H.L. Reasby's Blog, page 4

The Vampire Diaries

Okay, so I'll admit I'm not a fan of the show or the books. It's not that I dislike them, but that they've never really blipped on my radar for whatever reason. However, I do realize that they're extremely popular as an intellectual property. 

As an author myself, I was both shocked and horrified to stumble across this blog post earlier today. You can find the full text of the letter the post references here. 

The unfortunate fact that this maneuver is completely legal (however morally reprehensible) underscores the desperate need for creators of all types to educate themselves as to their rights and responsibilities to their creations. Despite the fact that I feel horrible that this has happened to a fellow writer, Ms Smith's plight underscores the fact that we need to be careful that we educate ourselves.

Companies like Alloy Entertainment are not going to look out for you. They're going to look out for themselves. Although it may sound cynical, the best approach may be to look at it this way: ultimately, no one is going to have our best interests at heart but us. To think otherwise is to leave yourself open to being put in an untenable situation, so please, please, please educate yourself. 

The Pulling Report

As a gamer, I've heard about The Pulling Report for several years. For those who don't know, the Pulling Report was drafted by Michael Stackpole to refute the efforts of Patricia Pulling and her Bothered by Dungeons & Dragons (BADD) organization. 

For the first time, I actually sat down and read the full text of the report, thanks to a link that Michael provided in a recent blog posting of his. It's a fascinating and horrifying read, to be honest. I believe that this should be required reading for anyone who's a gamer or into sci-fi and fantasy. Whatever good intentions Pat Pulling started out with clearly devolved into what almost appears to be a complete break with reality. 

In reading the document and some of Mrs Pulling's misguided attempts to 'educate' authorities about the danger signs of troubled youths, it occurred to me that I might've been a victim of her well-intentioned but hideously misinformed tactics. When I was in eighth grade, I was a generally quiet, shy kid who did well on tests and in-class assignments that didn't require me to talk. I was also a big reader who had been reading at college levels since about fifth grade. I always had at least one book on my person and it was frequently science fiction, fantasy, or horror. 

One day, I was called out of class and told that I was going to be spending my study periods twice a week meeting with a group of kids and teachers. I was never explicitly told why this was to be, or what the meetings were supposed to be about. As the meetings went on, however, I came to realize that these were kids who were considered 'troubled' in some way; abused or neglected at home, fighters, druggies… In short, everything I wasn't. 

I was flabbergasted at being thrust into these meetings. I didn't understand why I was there. I had a good home life. My parents were loving and supportive. I fought with my brother occasionally, but what sibling doesn't? My tactic for dealing with these sessions was to simply remain quiet unless I was forced to speak, and even then I was honest about having nothing to share. 

Reading the Pulling Report, I realized that someone must have shared the 'trouble signs' that Mrs Pulling put forth in her materials and I was tagged as a potentially endangered kid. The heavy-handed effort to protect me from an imaginary threat resulted in an already reserved kid withdrawing further into herself and caused no small amount of fear and humiliation for me. 

I understand that people want to protect their kids, but common sense has to kick in at some point. 

Quests & Answers

Quests & Answers:

I'm extremely proud to share with you the new anthology of short stories. I helped create this volume along with my husband Garth, and our friends Ren Cummins and Quiana Kirkland, aka, my partners in Talaria Press. 

The seven stories include new, original tales of our established worlds; Sekhmet's Light, the Children of Divinity, and the Chronicles of Aesirium. There are also several featuring brand new, never before seen original stories. 

We're all incredibly pleased with the stories and hope that you'll check them out and enjoy them as much as we did creating them.

Author Interview - Steve Sims

Two interviews in as many days? Yes, indeed! I love getting the chance to meet other authors and talk writing with them. I'm very pleased and excited to introduce another new friend from the Superhero Hype! Forums, Steve Sims.

Steve has published his first novel, Marlsbeth, an epic fantasy chock full of adventure and magic.  

H – Hello, Steve. Thank you for talking with me today! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

S – I'm a 37 year-old IT professional, and proud father of two girls (4 and 8).

H – What inspired you to write your first book?

S – My inspiration came from a lifelong passion for the arts; concept art is a passion; I've always loved comic books (The Avengers/HULK/Batman), and superheroes. I remember watching the Hobbit cartoon back when I was a kid, and I'm a movie buff, so many movies inspired me as well… Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Legend, Dragon's Lair, Star Wars. My dad was a good storyteller as well.

H – That's a pretty heady brew. How did you come up with the title?

S – Originally it just came to me… I went deeper as I wanted everything to have substance. Breaking down the root words I would define Marl and Beth and determine it to loosely mean 'God's house of fresh soil'.

H – That definitely seems an appropriate name for a land inspired by the likes of Tolkien! What prompted you to write epic-style fantasy over other genres?

S – I would say that my love of poetic words and fantastic stories converged. I just started writing it with no real plan, and it grew from there. I know, really not the way it is done, but I studied and everything blossomed quite organically!

H – That's one of the beautiful things about writing, it's very individual and there's really no "right" way to go about it, in my experience. Tell us about Marlsbeth. What makes it different from all the other fantasy novels out there?

S – To me what really makes Marlsbeth stand out is that it wasn't written with preconceived notions of what fantasy was or is. I had a movie playing in my head, and it wasn't based off of one or two writers, as I just let all of my influences converge. I also think it has a classic feel to it! Even though I did my research, I tried to write the story passionately, with a poetic overtone, rather than being overly cerebral.

H – Oh, yes, passion is definitely a must when it comes to writing. Putting your passion on the page is what makes simple words resonate with people. Which of your characters is your favorite?

S – It has to be the main character Banion. Virtuous, passionate, devoted, honorable. The traits of a real hero!

H – Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?

S – That would most likely have to go to General Geldik of the Dark Armies, a.k.a. Bloodhunter… nuff said!

H – With a nickname like that, I can't blame you! What motivates you to write?

S – My brain can only hold so much before stuff starts spilling out!

H – Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

S – I love the parables of Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin, and the figurative lines of Scott Stapp of Creed. King David wrote some beautiful Psalms.

H – I also love the imagery in many of Creed's songs. Where do you get your ideas?

S – Most of my ideas are spawned from images, and music is very inspirational. I put the ingredients in my brain, and cook them up! For Marlsbeth I have a whole Excel workbook FULL of the characters (some aren't even in the book), places, etc.

H – Best to hold on to those characters, you never know when you might decide you want to write about them. What are your current projects?

S – Just the Marlsbeth website http://www.marlsbeth.com content is enough right now! Appendices, and downloads… the facebook page as well. Check it out! I had an amazing professional concept artist out of Norway do the artwork on the website, which is some of the main characters.

H – So, in terms of technical aspects of your work, do you work with an outline, or just write?

S – I just wrote Marlsbeth, but I have started an outline of part 2.

H – What was the hardest part of writing your book?

S – Keeping transitions seamless. Following along on the map… The map is a free download on the website to accompany the book!

H – Transitions do seem to be the bane of many an author. Do you ever experience writer's block?

S – No, not really. Perhaps shrinking down what I see in my head, but no writers block yet!

H – Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

S – I've just written the one book for now, but yes indeed! It is a little difficult though — the notion of putting a piece of your soul out there for people to examine… but it's worth the risk! I would let it influence my writing a little I guess, but to change solely to make others happy wouldn't make any sense.

H – How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?

S – That is certainly a work in progress, but just talking to people and handing out cards is a good start. You have to have a web presence! Get out in the community too.

H – So, for my final question: Do you have any advice for other writers?

S – See it through! Push yourself toward finishing… It won't finish itself, so do what you need to do to see it through to the end!  

Steve, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today, and I wish you the best of luck in your writing!

Author Interview - Kevin Rau

As my regular readers will know, I'm a huge fan of comics and superheroes. I find the concept of super-powered heroes and villains to be intriguing, particularly with regard to the struggles of morality that such beings would inevitably encounter. I also tend to prefer seriously flawed characters. It's probably why I consider the X-Men to be my favorite team (seriously, if you look at their personalities, they're all messed up in the head!).

  So, knowing my predilection for loving heroes, combined with the distinctly super-heroic undertone of my own Sekhmet's Light series, I joined the Superhero Hype forum and found several other writers there!

  And so, it was my very great pleasure to sit down with one of my new friends from SHH, Kevin Rau!

 

H – Hi, Kevin. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

K – By day I'm a giant squid under a small corporation's ship. E.g. The InformSation Technology manager, who does everything from software programming, to web development, to server administration, network administration, and database programming. I've been in the computer industry my entire career, only branching out into writing in the last few years.

    My history as to more interesting things lies more with comic books, role-playing games, MMORPGs and reading a great quantity of science fiction and fantasy novels. I've been into (non-computer) tabletop gaming and reading for over 30 years. Comics and computer games were a little later. I collected comics very heavily for about 15 years.

    I'm overweight, but weight lift/workout 5-7 days a week. (Love the oh-so-tasty, but unhealthy food.)

    I like cats, but primarily because they are a tiny bit like the large predator cats, such as tigers. I'm very independent and driven - this is part of what drives me to do my own cover art.

H – Well, I know I'll never be able to deal with an IT department without having that image in my head! *chuckles* What inspired you to write your first book?

K – I completely quit online gaming for a while, and read about 30 books in December 2008. I remember getting irate about so many stories ending. I wanted to know what the characters would get into next. I wanted MORE. I realized the only way that would occur is if I wrote my own series, and in January 2009 I began writing H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis.

H – I'm sure you're far from the only writer who's ever felt that way. How did you come up with the title?

K – I knew I wanted to call the primary organization in my series "H.E.R.O." and had to come up with an acronym that would work for it. (Thus was born the Homeland Extraordinary Response Organization.) I like being able to tell in an instant that numerous books are part of a series, and thus chose to use that at the beginning of every novel's title. The second part has to do with the story in that one novel - for that first book, Metamorphosis has to do with the three main characters changing into supers and dealing with those changes.

H – What prompted you to write about superheroes?

K – My history with comic books. I also love superhero movies. I'm not restricting myself to this genre long-term, however. At some point, I'll start a fantasy series, and will likely go back and forth creating a novel for each. I'm not sure how many H.E.R.O. novels I'll get out before I hit that point - probably 7-10.

H – That's a pretty ambitious long-term plan. Do you work with an outline, or just write?

K – Both. I come up with a batch of core plot points that will interweave through the story, as well as a "to-do" list of things that need to come about in various characters' lives. Then I'll write out from one sentence to a paragraph for the first 10-15 chapters of a novel. Often, strange things will occur while writing, and the plot takes a wild turn on me, changing everything. I generally work out a rough idea of the forthcoming chapters to work on and use that as a guide after that point.

H – What motivates you to write?

K – As I mentioned above, I want to see what else happens to my characters. A character's story doesn't just *end* (unless they die - and even then, things can occur….). I'm interested in finding out what happens as much as everyone else might be. 

H – Where do you get your ideas?

K – Wild binges at the local tavern? Just kidding! Some have come about because of a single keyword/phrase (H.E.R.O. - Dark Research was an example, as was H.E.R.O. - Horde). Others I'll look around and pick out words and phrases off random things as I drive around (the slave market idea in H.E.R.O. - New Markets happened this way). A few others I knew I wanted to do something to a character, picked one, and forced them through it (such as what happens with Chrome in H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall).

    Smaller ideas, such as a few random events that occur in Metrocity I've used some software I created quite a while back for use in a superhero gaming campaign to do the very same thing. I'll randomly generate a bunch and pick out an idea that ought to be interesting to work with in the story.

H – That software sounds like it might be a pretty handy thing to try to market as a sideline! What are your current projects?

K – I'm going through my edit phase of H.E.R.O. - Paragon (Book 6). Once I complete my own edits, I'll hand that off to my editors and begin the 3D work on a few new characters that came up in H.E.R.O. - Paragon. Then I'll create the cover for it. After that will be the initial idea phase of Book 7 until my editors come back to me with their revisions and suggestions.

H – Writing is rarely easy. With that in mind, what was the hardest part of writing your books?

K – Choosing to write in third or first person. (I prefer first person to give the reader the opportunity to experience things along with the heroes.) Getting past the occasional mental block can be rough. Not that the ideas don't come to me, rather I'll come to a crossroads where a decision can make significant changes to both the story and the characters, and having to select one can be a challenge.

H – Which of your characters is your favorite?

K – Oh, wow, that's a tough one. Diva's got to be one of my top choices. She's dumb, but has common sense. (The boneheadedness can be fun to write.) She wants to be liked so much, yet believes she's never good enough. She's quick to react and to help people - a hallmark of a good hero. Oh, and she's flirty.

H – Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?

K – I'd love to meet and chat with many of my heroes. It'd be a fun party, barring the potential broken furniture from the bricks. Rayna might be one of the neatest, assuming one could get her to make some lifeforms to give away.

    Least … hmm. If you include villains, then I'd not want to invite any of them. Either they are jerks, greedy, wouldn't mind killing you or making you a mind slave, etc. Of the heroes, probably Watermane - she's way too serious. She hasn't had a lot of time in the novels, so that might not have come out yet. Of the heroes who've had a little face time, I'd say Psycom. He's stuck up, and only does things when they benefit him. (He's good at what he does, and he knows it.) Of the heroes who've had a lot of face time, I'd go with Black Tiger. I like the character, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy sitting around talking with him.

H – Sounds like it really would be a heck of a party! Do you ever experience writer's block?

K – Yes. Normally, only in terms of choosing one of several paths to take with the storyline. There have been a few times where I'll argue for days or up to a week with myself over the ramifications.

H – I once had a character who refused to work with me to the point I had to stop trying to tell her story entirely, so I can definitely sympathize. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

K – Laurel K. Hamilton is probably my favorite. The thing that probably sticks out to me is the ongoing storyline of her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.

H – Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

K – I haven't had a great number to compare against, but I do read them. At times I'll try to pick out issues people are bringing up to work on. Some people become fixated on the way they believe a story ought to occur, and hold it against you if it doesn't. So these need to be read while expecting a skewed viewpoint.

H – How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?

K – My website (http://www.kevinrau.com) is one way. The Facebook page I created for my characters is another (http://www.facebook.com/pages/HERO-Superhero-Novels/312142538816826?sk=app_4949752878). Otherwise I put notices of each new book on a few forums. I'm certainly no marketing expert - quite the opposite, I'm fairly bad at that side of writing. I've tried advertising via Google and Facebook - both were horrible, expensive failures. I've given out promotional copies of my novels, although that has had minimal (if any) success as well.

H – So, before I send you back to tormenting your heroes, do you have any advice for other writers?

K – Find something you enjoy writing about, because for most writers the success is minimal. Study grammar. Get multiple editors to review your work. Use a thesaurus.

    And there you have it! Kevin's books are available for Kindle via Amazon.com and in paperback both through most major online retailers.

H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis

H.E.R.O. – New Markets

H.E.R.O. – Rise and Fall

H.E.R.O. – Dark Research

H.E.R.O. – Horde

    I, myself, just picked up Metamorphosis, and am looking forward to delving into the world of H.E.R.O.!

Akhet for Free?!

Akhet for Free?!:

Yes, it's true. As a KDP enrolled title, all Amazon Prime members have the option of 'borrowing' the book and reading it for free… However, that's not what this post is actually about!

If, as a Kindle user, you've been pondering reading the first book of Sekhmet's Light, or if you know someone who has, on February 1st, I'm offering Akhet for free! Yes, you can download it for yourself, or gift it to a friend for absolutely no money.

But why would you do this, Heather? Don't you want to make money?! Well, yes, of course I do… believe me this is not something I'm doing purely out of the goodness of my heart. It's my hope that when you've read the first novel, you'll be willing to shell out the cash for Peret (book two) and Shomu (book three which will be available in the next couple of months!). So, please, if you've been on the fence or you know someone who'd like it, feel free to download it!

Thanks for reading! :D

Score: Four out of Five StarsThis is a well-researched book and...

Score: Four out of Five Stars

This is a well-researched book and you will learn some Egyptian words while reading it. I found this very interesting. 

The main character doesn't look like me at all so I wasn't able to imagine myself as her, but the author did a great job of in description.  All I can say is I'm not tall and lean with an angular face and dark hair long enough to brush the waistband of my pants when pulled back in a ponytail.  The research done shows in the work and was very thorough, while the descriptions are clear enough that this should be a graphic novel.  Even though the characters are adults, the way subject matter is handled well and this is safe for early teens. This story might help inspire a new generation of Indiana Jones wannabes.

The Scorpion's Lair: New Years Update

The Scorpion's Lair: New Years Update:

thermalscorpion:

Hello and Happy Apocalypse Year!

Sorry for the silence lately but with the holidays and working on my second book my time has been scarce. I wanted to drop everyone an update though so here it is!

Book 1 Awaken:
Sales have been pretty good considering I don't have some advertising…

KDP Select

I've been closely following the events surrounding the creation of Amazon's KDP Select program. Because of my intense curiosity and my desire to embrace new tools and technologies to get my work noticed, I've decided to register my first novel, Akhet, for the program. 

What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, it means that in accordance with Amazon's terms for the program, I'm pulling Akhet down from BN.com and Smashwords, at least until April 10, 2012 (the end of the three month period that Amazon wants).

Peret and Shomu (when it's published in the next couple months) will still be available through these distributors. 

The hope of this experiment is, of course, that the ability to borrow the book for a month and read it will cause a nice spike in my sales and lead to more success. We shall see.

In the meantime, I appreciate your understanding and hope that you don't hate me too much! :)

Talaria Press & Emerald City ComiCon

Talaria Press & Emerald City ComiCon :

Posting on the Talaria Press page regarding our upcoming ECCC appearance.