Jonathan Moeller's Blog, page 147

Home Alone Meets Don Corleone

Over Christmas I wound up rewatching HOME ALONE and HOME ALONE 2 for the first time since the 90s.

I initially saw HOME ALONE 2 with my grandfather, God rest his soul. After the movie he gave me a lengthy lecture about the dangers of using paint thinner in an improper manner.

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 8: How To Publish A Book With Free Software

In this episode, I explain how I used free software to write and publish by book SILENT ORDER: ECLIPSE HAND, and show how you can do the same with your own books.

The self-publishing revolution has really democratized publishing – and the cheaper and more effective the tools are, the more people they can reach. Additionally, there are a lot of scammers out there who will take thousands of dollars to publish your book and give you very little in return. So the more people who know it’s entirely possible to publish a book using free tools and very low incidental costs, the better.

-JM

Castlevania III

I am pleased to report that after 28 years, after I first played it, I have finally finished Castlevania III!

Back this summer when I published my 100th book, people asked how I would celebrate. Vacations and various trips were suggested, along with drinking parties and numerous other forms of indulgence. I decided that what I really wanted to do, deep, deep down,  was to get a Nintendo Switch and start finishing all the classic games I never got a chance to finish back in the 1990s. So now I’ve finished the original Mario trilogy, the original Legend of Zelda, and the first three Castlevania games for NES.

I have to admit that these old games are really very difficult to finish without the Save State feature.

I think Castlevania 2 was my favorite, thanks to the RPG element and the more open world. But the final battle with Dracula in Castlevania 3 was pretty good. During the fight, Dracula shapeshifts into this giant floating head thing and then a giant bird monster that shoots lasers from its hands, and he still loses. Clearly, sorcery is not a winning strategy.

I’m not sure what classic game I will finish next – maybe the Link’s Awakening remake.

(I know a few people reading this will be annoyed that I haven’t mentioned GHOST IN THE COUNCIL. Fear not – GHOST IN THE COUNCIL will be published at the end of this week if all goes well!)

-JM

Did I Meet 2019’s Writing Goals?

As we reach the end of 2019 and approach 2020, it’s time to reflect and see if I reached the writing goals I set at the beginning of 2019.

Not gonna lie – 2019 was a very challenging year in many ways. But! I did hit most of my writing goals.

1.) Write a million words of new fiction.

I did that, coming to 1.19 million words of new fiction. Sadly, that was down from 1.35 million in 2018, but 2019 was quite busy in Real Life.

2.) Finish the SEVENFOLD SWORD series.

I did that! I published the final volume of SEVENFOLD SWORD this summer.

3.) Finish the MALISON series.

I did that as well! Though MALISON turned out to be much longer than I expected, and much more complicated and time-consuming.

4.) Start a new epic fantasy series.

I did that as well, publishing three books of the new DRAGONTIARNA series.

5.) Write at least two more books of the GHOST NIGHT series.

I only got halfway there with GHOST IN THE VAULT since MALISON took so long, but GHOST IN THE COUNCIL is coming out in January!

6.) Start the new CLOAK MAGE series.

I published CLOAK OF DRAGONS and CLOAK OF WOLVES, and I am 4,000 words into CLOAK OF ASHES.

7.) More self-published audiobooks.

I did a bunch more self-published audiobooks in the FROSTBORN, THE GHOSTS, and CLOAK GAMES series.

8.) Continue to bring out new books in paperback.

Thanks to Vellum, I brought out several of my new books in paperback!

9.) Secret bonus goal.

I wrote this goal in my 2018 writing goals…but I honestly don’t remember what it was. Like I seriously can’t remember what I meant to do. Next year I’m giving my secret projects codenames so I can remember what they are.

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 7: How To Get A Book To #1 In Category On Amazon US

In this week’s episode of the Pulp Writer Show, I discuss how I got CLOAK GAMES: OMNIBUS ONE to #1 in its category on Amazon US.

Since I’ll be busy with family stuff for Christmas, this will be my last blog post until next week. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

-JM

Super Mario Brothers 3, Finished!

After twenty-eight years, I am pleased to report that I have FINALLY finished Super Mario Brothers 3!

This will sound ludicrous, but it feels like a bright new dawn where anything is possible.

Frankly, I wonder how anyone ever managed to beat the game without the Save State feature in the modern era, or various cheat codes or methods back in the 1990s. I know it’s theoretically possible, but it would require near-infinite amounts of time.

And maybe the game is actually a quantum singularity that generates a new parallel universe/timeline every time Mario dies. If so, I am pleased that Mario finally found his way out of the infinite time loop to freedom.

GHOST IN THE COUNCIL progress update!

The first round of edits is done on GHOST IN THE COUNCIL, so let’s see the book description!

For all her life, Caina has served as a Ghost of the Empire, one of the Emperor’s spies and assassins.

Now the Empire teeters on the precipice of ruin. If Caina cannot forge an alliance among the lords of the Empire, the brutal sorcerers of the Umbarian Order will enslave mankind.

After they have taken their vengeance upon Caina…

-JM

history repeats

I stayed up a bit late working on the ebook formatting for DEMONSOULED, because I want to use the Vellum ebook creation software to make a version of DEMONSOULED with a more aesthetically pleasing interior layout.

I had to laugh – I remember staying up late 19 years ago to write DEMONSOULED, and here I am almost twenty years later still fiddling with it.

-JM

Goodbye Brother Cadfael

After 8 years, I have finally finished reading the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters.

Great books. Not a single bad one among them. It seems like in every book Cadfael must solve a murder and reunite separated lovers and delicately handle both the clerical and secular authorities. And he often does this in a way that makes sure justice is done in a merciful way, and leaves the authorities satisfied but baffled – they’re sure someone has pulled the wool over their eyes, somehow, but it’s all ended well, so why complain? At times Cadfael moves into full Guile Hero territory – both Batman and Grand Admiral Thrawn could learn a trick or two from him!

In some ways, the final book, BROTHER CADFAEL’S PENANCE, is the best, since the personal stakes are so high for Cadfael. He has to abandon his monastery to rescue his son from imprisonment in England’s civil war of the 1140s. Cadfael is alone, with no support from his abbot, no weapons, no money, just an old man with his wits and trust in God.

Definitely recommend the series if you enjoy a good mystery and a book that offers a good verisimilitude of medieval life (unlike, for example, GAME OF THRONES). At the moment all 20 Cadfael books and a short story anthology are in Kindle Unlimited, so if you’re a KU subscriber you can binge right through them.

Also, full credit to Open Road Media for releasing the ebook editions, and including beautiful maps of 12th-century Shrewsbury and Cadfael’s local neighborhood in each book.

-JM

The Pulp Writer Show, Episode 6: How I Started Self-Publishing

In this week’s episode of The Pulp Writer Show, I talk about how I started self-publishing in 2011.

Looking back, it was definitely an unlikely path!

-JM