M.L.S. Weech's Blog, page 9

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 66

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

Nineteen

February 25, 2038, 11:02 a.m. 

13 Years, 281 Days Ago

“It’s not working,” Doctor Endinger said. 

Paul stood in front of the man’s ostentatiously large desk feeling like a criminal pleading his case. From one point of view, he was.

“The vacuum spheres have already created several new avenues of study in quantum physics.” Paul had to fight to keep the urgency out of his voice. 

“Which is why I’m not firing you.” Edinger was a lanky man with wispy gray hair that never seemed to look the same way twice. It sort of looked like a button up shirt and tie had sprouted hair and started walking. “You’ve shown promise in your theoretical studies, and we encourage you to continue the research, but we can’t afford to fund any further experiments after this year ends. We won’t be budgeting for your project after this.”

“But I’m so close!” Paul stepped up and planted his hands on Edinger’s desk, though he still had to be about four feet away.

“We all thought that a year back,” Edinger admitted. “You came to us with your degree and the ability to generate self-contained vacuum spheres, but no amount of research or money has helped anyone, including you, figure out how to connect those spheres to allow for instantaneous transport.”

Paul’s head sank. There was no denying that truth. There were a few basic theories that might allow for two fields to connect, but none of them had any practical application.

Paul looked up, desperately playing the only card he had left to play.

“I’ve been thinking about one last thing,” Paul said. The formula made a kind of sense, but he wasn’t sure if it mattered. “If we created the fields in the same place, they would be connected that way.” 

The formulaic data had some odd issues. There was a variable he couldn’t reconcile, but Paul hoped the viability of the concept would give him just one more year of funding.

Edinger offered a patronizing smile. “What would be the point of teleporting to a place you already are?”

Paul stepped back, finally slumping down in the leather chair behind him. It was over. His life’s work had reached its final conclusion, and there was nothing else to do. 

“I imagine you’ll still spend a lot of energy working on this concept, and I’m not forbidding you to, but I am telling you that you need to start considering areas of study that have more immediate applications,” Edinger said.

He’d accepted a fellowship in the company’s applied physics division offering them a way to expedite shipping and delivery methods for the world. Edinger proved to be the only one even willing to hire him under those conditions. 

Jordan and Lidia happily found other jobs, thus ending their friendship, or at least degrading it to nothing more than an occasional meeting for drinks and reminiscing. Paul was the last one left trying to do something he knew was possible. The problem was, the only person capable of doing it kept it a secret. 

“I know how disappointing this is for you,” Edinger said. “Why don’t you take a week of paid leave to consider options and come back fresh. I understand what it is to set aside a long-held passion project to move onto something else. But I think in time you’ll be happier developing projects that bare more immediate results.”

Paul looked at Edinger, trying to appreciate what the man was doing. Paul nodded. He force himself up and headed to the door. He managed to mutter thanks and a promise to be back next week with some ideas.

He left the building in a daze, catching a ride to his condominium. He plodded up the flight of stairs that led to his particular unit and got inside. He finally realized what he was thinking when he stepped into the second room, which he’d converted into an office. The walls were covered with white-boards, papers, and formulas. The white-tile floor was hardly visible given desk and numerous stands that also had more and more formulas and theories covering them. 

His most recent concept was on the desk. He was pretty confident he could indeed create a field that would form a sort of frozen moment in time. In that field one could travel from one spot to the other. Once the field went down, he’d have effectively teleported. Sure, all that really happened was that time didn’t pass in the vacuum sphere, but it would have the same result. 

The problem was that field could only be so large. There was also the odd variable he couldn’t reconcile. For some reason, the space dimension worked exactly as he planned, but the dimension of time kept unbalancing the equation. 

“What’s it matter?” Paul pulled the small rolling chair away from his desk and sat staring at his life’s work. 

It was all over. He’d probably keep doing the math, but without funding for any experiments, he couldn’t prove whatever theory he showed. And without any experiments, he couldn’t verify if his theories would work. Sure, he had a little less than a year of funding, but he didn’t have any clue what to try. 

“I guess you win.” Paul didn’t expect Nobody to appear. When he first moved into his condo, Paul thought Nobody would have a place he could teleport to. Of course Paul covered his home in sensors and measurement tools hoping for just such an event. But Nobody had never shown. Still, the man somehow knew what was going on, so it felt right to talk out loud.

“Why did you use such a wonderful thing just to pester me for all these years?” Paul asked. He could imagine what Nobody would say, but he didn’t want to think about the man’s sermons or viewpoints.

He waved his hands around the room. “This could send food to every homeless person. It could make shipping and traveling obsolete. Friends and family could visit each other in less time than it would take to open a door. And you use it to yap at me.”

Of course, he also helped. A small part of Paul understood that. He’d dressed Paul’s wounds when he was a child. He’d encouraged him to build friendships and bonds that were precious. 

Of course they were all gone now too. Paul was alone. He was unsuccessful. He was angry and sad. 

His PID buzzed. He glanced at it, seeing that his mother was calling. He briefly considered letting it go to voicemail, but his mother might be the only one left who cared about him, so he answered, linking his PID to the earpiece he always wore.

“Hey!”

“What’s wrong?” His mother asked. 

“What do you mean?” Paul asked. 

“You said, ‘Hey,’” she replied.

“Yeah, hello. Hi. How are you? What’s up?” Paul gave a list of other greetings as if any of them would have worked.

“I hear it in your voice,” she said. “Something’s wrong. What’s up?”

He chuckled. “I just had a real bad day at work, Mom,” he said. “I’ll get over it. But what about you? I haven’t forgotten to call or visit.”

He’d called her pretty much every week and visited more and more just to spend time with her. It started to feel right in a way. It was just them against his father. It was just them before Bill and Jordan, and now it was just them again. He made sure not to let her feel the way he’d felt when all the other people in his life faded away for one reason or another.

“I know,” she said. “That’s why I’m calling today. I know it’s soon, but I was hoping you could visit again this weekend.”

“Sure,” he said. Maybe that would help him. He could talk to her about his job. She always made him feel better. “Why so soon?”

“Oh, I just felt like having my son around,” she said. “Is that OK? Are you too busy?”

“No,” he said chuckling. The more he thought about it, the better it was. He needed the chance to recharge and relax. “I’ve actually just taken some time off work to relax. I could be there tonight if you want.”

“Oh that would be perfect!” She sounded genuinely excited.

“What’s going on?” he asked again. 

The line was quiet for a moment. “Why don’t you come down, and we’ll have some dinner. Then I’ll tell you why I’m so excited to see you.”

Did she have news? Did she finally meet someone new? More likely, she’d found some new project at her church she could work on, which maybe wasn’t the great news she always thought, but it mattered to her.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll see you tonight.”

… to be continued …

An Interesting Development In My Marketing

Greetings all,

So I actually just finished another round of key-wording, which is where I collect new key words and use them to generate campaigns, and while I was doing so, I got notifications about my adds for Caught.

Here’s what the email said:

The following ads are non-compliant to creative acceptance policies :

Your ad titled “Caught: Book One of the Oneiros Log” no longer complies with our current Creative Acceptance Policies. Specifically for the following reasons:Your ad contains content that is not allowed for advertising. Please ensure your ad does not contain any excessive violence or gore.
The ASIN that needs to be corrected Is B01N9N5TUS.

After some research, I’ve come to learn that Caught does indeed violate that policy because the entire book involves some of that content.

The strange thing to me is that the horror genre is sort of based in violence. Still, after I think about it for a bit, I am more and more OK with it. Fans of the horror genre in general are going to find what they’re looking for (as with other forms of content). I would argue the Caught is rather tame in comparison, however, I do accept that there is blood and violence, so it should be restricted.

Then I went to study further, and I’m actually very happy with what Amazon is doing to protect people from content that may not be appropriate for all audiences. So I simply have to focus my efforts on my other projects.

I’ll have to see how this development will affect my sales. On one hand, I’ll save on clicks, so I wonder if I’ll actually end up helping my ACOS. On the other, Caught was one of my better selling books, and I fear this development might affect those sales.

Either way, I support this decision by Amazon. I am completely OK with any measure a company makes to guard against people accidentally getting to content they don’t want.

So I thought I’d mention this as I track sales over the next three months.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: Bleach Volume 62 by Tite Kubo

Spoiler free summary: In Volume 62 of Bleach by Tite Kubo, the renown captains are without their most powerful tool, and it’s making the battle against the Quincy army look grim. Can they hold on until someone comes up with a solution?

Character: This is one of the more interesting turns in the battle. Before this arc, characters were pretty fast and loose with their Bankai, and so it seemed that they relied on them pretty heavily. Taking that away from the characters showed us more and revealed some of their resolve. I’ve probably been pretty negative about this arc as a whole (and I’ve made my reasons clear as I made my complaints), but this was a plot twist I enjoyed. As much as I liked the idea, I wish they’d have shown more. We got some decent character development here, but we could have had a lot more.

Exposition: This volume was probably a bit heavier than the others in terms of exposition through dialogue. This is because the author has to set the terms this plot twist creates. Yeah, it slowed the pace a bit, but this entire volume was sort of a setting of the table so to speak. It’s probably not the manga you can’t put down, but it isn’t any different than any other volume of any other manga where pieces are being set for a new push or prep us for a new fight.

Worldbuilding: I have normally been praising or at least complementing the world building of this particular arc (if for no other reason than it provided data that filled in some gaps for us). Here I thought we had this great chance to really explore how characters react or how they are affected by this loss, and I don’t feel like I got what I wanted there. It’s a minor gripe in this regard, but it sort of demonstrates the overall point. There is so much lost opportunity here, and there has been lost opportunity. Most of that lost opportunity was in regard to character, but not in this case.

Dialogue: Most of the dialogue in this volume was spoken exposition, so it’s sort of draining to get through, but that tends to be par for the course in manga.

Description: The art here is as good as it normally is when there isn’t much action to speak of, which is to say it isn’t bad, but there isn’t much to do but look at panels, most of which display characters talking or pontificating. So it’s not very dynamic.

Overall: I liked the idea of taking Bankai away from the main characters, but I wish there was more consequence. It sort of felt like a hold plot, where the main characters are waiting to spring their trap or make their move, but it lacked the tension an arc like that needs, which is probably why this arc falls flat for me.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Announcing the 2021 M.L.S. Weech January Book Cover of the Month! Vote for Week 3 of February!

Greetings all,

As I type this, we are officially only two book covers away from naming the 2021 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year! That means we can announce the January Book Cover of the Month!

The 2021 M.L.S. Weech January Book Cover of the Month is …

The Tinder Box by Kate Elliott was such a unique cover. That uniqueness paid off as it beat out three other great covers to earn a spot in the 2021 overall bracket. Congrats to them!

The February competition is already halfway done, too. The Week 2 winner for the 2021 M.L.S. Weech February Book Cover of the Month Winner is …

The Atomic Ballerina by I.O. Adler was just amazing from top to bottom. Some may argue the art could be more “realistic,” and I suppose they’re right, but this cover is just wonderful! It joins Rising Shadows in the overall bracket for February.

You can vote for Week 3’s cover right here.

I’d appreciate it if you’d hop over to my YouTube channel and gave it a like and subscribe. It not only helps me out, but it also supports the authors and artists of these titles.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 65

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

Paul considered the thought. It was good moral premise. It even made him consider the religion for an instant, but that made him think of Bill. The next moment, he was a teenager hearing the man he’d thought of as a father had died. The most exemplary Christian Paul could ever name was ripped away from a family. 

He opened his mouth to ask how his mother could love the same God who took Bill away, but that would only hurt her, and he didn’t want to do that. Instead, he changed the subject.

“I think about you plenty,” he said. “I’ll do a better job visiting and calling more often.”

“I appreciate that,” she replied, “but I understand you’re busy, and you’re building a life for yourself. When you were a child, I had a greater role in your life, and you had fewer influences. Frankly, the size of your world was much smaller.”

She smiled  at him, causing her brown eyes brighten. “I remember when your world was little more than our house and a video arcade. You’re older; your world is bigger; but I know you love me.”

“You’re saying I should let Lidia and Jordan have their space, and that they still love me,” Paul said. “Whether I’m the same size in a bigger world or they’re just with me less, it still feels like a loss.”

His mother shrugged. “Nothing in this world is permanent.” She pointed her fork at him. “And that’s why it’s important to make the most of whatever time you get with anyone. Let the time you have with people be about love and fellowship. That way, when those people aren’t in our lives anymore, for whatever reason, we have all those happy memories to hold on to. Isn’t that better than just being angry and resentful and arguing?” She returned to using her fork to eat rather than emphasize her words.

Paul chuckled at her. “No matter what happens, I love you, mom.”

She looked at him and smiled. “That’s so sweet. Now, eat your food. I figure we could enjoy some nostalgia tonight.”

“Nostalgia?” He cocked his head in confusion.

“I still have our game. It’s saved on the console just where we left it,” she said.

“Does that thing still work?” Hadn’t he thrown it away? Maybe that was an older system. No, he distinctly remembered …

“I started it up and played a second or two,” she said. “Still seems to work.”

“But didn’t I throw it away?” Paul was more certain every second he thought about it.

“I don’t know what anybody else did with it,” she said with a bit too much innocence in her tone,” but I found it, and when I realized it still worked, I put it away for just such an occasion. I suppose I’ll finish it alone if you don’t want to play it with me.”

“I didn’t say that!” The thought of her finishing the game on her own gave him a strange blend of remorse and betrayal. 

“OK then,” she said. “I think it’s been far too long since we’ve finished that game”

“Have you even touched a controller in the last six years?” He couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

“I just said I played a few seconds, so yes. Besides, how many video games have you played in the last six years?”

He stared at her. She had a point. The project had taken up pretty much all of his time and effort, at least when a girl wasn’t involved.

“Let’s do it.” He dug into his food, genuinely excited to play a kids game with his mother.

… The End of Chapter eighteen …

… to be continued …

Still Taking It A Bit Easy

Greetings all,

In terms of an update, I’m somewhere around twenty-five percent through the First Draft of Discovered. However the last two weeks have been pretty tough. By God’s grace, I’ve been protected from COVID, but I’ve wanted to support my wife and kids. This means that my writing and marketing time is what it’s always been, but the blogging energy is low. So I’m asking for a few more days of patience.

You’ll see a Testimony post tomorrow, and I’ll update the Book Cover of the Month bracket, but I just wanted to use this post to say I’m ramping up. That means this post doesn’t have much in the way of content, but I didn’t want to just ghost, which I did by skipping Wednesday’s book review, and I’m sorry for that.

I should be back to my regular schedule starting tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading,

Matt

Announcing the Week 1 M.LS. Weech 2021 Book Cover of the Month of February! Vote For Week 2 Here!

Greetings all,

We’re getting closer and closer to naming the 2021 M.L.S. Weech Book Cover of the Year. If I’m being honest, it looks like this plan was a bust, but I will finish the event because I just think people should finish what they start. We’ll try a few other YouTube ideas and see how they go, but this one didn’t take off like I thought it would.

That said, we can still work hard to name a good list of candidates for February, and we’re off to a good start.

The Week 1 M.L.S. Weech 2021 Book Cover of the Month of February is …

Rising Shadows by A.E. King wasn’t the most dynamic cover in the batch, but I do think it was the best executed, so it’s a nice first entry into the February Book Cover of the Month.

You can vote for your favorite cover of Week 2 right here.

I’d be thrilled if any of you were kind enough to head on over to my YouTube channel and gave it like and subscribe. I’m still open to doing more book covers; I’m just trying to find content people would be interested in watching.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Visits From A Man Named Nobody 64

// // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // // //

She smiled at him. “Of course I miss you, and, if I’m being honest, sometimes I get a little jealous. I just have to remember that while you are my son, you’re not my property.”

Paul chuckled. It was very similar to the point Nobody had made. But it didn’t answer his question. “But how do you remind yourself that?”

“I think I’m different from you there. You’re supposed to leave me to find a wife,” she gave him another shameless grin.

“Mom, I told you-“

“You’re making up excuses because you don’t think you’re worthy of having a wife.” Her face hardened the moment she said it. She gave him stern look. “That’s a lie! Life is a series of choices. Sometimes people make the wrong ones. A lot of people fail to make the correct ultimate choice. But even if you never make that choice, you don’t have to be like your father, and this nonsense that you’re destined to be like him is only a self-fulfilling prophecy if you focus on that rather than just giving your love to the woman who is lucky enough to choose you.”

“Stacy was a wonderful girl,” Paul frowned as he looked down and picked at his food with his fork. 

“Wonderful girls don’t cheat on their boyfriends,” his mother replied. 

“You’re being inconsiderate,” Paul said flatly. “Yeah, she shouldn’t have cheated, and the most painful part is she apologized for doing it. Meanwhile, I ignored her. I never spoke to her. I pretty much only used her.”

“So learn from that,” she said. “For one, remember to truly invest in whatever partner you choose. Don’t use them to gratify your physical desire. Simply appreciate them and care for them. The thing you should learn from her is something we should learn from anyone who sins against us.”

“What’s that?” Paul asked.

She looked at him. “No amount of wrong someone does to you permits you to do wrong.”

He rolled his eyes. “So you’re saying a guy should let someone steal or assault him and just let it go?”

“Or a guy could lock his house and buy an alarm system and maybe defend himself without attacking, smart guy.” She furrowed her eyebrows, annoyed at his half-hearted witticism.  “It’s not OK to lie just because others lie. It’s not OK to kill just because others kill. It’s not OK to commit adultery just because others commit adultery. If one person hurting another made it OK for people to respond in kind, then the world would devolve into a planet of animals.”

Paul tried to press his lips together. This conversation was a set up, and he knew it, but she’d gotten him bantering, and she knew he could’t resist the debate. Eventually, he caved. “So what are we supposed to do?”

“Forgive.” She said. 

He stared at her as if she just suggested a person learn to sprout wings and fly off. “That’s it.”

She nodded. “The hardest thing to do is learn to forgive, but it’s what I wanted. It’s what I needed. So why, if I’m so hungry to be forgiven, shouldn’t I find it in my heart to forgive?”

“If that’s true why don’t you call-up the bio-dad and tell him you forgive him.” The words flew out of his mouth. They were insensitive. It was a crass, hurtful thing to say, and for no other reason than to win an argument.

“Actually,” she said softly. “I went and visited him in prison to offer my forgiveness.” He stared at her. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but he couldn’t possibly imagine what he would say. 

“I only visited him one time,” she said. “I’m not really sure what else to do, but I didn’t want that resentment anymore. I didn’t want that anger. So I let it go, and the way I did it was remembering all the things I’ve done.”

“You’ve never done anything as bad as what he did.” Some of the words sounded more like an animal’s growl than actual words. It was all Paul could do to keep from shouting.

“Oh if only it were that simple,” she said. She held a hand in front of herself horizontally. “This is all the wrong I’ve done in my life.” She placed her other hand far below the first. “And this is your father. At least as you describe it. Sure, I’ve done wrong, but the things your father did are so much lower and so much more awful.”

She raised her first hand almost like a student in class and pointed upward. “But how does any human look compared to a perfect and holy God? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Paul flung his hands in the air in frustration. “How perfect and holy can a being be to allow that man to do what he did?”

“Would you rather be a machine?” she asked. “Would you rather have no choice? Would you be human if you didn’t have the capacity to choose? People always get that question wrong. They ask, ‘Why would God allow these things to happen?’ But the better question is, ‘Why do we keep choosing to do the wrong thing when God gave us a way to do the right thing?’ We can’t cry out for freedom to choose and then be shocked when some choose to do evil, especially when we want to use the sins of others to justify our own.”

Paul stared at her. It wasn’t blind religion. It wasn’t pseudo philosophy. It was simple reason. 

“Did you plan this?” he asked her.

She chuckled. “I’m not nearly so calculating, but I’m your mother. Anyone who’s talking to you better be very careful with what they say and think. But don’t miss my point, Son. I forgave your father because it was the right thing to do, but more so because that’s what I wanted. I want to be forgiven for how I let him do what he did to you. I want to be forgiven for so much more than that. And if that’s what I want, then that has to be what I’m willing to give. That’s what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.”

… to be continued ..

COVID Has Hit the Weech Household

Greetings all,

Don’t worry! While that headline is absolutely true, we’re all fine (or at lest it’s not too terrible)!

We have one confirmed COVID case and two more family members with symptoms. Add to that all three of my in laws, and this has been one rough week.

So honestly, this is just me saying I’ve had a rough week. I’ll (hopefully) be back next week.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

Book Review: Bleach Volume 61 by Tite Kubo

The cover for this volume was taken from its Amazon buy page for review purposes under Fair Use doctrine.

Spoiler free summary: In Volume 61 of Bleach by Tite Kubo, Ichigo has learned the dark truth about his family. He’s learned his friend Uryu is working with the enemy. Now, he must face the truth about the friend he’s thought he’s had from the beginning, his own Zanpakuto.

Character: Honestly, I think a part of me got more fulfillment out of this particular revelation than the others, and that’s unfortunate. The other secret was far more relevant, but because this one focused on the character and had an actual consequence, it stuck with me more. We learn more about Zengetsu, and that information then affects (improves) the bond Ichigo has with him. This is what plot reveals are supposed to do. As a result, this volume moved a bit better than the others for me.

Exposition: Sure, the dialogue in this is laden with exposition, but that’s common (even I do it more than I’d like). This story moves pretty well, but it’s much more information based than action based, so there are those who will feel this issue drags down a touch. I wouldn’t argue with them if they read Bleach for the cool fights.

Worldbuilding: This issue expands the Vanenreich. It also has to build on the lore of the characters, finally helping people (if they didn’t already have it figured out) understand why Ichigo is seemingly so much more powerful than anyone else (there is an actual plot explanation). For those who had it figured out already, this is another reason why this volume might drag a bit for them.

Dialogue: I was probably hard on Volume 60 (but I don’t really think that). But if you read both 60 and 61, I’d like you to take a close look at how each conversations impact Ichigo. Which one affects him more? Which one alters how he thinks or fights? Which one causes him to question his role in the battle. The one you’re thinking of? That’s the plot reveal that was more significant. If you’re a person looking to study the craft of writing, studying that aspect of these two volumes is probably a great case study.

Description: I’m pretty sure this is the volume I’m thinking it is (I binge read them all in a matter of two or three days). If so, this has one of the more memorable panels in all of Bleach. Granted, this panel I’m thinking of harkens back to three other specific panels (therefore showing the progression of Goku’s Super Sa—errr Ichigo’s growth in power). Ok, that last tangental thought might come off as a bit snide, but I didn’t mean it that way. Again, I affirm that all great fighting anime (and Bleach is one of them) follow a very similar formula. The panel I’m thinking of (or panels as it may be) is just another example of that.

Overall: While I was still committed to reading for the sake of finishing the series, I affirm that this volume was stronger than its predecessor. There’s a nice mix of data and progression. The plot takes shape and has an impact on the characters as they go through the plot points. It’s probably not on my top five favorite volumes (I’m looking for the cool fights), but it does expand the scope of the story from “Quick, get to the next fight!” to a story that feels more immersive and interesting.

Thanks for reading,

Matt