So, my wife just got back from a blogger conference in Savanna Georgia (Fit Bloggin’), and when she got home the first thing she did was yell at me. You see, she had all this great music lined up to listen to for the 9 hour drive. Instead, she devoured all the Genghis Khan stuff and now she’s in the middle of WWI. We just went to dinner and she wouldn’t stop talking about WWI.
I never knew any of this, growing up. Fascinating stuff.
In case you missed it:
Filed under Just Cool
Lately I’ve become a podcast maniac. I’ve totally destroyed all the Rocking Self-Publishing Podcasts, and moved on to new ones to fill in the time between Thursdays (when Simon Whistler puts up a new one).
I highly, absolutely, positively, megamaximally, recommend “The Hardcore History Podcast“, by Dan Carlin. If you wanna be on the same page as me, start with the series called “The wrath of the Khans”. It’s all about Gengis Khan. You don’t know anything about Gengis Khan until you’ve listened to this. This guy really knows his stuff.
I told my wife about it when I got home last week, talking it up like I’m talking it up now, and she wasn’t all that interested. Then we went to a friend’s house, too many miles away, and I put it on–and she was hooked. We also listened to it on the way home. We listened to it the next day, and the next when we went out to eat somewhere. I ended up listening to the whole thing twice, just so she could listen to it too, but I didn’t mind.
Check it out…
Filed under Just Cool
I woke up this morning, checked my email, and found a wonderful note from a fan living in L.A.
Steve Phelan is an actor who also does voice work for indies. He read my book back in March during the free promo period and reviewed it shortly thereafter.
This would have been perfectly fine, but he was in a studio the other day recording something and decided to record a tiny portion of Chapter 3 from “Kick” and send it to me. It’s one thing to read someone’s book, but it’s a whole ’nother compliment to read it and still be thinking about it two months later. Wow huh?
Apparently WordPress wants $20 a month to put audio files up, but I’m a wascally wabbit and think I can figure out another way, possibly using YouTube if it came to it.
In the mean time, here’s the link to Steve Phelan’s website, with his headshots and a few acting scenes:
Steve Phelan’s Site
** Update: here’s a link to the clip:
The lovely/mysterious paranormal author Johanna Rae is doing a rafflecopter giveaway and has chosen “Kick” as one of the possible prizes. I’m honored. She was the very first person to interview me and she’s been very supportive of “Kick”, as well as incredibly nice in general.
Link to Johanna Rae’s Facebook page, to see the various books (and a link to the giveaway):
https://www.facebook.com/johannamrae/timeline
Link to the giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Link to Johanna Rae’s blog:
http://www.johannamrae.blogspot.co.nz/
Filed under Just Cool, Writing Market
So I’ve been burning through these podcasts at a furious rate (sitting in traffic every morning/evening), and I’m constantly amazed at the professionalism of the host and the quality of the guests. I’ve yet to run into any “dead air” or uncomfortable pauses or moments where I felt someone was padding the time. It’s as if Simon, the interviewer, has taken the elements of good storytelling and incorporated them into his podcasts, packing every episode with great information and entertainment. I actually look forward to sitting in traffic now.
I’m a chatty guy, I like to communicate with folks, so I sent him a note asking him how he manages to get such great guests, does he pre-screen them, etc.
He wrote me back:
What a great response, huh? I worried he’d write back something like, “Scram, ya bum.” Yes, I kid, but I suppose on some level we always expect to be rebuffed when we reach out to strangers.
For anyone interested in learning more about He Who Is Called “Simon Whistler,” there have been two interviews with him:
Filed under Indie Publishing, Just Cool
I want one of these locks so bad it’s almost illegal 🙂
http://www.popplock.com/en/about-me.html
I learned about them by listening to P.T. Hylton’s spoiler-ridden Regulation 19 interview (was a fun video).
Anyone who buys me one of these $300+ locks will be my best friend for life…just saying.
**UPDATE: here’s an interview with Rainer Popp: http://seekingariadnesthread.com/2014/01/12/the-eighth-trick-lock-of-rainer-popp/ **
Filed under Indie Publishing, Just Cool
I recommend the article below, by Carol Kean, to anyone interested in reading a fascinating literary rant from a professional reviewer who reads over a hundred books a year.
In addition to being a great article, she actually mentions me (she read and reviewed “Kick” recently).
As Jim Butcher once said, “My gast has been thoroughly flabbered.”
http://www.perihelionsf.com/1405/article_3.htm
Filed under Just Cool, Reviews, Writing in general
Kind of amazing. Have you listened to any of them? Imagine the fun of an audiobook without the time sink, nor the cost, and good authors to boot. Mix ’em all together and what’ve ya got?
Filed under Just Cool
My new author friend and recently added “awesome indie” P.T. Hylton hosted a giveaway of my book in his monthly book giveaway contest. I’m gonna have to do something similar for him in the next few months, so stay tuned. Also, his book really is amazing, so why wait a few months?
Filed under Indie Publishing, Just Cool
I won the flash fiction competition for my Goodreads group. To do it, I had to follow a number of guidelines in constructing this story. Here are a few:
If you’re interested in a Goodreads group with a wide range of interests and who do a lot of cool things like quizes, reading/writing contests, giveaways, etc, I can’t recommend Pro-Active Destruction enough.
The Imperial Legionnaires had been bombarding the planet for three days, reducing most of the buildings in the planet’s six population centers to rubble, with one exception: the rebel headquarters. General Foxworthy had whole star systems of ordinance available at his fingertips, but he’d spared the troublesome base.
“General Foxworthy?” his assistant said. “The rebel leader Carter is waiting to see you.”
“Thank you Eliot, please send him in. Oh, and would you ask Rose to make me a sandwich?”
“Certainly sir.”
Moments later, Elliot escorted in a young man dressed in a Mark-3 Zherun war suit. Capable of withstanding impossible compression ratios, the suit could survive almost any sort of conventional attack. Standard-issue suits also came with a complement of sophisticated weaponry molded into the frame. Foxworthy knew about the suit, and the weapons, but had said nothing to Elliot about disarming the man.
Carter surveyed the lavish cabin, his eyes finally drifting to the enormous viziframe covering the wall. It showed the rebel planet C3JU625-Andrew-Prescott. Five hundred standard years previous, the legendary Captain Prescott had discovered the remote little world during his famous exploratory voyage. He’d named it according to the imperial planetary classification system. Two weeks before the General’s bombardment, the planet had been renamed “The Emperor’s A Big Fat Donkey” by Carter, who transmitted news of the change by a looping broadcast throughout Occupied Space.
John L. Monk 