Patrick Todoroff's Blog, page 25

Toe in the traditional waters

Submitted my Celtic-flavored ghost story “The Barrow Lover” to a small press recently. Can’t articulate why I’m trying a more traditional route with this one. It’s a novella, certainly different from my usual sci-fi, but something about the story, about the process was markedly different. Feelings are never a good gauge for decision-making, but the option felt appropriate. And, with the current market and technology, it’s not the end of the world if they pass on it.

It will need more work – it’s presently in what I call the ‘polished first draft’ phase – but I’m very pleased with how it turned out and what it could turn into. Either way, I’m considering making a Celtic stained glass panel to give away for the release. (I’ll entertain suggestions on that, if anyone has any…)

Michal Oracz crafted another great cover for me. Wish me the luck of the Irish.

In the Studio – In the Office

If it ain’t one, it’s the other. And sometimes it’s both

In the studio. For a new restaurant in Falmouth.

More fiction on the way. Not the final font choice, but in the right neighborhood.

“Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”

“It’s nothing serious.”

I’m talking about Sy-Fy’s Helix here.

Mr. Moore – with all due respect – it just ain’t working. You’re the guy who resurrected Battlestar Galactica, who won a Hugo for the outstanding episode “33″, and this is the best you can come up with?

I wanted this to work out. Really. You’ve got good actors, a decent if well-trodden premise, bucket loads of potential down there in the secret arctic research base, but we’re on episode 7, and still all I have is weak, unlikable characters treading thin plot lines. Rager-zombie types and incongruous pop music don’t make up the difference, dude. And you’re just dragging out the whole ‘mystery virus/conspiracy’ trope ad nauseam. Doreen, the only engaging character, is dead, (rat in the mouth thing was gross) leaving me a bunch of either vaguely callous or painfully incompetent ‘scientists’ who are oblivious to even the basic safety standards of a home-remodel, let alone a bio-med research laboratory. And who’s the pudgy guy with the Glock and bad haircut? Mall Security?

At this stage, I could care less what happens to the lot of them. My opinion? Initiate Quarantine Protocol. Let ‘em starve.

Or better yet, nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Red Flags Giveaway

To mark the release of the third and final portion of Shift Tense, the first section – Red Flags – is free on Amazon until Monday evening. If you or someone you know would like to sample Eshu International, here’s your chance.Red Flags. Part One of Shift Tense, on Amazon. Thank you.

Ring out or Carry on

I need to say this out loud.

There’s never any shortage of naysayers eager to tear into your dream, dissect your mistakes, pick at the flaws. What’s that old saying about critics knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing?

But you knew they were out there before you started, right? I mean, you can’t be Van Helsing, then wonder where the hell all these vampires came from. Just doesn’t suck any less when you’re staring into the fanged-end.

And maybe you did flop. Maybe the dream got a wake up call and needed adjustment. Chances are the flaws are real. But so’s the learning curve. You can’t write your second novel (painting, sculpture, symphony…) until you’ve finished your first. Wait ’til you’re perfect before doing anything, you’ll never leave the house.

Besides, there are things you will only learn by trying, by doing, that can never be articulated – let alone transmitted – in those How To books. Sometimes I think it’s not so much reaching the goal as who I become getting there.

That sounds like a glossy corporate motivational poster, doesn’t it? Sorry. It’s just that I’m weary of the cynics’ chorus. I’ve dealt with a physical disability, condescension and contempt as long as I can remember. I get limitations – really, I do. I regret it took me so long to realize I could stop listening, that it’s not what I can’t do that matters – it’s what I can do.

Writers write. Painters paint. Dancers dance. Sculptors sculpt. (Insert your own HERE.) What ever it is, keep doing it. You might never be rich and famous. In fact, chances are you won’t. But you will get your breakthrough. You will create something worth passing on, that speaks on it’s own.

So keep at it and don’t give up. You can do it.

Losers quite when they’re tired. Winners quite when they’re done.

* SEAL training Hell Week

Kinda like kicking a puppy

The setting of my latest Eshu International books, the Shift Tense series, is a future fragmented Horn of Africa. (Top three titles at the link)

BBC World report on increased US military activity in Somalia

If we don’t beat a motley bunch of malnourished, khat-addicted militia in pick-up trucks, armed with knock-off Soviet surplus, we’re in trouble. Serious trouble.

I’m sure our soldiers can do this, actually. The real questions are have our leaders considered the cost of getting involved in such a fragmented society, are they willing to stay the course to legitimately stabilize the region, and will they commit the amount and type of forces necessary to do so?

Now if a coltan deposit is discovered, you can call me ‘Prophet Pat’.

Collecting Smoke and Packing Springs

I’ve come to terms with being a slow writer.

I’d love to write faster, to sit down and let the fluid flawless prose flow from my fingertips like in the movies. Except that only happens in movies.

Or, I could be like the poet in Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk (below) and have a tornado of inspiration surge through. But it just don’t work that way for me. “Mulish” was the word Ms Gilbert used. I can relate.

Sure, I have breakthroughs, moments of clarity. Even (dare I say) sparks of divine inspiration. But most of time, ideas build slowly, coming from all manner of places. Like wisps of smoke on the wind, I collect them: bits of a song, a sensation, a turn of phrase or quote, a scene or a snatch of dialog. Sometimes just a character’s name or a place. (I have a notebook filled with random, unrelated Post-It notes, plus a separate notebook for each project.) Then, after an indeterminate amount of time, I’ll peer in the cupboard to see if anything has coalesced.

Idea sparked, there’s still the matter of hammering it out. But fiction isn’t an essay or a three-point sermon, and writing prose is precisely where poetry gets me in trouble. Growing up I read and still do read a lot of it. That translates into a constant internal challenge not simply for economy and traction, but the music of language. The right word in the right place to generate rhythm of thought and sound across the sentence, the paragraph, the entire story.



It’s like packing springs- one misplaced and they all pop out. Or that Mouse Trap Contraption Game. Properly done, the reader should move through the story’s tricks and turns like that marble without stop all the way to the end. Not saying that I do it all the time, but that’s the goal. Like holding a Horse Track Betting sheet, I stare at my keyboard and realize the winners are right there in front of me.

Shift Tense complete, The Barrow Lover nearing completion, and the next Clar1ty Wars plotted out, I’ve opted for ‘the drip’ method this year- a little bit on a consistent basis – rather than periodic guilt-wracked spasms. No, my schedule doesn’t allow me to write every day. But I can write four/five times a week.

These last 6-8 weeks I’ve been doing a short session in the morning followed by a short session in the evening. I get material down on paper, then come back and hammer it into shape. And punch out a little more material. Which I hammer into shape the next session, and gets me a bit more new material, and so on. The proverb about eating an elephant in little bites comes to mind.

After all, writers write and I have to say it’s been working well so far.

Best to all of you in the new year, especially you writers.

BTW – I highly recommend Ted Kooser’s Poetry Home Repair Manual to every aspiring writer, regardless of genre.

Here’s that TED Talk. Worth the watch.

“Angels” Official Release

ANGELS- the third and final installment of the action-packed Eshu International novel, Shift Tense, is now available at Amazon.com

***

In war, expect treachery above all else.

Framed for murder, Eshu International is caught in the crossfire of the war’s final offensive. Hunted at every turn by former allies and new enemies, the pressure mounts as their corporate employers demand they complete their original mission: assassinate the charismatic rebel commander, Professor Harun Hamid. No matter the cost.

Killer drones, child soldiers, rival mercenaries, a nation ravaged by genocide and civil war, ANGELS is the third and final part of the Eshu International novel, SHIFT TENSE.

***

Part One “Red Flags” HERE

Part Two “Soldier Dreams” HERE

The first Eshu International novel, “Running Black” is available HERE

Thank you all very much. Enjoy.

And the map comes down.

The map of Somaliland, that is. Along with the list of Shift Tense characters, chapters, and blast pattern of plot point post-it notes. The lads of Eshu International are back in Die Nerdshanze in Belfast for a well-deserved rest.

The edited, formatted manuscript for the third and final portion, ANGELS, arrived yesterday. Another thorough, professional job from Mark at Angel Editing. Can’t recommend him highly enough. Michal Oracz finished the cover a while back. He makes it look better than it is, IMO. Errors and delays were all on me.

ERRORS AND DELAYS

Pretty much sums up the last two years. All chuffed after Running Black, I figured I’d bust out the sequel in like nine months. Right?

Live and learn.

Now I’ve heard the second book is harder than the first, that part-time indie authors have a tough time juggling the demands of marketing, writing, editing, with family, job, and the usual obligations. I could talk about chasing Clar1ty Wars inspiration, about my stained glass business picking up, but they’re really beside the point.

The main reason I opted to serialize Shift Tense was a mounting discomfort at not keeping my personal deadline. I didn’t want to disappoint those folks who’d been gracious enough to purchase and read my work. Add to that several articles on the rising ebook tide, the small portions preferred by Kindle readers, and a reader preference for spec-fiction series, and it looked like an attractive, sensible option.

Now I’ve received two complaints about this release schedule/experiment, (In fact, it earned me my first One-Star review) but kicking it out the door not only widened the net, so to speak, it forced me to finish.

So far, I have no serious concerns with the Shift Tense ebook serialization. In the past six months, I’ve sold copies in Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and France, plus the usual US and UK. I suspect this fifth title will put me consistently over the 100 sales/month mark, which ain’t NYTimes Bestseller list, but is pretty damn remarkable considering how technology allows a no-name like me to publish and distribute material. Hey, John Scalzi even stopped by to comment. (Maybe he’ll blurb my next book?)

WHAT’S NEXT

I do have a plot seed for another Eshu International novel set in space/on the moon. It’ll get written, but it’s definitely on the back burner for now. Last October, a Celtic-flavored ghost tale popped into my head, and what began as a wee short story transmogrified into a novella. 4/5ths of the way through, I should have it to my beta-readers before the end of Feb.

Next in the queue is ‘Under Strange Stars’, the second installment of The Clar1ty Wars. A sci-fi re-imagining of the 19th Century Opium Wars, it’s about to get vicious. Ten scenes/chapters are outlined, three are written. Then there’s a large, three part fantasy piece simmering, as well as a modern exorcism/terrorism piece. Spec-fiction junkie that I am, I’m excited to start digging away at both, as well as any other settings/characters that pop in unexpectedly.

To end, I want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has waited so patiently, followed this blog, reviewed and read my work. A thousand thanks. I sincerely hope your time spent in my stories is enjoyable. That’s the idea.

Best to all of you,

P. Todoroff

Cape Cod, MA.

SDG

Late to the Party, I know

But I just discovered Radio Free Babylon and Coffee With Jesus.

COMIC ARCHIVE HERE

Lots of good ones, but as a writer and Christian, this one made me laugh out loud.

What kind of Christian am I? This kind, I guess.