly, I ended up plotting a bit of it in my head, and the story got a bit dark. However, I'm still trying to keep it silly and fun, and I think it'll be a pretty good read. Plus it's getting me out of my writing slump, which is necessary.

So that's pretty much it from me here. Writing a new novel while scripting, recording, and editing videos (which is a lot of work). I'm also picking up reading again (finally) and doing the whole work thing (though I'm trying to find a full-time job). Fun times?

Anyway, expect some more info on Empty Pages as it comes. But for now I'll just dump some words:

Talking book
Librimancers
The Scribe
Nobleman-turned-thief
Burritos (not in the novel)

So that's it from me. Keep it real!

Still nottin'

So I haven't started writing again yet, mostly because nothing interests me. Though I did think of something I might try, which worked in May.

I wrote Half because I wanted to write an urban fantasy book where I just did whatever I wanted. It was hardly the deepest novel but it was fun and I really got into the voice presented. Quarter was that with more refinement, and again written in a short time span (three weeks vs two).

I also wrote Half because I was mad at A Straight Cut (and I'm still mad at it...that book's premise is cool but the story I wrote doesn't live up to it, at least not in its current state) and needed to just creatively explode all my pent up frustrations on something. Sort of a revival, of sorts.

I'm considering doing this again, but this time in a more traditional fantasy setting. Still YA (I'm probably pigeonholing myself into YA, but whatever...I like writing them more) but with more sillyness (like Half) then brooding depression darkness death (like every other YA novel I wrote). It'll be another book I don't care about if it's bad or good, just me throwing a character on a silly adventure.

If anything, it'll force me to start writing again, which is what I really need.

It isn't as if I've been unproductive. I'm currently alpha reading two novels, still writing game reviews on a nearly-daily basis on my video game blog, working on movies/videos for said video game blog, making perler bead sprites, working, and applying to grad schools. So yeah, been a bit busy. I also am trying to play the piano more, so add it to the list.

Regardless, I need to start writing again, because I'm frustrated that I'm not. That pretty much sums it up.

So expect some awesome writing soon. Also, editing Death's Aria and submitting it to everybody I just harassed with Half. What could possibly go wrong? :D

Fighting against the tide

Sisyphus vs Rock

Hello loyal blog followers (what's left of you, anyway). Wondering what the hell I've been doing? Yeah...me too.

I took July off (as mentioned in my previous update), but July is over so that technically is no longer relevant. I had every intent to write my middle-grade novel this month, but it's humor and I haven't been feeling very...humorous lately, so it's been slow going.

My current new plan is to dig up every random idea I've had over the past couple months (including those I've abandoned), write either the first chapter (in the case of new books) or next chapter (in the case of those with abandonment issues) and whichever sticks I'm writing. Except I'm not allowed to do Eighth, because if I do I'll just end up writing that, and the last thing we need is a third book in that series.

Speaking of which, Half queries are still out in the wild. I've had a handful of partial requests (though, oddly enough, not as many as Steelgods. I'll go on record and say Half is a better book, despite that) and a few personal responses (that's new), so yay for me. Once I feel enough time has passed (read: probably in September) I'm going to do Death's Aria. My goal was at least three books submitted this year and I currently have only done one, so I should probably get on that.

Regardless, as much as I'd love to keep writing Half books (which I can write quickly and get fun, cool ideas for relatively fast), there's no use in pushing sequels for a book that might not sell. I'll keep writing them in my free time (like Steelgods), but honestly if Half doesn't sell the rest are pretty much dead in the water. Which makes me kind of sad, but I brought it upon myself.

Speaking of which: those of you expecting the Quarter alpha...I apologize for how long it's taking me to edit this. Since I took July off and have since been sort of mulling around, I didn't ever finish the edit. I actually don't have much more left (though I have to rewrite a chapter), but once I get it finished it'll be headed towards your inboxes. Thanks for your patience.

Aside from that, my video game kickstarter exploded (thanks to everybody who contributed!) and so I'll also be working on providing some video content for that, which involves writing scripts. Am I spreading myself too thin? Probably, but that's hardly anything new. Here's hoping I can make something awesome. I'm actually quite excited to get all this figured out; learning something new has always been interesting for me.

In either case, I have no idea what I'm writing next (I should probably finish Half and Quarter edits...and A Straight Cut...and Naught But Glass) but I'll keep ya'll posted. I still plan on doing the next Steelgods book in September, if only to keep with the tradition (yet another sequel to a book that didn't sell...brilliant).

Keep on pushin...

Current Updates

Here's just a brief idea of what I've been up to:

- Preparing to make video reviews for my video game blog. Getting Final Cut Pro and a tutorial and starting tinkering around.
- Submitting Half to everything that moves. Had a few decent bites! (woo woo)
- Editing Quarter, doing my second minor edit of Half, and going back to Death's Aria
- NOT writing my middle grade book. I've written almost four books this year already, each on a deadline (all three of them took less than a month each) and I need a breather. Priming the pump or whatever. I'll start writing it once I feel the creative spark to write punch me in the face.
- Watched The Dark Knight Rises. Didn't like it. I'd promise a review, but I promise those all the time and then don't pull through. But I do want to write one.
- Enjoying taking a break from my hobbies. Sometimes I treat them with even more seriousness than my actual job (read: I do this all the time) and the stress is getting to me. A breather was necessary.
- I bought a Dreamcast (actually two Dreamcasts; one of the ones I bought was a model I didn't want...anybody want a Dreamcast?) and am enjoying playing games on that. Also bought like 50 NES games, so I have to burn through those.
- Considering writing scripts for previously mentioned movie reviews. They're gonna be crazy. Crazy AWESOME, or at least I hope.

That's it; just enjoying some laid-back summerness. I'll keep updating the Video Game Blog, but aside from that I'm on hiatus. I hope you are all having good summers as well!

Review: Apparition by Michaelbrent Collings

There is nothing I personally fear more than losing myself. Losing control of my emotions and making a mistake, failing to maintain dominance over my most basic of functions and becoming manipulated by some other, sinister force. I believe this is why the concept of possession is so chilling to many people: you lose what makes you YOU, so you still have to witness the awful consequences of your actions.

Apparition by Michaelbrent Collings is about parents killing their children. I'm not going to mince words here, this book deals with filicide. If that sort of thing bothers you even in the very slightest, you should probably avoid this book, because it will get in your head and royally mess you up. However, if you are the kind of person who loves books that get into your head and royally mess you up, then I really have a novel suggestion for you!

To put it into context: this book starts with a graphic description of filicide. Not so much that I'd consider it distasteful, but absolutely horrific enough to make me squirm uncomfortably. Which, considering I got this book to be scared, I'll write that down as a bullet point for the positive.

The story follows Shane and his two children, who are seeking answers in regards to why parents suddenly snap and murder their children. All the while dark things being creeping into their lives, influencing Shane and putting some rather awful thoughts into his head. Without spoiling much, I'll just say that as Shane gets closer and closer to finding the truth, he falls deeper and deeper into the abyss of madness.

Michaelbrent Collings is a master of building suspense, providing lulls that are still unnerving and then hitting you with big scares. I felt he did this near-perfectly in Rising Fears, while The Haunting had sections that felt a little long for me. In Apparition his pacing is at its finest: starting with a horrific, jolting scene to set the mood, and balancing the brief breathers with the heart-stopping horror. I literally read until three in the morning until I was so tired I passed out with Kindle in hand, and when I returned to the book I didn't stop until I had completely finished it.

While I'd argue this is my favorite of Michaelbrent's books I've read so far, I had two issues with it. The first is I never really had a grasp on Matthew's age, which kept throwing me off. He seemed particularly young considering how he talked (and was talked to) at the beginning, but then he'd observe things in his viewpoint that seemed way too old for his thought processes. A minor nitpick (especially since the teenage daughter was done so well), but enough to throw me off.

The other is the issue that horror masters have been battling since the genre began: that not seeing a monster is far more scary than when you actually reveal it. While I think Apparition did very well by concealing the true identity of the monster until the very end, once the reveal happened it was, as one expects, far less scary than anything I was speculating. A few of the final scenes even came off as a bit corny. This didn't detract from the absolutely bananas climax that Apparition has (not to mention the fantastic, fantastic epilogue that capstones this horror novel perfectly) but I often wonder if a horror book would work where we never actually see the big bad and only witness it's influence and awful aftermath. But that's not a question for this review.

Long story short, Apparition provides exactly as advertised: raw, unflinching horror speckled with gore and a healthy dose of "that's just wrong!" If you have any affinity for the horror genre whatsoever, I high suggest picking up this and all the rest of Michaelbrent Collings' works. Just be warned: this book was the first book I've ever read to give me nightmares, so maybe you should read it with all the lights on.

Four out of five stars. 

Nathan vs Video Games Kickstarter

(I'm reposting this from my video game blog. Please consider throwing a few bucks in my direction so I can make some awesome movies! :D)

I'm doing a kickstarter!

Like Let's Play's? Curious what I'd sound like on camera? Want me to play some REALLY AWFUL GAMES (Like PK Out of the Shadows on Gamecube) with commentary? Want to SUGGEST an awful game and have me review it ON VIDEO?

All this can be yours if you just contribute a few bucks to my kickstarter! RAD.

GO GIVE ME SOME MONEY! 

In all seriousness, I've been wanting to do video stuff for a while. I have a ton of video editing software already (hence why the kickstarter doesn't have to be too expensive) but I'd love to get a really nice capture card and maybe some good microphones and do some delicious video content. I can't guarantee it'll be all quality right out of the gate (hey, it's a learning experience) but I'm determined to make some awesome stuff should this get funded, and if anything watching me swear at Donald Duck while playing that awful PK game will probably be worth a couple bucks (in my humble opinion).

If you are interested, PLEASE go donate! As another cool bonus, if you donate $15 or more you get a PERLER BEAD sprite of your choice! Pretty rad, huh?

Share this around and we'll see how it goes! Thanks for contributing; and expect tons more content coming up in the next few weeks!

Quarter, book #10, complete!

In another three-week (and a day change) book blitz, the sequel to Half, Quarter, is completed! Huzzah and hooray!

I'm hungry and want dinner, so here's some really basic level stats:

Total words: 75,064

Total chapters: 27 (including the epilogue)

New main characters: 3-4

Fight scenes: 7 (if you count the final fight + car chase as two)

Vampires: JUST HALF OF ONE THIS TIME!!!!

So that's it. This is less exciting than the usual book finish posts, but hey...what do you expect? Next on the docket, werewolf uncles. See ya then.