Michael Offutt's Blog, page 129

Grab your copy of Cassastorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh on Tuesday

Tuesday, September 17th is the official release date of CassaStorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's so exciting, I think I may leave this post up all week long. To celebrate his book, he answered a bunch of questions, and one of them was:

Q: Did you get any input on your covers or was each one a surprise?

A: My publisher's illustrator read each story and then spoke with me for about ten to fifteen minutes to discuss the key scenes. That's about the extent of my input. When I see the cover, it's a complete surprise. Fortunately, it's always a pleasant one as all three covers have rocked! The ships appear different than what I'd imagined, but I think they're much better than my vision.

Thanks for taking the time to answer the question, Alex.
Comment on Alex's blog this week for a chance to win a Cassa mug,
a mousepad, a magnet, and other swag! Exciting, eh?CassaStormBy Alex J Cavanaugh
From the Amazon Best Selling Series!A storm gathers across the galaxy…
Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorm is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.” – Edi’s Book Lighhouse

“…mesmerizing story of survival, personal sacrifice, tolerance, and compassion. It’s a rare jewel that successfully utilizes both character and plot to tell a story of such immense scope and intimate passion…” - Nancy S. Thompson, author of The Mistaken

"Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together." - Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.
Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera
Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019
$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find CassaStorm at:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon Paperback
Amazon Kindle
Goodreads

 Book trailer -
Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

Website – http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/
Twitter – http://twitter.com/AlexJCavanaugh
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

Writers 4 Writers UPDATE
This Monday is the third of the month (September has really gone by fast guys!) which means it's Writers4Writers day. This month we're helping to promote:

Helen GingerCherie Reich
Please visit them to look at their post and send out a tweet.

Are you going to buy into the twitter IPO

Disclaimer: I invest in the stock market. All of this is my own opinion. But I think it's relevant as most of you use Twitter.
The Facebook IPO started out at $38 and then tanked below $20
for a year. Will twitter do the same thing, or will it be the goose that
lay the golden egg? What do you think?For those of you who don't trade stock, IPO stands for "Initial Public Offering" and is the day a stock "debuts" on one of the exchanges like the Nasdaq or the S&P 500. I leave the Dow out because the Dow Jones Industrial Average consists only of 30 stocks and they are notoriously selective on which stock is on their roster. To date, GE is the only company that belonged to the original Dow when it was first established. All others have been cast out. Just this week aluminum manufacturer Alcoa, tech giant Hewlett Packard, and Bank of America were thrown out/replaced by Goldman Sachs, Nike, and Visa (Wall Street considers Visa a tech company because they use technology to process payments).
This ticker should say "30 stocks out of thousands are surging."So whenever you hear the radio announce that the "Dow is up 100 points" or the "Dow is down 140 points", they are saying that 30 stocks out of thousands and thousands of companies in the U.S. are having a good/bad day. I usually roll my eyes and say to myself, "I could care less about the Dow. What's the Nasdaq or the S&P doing?" but I usually have to go online for that information. The Dow gets all the news.

Anyway, there's been a variety of IPO's that have soared this year. We had Noodles & Company (NDLS) that started out at $18 a share and doubled to $36 by the end of the day. Sprouts Farmer's Market (SFM) pretty much followed that same path. But I've had my eye on some that haven't gone public yet. It's a short list of companies that I'd like to try to get in on some of the early gravy although the odds are clearly stacked against me as I have no outside connections and am just a long term investor.

Presently, I own POAGX (run by Primecap) as a mutual fund mostly represented by Nasdaq equities, I own Ford (F) Motor Company (I believe in America), and I own Texas Roadhouse (TXRH-I was persuaded by the difficulty of finding a spot in their parking lot on a Friday night). I want to balance my portfolio a little better by the end of the year by either picking up a financial (Goldman), an entertainment (Lions Gate Films), a retail (Express), or a tech company (Twitter or Square sounds frickin awesome).

With the news that Twitter has filed an S-1 with lead underwriter Goldman Sachs, my interest was piqued. A date hasn't been set, but it'll probably come by Christmas. That's just in time for me to have enough money together to buy a block of shares (100), provided they are reasonably priced. Unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn't make much money. According to the news, they generate somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million (this compared to Facebook's $10 billion). I never bought into Facebook, because I don't like it (I'm glad I didn't because their stock tanked for a year). But Twitter's a little different. I like the whole instant message feel to it and enjoy communicating with my friends and followers over Twitter. And it fills my need for a balanced portfolio by giving me a tech stock!

So I'm asking you guys out there if you are planning on buying some Twitter stock once it goes public.

If you are interested in the other initial public offerings that I have my eye on (I google them once a day to see if there's any news) here's my very very short list:
The idea behind square is absolute brilliance. Too bad there's already
copycats taking away their market share. I guess that's capitalism.1) Square. Square makes those little white boxes you've been seeing everywhere on iPhones, iPads, and iPods that are used to take credit card payments. The idea is simple and brilliant. That's a winning strategy in my book.

2) Smashburger. Every time my friend James comes into town, he sends me a message on my iPhone that reads "Meet me at Smash." That's how much he enjoys the taste of their burgers.Their books, however, have a story that makes me salivate. 30% growth to date and a market analysis that says the U.S. could support 8000 of their restaurants.
3) Uber. On demand driver application startup called "Uber" appeals to all the millennials. In my opinion, millennials are the most entitled, spoiled rotten generation to ever walk the earth. So naturally an application that allows them to spend twice as much as a regular taxi but comes to their location in a super comfy black luxury vehicle has to be a winner. I want to own some of this company. I was so impressed by the snobbiness of Uber that I even have it featured in my book Caledfwlch (which is filled with lots of rich snobby things like Ivy League college students wearing designer clothes and ordering limousines with their smartphones). As a side note, I even feature a video game machine that cost $40,000 and looks like an egg. Seriously, if we're going to talk about how large the 1% live we might as well go far beyond Sub-zero refrigerators and Wolf appliances, right?
The name of this super-pretentious video game pod for spoiled children is "Oculas."
The price tag will kill you though. But who cares if you're a billionaire or a crook.
I guess in our country those two things are synonymous.By the way, if you are looking for someone to talk stocks or investments with, I welcome those kinds of conversations. I read Barrons, CNBC, the Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, and the Yahoo Finance pages as well as watch Jim Cramer on Mad Money every day of the week. I'm also not rich. I'm just trying to take the meager money I manage to scrape together and invest it wisely in things that I think will outperform my savings account interest rate (as should you).

Is it too early to say that the biggest sci-fi movie of 2014 will be Interstellar?

Interstellar is the next film by Christopher Nolan. Yeah, he's the director that brought us The Dark Knight series and Inception. The film apparently tells a story of space voyagers traversing both space and time.

A synopsis of the film's plot from the press release says it "chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage."

The list of celebrities that have signed on to Nolan's project are:

1) Matthew McConaughey
2) Anne Hathaway
3) Jessica Chastain
4) Casey Affleck
5) Topher Grace
6) John Lithgow
7) Wes Bently
8) David Oyelowo
9) Ellen Burstyn
10) Matt Damon
11) Michael Caine

So yeah, I want to know if you guys think Interstellar has the makings of the best sci-fi movie of 2014 cause I sure do. Oh and Patrick, I'll probably be talking about Interstellar for a year now that I know about this (the same as I did with Prometheus and Pacific Rim). So get used to it. Have an awesome Thursday.

The cover for Sacrifice Her by Sheena-kay Graham sure looks incredible

The day has finally come. Time to reveal the cover of Sacrifice HER. Be amazed.
Title: Sacrifice HER by Sheena-kay Graham
Goodreads:  Sacrifice HER
Release Date: December 2013

Summary: When a city is at stake, is the life of one sixteen-year old girl worth risking thousands? Deidra Moore goes on the run after escaping from a group of human sacrifices for Bane: God of War. She doesn't believe he exists and sees uncertainty in the scorching desert as a better alternative. But Faux City isn't finished with her and their leader Lord Brinn is ordered by Bane - through one of his maiden worshipers- to bring her back or face dire consequences. In the desert Deidra meets a wanderer named Kane and as feelings spark can they find a safe place to lead a new life before Lord Brinn and his soldiers catch up with them? Yet the question remains. Does Bane really exist and if he does what will happen if either side succeeds or fails? Told in alternating perspectives of both the runaway servant girl and the blonde strong willed leader.
Author Bio: Sheena-kay Graham was never meant for a traditional job behind a desk. Her childhood career plans included becoming a ballerina, actress or someone who helped people. So naturally she decided to be a writer who writes from her bed. Yes, no desk for this Jamaican book lover. No matter if it’s reading, writing or using the computer....you get the gist. The love of the written word has always been with her leading to stories, novels, poetry and way too much fan fiction. This Christian woman can be found trolling Amazon online, in local book bookstores, watching movies on the big screen, or in her bed, or reading/writing/on the laptop...again in her bed. Mainly writes YA fiction and is ready to unleash her creativity to wow the masses. Links Website: http://queendsheena.blogspot.com/Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5448863.Sheena_kay_GrahamFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheenakayGrahamAuthorTwitter: https://twitter.com/queendsheena
Cover Design: Image of woman with flowing hair (purchased): © Transfuchsian | Dreamstime.comCover Designer:  Langao @ http://fiverr.com/langaoAnd for a final bit of wow factor. Look at what I got for free without asking. You scored big time, Sheena-kay. I love this cover reveal! What do you guys think?

Neil Gaiman at the age of seven talking about Scientology is interesting

I discovered this Easter Egg the other day. It's a recording of Neil Gaiman at the age of seven talking about Scientology, and it's quite "interesting." If you're a fan of Neil and have read Ocean at the End of the Lane, you should listen to it. If anything he speaks with eloquence. I can't say that I'm surprised.

If you are looking for a good read Hat Trick by Jeff Adams is well worth your time

Today, I want to introduce you to my writer friend Jeff Adams. I think I started stalking him on twitter because he lives in New York City and loves hockey. I also love his writing. He creates such visceral characters that they just leap off the page for me, and I become completely involved in these fictional lives. If you haven't heard of Jeff, take a moment to read about his latest book. I seriously couldn't put it down and read it in two nights.******************************* Thanks, Michael, for letting me drop in on your blog to talk about Hat Trick , my debut YA novel, which is just out from Queerteen Press. You can find it for download HERE .Michael and I met on Twitter a while ago and have become long distance writing friends. I was intrigued by his A Crisis of Two Worlds series since it’s got a super smart, dimension-traveling hockey player. I had the pleasure of beta reading both Slipstream and Oculus and am eagerly looking forward to Caledfwlch because I desperately need to know what happens next. I like the series so much, there’s is a brief nod to it in Hat Trick.Hat Trick’s first draft was written during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November 2006. It was my first time trying to do NaNo and I combined some of my favorite things: hockey, young adult fiction and romance. I had never read a gay YA novel that had hockey players or featured teammates as the featured couple. Even six years later, Hat Trick is the only gay YA story I know with that combination (if you know of a book that has these attributes, please let me know as I’d like to read it).Hat Trick plays out over the course of the hockey season at Central High School, set in a town outside of Pittsburgh. Central is working to get the state championship back to the school for the first time in years, and its senior lineup is key to that success. Simon Roberts has been on the team since he was a freshman. What his teammates, even his closest friends, don't know is that he's had a crush on Alex Miller since Alex joined the team in their junior year.Simon keeps his feelings to himself. It's not until during the first game of senior year that everything comes out. Except it's Alex telling Simon that he likes him, which Simon wasn't expecting at all.Once the guys are forced out of the closet, they do their best to stay focused on the game. There's the state championships to work for, plus the each want scholarships. For Simon, that's a paramount importance since he wants to get out of state and away from his overbearing father and brother.Simon and Alex have a supportive coach in James Archer. When I started writing Hat Trick, the You Can Play project didn't exist yet. Coach Archer, however, subscribed to the project's mission from the earliest drafts of the story. He doesn't tolerate any sort of  hateful language from his team. He also tells Simon and Alex that their place on the team is secure because what matters is the high quality game they play, not that they are dating each other.I am a firm believer in the  You Can Play project and that's why I'm giving one dollar for every copy of Hat Trick sold to the organization. That way they can make a difference for the real Simon's and Alex's in the world.If you pickup a copy of Hat Trick, I hope you enjoy it and tell your friends about it too. You can also learn more about Hat Trick at www.HatTrickNovel.com and you can follow me on Twitter for more as well, @hockeyguynyc. This is Jeff in his hockey gear. Ask him
about the bruise he got from blocking a
slapshot. Yikes!-- Twitter: @hockeyguynyc

Walter White as Heisenberg is the greatest villain of all time

Noir fiction for American audiences is when a protagonist (usually a victim, a suspect, or a perpetrator) is tied directly to a crime. In other words, the protagonist is not an outsider called to solve or fix a particular situation. Another quality of noir has to do with the self-destructive qualities of the lead characters. With this in mind, Breaking Bad definitely fits the bill.

With only four episodes left to go in what I am going to say is one of the most spectacular stories I have ever discovered, Breaking Bad is nothing short of a masterpiece of noir. The absolute corruption of Walter White from season one as a chemistry teacher at a high school unable to lie to his own wife into Heisenberg, the ruthless head of a drug empire, is at once astounding and terrifying.

The evolution of this character from merely wanting his medical bills taken care of and securing a financial future for his young wife and children into someone who probably has close to a billion dollars in cash buried in the New Mexico desert has been riveting to watch. We've seen meth heads crushed by ATM machines, human heads mounted on the backs of turtles and wired with explosives, innocent boys shot and then dissolved (along with their dirt bike) in giant vats of acid, and meth cooking in suburban residential homes being fumigated by corrupt insect company "Vamonos Pest." Along the way, Walter White's lies got better and better and even his wife, Skyler, joined him to become Mrs. Evil.

Her evolution is complete as well. In the last episode that aired Sunday, she basically orders Walt to kill Jesse while sitting on the bed drinking some vodka. "What difference does one more make at this point?" is what she asks. It's cold-blooded, calculating, and very logical. How do you argue with that? It's like trying to answer critics of Syria that say, "What does it matter if people are killed with chemical weapons, a bomb, or with a bullet to the head? Dead is dead." I suppose they're right; I have no answer to that question either.
The storyline of this show unfolded with nuanced precision, chapter by chapter, with no detail too small to overlook. Each season of Breaking Bad presented its unique challenges to Walter White. There was Tuco, the small-time drug lord of Albuquerque, who was scary enough to probably frighten any one of us (on the other side of the tube) to death were he to appear on our doorstep. There were the Juarez Cartel assassins who killed those they met with shiny axes while holding blank-faced unemotional stares. I dare to say, their pulse probably never got above 60, even when they bashed someone's brain in. There was the Juarez Cartel and Gus Fring of Los Pollos Hermanos. One by one, each of these villains disappeared in a unique way, because none of them had what Walter White had: pure evil genius.
If anything, Breaking Bad has shown me that the scariest villain is the smart villain. It's the one that outwits you at every turn, who poisons you with ricin, who strips away every avenue of escape leaving you no choice but to stew in silence or be destroyed. In this respect, the character of Walter White as Heisenberg is the greatest villain of all time. With his "Nobel-sized" brain and the ego to go with it, I find it totally believable that he would embrace darkness because the world in which he lived looked down on him, disrespected him, and did not appreciate how smart he truly was. So he seized upon infamy and the pride that goes with it. The world will never forget Hitler, right? Walt probably has similar aspirations for the entity of Heisenberg.

And in the end, there is no soul blacker than Walter White (although his wife comes a close second). Even Darth Vader loved someone. I don't think Walter White truly loves anyone but himself (does he truly love his kids?). He is pure evil. Jesse Pinkman even calls him "the devil," and rightfully fears Mr. White. He should. Everyone should. I've never seen a psychopathic character brought to life in such vivid color. We have been with him every step of the way and only now that we can see the end in sight do we (as the audience) ultimately realize that this has been a story of evil incarnate--the story of an evil so powerful it's capable of destroying anything and anyone that dares to cross its path.

Dean Norris Spoils Breaking Bad from Dean Norris I suppose that kind of legendary power would make Heisenberg smile if he were a real person. As much as I admire what the writers of Breaking Bad have created, I hope he doesn't get away with it. Walt is a serial killer, responsible for the destruction of countless lives. To see him go unpunished for this would be too real because I know bad people do bad things all the time and get away with it Scot free. But I guess that begs the question: can Breaking Bad even have a happy ending? Will I be happy to see Walter White vanquished by Hank? Not only would a happy ending be unsatisfying, but I don't think it's even possible. AMC has given us a show that is destined to become a legend in the annals of T.V. history and just like any good story, it's the quality of the villain that made it all happen.

The Dr. Who episode that never happened but should have

Matt Smith is no longer the Doctor, but that doesn't mean visionary artists like K.K. Jordan can't think up some pretty awesome scenarios. For example, how would this episode have ended? For those of you that don't know, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver is the ultimate deus ex machina. It can literally do anything. But it's the ultimate nod to the writers because it's also completely incapable of doing whatever the writers don't want it to be able to do. Does that make sense? You writers should be nodding your head yes.

So yeah...could it turn off a lightsaber? Absolutely. Enjoy the art, I know I sure do. Just for fun, tell me who you'd think would come out on top in an epic clash between these two sci-fi titans!
Art by K.K. Jordan

All the parts of me want different things from my writing but I really don't have a concrete plan

Well, it's been almost a year since I subbed my fantasy novel to the Harper Voyager open call, and everything that I can gather from online forums suggests that the editorial staff at HV has winnowed the 4500+ entrants down to less than 400. There hasn't been an update since May on HV's own site, but I expect one to pop up soon. So far, I am still in. It's exciting to think that I am in the top 10%. I suppose there's also that nail-biting insecurity that comes from checking my email every day (as I've done for the last eleven months). One goes through the paces of asking the big question "what if?" a lot.

For example, I ask myself if I would change as a person. Do I really need the validation that would come from a multiple book contract with a Big Five publisher? The answers are ambiguous at best. Yes, I might change because I've felt like a loser most of my life and the sudden success of "hey I'm actually good at something" might make me gloat when I don't mean to. A different part of me looks at all the perceived setbacks I've embraced in the seasons of my life. It's that section that's been beaten down by the reality of life and would just be thankful for a cold glass of water and a spot of shade when halfway across the Sahara desert.

Maybe the key here is to not get one's hopes too high, but it grows increasingly more difficult with each passing day and a shrinking number of those who remain in the pile. They are taking just 12 authors from that open call and making it as far as I have gives me roughly a 10% chance to get in the money. I would just welcome the opportunity to be published by HV as an interesting opportunity filled with all kinds of possibilities. And there's also another part that would be comfortable with yet another rejection. It's a part that says I'm pretty comfortable being where I am as a writer and "no thanks, I'll pass on the external validation. I already know I'm awesome."

So yeah. Insecurity at this point means that all the parts of me want different things from my writing. I guess I have stories to tell just like all of you, but I really don't have a concrete plan. I'm just trying things. It seemed like a good idea to sub to Harper Voyager 11 months ago, and it still feels like a good idea now. I'm just waiting for the shoe to drop.

Debut author CD Coffelt tells us about Wilder Mage and why you should buy it first thing Friday.

I've got some blogger news I want to touch on this Monday. First off, my blogging friend Carol (known as C.D. Coffelt a.k.a. Huntress who runs the blog Spirit Called is putting out her very first book.

Huntress is a fantastic writer. I've followed herfor over a year now, and this debut offering looks exceptionally exciting. I can't wait to read it. So without further ado, here is what the book is about:
This cover is very exciting
Justus Aubre is a wilder: a mage unbound to the Imperium and therefore a dangerous wild card in their eyes. The Imperium wants him, wants his power, but Justus has hidden for many years and now has some semblance of a normal life. All that’s about to change when Sable Rounds walks through the door of his antique shop looking for work. Justus instantly knows what Sable is, he just doesn’t know the danger he’s in.

Alone, also on the run from the Imperium, Sable longs for a normal life. For somewhere to belong. She finds this when Justus hires her, but she knows it’s temporary and fragile, an illusion. Though she hates to think about it, she knows that one day she will have to move on.
The Imperium is always behind her, waiting. When they finally find Sable, they find Justus. And all hell’s about to break loose.

Doesn't that sound intriguing?

A LITTLE ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
My friend C.D. Coffelt lives outside Maryville, Missouri with a bemused husband and way too many cats. She adores all things fantasy with a special love for urban and epic.
With a passion for good writing and Doritos as companions, locating Middle-Earth on a dusty road in rural Missouri wasn’t difficult. All it took was a little Magic, hours of reading, and an overactive imagination.
"Wilder Mage" is due to be released this Friday (that's the actual day of my move to my new apartment). I unfortunately will be away from the internet as I'm canceling the one to set up the other. I want to get satellite television and go cable for my internet so there's probably going to be some downtime while I wait for that to happen.
Please check out CD Coffelt (Huntress) in the following areas:Musa PublishingBlogGoodReadsManic ReaderBook Trailer
I will be away from my computer until the September edition of the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Hopefully at that time, I'll be back online. I appreciate those of you who have sent me emails querying how things are going. As any of you who have moved, you know it's stressful. I've got 70% of my apartment all packed up and the big day is Friday. I just hope I don't forget to cancel anything and get all the addresses changed. Sigh...so much to remember.