Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 111

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 81: MASTER OF MAGIC, Amazon Glitches, and Internet Rumors

In this week’s episode, I discuss recent Amazon glitches, the dangers of unverified information on the Internet, and the new MASTER OF MAGIC remake coming in 2022.

I also answer reader questions and provide updates about DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

10k words of DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN!

Wrote 10,000 words of DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN today!

This is my 3rd 10k word day of 2021. The previous two were in January, both for GHOST IN THE TALISMAN.

-JM

DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN – halfway through the rough draft!

I’m starting the week at 64,000 words of the rough draft of DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN, which puts me on Chapter 16 of 30.

Over halfway there! Hoping to end the week at 90,000 words of the rough draft. I think it will end up at about 120,000 words, but we’ll see.

-JM

Book Recommendations

Andrew S writes to ask:

“Hi Jonathan, not that I want to do ANYTHING that takes away from your time writing Dragontiarna: Warden, I was just wondering if you had any new book/series recommendations? Following your posts about them I read all of William King’s Kormak series & all the various books of Marc Alan Edelheit’s Last War saga.”I’ve mostly read mysteries and science fiction in 2021 so far so I don’t have any new recommendations for fantasy. So let’s open it up to the floor!What fantasy book recommendations do you have?-JM

DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN progress update

I wanted to get to 55,000 words of DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN by the end of this week, and I did!

This puts me on Chapter 14 of 30. Hoping to reach about 85,000 words by the end of next week.

I think the rough draft will land at about 120,000 words (about the length of SEVENFOLD SWORD: SOVEREIGN) but we’ll see.

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 80: DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN underway!

In this week’s episode, I talk about starting DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN, the final book of the DRAGONTIARNA series, and answer questions from readers.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.

-JM

The Quest for Truth

I have to admit I think the 2009 movie version of SHERLOCK HOLMES is better than its reputation.(Spoilers for the movie’s plot follow)It’s basically Sherlock Holmes as a more modern style action hero. Except the plot works. The villain is Lord Blackwood, who claims to be a wizard with sinister powers. Before his execution, Blackwood promises that he will return and exact vengeance upon all his enemies, including Holmes.Blackwood is indeed executed and pronounced dead…only to return and begin his reign of terror. Quite a few people begin to believe that he is in fact a sorcerer.My favorite scene is when Holmes confronts Blackwood for the last time, and calmly deconstructs all of Blackwood’s magical powers as misdirection, bribery, practical applications of chemistry, and simple con games.That scene seems quintessentially Holmes – his logic and reasoning defeating the veil of tricks Blackwood used to build his terrifying reputation.Which is why I think Holmes remains a popular character after nearly a hundred and forty years, as does the idea of a detective as the protagonist. The truth, as we all know, is sometimes an extraordinarily difficult thing to find, and the Internet has in many ways made the truth even harder to discern. So a character who quests after the truth can be an especially heroic figure.-JM

The Ubuntu Science Fiction Novel

An old post I wrote back in 2017 describing how I wrote and published a novel using Ubuntu Linux and entirely free software programs got picked up on Reddit and brought in a lot of traffic to my website.

The novel in question is SILENT ORDER: ECLIPSE HAND, and it’s currently available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

I have to admit in the four years since I wrote that blog post, I have started using more paid software. I made the current version of the book’s cover in Photoshop, and I used Vellum to format the ebook files.

But! I think the main point still holds true.  If you want to self-publish, there is no need to spend a lot of money, and you don’t have to spend a lot on expensive software programs.

You can do so, quite successfully, using entirely free software. I started self-publishing in 2011 and didn’t start using Vellum for ebook formatting until mid 2019. Between 2011 and 2019 I sold about 1.3 million ebooks that I formatted using the free programs Calibre and Sigil. I only learned to use Photoshop over the summer of 2020 because I wanted to broaden my skill set and make better images for Facebook ads and my short story covers.

So the more “premium” programs like Vellum and Photoshop are nice, but not necessary.

All you really need to self-publish is a laptop and an Internet connection.

-JM

DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN underway!

I took a couple of days off after GHOST IN THE LORE was published, but now it’s full speed ahead on DRAGONTIARNA: WARDEN!

10,000 words in, which puts me on Chapter 2 of 30.

I’m hoping to have the book out in June, but there’s a very good chance it will slip to July. Watch this space for updates!

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 79: Ten Ideas For A New Series

In this week’s episode, I discuss ten possibilities for a new series once DRAGONTIARNA and GHOST NIGHT conclude this summer.

When I mentioned that topic on Facebook, a lot of readers had great comments, so I read and responded to some of those on the show.

I also answer questions from readers about the GHOST NIGHT series.

As always, you can listen to the show on Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music:

-JM