Andrew Gates's Blog, page 3

Irrelevant Opinion/Review: Alien3 and the Matrix Revolutions are the Same Movie

It’s time for an irrelevant opinion! This will be a slightly different entry to this site. Instead of writing about books, I’m going to write about movies. Specifically, I am going to write about two very similar films and why I think they might be a little too similar: Alien3 and the Matrix Revolutions (Matrix 3).

These threequels came out 11 years apart, but are extremely similar. For those who don’t know, Alien3 came out in 1992, starring Sigourney Weaver as her third time playing Ellen Ripley. The Matrix Revolutions came out in 2003, starring Keanu Reeves as his third time playing Neo.

The setting:

Let’s start with the setting – the first part of why I feel these two movies are really just the same movie.

Both movies are set in the far future, but this isn’t a glamorous, pretty, sleek future. The setting is rusty, metallic, dark, claustrophobic, depressing, poor, dirty, and looks more like a rusty old factory than anything else. Everything feels soulless and industrial.

Characters in this world wear ragged clothes – dirty, cheap, ripping apart clothes. Lots of loose, baggy clothing. Nothing pretty. Nothing new. Nothing clean.

This image is from one of the two movies, but you’ll never know which one because they both look the same. Give it a guess. You have a 50/50 shot. That’s because both movies look identical as far as set design.

Next – the characters – specifically, the protagonists.

Early on in these movies, the protagonist, whether it be Sigourney Weaver or Keanu Reeves (a shaved-headed, ratted/dirty clothes-wearing “chosen one”) discovers that he/she is immune from being attacked by the hive-minded enemy. This is important because the enemy is out to exterminate humankind.

In the case of Neo (Keanu Reeves), the sentinels will not attack him because Machine City needs him in order to defeat the Smith virus.

In the case of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the xenomorphs will not attack her because they need her to birth their next queen and continue their race.

So our shaved-headed heroes wearing ratted clothes are immune from being attacked by their hive-minded enemies because the hive-minded enemies need our hero to save their own people. Got it so far?

As the movie goes on, our hero loses his/her love interest in a tragic death. The death of the love interest pushes our character to stop at nothing to see the task done. The task: to save his/her species from extermination.

Shortly after discovering that a computer system the protagonist has previously dealt with has manifested in human form and after making that human manifestation of a computer bleed, our protagonists have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity… themselves.

In the case of Neo, he discovers that Agent Smith, a computer system, is now possessing the human body of a man named Bane, who he kills.

In the case of Ripley, she discovers that a robot named Bishop, with whom she shared an adventure, was actually designed and based off of its creator, a real man named Michael Bishop, who she makes bleed.

Ooh! After that run-in with human manifestations of computers, as I said, our heroes then make the ultimate sacrifice. In sacrificing themselves with outstretched “Jesus arms” surrounded by orange light, both shaved-headed, rag-wearing heroes save humanity for the rest of time. This is the only way.

These pictures are from two different movies.

The endings:

So, as the exact same ending plays out in two different movies even down to the visuals, the series is now wrapped up. Everything that arose as a problem in the first film, then carried on into the second and third, is finally complete with a nice bow. The story has come to a natural conclusion with no way for a sequel to really be necessary. All is well. There is no sequel bait. The series has a natural, fitting, and conclusive ending.

After an orchestra takes us out with a sunrise shot, archaic computer text appears on screen as it takes us out of the movie and closes out the series…

The sequels:

Next, a movie named Resurrection comes out. A completely useless movie, both Alien: Resurrection and the Matrix Resurrections betray the ending of the third films simply by existing in the first place.

Guess what? Our protagonist you know, the one who died sacrificing his/her life to save humankind… well… he/she is back. A resurrection has taken place. In the case of Ripley, she is back so they can make more alien queens. In the case of Neo, he is back so the machines can still run Machine City. You know… the whole thing that made them immune from those enemies in the previous movies. How dare a movie make creative progress by changing things up? That needs to be undone.

In these unwatchable fourth movies, our dead, now-resurrected protagonists have to relearn who they are, piece together what happened to them in the previous movies, contend with the fact that one of their confidantes in the movie is actually a machine, and then get lost in an overly complicated and pointless mess that feels like it shouldn’t actually belong as canon.

So… if you’re still with me… thank you.

I rest my case. These two movies are the same.

My Thoughts on AI in Writing – Why I Welcome It

Bring it on!

I’ve heard a few people recently address the idea of AI in writing. The general fear I hear from people is that AI can replace writers. What could be worse than typing in, “Write me a 20,000 word science-fiction story about a boy who discovers he can fly to Mars” and sit back and wait for the result with little-to-no effort?

Well… for one thing, if you did that, you would get a pretty terrible story. That’s why, when I hear people talk about this, I am not worried.

AI writing uses prompts it collects from sources. It amalgamates data and looks for trends, then pops it out. What that means is the AI doesn’t know why it’s doing something, just that others have done it before. What that leaves is a shell with no heart.

Themes. Foreshadow. Callbacks. Character arcs. These and more are absent when a computer writes a story. You’re not going to see that by typing in “Write me a story about xxx.” AI-written content is pretty bad, at least right now, and you’ll probably have trouble following the narrative for something longer than a page.

So if AI is not going to replace writing, does that make AI pointless? No. It just becomes a tool. Just like spell check became a tool for writers, AI is now just another common tool for writers. Let’s say I’m in a bit of a bind or having trouble writing a scene. I can prompt the AI with the specific details of the scene and see what comes out. What will come out is probably not going to fit at all, but taking some words or sentences from it as inspiration is certainly possible. In this case, the AI doesn’t do the work for you, but it helps get you moving or inspired when you ran into a bind over how to describe something.

Over the past week, I’ve used AI now about four or five times for about two or three sentences each time. Each time, it was just that. I had trouble thinking of a way to express a long paragraph. I gave it a prompt. I didn’t use most of what came out. The parts I did use, I ended up changing the vast majority of.

There you have it – a tool to help me come up with some words and phrasing, but nothing more. It is barely better than what I would have done before, which is Google “example in literature of xxx…” and see what I could find. Frankly, the results are close to the same.

Where AI is closer to replacing artists is in visual art. But even then, it takes someone time and effort to craft an AI image too. Artists working with AI to make images still have to put work in to tweek what the AI system makes. It’s not as easy as typing and clicking ENTER. Most of the AI images I’ve made have come out looking super weird.

So… do we have anything to worry about? Maybe in the future, sure. But right now? I don’t think so. Right now, I’m just excited to use a helpful tool.

“Desert Empress” Finally Getting Reviews

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress now finally has some reviews on its Amazon page.

After Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships got so much praise in such a short period of time, I was worried when Desert Empress didn’t seem to be following the same path. But alas, all I had to do was wait. After all, readers cannot be expected to review something instantaneously, and reading a book takes time.

As with Pax Egytpus, the first reviews for Desert Empress seem to be coming in about a month after the release. Pax Egyptus, which was only released in April, is now at 23 reviews on Amazon, with a 4.4 rating, with most of its reviews coming in May. All of its reviews are either 4 or 5 stars. Desert Empress, meanwhile, only has two reviews, but they came in three days apart, which leads me to expect more soon in the coming days. Like Pax Egyptus, the reviews are 4 and 5 stars – in this case, one each.

Interestingly, the written comments on the book seem to be contradictory. One reviewer suggests that the characters were not fleshed out enough, saying, “I wish each main character is more consistently developed throughout the story,” while the other review says the opposite, saying, “[The] storylines have been well-developed and fleshed out. Especially, the character Hasani.”

Still, criticism or not, 4 stars is good! Let’s hope 4 is as low as it goes. This bodes well for future reviews (hopefully!).

Have you read Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress? Leave a review now on Amazon.com!

Reviews Pouring in for Pax Egyptus

Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships was released on April 5th. As with anything, it takes time for reviews to come in. After all, most people do not read a whole book in a day. A month and a half later, not only are reviews starting to come in, but they are pouring in. Within just a week’s period, there are now over 20 reviews on the Amazon page.

The sci-fi reimagining of ancient Egypt currently has an average rating of 4.4 out of 5.0 stars. This means reviews are generally positive reviews. It has no review lower than four stars.

Karrie of Vine Voice, who gave the book five out of five stars says, “Andrew Gates took his time in knitting historical facts tactfully with strong Sci-Fi imagination and the result is something simply amazing.”

Other random customer reviews have said, to my great appreciation, that they have never read a book in this genre before (a book that combines ancient history and science-fiction in the same place). One reviewer even dubbed a new term, calling it “Mythpunk.”

As an example, one reviewer says, “I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this. It is an interesting mix of futuristic scifi and historical mythology. It’s a weird mix but the author makes it work. The mix reminds me a bit of Stargate, but the storyline itself is nothing like it. The characters are interesting and the descriptions throughout the book are incredibly intricate. If you’re looking for something that is fresh and exciting this novel has you covered.”

Most reviews address the fact that this is a unique mix of two different genres that they have never seen combined. I love to read that! Of course, I love to strive for something new and yet-unexperienced.

Despite the increase in reviews, sales numbers have declined. It seems the initial interest in the book is beginning to slow down, but perhaps these reviews will give the book some strong legs in the future.

In other news, Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress is now out and available for purchase! I’ve already made my first cent off of it. Right now, it does not have any reviews, but hopefully with time, that will change.

Admittedly, Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress does not have the unique genre-blending never-seen-before-ness of Pax Egyptus. But that aside, I stand by it being a strong book.

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress should appeal strongly not just to fans of fantasy, but also to fans of romance. With heavy romantic themes, it should find a strong audience. Romance, after all, is the largest audience for book sales.

Right now, my focus is on collecting a list of changes I need to make to the second Cassan Astor book, which still needs more work. Some of the changes are going to be rather large edits. But after I get the changes I want to make, I’ll make those changes, then hopefully get that out soon.

In my last post, I wrote about how the Cassan Astor series may end up being five books instead of four. I recently mapped out the entire ending to the series and realized it was going to take more work than I thought to bring all the loose ends together. It also means, if the series goes into an additional book, I’ll need to commission some additional cover art. It’s been fun contemplating what the potential final piece of art might look like.

In the meantime, check out both Pax Egyptus and Cassan Astor available now on Amazon!

Cassan Astor Series Likely to be Five Books, Not Four

As I write the Cassan Astor series of books, it is important to think ahead. Too many authors run into trouble by not planning out the ending well enough. As scopes tend to increase, more characters tend to be added, more threads are developed, and it can be an easy trap to bubble the story until it gets too unwieldly. Therefore, I wanted to plan the events of book 4, which I have tentatively called Cassan Astor and the Harbinger’s War.

The outline is good. Really good. As I was writing it, there were a few specific moments that I thought to myself, this is really awesome and I cannot wait to get to this moment.

What is Cassan Astor and the Harbiner’s War? A long epic primarily focusing on three main characters. The multiple characters thing is nothing new. Certainly, Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress shares two main characters about 50/50. But to properly tell the story, it is going to need a lot more than just that. There are big battles, bit political maneuvers, and lots of geography to cover.

Reasonably looking at it, I’m beginning to think it might take five books instead of four to finish the story I want to tell. Then again, I suppose I could just make the final book really, really long… but either way, it’s going to be a lot.

Right now, the series I have planned is as follows:

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress (releasing May 18th)

Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens (in editing phase right now – releasing later this year)

Cassan Astor and the Immortal King (currently being written)

Cassan Astor and the Harbinger’s War (just wrote the outline)

Cassan Astor and the ??? (maybe fifth book – just wrote the outline)

Time will ultimately tell, but this currently seems to be the most reasonable outcome.

In the meantime, Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress is currently available for pre-order. Get your copy today!

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress Available for Pre-Order

Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress is available now for pre-order on Amazon!

The pre-sale price is only $0.99, a bargain! The official release date is May 18th. So if you pre-order it now, it will automatically appear in your Kindle or whatever app you use on that date. Likewise, the paperback is available as well for $10.99. Delivery dates depend entirely on where you live.

As mentioned in my previous post, the sequel, Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens, is going to be a few months off. Originally, I’d hoped to release it around the same time as Desert Empress, but it is clear that it is not quite ready yet. Some general large-scale changes need to be made, mainly around the lead protagonist’s characterization and motivation. Kind of an important thing to get right. At this point, I’m intentionally taking a break from the book so that I can revisit it in a few weeks with a fresh head (sometimes reading the same content over and over can make me a bit numb to what I’m reading).

Between the two books, Desert Empress and Sea of Krakens, this particular character definitely takes a bigger role in Sea of Krakens. So again, it is pivotal I get that right.

In other news, sales are up for the book I released last month, which is Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships. I’ll see if this trend continues, but so far the book has had a big upswing in sales starting yesterday and going into today. I am excited to see where and how this trend may progress.

In conclusion, pre-order your copy of Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress today. It is a great book that I’ve been working on for years now and have done so many rewrites, reworks, re-you-name-its on. You wouldn’t believe what it originally looked like at nearly half this length! I am happy to say I think it is now in a great spot.

I will leave you with this exciting image of a map. Goodbye! And don’t forget to pre-order!

Simultaneous Release Off the Table – Current Focus is “Desert Empress”

Recently, I teased the ambitious idea of doing a simultaneous or near-simultaneous release of Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress along with Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens. It looks like I may have gotten ahead of myself.

The plan truth is, Sea of Krakens requires more work. That leaves me with two options: either I release the books separately as they are ready – meaning Desert Empress will come out soon and Sea of Krakens will come out later, or I wait until both are ready and release them later this year as a simultaneous release – possibly months later.

What would you rather see? The books to come out as they are ready? Or a simultaneous release down the line?

I think I speak for most people when I say, as a fan, I like things to come out when they are ready.

Besides being a fun marketing stunt, I don’t frankly see much value in holding onto a product that is ready to sell, especially if readers are interested in reading it now. Additionally, the last time I had a near-simultaneous release was when I released Seas of the Red Star on April 30, 2019 followed by the Daltus Conspiracy on May 7th, 2019 – books 1 and 2 in the Pirates of Vexa Prime series. That back-to-back release really did not seem to generate any additional readership beyond what I believe would have happened if they came out months apart.

All that being said, from my own preference as a customer, to assessing the value of holding onto unreleased product, and my own case study having done something like this in the past, what I am going to do is release the books as they are ready. That means Sea of Krakens will still be some months off, but Desert Empress will be released soon.

How soon? Well, quite!

Beta reading is finished on Desert Empress. I now need to make some minor edits, as well as do some reformatting on the cover art (the latter of which is going to take me a long time). All in all though, we should absolutely see Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress released before the end of this month.

Hopefully after that, Sea of Krakens can be ready by the end of the summer.

Cassan Astor Cover Art Revealed and Beta-Copies Ordered

Recently, I posted the artwork for the first two Cassan Astor book covers. However, until recently, I did not have the finished artwork including titles and text. I can now excitedly report that I have the covers in their finished beauty.

The artwork itself comes from Justin Davis, who also did the artwork for the Pirates of Vexa Prime series and Battle Planet: The Champion of Earth. The text and titles come from Olivia Pro Design, who designed the cover for Apex Predator and also did the text work for the majority of my recent books including Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships.

Coming in at an impressive 347 pages, here is the finished art for Cassan Astor book 1: Cassan Astor and the Desert Empress.

At the same time, I also have the final art for the second book. Based on the pace of the products’ development, it is possible we may see a simultaneous release with book 1 and book 2 coming out at the same time. I still need to plan through the release. I cannot make any promises at this time, but I would expect a release in early May.

Coming in at an impressive 385 pages, here is the finished art for Cassan Astor book 2: Cassan Astor and the Sea of Krakens.

Think you’ve seen it all? Think again.

In addition to the impressive cover art from Justin Davis and Olivia Pro Design, I am also excited to show a detailed map designed by Fred Kroner.

This was my first time working with Fred Kroner and I am extremely glad I did! When I approached him, I explained that I was interested in a Tolkien-style fantasy map. You can find Fred’s cool work here on Instagram and also here on his website, which is how I found him.

This map will come inside each book in the Cassan Astor series. It is a great tool to establish a sense of legitimacy to this sprawling, but still fictional world.

See Fred’s wonderful detailed map below:

Beta-copies (test copies) have been ordered for both books, which means the final editing processes will be taking place over the course of the next few weeks. At this point, progress typically moves quickly.

What if I told you I had even more artwork that I’m not showing you?

It’s true! At this time, I already have completed artwork for books 3 and 4. But you’ll have to wait to see those later. Until then, enjoy all the beautiful artwork we have here!

“Pax Egyptus” Now Available for Purchase

Hey everyone, I have a new book released today: Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships.

What if the ancient cultures of the world got futuristic space technology? That’s what you find in this new book. The title, “Pax Egyptus” is a play on the term “Pax Romana,” or the “Roman Peace,” a time when the Roman Empire was so strong, it ushered a centuries-long period of unrivaled peace from England to Iraq. In this book, we see the events that lead to a similar event achieved by a futuristic version of ancient Egypt, seen through the lenses of various cultures including Egyptians, Corinthians, Athenians, Scythians, and even more distant cultures like Vikings and Samoans. Fans of both sci-fi and ancient world history (think 500 BC) will enjoy this book, which I would say appeals as much to sci-fi fans as it does ancient history fans.

The book is selling for $7.00 for paperback and $0.99 for Kindle. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited for those who subscribe to that service. As it is extremely new on Amazon, it currently has no reviews at all. Hopefully it can start getting some reviews soon!

You can view it on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/Pax-Egyptus-Tales-Kingdoms-Starships-ebook/dp/B0C1R77P5M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ZULXY65F8ET7&keywords=pax+egyptus&qid=1680874446&sprefix=pax+egyptus%2Caps%2C242&sr=8-1

I am very excited about how this book turned out. It is certainly unique. The mix of ancient history and sci-fi is rare. Maybe only Stargate is the only comparison I can think of and even then, that is not quite the same anyway.

This book also has ample sequel potential, should it prove popular. As this book features seven unique stories showing the rise of the Pax Egyptus, or period of Egyptian rule, I could easily write several stories set “during” the period of Pax Egyptus. It would be fun to explore more ancient cultures and also to expand upon the cultures I’ve already included. It would also be fun to catch up with the book’s “core” group of characters, which include Princess Shani, Captain Aegeus, Xerus, Tane, and Bahini.

As for whether a sequel is likely to happen… for now I’ll say, I’ll let the customers decide. If this book proves popular, I am all ready to work on a follow-up. But if there is little interest or the book does not sell too much, as is the case for my other short story collections, Kangblabla! and Atlantia, which are among my least-selling books, then perhaps I will continue to work on longer-form novels instead. For whatever reason, it seems like my readers just do not care for short-story collections.

Speaking of novels, in other news, I am in the finishing stages of Cassan Astor books 1 and 2 right now. At the rate things are going, it is possible both book 1 and 2 might have a simultaneous release, although I will have to wait and see. More news on that will come in the next few days and weeks.

“Pax Egyptus” by Andrew Gates Fully Written

The upcoming short story collection, Pax Egyptus: Tales of Gods, Kingdoms, and Starships is now fully written and formatted for paperback!

What’s next? Proof copies have been ordered and will be reviewed in a week or so. After changes are made from the beta-reading process, the paperback should be available next.

Most-likely, the paperback will be available before the Kindle version. Hopefully I can get the two versions out soon one after another, but it depends on how easily I am able to format the Kindle edition. Historically, this has been somewhat difficult for me to do.

While I have you, I’ve written my draft of the back-cover blurb. I’m not 100% sure this is what I intend to go with, but I would love to hear any notes or feedback in the comments below if you have any suggestions for the back-cover blurb:

Egyptus is the most powerful empire in the galaxy, consuming all with its revered space fleet, the Nile.

When a Corinthian emissary meets with the Egyptus princess on what he believes a routine diplomatic trip, he learns the source of Egyptus’s intergalactic power is greater and more dangerous than anyone knows.

Together, he and the princess set in motion a conflict that will change the course of the galaxy forever.

Gods, kingdoms, and starships clash in this unique collection of seven interconnected stories bringing the ancient world to the genre of science-fiction. From Egyptus to Athens, from Scythia to Samoa, witness the ancient world like never before.

For the first time ever, see all seven stories in Andrew Gates’s “Nile universe” collected in one book, including some never-before-published works.