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The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 56: WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE Rough Draft Done And Disney Shows Why Indie Publishing Is Better

Time for another episode of The Pulp Writer Show!

In this week’s episode, I discuss finishing both the rough draft of WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE and the WRAITHSHARD series itself.

I also talk about changes to Audible’s return policy and Star Wars author Alan Dean Foster’s dispute with Disney. I think this is the first time I’ve ever referenced The Chappelle Show in the podcast.

WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE Table of Contents

I am now far enough along to share the Table of Contents for WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE.

If all goes well, the book should be out and the WRAITHSHARD series will reach its epic conclusion by the end of the week.

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-JM

Happy Thanksgiving 2020!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

2020 was something of an uneven year, but there are still many things for which to be thankful. It is good to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln’s original Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1864. And 1864 for was probably a much worse year than 2020.

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.”

Of course, the idea is far older than Abraham Lincoln, as this quote from the Book of Deuteronomy shows:

“You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

I’m very thankful that I get to write so much, and that so many of you have come along on the journeys of Ridmark, Mazael, Caina, and Nadia this year.

-JM

sign up for my newsletter and get a free novella when WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE comes out!

When WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE comes out next month, I’ll give away free copies of the novella THE SERPENT KNIGHT to newsletter subscribers via Bookfunnel link and Smashwords coupon code. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter today!

I wrote THE SERPENT KNIGHT back in 2015 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original publication of DEMONSOULED back in 2005, so the final book of the WRAITHSHARD series seems like a good time to get away THE SERPENT KNIGHT again.

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-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 55: Facebook Ad Difficulties For Indie Authors

In this episode of the Pulp Writer Show, I actually rant a little bit.

WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE book description

What’s WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE going to be about?

Well, it’s right there in the title.

Shall We Play A Game?

I watched WARGAMES for the first time last night. If you haven’t seen it, the movie’s from 1983, and it’s about a teenage hacker who accidentally breaks into NORAD’s computers while trying to impress a girl. He winds up triggering a wargame simulation, but Joshua, the computer controlling the simulation, isn’t programmed to distinguish between simulation and reality and starts trying to take control of the nuclear missile launch sites.

It’s always interesting to watch science fiction from the past and see how its conception of the future compared to reality. And WARGAMES is definitely science fiction, since in 1983 there wasn’t a computer that could perform natural language processing as well as Joshua. Heck, even nowadays computers aren’t quite that good at natural language processing, as the occasional YouTube clips of Alexa and Siri mishaps demonstrate.

But it’s interesting to watch old science fiction because it shows how people from the past feared the potential future. The fear of nuclear war, of course, is a common theme. Like, if you read science fiction from the 70s or the 80s, a common assumption is that the US and the Soviets would destroy one another in a nuclear war sometime in the 1990s and the 2000s. Of course, (spoiler alert!) it didn’t quite work out that way.

The fear of computers, though, is an interesting theme from old science fiction. WARGAMES did a good job of introducing the audience to concepts (hacking, information warfare, password security) that are common nowadays but would have been novel to most people in 1983. Of course, science fiction almost never gets the future right. The character of Dr. Falken’s fear that mankind would inevitably destroy itself through nuclear war turned out (so far) not to have been accurate. For that matter, a lot of 80s science fiction predicted that computers would run the world.

They do, sort of, but instead of the Master Computer on TRON or Joshua running amok with nuclear missiles, what we actually ended up with were Facebook ads, product unboxing videos on YouTube, and emails from Amazon informing us that customers who were interested in WARGAMES might also be interested in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, TRON, and the HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.

The best thing about old science fiction, at least in my opinion, is that it shows how bad people are at predicting the future. So if you’re ever troubled by the Prophets of Doom on the news confidently proclaiming how the world will end because their spreadsheet told them so, read some old science fiction about how World War III started in 1995 with a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviets.

WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE rough draft done!

I am pleased to report that the rough draft of WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE is done. Amusingly it just about as long as the first book in the series.

Full speed ahead with editing! If all goes well it should be out in early December.

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-JM

WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE – the final rough draft update

Now on Chapter 19 of 20 of WRAITHSHARD: WRATH & BATTLE.

Almost there! A few more good pushes and it should be done. Still definitely want to wrap up the rough draft by Thanksgiving. Of course, I’m not actually going anywhere for Thanksgiving, but it will be nice not to think about the book as I’m grilling Thanksgiving steaks.

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 54: GHOST IN THE VISION Questions & Answers

In this week’s episode, I answer reader questions about GHOST IN THE VISION, my 115th novel.

We also discuss Barnes & Noble’s recent website troubles, Audible’s return policy, and Super Mario merch.

-JM