Following on from my end of year wrap up, here’s the 101 books I read last year (thanks to Goodreads for the massive image) That’s a lot of books and almost 8,000 pages more than last year’s total. Looking back at that lot, there’s a lot of really good books (there were one or two bad ones as well including a couple I didn’t finish and one or two I didn’t post on Goodreads). It’s hard to pick favourites but here’s some of the best full length books (roughly in the order I read them): Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig (this is currently on offer for $1.99. Just saying.) Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig The Bureau of Them by Cate Gardner The Voodoo Killings by Kristi Charish Young Slasher by S. Elliot Brandis Necrotech by K. C. Alexander Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley 50 Shades of Brain by Jeff Chacon A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Mallerman That last one would be my pick for best book I read all year, with Mercedes M. Yardley’s Bram Stoker award winning, Little Dead Red a close second. They’re all worth checking out though. Plenty of good … Read More
I Have Hugh Howey’s DNA
Nautically inclined indie author, Hugh Howey, is taking to the seas to live the life of a pirate or something. Sadly, the catamaran Hugh is having built doesn’t have space for all the books he collected during his rise to super-stardom so, a few months ago, he held The Most Spectacular Pot Luck Book Signing in the History of the Universe to clear out his storage. For a flat fee per item, fans could request items from his collection – anything from simple signed copies of his books to a Boba Fett action figure. The catch being that there was no guarantee they’d get exactly what they ordered – hence the Pot Luck in The Most Spectacular Pot Luck Book Signing in the History of the Universe. I ordered three “items” but was deliberately vague about what I wanted. I enjoyed Hugh’s Wool novels but Sand is actually my favourite of his and his “dark” story – I, Zombie is just too tempting to ignore. So, I asked for something related to those two books. The parcel arrived a few days ago and I wasn’t disappointed. First up, I got these: That’s a complete set of the individual Sand novellas, all signed. Next, there was a manuscript page from one of his Molly Fyde books. And … Read More
The Truth About David Gatewood
This blog post could end my indie career. I don’t normally write about political or other emotionally charged subjects, but I can no longer stay silent on the subject of the editor, David Gatewood. Like so many people, I’ve been taken in by his charade. I’ve bought the books he’s edited, watched him on social media, lamented the fact he’s no longer accepting clients. I know now that I, like so many others, have been duped. On the surface, David Gatewood, is just a man helping indie authors find success in the new world of publishing. On the surface, he’s a kind man, a gentle man, a generous man. But the information I’ve uncovered over the last nine months paints a very different picture. A picture of a man intent on using his position of power to unleash darkness on the world. A picture of a man that must be stopped. This is a long post, far longer than my normal entries but the information it contains might save your life. I urge you to take the time to read it. Gatewood’s rise to fame is well known. He appeared out of nowhere, contacting the then up and coming indie … Read More
Still Alive, Still Writing
It’s been a while since my last post. I guess time flies when you’re having fun. Or in my case – time flies when you’re having a root canal retreatment. My day job, a running injury, the aforementioned root canal and a whole load of editing of Leah may have curtailed my blogging but the writing streak continues. Although my daily word count numbers have dropped significantly because I’ve been revising and editing, I’m currently at 533 days with no plans to stop. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve made the last few revisions to Leah, wrapped up the first draft of Reg vs the Martians and started a couple of new chapters that will replace a chapter in Glitch that I’ve never been happy with. I’m not convinced this new stuff is much of an improvement but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I’ll probably rewrite it again next year. I also outlined the sequel to The Zombie Book (working title). I’m heading off to England next week and I had originally planned to spend some time on the final revisions of Glitch. But I’ve come to the conclusion that editing on the road doesn’t really work … Read More
The Dark Age by Jason Gurley
I first came across Jason Gurley on the writers’ cafe forums on kboards. He’d just lost his job and was selling some very impressive premade book covers. Since then he’s become one of the top cover artists for indie authors and the go-to guy for the biggest names in indie publishing including Hugh Howey, Mathew Mather and Michael Bunker. But he’s actually an accomplished author himself. He’s probably best known for his Silo novel, Greatfall and the Movement Trilogy. He’s also published several short stories and has a collection of them, Deep Breath Hold Tight, coming out on the 13th of May. I haven’t read any of his novels (yet) but I picked up one of his short stories, The Dark Age, in February and was completely blown away. I hate spoilers with a full-on fire raining down from the heavens vengeance so I’m not going to talk about the plot here. I’ll just repeat what I put in my Goodreads and Amazon reviews. A great story stays with you long after you finish reading it and that’s exactly what The Dark Age does. A heart-wrenching slice of sci-fi goodness – read this and then go and hug your loved ones. I was going to write something more here but … Read More
AuthorEarnings.com
Hugh Howey, author of the Wool series and darling of the indie publishing world, has fired another salvo at traditional publishing. In fact, he appears to have launched a fully armed and operational battle station – AuthorEarnings.com. The primary aim of the site is to “gather and share information so that writers can make informed decisions” and the first report is already up. It’s well worth a read, Howey makes a lot of interesting points. The main conclusion he comes to is that all authors, even those with stellar deals, are better off self-publishing and at first glance it looks like he’s right. There are some inevitable weaknesses in the data – it’s gathered from Amazon rankings and the number of sales required to achieve a particular rank is only partly understood – but still, the argument is compelling and the data used to create the report can be downloaded and dissected by skeptics and supporters alike. The only part I’m wary of is the jump from daily revenue to annual income. You have to make a whole bunch of assumptions to make that particular leap. So far the response seems to have been favourable but no doubt the critics will be … Read More
Inbetween Days
So, with first draft of The Ghost Smuggler written and filed away for a few weeks before I start revising it, what’s next? Well, first up, I don’t want to stop writing. Partly because I’ve got a nice writing streak going (49 days so far) but more importantly because I’m enjoying the writing so much at the moment. The good news is, Ethel the Muse has been busy and I have a whole raft of ideas. First up, there’s three potential Ghost Smuggler related projects: The sequel novel A prequel novella called The Ghostwalker Edicts A parallel novella that tells the story of one of the secondary characters from the novel Then there’s a some other novels: A YA urban fantasy filled with freaks and the monsters who hunt them A YA urban fantasy about a girl who can create magical worlds A science fiction serial that started off as a throwaway idea but has grown into something a lot more substantial And some short stories: A psychological horror story called The Bone Boy A science fiction story about the skull of a military robot A horror-ish story about an ice creature and the girl she befriends Two novellas based in the world … Read More
Dust
The third book in Hugh Howey’s Silo Series, Dust, was released today. The first book in the series, Wool, began life as a fantastic short story that Hugh self-published at the end of July 2011. Encouraged by the fan reaction and sales the book was getting, Hugh published four more parts to the story and an omnibus edition all of which dominated the Amazon bestseller charts until Hugh was making enough money to quit his day job. Wool started getting mainstream publicity and rose up the overall Amazon charts. That attracted the attention of the big publishers who backed up the money truck and offered Hugh a publishing deal. And this is where it starts to get interesting, particularly if you’re thinking of self-publishing your work. Rather than signing a book deal, jumping in a limo and riding off into the sunset waving his bottle of champagne at the poor slobs toiling away on their little ebooks, Hugh invited the publishers in, had a cup of tea with them, then thanked them nicely and sent them back to New York with a slice of cake [1. Okay, it may not have happened exactly like that but he seems like a nice guy … Read More
Forward Progress
When we left our hero (that’s me), he was knocking on the door of the 70,000 word mark of his novel, The Ghost Smuggler. Yesterday, after some back and forth as I deleted and rewrote chunks of the book, I reached 70,310 words. The scene I wrote was a big showdown between Kaei and one of the protagonists and I think it turned out pretty well. There’ll be more work to do during the revision stage but I’m happy with it as a first draft. I’ve been targeting 80,000 words for this draft which is about 30,000 words less than my original first draft and a nice length for a first novel. Based on where I am now it’s going to come in pretty close to that number. Kaei has dealt with one of the main protagonists and is just about to deal with the other, then there’ll be a brief closing scene and I’ll reach The End. The first draft won’t quite be finished at that point. I still need to go back and replace a couple of chapters to tighten up the story and fill in some plot holes. I think that’s going to get me pretty close to … Read More