Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse, page 11

Someone was WRONG on the internet! Oh, wait, it was me. Crud.

"Do not go lightly to the written page."

King's first rule. One I've tried to live by.

I broke that rule today, yesterday, and the day before. I got embroiled in a discussion of trade publishing vs. self-publishing with an author who has decades of experience on me. I did not argue well. I did not take percieved defeat well. I went hastily to the written page, forgetting that a web forum is also a page.

I felt cornered and criticized and stubbornly hung on, because I was emotionally invested, and as such I alienated an elder writer and rendered any point I may have had moot. I tried to keep things civil despite my mounting frustration, and failed.

Assessing the fallout... not horrible, but not good. I wasn't banned, so I'll have a chance to try and amend my behavior on those forums going ahead, but it's definitely going to color interactions with the other forumites for a while to come.

It may cost me some professional opportunities in years to come. See, that's the downside to the internet, when you're making a living with your name attached to your reputation and work. If you screw up and act like a jerk, then those words are there decades down the road. Worse, if you act like a jerk in a niche community, then OOOOoooooohhhhh they'll remember that.

:: Sighs :: I may get a little leeway for being relatively new and ignorant. We'll see.

Time to build up thicker skin, prioritize acting professionally, avoiding arguments, and being as pleasant as possible to everyone.

I'm beginning to see why so many writers drink.

Back from Origins...

...A little older, a little wiser, and thankful for the friends and strangers who made it an awesome time!

It was good, this year. The convention center was under renovations, but there was still plenty of space left over to avoid crowding or confusion. Biggest impact was an early shutdown in the food court, where they stopped serving around 4 PM, but that was only during the week. It was still open in the weekends, and I got to enjoy my customary breakfast sandwiches and a gyro or two.

Mind you, that was when I wasn't trying out the Rodrizio Grill (A Brazilian steakhouse) and sampling ethnic cuisines of a dozen nations at the North Market. I swear, if it weren't for all the walking inherent in a large gaming convention, I'd put on serious pounds from this trip.

Accommodations were with some nearby friends, but due to an expected move, that's probably the last time that'll happen. From here on out it's hotel rooms, and I can live with that. It's not like Gencon, where the entire Downtown's booked solid for miles around. There's actually a chance at finding a hotel within a block or two that isn't four times the normal rate.

Highlights of the trip included the aforementioned meals, a slew of fun Role-playing-games, taking in some boardgame and deckbuilder demos, and seeing the annual Pride parade for the first time. (It usually falls over Origins weekend, and goes right by the convention center. Normally I'm busy gaming, but this year I made an exception. (After that mess in Orlando, it felt only right to pay respects and enjoy the sight of a tolerant and supportive city helping an established community express themselves.)

And then there was Author's Alley...

Oh my gosh, this was a group of thoroughly awesome people, and I'm very glad I stopped to talk shop and learn about their work. I managed to attend a few of the panels, too, and every time I walked out of there with a smile and a page or two of notes on how to up my game. Robin, Sheryl, many thanks for pointing me to Kelly and getting an application started, hopefully I'll get the nod for next year! And if not, eh, perhaps the year after that, or the next. Time is on my side so long as I keep writing, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.

Also I got to apologize to Mike Stackpole about accidentally using one of his hero names. Fortunately it's a throwaway reference in my book, and I was planning to kill the guy off soon anyway, so no real harm done. He was cool about it. Lawsuit averted, whew! :D

Souvenirs were fairly light, all told. A half-dozen roleplaying books, some miniatures I was missing, and a few expansions for deckbuilding games. (Got to demo Ascension, and I'm hooked!) These days I'm picky about what I bring home.

Got to play in a session of Cold Steel Wardens, a gritty and low-powered iron age superhero game. I was impressed! The creator was running the games, and everyone walked away from the table smiling. I felt like the entire scenario could have been a scene out of Watchmen, or one of the darker Batman comics. This was good. I wouldn't mind playing in this world, and the guy's a local... I have to see what I can get going there. I think we might be able to help each other.

And where would Origins be without the Smithee awards? Oh, the movies were horrible, and the hall rang with laughter at every clip. Birdemic 2 was up there this year, along with a classic called "The Rollerblade Seven". Gonna have to pick that up one of these days. Not enough post apocalyptic dystopian rollerblade movies out there.

Also, the pearl guy was back this year. It's a neat racket... the guy's a professional jeweler. He brings in a tank full of oysters, and you get to pick out the one you want. Each one's a guaranteed pearl, some are two. He'll pop the pearl(s) right out, and for an additional fee, he'll work them into jewelry right then and there. It's clever, really. Kind of like opening a treasure chest in the game of your choice, there's always that edge of anticipation and joy at the surprise.

Anyway, it was a good convention. If you ever get the chance to make it over, I heartily recommend it. Unlike Gencon, there's ways to do it on the cheap, if you're thrifty.

Origins Game Fair

It's summer! And with summer, as every good gamer knows, comes the summer con season. For Roleplaying folks like myself, that's Origins and Gencon.

Origins is the first. It's in June, and located in Columbus, Ohio. This year it's starting on the 15th, just two days away! I'll be attending from Wednesday on, playing games as I fancy, and hanging out with my tribe. Origins has had a long and flavorful history... they're one of the older RPG and wargame conventions in the US. Second only to Gencon, really, even if they have taken an attendance hit in recent years.

Ironically enough, part of this hit was due to the fact that Gencon moved into Indianapolis about a decade ago, competing for Midwest regional attendance. Torn between two major conventions, both costly, more gamers chose to save their pennies for Gencon. As such, Origins suffered...

But it clung on. With grim determination, it never quite died. The vendor hall thinned, the crowds waned, but the events catalog stayed strong. There's always something to do in Origins. And while Gencon made a name for itself as the industry trade show for RPG's, Origins took an alternate tack, and billed itself as the place where you can always find a game. Strong board game/war game support didn't hurt either. Folks in Ohio PLAY, man. There's not much to do in Ohio some days that doesn't involve alcohol or sports games, so stuff that doesn't involve that is pretty popular.

And in recent years, the tide's started to turn. Gencon's reaching saturation point. It's gotten a bit too successful, as evidenced by the ludicrous rates hotels charge in Indy when the convention time rolls around. So many gamers, unable to find lodging for Gencon, are shrugging and saving their pennies for Origins instead. And a few big names in the industry, fed up with the Gencon fuss, are starting to shift back as well... Wheel's always turning, and Origins is looking good this year.

If you can make the drive to Columbus, I heartily encourage you to check it out. The badge prices for a day's visit are cheap, the vendor hall's got a nice assortment of eclectic stuff, the huge miniature games on display are always worth a gawk, and there's all sorts of fun weirdness hidden in the cracks.

Highlights include a kick-arse author's alley (Usually run by Mike Stackpole, a veteran of the industry), a bad movie awards show called the Smithee Awards that's worth seeing at least once in your lifetime, a nearby international gourmet food market that can satisfy the pickiest glutton, and a nightlife district called the Short North, where the party never stops and all lifestyles are tolerated.

Origins was my first big con, and it was an eye-opener. I've gone back every year... sometimes only for a day, sometimes for the full five, but I've never regretted a single trip. And now that I'm writing? I'm kind of curious to try to see it from the perspective in author's alley. Got some plans to talk with people there, see if I can make that happen next year. By all accounts it's a fun program, and you get to host panels and do other neat stuff!

So yeah! If you run into me at Origins, say hi and I'll be happy to talk geeky at you, about your fandom or hobby of choice! I know all the good restaurants and a few of the good bars, and I'd love to share them with you.

Peace, out!

Hydra Cap

So, recently Marvel's comics branch put out an announcement that they were going to run a storyline for Captain America. In this storyline, they'd reveal that Cap had been a HYDRA agent all along, and was working a deep undercover con all along.

The reaction of the fan community has, of course, been ballistic. Moreso when the studio clarified that no, seriously, this was REALLY Cap, not a clone, no mind control involved, no shenanigans, this is canon. Honest. Pinky swear.

The fans are aggrieved because honestly, it's a pretty crappy thing to do with a character. If you take that statement as it appears and assume there are no shenanigans involved, it's seriously lazy storytelling. It's quite obvious that this is an idea that somebody just pitched out there a few months back, and they're running with it because they think it'd be cool.

You have to have foreshadowing, you have to have little hints, you have to seed this sort of thing in if you want to pull the reveal. How many people were blown away when they found out the true meaning of Hodor's name on Game of Thrones? Yeah, that's how you do it. Seed something in book one that goes under the radar, then reveal it five books later to a WOW. That's masterful storytelling. That's how you do it.

That's my feelings on it. I don't see how they can do this one well.

My other feelings on the matter, and the reason that I'm not getting too fussed about it, is that the studio is perfectly capable of lying to try and amp up the 'heat'. More controversy equals more sales. So in a few months, unless sales numbers go massively up and people really like the idea of Hydra Cap and the stories he enables, they're totally going to go with "It was mind control!" or "It was a clone all along! We lied!"

That's a thing they can do. Even if they mean what they say now, in a few months they have the capability to take it all back and say something different. And they know this.

It all comes back to kayfabe. Remember when Hulk Hogan turned heel? (Sheesh, I'm old.) Yeah, nobody REALLY believed that for a second, but man did it put butts in seats.

So okay, they tell me Cap's Hydra, I'll smile and nod. And I'll wait for the reviews before I buy and read this storyline, IF I do. I hope it's a good one. Always been a Marvel fan, even if they do break my heart sometimes.

Excelsior!

Ruminations on Motivation

Back in 2005 or 2006 or so, I think it was, our boss decided to take the office to a motivational seminar. There was a big one coming through Dayton, with a ton of successful business-types and celebrities. Big names, too... they had Colin Powell, Steve Forbes, Bill Cosby, Mario Cuomo, and a host of littler names. I don't remember all of them, but it was definitely worth it to see those people in person, even if our seats were in the nosebleed section.

Some were good. Colin Powell and Bill Cosby were definitely the best. Mind you, this was before the scandal, and the revelation that Cosby might actually be a predator, but at the time he was definitely the big draw and the one most people were there for.

And he said one thing that stuck with me.

Move. You have to move. You gotta keep moving, or you don't get anywhere. So what if that medical degree will take you 12 years to finish and you'll be 50 before it's done? Big deal! If you don't do it, then in 12 years you'll STILL be OLD!

I still remember him now, one old man up there on stage, oxygen tank behind him, tubes in his nose, telling people to get off their butts and MOVE!

Now, with the courts not going so well for him and the scandals looking more and more likely, I couldn't tell you whether or not Cosby's innocent or guilty.

I wouldn't go and see him again. Not now.

But here's the thing; you can learn from evil men just as well as you can from good ones. If the words are true and powerful enough, then the morality of the person behind them is irrelevant.

You DO have to keep moving. Moving is life. And unless you get supremely lucky, very little will get better for you unless you MAKE it get better.

You have to MOVE.

Peace, out.

Preparing for Summer

Much to do, much to do! I've chosen a path that means my idle time must be parceled out carefully. No summer break here!

Well, except for Origins. And Gencon. But hell, I've got legitimate career-type business in both of those. At Origins I want to try to talk to the people running the author's alley and see how I can get in next year, and maybe some following years. At Gencon I'm gonna help launch the RPG that I had some small hand in, and support my friends. Maybe even run a few sessions, which means I'll need to digest the rules...

...all while writing DIRE:TIME which is about thirty percent done, but is still going to tie up most of my June evenings. Also off-and-on July and August evenings as betas and editors help me make it awesome and refine it properly.

On the plus side, the cover art is coming along nicely. I should have a rough to show you all in a few weeks or less.

In other news, the book sale went well. However, I didn't get the mailing list signup rush that I expected, so part 2 of "In the Fast Lane" is on the backburner until I get to a solid stopping point with DIRE:TIME.

The trick with maintaining this pace is simple, for me: Work hard/play hard. When I'm not working, I'm playing around with video games, tabletop RPG sessions with friends, playing with my daughter, hanging out with my wife, and various amusements. This is necessary to stay sane. It also lets me tolerate and do my day job... I've tried doing nothing but work. Good lord is it rough, and quality suffers on all sides.

Eventually the day job won't be an issue. Gods willing, by then the income from writing will be enough that I can make the Teslaverse and various minor projects my main job, and be much happier for it. Not sure how many years it'll take to get to that point, but until then, I'll always be busy. All the time.

I can live with this. Happy summer, folks! See you next week.

Superhero Book Sale

As promised, here's that link to the discounted Superhero books.

https://genrereader.com/2016/05/18/su...

Yep, DIRE:BORN is on there, so if you know anyone who hasn't grabbed a copy, go for it.

On a side note, it looks like the Kindle Countdown promo I triggered only lowered the price in the US Amazon.com. Hm... my apologies to those overseas, I meant to bring it down there, too.

Well. There will be other promos, and know I know what works and what doesn't.

Sunny Weekend, fun ahead

Afternoon, hombres and hombrettes! (Not a word. Totally should be.)

Friday's here, and it's looking pretty awesome. Got a local convention tomorrow, a thing called Stebbinscon. A little local one-day con. Mostly a vendor thing, and an excuse to cosplay for the local geek crowd. Which reminds me, I really do need to find some good garb at some point... I've got a few ideas, and it's always fun to let your fanboy flag fly.

In other news, I'm going in with a few other superhero authors on a discount deal. Starting May the 18th and ending the 21st, Dire:Born will be only ninety-nine cents! The other authors will be severely discounting their work as well... I'll post a link to the main hub once I get it. The guy in charge is finishing up the promo details as I type this.

...of course this means that I'll probably get some new mailing list subscribers, no idea how many. So I'm going to try to finish Part II of Freeway's story faster than I expected. Heh, speedsters. Always jumping the gun on you, hm? But yeah, I want that story ready to rollout to greet my new subscribers properly.

In other news, DIRE:TIME is about 15% done, and chugging along nicely. I'm trying something different with this book, by necessity. It's not just Dire's viewpoint; you'll get inside the heads of some old, familiar characters. Maybe some new ones too, depending on how the story goes.

Here's hoping the weather is as nice where you are as it is here in temperamental Ohio! Be well, and catch you later.

The Image Inscrutable

It's a very eye-opening experience, when you're entering a new field, starting up a new occupation and you come to realize that nobody, no single person has a complete understanding of the big picture.

Publishing is in a state of turmoil right now. It was before I arrived on the scene, and quite likely it was before Amazon really got rolling. The ebook revolution changed things, the rise of self-publishing changed things, Kindle Unlimited changed things, the consolidation of the big five changed things...

It's a little scary to realize that the only certainty is that things aren't going to stop changing anytime soon.

The big five publishing houses are doing their best to try and steer the industry back to the model that they used for years, the one that favors them. Raising the prices on their ebooks to try and keep the print industry afloat. Not that print's going anywhere mind you, it's printing in ways that favor THEM that they want to keep going. They've had some success by riding fads like the adult coloring books, but sooner or later they're going to have to shift paradigms. Not all of them will make it.

Amazon, and to a lesser degree, Apple, have embraced the ebook and found ways to monetize their slush piles by enabling self-publishers to a degree that's not been seen before. But at the core of it, they're businesses and they do what's best for themselves first. Not every change they make is going to be good for the industry, or the authors who have rallied to their banner (Myself included, by necessity.)

Newspapers continue to fall, though they won't go completely out. They will shrink, or put more and more on their online presences.

Magazines will probably end up the same way, at the very least prices will go up and they'll become more like collectors' items rather than things to read and toss after you're done.

Libraries, by dint of the tyranny of state budget and a keen sense of history have found salvation in embracing new media methods and the internet, and campaigning for local community support. Thankfully they've found a toehold in this new world. I'd hate to see them go.

Bookstores... well, I don't know. Borders fell, and everyone's been predicting the fall of Barnes and Noble for years, but they're still here. A couple of decades ago B&N and Borders drove the smaller bookstores out of business or absorbed them. Now the cycle's coming around again. Curiously enough, many of the small bookstore owners I talk with rail against Amazon as much as they do Barnes and Noble. How soon they forget...

Now.

Realize that some of what I said is wrong. Because I don't have the big picture either. I'm just getting to see more of it as I transition over to a professional.

The only thing I know is that the second I see the whole picture, it's going to change again, and everything I know will be wrong.

Well, except for one thing: Good books will always have readers, and readers will eventually find their way to a good book.

That's what I'm banking on. The rest can sort itself out. Be well, friends! And may you enjoy a good book tonight...

Con in a Museum

The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a small children's museum in Dayton, Ohio. It's got a beautiful location across from a park, and a heck of a lot of nifty exhibits.

It's also a venue for a lot of non-museum stuff, as I came to find out. Lots of weddings and even a couple of conventions. One such is Geekfest, and oh me oh my what a glorious time it was!

I'm still new to working the OTHER side of conventions. Normally I'm the guy with the backpack full of RPGs going around and perusing the vendors, and listening to the panels. This time around I was a vendor, and speaking on a panel. It's a nifty shift from my usual practices, and I found it fresh and amusing. Only downside was I didn't get much of a chance to play in any games or see all of the sights, but that's okay. I'm quite sure they'll be there next year.

It was a little one-day con that started after the museum closed from its normal hours and went until nearly midnight. I shared a table with a couple of friends of mine who make jewelry and sculpt little polymer dragons. It was a good night for dragons, I'll tell you that! Pretty good night for books too, as I found out.

Geekfest was a celebration of tolerance, oddness, pop culture, and letting your weird hang out. As such, I felt it safe to bring the tarot cards along and offer readings to those who wanted them. Pretty sure that little service sold me a few books too. Whether you believe in the tarot or not, a good reading can get you thinking about your life and your perspective, which is always good. It can maybe give your subconscious the chance to tell you something you've been ignoring or missing.

Oh, and I also ended up on a panel with Rob Boley, a more traditional author who's done scary fairy tales, and has a few more years of experience at this than I do. We got to discuss "Making your Dreams Real" with a couple of dozen folks, give or take. It was encouraging to see so many prospective authors, songwriters, game designers, and what have you giving us a half hour of their time in exchange for war stories from the turbulent fronts of creative endeavors!

(That last part may be a bit exaggerated.)

In any case, it was a joyful experience, and I look forward to being back there next year with more books and more things to talk about.

In other news... Dire:Time (Working title) is about 5% complete. Also working on the second half of Freeway's story, for those who are on my mailing list.

Peace, and I'll catch you later!