S.K.S. Perry's Blog, page 22

I can't think of a title for this post. :/

I know I should post here more often, but seriously my life has been rather a lot of the wash-rinse-repeat variety lately. There's really not much of note going on, and I'm not famous enough that hordes of fans hang on the minutia of my life. (Got a hole in my sock today, darn!)

On the job front I went from being a Platoon 2 I/C at a recruit school, to what pretty much amounts to an office job. Great hours, same pay, but dull. Still, it's nice to be employed.

Still plugging away at the WIP, Tasha. (It really needs a better title.) It's this close to being finished, but it's putting up a valiant struggle. The plan is to finish it and then get to work on another Darkside novel (Tentative Title - Darkside: Damned If You Do). Of course I only have a vague idea of what it's about, but then that's how I've started all my novels.

Other than that, I spend my time with Pen while we watch TV, go to the movies, shopping, and occasionally, dancing.

That and a lot of hours wasted playing Second Life. (IT'S NOT A GAME!)

There have been a few health scares in the family in the past few weeks, but everyone is relatively okay.

I promise to post more often if life gets interesting, or I start feeling particularly witty.

Of course there may not be any of you left reading this by then.

Writing Woes

I am currently writing the Book That Will Not End. Seriously. I’ve got no more than a chapter or two at best left, but it’s just not happening. I thought I had only a chapter left a chapter ago, but I was wrong mistaken lied to. I even know how the book ends, but it’s like trying to find the missing link. How am I supposed to get from here to there while still being interesting/entertaining/ and adding all those namby pampby feelings that witch retrobabble  and her evil troll partner in crime  crimini  keep harping to me about?

But I’m not bitter.

Why are things the way they are??

I have a question:

Why is it that Amazon seems to have cornered the market on Ebooks—or at least everyone seems to assume they will?

Why isn't…say…Smashwords more successful? They offer the books in more electronic formats, they're just as easy to find, download ect.

Is it the reader? I mean, I'm sure Kindle is good, but is it really that much better than the Kobo, Sony Reader, Libre etc, not to mention the vast menagerie of tablet PCs out there from the iPad to whatever it is Samsung, HP, Gateway, Motorola, Blackberry etc ad nauseum is offering now?

And even if the Kindle made all those other platforms look like cheap colouring books, Smashwords formats for most of them, including the Kindle. I'm sure there are other ebook sellers that do as well.

Is it advertising? Sure, everyone knows Amazon, but I'm sure by now most avid readers know about Smashwords, and let's face it there's this thing called Google. I bet if you type eBooks into it you'll find plenty of other places. Let me check….yep, I'm right.

It can't be PR. Everyone hates Amazon.

Is it the authors themselves? Are we giving Amazon this power over us? I know it was the first place I went when I decided to ePublish my novels. But does it have to be?

Maybe it's the traditional publishing houses themselves. If they make Amazon the ebook publisher of choice, why shouldn't we follow suit?

There's nothing saying I can't set up my own website and sell my books from there. The problem becomes drawing traffic to your site. Maybe what we need is not something like Amazon, but a definitive site which lists where to find the various author sites.

Seriously, Amazon takes from between 30-65% of the profit for what essentially amounts to hosting your novel. They certainly don't advertise it—well, not unless you're one of their top sellers. For most authors on the site the only hope they have that you'll find their book is that you somehow stumble across it, maybe drawn to it by whatever PR the author can dream up and which Amazon has absolutely nothing to do with.

What we need is some way to draw readers to our own sites, or at least make them aware of them.

Unfortunately I don't know what that way is…but I'm working on it.

The Burden of Fame--Woe is me!

I posted a couple of these on Twitter and Facebook, but I thought I'd post them hear as well because...well, a lot of you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, I had to edit them a touch so the content would fit, and this format is more permanent...I think.

Anyway, I've gotten quite a bit of fan mail for my Darkside Novels over the years--no, really--like the kid from India who told me how much his whole village loves my books, or the teacher in Southern Ontario who told me she used Darkside as a reading assignment because it's one of the few books that kept the interest of her 10th grade class, or the guy who told me his college professor used Darkside as an example of first person narrative in his creative writing class--though, come to think of it, he never mentioned whether it was used as a good example or a bad example.

Anyway, I never got any real negative feedback about it, mostly because I figured the people who didn't like it couldn't be bothered. After all, who was I?

Anyway, all that changed a couple of days ago, oddly enough just after Amanda Hocking replied to a comment I made on Twitter. Maybe her mere mention of my name pointed the crazies that follow her in my direction. (Um, not that you're crazy if you don't like Darkside, but...oh, just read the excerpts and you'll see what I mean:

First, there's this one:

Mr. Perry, In this day and age I can't imagine why any Christian, any real author, could condone the use of heathen magic and the occult in their writings. While I applaud the minimal use of sex in your work, your glorification of witchcraft and necromancy, especially in your second novel, will surely find you burning in Hell. I pray for your soul, Mr. Perry, although I fear I'm already too late.

Then there's this one:

Perry, I was fascinated by your depiction of James Decker as an Eternal. I'm positive my downstairs neighbor may be one. You write that there are only seven Eternals. Do you know all their names? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This one was just cute:

Dear Mr. Perry, I just loved your Darkside books and was wondering if you're going to write more. P.S. My sister thought they sucked.

And finally this one:

Mr S.K.S. Perry (if indeed you are a man) We object to the negative portrayal of Vampires in your Darkside Novels and would burn your books if we could find one. This is just another example of someone writing about things they know nothing about.

So, what are your favourite fan/hate/weird letters?

One Long Rant

I haven't posted here much lately, mostly because I'm certain the world has gone bat-shit crazy and I don't want to add to it. Maybe it's just the headlines I've been reading (because I read once that the world isn't nearly as bad as we perceive it to be--it just seems that way because negative stories get all the press) but where the hell did our compassion go? When did it become popular to demean, insult, and bully others as a national pastime? It's not enough that we dislike something--a movie, song, actor, politician, cause or what have you--we have to burry them. We have to let the whole world know that in our opinion (and since when is that worthy anything?) not only do we thing this movie sucks, for instance, but the actor is a talentless, total waste of skin that you would happily watch die in an apartment fire while all your friends stood around and cheered. Then we'll criticise them on everything from their sex life to their height and hair colour, none of which had a damn thing to do with the quality of the movie or their acting. And it doesn't matter if said actor is 12 or 40 years old; it's our god given right--no, it's our duty--to let that 12 year old know what a useless hack they are, and how we can't wait until they're hooked on drugs and selling their sex tape on EBay. Half of us are either low brow cretins who demean others for being snobby and elitist, or pretentious snobs who demean them for being ignorant and crass. And 99% of us couldn't do better, or even 1/100 as well. Kids are bullying other kids so badly at school that they're committing suicide, and then feel indifferent about it afterwards. Politicians cheer when someone yells out "Let them die" when debating about those who can't afford health care. We have "swarms". I mean wtf is that? The mob mentality phenomenon is bad enough, but this is premeditated! I used to lament the value of life in Third World Countries. They'll kill you there just because you're in the way, or within range, and in the most horrific way possible if they have the time. Your life has absolutely no value to them, and they don't feel any remorse afterward. But you know what? You're life here is worth only as much as you can afford. You get the medical care you can afford; the justice you can afford; the opportunities you can afford. Someone said a little while ago that no one's writing good dystopian future science fiction any more. Well that's because we're already damn well living in one. We have become a society of arrogant, self-centered, self-important critics who can only feel content about themselves when they're demeaning the work, contribution, or lives of others in the most sarcastic and destructive way possible. We take absolutely no responsiblity for our own actions, and we respect neither the rights nor property of others. Where once we prided ourselves on being kind, giving and polite, now we strive to be cruel, greedy and rude.

And you kids get off'n my lawn.

Good night.

I attended NRTD's last grad parade today, which brings my stint with recruit training to a full close. I started the new job about three weeks ago, and while the hours are nice – straight days, 7:30 – 4:00, Monday to Friday – the job is…bland.

I attended a meeting the other day where we were deciding what needs to be done in the coming year and I couldn't help thinking – who cares?

Don't get me wrong. I'll do the job, and do it well. But it's just that – a job. Something to pay the bills. I have nothing invested in it.

I think I need a break. A break from work, from writing, from the internet – from just about everything really. And while I can't actually take a break from work – I need the money after all – everything else is up for grabs.

So I think I'll just lie low for a while. Maybe do some exercise, watch TV, read. Not sure when I'll be back.

Miss me while I'm gone.

New Review of Darkside

I think they liked it!

http://freebookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/08/book-review-darkside-by-sks-perry.html

Platoon Discussions on a Thur morning.

The Vimy Platoon staff have decided that the Combat Leaders Course should be done by correspondence. What you do is use your family to stage a section attack in your back yard, film it and send it in.

"SECTION SECTION SECTION! That's it Amy, keep your lines straight. I SAID STOP CONVERGING LEFT!!! Sorry baby, sorry. Daddy's just really into it."

My wife's going away for the weekend:

Pen: I have only 2 rules while I'm away.
Me: *becomes immediately attentive—hey, it could happen!*
Pen: Don't kill my plants while I'm away, and don't get salt all over the floor. (Don't ask.)
Me: Just those two?
Pen: Yes.
Me: So I can…like…order hookers and blow?
Pen: *Gives me the look* No, dear. Those are unwritten rules.
Me: Just checking.

Stream of Consciousness...or maybe a brook?

Paragraphs like this occur to me out of the blue and I jot them down just because. I have no idea if I'll ever use it in a book or not, but it's there nevertheless:

I never understood the appeal of fishing. A friend of mine told me it was the repetitive motion that men found relaxing, but frankly I can think of a repetitive motion that's way more stress-relieving off hand, and it doesn't require hip waders and expensive equipment. Well, not usually, anyway.