Vincent Trigili's Blog, page 12

Dog Aliens: Fiction from a dog’s point of view!

Recently while talking with some other writers I met a woman named  Cherise Kelley who has a science fiction series out called Dog Aliens. Her tag line is “Fiction from a dog’s point of view,” which forced me beyond any reasonable means of resistance to check out her first book:   

Dog Aliens: Kaxian Duty – A Short Story

Click here to get it FREE on Amazon – Right now!

The first book is a short story about a puppy, who is really an alien, reporting for his first day at work. The story is ridiculously cute and fun. Anyone who has ever owned a puppy will soon see that Cherise Kelley has captured the essence of a puppy perfectly while giving it alien intelligence and motivations. I went on an to get her next book:

Dog Aliens 1: Raffle’s Name

Click here to get it FREE on Amazon – Right now!

This one is a full-length novel (188 pages) that continues from where the short story left off and chronicles the first year of the puppy’s life here on earth and the various adventures and misadventures that he gets into.  It is not as over the top cute as the short story, but is a fun light read.

My son, who is 10, is now reading those to books and thoroughly enjoys them. It is hard to find books he will read and get excited about, and this series is the first since the Cat Warrior books that he has loved.

So I will give this book a five paws out of five for light hearted, family friendly, scifi fun with fresh perspective. I just bought the newest book in this series, Oreo, and hope to start reading it soon.

If you read it, drop a note in the comments below and tell me what you think of them. Also drop by her website and say hi from me!

A Name, 80K words, and More!

A couple months ago I posted asking for suggestions for a name for the Steel-eyed man, and many interesting choices rolled in, but one really stuck out. This week I wrote the first chapter that uses his new name, and it was so much nicer then constantly talking about his eyes. I have not worked out how to pronounce it yet, but I guess do not have to worry about that until some one buys the movie rights.

The name will be Curetes, which from Greek mythology were beings that were created to protect an infant Zeus from his father Kronos who wanted to eat him. Yeah, Greek mythology is really messed up. I found that suggestion very fitting since the steel-eyed-man is always portrayed as protecting his master, Henrick. Of course this means Henrick is being equated to Zeus, but I doubt he would mind that very much.

In other news, I have crossed 80,000 words with Spectra’s Gambit and contacted my cover artist to begin working on a cover for it. I have no idea what that means for a release date yet, but I promise that all of you that are on my mailing list will be the first to know! I expect that I am going to end up around 100,000 words, which is ballpark with the rest of the books, so I guess you can say that I am 80% done with the writing of the first draft.

For those that don’t know, completion of the first draft is only the first step in production. After that I do several editing passes, then my wife does several editing passes, and then we send it out to pre-readers. Once we have the feedback from the pre-readers processed, I then send the book out to my professional editor. It is at that point I can set a release date.

This reminds me, if you want to be a pre-reader for Spectra’s Gambit, you need to be on my mailing list. That is where I will ask first for pre-readers (I will also ask on this website, but those on the mailing list get first dibs). A pre-reader takes the draft and looks for story issues, pacing, characters acting inconsistent with their nature, and so on. All pre-readers receive a Smashwords coupon for a free copy of the release version once the book is released.

Now, I just need to come up with a title for the next book! I already know what I plan to write; I just need to name it. It will follow the adventures of Zah’rak and his team as they deal with life as brand new wizards and no real clue on what that means. I am not sure yet, but I am currently thinking there will be at least a trilogy dealing with his team.

That is all the news that is fit to type right now! Keep the suggestions coming on the Think, Create, Win! post please! Thanks!

Think, Create, Win!

I need the help of my readers. You know the books, you know the story, you know the characters and that makes you the perfect experts to help me with this task! I have been trying to do this alone for a while now, and I have not succeeded. I am drawing a complete blank on this and need some inspiration from you, my readers! I am even willing to throw in a signed print edition of any one of the five current books to the person that comes up with the winning entry.

I need what is known as a “tagline” or a “slogan.” That is a catchy, and short, phrase that describes the series and draws people in. Some examples of taglines that you are likely familiar with are:

Disney Land: The happiest place on Earth
Campbell Soup: Mmm Mmm Good
Google: Don’t be evil
Wal-Mart: Save Money. Live Better.
Nike: Just Do It

Those big companies use those lines because they work. We see this in the book world too for example:

 Lord of the Rings: One ring to rule them all
Divergent: Once choice can transform you
The Princess Bride: Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure

So Facebook me, email me, comment on this post below, snail mail me, or even use a carrier pigeon! Whatever it takes, come up with an awesome tagline and then let me know! After you have sent your best one in (heck, send them all), make sure to spread the word about this contest, and the series. Thanks!!

Attention Lost Tales Readers on the Sony E-Reader

It was announced today that Sony is closing all its ebook stores in the USA and selling its customers to Kobo. This means that most of your current books will still be available to you through Kobo, but Kobo has already made it clear that some books will not be available for you. They have not made it clear yet which books will not be available.

I assume at this stage that since the Lost Tales of Power books are available in the Kobo bookstore those purchases will transfer over fine. If they do not for any reason, or if you decide to jump ship and move to a new platform, simply email me a copy of your receipt showing which Lost Tales books you have purchased on the Sony platform, and I will send you Smashwords coupons for free copies to replace them with.

You can email me at: vydorian@gmail.com and I will get back to you as soon as I am able with your coupon code. It will be a few weeks at least before this impacts anyone directly, so you have time to get ahead of this and decide what you want to do going forward.

Some news articles with more information:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/6/5386518/sony-to-shutter-its-ebooks-store-in-us-and-canada-in-favor-of-kobo

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sony-selects-kobo-to-bring-its-world-class-ebookstore-to-sony-readers-in-the-us-and-canada-243980951.html

http://www.kobo.com/sony

Science Fact: Exposure to vacuum

One of the things I try to do when I write my stories is to keep them as scientifically accurate as I possibly can. It is a bit of a challenge since I am essentially writing about wizards in space with faster then light starships and hand held blasters but I do make a concentrated effort to only include science that is either known to be true, or is at least plausible based on current science. This post will be the first of many that will show up randomly to discuss some of the facts I come across while doing research for my novels.

In Spectra’s Gambit there will be a scene where a character risks exposure to the hard vacuum of space for a brief period of time. Anyone who has watched popular science fiction movies and television shows will be familiar with the various myths about what should happen to anyone who is exposed to vacuum. I have personally heard it said that you blood boils off, you inflate like a balloon and explode, or that you freeze instantly. Any which way, popular science fiction has pretty much planted the idea in our heads that exposure to the hard vacuum of space is instantly bad.

Let me clear this up right now, you have been lied to. Straight up, that is utter fantasy designed to make cool scenes in movies and TV. In fact, you would not even loose consciousness for the first fifteen seconds, and your greatest risk in those seconds is from sunburn (assuming your near a star of course). In fact you can live for around ninety seconds in space with out a space suit.  Just incase this ever happens to you, here is a pro survival trick when exposed to vacuum, according to NASA, don’t hold your breath!

NASA has a great write up on this if you wish to explore this topic in more depth. You can find it -> HERE 

January 2014 State of The Tales

As we are now officially in 2014 and I begin my fourth year in this series, I thought it would be a good time to stop and update all my readers on where we are, and what the future looks like. I have two books already in the works, one with some of the characters from The First Quartet, and one with the characters from The Sac’a’rith branch.

Spectra’s Gambit, which I am currently planning as the next book to come out, will feature Spectra, obviously, and some of the others from the foundation books (volumes one through four). There is a foundational story thread involving her that started back in volume three that is unresolved and that will be handled in Spectra’s Gambit.

Volume seven is along the lines of where I want to go with the universe. The Sac’a’rith branch is not finished, and there is at least one or two more books in that branch that need to be written. I will give this hint, Raquel will have big role to come, as will Zah’rak and Shira. My vision for the multiverse is to have more and more of these branches.

I also have two more short stories coming. The first as mentioned previously was released in the charity anthology called Something for the Journey. That anthology features writers from around the world, and all the proceeds go to charity. My post —> here  gives more details. The liked my short so much they asked me to write two for the third and final anthology in that set, so I cheated a little and wrote a two part short story. I think they are targeting march for that release. Those three short stories will only be in those anthologies for now as I have donated an exclusive to them for six months.

Finally, if you have not signed up on my mailing list, you will want to do that so that you do not miss chances to be a pre-reader, occasionally get free stuff, and always know of upcoming releases and events.

Thanks again for supporting my work, here is to a great year to come!

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to send out a quick Merry Christmas! I do not know if all of you celebrate Christmas or even which date you use for it if you do, but what ever you are doing to day I want to wish good tidings and great joy!

 

Something For The Journey

Hey everyone! The Charity Anthology with my first ever short story is live on Amazon! Below is the advertising copy for it, but you really do not need read it, just go buy a copy! It is for a good cause! Click —> HERE

 

Something For The Journey
A EBook Author Collective
Edited By Stella Wilkinson
 
An excellent collection of short stories aimed at commuters and travelers who have only a limited amount of time to read on the journey. This book is a Charity Anthology, with all proceeds (not just profits!) donated to children’s charity.Suitable for all adult readers from 18 – 80. This book covers a large range of subjects, from alien visitors to a car crash with God, romance, humour and tragedy, and from unusual occurrences to every day situations. Stories were donated by a wide variety of authors, and should appeal to all tastes.Authors: Dario Solera, Neil Bursnoll, T.L. Champion, Kathy Molyneaux, RJ Bennett, Peter Cawdron, Jamie Campbell, Sarah Dalton, Vincent Trigili, Cora Buhlert, Paul B. Kohler, Stephen Drivick, Stacy Claflin, Al Stevens, Sheila Guthrie, Dan Fiorella, Pru Moran, Paul Levinson, Melanie Nilles, James Griffiths, Seun Odukoya, V. A. Jeffrey, Frank Zubek and Stella Wilkinson.


A third, final proposed book is set for spring 2014.

Full Color Map of The Sac’a'rith

Now that the book is out and selling, I decided to release map that appears in The Sac’a'rith. The map looks great on my Kindle Fire HD, but I know that many people prefer E-Ink, or even have older E-Readers that are at a lower resolution so I have decided to post it here on the website in order to all everyone to see it in its full color glory!

This map is my first ever attempt at a map, so be gentle, but I would love to hear your comments and opinions on it. Is it any good? Did it help or hinder your reading? Do you want to see more regions mapped out? The multi-verse that is Lost tales is massive and no one cartographer could ever hope to map it, but maybe I could share a few sections like this from time to time? Thanks!

Partial map of the Pareon Region.

The Sac’a'rith is going live!

I just wanted to let everyone know that The Sac’a’rith has been pushed to Amazon! That means sometime in the next 1 to 12 hours it will be live on their site. Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords and Apple all should have the book go live automatically at midnight. The only catch to that is that I do not know what time zone each of those stores is in, so I do not know which midnight they will be live.