D.D. Barant's Blog, page 9

Arty Art-Art

Hello, everybuddddy . . . sorry there was no post last week. I’m trying to do this on Mondays, but you know how Mondays go. Anyway, I’m back. I recently posted this image for some friends of mine, and they seemed to like it so I thought I’d share with a wider audience. I found the original illustration in a collection of Public Domain documents having to do with architectural proposals for a monument celebrating the discoveries of Christopher Columbus. Never built, of course; if you look at the buildings in the foreground, the scale of the thing would put it somewhere around two hundred stories high. I used a program called Style and a filter called Colored Pencils, which added the hues and gave it a more comic-book feel. What do you think?
Oh, and if you want an explanation as to what I'm using this giant building for and how it fits into the plot of CROSSOVER, check out my latest post at collaborative comics.com.

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Good News at last!

Though, sadly, it’s not the news everybody is hoping for . . . but I have some thoughts on that at the end of this post.
The good news is that some of my older, out-of-print stuff is coming back in electronic form. My Cyberfolk trilogy ( STEELDRIVER, TIMBERJAK and V.I.) written as Don DeBrandt, are going to be released as e-books by Venture Press. No publication date yet, but watch this space for details.
The other good news is that the original artwork for some of my previously written-sold-but-never-released work for Marvel is now online at the 2099 Bytes Facebook page (go to the Officalicious DD Barant page for a direct link). It features my creation Doc Houdini, a cyberspace jockey with a penchant for breaking and entering, and a group of South American cyberheroes I called The Unchained. Art by the incomparable Gabriel Morrissette. Got any questions about the story, I’d be glad to answer them.
And speaking of questions . . . there’s a certain question all my fans have been dying to have answered. And the thing is, I KNOW what the answer is (though it might not be what you expect). And while I really, really want to share that story, I need to do it as a novel, and right now that just ain’t happening.
But then I had a thought, (which I believe I mentioned at the top of this post). What do YOU think happened—and why? Please, let me know. Tell me which way you think Jace jumped, and what her reasons were. Tell me your crazy but brilliant theories. TELL ME.
Of course, if y’all just decide to say “Oh, we’ll tell you. . . SOMEDAY” I guess I sort of deserve that.

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Lifting

As a writer, you have to portray every kind of emotion, from the darkest hate to the brightest joy. And just like anything else, the more you do it the better you get, learning through experience.
But there’s another process that happens at the same time. Using a muscle over and over doesn’t just build a skill, it builds the muscle itself. You don’t just become better, you become stronger.
I realized, not too long ago, that I can use this principle in my own life. Specifically, in dealing with grief.
I’ve lost a lot in the last three years. And the weight of that loss, when I think about it, is crushing. So I do what we all do—I try not to think about it. I distract myself with writing, reading, watching Netflix, socializing with friends. But you can’t do that forever; sooner or later it’s just you and your thoughts. And sometimes those thoughts seem intent on kicking the crap out of you.
I’m not talking about the negative, self-destructive ones that whisper about how you’re not good enough and you’re going to die alone. That’s a whole different fight. No, I’m talking about the ones that can’t be fought, because they’re true. They’re simple, undeniable facts: Your father is dead. Your marriage is over. You are no longer a young man. These thoughts don’t attack; they just sit on your chest and make it hard to breathe.
But here’s the thing. You take a heavy weight and let it rest on your chest, and at first it just hurts. But you do that day after day—on purpose—and you let that weight sit there a little longer each time, and slowly you get used to it. The pain doesn’t lessen, but how you deal with it does.
So that’s what I’m doing. Emotional weightlifting. Deliberately letting myself feel that pain instead of avoiding it. Just a bit at a time, whenever I have the strength. Because while grieving is always painful, that pain can be managed. And hopefully, in the end, it’ll make me stronger.

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Operation Recharge

The plan for this summer to was recharge—emotionally, physically, and creatively—and I’m happy to report that things are going well. I’ve spent the last ten days or so in the beautiful Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island with relatives, hanging out and getting back into the groove of writing. I’ve dipped my toe into a few different projects, and am slowly but surely re-establishing a routine. Physically, I’m feeling pretty healthy, though fatigue is still a factor. Emotionally, I’m still healing, but being surrounded by people that love me is doing me a world of good. Creatively, I’m finding that the project that I’m most excited by is my webcomic, CROSSOVER; I’m going to post over at collaborativecomics.com on how that’s going and put up a few images. Hopefully, the fall will see me tackling prose fiction again.
BTW, local legend has it that there’s a Cowichan tribe that intermarried with a race of Thunderbirds, a detail I use in my Whiskey, Tango and Foxtrot mysteries, (written as Dixie Lyle). So maybe this recharge has a little lightning to it—I swear I saw a spark in the eye of my barista at the local café . . .

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Toldja I’d be back

Hey, look at that! Another new post and it’s only been a few days. Geez, this fresh air must agree with me . . . I’m in beautiful Victoria, on Vancouver Island, enjoying a few days away and visiting friends and family. Basically taking the summer to recharge creatively and tentatively begin to write again. Still experiencing some fatigue and mental fogginess, but it’s not too bad. I’ve started the ball rolling on a few projects and we’ll see what happens.
First, I contacted my agent, to see about getting a few of my older books released as e-books. Once that happens, I’ll be doing some giveaways--either of entire book or possibly just posting a few chapters for free. What do you think?
The other project is a screenplay I did a while back; the director and I are kicking it around and seeing how we can make it better. I’ll let you know how it goes. Anybody out there know a good producer in LA who might want to make a film about a murder at Burning Man?
Also, I refuse to let my webcomic project, CROSSOVER, die. Once launched, it’ll promote not just my older stuff but artistic projects from my readers themselves: if you do something creative, I’ll try to find a way to collaborate with you and promote your stuff. And it won’t cost you a cent, I promise—this isn’t one of those “do a bunch of work and get paid in exposure” scams. I want to take cool stuff people have already done and drive traffic to their website—but really, if you want to know more about the project, go check out collaborativecomics.com for my latest post. It even has some news about a certain FBI profiler . . .
Anyway, I don’t just want to blather on about what I’m doing—I’m interested in feedback. So go ahead, ask me anything—EXCEPT THAT ONE QUESTION. You know which one. First person to ask will get personally berated by JV herself. You have been warned.

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I’m baaaaaaack . . .

I suck.

Not in a hemovorous sort of way, either. More in a “can you believe how long it’s been since I posted on my website” sort of way. I plead parenthood, two active pseudonyms (Damn you, Cortez, and your Teutonic success!) plus there was this terrible natural disaster during an alien invasion while I was very sick and it wasn’t my fault.

All right. Let’s see if I can update my general progress.

Parenthood mentioned. Check.

Book Four of The Bloodhound Files, Better Off Undead, coming out on October the Third. Check.

Book Five, Back From the Undead, finished and turned in. Check. Wait, I haven’t actually received the check yet. Pending.

Book Six, Undead to the World, in progress. Just finished Chapter 4, actually. I mean, check—

Pardon me, senora. A moment of your time, if you please. My new novel, REMOTE, will also be issued shortly as an e-book. It is a sequel—

–hang on, pal. You can’t just bust in here and start promoting your own stuff while I’m in the middle of an update—

–a sequel to my novel THE CLOSER, which, as you know, made it onto the top ten bestseller list in Europe—

No, Cortez, it didn’t. It hit number 25. In Germany. And the sequel doesn’t even drop until next May, so why are you interrupting me right now?

It comes out in Germany in May, it is true, but the e-book will be sooner. And in English.

Sigh. Okay, what’s the e-pub date?

I do not know. Yet.

Right. Go away.

Farewell, senora. Until we meet again.

That guy . . . anyway, what else? Oh, yeah, Jace was nominated as Urban Fantasy Heroine of the!year last year (she didn’t win, and is still sulking). I’m really excited about the current book, which does some very interesting things as far as the relationship between Jace and Charlie go—

Hey there!

Oh, no. You, too?

Don DeBrandt here! Just thought I’d let you all know my out-of-print Science Fiction works are also being released as e-books! The cyberpunk classic THE QUICKSILVER SCREEN, my cyberfolk trilogy, STEELDRIVER, TIMBERJAK and V.I. will all soon be available again!

Terrific. Congratulations. You don’t have a release date, either, do you?

No, I don’t!

Uh-huh.

And my exclamation point is stuck!

I can see that.

Actually, it really hurts! Please help me!

I hate you, DeBrandt. Donn Cortez is smarmy, but you’re a lunatic.

I think it’s getting worse!!!

Goodbye, DeBrandt.

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!—oh, that’s better.

Moving right along . . . my publisher is currently considering a proposal for a new series. Don’t want to say too much right now, but it will bring the funny. And the twisted. And the shambling . . .

I guess that’s about it for now—oh, wait. I have a Facebook page now, and a Twitter account. Follow me or drop me a comment, please. The only thing keeping me sane while I wade through robot-generated comment spam promising me great deals on Liberian passports is the prospect of something written by an actual human being. So please, for the love of God, post something. Anything. Just try to restrain yourself on the use of exclamation points—my ears are still ringing from DeBrant’s little visit.

Whoops, I did it again

Okay, so I travelled to see my folks over Christmas and they don't have internet. So all the spam piled up while I was away and I was forced to flush it all at once when I got back, so any actual email from real people got lost. So sorry, but I'm back now. Hope everyone enjoyed (or at least survived) the holidays.

New Book for the Season!

First of all, an apology: if you tried to send me a message in the last few months, it didn't show up on the website. No, I wasn't ignoring you—I was unable to access the damn thing, so I couldn't approve any comments. Everything got stuck in the spam filter, which grew to over ten thousand spamments before I got it unstuck. So if you posted something, feel free to post it again, and this time I'll be able to put it up and respond.

BETTER OFF UNDEAD is out and people seem to like it. I've just finished the final proofs of BACK FROM THE UNDEAD, which will be out in a few months. And if you're in the mood for something darker, REMOTE (the sequel to the thriller THE CLOSER) is now available as an ebook: Amazon http://amzn.to/sMyfKs, Apple http://bit.ly/tkooLU, B&N http://bit.ly/tVKPIg. It's by my pseudonymous alter ego, Donn Cortez, and one of the characters is a gigantic insane biker who thinks a supernatural race of Praying Mantises (no, that's not a spelling error) are testing him to take over the universe. Also, though this isn't science fiction, there's a naked man fighting a robot.

Personal appearance

No, this isn't a post about grooming tips (though I understand that oatmeal is good for your skin) it's just a quick note to let you know that I will be attending my first official convention as DD Barant this weekend, at VCon. The con is being held at the Airport Sheraton in Richmond, BC, just outside of Vancouver. I'm hoping my two other pseudonyms, Donn Cortez and Don DeBrandt, decide to stay at home–but Cortez is devious, and you can't keep DeBrandt away from a party. Anyway, I'll be doing two readings, sitting on a few panels, and generally hanging out. Hope to see you there!

I'm baaaaaaack . . .

I suck.

Not in a hemovorous sort of way, either. More in a "can you believe how long it's been since I posted on my website" sort of way. I plead parenthood, two active pseudonyms (Damn you, Cortez, and your Teutonic success!) plus there was this terrible natural disaster during an alien invasion while I was very sick and it wasn't my fault.

All right. Let's see if I can update my general progress.

Parenthood mentioned. Check.

Book Four of The Bloodhound Files, Better Off Undead, coming out on October the Third. Check.

Book Five, Back From the Undead, finished and turned in. Check. Wait, I haven't actually received the check yet. Pending.

Book Six, Undead to the World, in progress. Just finished Chapter 4, actually. I mean, check—

Pardon me, senora. A moment of your time, if you please. My new novel, REMOTE, will also be issued shortly as an e-book. It is a sequel—

–hang on, pal. You can't just bust in here and start promoting your own stuff while I'm in the middle of an update—

–a sequel to my novel THE CLOSER, which, as you know, made it onto the top ten bestseller list in Europe—

No, Cortez, it didn't. It hit number 25. In Germany. And the sequel doesn't even drop until next May, so why are you interrupting me right now?

It comes out in Germany in May, it is true, but the e-book will be sooner. And in English.

Sigh. Okay, what's the e-pub date?

I do not know. Yet.

Right. Go away.

Farewell, senora. Until we meet again.

That guy . . . anyway, what else? Oh, yeah, Jace was nominated as Urban Fantasy Heroine of the!year last year (she didn't win, and is still sulking). I'm really excited about the current book, which does some very interesting things as far as the relationship between Jace and Charlie go—

Hey there!

Oh, no. You, too?

Don DeBrandt here! Just thought I'd let you all know my out-of-print Science Fiction works are also being released as e-books! The cyberpunk classic THE QUICKSILVER SCREEN, my cyberfolk trilogy, STEELDRIVER, TIMBERJAK and V.I. will all soon be available again!

Terrific. Congratulations. You don't have a release date, either, do you?

No, I don't!

Uh-huh.

And my exclamation point is stuck!

I can see that.

Actually, it really hurts! Please help me!

I hate you, DeBrandt. Donn Cortez is smarmy, but you're a lunatic.

I think it's getting worse!!!

Goodbye, DeBrandt.

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!—oh, that's better.

Moving right along . . . my publisher is currently considering a proposal for a new series. Don't want to say too much right now, but it will bring the funny. And the twisted. And the shambling . . .

I guess that's about it for now—oh, wait. I have a Facebook page now, and a Twitter account. Follow me or drop me a comment, please. The only thing keeping me sane while I wade through robot-generated comment spam promising me great deals on Liberian passports is the prospect of something written by an actual human being. So please, for the love of God, post something. Anything. Just try to restrain yourself on the use of exclamation points—my ears are still ringing from DeBrant's little visit.