Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 66

Back to work...

Went through 6 chapters of APoS-Derry, slow and steady. I increased the font size to 18points and found two more missing periods and an absent quotation mark. I also added words a couple of times when I felt they would help the clarity of what was being said.

I cut out a bit more repetition, too. Both times it was a paragraph that was repeating something I'd already written, just in a different way. But overall it's working for me, now.

I had a nice chat with a Mac Technician who showed me a few things I can do with the Air that I couldn't do with the Pro, and sent me links for further info. But what it boils down to is I'll need to get Adobe Photoshop Ps to do the book cover. So be it. I can't buy it, I have to lease by the month or by the year. The one I'm looking at is $30-35 a month, but I can cancel anytime.

Love going online with Twitter to find another mass-shooting, this time in Lewiston, ME. 22 dead and 60 injured. Just another day in the life of chaos America.

God, it makes me tired.

Thank god for Taco Tuesday

It was 10:45pm when I decided to get in my car, drive to a Taco Bell and have an order of crispy tacos. I wasn't feeling very happy and howling at people on Twitter and Instagram and wasn't really hungry, but damn those things changed my mood for the better.

Reason for the mood? I saw the ophthalmologist, this morning, and it turns out I have a vitreous detachment in my right eye. Can't be fixed; I'll have this spot in my vision till I die. Or could lead to loss of vision. I'm due back to his office in 30 days to see if it's stabile or advancing. So fucking perfect.

I've got the beginning of a cataract in my left eye. Skin cancer on my right jawline. Diabetes. High blood pressure. And a host of other old man ailments. It's time to junk me and buy a newer model. And while I can joke about it, now, I was not doing so well earlier.

I'm cutting back on social media. I'll still check it, now and then, but I want to focus on finishing the full 3 volumes of APoS, and then Dair's Window, and the rest of Blood Angel before I have a chance to go blind. It's too damned easy for me to get lost in dealing with idiots on Twitter and Instagram, and they do seem to be multiplying in number.

I've already unfollowed a couple people who've been screaming nonstop about Israel's bombings in Gaza, but who were all but silent when Russia did the exact same thing to people in Ukraine. Both sides are at fault for the catastrophe in Gaza. Ukraine did not warrant having Russia invade and slaughter her citizens. But the world is going nuts for the poor Palestinians while Ukraine is all but being ignored, now.

I know too much history to be kind about that sort of shit. I'm no scholar, but I'm not fool enough to think that forcing Ukraine to give away part of her territory would solve a damned thing, as some really, really, really rich idiots are suggesting. Chamberlin proved appeasement doesn't work in 1938, for crying out loud.

I'm not vanishing, just minimizing and keeping focus on what I need to do. It's probably the end of the world, anyway, since the ice in Antarctica is melting away and soon Miami will be underwater. The Planet will take care of itself, since we're too fucking selfish to do it, and Earth won't give a shit if humanity becomes extinct.

Funny time to be writing a book about a little war in a tiny country on a small island with thousands of years of history.

When will I learn?

I should never take a long nap in the afternoon. I wake up cranky and lost, and it takes me forever to get myself back on track. Then I'm down instead of up and don't want to do anything. I could have just crashed on the couch for 20 minutes and been fine, but no...it was on top the bed under a cover and gone for 2 hours.

Fortunately, this was after I got an appointment for my eye, in the morning, and set up an online chat with a techie about my Mac's capacities for the afternoon. I also had a chat with Caladex and seems the China in Print Fair will happen, next year, and they wonder if I'd be open to going.  To which I said, Yes. I'd love an excuse to get out of the US after the election, especially since there will be madness following if the Blue Wave wipes out the GOP (as I hope it will).

I've got an itch to start on Blood Angel-Franz, soon as I'm done with APoS-Derry. I know the first line in this piece. They want to kill the man I love, and I don't know if I can. The line's a paragraph unto itself. Then the story jumps back to explain what happened to bring this about. That would be the first half. The second half would be dealing with Léonidès' mistake in not killing Franz.

I show in volume two of the story that Leon has no trouble killing, so long as the person deserves it. But Franz doesn't, yet. He's a soldier who's killed other men in battle, but that's considered acceptable. How do you go about killing someone who's done nothing wrong merely on the suspicion they would develop into a murderous monster? A preemptive execution.

Would it have been morally acceptable to go back in time to smother Hitler or Stalin in their cribs, as babies, knowing what they would do when they grew into men? I don't necessarily believe that things would have turned out better. For fun, I once worked out a whole scenario of what might have happened if Hitler had died in jail or as a child, from some disease.

Germany was mess after WW1, and when the Great Depression roared it, it grew worse. There was a growing communist party, growing unionism, growing anger at the rich, still aimed at the Jews. Russia was meddling in the country's politics and, when the capitalists heading the government in Berlin took strong, violent action against the Unions and Communists, Stalin supplied materiel to them so civil war broke out.

Stalin already had designs on Poland and used the country's support of the German Government to roar in and take over, then pushed into Germany to protect his supporters. England and France declared war as Poland's allies, but Soviet troops still marched into Paris. Took over the entire continent. Japan still hit Pearl Harbor, but Russia and Japan were not allies so the US focused on the Pacific.

England could not stop the Soviet war machine because the Russian factories were a thousand miles farther away and they had the materials to keep building bombers and fighters and tanks and guns, so London finally surrendered. And Ireland danced a jig because the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And boom -- the whole of Europe became a satellite of Moscow, instead of just the eastern half.

Details, details...

Today was spent working on my new laptop, checking the links, verifying passcodes, updating settings, trying to figure out why some things that did work on the Pro won't work on the Air, and getting my printer to talk to it. That was fun...but finally successful. All while doing 3 loads of laundry.

Tomorrow, I'm harassing my ophthalmologist to look at my right eye, ASAP. I've got a weird shadowy spot that suddenly showed up in my vision, with spidery webs radiating from it. Spooking the hell out of me...wondering if it's a result of my diabetes. It's not strong; in fact, if I'm looking at a dark space or one that has lots of patterns in it, I can't even see the thing. It's when I'm dealing with my monitor that it becomes obvious.

Once I know when I'm seeing him, I'll set up an appointment with a Mac specialist to make certain I'm getting the right version of Photoshop. Adobe is offering several, and there's a monthly charge to license any of them. I want to see if one labeled PS is good for my needs -- designing dust jackets and book covers. And maybe they can explain how I managed to set up the keyboard so that I can change an e to an é and a c to a ç...because I honestly have no idea what I did, and it would not do it, yesterday.

Next comes the push for APoS-Derry, and I'm starting from page 1...and this will be the final go-through, no matter what. I could easily work on honing this book for the next 10 years, if I don't stop myself.

I also now have a gmail address. Not sure what I'll do with it, yet. If it'll be for future business or if I'll shove personal stuff onto that and use my .mac for business/writing only. Whatever happens is what happens.

But I do feel like I'm back on track...

Heaven...

I got my new MacBook Air laptop today, a few days early. Migrated all my documents and files and apps over, and am ready to go. Took next to no time and I'm already liking it. The keyboard feels right. I even splurged on a sleek little mouse that looks more like a piece of fancy sushi but is so elegant to work with, it's a joy. I've upgraded Word to 365 and love how APoS looks on it. I also played it safe and got AppleCare, because it came in handy with the Pro.

I don't have all the details set the way I want, yet, but I'm happy and relieved that this is ready to use, so quickly. Next comes getting Photoshop and working on the cover for the book. I want a sketchpad and stylus but Mac doesn't have those for the Air. I'll have to go aftermarket.

I'm told I can send my old Pro in for credit, but I don't want to let go till I know for sure everything is working okay or migrated properly. I doubt there's a problem, but I'm too unsure of my ability in tech to let that govern me, yet.

What's funny is, I worked out the basic plot for Blood Angel-Franz (volume 3). The Oyim refuse to give Leonides permission to make Franz a Blood Angel because they sense there is a darkness in him that should not be unleashed. Once a human is turned, their true nature is revealed and all lies fall away.

Unfortunately, Franz knows about the vampire world and has to be killed. As punishment for allowing this to happen, Leon is ordered to feed on him till true death. But he can't; Franz is too beautiful a man. So he winds up turned...and a danger to the community. But he cannot be controlled except in the cruelest of ways, and that is not in Leon's nature.

That's why he goes looking for his sister, Gabrielle; to offer a swap. Franz for Dmitriy, because she'd have no problem taking control of the crazy little fuck.

She thinks.

Starting over...

 I shifted APoS from the PC to my old Mac and it's not matching up with the version I'd had, before, page count wise. So I'm starting from the very beginning and going through to make certain everything is properly set. The first two chapters are okay, though I did find another typo. Thek is not a word.

A new job popped up in New Jersey, it looks like. One of those maybe things that I think will wind up being too expensive for the people involved, but you still have to do the work. Give 'em a quote and hope they tell you yes or no instead of just walking away in silence.

There's going to be a 2-job trip to NYC area -- 1 up the Hudson to the Cuomo Bridge, the other in Manhattan's Upper East Side -- all in mid-November. Then comes the LA one the beginning of December. I'm feeling tired just thinking about them.

Nothing much to say. Just want to meditate on these gay weddings from around the world...

Love is love around the world.

APoS-New World For Old

Tomorrow I'm shifting the work I've done on APoS Derry back to my Mac and continue from there. If I'm going to get this done in time, I need to get my ass in gear. I could easily work on this book for another 10 years and not feel it's 100% right. It's time to cut it off.

I'm ready to begin working on volume two -- New World For Old. I'm more comfortable with what happens in this volume because I lived in Houston for eight years and have a basic idea of the city and its layout. Not to mention the small town mentality of it. I want this done fast so I can dig into the final volume, Home Not Home.

Something that's kicked me harder into gear is that Gacy documentary. I remember how caught up in it I was, when it was happening...and that brought to mind the Houston serial murders of Dean Corll, five years prior. I lived in San Antonio, at the time, and Elmer Wayne Henley, his associate, was tried for the murders, there. Seems like the 70s was the decade of the serial killers, both straight and gay.

So there's a moment in the story where Brendan is invited by Henley to go to a party, late one night as he's walking home. It's only because he has a circulating fan in hand and wants to fix it so he can sell it that Brendan decides not to go. He doesn't want to cart it off to a party. A couple weeks later, he learns Henley shot Corll and it comes out that 27 boys had been raped, tortured and killed by the two...and Henley had planned that for him.

It has an effect on Brendan, skirting that close to a torturous death. He'd been brought to Houston after being injured in a bombing, in Derry, and jolted into a catatonic state. He's only just begun working his way out of it by reverting to his old habits. Find junk, fix it up and make a little money off it. This somewhat near-death experience does a lot to jolt him back to reality.

And also get him to decide not to keep so much to himself. The bombing showed him how suddenly life can be torn apart, and having Henley try to procure him for Corll to kill shows him he needs to build a circle of friends, like he had in Derry. People he can trust, because he really is in unknown territory, in Houston.

So I'm sticking to my schedule -- publish APoS-Derry in January 2024. Aim for HNH in June or July.

I HATE PCs...

On this long plane ride back and forth to Seattle, I tried to do a final pass-through on APoS-Derry to check for mistakes, this time on the company PC. It shows up a bit differently, in Word, and that helps me see errors.

Of course, there's no room to use a mouse so had to rely on the trackpad. I made sure it's at the least sensitive setting and proceeded to work...

And that motherfucking POS did everything it could to screw me over. It would highlight words and sentences even when I did not want it to. The cursor would not set where I wanted it. It fucked up part of my formatting and I have no idea how, so I have to reformat the entire text to make sure it's right...and complete. Because the page count is down by 20, even though the word count is the same while I did nothing to shift the margins or font size.

Seriously -- if I even so much as held my hand over the trackpad, it would think I wanted it to do something...and would do it. Like scroll down a page without so much as a query, and so fast I'd get lost. I got halfway through before giving up. It was that or have a coronary. 

My new laptop's not due in till next week, and I cannot wait for it. I'm getting a stylus and pad to work with it, as well as a mouse, and PCs can eat shit, for all I care.

So on the trip back...on a JetBlue redeye that was running late...I watched Casablanca and Singin' in the Rain instead of working or trying to sleep. I cannot sleep on a plane. Too many people around. I can't even sleep in a room that has someone else in it. So even though I've seen both movies a dozen times, I enjoyed them, again.

But then I found a documentary -- John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise -- being offered through Peacock. I watched some of it and now feel a deep dark interest to watch the full thing. It's six episodes and JB only had three, available, but it's another fucking subscription service. No way.

Seattle

Heading out for the Seattle Book Fair, tomorrow, and not back till early AM Tuesday, on a redeye. Quick trip, but I've been to the city so many times I've seen just about everything I wanted to see. Be nice to catch up with some people I know in the book business, but I'm staying at a different hotel so no easy access to Jack-in-the-Box's cheap tacos. Maybe when I'm in LA, beginning of December.

I'll miss doing a ferry ride. I've done one back and forth to Bremerton every time I went, but won't have the time, this trip. But, again, I've done it so often.

I'm not taking my Mac with me, either, so no posting till I'm back. I've got the company PC with a copy of APoS on it and will use that for proofing and for emails. But it doesn't have anywhere near the same links I've set up on my own laptop so little online stuff. Once I've transferred everything on this Mac to my new one, I'd like to recycle this thing. Maybe someone else can get some use out of it, once it's been refurbished. I don't want to keep it.

Spent half the day at Caladex getting ready for the fair and plotting out an addition to a NY job in mid-November. Found out they have a couple more potential jobs in February and March...and though I'd told them I was cutting back from that my bank book kicked me in the ass and said, Don't be stupid. So if anything comes from them, I'll do them. I'm so deep in debt, it's that or bankruptcy.

Besides, I've got the expenses of putting APoS out into the world. Can't let that go by the wayside. I've got the first book's jacket, but the other two will need to be plotted out to at least be somewhat consistent in look and feel, and those will be difficult.

I've gotten some good feedback on the second version of the synopsis. I'll let it sit till I've finished this pass on Derry and formatted the text of the novel for publication, in hardback and ebook. By then, I should know what will and will not work for it.

Rewrite of synopsis...

 

Maybe this is more involving? More Dynamic?

--------

Derry, Northern Ireland. It is 1966 and the Catholic minority has begun to push for civil rights against discrimination by the Protestant majority. One-man-one-vote. Decent housing. Good jobs. These are the most basic of requests, yet are still too much for those in power to accept. So there are confrontations and demonstrations that, step-by-step, grow more and more violent. 

Caught in the middle of this is Brendan Kinsella, a lad who just wants to live his life and follow his dreams. But history has decided to interfere.

Just days after his tenth birthday, his father is murdered. Because the man was a brutal drunk who kept the family in extreme poverty, Brendan is not sorry he is dead. 

However, he was killed by two Protestants, which sets his mother, Bernadette, on a path to Irish Nationalism.The third of her six children, Brendan is the one she constantly picks at and belittles as simple-minded, despite his knack for repairing things. In response, he stays quiet, observant, and consistently goes his own way. Even though it sometimes leads him into trouble. 

Through the next six years, Brendan is caught up in: 

the Civil Rights demonstrations in Derry the attack on peaceful marchers at Burntollet Bridge the Battle of Bogside, the following August the arrival of British troops to separate the two warring sides the re-introduction of internment without trialBloody Sunday 

There is also his growing relationship with a Protestant girl, one that has to be kept secret for fear of reprisals...from both sides...as he fights to find a place of safety in a world careening towards chaos.

This is volume one of three volumes.

------------

The situation between Israel and Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, is shredding me. I support Israel's right to exist and consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. They keep needling Israel with rockets fired indiscriminately into the country, hoping they hit something. And sometimes they have, but it's more just an exercise in childish belligerence. 

They've also maintained a corrupt stranglehold of control on the people in Gaza since being elected in 2004, and won't allow new elections. They use the population as human shields, like cowards, and their slaughter in Israel last weekend was flat out evil.

But now Israel is bombing Gaza indiscriminately. They put out communiques claiming they've only targeted Hamas terrorists, but hundreds of children are dead, and the video coming out has destroyed Israel's image of righteousness. I've also learned Israel refused to let any of the weapons they've developed, like the Iron Dome, be sent to Ukraine for her defense. Like they're on Russia's side.

Russia funded and equipped Hamas, through Iran. Maybe even assisted and trained them in the terrorist attack. And Israel still supports that vile country? Somebody make it make sense.