Enjoy, and don't forget to comment over there!
Blaine
On sale now!
20111228
Writing Activity Detected
For both of you that care, I'm doing some posting over at Untitled Gaming regarding the games of 2011. I'd love it if you went over there and checked it out!
20111111
Winter is Coming
Yes, I haven't posted since August. Things got really, really busy on a professional level, and like a professional, I had to triage my personal life. One of the easiest things to discard, albeit temporarily, is this blog.
That being said, things have settled down a bit, for now, and I'm slowly coming to trust reality again. There were a couple weeks there where I was so worn down that I was literally having to devote energy into not poisoning my own thoughts. I know it sounds like crazy psycho-babble, but most people let a single event shape their perception of something, rather than letting the average experience from a large sample size inform their perspective. In this case, I was fighting against an extremely tough week that came after 6-8 hard weeks, and my mind wanted to blame 'the job.' My mind wanted to paint 'the job' in a very negative light, and hate it, and fear it, and just do whatever it took to get away from it.
That would've been stupid. My rational mind, though it was broken and bleeding, kept reminding me, 'you have a really great job.'
I'm a system administrator, in case you didn't know, and it's the best damn job in the world. It's hard, hard work, but it's always interesting, always changing, there's no college degree for it, and it makes you one of the elite that literally run the world.
Anyway, being a sysadmin is weird in that the job ramps up and down, seemingly at random. If shit is gonna break, it's gonna break one after another for a few weeks or months, and then things will be quiet for a few weeks or months. It's this way in the corporate world, at least. In the academic world, it's a little more predictable.
Getting back to the point, though, one of the hardest things to do is maintain a rational, detached perspective. It's like my dad always says, 'Quit being so fucking emotional.' Good advice.
But, if you're anything like me, you're a passionate person and you've made it this far due in part to the fact that you're a passionate person. Your emotions are what help propel you, but you have to know that they can work against you, too.
What I've found is that the higher you go, the more selective you have to be about when it's appropriate to let yourself really feel, and when it's not. It's okay to be a Klingon sometimes, but you have to be straight-up Vulcan at other times.
What's difficult is that we live in a time in which society insists that we cry, laugh, and express our true selves all the time, and even thinking about just shutting your damn mouth and shoving your feelings down is anathema, even nearly heretical, in this day and age.
See, I think that's stupid. I can't function in this world if I'm giving in to my feelings all the time, or even allowing myself to feel them. I have to be selective, or I can't be a productive, reasoned person.
A big part of the reason why I have a healthy marriage is I know when my feelings are wrong.
A big part of the reason that I've been able to salvage my professional life to the point where I'm working a 'real' job (I even have a cubicle) is I'm learning when to shut my mouth and turn my feelings off.
A big part of the reason that I have a few really great friends is because I'm getting better and better at not being that asshole that hijacks the conversation and makes it all about me when they need to talk something out.
I refuse to be one of the mewling, whimpering 'sensitive' guys. I'd rather be a man that has some goddam pride in himself.
Now, before one of you sensitive guys start crying and shrieking in the comments, let me frame all this in the context that I'm a strong believer in 'balance.' All things in this life must be balanced, including what I'm saying here. I've actually cried in front of my wife once or twice, and when I wasn't a drunk attention whore, it was for good reason. Passion and feelings are necessary to life, but I don't think people should be governed solely by them. Logic and reason MUST be able to override them if one is to truly enjoy life.
All things in balance.
I'd like to get back to writing more. I'm also thinking about posting over at Untitled Gaming again. Been doing a lot of gaming lately to help 'clear the mechanism'.
-Blaine
BTW - You should buy either a book or an ebook!
That being said, things have settled down a bit, for now, and I'm slowly coming to trust reality again. There were a couple weeks there where I was so worn down that I was literally having to devote energy into not poisoning my own thoughts. I know it sounds like crazy psycho-babble, but most people let a single event shape their perception of something, rather than letting the average experience from a large sample size inform their perspective. In this case, I was fighting against an extremely tough week that came after 6-8 hard weeks, and my mind wanted to blame 'the job.' My mind wanted to paint 'the job' in a very negative light, and hate it, and fear it, and just do whatever it took to get away from it.
That would've been stupid. My rational mind, though it was broken and bleeding, kept reminding me, 'you have a really great job.'
I'm a system administrator, in case you didn't know, and it's the best damn job in the world. It's hard, hard work, but it's always interesting, always changing, there's no college degree for it, and it makes you one of the elite that literally run the world.
Anyway, being a sysadmin is weird in that the job ramps up and down, seemingly at random. If shit is gonna break, it's gonna break one after another for a few weeks or months, and then things will be quiet for a few weeks or months. It's this way in the corporate world, at least. In the academic world, it's a little more predictable.
Getting back to the point, though, one of the hardest things to do is maintain a rational, detached perspective. It's like my dad always says, 'Quit being so fucking emotional.' Good advice.
But, if you're anything like me, you're a passionate person and you've made it this far due in part to the fact that you're a passionate person. Your emotions are what help propel you, but you have to know that they can work against you, too.
What I've found is that the higher you go, the more selective you have to be about when it's appropriate to let yourself really feel, and when it's not. It's okay to be a Klingon sometimes, but you have to be straight-up Vulcan at other times.
What's difficult is that we live in a time in which society insists that we cry, laugh, and express our true selves all the time, and even thinking about just shutting your damn mouth and shoving your feelings down is anathema, even nearly heretical, in this day and age.
See, I think that's stupid. I can't function in this world if I'm giving in to my feelings all the time, or even allowing myself to feel them. I have to be selective, or I can't be a productive, reasoned person.
A big part of the reason why I have a healthy marriage is I know when my feelings are wrong.
A big part of the reason that I've been able to salvage my professional life to the point where I'm working a 'real' job (I even have a cubicle) is I'm learning when to shut my mouth and turn my feelings off.
A big part of the reason that I have a few really great friends is because I'm getting better and better at not being that asshole that hijacks the conversation and makes it all about me when they need to talk something out.
I refuse to be one of the mewling, whimpering 'sensitive' guys. I'd rather be a man that has some goddam pride in himself.
Now, before one of you sensitive guys start crying and shrieking in the comments, let me frame all this in the context that I'm a strong believer in 'balance.' All things in this life must be balanced, including what I'm saying here. I've actually cried in front of my wife once or twice, and when I wasn't a drunk attention whore, it was for good reason. Passion and feelings are necessary to life, but I don't think people should be governed solely by them. Logic and reason MUST be able to override them if one is to truly enjoy life.
All things in balance.
I'd like to get back to writing more. I'm also thinking about posting over at Untitled Gaming again. Been doing a lot of gaming lately to help 'clear the mechanism'.
-Blaine
BTW - You should buy either a book or an ebook!
20110822
Should I Be Ashamed of My Reading?
I read. A lot. I always have 3-4 books going at once, and always make a point of stealing back at least part of my badly-raped* and beaten personal time to gaze upon my NookColor or iPad and consume the written word.
* - as opposed to 'well-raped?' Methinks this will not be a phrase that catches on with society at large.
My reading also goes through phases. Before I doused my brain in the Fiction Writing program at Columbia College Chicago, much of my reading was made up of Stephen King and some WWII non-fiction. While at Columbia, I stretched my boundaries a bit to include some of the required reading there. To say that I overdosed on so-called 'blue collar fiction' would be an incredible understatement. While some of it ranks among the greatest literature on which I've ever laid eyes, much of it was little more than a ticket for an undergrad student to name-drop, much in the way that those in the punk community compete to name-drop bands that no one else has heard of. During that time, I fled back to science fiction in a hardcore way, and rediscovered my love for Asimov, my complicated relationship with Heinlein, my deep respect for Clarke, and my torrid love affair with Herbert. All that haughty dislike for genre fiction and nose-in-the-air New Yorker shit drove me back to what fiction means to me, which is a temporary escape in which one can find themselves.
I don't want to read about what I can go outside and do. I want to read about history, I want to read about speculative ideas, I want to be transported to a world other than this.
Don DeGrazia's book, to my right, takes place in real world Chicago, but it's a life few ever get to experience. Best book by a CCC grad ever. Read it now.
Phew. Anyway.
After college, I settled down and got back to a lot of the non-fiction that I'd so enjoyed before. I absolutely buried myself in WWII for a while, and really came to learn at the foot of a lot of great military and world leaders. General Patton, in particular, came to be a hero of mine.
I eventually began to meander and my narrowed tastes began to diffuse again a bit. Spec fiction, straight sci-fi, horror, and that urban fantasy fiction thing began to creep back in, and I even stretched my non-fiction to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Now, though, I've been binging on licensed fiction, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.
I've been enjoying the books, namely the Star Wars and Warhammer 40k novels, but the Columbia College Fiction graduate in me is ashamed. I think that, maybe, a lot of these creative writing programs teach genre writers the same thing that bible camps teach homosexuals.
'We can help you. You're a sinner, and you should hate yourself, at least until you accept Christ / Tom Robbins as your savior. You don't really want to (write about space ships / have sex with butts), you want to fall in line and not upset the herd.'
I guess that's a little unfair, actually. It's not the genre I'm ashamed of, it's the fact that it's licensed fiction. Actually, no, it is fair, based on the looks I used to get when reading work aloud.
Maybe this is a rebellious phase. I spent a bunch of years reading some really serious shit, and it's been fun to just enjoy this stuff. And, the Star Wars label employs some damn good writers, too. These aren't bad books, they're just ... tainted.
Hey, but I'm having a great time, and that's what counts, right? It's not like I'll be walking down the street, only to be confronted by a bunch of ironic Mac-toting haughty jerkoffs, one of whom points at me and yells, 'That's him! He graduated from a creative writing program and read a prequel book to the Star Wars prequel films! FUCK HIM UP!' I sense that they'll beat me to death with Cormac McCarthy and Malcolm Gladwell. Fuck, that's depressing (actually, McCarthy's a great author, and I would feel honored to have my brains and blood spattered on a copy of 'The Road,' especially if it was autographed.)
Anyway, what say you? Should I be ashamed? Anyone out there read William Gibson? If so, where should I start with him? What else should I read?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you're looking for a good read yourself, check out my first novel (paperback & ebook direct from publisher), now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
-Blaine
* - as opposed to 'well-raped?' Methinks this will not be a phrase that catches on with society at large.
My reading also goes through phases. Before I doused my brain in the Fiction Writing program at Columbia College Chicago, much of my reading was made up of Stephen King and some WWII non-fiction. While at Columbia, I stretched my boundaries a bit to include some of the required reading there. To say that I overdosed on so-called 'blue collar fiction' would be an incredible understatement. While some of it ranks among the greatest literature on which I've ever laid eyes, much of it was little more than a ticket for an undergrad student to name-drop, much in the way that those in the punk community compete to name-drop bands that no one else has heard of. During that time, I fled back to science fiction in a hardcore way, and rediscovered my love for Asimov, my complicated relationship with Heinlein, my deep respect for Clarke, and my torrid love affair with Herbert. All that haughty dislike for genre fiction and nose-in-the-air New Yorker shit drove me back to what fiction means to me, which is a temporary escape in which one can find themselves.
I don't want to read about what I can go outside and do. I want to read about history, I want to read about speculative ideas, I want to be transported to a world other than this.
Don DeGrazia's book, to my right, takes place in real world Chicago, but it's a life few ever get to experience. Best book by a CCC grad ever. Read it now.
Phew. Anyway.
After college, I settled down and got back to a lot of the non-fiction that I'd so enjoyed before. I absolutely buried myself in WWII for a while, and really came to learn at the foot of a lot of great military and world leaders. General Patton, in particular, came to be a hero of mine.
I eventually began to meander and my narrowed tastes began to diffuse again a bit. Spec fiction, straight sci-fi, horror, and that urban fantasy fiction thing began to creep back in, and I even stretched my non-fiction to the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.
Now, though, I've been binging on licensed fiction, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.
I've been enjoying the books, namely the Star Wars and Warhammer 40k novels, but the Columbia College Fiction graduate in me is ashamed. I think that, maybe, a lot of these creative writing programs teach genre writers the same thing that bible camps teach homosexuals.
'We can help you. You're a sinner, and you should hate yourself, at least until you accept Christ / Tom Robbins as your savior. You don't really want to (write about space ships / have sex with butts), you want to fall in line and not upset the herd.'
I guess that's a little unfair, actually. It's not the genre I'm ashamed of, it's the fact that it's licensed fiction. Actually, no, it is fair, based on the looks I used to get when reading work aloud.
Maybe this is a rebellious phase. I spent a bunch of years reading some really serious shit, and it's been fun to just enjoy this stuff. And, the Star Wars label employs some damn good writers, too. These aren't bad books, they're just ... tainted.
Hey, but I'm having a great time, and that's what counts, right? It's not like I'll be walking down the street, only to be confronted by a bunch of ironic Mac-toting haughty jerkoffs, one of whom points at me and yells, 'That's him! He graduated from a creative writing program and read a prequel book to the Star Wars prequel films! FUCK HIM UP!' I sense that they'll beat me to death with Cormac McCarthy and Malcolm Gladwell. Fuck, that's depressing (actually, McCarthy's a great author, and I would feel honored to have my brains and blood spattered on a copy of 'The Road,' especially if it was autographed.)
Anyway, what say you? Should I be ashamed? Anyone out there read William Gibson? If so, where should I start with him? What else should I read?
Anyway, thanks for reading, and if you're looking for a good read yourself, check out my first novel (paperback & ebook direct from publisher), now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
-Blaine
20110820
On the Road Again
I'm taking a break from exploring the endless expanse known to some as 'the Midwest' to bring you some exciting news.
The first novel in my 'Endless Wars' series is FINALLY available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!
This has been a looong time coming, and I'm glad that we're finally here.
Also, it'll soon be up on the iBookstore. I'll blast something out when that happens.
To clarify, this is the same novel I released in 2009 with a different cover and a different font. If you wanna double-dip, my son's college fund thanks you.
Also, lulu.com still has the paperback and ebook available, and I actually make more money if you buy it that route.
Lastly, the ebook that is available through Lulu is fully compatible with Kindle and Nook. It's a DRM-free .epub file, so you'll have no trouble moving it from your computer to the ereader via USB.
If you haven't read it, it's the first book I wrote, way back in the 90s, and it may have accidentally triggered that whole 'urban gothic fiction' thing, though it actually has more in common with Star Wars than it does True Blood.
True Blood is a fine series, but it's not the kind of thing I'd ever write.
A Matter of Perspective
So, I'm fleshing out the story of my 'interactive novel' phone app, and I'm still going back and forth about the perspective in the writing. First, second, and third person are all on the table. I have a natural dislike for second person, because I'm not a pretentious fuckwad, and omniscient third person just doesn't seem right for a tale that's relying heavily on mystery. A lot of the game will be the reader controlling where the main character goes, what the main character says, and ultimately, what situation the main character ends up in. What do you think?
I've even given thought to breaking the fourth wall a bit, and forging a relationship between the main character and the reader, but we'll see. How do you feel when the author breaks the fourth wall.
I'm also still hashing out how to have a 'save game' that will a) save the reader's place AND choices, and b) port into the next volume and carry over the reader's choices. Anyone got any pro-tips?
Wedding Receptions
LOOK, if you're going to ask a guy to drive his family and three dogs across the midwest for your wedding, I would like it, NEIGH, I demand that you not serve ONLY diet vegan rabbit food at your reception. I get that you're into the whole 'fitness' thing, but GODDAM! I'm dieting, yes, but I'm doing so by eating normal portions of normal food, not by punishing my taste buds. The next time I walk up to a buffet table and see only carrots, cauliflower, strawberries, and other wild animal food, I may just flip the motherfucker over.
Sitting through a wedding is tough enough. Weddings are a whole lot of 'hurry up and wait.' To then symbolically knee someone in the groin by trying to ram bunny food down their throats is just uncalled for.
ON TOP OF THAT, if you're not gonna have soft drinks ... I don't know what to tell you. I'm an alcoholic meat eater. It's as if this reception was designed specifically to repel my presence. I don't drink and I eat good food. Bizarro Me would've been fine. The version of me that pounds the booze, wolfs down veggies, uses a Mac (oblivious to the irony of being a computer geek and using a Mac), pounds other man butts, and drives American cars would've been just fine at this reception.
Alas, this me has fucking standards, and was saved only by the courage and determination of a kind soul that must've seen the agony rippling through the crowd as the reality of the food selection eventually took hold.
In a single act of bravery, someone whipped up a white sauce chicken pasta, and delivered all of us from the evils of the Vegan Empire.
It was as if Bill Pullman burst into the kitchen and began yelling, 'WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! WE WILL HAVE CHICKEN ON THIS DAY!'
I wanted to hug someone.
Understand, as well, that I was dealing with some things. There's a lot of drama at work right now, we are watching my parents' dogs, one of whom can make noise all night, we drove through horrid St. Louis traffic, right into two-hour Indianapolis construction traffic, followed by our dog keeping us up all night, and then I woke up with back spasms, so I took three Tylenol that were in the Tylenol bottle, except they were actually Tylenol PM, and it was a couple hours before the wedding, sooo ... yeah, the whole thing was kinda screwed up. I'm just glad that my relatives are super-cool and put up with my ass-ness.
That is all. If you haven't bought a book, please take a look at it.
Thanks, all! Leave a comment! I love to have discussions!
-Blaine
Also, it'll soon be up on the iBookstore. I'll blast something out when that happens.
To clarify, this is the same novel I released in 2009 with a different cover and a different font. If you wanna double-dip, my son's college fund thanks you.
Also, lulu.com still has the paperback and ebook available, and I actually make more money if you buy it that route.
Lastly, the ebook that is available through Lulu is fully compatible with Kindle and Nook. It's a DRM-free .epub file, so you'll have no trouble moving it from your computer to the ereader via USB.
If you haven't read it, it's the first book I wrote, way back in the 90s, and it may have accidentally triggered that whole 'urban gothic fiction' thing, though it actually has more in common with Star Wars than it does True Blood.
True Blood is a fine series, but it's not the kind of thing I'd ever write.
A Matter of Perspective
So, I'm fleshing out the story of my 'interactive novel' phone app, and I'm still going back and forth about the perspective in the writing. First, second, and third person are all on the table. I have a natural dislike for second person, because I'm not a pretentious fuckwad, and omniscient third person just doesn't seem right for a tale that's relying heavily on mystery. A lot of the game will be the reader controlling where the main character goes, what the main character says, and ultimately, what situation the main character ends up in. What do you think?
I've even given thought to breaking the fourth wall a bit, and forging a relationship between the main character and the reader, but we'll see. How do you feel when the author breaks the fourth wall.
I'm also still hashing out how to have a 'save game' that will a) save the reader's place AND choices, and b) port into the next volume and carry over the reader's choices. Anyone got any pro-tips?
Wedding Receptions
LOOK, if you're going to ask a guy to drive his family and three dogs across the midwest for your wedding, I would like it, NEIGH, I demand that you not serve ONLY diet vegan rabbit food at your reception. I get that you're into the whole 'fitness' thing, but GODDAM! I'm dieting, yes, but I'm doing so by eating normal portions of normal food, not by punishing my taste buds. The next time I walk up to a buffet table and see only carrots, cauliflower, strawberries, and other wild animal food, I may just flip the motherfucker over.
Sitting through a wedding is tough enough. Weddings are a whole lot of 'hurry up and wait.' To then symbolically knee someone in the groin by trying to ram bunny food down their throats is just uncalled for.
ON TOP OF THAT, if you're not gonna have soft drinks ... I don't know what to tell you. I'm an alcoholic meat eater. It's as if this reception was designed specifically to repel my presence. I don't drink and I eat good food. Bizarro Me would've been fine. The version of me that pounds the booze, wolfs down veggies, uses a Mac (oblivious to the irony of being a computer geek and using a Mac), pounds other man butts, and drives American cars would've been just fine at this reception.
Alas, this me has fucking standards, and was saved only by the courage and determination of a kind soul that must've seen the agony rippling through the crowd as the reality of the food selection eventually took hold.
In a single act of bravery, someone whipped up a white sauce chicken pasta, and delivered all of us from the evils of the Vegan Empire.
It was as if Bill Pullman burst into the kitchen and began yelling, 'WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT! WE WILL HAVE CHICKEN ON THIS DAY!'
I wanted to hug someone.
Understand, as well, that I was dealing with some things. There's a lot of drama at work right now, we are watching my parents' dogs, one of whom can make noise all night, we drove through horrid St. Louis traffic, right into two-hour Indianapolis construction traffic, followed by our dog keeping us up all night, and then I woke up with back spasms, so I took three Tylenol that were in the Tylenol bottle, except they were actually Tylenol PM, and it was a couple hours before the wedding, sooo ... yeah, the whole thing was kinda screwed up. I'm just glad that my relatives are super-cool and put up with my ass-ness.
That is all. If you haven't bought a book, please take a look at it.
Thanks, all! Leave a comment! I love to have discussions!
-Blaine
20110812
Sycophants and Ass-Clowns
First of all, if you're hitting this blog via the front page, please allow me to apologize for that Star Wars music that just auto-played. I hate that shit, too, but I didn't realize, two posts ago, that video was an auto-play when I embedded it. My bad. Just take a moment, scroll down, and pause it.
I'll wait.
Okay, so before I begin this tirade, I want to point you to a really good blog.
If you like this blog, but find yourself longing for something that's written much more coherently, and caters much more specifically to those that are interested in the craft of writing, and has fewer run-on sentences, and is less of a shambolic shithole, please allow me to introduce you to Fists & Angels, Christs & Angels. It's written by one of my good buddies, Bucho. We used to be super-tight, but then he turned into a better writer than I am, so fuck him.
Also, fake beer can really hit the spot on a Friday night when buried in your creative mental space. Yes, I'm THAT guy, now.
The title of this post ... it came from a conversation that I was having with some friends at work ... I vent a considerable amount lately, and for good reason. I vent for good reasons that I'm not going to get into here, but if you know me, you know what the deal is. The short version is that I plopped down in the chair next to Captain Butthurt's cubicle and muttered, 'I am so sick of dealing with sycophants and ass-clowns.' Yeah, there's some shit going down that I'm part of, but I'll survive it one way or another.
ANYWAY, the Captain said I had to use 'Sycophants and Ass-Clowns' as this weekend's post title. Since I do what I'm told, I did.
Truth
I sometimes fantasize about the inevitable future. Right now, the world is controlled by money, but eventually, all of us SysAdmins are going to rise up and grab them by the surprisingly undersized balls and demand a change.
You see, we control the world.
You don't necessarily know it right now, but your computer was able to be manufactured because several sysadmins allowed it to happen via networking and server administration. Your internet connection is maintained by an army of sysadmins. Your power stays on because sysadmins allow it by making sure that the right servers can talk to the right systems, in addition to maintaining the networking that goes into that.
We control the lights. We control the TV. We control the internet. We control the phones. We control the traffic lights. We control the porn. We control Justin Bieber. We control the world.
One day, reality TV will go away, or I will rally the troops and bring this world to its fucking knees.
Just think about it.
Network Programming
I want to talk about Alphas and Falling Skies for a moment.
It's rare that a major network doesn't fall upon its own sword to avoid producing a good science fiction series. Somehow, Falling Skies managed to become quite good after 2-3 episodes.
What it did well was follow the Walking Dead roadmap. It treated the aliens as a device, rather than as a focus, and shifted the emphasis to the people, and how they re-learn to live their lives.
While it's not nearly as good as The Walking Dead, it definitely filled a niche this summer.
If it wants to reach The Walking Dead status, it needs to make the characters more interesting, and stop just relying on conflict to achieve that. Conflict can be a good way to engage the viewer, but it gets tiresome if that's all that's going on.
They did seem to catch onto this a bit as the eight-episode season went on, but the show hasn't truly blossomed yet.
As for Alphas, this is my new SyFy show. This one has been solid from the pilot on. The characters are engaging and sympathetic, and the plots have been fun. It really is Heroes + X-Files.
If I had to recommend one new show for the summer, it would be Alphas.
That Phone App
The Windows Phone app is proceeding apace. I've been looking at approaches to the game logic, as well as incubating the 'story' in my head. I use quotes because it's not one linear story. If a story is a thread, this is a tapestry.
The logic part is challenging because this can really be approached a number of different ways. I could have a left-to-right branching series that starts skinny on the left, gets fat in the middle, then gets skinny again on the right, then gets fat again going further right, then gets skinny again, etc. I could also use an Enum, as suggested by Captain Butthurt, to tick a set of events, that once fulfilled, opens the next section, then repeats a few times. Additionally, I could also plant a few key decisions in a branching series that then set the path to one of several middle points, which then each open up to their own sets of branches, wash, rinse, repeat.
So, I've got some planning to do, then some writing, then some coding, and then a cigarette.
That Science Fiction Novel
This coming along well, if in a somewhat halted fashion. This is the first novel I've ever written in which I get self-conscious. It's very unlike me, but I'm really pushing things in a VERY adult direction, a la Battlestar Galactica or The Walking Dead, but with a dash of Firefly. I think part of my discomfort comes from the fact that I'm working in the holiest of genres for the first time, so I'm having to relearn my approach somewhat.
Also, this is the first book I've ever written while not totally shitfaced most of the time, so I'm having to rebuild my process somewhat. A writer gives him or herself permission to do a lot more when they're 'altered' while writing, and that can be a very potent thing, and I've handcuffed myself somewhat in terms of the creative process.
So, I'm loving this book so far, even if it makes me a little nuts sometimes. I think I'm lingering too long on certain characters, but it's because I'm so interested in them, and that's what editing's for, dammit.
Where the hell is the next Endless Wars novel?
It'll come. Not soon, though. There are other projects I want to get out the door first, and that's a series that's complicated for me to approach now.
Book Recommendations
I need some good non-licensed works reading. What ya got?
-Blaine
Soundtrack
Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog
Pearl Jam - The Fixer
Eddie Vedder - Can't Keep
Rob Zombie - Werewolf Women of the SS
Tres Mts. - She's My New Song
Rob Zombie - The Man Who Laughs
Tres Mts. - God Told Me
Brad - Luxury Car
Rob Zombie - Sick Bubblegum
Eddie Vedder - Dream a Little Dream With Me
Limp Bizkit - Loser
Avenged Sevenfold - Welcome to the Family
Brad - Runnin' For Cover
Foo Fighters - Dear Rosemary
Slash - We're All Gonna Die
Chris Cornell - Long Gone
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Them Crooked Vultures - Spinning in Daffodils
Alice in Chains - Your Decision
Korn - Pop a Pill
I'll wait.
Okay, so before I begin this tirade, I want to point you to a really good blog.
If you like this blog, but find yourself longing for something that's written much more coherently, and caters much more specifically to those that are interested in the craft of writing, and has fewer run-on sentences, and is less of a shambolic shithole, please allow me to introduce you to Fists & Angels, Christs & Angels. It's written by one of my good buddies, Bucho. We used to be super-tight, but then he turned into a better writer than I am, so fuck him.
Also, fake beer can really hit the spot on a Friday night when buried in your creative mental space. Yes, I'm THAT guy, now.
The title of this post ... it came from a conversation that I was having with some friends at work ... I vent a considerable amount lately, and for good reason. I vent for good reasons that I'm not going to get into here, but if you know me, you know what the deal is. The short version is that I plopped down in the chair next to Captain Butthurt's cubicle and muttered, 'I am so sick of dealing with sycophants and ass-clowns.' Yeah, there's some shit going down that I'm part of, but I'll survive it one way or another.
ANYWAY, the Captain said I had to use 'Sycophants and Ass-Clowns' as this weekend's post title. Since I do what I'm told, I did.
Truth
I sometimes fantasize about the inevitable future. Right now, the world is controlled by money, but eventually, all of us SysAdmins are going to rise up and grab them by the surprisingly undersized balls and demand a change.
You see, we control the world.
You don't necessarily know it right now, but your computer was able to be manufactured because several sysadmins allowed it to happen via networking and server administration. Your internet connection is maintained by an army of sysadmins. Your power stays on because sysadmins allow it by making sure that the right servers can talk to the right systems, in addition to maintaining the networking that goes into that.
We control the lights. We control the TV. We control the internet. We control the phones. We control the traffic lights. We control the porn. We control Justin Bieber. We control the world.
One day, reality TV will go away, or I will rally the troops and bring this world to its fucking knees.
Just think about it.
Network Programming
I want to talk about Alphas and Falling Skies for a moment.
It's rare that a major network doesn't fall upon its own sword to avoid producing a good science fiction series. Somehow, Falling Skies managed to become quite good after 2-3 episodes.
What it did well was follow the Walking Dead roadmap. It treated the aliens as a device, rather than as a focus, and shifted the emphasis to the people, and how they re-learn to live their lives.
While it's not nearly as good as The Walking Dead, it definitely filled a niche this summer.
If it wants to reach The Walking Dead status, it needs to make the characters more interesting, and stop just relying on conflict to achieve that. Conflict can be a good way to engage the viewer, but it gets tiresome if that's all that's going on.
They did seem to catch onto this a bit as the eight-episode season went on, but the show hasn't truly blossomed yet.
As for Alphas, this is my new SyFy show. This one has been solid from the pilot on. The characters are engaging and sympathetic, and the plots have been fun. It really is Heroes + X-Files.
If I had to recommend one new show for the summer, it would be Alphas.
That Phone App
The Windows Phone app is proceeding apace. I've been looking at approaches to the game logic, as well as incubating the 'story' in my head. I use quotes because it's not one linear story. If a story is a thread, this is a tapestry.
The logic part is challenging because this can really be approached a number of different ways. I could have a left-to-right branching series that starts skinny on the left, gets fat in the middle, then gets skinny again on the right, then gets fat again going further right, then gets skinny again, etc. I could also use an Enum, as suggested by Captain Butthurt, to tick a set of events, that once fulfilled, opens the next section, then repeats a few times. Additionally, I could also plant a few key decisions in a branching series that then set the path to one of several middle points, which then each open up to their own sets of branches, wash, rinse, repeat.
So, I've got some planning to do, then some writing, then some coding, and then a cigarette.
That Science Fiction Novel
This coming along well, if in a somewhat halted fashion. This is the first novel I've ever written in which I get self-conscious. It's very unlike me, but I'm really pushing things in a VERY adult direction, a la Battlestar Galactica or The Walking Dead, but with a dash of Firefly. I think part of my discomfort comes from the fact that I'm working in the holiest of genres for the first time, so I'm having to relearn my approach somewhat.
Also, this is the first book I've ever written while not totally shitfaced most of the time, so I'm having to rebuild my process somewhat. A writer gives him or herself permission to do a lot more when they're 'altered' while writing, and that can be a very potent thing, and I've handcuffed myself somewhat in terms of the creative process.
So, I'm loving this book so far, even if it makes me a little nuts sometimes. I think I'm lingering too long on certain characters, but it's because I'm so interested in them, and that's what editing's for, dammit.
Where the hell is the next Endless Wars novel?
It'll come. Not soon, though. There are other projects I want to get out the door first, and that's a series that's complicated for me to approach now.
Book Recommendations
I need some good non-licensed works reading. What ya got?
-Blaine
Soundtrack
Red Fang - Prehistoric Dog
Pearl Jam - The Fixer
Eddie Vedder - Can't Keep
Rob Zombie - Werewolf Women of the SS
Tres Mts. - She's My New Song
Rob Zombie - The Man Who Laughs
Tres Mts. - God Told Me
Brad - Luxury Car
Rob Zombie - Sick Bubblegum
Eddie Vedder - Dream a Little Dream With Me
Limp Bizkit - Loser
Avenged Sevenfold - Welcome to the Family
Brad - Runnin' For Cover
Foo Fighters - Dear Rosemary
Slash - We're All Gonna Die
Chris Cornell - Long Gone
Deftones - Diamond Eyes
Them Crooked Vultures - Spinning in Daffodils
Alice in Chains - Your Decision
Korn - Pop a Pill
20110806
Commence the Interactive Story Phone App ... NOW!
I talked before about making an interactive story app for Windows Phone. Well, now it's happening.
I finally dove headlong into educating myself more on C# yesterday, and emerged with a functional proof-of-concept. I built a very basic app that allowed me, in my Windows Phone Emulator, to tap a button that took me to another page, both of which had custom content on them.
From there, I did a few more hours of self-education and testing, just to see if I had the right feel for the actual building process, as well as to refine it, and then it was time to start thinking about the story itself, and how best to use the interactive process to tell it.
After that, I had to step outside for a smoke and think for a bit ... I've written novels, screenplays, short stories, poems, essays, love letters, lyrics, and I even dabbled a bit with interactive fiction back in college, in a class that combined .html with interactive fiction. Great class (tip o' the hat to Deb Lewis, who taught the course.)
One of the ideas I had in my head was my favorite part of any Bioware game, which is the dialogue and choices. Both branch, but only a little.
The thing about a branching story, though, is that the author has to reconcile each of those branches.
What I've usually seen done is a very cheesedick approach, in which the branches all reconcile to one or two main stories, or some just result in death (which, actually, if logically implemented, is valid), and ultimately, it's just unsatisfying.
However, the amount of writing it takes for a branching story is a staggering prospect. Just do the math.
And, I haven't even talked about the creative problems with it. Any good novelist can tell you that they have a 'feel' for the best possible thread through their story. Deviations from that thread feel wrong. Now, give the reader control, while remembering that Jersey Shore, Fox News, and Dancing With the Stars all pull down great ratings. There are a lot of stupid fucking people out there, and it's hard to even conceive of writing for them. Writing scripts for the previously mentioned programs has gotta be hell for the soul (and yes, they're scripted. Just look at how well things come together and how there's always a camera where there needs to be one.)
So, I think I'm going to have a 'right' main story that one can follow loosely, with groupings of events, in which that group of events can be completed in any order, with each one slightly varied by the order in which you approach them.
What I really want to do, though, is create a very twisted environment to which the reader will want to return and in which the reader will want to explore. I want to make a lot of dialogues and exploration optional, so that people can customize the experience for themselves. I want to create characters that readers will want to come back and get to know better, not just in this volume, but in future stories that take place in this small, weird, little Missouri town, known as Epitaph.
One of the last things that I did last night was use Visio to create a map of the town, so that I could start creating the lore of the town in my head, and it was the perfect idea, because I realize, as I was laying out the town, that there's a small area of the town in which the roads just stop, and in which no one lives. It used to be there, and now it's not. Also, there seems to be a trail of sorts, in which other roads are damaged, and it seems to lead to the woods just beyond the town ...
I've also got a story that's a combination of familiar folk tales and a friend's bitch of an ex-wife. It's going to be great.
The big thing I'm going for here, though, is environment and characters. Typically, plot and characters always come first for me, but I really wanted to use this as a chance to really build 'storytelling via the environment,' by which I can let the world and the look it looks, smells, and feels tell a lot of the story for me.
Also, as a means of keeping all the branches organized, I'll be using a Visio for that, as well, since it's one of the greatest applications ever for damn near everything.
Lastly, I wanted to gush a bit about how easy building a Windows Phone 7 App via Visual Studio 2010 is. I am, by no means, the world's most proficient programmer, by any stretch of the imagination, but the tools that Microsoft provides for developing WP7 apps are fantastic, as are the tutorials they provide. If you've never programmed before, this is a great entry point. I've got a year of C, a year of Java, and some Python and C# here and there, and I walked into this and just built an app after a few hours of tutorials and playing with it. I didn't even start at the baby levels of tutorials, either. Those really are built for folks that have NEVER programmed, so get on it! Get a Windows Phone and start making that app that you've always wished existed.
Ultimately, I'm trying to reshape the way stories are told in the modern world. No one's really doing it right anymore, and I'd like to take a shot at it.
What do you think? How would you like to see stories told now? Who does it really well? Who sucks at it the most?
-Blaine
Soundtrack
Chickenfoot - Future is the Past
Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants - Death March
Gregg Allman - Reconsider Baby
Serj Tankian - Beethoven's Cunt (live)
Eddie Vedder - Once in a While
Them Crooked Vultures - New Fang
Eddie Vedder - Sleeping By Myself
Them Crooked Vultures - Bandoliers
I finally dove headlong into educating myself more on C# yesterday, and emerged with a functional proof-of-concept. I built a very basic app that allowed me, in my Windows Phone Emulator, to tap a button that took me to another page, both of which had custom content on them.
From there, I did a few more hours of self-education and testing, just to see if I had the right feel for the actual building process, as well as to refine it, and then it was time to start thinking about the story itself, and how best to use the interactive process to tell it.
After that, I had to step outside for a smoke and think for a bit ... I've written novels, screenplays, short stories, poems, essays, love letters, lyrics, and I even dabbled a bit with interactive fiction back in college, in a class that combined .html with interactive fiction. Great class (tip o' the hat to Deb Lewis, who taught the course.)
One of the ideas I had in my head was my favorite part of any Bioware game, which is the dialogue and choices. Both branch, but only a little.
The thing about a branching story, though, is that the author has to reconcile each of those branches.
What I've usually seen done is a very cheesedick approach, in which the branches all reconcile to one or two main stories, or some just result in death (which, actually, if logically implemented, is valid), and ultimately, it's just unsatisfying.
However, the amount of writing it takes for a branching story is a staggering prospect. Just do the math.
And, I haven't even talked about the creative problems with it. Any good novelist can tell you that they have a 'feel' for the best possible thread through their story. Deviations from that thread feel wrong. Now, give the reader control, while remembering that Jersey Shore, Fox News, and Dancing With the Stars all pull down great ratings. There are a lot of stupid fucking people out there, and it's hard to even conceive of writing for them. Writing scripts for the previously mentioned programs has gotta be hell for the soul (and yes, they're scripted. Just look at how well things come together and how there's always a camera where there needs to be one.)
So, I think I'm going to have a 'right' main story that one can follow loosely, with groupings of events, in which that group of events can be completed in any order, with each one slightly varied by the order in which you approach them.
What I really want to do, though, is create a very twisted environment to which the reader will want to return and in which the reader will want to explore. I want to make a lot of dialogues and exploration optional, so that people can customize the experience for themselves. I want to create characters that readers will want to come back and get to know better, not just in this volume, but in future stories that take place in this small, weird, little Missouri town, known as Epitaph.
One of the last things that I did last night was use Visio to create a map of the town, so that I could start creating the lore of the town in my head, and it was the perfect idea, because I realize, as I was laying out the town, that there's a small area of the town in which the roads just stop, and in which no one lives. It used to be there, and now it's not. Also, there seems to be a trail of sorts, in which other roads are damaged, and it seems to lead to the woods just beyond the town ...
I've also got a story that's a combination of familiar folk tales and a friend's bitch of an ex-wife. It's going to be great.
The big thing I'm going for here, though, is environment and characters. Typically, plot and characters always come first for me, but I really wanted to use this as a chance to really build 'storytelling via the environment,' by which I can let the world and the look it looks, smells, and feels tell a lot of the story for me.
Also, as a means of keeping all the branches organized, I'll be using a Visio for that, as well, since it's one of the greatest applications ever for damn near everything.
Lastly, I wanted to gush a bit about how easy building a Windows Phone 7 App via Visual Studio 2010 is. I am, by no means, the world's most proficient programmer, by any stretch of the imagination, but the tools that Microsoft provides for developing WP7 apps are fantastic, as are the tutorials they provide. If you've never programmed before, this is a great entry point. I've got a year of C, a year of Java, and some Python and C# here and there, and I walked into this and just built an app after a few hours of tutorials and playing with it. I didn't even start at the baby levels of tutorials, either. Those really are built for folks that have NEVER programmed, so get on it! Get a Windows Phone and start making that app that you've always wished existed.
Ultimately, I'm trying to reshape the way stories are told in the modern world. No one's really doing it right anymore, and I'd like to take a shot at it.
What do you think? How would you like to see stories told now? Who does it really well? Who sucks at it the most?
-Blaine
Soundtrack
Chickenfoot - Future is the Past
Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants - Death March
Gregg Allman - Reconsider Baby
Serj Tankian - Beethoven's Cunt (live)
Eddie Vedder - Once in a While
Them Crooked Vultures - New Fang
Eddie Vedder - Sleeping By Myself
Them Crooked Vultures - Bandoliers
20110725
Test Drives & Deep Star Wars Thoughts
First, I am testing out the Windows Live Writer blogging tool, to see if it’s something that is more than tolerable. The jury is still out, even after two sentences.
I’m becoming more and more of a ‘Windows guy’ as time goes on, and I’m disturbed at how undisturbed I am by this notion. In many contexts, generic humans cast Microsoft in a light that is more than familiar to Emperor Palpatine, the Borg Queen, and Dubya. I do not dispute this choice, but I will assert that many of the tools that they produce are now very familiar sights in my various creative toolboxes, whether we’re talking sysadmin or author.
Yes, I still use Linux at home for a lot of things, and I will always insist that everyone maintain at least a couple Linux boxes at home, because is just flat-out better for a lot of things.
That being said, I’ve found that Microsoft has really revamped a lot of their approach and have been very smart about making very smart tools, such as Windows Live Writer, which I’m liking more and more as this post goes on.
At work, I’ve fallen in love with using tools like Hyper-V and Service Center Virtual Machine Manager, and look forward to the new releases of each.
On the writing and publishing front, I’ve switched over to Office 2010, Skydrive, and Office 365 for being able to work on my various projects from anywhere, anytime. Hell, I’ve even switched to a Windows Phone, and will probably be developing an interactive story app for it some time this year or next.
Yup, in short, I’m a total sellout and Microsoft whore.
In other news …
My good friend (and mega Linux advocate) John had a very interesting comment recently, regarding the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailers that get trotted at each major gaming show. Before I share his wisdom, let me show you the latest one, for context’s sake …
Purrrty ,,,
While I’m always blown away by them, I’m always a little bothered by the fact that these aren’t really representative of the game. The game looks fantastic, and I try to view these trailers as short films that simply lay the foundation for the fiction of this particular slice of the Star Wars mythology.
John, though, had a very simple take on them. He asserted that LucasFilm should just start making movies like this. He wants new Star Wars films that are crafted using these same tools, and in the same style.
At first, I disputed this, and cited cost and time as obvious restraints. He swatted away my concerns like so many annoying gnats, and the more I think about it, the more I think I agree with him. I mean, if anyone could afford such a venture, wouldn’t it be G-Lu? And, if any CGI feature were going to rake in some mega-bucks, wouldn’t it be Star Wars?
I sarcastically thank him for planting such an unwatered seed in my brain.
What say you?
In closing …
Real work has been real work, so the writing has hit a wall, but I plan to get back on the horse this week. My space opera needs to be shared …
I’ve been absolutely sucking down one Star Wars novel after another lately. I don’t know why I’ve suddenly gone crazy over Star Wars fiction, but I have.
My Star Trek Online mission/mod took a turn for the campy about a month ago, and I stopped. I’m going to blow out my last map and redo it in a fashion more suited for the ‘modern’ era Star Trek.
My plans for a horror collection are still proceeding, but I’m having a hard time deciding on a book length, as well as who makes it in.
I’m going to do an ‘interactive novel’ app for Windows Phone after I’ve cleared my deck a bit. I may make it a prequel to my space opera.
I’m still waiting for the second edition of Endless Wars to hit the major retailers. You can buy it now, though, through Lulu in either paperback or ebook.
I always suck at prioritizing, so please, if you have something you’d like to see first, let me know.
-Blaine
20110702
coming to you live from my ipad
I am sitting shotgun while my wife drives. The mobile wifi is deployed and I am thumb-typing on the iPad just to see how I like it. I don't think I do.
We'll see.
I've finished an incredibly hard work week. I clocked nearly sixty hours, and most of those were spent firefighting emergencie while still making sure planned server deployments still happened. I love being a sysadmin, but firefighting for a whole week sucks.
Because I was being shit on for extended hours this week, very little happened with the space opera novel.
Known ally and hetero lifemate John had a great suggestion last weekend.
He's always been very kind to me in regards to my horror shorts, and suggested I publish an ebook-only collection of them for a few bucks.
I think this is a fantastic idea, and am going to sift through some old shit to see what's really there and see if this really is a feasible idea.
Anyway, just wanted to check in and see if I really could post from the road!
-Blaine
We'll see.
I've finished an incredibly hard work week. I clocked nearly sixty hours, and most of those were spent firefighting emergencie while still making sure planned server deployments still happened. I love being a sysadmin, but firefighting for a whole week sucks.
Because I was being shit on for extended hours this week, very little happened with the space opera novel.
Known ally and hetero lifemate John had a great suggestion last weekend.
He's always been very kind to me in regards to my horror shorts, and suggested I publish an ebook-only collection of them for a few bucks.
I think this is a fantastic idea, and am going to sift through some old shit to see what's really there and see if this really is a feasible idea.
Anyway, just wanted to check in and see if I really could post from the road!
-Blaine
20110624
Creativity Update
For both of my fans out there ...
... the second Endless Wars novel has been shelved indefinitely.
Why?
Most of it goes back to the rampant alcohol consumption that was coinciding with that book's writing. Some of it is because I'm just not in that headspace right now. To write an Endless Wars book, I have to be in a very, very dark place, and I'm just not there right now.
If you haven't read the first book (now available in the iBookstore), do so, and you'll understand what I mean.
For those who don't know, I'm an alcoholic, now six months sober, and that darkness is something that has sloughed away, along with the need to make booze the focal point of my non-work hours.
If the first EW novel, written in 2000, was mildly supplemented by booze, the second novel, half-written last year, was rocket-powered by it.
There's some damn good material in there, but much of it reads like a sugar-high Michael Bay script. The parts that don't are filled with arguments between Taran and Nigel, which I found particularly revealing. What's interesting is that much of the book is devoted to Taran completely falling apart while becoming more powerful, which is an interesting choice.
I don't know. I'm still sifting through my feelings on the book, which is a moot point, because almost all of it was lost.
Yup. I was so fucking drunk so much of the time that I managed to format and write new operating systems onto each of the hard drives it was stored on.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since I have all my PCs sync their 'My Documents' folders all the time, but I managed to have HDD failures in exactly the right order, so that the only left of the book is the first draft of the first couple chapters.
Like I said, I'm still sifting through my feelings about all this.
However, I have two tidbits for you that have me particularly pumped.
First, the second edition of the first book will be hitting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore in the next month or so (the first edition is still available via iBookstore for a limited time now.) It's on Lulu now, and once we all sign off on it, it'll hit the larger retailers shortly thereafter.
Second, I'm working on a brand-new series, and I'm glad to say that I've FINALLY found a science-fiction idea that works for me.
SciFi has always been my favorite genre, but I've never had a workable idea of my own before. My stories usually straddle the horror/fantasy genre, but this is something that's slowly pieced itself together over the last few years, and after letting it germinate for the last few months, it all clicked into place during E3, and I started banging it out then.
I'm toying with several ideas in terms of novel structure and what makes a novel, and may do something new with this series.
I'm a big fan of HBO & Showtime original series, and when they tackle novels, they tend to treat each novel as a season.
I'm thinking about turning that on its ear, and after writing this novel, I'm thinking about either publishing lots of sequential short stories that would be 'episodes' of a 'season,' or writing sequels as short story collections that carry a common thread through them, like a TV season.
We'll see. Let me know what you think of the idea.
Anyway, I'm about to kick it with an old friend, so I'm gonna jet.
Just let me assure you that it feels great to be writing about robots and spaceships.
-Blaine
... the second Endless Wars novel has been shelved indefinitely.
Why?
Most of it goes back to the rampant alcohol consumption that was coinciding with that book's writing. Some of it is because I'm just not in that headspace right now. To write an Endless Wars book, I have to be in a very, very dark place, and I'm just not there right now.
If you haven't read the first book (now available in the iBookstore), do so, and you'll understand what I mean.
For those who don't know, I'm an alcoholic, now six months sober, and that darkness is something that has sloughed away, along with the need to make booze the focal point of my non-work hours.
If the first EW novel, written in 2000, was mildly supplemented by booze, the second novel, half-written last year, was rocket-powered by it.
There's some damn good material in there, but much of it reads like a sugar-high Michael Bay script. The parts that don't are filled with arguments between Taran and Nigel, which I found particularly revealing. What's interesting is that much of the book is devoted to Taran completely falling apart while becoming more powerful, which is an interesting choice.
I don't know. I'm still sifting through my feelings on the book, which is a moot point, because almost all of it was lost.
Yup. I was so fucking drunk so much of the time that I managed to format and write new operating systems onto each of the hard drives it was stored on.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, since I have all my PCs sync their 'My Documents' folders all the time, but I managed to have HDD failures in exactly the right order, so that the only left of the book is the first draft of the first couple chapters.
Like I said, I'm still sifting through my feelings about all this.
However, I have two tidbits for you that have me particularly pumped.
First, the second edition of the first book will be hitting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the iBookstore in the next month or so (the first edition is still available via iBookstore for a limited time now.) It's on Lulu now, and once we all sign off on it, it'll hit the larger retailers shortly thereafter.
Second, I'm working on a brand-new series, and I'm glad to say that I've FINALLY found a science-fiction idea that works for me.
SciFi has always been my favorite genre, but I've never had a workable idea of my own before. My stories usually straddle the horror/fantasy genre, but this is something that's slowly pieced itself together over the last few years, and after letting it germinate for the last few months, it all clicked into place during E3, and I started banging it out then.
I'm toying with several ideas in terms of novel structure and what makes a novel, and may do something new with this series.
I'm a big fan of HBO & Showtime original series, and when they tackle novels, they tend to treat each novel as a season.
I'm thinking about turning that on its ear, and after writing this novel, I'm thinking about either publishing lots of sequential short stories that would be 'episodes' of a 'season,' or writing sequels as short story collections that carry a common thread through them, like a TV season.
We'll see. Let me know what you think of the idea.
Anyway, I'm about to kick it with an old friend, so I'm gonna jet.
Just let me assure you that it feels great to be writing about robots and spaceships.
-Blaine
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