Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 150

Friday Fantasy ~ Number Twenty-Two

The Sorcerer and The Sun Titan

~ The Mountain was a glorious sight.

Image courtesy of FUMIO KANEKO ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/F-Kaneko

The Sun Titan was rumored to live on the peak.

Folks imagined all sorts of things about the Sun Titan:

He gave secret gifts to good people.

He punished bad people.

He watched over children—the good ones.

Though, He had never really been seen…

~~~

The Sorcerer was a mean, little man with delusions of greatness.

He eked out a living pretending to heal minor illnes...

Who’s Reading Books On All Those Mobile Devices?

Far from what most of us call civilization, a young girl is standing in the forest near her village.

In her hand is a mobile phone.

She’s reading a book…

This is happening in our world and there’s an organization working very hard to make it happen more often.

Worldreader is that organization and I’ve blogged here before about them…

Recently, they teamed up with Nokia and UNESCO to produce a REPORTabout the question, “Can mobile phones reduce illiteracy rates?”.

Here are a few facts from that repor...

Does Everyone Really Have A Novel In Them?

Have you written a novel?

Image courtesy of Hunter Ramos ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/huntr998

If not, do you want to write one?

And, if you wrote one, do you think you’d want to publish it?

It’s certainly easy to publish these days—so easy some folks are screaming that self-publishing is a curse…

I wrote and published a novel ( you can have a free copy from the side-bar :-)

But it took me eleven years…

Ten of those years were spent working industriously—while also ranging around trying to fi...

Really Getting The Word Out ~ As Widely As Possible . . .

So many new authors cropping up in this digital age…

Image courtesy of miguel ugalde ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/ugaldew

So many new “experts” telling them how to “Market” or “Promote” or “Build A Platform”…

I’m reminded of the old story about a marketing executive making their report: “We know half our advertising isn’t working; but… we don’t know which half…“

Then, there’s that mysterious maxim about Discovering your Readership…

Simple, I suppose, if you’re writing a book for—oh, let’s s...

Independence, Freedom, and Self-Determination

For thousands of years, most writers have worked alone, then faced the challenge of finding readers.

Image courtesy of Mateusz Stachowski ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/Mattox

Some, of course, didn’t care if anyone read their work—they’d just had to write it…

These days, many folks have the impression that “being a writer” automatically means the person wants to make a living with their authorial efforts.

And, these days, it’s just a bit more likely a writer could make a living with words—if...

Last Chance To Get In The Game !

Are you a woman who writes and/or games?

Want to take part in a mission to another star-system and help write a story along the way?

I’m the Narrator for a story-game called Forging The Future.

I have 4 out of 5 crew members (players) signed-up.

I have room for one female character-player.

Be aware, this game is open on another site so, even if you applied swiftly, applications may be closed ( or, I may decide to add an additional crew member :-)

To find out more about the game and how to get in, c...

Friday Fantasy ~ Number Twenty-One

The Satyr’s Dream

~ Wurembla had only made the appointment because he had to—he hated dragons.

Image, reproduced unaltered, by permission of Araniart ~ http://araniart.deviantart.com/art/Satyr-256045869 ~ in accord with CC 3.0 ~ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

He ambled along the path, past the hillock with the twisted tree, and stopped at the large, flat rock next to the stagnant pond.

He waited…

The sun was near the horizon when the animal appeared, high in the sky and swoop...

So You Like To Write; But, Will You Ever Be An Author?

So many words in our language seem to have lost their real meanings…

Image courtesy of Mateusz Stachowski ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/Mattox

“Writer” and “Author” have been forced apart by the publishing industry.

You can be the “Author” of many things—books, ideas, kind deeds, or social movements, to name a few.

But, our use of language has made a “Writer” become someone who hasn’t yet published.

If you “Write” things then you’re the “Author” of them, whether you “Publish” them or not.

So,...

Help Me Tell A Story

Ever wanted to write a story?

Image courtesy of Eduardo Siqueira Filho ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/edududas

Ever thought you couldn’t do it?

Well, there’s a new game that helps folks tell stories :-)

I’ve written three posts, so far, about it:

Storium — The Online Storytelling Game

Games, Life, and Storytelling

Let The Game Begin!

That last one has the details about the first Story/Game I’ve created with Storium and how you can be one of the Character/Players in Forging The Future :-)

That’s a...

Can Authors Do What Scientists Can’t Seem To Do?

Does Climate Change matter to you?

Image courtesy of Miles Pfefferle ~ http://www.freeimages.com/profile/TheUsher

Bother you?

Scare you?

Not interest you at all?

There are so many scientists trying to make a case for dire days ahead for humanity; but, it might seem like no one cares…

Is it because folks only care about what will happen tomorrow or in the next hour?

Is it because people just don’t believe the scientists?

Is it because we don’t understand the scientists?

Naturally, there are powerful mu...