Bill McCormick's Blog, page 18
May 25, 2021
Getting McSocial
Today’s just gonna be chill. There’s stuff percolating behind the scenes but none of it is ready to be shared. Even so, there’s fun to be had. And, oddly, all of it relates to our Armed Forces. So, that’s new.
If you scroll to the bottom of this newsletter, you will be greeted by a series of pretty icons. Each is a link to one of my social media sites. In the middle is a brand new link to TikTok. Don’t worry, I’m not going to be twerking or anything like that. But, the nice people at TikTok have made it easier for authors to connect with their audiences. My page is only a couple of days old but I’m hard at work creating content that will be used to target SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY to the United States Military. Fully a third of the book revolves around Splice’s tour as a U.S. Marine. And, while the sample size isn’t the largest I’ve seen, vets and active troops really seem to like the book.
SPLICE is a non-stop thrill ride, taking the reader on an edge-of-your-seat experience through the military and organized crime worlds. Bill McCormick absolutely captures the senses of the military and combat from sight to sound to smell and leaves you only wanting more at the turn of every page. This book gets it right and keeps it coming!
Josh Grenard
Former Infantry Captain/Combat Veteran
U.S. Army
As those who follow closely know, I put a lot of research into my books. I talk to those who know what they’re talking about so I can sound like I do too. I don’t. I’m more like a cool parrot that can type, but it gets me where I need to be.
Many years ago, when I was first starting to assemble what would become The Brittle Riders I interviewed several people in the military. Former combat nurses gave me the best insights into the ravages of war. However, one man, a Brigadier General with the U.S.M.C., was kind enough to let me buy him drinks while he discussed common, and not so common, battle strategies. I gave him the technical abilities of my creatures and he gave me reams of information on how they could engage in combat. Of course, this was years before the book came out so he’d never read it.
Until now.
A couple days ago I got a brief email from him reminding me he was still active duty so I can’t use his name in advertising or promotion. Nevertheless, he’d just finished reading The Brittle Riders and had this to say about that.
So, if I get this, you’ve got lesbians, poly amorists, Muslims, sorry Muslim cows, giant Christian cockroaches, and so on, fighting for the betterment of all who live? I’ll never admit this publicly, but I’m glad we’ve got a president who thinks you’ve got the right idea. Great story, kept me buried in it, and I just ordered hard copies for the den. Some day you can sign them. You’re a strange guppy, but you do write like a pro. Semper Fi crazy stranger.
So, another satisfied customer.
That seems to be enough for today. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside. Oh, and wear a mask.
May 18, 2021
Cool McNew Stuff Coming
They say that life is a marathon, not a sprint. They say good things come to those who wait. They say lots of stuff. None of it’s pertinent here today.
Last year, after we got all our ducks in a row and got SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY released, the nice people at ©Watch Dog Entertainment
LLC asked me to create an audio book. That’s where the fun began.
Just for the record, I have produced audio and video at the professional level. So, ability issues were not the problem. Nope, the problem is that my apartment has reflective surfaces everywhere. I sounded like I was in an echo chamber.
Not appealing.
Finally, after several local studios couldn’t fit me in, Stan Skora from Black Parrot Music offered to record me. The only problem was scheduling. His Illinois studio is a forty-five minute drive and I don’t have a car. Or a driver’s license. So we worked it out that my fiancée would drive me. That meant we could only record on weekends since she has a job.
It’s even one she wants to keep. Nice people, good company, plenty of room for advancement, and so on. She’s not going to throw that away so I could sit in a small room and listen to the sound of my voice.
Simply put, it was slow going, but it progressed. However, as time went on my injured knee kept getting worse, as in standing for more than five minutes was painful, and my doctors couldn’t schedule “elective” surgery due to the pandemic. Toss in lost weeks due to each of us getting exposed to COVID-19, end of the year holidays, and me finally getting put under the knife, things crawled to a stop.
I, stupidly, thought I could be back at full strength in a few days. However, when they used the phrase “here are the bone fragments we found floating in your leg” I really should have known better. It took four weeks for me to be strong enough to enter physical therapy. By then Stan was getting ready to return to his home in Melbourne. That would be too much of a commute from Chicago.
We ran some options through our squishy brains and came up with a solution. Essentially a way for me to have a home studio and not sound like the voice in a horror movie ad. Now, having completed physical therapy, as in I can stand and walk up and down stairs – not run a marathon, we are finally back in business.
In other words, that’s a long-winded way of saying you’re going to get an audio book of SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY later this year. Since this is a whole new process for me I don’t want to put a hard time-line on things, but please know this bad boy is getting made.
One thing I have learned from this whole ordeal is that I’ll never do something like this again. People who do this professionally will happily take my money and I’m more than willing to give it to them. Heck, if something like this darkens my doorstep again I’ll even be a little anxious to do so.
I think that’s enough for one day. I’ll be back with more good news next week. Until then, stay safe, sane, and inside.
May 11, 2021
McFun on the Interwebs
Last Friday I plopped on to the internet to be interviewed by Jude Matulich-Hall for her show Titles, Talk, and Tipples. Read that carefully. I screwed it up the first time I saw it. Fortunately Jude has a sense of humor. We ended up doing two interviews.
The first one focused on my novels. We took a look at each release separately so that viewers would have a basic idea of what each title was about. The second focused on comics, supporting human rights, and a little bit about my life.
The fun part about the interview was the Tipples portion. Jude makes it a point to drink what her guest drinks. So, there we sat, two time zones apart, day drinking vodka on the rocks.
More below.
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Don’t forget, this is the last week you can enter C. L. Cannon’s Sci-Fi and Fantasy Bookfair.
If you’re a fan of either genre, and I assume you are since you’re reading this newsletter, this is a great way to get your hands on a gift cards, books, and more. It only runs until the fourteenth and then it’s gone. So click that link and join the fun.
Just as a selfish aside, over one hundred people decided to sign up for this newsletter above and beyond participating in the Bookbub promotion. It’s that kind of stuff that warms the cockles of my heart.
More below.
Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek is now out in paperback. Just CLICK HERE to get your hands on a copy. If you want to know about the Goptri’s universe, before busting out your credit card, I created a fun video to help you immerse your mind in its awesomeness.
This world is our world and not. It is our future, and not. When multiple nuclear missiles can rightly be used as an example of subtle persuasion it becomes a testament to the deep, and twisted, humor that permeates this series. The fact that a gay wedding is the capstone for a bloody revolution is a perfect example of how dichotomies constantly intertwine to tie every story thread together. All in all, this is world building, and story telling, at its finest.
Sarah Z. Gallagher, PHD
More below.
SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY continues to wow new fans every week. If you’re not sure if SPLICE s for you, click here to watch a brief video which lays out the basic plot.
All you need to do is CLICK HERE for all your purchase options. Or, if that special someone has a special day coming up, you can CLICK HERE to get an autographed copy. I recently restocked my shelves, so you’re good to go.
SPLICE is a non-stop thrill ride, taking the reader on an edge-of-your-seat experience through the military and organized crime worlds. Bill McCormick absolutely captures the senses of the military and combat from sight to sound to smell and leaves you only wanting more at the turn of every page. This book gets it right and keeps it coming!
Josh Grenard
Former Infantry Captain/Combat Veteran
U.S. Army
I think that’s enough for now. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside.
May 4, 2021
Lots of Pretty McColors
The, summer of 2016, launch of Legends Parallel was not a smooth one. No one’s fault, we were just new at this and learning as we went. But, as the initial year rolled on people began discovering, and liking, it. By the second, we were being invited to conventions and getting introduced to new fans. The above quote was courtesy of Fantasy Con 2018 and it was squealed loud enough that it attracted more customers.
2020 saw the release of a full Trade Papaeback with a custom photo shoot featuring Phystee Nicole Brown. One hundred ages of coo-coo coolness, pages dedicated to new merchandise, and critical acclaim arriving daily.
There is much to ponder here in terms of thought-provoking issues of race, sexuality, culture and society’s attitudes to history and relationships. You want anthropological context and sociological commentary? This has jugs of it. – Sci Fi Comic Nexus
While I was toiling in that multiverse I got tagged to work in another. Cyril Brown’s Hybrid Zero had been around almost a decade but he wanted a new voice, and that was me. The timing was perfect. Legends Parallel had just signed a distribution deal with Nerdanatix and they were aggressively recruiting new titles.
We brought the title into the fold of Hadithi Sambamba and began repackaging everything for physical distribution. Within six months we, literally, had people shoving others out of the way at cons to get their copies. While none of us are prescient, the debut title, Juggernaut, nicely summed up what we’d created.
As time went on the Hybrid Zero multiverse continued to expand. While Juggernaut remains the flagship, Jungle Grrl and Cassandra and the Changeling Sword are bringing new fans every day.
Brown’s art is an unrestrained explosion of Expressionist fervour, portraying hyper-expansive worldbuilding and surreal sensuality. He also created the characters and conceived the original story, so this is from the heart, and it shows. It’s not all cartoony spectacle, though, he also excels at vast, atmospheric futuristic cityscapes and complex exotic architecture and infrastructures. There is plenty here to delight the eye. – Sci Fi Comic Nexus
Above and beyond these behemoths, I have written for a wide variety of titles and have more coming out. All you need to do is CLICK HERE to get all the latest news.
I think that’s enough for now. Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside.
April 27, 2021
This is McBoring
Back on February 20, 2021, my publisher received notice that Goptri of the Mists: Kitaab Ek was available as a paperback. While Azoth Khem isn’t a major publisher, they do allow me to pay my bills. So I started promoting the PROMO VIDEO I’d created. But, and this is always fun, the paperback sat in limbo. No reason was given. No emails were answered. It just sat in the purgatory of Ingram Spark. Until yesterday. We now have confirmation that the paperback is being released, will be made available to brick and mortar stores, and will not carry a demonic possession warning. All good things.
This Friday I will be recording an interview with Jude Matulich-Hall for her show Titles, Talk, and Tipples which I read as Titties, Talk, and Tipples when I first got the invite and I was terribly excited. Oh well. I’m still allowed to teach Sunday School. So the important things are still in place. Once the show has been edited, most likely to remove all my F-bombs, I will share a link to the finished product.
Recently I was interviewed by Anastasia Washington and Jenna Busch for the Spring 2021 edition of The BookFest. If you click the link you’ll be transported to a whimsical land of merriment and joy. Not too much merriment and joy, however, as we all wore pants.
You know what? I think that’s enough. Next week I’ll have links to all the cool new stuff you can buy. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that you can buy AUTOGRAPHED STUFF when you click that link. Nor do I have to bring up the fact you can buy COOL GEAR if you click this link. You’ve been here long enough to know all that.
Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside.
April 20, 2021
People are McTalking ‘Bout Me
Also a big hello to the contestants at C.L. Cannon’s Spring Fantasy & Sci-fi BookBub Giveaway. If you think you got here by accident you can CLICK HERE to unsubscribe. The contest runs until May 14th so you can still join in the fun. Just create a free BOOKBUB account, CLICK HERE to access the contest, and follow the instructions.
As you know I was a guest at THE BOOKFEST last weekend. As always, it was a wonderful mix of internationally famous authors and writers like me. I was interviewed by Anastasia Washington (no relation to the Russian Anastasia) and Jenna Busch (no relation to G.W.). If you missed it you can CLICK HERE to view my segment. Or click on the Bookfest link to watch it all. It explains why I can no longer travel to Russia.
More below.
I have been getting complaints from people who tried to leave reviews on Amazon only to see them disappear. Several calls to the Mighty Zon have only left me baffled. So, if you want the world to know what you think about my writing – good, bad or indifferent – head on over to my GOODREADS page and have at it.
While you’re here, make sure to check out the masterpiece voted Best Sci-fi novel of 2020 by the CRITTERS’ READERS’ POLL. Yes, I’m talking about SPLICE: HIT BIT TECHNOLOGY. What can I say that readers haven’t? Nothing.
SPLICE is a non-stop thrill ride, taking the reader on an edge-of-your-seat experience through the military and organized crime worlds. Bill McCormick absolutely captures the senses of the military and combat from sight to sound to smell and leaves you only wanting more at the turn of every page. This book gets it right and keeps it coming!
Josh Grenard
Former Infantry Captain/Combat Veteran
U.S. Army
More below.
Speaking of reviews, a fan who’s read the entire BRITTLE RIDERS trilogy, recently finished GOPTRI OF THE MISTS: KITAAB EK and had this to say about it.
This world is our world and not. It is our future, and not. When multiple nuclear missiles can rightly be used as an example of subtle persuasion it becomes a testament to the deep, and twisted, humor that permeates this series. The fact that a gay wedding is the capstone for a bloody revolution is a perfect example of how dichotomies constantly intertwine to tie every story thread together. All in all, this is world building, and story telling, at its finest.
Sarah Z. Gallagher, PHD
More below
Finally, if you scroll to the bottom of the email version of this newsletter you’ll see a variety of symbols. Much to the surprise of many, or so it seems, they are not a means of sharing a hidden message. Nope, they are simply pretty links to all of my social media pages. You’re welcome to follow all or none of them at your leisure. I will note that my Twitter feed is kind of like the Wild West, so proceed at your own risk there.
Until next week, stay safe, sane, and inside.
