David Wong's Blog, page 3
August 4, 2020
July 23, 2020
Publisher's Weekly calls the new book "brilliant"
Specifically, "This is a brilliant modern parable disguised as pop fiction." Not to set everyone's expectations too high or anything:
Read the review here
Book is out in October, pre-order it now!
Read the review here
Book is out in October, pre-order it now!
June 17, 2020
I've made a video with some writing advice, that kind of thing
It's here on YouTube, I've been taking fan questions and doing the responses by subject, this one was all about writing tips, working with symbolism and theme, that kind of thing.
May 14, 2020
April 3, 2020
$2.99 Kindle sale for John Dies at the End
Because lots of people are trapped indoors with nothing else to do but also tighter entertainment budgets, they're going to be running a couple of sales on my most popular books. Right now the book that made my writing career, John Dies at the End, is $2.99 on Kindle (click here for that). I know that some of you don't like to support Amazon and if so I'd fully encourage you to see if your local book store will take orders on my books, they definitely need your support at this time. But on the other hand, if you only have three bucks then this is the one way to get it for that price, as far as I know. Hope everyone is well.
February 25, 2020
I've left my day job at Cracked to write books full time
I did a whole post about it there, which you can read here if you like.
January 25, 2020
So what's this other book series all about?
"So this 'Zoey' book you keep talking about, is your non-John and Dave series? So what are these novels about? You actually expect us to pay money for this nonsense?" These are all good questions.
So, there are two books in this series (one out, one coming) and they're also in development as a TV series as we speak. That doesn't mean it'll actually become a show, but still that's pretty cool, right? As for what the books are about:
Imagine there's a team of con artists with PSYOPS training from their time as off-the-books military contractors. It's the future, and there is now technology that grants people superpowers. This team, whose only superpower is the ability to spin bullshit, must find increasingly convoluted and ridiculous ways to resolve conflicts between vigilantes and cybernetically enhanced villains running rampant in the city. This team of high-tech illusionists is led by a girl in her early 20s who was living in a trailer park right up until she suddenly found out she inherited her father's fortune and his criminal empire. Her name is Zoey Ashe. She has a cat.
So there are no elements of the supernatural in this series but it's not exactly a slice-of-life tale of coping with middle age. The first one is called Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits and it's actually the most acclaimed of any of my books, which I realize is a low bar. But it has nearly-perfect reader reviews on Amazon, so it's a pretty safe purchase if you like the other things I've written, especially since it's often $2.99 on Kindle (as it is right now: https://www.amazon.com/Futuristic-Vio...). The second one is out this fall, JDATE 4 will come a couple of years after that.
So, there are two books in this series (one out, one coming) and they're also in development as a TV series as we speak. That doesn't mean it'll actually become a show, but still that's pretty cool, right? As for what the books are about:
Imagine there's a team of con artists with PSYOPS training from their time as off-the-books military contractors. It's the future, and there is now technology that grants people superpowers. This team, whose only superpower is the ability to spin bullshit, must find increasingly convoluted and ridiculous ways to resolve conflicts between vigilantes and cybernetically enhanced villains running rampant in the city. This team of high-tech illusionists is led by a girl in her early 20s who was living in a trailer park right up until she suddenly found out she inherited her father's fortune and his criminal empire. Her name is Zoey Ashe. She has a cat.
So there are no elements of the supernatural in this series but it's not exactly a slice-of-life tale of coping with middle age. The first one is called Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits and it's actually the most acclaimed of any of my books, which I realize is a low bar. But it has nearly-perfect reader reviews on Amazon, so it's a pretty safe purchase if you like the other things I've written, especially since it's often $2.99 on Kindle (as it is right now: https://www.amazon.com/Futuristic-Vio...). The second one is out this fall, JDATE 4 will come a couple of years after that.
January 14, 2020
My new book is up for pre-order!
My new book, Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick, is up for pre-order NOW. Use these links or visit your local book store so you can hear yourself say the title at the counter:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
It is a subtle critique of modern capitalism.
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
It is a subtle critique of modern capitalism.
January 28, 2019
Update on Suits 2
I don't know if book fans are all that interested in the writing process but this is all I have to talk about because I don't go to conventions and such, so here goes:
The sequel to Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, working title Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick, now exists as a 95,000 word draft in which I still have to write the denouement, the bit after the climax (spoiler: This book has a climax and a denouement). That I will have to do during some vacation days I take in, say, March (for those who don't know, books have to be written during my days off from my day job at Cracked.com).
Then, unless some kind of life disaster intervenes, I will take the week of Memorial Day off in May and edit the whole thing from start to finish, improving lines and jokes and making sure everything makes sense. I will finish this process by printing out a copy of the book on paper.
Then, the next time I have vacation available, probably in Aug/Sept, I will go through that printed version with a red pen and mark individual words or lines or anything else that I still don't like. The reason is that viewing it on paper, versus a computer monitor, tricks my brain into seeing it with fresh eyes. I am looking at it like something someone else wrote. I don't know any other author who does it this way and I think it only works because I am crazy.
Then I will go in and make those final fixes, and, if everything goes perfectly, email it to the publisher in November (it's due at the end of the year, but you never want to be editing a book over the holidays). They will get back to me in February or so with suggested changes which may range from "Perfect, just switch these two words here" to "The second half of the book needs more action." That may add minutes or dozens of hours to the task depending on their feedback.
Then I will make those changes and send it back, probably with a deadline in April 2020. They will send it to the copy editor who will do all of the final suggested changes, literally down to the period and comma, and fix the formatting and every possible thing. Then they will send it to me for final approval (like if there are any mistakes that I actually wanted to keep, like as a joke or whatever). During this time we will be talking about cover designs and any unique formatting things, and it will already have gone up on Amazon for pre-order and we'll be laying the groundwork for promotion stuff, by sending out copies for famous people to read and maybe give blurbs on. Release will be set for probably October 2020.
During this entire time in 2020, while I'm doing these edits and coming up with promotion stuff and also working at Cracked, I will be trying to get JDATE 4 written. And also remember that at any minute I could get a message that they're going full steam ahead on a Suits TV series (we sold TV rights a while ago) and they may want my help on that.
If that sounds like it's impossible to do all of those things at once considering everything else life throws at a person, you're probably right! I made these plans and signed this deal back when my schedule looked very different. So I'll have to figure that out, but not right now. So anyway that's why it takes me so long to write a book.
-Jason "David Wong" Pargin
The sequel to Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, working title Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick, now exists as a 95,000 word draft in which I still have to write the denouement, the bit after the climax (spoiler: This book has a climax and a denouement). That I will have to do during some vacation days I take in, say, March (for those who don't know, books have to be written during my days off from my day job at Cracked.com).
Then, unless some kind of life disaster intervenes, I will take the week of Memorial Day off in May and edit the whole thing from start to finish, improving lines and jokes and making sure everything makes sense. I will finish this process by printing out a copy of the book on paper.
Then, the next time I have vacation available, probably in Aug/Sept, I will go through that printed version with a red pen and mark individual words or lines or anything else that I still don't like. The reason is that viewing it on paper, versus a computer monitor, tricks my brain into seeing it with fresh eyes. I am looking at it like something someone else wrote. I don't know any other author who does it this way and I think it only works because I am crazy.
Then I will go in and make those final fixes, and, if everything goes perfectly, email it to the publisher in November (it's due at the end of the year, but you never want to be editing a book over the holidays). They will get back to me in February or so with suggested changes which may range from "Perfect, just switch these two words here" to "The second half of the book needs more action." That may add minutes or dozens of hours to the task depending on their feedback.
Then I will make those changes and send it back, probably with a deadline in April 2020. They will send it to the copy editor who will do all of the final suggested changes, literally down to the period and comma, and fix the formatting and every possible thing. Then they will send it to me for final approval (like if there are any mistakes that I actually wanted to keep, like as a joke or whatever). During this time we will be talking about cover designs and any unique formatting things, and it will already have gone up on Amazon for pre-order and we'll be laying the groundwork for promotion stuff, by sending out copies for famous people to read and maybe give blurbs on. Release will be set for probably October 2020.
During this entire time in 2020, while I'm doing these edits and coming up with promotion stuff and also working at Cracked, I will be trying to get JDATE 4 written. And also remember that at any minute I could get a message that they're going full steam ahead on a Suits TV series (we sold TV rights a while ago) and they may want my help on that.
If that sounds like it's impossible to do all of those things at once considering everything else life throws at a person, you're probably right! I made these plans and signed this deal back when my schedule looked very different. So I'll have to figure that out, but not right now. So anyway that's why it takes me so long to write a book.
-Jason "David Wong" Pargin
December 1, 2018
Spiders is now $2.99 on Kindle, this month only
The second book in the John Dies at the End series is now $2.99 on Kindle - The NY Times bestseller This Book is Full of Spiders is on sale through December. Fun fact: If you go into a Starbucks and ask them what you can get for three bucks, they fling a cup of boiling water in your face.
https://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Full...
https://www.amazon.com/This-Book-Full...
