R.L. King's Blog

Two years: Time flies!

Today’s the release day for THE INFERNAL HEART, book 9 in my Alastair Stone Chronicles series.

Almost two years to the day ago, I released book 1, STONE AND A HARD PLACE, with a lot of excitement, anticipation, and, to be honest, mostly trepidation. I knew most self-published books never went anywhere, never selling more than a few copies to family and friends before sinking into the obscurity of million-plus Amazon sales ranks. While I knew I had a pretty decent book that I thought people w...

Profanity, love it or hate it

I’ve gotten a couple of emails from folks who really like the Stone books, but they expressed concern about profanity. They think it would be better if some of the characters weren’t such potty-mouths, or at least if I left out some of the more extreme ends of the cussing spectrum (like the “f” word).

While I totally respect that opinion, and respect people’s right to limit their exposure to words that make them uncomfortable, unfortunately my response has to be a polite, “I can’t do that, D...

Two Weeks In: Organization is hard!

Here I am, reporting from two weeks into the grand experiment! I’m happy to report that writing continues apace, and I’m hitting or exceeding my 3,000 word/day weekday goal. Also, my plan to cook and eat at home is going really well. We should have done this years ago! I cook (if you want to call the random flailings I do in the kitchen “cooking”) and Dan does the dishes. Our food budget has plummeted (it’ll do that when you used to eat out, and not all that cheaply, nearly every night) and...

Report – One Week In: Characters Can Surprise You

Slightly more effectivethan trying to make characters cooperate.

I’m happy to report that after a week of being a full-time wordmonkey, things are going well so far. It’s been a wet week here in San Jose, which is kind of weird given that we’ve been having a drought for a looong time. Right now it sort of feels like I should be gathering the cats and building an ark. Except the cats are all fixed, so that would be a bitpointless. So I guess I’ll just keep writing.

I’ve been hitting my 3,000-...

It’s alive! And a new adventure

I haven’t updated this blog for…well…a really long time. That’s going to change now. At long last, after a lot of planning, saving, and soul-searching, I’m embarking on a new adventure as a full-time writer and editor (and marketer/promoter, because as a self-published author, that kind of goes with the territory).

My first day went well–hit my word quota and then some, got a little work done around the house, and sorted out some plans for what I need to work on. Since I’m most creative firs...

Shadowrun: Borrowed Time nominated for a Scribe!

Just found out last night that my Shadowrun novel, Borrowed Time, has been nominated for a Scribe Award by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers! Holy cats! I’m bouncing off the walls a bit–it’s quite an honor. I doubt I’ll win–I’m up against some pretty stiff competition–but just being nominated is pretty darn cool.

The award will be given out at San Diego Comic Con in July. Of course this is the year I’m not going (though it’s dimly possible I might be able to pop down for...

Stone Chronicles #5 – Core of Stone

Just a quick update: Stone Chronicles Book 5, CORE OF STONE, is coming in a little more than a week! It follows directly after the events in THE SOURCE, and presents Dr. Stone with the sort of problem he’s never had to deal with before. Here’s the blurb (spoilers if you haven’t read THE SOURCE):

UNACCEPTABLE LOSSES

Alastair Stone knew it would take a big sacrifice to end the Evil’s hold over our world. He was ready to make that sacrifice—but he expected it to be his life.

Never in his worst...

Of Books and Grapes

Next week, I’ll be attending my very first convention as a vendor. I’m nervous and excited–I think I have a pretty comprehensive list of what I need to bring, but I deliberately picked a fairly low-key, small con for my first experience.

I’ll be setting up shop next Saturday at Grape City Con in Lodi, CA. It’s a one-day con; we attended last year and had a nice time without the overwhelming crowds at some of the bigger ones. It should give me some good practice at working as many bugs as poss...

Book 5, Author Talk, and Cons

Lots happening lately! Book 5, Core of Stone, came back from editing, and I’m happy to report that my editor didn’t have any major issues with it. A few things that need to be fixed and a fair bit of word-nerking (as always), but for the most part everything came back fine. I’ve made all the changes and now I’m doing a final proofing pass.

Got the first cut at the cover back last week, and it’s gorgeous. It’s not done yet (for one thing, Stone doesn’t have a head!) but I love it. It captures...

2015 – A Writing Retrospective

So, 2015. A few more hours and it’ll be history. Unless anything momentous happens in the next half-day or so, I think I’m reasonably safe in summing things up.

Short version: it’s been a good year. I feel very fortunate that, all in all, things hummed along pretty well this year, personal-life wise. Dan and I and the cats and the gecko all made it through another year with our health, jobs, and general outlooks intact, which I think is a pretty good thing.

I wanted to talk writing, though. B...