Sam Knight's Blog, page 6
August 18, 2019
Tales from Dry Gulch
Just out!
I have a story in this anthology of weird western stories from a shared world, edited by David Riley. It also has stories by Raymond Broadbeard, Henry Ram, Davide Mana, Patrick Dorn, Jill Hand, J.A.Campbell, Kit Volker, John Howard, Dan Fitzimmons, and Horst Benson.
My story is “What Happens When You Wet Your Whistle in Dry Gulch”.
(And! I got to do the cover art!)
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“Welcome to Dry Gulch, Colorado. The year is 1881 or so, the gold mine has played out, but there’s talk some company from back east is supposedly putting in a zinc mine near town. Folks are friendly in Dry Gulch. Don’t forget to stop by the bakery for a loaf of sourdough bread from Miss Wendy’s secret recipe, then wet your whistle in the saloon next door. Just be sure to tip that piano player. You can get your prospecting supplies from the Dry Goods Store. And you can catch up on Mrs. Duncan’s cat in the pages of the Gazette. Keep an eye out for Henry, the town drunk. He likes to tell folks about the ghosts he sees, if you buy him a drink.Dry Gulch is easy to get to. Just saddle up and take a ride out to the weird, weird west.”
You can find it here:
https://amzn.to/31M8hfq
The e-book is scheduled for Labor Day release.
April 1, 2019
Smote by Red Lightning
I have a new short story out: Smote by Red Lightning. It is in the new Science Fiction Trails #14 in ebook and print! You can find it here at Amazon
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Smote by Red Lightning is a Weird Western, which means it takes place in the Wild West but has something weird about it! Like maybe someone being Smote by Red Lightning?
I hope you’ll check it out!
” In our 14th issue we have robots that are really something else, a woman who thinks God is on her side, a new story with Native American gunfighter Lone Crow, some little green men–lots of them actually, and a big scorpion. Plus our dinosaur columnist and we review something new and something old. Featuring stories by Sam Knight, Henry Ram, Joel Jenkins, J. A. Campbell, David Boop and more. “
February 17, 2019
Author Tip: Use Author Central
Are you an author? Do you have an Author Central page on Amazon? If not, here are a few really good reasons you should set one up!
If there is an error or a problem with the description of your book, you can access it to correct it.Did you get a great write up somewhere? You can add reviews to the description.Feel the need to say something special about your book? You can add a “from the author” note.If you are in an anthology of some sort, and you are not listed as one of the authors, you can get your name added to the publication.It creates a list of everything you are published in! Basically, it is a bibliography of your works for a fan to easily browse.Your fans can “follow” your author page and receive email notifications of your new releases from Amazon.If you sell your own copies of your books, you can keep an eye on Amazon’s prices easily. More than once (probably around 7 times now) I have found books available for LESS than I can get them as author copies to resell.This can be a great way to restock titles that I take with me to sell at conventions.
Less great reasons to use Author Central:
You can easily obsess over your reviews.You can easily obsess over your author rankYou can easily obsess over individual title rankings.You can easily obsess over BookScan Weekly Sales
While those can be interesting and fun, at first, I have known them to cause a lot of grief for some authors. Use wisely and at your own peril.
January 8, 2019
LLC Periodic Report Scam–Don’t Fall For It!
One of the things I hate most are predatory businesses and I’ve encountered this one before. Don’t let WORKPLACE COMPLIANCE SERVICES screw you over!
This is Colorado specific, for those of us who have LLC’s in Colorado, but if the scam is here, I’m sure it’s everywhere, so please use caution when responding to things you get in the mail.
This letter, which has all of your appropriate LLC information on it (because it is public information!), tries to trick you into giving $75 to WORKPLACE COMPLIANCE SERVICES to file your LLC’s Periodic Report with Colorado.
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Note the stuff I blacked out. It is all accurate information, which makes this look legitimate, but it is all public record. They’ve skimmed the information to scam you. (Well, me in this case.)
The only places where this crappy company let you know they are not an official government agency are where I marked #1 and #3. Everything else is designed to scare you into sending them money.
Note where I marked #2. This indicates that **MAYBE** this is a legitimate company providing a legitimate service for the price of $75. The State fee is only $10 and I can do it on my computer in less than 10 minutes.
Don’t fall for this B.S.
Spread the word and don’t let one of your friends fall for it either.
October 23, 2018
Available Now! Last Shot Fired: Midnight Writers’ Anthology 2018
I am excited to say I have a story in this anthology!
“If you had one chance to save the world, would you take it? Maybe that last bullet could kill a merciless dictator. Maybe that last vaccine could cure a rampant disease. Maybe that last frame on a roll of film could bring peace to the world. 20 authors from across the globe consider a world where one final action could shape the events of the future forever.”
My story is a western called Bite the Bullet and starts out with Marshal Despo up to his neck in trouble–literally–with a ruthless gang of outlaws. I hope you’ll check it out!
PS. I did the cover for them!
October 14, 2018
Pre-Orders are up now for Well… It’s Your Cow: An Anecdotal Anthology
Pre-orders are up now for Well… It’s Your Cow: An Anecdotal Anthology!
“In the throes of a convention full of geeks, Frog Jones told a story.
That story is found in this book’s foreword, but the key line from the story became the title of this anthology. The authors seized upon that line, much like an out-of-control bovine seizing its own halter, and stampeded into the volume you see before you.
This is not just a comedy anthology. Nor is it horror, or romance, or literary, or…well, any one thing. Rather, it is all those things. Each story starts exactly in the same place. But each author immediately leaps from there into their own world. This anthology celebrates the creativity of these authors, because it does not shackle them to a theme. The starting line is the same–the finish line is on other planets, in other times, and in alternate realities.
You’re not going to feel cohesiveness reading this thing. It’s not going to be several stories hitting the same note. But you are going to experience a wider panoply of stories than you would in other anthologies.
And as to what you make of them, or what stories they may inspire in you? Well…that’s your cow.”
What was my contribution to this anthology? I am excited to say I landed the lead story-and the one the cover is based upon! While you might think you know what you’re getting by looking at the cover, just like every story starts with “Well… It’s Your Cow” and you don’t know where it’s going from there, that cover only shows the start of my story…
I was very flattered to have been invited to this anthology and am very excited to be a part of it. I hope you’ll check it out!
Edit: Here are more links!
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/well-it-s-your-cow
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/well-its-your-cow-thomas-gondolfi/1129717233?ean=2940161771815
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Sam_Knight_Well_It_s_Your_Cow?id=-5txDwAAQBAJ
September 3, 2018
Pantser or Plotter? NaNoWriMo is coming up, maybe you should choose a side…
Some writers identify as “pantsers”, mean they write “by the seat of their pants” making stuff up as they go. This is sometimes called “exploratory writing” or “organic writing” (or one of a few other similar things). Other writers call themselves “plotters”, meaning they write outlines before they start writing their book so they know exactly what to write.
Occasionally you can hear writers get into arguments about which is better, which is “right”, or even if one or the other should even be done at all.
Personally I am of the opinion “whatever works for you.” In fact, I think 98% of us writers are truly in a gray area when it comes to pantsing or plotting. I may be a pantser, but I have plotted a rough outline in my head before I started.
There have been exceptions to this. I have started putting words on a page and then figured out where I was going as I wrote, but eventually that “figuring out where I am going” is a type of outline in my head.
And, while I know a few plotters who even plot down to which character says what in which scene, guess what? They were making it up as they went along doing that outline.
So, the truth, IMHO, is that we are all on the spectrum there somewhere, with very rare instances at the extremes. Like when someone hands you an outline and tells you to make a novelization of it, or you enter a timed writing contest where they give you the starting topic.
That said, NaNoWriMo is coming up.
Some people feel this is a time to throw 50,000 words on a page as fast as you can. No outlining, no planning, nothing. Others feel this is a time to go in prepared with an outline and see if you can get 50,000 words into it in a month. And some people like to argue about which is the “right” way to do it.
Again, I think the truth is somewhere in the middle and “whatever works for you” is what you should do.
But I would like to challenge you this year. I would like to challenge you to consider doing something different.
Are you normally a pantser? If so, I would like to challenge you to spend the next couple of months thinking about what you are going to write, and then, make an outline before you start. *GASP* I know! But, maybe, just this once, go into NaNoWriMo with an outline and see how things go. See if you write faster. See if it prevents you from “getting stuck”. See if you like it.
Are you normally a plotter? If so, I would like to challenge you to spend the next couple of months NOT thinking about what you are going to write, and then, DON’T make an outline. *GASP* I know! But, maybe, just this once, go into NaNoWriMo withOUT an outline, or even an idea (if you can) and see how things go. Will you write faster? Probably not, but see if it frees up your imagination. See if you wander into places you normally wouldn’t go. See if you like it.
Who knows, maybe this NaNoWriMo will change the way you think about writing. Maybe you’ll find a new way to write? Maybe this will be a career changing experience.
Try it.
I challenge you to…
August 16, 2018
Mass Market Paperback version of Straight Outta Tombstone
The Mass Market Paperback version of Straight Outta Tombstone is almost here!
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You can preorder it right now, if you are so inclined.
And you can win a free e-copy from your ol’ pal Sam Knight here: https://amzn.to/2MhwZAL
you might have to watch a short video first… 
July 17, 2018
“Kindle Worlds is now closed…”
That’s what it says on the Kindle Worlds website.
I am sorry to see it gone, but I am not surprised. The only reason I knew about it was because Kevin J. Anderson asked me to co-author a story for it with him. (A crowning moment in my career, let me tell you!) Most people I talked to had never heard of it, and I never once saw Amazon advertize it in any way. (I’m not saying they didn’t– I don’t know. But I never saw anything.) So I am not surprised it “failed”.
Actually, I am not really sure why it failed. I wasn’t on that end of the process. Maybe it was contracts that expired or legalities. Whatever it was, I am sorry to see it gone.
What this means to me is:
A novella I co-authored with a Big Name Author (Kevin J. Anderson) is no longer available, and never will be again. Because Kevin and I didn’t own the rights to it. (I suppose Kevin and I could call Blake Crouch up and see if the three of us could work out something to re-publish it, but honestly, the sales wouldn’t be enough to warrant the effort on the part of one of us, let alone all three.)
Two novellas I wrote are no longer available, and never will be again. (Because I don’t own the rights to the world they were set in.) That’s a sad feeling. I put some work into those, and I really liked them.
I no longer have to feel guilty I didn’t write the third novella that finished the story. (After I started, Amazon changed the rules about what we could write about in the Wayward Pines setting. I contacted them to see about the third story and, after three (?) weeks, they told me I could not.)
I will no longer be receiving the monthly “royalties” from those stories. They weren’t much, but a (good) cup of coffee every month was something!
Like everything I have done/encountered since I decided to get into writing business, this was a cool experience. I don’t regret it, that’s for sure.
After all, writing this with Kevin J. Anderson lead to him asking me to write a Planet of the Apes story with him, and that was pretty darn cool too!
May 16, 2018
No More Kindle Worlds
I just received an email from Amazon. I copied it below in case you would like to read it. Basically it says Kindle Worlds is going away. I am sad to see that, but not surprised. They did nothing (that I ever saw) to promote its existence and, other than a few other writers, I never ran into anyone who had ever heard of it.
Still, I thought it was a great way to legitimize fanfiction, something I am otherwise not a fan of. (I dislike the idea of people making money off of other people’s ideas without permission– Yes, I know there is a big argument there about why I am wrong and fanfiction writers are right, but in the end, on the side of the law (enforced or not), I am right and they are not. There are not many things I will take that solid of a stance on.)
So how does that affect me?
I have three stories, one of which I co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson, that will no longer be available after ( around) August 29th. They will be gone forever. Forever is a sadly long time for a story to go away. But the ownership rights are too commingled to ever be straightened out again, so they, I am 99.99999% positive, will not be. If you ever wanted to read one of these stories. You need to purchase it soon. I will not have the rights to sell them again later, or even give copies away. This applies to nearly all stories in the Kindle Worlds, not just mine, so if you were a fan of other worlds in Kindle Worlds (like Veronica Mars or G.I. Joe) you should go browse now.
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I thoroughly enjoyed writing with Kevin J. Anderson and was ecstatic at the opportunity to do so. I will be sorry to see Aberration go away.
Sins of the Final Father and Pining for Penance were intended to be the start of a whole series of stories but, shortly after I wrote them, Kindle Worlds changed some of the “rules” for writing the stories in Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines world. One of them was that no events could be set after the end of the third book. Unfortunately the third story I intended to tell was going to include events that took place after the third book, so I scrapped the plans.
I still really like Pining for Penance, but it makes more sense as a sequel to Sins of the Final Father. Sins of the Final Father stands alone well and, I think, captures the essence of living in Wayward Pines. If you were a fan of the novels, I think you would enjoy this. It is the details of an event quicky referenced in the novels.
Anyway, my point is, if you ever think you might have wanted to read them, you need to do so now. They will be gone soon. Forever. Not like a Disney forever where they will be back in a new format in five years, but forever forever.
Here is the e-mail I received:
Dear Sam,
As a valued member of the Kindle Worlds author community, we wanted to let you know of some upcoming changes to the Kindle Worlds program.
As of May 17th, Kindle Worlds will no longer be accepting new submissions. Previously published Kindle Worlds stories will no longer be available for sale on Amazon.com on or around July 16th. The Kindle Worlds website will be closed on August 29th; we ask that all Kindle Worlds participants update and validate their banking information, mailing address, and contact information by July 31, 2018 in order to facilitate a timely final royalty payment.
Your final royalty statement will include a proactive final payment for all remaining Kindle Unlimited borrows, including borrows that have not yet met the qualified borrow threshold. We plan to remove Kindle Worlds stories from Kindle Unlimited on May 16th.
Effective as of the date we remove your work from the Kindle Worlds program, we revert the rights granted to us by you in your Kindle Worlds Publishing Agreement. As a reminder, please note that certain rights have been granted to the applicable World Licensor and, as a result, you may not be able to republish your work, use elements from the world, or otherwise exploit the rights you granted unless you obtain the World Licensor’s permission.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email kindle-worlds-support@amazon.com.
For five years, Kindle Worlds has been thriving, engaging writers and readers who enjoy writing in one another’s worlds, and we’re proud of the work we’ve done together. While we are closing Kindle Worlds, Amazon is constantly innovating on behalf of our authors and readers, and we look forward to continuing to do so.
We hope that 2018 and beyond bring wonderful things for you and your stories, and we appreciate your support over the years.
Warm wishes,
The Kindle Worlds Team
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Please note: This is a transactional message regarding your account. Your subscription preferences will continue to be honored for all future commercial e-mails from Kindle Worlds.
