Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 79

Easter Eggs! Constructing Redwing’s Gambit Part 5 of 5

Finally! I was supposed to write about the easter eggs but I forgot that required me to break the space time continuum and go through the manuscript line by line. So what are Easter Eggs? The simple answer is: the step-by-step process I take to decide how a particular line or passage sounds. Also, certain nuggets I weave in or hide that are revealed either when you’re smart enough to figure it out OR when I tell you. Like today!

Bulldogs! is unique, yes, but this particular setting has lots and lots of aliens which is something I wanted to highlight. In order to avoid an info dump and help ground you, the reader, I thoroughly researched the original d20 Bulldogs! RPG, the FATE system, and other science fiction settings to figure out how I should handle this unique conundrum. Writing about many different aliens in an RPG, after all, is a lot different from handling them in a story.

The goal of this story was to help you get to know the characters and based on the reviews so far? That’s what you got out of it, too. Here are a few “easter eggs” to show you how some elements in

The Peeve That Burns

Today’s post is brought to you by our sponsor — angst. Or rather, the diminishing returns of said emotion.

On with the show…

Every once in a great while there are specific peeves that bug the living bejeezus out of me. And sadly — those tend to fester for months because I do try to be professional as I possibly can. I am rooted in the idea that you just never know what’s going to happen and you shouldn’t treat people like crap. WHICH IS WHY…

The number one thing that pisses me off? Publicly making fun of other authors.

Yeah, I know it’s hard to make a name for yourself out there. But building a “platform” based on your ability to bully other writers — whether they be named or unnamed — is not only cheap, it’s incredibly bad form. Besides being foul to your fellow scribe, let’s see… Oh, could it be that other authors are also readers who could buy your books? Not anymore! Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn’t be such a tough business if we could be a little sweeter and a little nicer to folks who may be going through some tough times. Instead, we have to be negative about what other folks are doing? Sheesh. We’re all in this together. Sink or swim. Do or die. So tell me again why we have to publicly author bash? Could it be, you’re setting a crappy example and you’re opening the door for readers to do it right back to you, too?

For the record: the reality is that NO ONE has the authority to demand where you write, when you write, what you write, or what you claim to write or how — because we ALL know that your career is on YOUR shoulders. No one can MAKE your career happen EXCEPT for YOU. There are folks I never, not even in a million years, would have thought: “Hey, this author can’t possibly make it…” Yet, they did and the reverse is also true!

Yes, there are some things that are a fact — like how talking about writing isn’t getting the words written. Guess what, though… only YOU can determine whether or not that’s true. If you need to boost yourself up by sitting in the middle of a coffee shop or talk yourself up a million times, then good on you! There are a million different paths in publishing and more on the way!

Am I saying that you shouldn’t speak your mind? Have opinions? No, absolutely not. What I’m saying, is that if you want your work to be treated with the respect it deserves, then maybe you should do the same to others, too. We were ALL new writers at some point or another. Forget that, and you turn a blind eye to your own past.

Or, in other words, don’t TEAR DOWN if you want to be BUILT UP.

Mood: Arrrrggghh, it’d be Monday. A blasted day if I ever saw one.

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Something black, as dark and deep as you ever saw, moreso than my twisted soul.

Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Scrubbing the decks, matey.

In My Ears: Nothing remarkable, to be sure. When the sun sets, I’ll be belting out a good sea shanty with me fine man and a bottle o’ rum. This day can die a terrible death.

Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront

Movie Last Viewed: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch

Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG

A Sale on a Bunny and an Excerpt

AHEM. Standing up on my self-promotion soap box today, because The Creepy Cottontail, which is a hybrid fiction/game aide FR Press has been experimenting with, is on sale for less than a gallon of gas. You can see what else you can get for a discount if you visit the DriveThruRPG Sale page.

Now, I’ve talked about this particularly scary rodent in a design essay titled: Inside the New Antagonist, Creepy Cottontail.

What is this antagonist about? Well, think failed ritual plus a pissed off god. Yep, it’s that dry and that sarcastic. I know I find it high-larious, but what can I say? I’ve heard from people directly that they enjoyed the concept and the easter egg located at the end — especially when it first came out!

(As an aside: reviews are always that hard, hard thing to ask for. . . You liked my stuff enough to buy it! Now sell your first-born child and leave a review!)

Anyhoo, thought I might give you a taste of Nyarlathotep. This aide includes a very strange story and I spent longer than usual establishing his character. It includes poetry-as-art text formed in a specific construction on the page. Well, and he’s not a happy god… To be sure…

The Curse of the Yellow Rabbit Excerpt

Iridescent trapezoids twisted high above the Tower of Nyarlathotep in a blistering pink cloud. The geometric shapes moved too quickly for his liking. Was it a sign? Were the Elder Gods angry with him?

Nyarlathotep’s watchful eye traced the fine stitching of the soft floor beneath his feet. Woven from the blackened tongues of traitors and con artists, the Tower reeked of guilt. The stench sickened him. It was time to start building a new temple, a sturdier one. Made of feet, perhaps? Or ribs?

By his calculations, it had been eighty years since the Dark Messenger’s last manifestation on Earth. During his absence, the dreams of mortals twisted away from the slithering darkness, toward soccer balls, annoying television shows and pictures of cats.

Amassing body parts on Earth in the modern age could be troublesome. Over the years, Nyarlathotep gleaned many things from his dream-walks. Wood, ox and stone had been replaced with metal, glass and plastic. Humanity thrived, its population tripled. That fact didn’t worry Nyarlathotep as much as it should have. His concern was simple: his followers were dwindling and he was not sure why.

Even though Nyarlathotep had bent many minds to his will during his last visit, only a handful still called his name. For whatever reason, Earth’s denizens were not as weak as they once were. They were bold and brave and resolute, as if they were gods themselves. By the Old Ones, they even fell in love with monsters — star vampires, mostly — instead of running for their lives.

The Dark Messenger couldn’t help but laugh. The frailty and punishment of mortals was the one thing all gods and creatures agreed upon. Ironic, since they could never figure out what form of torture would work best, just that it needed to be done.

Fortunately, there was one thing all mortals were vulnerable to, one power their minds could not ignore. The Word of Nyarlathotep held sway over their meat-filled minds, provided he took human form.

Find the rest of the story and more about this peculiar antagonist in The Creepy Cottontail.

Understanding Star Wars Fandom

Tomorrow is May the Fourth, a fan holiday to recognize Star Wars. In honor of the day, I’ve been thinking about something that I’d like to share with you on its eve.

You see, there’s a picture in my head that won’t let me go. It’s a very strange image and I’m going to do my best to describe it to you. So, let’s start small.

Imagine a room filled with ten hundred people. There are boundaries around each one of them on the floor; the older they are, the bigger the circle is. Now, add rings in that circle (like a tree). Each one dates that person’s very first experience with Star Wars, then their second, their third, and so on. The area between the circles are color-coded with the emotion that viewer/reader felt during that moment. For the sake of simplicity, use warmer colors for the happier moments and cooler colors for the others. Thin lines mark when they see a particular film again. Thick lines are for new experiences whether they be movies, books, comics, etc.

That’s the two-dimensional part. The last bit, is to assess a tonal value within each ring. Take that very first experience. Was it happy? Make that ring’s shade glow a bright yellow. Now do the same for that singular fan until you reach present day. As time passes, each ring gets either brighter and brighter — or dimmer depending upon the viewer’s tastes and subsequent experiences. That first memory is crucial because it establishes the foundation for what we think of Star Wars, but also what we feel about it.

Multiply this image by a million. Congratulations, you have just now entered my head! Pretty, isn’t it?

What I see, are groups of colors associated with age groups and the different trilogies as the larger, or most well-known body of works from the Star Wars franchise. But? There are lots of other elements to the property. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, video games — the list goes on and on and on. Each iteration of Star Wars triggers a different emotional reaction. We have now reached the point where Star Wars is so saturated in our social consciousness because of the creative works produced that it can parody itself.

Mind you, there are other variables to take into consideration, because what’s really interesting is when those experiences overlap with one another. Then you get mixtures of colors or brightened tones because the shared awe or disgust is that much more powerful. It’s gorgeous!

This, moreso than any critique, is why I feel Star Wars fandom is something for us to not only recognize, but study and understand. This isn’t just fandom, this is a phenomenon — regardless of how we feel about the quality or the particular moments. Of course we’re going to have opinions, and I feel that our memory and our emotion combined affects those thoughts. We don’t remember moments with precision and the more content that’s added to any property, the greater the chance that’ll influence our original opinion. Worse, we get defensive, too, about those original feelings. Angry. Hurt. Betrayed?

But for others that moment of happiness, like the picture in my head is trying to express, came not from the first time we experienced Star Wars — but from theirs.

Somewhere, in the middle of that beautiful picture, lies the beating heart of fandom. And that, to me, is more amazing than any comment a fan can make. No, I am not saying that we shouldn’t critique the films or the books. I’m not telling you that your thoughts don’t matter. They do, because they’re yours. This is just the ten thousand foot overview of something quite remarkable — a complex set of emotions and thoughts based on an shared visual, interactive, and literary experience crossing many ages, cultures, and backgrounds. If that doesn’t blow your mind, then I don’t know what will.

May the Fourth be With You.

Mood: The dawn of summer and all its warmth and annoyances.

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I HAVE WINGS!

Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Housework. Feh.

In My Ears: Country? WTF?

Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront

Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns

Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch

Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG

Watch the Lovecraft eZine for a New Story from Me!

Ia! Ia!

Greetings fellow cultists! It gives me great pleasure to announce that I will have a very dark short story titled “The Dig” in an upcoming issue of the Lovecraft eZine.

The Lovecraft eZine is a monthly magazine for aficionados of fiction and other content with a Lovecraftian flair. Think Cthulhu! Dagon! The Necronomicon! Star vampires! But also. . .themes that were inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s stories.

I have a soft spot for “The Dig” because its evolution is dark and dire, indeed. In many ways, I had to dig through revisions, continually adding more text and revising it’s tragic end once, twice, and three times to finally get it into a state I was happy about. It was rejected in a previous state, but luckily I had a fantastic editor who was so, so kind enough to provide comments. He was right. Hence, the incarnation submitted here.

And you’ll get to read it. For free. Sometime this year. But I can’t tell you when. . .yet. Muwahahahahaha.

Please, do not be afraid. Go check out the other stories and illustrations in the Lovecraft eZine today!

Extreme Zombies Anthology Announced!

I am thrilled to announce a new zombie anthology! The other authors in this collection are fantastic and I am humbled to be included with such fine wordsmiths. This collection is edited by the esteemed Paula Guran.

From the publisher’s website:

It’s too late! The living dead have already taken over the world. Your brains have been devoured. Nothing is left but spasms of ravenous need—an obscene hunger for even more zombie fiction. Forget the metaphors and the mildly scary. You want shock, you want grue, you want disturbing, gut-wrenching, skull-crunching zombie stories that take you over the edge and go splat. You want the bloody best of the ultimate undead. You have no choice. . . you. . . must. . . have. . . Extreme Zombies!

Extreme Zombies Table of Contents

“Charlie’s Hole” by Jesse Bullington

“At First Only Darkness” by Nancy A. Collins

“The Blood Kiss” by Dennis Etchison

“We Will Rebuild” by Cody Goodfellow

“Dead Giveaway” by Brian Hodge

“Zombies for Jesus” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

“An Unfortunate Incident at the Slaughterhouse” by Harper Hull

“Captive Heart” by Brian Keene

“Going Down” by Nancy Kilpatrick

“On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert With Dead Folks” by Joe R. Lansdale

“Susan” by Robin D. Laws

“Makak” by Edward Lee

“The Traumatized Generation” by Murray Leeder

“Meathouse Man” by George R.R. Martin

“Abed” by Elizabeth Massie

“For the Good of All” by Yvonne Navarro

“Home” by David Moody

“Jerry’s Kids Meet Wormboy” by David J. Schow

“Aftertaste” by John Shirley

“Viva Las Vegas” by Thomas Roche

“In Beauty, Like the Night” by Norman Partridge

“Romero’s Children” by David A. Riley

“Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs” by Monica Valentinelli

“Provider” by Tim Waggoner

“Chuy and the Fish” by David Wellington

Extreme Zombies is scheduled to debut in August 2012 and will be published by Prime Books. Be sure to check out other books in the Prime Books catalog, there’s a lot of great titles in there.

“Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs” first appeared in The Zombie Feed, Volume One which was published by Apex Book Company and edited by Jason Sizemore.

The Dragon Screams for the Sun

Phil Reed’s passion, as seen through www.battlegrip.com/, is infectious. It fills me with absolute glee that someone can get so excited about “X” whatever “X” happens to be — and sometimes? Well, I have to dive into the fun to see what that perfect moment of happiness is all about. So, for the second time in recent memory, I invested in something I wouldn’t normally get for myself.

Enter “Screaming for Sunrise.” I can’t really call this a toy. It’s more like a vinyl sculpture and it was modeled after the original painting by the same name, Screaming for Sunrise. Produced by Munky King, when I opened the box I was in total shock. My dragon is gorgeous! Yay! You know I’m impressed when I sit here trying to figure out how the artist Yoskay Yamamoto designed, produced and painted this.

This particular dragon is pictured without the wire-frame ribbon because I wanted to highlight the mold. It’s on him now, though!

(P.S. Huge apologies for the shots. Been having trouble with my camera and I’m strongly leaning toward hunting down a commercial photography class and better equipment. You can see Screaming for Sunrise on the toy manufacturer’s website.)

Mood: The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: No tea or tomato juice.

Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Walk this way.

In My Ears: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…

Game Last Played: Battle Nations

Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns

Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch

Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG

The State of this Author’s State

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the letter “W.” Without words, we will wither when wit weakens weary.

I haven’t written about the state of the state for some time, so I thought I’d drop in an talk about all that’s happening in my planet.

Let’s see… Well, for my day job we launched a Kickstarter for the Designer’s Edition of Ogre. You can find a list of articles and interviews about the project on the Ogre Sixth Edition web page. For John Kovalic of Dork Tower fame? He just finished Munchkin Apocalypse and had an appearance at ACD Games Day that I helped manage. I’ve edited REDACTED now and am working on another small project. Plus, we’re gearing up for a ton of goodies, but Munchkin (always) comes first. One of the best things about John, though, is his passion for all things — including gaming. A lot of old school games I haven’t played yet and he’s gleefully whipping out his own Ogre minis and games like A Ticket To Ride. Tons of fun, to be sure.

On the heels of my recent appearance at OddCon, where I read excerpts from Redwing’s Gambit for the first time, I was attacked vigorously by con crud. It lasted for about two weeks and forced me to stop drinking diet soda. I’m now trying to quit that completely, but it’s very, very hard. I would like to have that cut completely out of my system by the time I appear at Balticon. (Note: they do not have me listed on the website, but I am appearing on panels and doing a reading there.) The side effects so far are very strange and involve changes in hunger pangs, anxiety, and an abrupt shift in (of all things) breathing. Weird.

During this time, I had three really cool things happen. The first was that the anthology dubbed Don’t Read This Book debuted. It includes “Don’t Ignore Your Dead,” which is a very dark, gritty story penned by yours truly.

The second, was that Brennan Taylor asked me to be part of my first Kickstarter for the Have Blaster, Will Travel Bulldogs! anthology. Yay! Not only was I part of a successful stretch goal, but readers got to pick what Fang blows up in the story! Hoo-ray! Of course, one of the best side effects of this project, was that more readers became aware of Redwing’s Gambit. This is such an important novella for my career because of the way it was structured and designed. I also got a rejection letter for a short story, but I’m waiting to hear back about two others, both of which I’m *very* excited about.

The third is a publishing milestone. One of my stories will appear in an anthology with none other than George R.R. Martin, Joe Lansdale, Nancy Collins, and a variety of other amazing authors!

More updates as I get them, but those are the highlights. Due to a number of factors outside of my control, I am behind, but I am FIRED UP. Also, I wish I wasn’t so sensitive to diet pop, but the benefit to breaking myself of that addiction, is that I’ll spend more time on other healthy things. Just call me zen.

Mood: Contemplative. As in contemplating hunger.

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Ice tea. Three glasses. Shaken and stirred.

Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Cleaned. MORE SUCKAGE.

In My Ears: Nox Arcana

Game Last Played: Battle Nations

Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns

Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch

Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG

Thank You! Fang will blow up. . .

First and foremost, thank you. I’m really happy I can write about Fang again and if there’s one thing I hope I can convey always and forever in my work, is just how much you, the reader, means to my future as an author. After all, I have not yet begun to fight! Er… Write!

Secondly, you really like explosions. Since two of the listed options tied for first place, you’ll get a bigger bang for your buck. (See what I did there?)

Not only will Fang blow up his own ship, but he’ll also exact a little revenge on the headquarters of Redwing Securities.

Now, to figure out a plot that won’t disintegrate when the building does…

Nothing Rational Whatsoever

The past two weeks have been a fun adventure in con crud-land. I am now, officially, behind on my master plan. Fortunately, I did manage to spontaneously combust only once. I now have a list and that’s what I’m sticking to. Yay for lists!

Mind you, my mental state is rapidly changing. I have stuff to do, but I’m not freaking out about it. For some bizarr-o reason, I am now convinced that I am now more sensitive to soda than ever. It’s been three days and while I should be back on the OH MY STARS THIS TASTES SOOO GOOD wagon — I’m sticking to coffee and tea, because pop causes some weird effect that I’m probably imagining.

Yeah, we’ll see how long this lasts.

The problem with having a to-do list is that there’s no shortage of things to create. This time, though, I’m going to barrel right on through so I can get to some really cool things I have planned for you. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA.

*coughs* Hairball. *coughs*

First, I have to blow something up for my readers. Watching the results come in for my poll about Fang and laughing. Oh, and I really need to paint one of my cats. That’ll teach him to go after my brushes. Right? RIGHT?

Mood: Con Crudness. It’s a state of being.

Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Two cups of coffee. I want MOAR.

Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Cleaned my office. Yeah, that sucked.

In My Ears: Final Fantasy playlist. I may or may not have added some from iTunes. $10!

Game Last Played: It’s a haze.

Movie Last Viewed: Total blank.

Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch

Latest Release: Redwing’s Gambit for Bulldogs! the RPG