Latest Fiction & Stuff

I started doing the Self Published Carnival as an experiment. Is anybody out there finding these useful? How could the self-published carnival be made better?

Self Publishing

Jennifer Ferroland from Jen’s Writing Journey sought answers this month to the age old question – If a Book Is Good, Does It Matter How It Was Published?

Want to know where to self-publish your work? Timothy Pontious from The Pencil Place wrote a great list of POD publishers. Publishing Comparisons (POD vs POD). (Thanks to Publitariat for pointing this out.)

Here’s a great reminder from Patricia Fry at Writing and Publishing News: Your writing and your publishing are two separate entities. When you self publish, you’re really building two skills. Read her article The Business of Authorship.

On Publitariat, Alan Baxter wished that he had started selling ebooks sooner. Free Books And Ebooks And Promos, Oh My!

S.M.D at The World in the Satin Bag issued a Reality Check: The Average Consumer and Books. I agree with his sentiment. Self published or traditionally published, if you expect to earn any real money, you have to earn your fans and readers one by one until you have an awful lot of them. You can’t expect readers to flock to you – even if your work is great. You have to put in the hours and the effort to get your name/face/presence in front of people.

Marketing

Jon Bard over at Children’s Writing Web Journal offered a Smart Promotion Tip for Children’s Book Authors.

Peter Jones at the Bauu Institute has another great article, this time about setting up book signings. Seven Tips for Book Signing And Author Writing Events

Tiffany Colter continued her series on getting readers to pick you at writing examiner with How Readers Decide What To Read and Presenting Yourself Well (Which happens to be good advice to everybody, not just writers.)

Morris Rosenthal over at Self Publishing 2.0 showed us how he used a YouTube video to boost the sales of a non-fiction book. Book Video Drives Book and eBook Sales Increase.

Natalie from Journey to Self Publishing posted some Tips for Sending Press Releases. This is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

The Creative Penn pointed out a few Lessons You Can Learn from Scott Sigler, Author and Podcaster. Sigler has been very successful, so it’d be a good idea to at least know how he did it.

Anne Leedom had an article on Publishing Basics called Online Publicity: Economic Survival Tips You Need to Know. There’s nothing new here, but sometimes we need to hear things many times before we actually do them.

Editing

There was another article on Publishing Basics, this time by Patricia Fry, with a vital reminder: Yes, You DO Need an Editor.

Jon Bard at the Children’s Writing Web Journal has a short video with 5 Ways to Improve Your Manuscript. (Hint: edit your work)

Writing

John Bard had a a couple of interesting ideas for using wordle. Unique Tool For Writers: Wordle

Self Publishing Experiences

I posted an article from Kate Lord Brown about her experiences self publishing a book of blog posts. Vanity Fair?

I built the new theme from the ground up by myself, so if anything is not working, please let me know.

Mark Twain wrote these rules in his roast of the novel “Deerslayer” in an essay titled Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offences. I didn’t write them. He did. Don’t get mad at me. There’s some good reminders in here for us writers.

Rules 1-11 he considered to be the big rules (hence the bigger font), 12-18 are the little ones.

1. That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere.
2. They require that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it.
3. They require that the personages in a tale shall be alive, except in the case of corpses, and that always the reader shall be able to tell the corpses from the others.
4. They require that the personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there.
5. The require that when the personages of a tale deal in conversation, the talk shall sound like human talk, and be talk such as human beings would be likely to talk in the given circumstances, and have a discoverable meaning, also a discoverable purpose, and a show of relevancy, and remain in the neighborhood of the subject at hand, and be interesting to the reader, and help out the tale, and stop when the people cannot think of anything more to say.
6. They require that when the author describes the character of a personage in the tale, the conduct and conversation of that personage shall justify said description.
7. They require that when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven- dollar Friendship’s Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it.
8. They require that crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader as “the craft of the woodsman, the delicate art of the forest,” by either the author or the people in the tale.
9. They require that the personages of a tale shall confine themselves to possibilities and let miracles alone; or, if they venture a miracle, the author must so plausibly set it forth as to make it look possible and reasonable.
10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones.
11. They require that the characters in a tale shall be so clearly defined that the reader can tell beforehand what each will do in a given emergency.
12. Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it.
13. Use the right word, not its second cousin.
14. Eschew surplusage.
15. Not omit necessary details.
16. Avoid slovenliness of form.
17. Use good grammar.
18. Employ a simple and straightforward style.

p.s. It’s my birthday today.

Just a quick note, for those who missed it on twitter.

Dr. Pus reviewed Oasis on the latest edition of Library of The Living Dead. He was very complimentary and even said my last name right.

Thanks, Doc!

Have you ever wanted to self publish a book? In making your decision, it can help to know what other people’s experiences have been. Here’s another in my line of interviews with self published authors. This time, I caught up with K.E. Ireland, aka Aloria on the internets.

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

I am 25, unmarried, but dating. I live in Alabama, and as a result, some Southern colloquialisms creep into my novels, which happen to be space operas at the moment. A bit incongruent, but I try to edit those out later when they simply don’t fit, or when it’s really bad grammar. My parents were air force, so half my life, I spent moving every year. My first years of schooling were in Germany, though I didn’t learn any German… except how to count.

What started you writing?

I used to hate reading and books – mostly because when I was taught to read, I was forced to amuse myself with Dick and Jane. I despised Spot. As a result, I thought all books were just as boring. Back when I was about 12, I saw my mom playing a computer game. I got her to let me play it, and after I finished, Mom said the game was based after a set of books. These were not children’s books either. I sped through them as fast as I could and decided that I was imaginative, and thus capable of writing books just as good as these.

Do you have a website folks can check out?

I do. My website is www.natanfleetshow.com. I’m posting a webnovel there, updating on Mondays (unless I’m delayed for some reason, such as being incredibly sick). The website also has additional information pertaining to the universe I have created. There are files on the aliens I have made up, extra scenes that haven’t or couldn’t be included in the books I’m going to write, and artwork, both mine, and fanart.

How many books have you written?

Ha – not quite sure how to answer this one, given that I’ve written several books… only to tear them apart and rewrite them again, trying to make them better. Additionally, I spent at least 8 or 10 years writing fanfiction as a mode of practice, and I have several finished stories there. I have no intention of selling them, though. That’d be mildly illegal.

How many have you self published?

I have only self-published one book so far, but I have plans to self-publish the rest of the Natan Fleet Show series. These additional books are listed in “The Story” tab on my website. So far, I have five more planned, plus Ghost Talent, which once I’m finished posting it on my website, I’ll edit it again and self-publish that one.

Tell me about your most recent book.

Playing the Hero is a space opera centering on a young alien male named Vathion. When his father is assassinated, Vathion inherits his father’s fleet of twelve privateer battleships. Unfortunately, this includes all the fleets problems as well – from malfunctioning equipment to spies and the annoying second in command. Gilonnia has been torn apart by a civil war that has been going on for almost an entire generation now, due to the Gilons themselves being generally new to the very idea of war. While most believe this war is due to selfishness and greed for power, there are far more insidious things going on under the surface. In Playing the Hero, Vathion is unaware of this big picture; as he is too busy trying to keep his second in command from stealing his fleet.

Why did you choose to self publish?

In the past, the “route” to getting published was to write a bunch of short fiction, sell it to magazines to get your name out there, then write full-length novels and attempt to sell them to publishers. However, print magazines are going out of business, though, and it’s unclear at this time whether they’ll revive with the economy or if they’ll go completely digital. Either way, I’ve never been interested in writing short stories, nor do I have the skills required to do so. Book publishers aren’t picking up many new authors these days, and it almost seems like it’s easier to get your book into the hands of someone famous than to get your book published by a “legit” source. I felt that as an unknown writer, it was unlikely that my work would be picked up by a brick-and-mortar publishing house, let alone an agent.

What have you liked/disliked about self publishing?

I’ve liked the control I have over what my book looks like, and how it’s presented. What I haven’t liked so far is the fact that it’s been a one-woman-show. In short, I’ve liked and disliked it for the same reasons.

What have you done to promote your book?

So far, I have been cashing in on my time spent writing fanfiction, pestering the people who loved reading those stories to come check out my original work. I’ve been emailing people, and I have a flier I’ve designed (but haven’t had the chance to distribute anywhere yet). I’ve got an author Livejournal, and have created a community on LJ for self-published authors (specifically the ones on Createspace) to advertise their writing, as well as to ask for assistance on things they’re having trouble with. I have my website, and I’ve got word-of-mouth. I’m pondering contacting the local radio station to see if I can get them to either interview me or plug my book.

What has given you the most success?

The problem with marketing is that a lot of the time, you really never know what is working.

Do you plan on self publishing again?

I do indeed plan on doing this again. The first book was difficult to get off the ground – mostly because I had no clue what I was doing, but now that I do, it shouldn’t be so hard. As a result, I’m going to finish off the Natan Fleet Show series as self-published books, then see about getting something published with a publishing house. Hopefully by the time I finish the NFS series, the economy will have gotten better and the publishers will start taking risks on new authors again.

What else should I have asked you?

What my influences are. …Given where I live, it’s no wonder I’ve become enamored with space and aliens. But other things have influenced me just as greatly – those being anime and video games. As a result, there is a lot of color in my writing. Vathion has purple hair, for example. C. J. Cherryh has also been an influence. After reading her Foreigner series, Cookoo’s Egg, the Chanur series, I’ve analyzed how she creates believable aliens and have replicated it in my own style (to the best of my ability).

Thanks, K.E. and best of luck with your writing.

More about K.E. and her work can be found at:

• http://natanfleetshow.com (fiction)
• http://keireland.livejournal.com (other stuff)

If you are interested in hearing more self-published authors’s stories, check out some of my other interviews:

• Self Published Pulp – Lucien Black
• Zombies, Vampires, & Texan Independent Authors – Rhiannon Frater
• Self Publishing, Belgian Horror, and Cats. – Vanessa Morgan
• Self-Publishied Interview: Joe Perrone Jr. – Joe Perrone Jr.

If you’re a self published author and you would like an interview here on Story Hack, just use the contact page and let me know.

Author’s Note:

For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1:  Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.

Thanks for your continued support, comments, and typo alerts. And for telling all your friends about me and Oasis.

Chapter 14 – Federal Comfort Measures

I turned to face London directly. “We’ve got to get going.”

She nodded.

As I reached for the television, yet another interruption cut on. This time, it was the secretary of state.

Her suit was well pressed, and all in all, she looked far more in control of herself than she deserved to be.

“The president has asked me to issue a statement. In the past few minutes, several attacks upon American people have taken place. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims and their families. While these attacks are reprehensible and saddening, it is imperative that a few things be made known. First, all four attacks were instigated by aggression from Americans.”

Four attacks? Does she know something we don’t?

“In every case, American citizens fired upon the flying craft before being fired upon. Every case. It is crucial to grasp this. Well meaning citizens acted outside the bounds of the law and common sense, and the alien crafts acted in self defense. These people’s recklessness endangered and ultimately caused the death of many American lives. Second, now is the time to get ourselves under control. The president has asked me to make this announcement because as we speak, he is personally calling every governor and asking them to deploy all national guard units to help control any further rioting and prevent any further aggression toward the aliens. In the days to come, he will also be activating most of the reserves. We have not discussed it at length, but we will most likely be bringing troops home from various foreign theaters.”

She cleared her throat, put both hands palms down on the lectern, and continued her cold speech. “Order must be preserved before we court further destruction. Third, it is of paramount importance that despite our fears and now our sadness, we all need to go to work today. We cannot allow the machinery of this nation to grind to a halt. If necessary, law enforcement and military personnel will be asked to assist in making sure factories and transportation lines stay open.”

How? Are they going to force us to work, or just do the work themselves?

“I realize that this time will be difficult for many. If we work together and we do not court more defensive aggression from the extra terrestrials, we will not have anything to fear, and we will not garner anything new to mourn. Thank you for your attention. Unfortunately, I cannot take any questions at this time. ”

I clicked off the TV.

Already going from bad to worse.

London grabbed my shoulder. “Did she just say it’s our fault?”

I looked into her green eyes. “We’ve got to go, and now.”

In a heartbeat, we were back on the road.

The streets were empty. San Antonio looked like a ghost town. We drove almost ten minutes before we saw another car.

I guess the order to go to work didn’t really stick.

Michael, of course thought this was the new greatest weird thing he’d ever seen and went on and on about how everybody was hiding and they were all too afraid to drive on the freeway now but he wasn’t really afraid and why isn’t anyone even outside at all and about a million other random questions and thoughts.

I tried to ignore him, but as I found it impossible, I flipped on the radio to listen to the Alan Jex show.

He was ranting about how the government was apparently taking sides with the aliens. He played clips from three different senators who had already issued statements regarding the attacks. Not one really dissented from what the secretary of state had said. One of them called on the president to go one step further and declare martial law for our own protection. Another called for an immediate and complete disarmament of the people, as we obviously can’t be trusted. The last one practically came out and said that the aliens are good, hard-working beings who may have slightly overreacted when we fired upon them.

How does he get this stuff so fast? And how did the senators issue the statements so fast? It almost like they… but they couldn’t have known, could they?

Alan started calling on all people that could hear his voice to prepare themselves for a fight. In fact, it sounded an awful lot like he was trying to raise an army.

London backhanded my chest. “You just missed the freeway entrance.”

“Nice to see you’re back with us.”

“What?”

“You know, because yesterday- never mind.”

I flipped the radio back off, spun around, and sped onto the freeway.

Traffic was extremely light, in fact we didn’t see anybody else on the freeway except the occasional semi truck or large military vehicle. The wrecks like the one we had seen yesterday had all been cleared to the side of the road.

Driving in a topless Jeep Wrangler in Texas in the summer gets old pretty fast. It’s too hot to be comfortable. That, with all the rush of air, drys you out pretty fast. It’s too loud to hear anybody talk, although that didn’t seem to matter much to Michael. Every time I glanced back in the rear few mirror he was still yapping about something.

About the only thing to do was notice the little towns as we passed by and try to guess how they were responding to all this.

One community had parked three bulldozers across their freeway exit. In another town, the visible streets were alive with activity. We passed by so quick, I couldn’t tell if it was due to a riot, or some kind of community effort.

Things got worse as we approached and drove through Houston. There were more crashed cars pulled to the side of the road. Most of the streets were empty. However, anytime we could see a grocery store, there was quite a crowd around it. Back in some areas we could see smoke, and I wondered if the aliens had hit here too.

It only took us about three hours to get to Baytown, which did not look like it was in good shape. As we drove through a couple of the more residential areas, we did see a few more people peering through windows or sitting on their porch, occasionally with shotguns or other arms, and watching us with distrust and disdain.

In the more commercial areas, windows had been smashed out of a few of the shops. Nothing appeared to be open on purpose. The world had shut down.

I drove around, hoping that I would just see the jail and not have to stop for directions. The problem was that Baytown was a little larger than I had expected. Eventually London convinced me to stop and get directions, or at least a map.

I found a yellow pages at a public phone booth. My instincts must have been pretty good, because the jail was only another couple of blocks away.

The parking lot at the jail was practically barren. I didn’t even see any police cars.

What if he’s not here?

A couple of rusted out cars sat in one corner, but that was all. Behind the jail itself was a small portable building attached to a fenced area that held five or six more cars, all of which were nicer than the ones in the lot. To the side was a tiny gatehouse with a gate like you might see at a toll booth.

I parked up next to the front.

The jail itself had the look of a building built in the sixties.

“You guys wait here. And keep that gun close.”

“Corbin, I don’t want to shoot somebody a-”

“I’m not asking you to. But something doesn’t seem right about this place.”

“What are we even doing here?”

“I need something that was in the hands of an inmate here. At least he was a day or so ago.”

“Is that really necessary to do now? Considering everything? What’s worth getting out of a jail right now?”

Sure, now she’s curious.

“If I get a hold of it, I promise I’ll tell you the whole story.”

My heart was pounding. I had no idea what I’d find inside. What would I do if there was trouble? I hopped out of the Jeep before I could lose my nerve.

“Corbin?”

I turned back.

London looked at me wide eyed for a moment. Her lips quivered and she mouthed something. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, all traces of fear were gone.

“Hurry up.”

The entrance looked old and hard. The big glass door had a couple of papers taped to it. Next to it was one of those cement ash tray things with the pebbles embedded in the sides and a big plastic garbage can.

I must be out of my mind. What am I doing here?

Deep down, I knew there was nowhere I could hide that would be safe forever. The secretary of state hadn’t come out and said the president would be instigating martial law, but she didn’t have to. Calling up the national guard, the reserves, and bringing home troops, it would only be a matter of time.

The government knew something ugly was about to happen, and they were preparing.

I had one long shot chance to get what I came out for, and this was it.

I reached for the door handle.

Yippee!

You can listen to the audio trailer I made for Oasis in this week’s episode at Decoder Ring Theatre. The episode is part of their summer showcase and this time features Blaze Bing, Rodeo King. You can check it out here: Summer Showcase ep. 09 – Blaze Bing, Rodeo King. Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

And while I’m thinking about it, let me just put in a plug for Decoder Ring Theatre. I love Old Time Radio. There are a lot of groups out there producing audio drama these days, and most of it is mediocre, but amusing. Decoder Ring Theatre is not one of those groups. Decoder Ring Theatre happens to be very best group producing audio drama today, and I include the strictly commercial production groups when I say that. Their shows are amusing, well presented, and well acted.

The Red Panda Adventures series is a lot of fun. He’s Canada’s greatest superhero!

The Black Jack Justice series is absolutely delicious. I love the dueling monologues of Jack and his partner.

Anyway, go check them out. Listen to a few shows, and if you like them, throw a couple of bucks their way. That way, everybody can keep enjoying these shows.

Thank you, Gregg Taylor (& everybody else @ DRT), for all the Mystery, Comedy, and Adventure!

And for those of you who are wondering where this week’s chapter of The Journey of St. Laurent is, it is almost done. Maybe lunchtime, maybe tomorrow morning it’ll be up. Just follow me on twitter and you’ll be the first to know when you can read it.

Author’s Note: Congratulations to eckman49, who won the Twitter Oasis giveaway, even though I only counted one of his entries. If you want to be sure to be able to enter next time, follow me on twitter. (see the link on the sidebar)

Also, in case you missed it, I was interviewed on the One Minute How To this week. Give it a listen here: How To Self Publish A Book On The Cheap.

For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1:  Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis.

If you catch any typos, I’m always grateful when you point them out. In fact, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who leave any kind of comments. I always enjoy hearing from you.

*edit* Oh, and for anyone that cares, I’ve decided to stick with write monkey.

Chapter 13 – First Strike

“Um, London?”

If she heard me, she didn’t let it show. She just kept on, face down and crying.

I put my hand on the back of her shoulder.

“London, do you, uh, want to talk about something?”

More crying, but somewhere in the tears, I was pretty sure she grunted a “no.”

I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep with her crying like that. I also don’t give up so easy.

“Well, sit up and talk to me for a minute anyway.”

Muffled grumble. “Go away!” Muffled grumble.

“No.”

More crying.

I rubbed her back a little bit around her shoulder. I wasn’t sure if she’d get the wrong idea, but she didn’t squirm under my touch, so I figured it was safe.

“Look, I’m not going to tell you that everything is going to be okay. What I will tell you is that you is that you’re going to make it through this. We’ll get you and your brother home.”

“You’re not even coming all the way. How can you guarantee anything?”

A response. That’s progress, right?

“I don’t know how it’s all going to go down. But I’ll do whatever I can.”

She pushed her head up from the pillow and turned toward me.

I pulled my hand off her back.

Her eyes were wet and puffy. She bit her delicate lip. “What’s going to happen?”

“Who knows? The whole country’s probably going to go nuts.”

She pushed the rest of the way to sitting, folded her arms, and looked down.

“What’s going to happen to me? I shot a man.”

“To be fair, I’m not sure he was much of a man.”

London glared at me out of the corner of her eye. “It’s not a joke.”

I sat next to her on the bed. “I know.”

Her bottom lip quivered and her breath was shaky. “I shot somebody. What if I killed him?”

“Well, legally, and morally too, I guess, it was self defense. You were… uh, well you were justified.”

“It makes me sick inside. I was just so mad and scared and-” the flow of tears kept her from finishing the thought.

I put an arm around her. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. You saved my life. You also saved your own, and probably your brother’s too. And you’re not supposed to feel good when you shoot someone. It’s okay to feel… the whole mess. It’s okay. You did what you had to do. Would you condemn someone else for doing what you did?”

She gave a little shake.

We sat in silence for what had to be the next ten minutes.

Eventually she looked up and brushed the hair away from her eyes. Her eyes were still puffy and tired, but she didn’t look like she was going to break down anymore.

“Corbin?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to sleep.”

“Right.”

I went back to my chair and sat.

I can’t believe Michael slept through all of that. Must be good to be a kid.

Morning just sneaks right up on you when you’re tired. I closed my eyes and two seconds later the sun was up and shining through the window.

I unchained the door and stepped outside for a moment. The air had a sort of pregnant quiet to it, like the city was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I went back in, and found my jogging suit was dry enough, so I put it on and washed out my other clothes.

By the time I was done, Michael was up and the TV was back on.

I hope that kid doesn’t normally watch TV like this. His brain will be mush by the time he’s twelve.

I gathered up our meager supplies and set them by the door. I was not about to stay any longer than I needed to. In fact, I should wake up London and tell her to sleep in the car.

A breaking news flash interrupted the commentator on the television.

It caught my attention, so I sat on the foot of the bed next to Michael and watched.

The news girl gave the camera one of those “I’m trying to be serious” looks. She pursed her lips and began to speak. “This just in. Local emergency crews in northern Idaho are responding to a major fire that has broken out at the compound of a well-known white supremacist group. We have no word on casualties or the extent of damage just yet, but as you can see from the helicopter view you’re seeing now, the entire property seems to be on fire. There is also no official word yet on any possible cause, but many are speculating that it was an extra terrestrial attack. If that is the case, considering their target, it remains to be seen whether or not they are enemies to our nation.”

The picture on the screen showed thick billows of black smoke coming from the rubble of several buildings. It didn’t look like they just collapsed with fire, it was like someone had smashed them with a giant hammer.

I tried to think of another explanation. Could it have been a radical civil rights group? Could it have been infighting? A missile hit from… Canada? The images of destruction on the screen just didn’t really seem to match up with any of that. There was no crater in the center of it all. No building had been blown apart – just crushed down.

My stomach dropped. It had to have been the aliens. Sure, the guys inside had been scum, but still. They were murdered. And if they can do it in northern Idaho, they can do it…

The image cut from the scene of the compound back to the news lady. Her face was now ashen.

“I can’t believe this. We have just received reports from our affiliate in Los Angeles. Minutes ago, an extra terrestrial strike on an inner city block… We’re getting video of the destruction now.”

The video switched to a street-level view of panic in the street near the new strike zone. The cameraman was obviously struggling against the flow of frightened people to get a better look.

When he finally did break through, my stomach dropped even further.

The damage looked exactly like the buildings in the compound. Smashed flat and burning. How do you stop that?

“We’re switching now to a live view in the south of Phoenix.”

The TV screen flipped to an image of a UFO hovering a couple thousand feet above what looked to me like a residential area. The view looked just like the one I had seen on the freeway, silvery and with the shape of an upside down triangular bowl. The bottom had many angry-looking lights. The video must have been shot from a nearby hilltop or a skyscraper or something.

“A UFO is hovering over this neighborhood in the south of Phoenix.”

The view switched to closer shot of the crowd below. It was mostly men, and they were mostly armed and firing at the UFO.

“The crowd seems to be shooting at the UFO. They probably don’t know about what happened in- oh, no.”

The view switched back to the wide shot.

What seemed to be a mass of light was gathering underneath the ship.

I hope that doesn’t-

But it did.

The light coalesced in to a shimmering wave that flashed through the air. The wave smashed into the street below, crushing buildings, cars and people. Everything flammable on the ground immediately burst into flames. There was no way anybody close to it could have survived.

The news girl screamed.

Michael pointed. “Did you see that?”

I shot to my feet and just stared at the screen.

Before I knew it, London was awake, on her feet and next to me. “Heaven help us.”

The footage switched back and forth between the L.A. attack and the Phoenix attack. Every one of the newscasters that spoke was on the edge of hysteria, and with good cause.

I’ve got to get on the right road now. Time is up. If I don’t get to Samir soon, I’ll never get a chance.

Keep reading! Chapter 14 is here.

I’m in kind of a giving mood today, and I have a fresh copy of my action/adventure/pulp/zombie novel Oasis just sitting around. I’d like to give it to somebody. Even if you already have a copy

How to Enter/Rules

1. You must have a twitter account
2. You must tweet about this giveaway
3. Your tweet must include 2 things: a link to this post and the hashtag #oasisgiveaway
4. I’ll only count one entry per user.

*edit* Here’s an example: my tweet to announce the giveaway

#Win a #free signed copy of pulp action adventure #zombie #novel Oasis. – http://bit.ly/kmsWg – #oasisgiveaway

I’ll pick at random then announce the winner on Friday (June 19, 2009), so you have until Friday morning sometime to enter. I will also attempt to notify the winner via Direct Message on twitter.

I’ll then send the winner a signed copy of Oasis. I’ll sign it to whomever you want, so if you already have a copy, and you want to give this one to your brother I can eerily mention the time he wet his pants in the fifth grade (or whatever you’d like me to mention) in the inscription.

If you don’t know what Oasis is, check out the Oasis website:

www.ZombieNovelOasis.com

or see Oasis on Amazon:

Sheesh, it hasn’t been two weeks since I dumped my long time full screen text editor JDarkRoom for Q10. Now I may very well have to switch again. I happened (via Twitter) across yet another full screen text editor that does everything I think it should. This one is called Write Monkey.

And boy, oh, boy, is it ever worth checking out.

Pros:

• Full screen and windowed mode. (DarcKnyt should like that.)
• For those who fear hotkeys, everything is available via the right click menu. But it does in fact have hotkeys as well.
• Fully customizable interface.
• Really groovy export functions. If you use markup like *bolded text here* or __underlined text here__, you can have write monkey export to html, and it will insert the proper tags to make your text bolded and such. Is there another full screen editor that does this? See the help online for a full list of markup options.
• Timer/progress bar. This one is at the top. It shows a simple word count, you can have a word count for the current writing session added, and you can put a timer on it as well.
• Spell Check.
• Typing sounds – you have to enable them in preferences –> misc tab.
• The bookmarks/paragraphs navigator is cool.

Cons:

• The website is ugly.
• The timer doesn’t ring, pop up a dialog, or anything when it hits zero. It just becomes red and continues counting as a negative. It is nice to watch the timer count down, though. It give a little feeling of urgency.
• I can’t figure out what the repository is. Maybe someone can help me out with this… Wait, nevermind, I just checked out the features page on the website. Make the repository a pro. It’s where you store notes about your main document.

Requirements

• Windows
• .net framework v. 3.5 or better

Will it become my new favorite? I’m not sure yet. I really do like the look of bottom bar of Q10, and most of the options in Write Monkey are available in Q10. I’ll do this week’s chapter in it and see where it takes me.

www.WriteMonkey.com