Whoah.

I've been busy. My 'real' job has taken over my life the last few weeks, but things should be slowly settling down, and I'll get back to my goal of 3-5 posts per week.

I'll be talking about the three corporations that have fucked me over, and I'll be posting documents to back up my accusations, so that will be fun.

I'll be talking about the holiday preview podcast Tony and I will be doing in September.

I'll be talking about the new Mass Effect DLC, assuming it ever actually works w/ the Steam version of the game.

I'll be talking about my continued journey down the dark path of the MBA.

I'll be talking a bit about what's been stalling me in regards to the book, and what my future plans are for the series.

Also, if you're one of the three getting a free book from me, they have not yet been ordered. I apologize for that, but I have my reasons. They'll be ordered in a week. If you have the sense to live here in St. Louis, then you'll get in two weeks. If you live elsewhere, you'll see it in about three weeks. In the meantime, why not tide yourself over with the $1.25 ebook?

I'm going to try and get a 'real' post up before the weekend.

So, to anyone who's read the book or is reading it: what do you think? Do you have any questions? How would you describe it?

-Blaine

The Endless Wars: the Descent is out!

So, I published the book today. You can evidence of this publishing here.

I was just working online with Lulu, the printer/distributor (this is self-published), and towards the end of the process, I hit 'finish,' not realizing it meant FINISH. Next thing I knew, there was my book, ready for order.


Let's get the consumer stuff outta the way.

First, the (paper) book cost $15. I'm not happy about that, but that's the cheapest I could get it for now, and still retain my independence.

That being said, there is a $1.25 ebook option. Go to Lulu, do a search for 'endless wars,' and that seems to be the only way to find the mega-cheap ebook option. I know. I'm still working out some of the kinks here.

Why the huge difference? Well, I confirmed something that I'd long suspected, which is that there is minimal cost for printers/distributors/publishers when it comes to ebooks. Originally, I was set to make 80% of the revenue on the book @ $5/sale. I sat there for a moment, and decided to make the same amount off each version, and pass the savings to you guys. I mean, I'd rather make $1 per book and sell as many copies as possible than screw you all on the ebook discount.

It was tempting. I felt the pull of the publishing dark side, but felt compelled to try and do something different, and see if I can actually make somewhat of a dent by coming in as cheap as possible on the book.

Besides, I have no delusions that I'm ever going to make a lotta money doing this. I publish the Endless Wars series because I love writing, and I love telling stories, and it'd be awesome to actually have a persistent conversation with a lot of people about those subjects. Writing and storytelling are becoming lost arts, and I just want to contribute while it's all still relevant.

I think I've said it here before, but as long as this book doesn't single-handedly kill my writing career, I'm cool.

Also, the Amazon and B&N links are coming. They may not be available immediately, as my ISBN is still being sorted out. I'm trying to set aside $99 to buy it so that I own all the rights to the book. These initial copies won't have an ISBN, but that will be coming soon.


The Book

Here's the blurb again:

...it's 2001. Taran Walker is 23 and is reeling from catching the girl of his dreams with another man. He has failed in nearly every meaningful way in life, and is living in an abandoned halfway house with some friends as he ponders his next scheme. Meanwhile, there is a convergence of souls, some young and some ancient, in St. Louis, and though he doesn't realize it, Taran is at the center of it. He is the one to finally lead the ultimate rebellion and throw off the shackles that have held humanity back since the beginning of time. He will have to fight his way through underworlds and parallel universes, he will battle vampires and rival gods, as well as their lethal servants, but not without the help of a rather interesting mix of friends and allies. From gun-toting dwarves to magic-infused vampires to dope-peddling succubi, Taran will be aided by all manner of creatures and friends. It's the perfect blend of ancient fantasy archetypes and settings and real-world sensibilities and settings. Discover the world you never knew existed but for which you secretly yearned.

So, yeah, I wrote it 10 years ago, blah blah blah, finally went back, dusted it off, edited it, and brought the series back. This is all stuff that if you've read this blog before, you know.

I think that one thing people will dig quite a bit is the richness of the universe. This book is just the tip of the iceberg, and is pretty dense with a lot of mythology that has been crafted and refined over the last decade, with a promise of a lot more to come. It's one of those series that has the possibility for infinite stories, due to the variety contained in the world.

I dunno. I like reading about universes in which there is a realistically infinite world, in terms of interesting stories, and I've tried to craft not only a number or worlds, but several different universes, as well.

Of course, what's at the heart of these books is religion. The Endless Wars series takes the Judeo-Christian mythology and turns it into science fiction. The series, to me, at least, is really a hybrid of urban fantasy and science fiction, since it culls elements from both, but it's also a very character-driven drama in the way things unfold and affect each of the characters.

Wank wank wank. Anyway...

...I will admit that I am nervous about how my 20-something writing is going to be received. As I've talked about previously on here, I tried to really let the book be the book my 21-year old self wanted it to be, to kind of honor my old life, almost like a posthumous release for the old "me" that used to be interesting.

Really, though, I've touched this one up quite a bit, though I did leave in the conversational voice to the text. The voice of the book is one that is made for being read aloud. I tried, at the time, to write it in the style of oral storytelling, because that seemed like a good idea. Again, at the time.

So, lemme know what ya think of that, should you ever take pity on me and buy my book. I'm only expecting to sell a handful, so my feelings won't be hurt.

Anyway, if you would, please, buy the book or the ebook, and lemme know what ya think!

I'll be back with more to continue shamelessly plugging my book soon.

-Blaine

Even closer...

...got the book back from my editor/wife. She doesn't normally read that slowly, but was taking time to give me a thorough ass-kicking from an editorial standpoint. Some stuff she loved, some stuff she hated, and I am now poring through her notes and making minor adjustments in preparation for submitting the manuscript to Lulu to get the thing printed.

The manuscript, now, is at 260 pages, but that will likely increase a little.

I had a very minimalist cover in mind that was simply a black & white photo of a building (central to this particular book) for the front and back of the book, but have decided that I'd rather have plain white w/ black courier font for the covers & spine. Just seems cleaner and less pretentious. I dunno. I just like the way it looks in my head. We'll see. I'd like to have each book in the series be kinda uniform in that respect.

I've confirmed the book will be available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as the Lulu site.

There will be an e-book version available at some point, but I don't know if it will be day & date with the print version.

There will NOT be a Kindle version, as I've pulled my support for the device after the 1984 fiasco.

I don't yet have a release date. I have a feeling it'll be this month, but it could slip to September. I may push it to September just so I have time to actually build up some anticipation for it. Again, we'll see.

I've made some cost-related decisions, as well. Any additional content that's included will likely be downloadable, to reduce the cost of the book. The more the book costs to make, the more I have to charge. Also, I will be taking a dollar or less per book, in an effort to further reduce cost.

I've started the second book, and it was refreshing to really bang out some new material with these characters for the first time in years. If the first book was dark, this one is cold. With any luck, it won't be another 10 years between books, and I can put out a couple a year. I feel great about the second book thus far.

I'm also thinking about doing a free online-only prequel series of shorts to help flesh out the worlds that appear in these books. I've got the first one in the bag, and am kinda sitting on it while I decide what to do with it.

There have been two very rough things in this process: nightmares and lost companions.

Writing the book gave me nightmares, and editing it has had the same effect. There's some really twisted, deeply personal shit in this volume, and writing/editing it forces me to confront a lot of this shit, at least on some level, and the result is nightmares. Not the kind ya laugh and tell your wife about the next day, either.

My Linux netbook is down at the moment, at least until I either diagnose it or send it in to the manufacturer. It's covered under warranty, but I have a feeling that the HDD is on its last legs. I'm going to try and grab an image of it this week, before I send it in, but I worry that I can't keep it running long enough to grab said image. We shall see.

Either way, that netbook was HUGE in getting this thing edited. It's only 8.9 inches across and weighs 2 pounds, so it was a delight to just lie in bed, read, and edit. It's also my only portable option for Linux at the moment, and Linux is ideal for writers.

With Linux and a little know-how, a writer can pick up a cheap-ass Linux netbook, and customize the shit out of it, thus creating his/her ideal writing/editing setup. Ask any serious writer, and they'll tell you that they are very particular about their rituals, spaces, setups, etc. for when they write. I'm not as overly sensitive as most writers and don't like to cripple myself by limiting the conditions under which I can write.

That reminds me, some day I'd like to post about my dealings with other writers, and how most of them hate me, and how musicians are actually 'my people.' Just know that most writers are amazingly pretentious douchebags who want nothing more than to masturbate to ten-cent words.

Anyway, the netbook will be up and running again soon, but since I back everything up every day in quadruplicate, it's not too big an issue. That thing is just my favorite object in the world, and my most useful tool (other than my penis.)

I'll be back soon. The breaks between posts will be shorter from here on out, since there will be more to talk about the closer we get to release day.

Real quick, I've been reading my first ebook. I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish in that format, so I decided to test-drive a book. I've been reading the first Song of Ice and Fire book in this format, and so far, I really like it. I've been using eReader (running via Wine) on my Ubuntu netbook (which is perfect as an ebook reader, another reason I already miss it.) The netbook is so light and small, one can hold it easily in one hand and lie on his/her back, or lie in any preferred reading position. The nicest thing is that the backgrounds and font are totally customizable, so you can adjust everything until it's nice and easy on your eyes. I think I like it.

In the meantime, let's talk books. What are your favorites? Who are your favorite authors? Favorite genres? Do you like ebooks? What do you think of the Kindle? Anything!

Alright, let's get this hype machine going! HOOWAH!

-Blaine