Jason Arnett's Blog, page 2

Systems Update: Recovery

Hi. I’m Jason and I tell stories you might want to know about.

RECOVERY

This spring I worked every day for six, almost seven weeks on significant revisions to MASQUE and then I did it again, revising the revision for another three weeks. Every day for about ten weeks I was working away to write a book I am very proud of and know can be better with every pass. The day after finishing that second pass, I decided to rest and spend a day with my wife. 

I was tired. 

After a couple of days, I went back into the office and opened the document, preparing to dive back in.

Only nothing happened. I stared at the first chapter and – nothing. Nothing at all. No inspiration, no pleasure in reading the work. Everything was flat.

The book wasn’t bad. I recognized the good I’d done with revisions so it wasn’t that. Rather it was just exhaustion. I work a full-time job like the vast majority of writers and life and work sometimes do not align so that art can be made. It was just one of those times where I recognized that I had to have some time away.

So I ended up taking nearly the entire month of June to reset.

I have always recommended that taking time away, taking time to think, taking time to just be is important. And after a run like that, nearly 70 days continuous, it made sense to step away and think about other things.

I’m here to tell you, this really helped. For the last week or so I’ve been back at it with fresh eyes and the good work I’d already done is there waiting to be further improved. Everything is coming together. This is another significant re-write and it’s tighter for having done all the work so far. More updates next time.

Until then, every day you write you finish with more than you had before so keep writing. 

IMPLANT

My thoughts on AI are below. They’re all mine so you’re welcome to take up any issues you have with what I say with me in the comments. If you’re civil and we’re talking, great. That’s what this place is for. If you’re an asshole, you’re out the window. This is the only notification you get.

Artificial Intelligence shows promise as a tool for research. As it has been applied so far to creative endeavors, it’s a team of pickpockets working its way through a crowd with a great deal of success. The lack of ethics in the training of AI isn’t surprising given the state of society and the continuing denigration of artistic expression. 

So while I don’t, and can’t, endorse using Artificial Intelligence image generators as they exist now for anything because of the way they were trained, the concept of AI is intriguing. Also terrifying. 

Aside from how it was trained, the way artificial intelligence (and NFTs and digital currencies) servers consume power is something that should concern everyone. Server farms and data centers (different sides of the same coin) are popping up everywhere and they’re eating up a lot of electricity as well as creating terrible noise issues for their neighbors. Once again, we need to pay attention to the effects of convenience on the world around us. Faster computer chips are great! But what’s the total cost? Anyone? 

It’s important to keep the pressure on to train AI properly, with recognition, permission, and payment. If I want to learn from Haruki Murakami, I buy his books or get them from the library (which paid for it) to read and study. Same with music or movies. There are services such as Masterclass where you can learn from your choice of teachers at your own pace. The same has to be true of artificial intelligence, requiring payment to its teachers though it’ll learn much faster. (Probably eating as much electricity as the Flash does hotdogs after a big mission.) As the saying goes There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch and these corporations developing AI should be willing to invest to do it right, not just fast.

It’s no secret that people who aren’t creative, or believe they are not creative, are jealous of those who are actively creative. It’s a mystery where art comes from, they think, and this whole push on AI is them trying to steal Jack’s magic beans before he can plant them. Let’s hold the owners and trainers of AI accountable and keep the pressure on corporations that want to take advantage of The Talent. 

SNAP OUT OF IT

The latest season of Doctor Who has wrapped up and overall I’m pretty pleased with Russell T. Davies’ return to the franchise. Some great high points and a couple of head scratchers but in general, yeah. This season was fun. I enjoyed it. 

There are some moments that stood out to me. In particular, “Dot and Bubble.” The commentary on racism was powerful as was the comment on physical isolation due to social media, and the idea of classism, too. What stuck with me was the final scene with The Doctor begging to save the characters who are doomed because of their bubble. His desperation on full display thanks to Ncuti Gatwa’s wonderful, emotional performance, The Doctor is crushed at the refusal but not surprised given how he was treated by the main character.

”I will save you if you let me!” he cries out and in that moment it struck me that there was a possibility RTD was speaking to the fandom as well. Most likely not just the trolls but everyone who has a problem with an actor, a story point, whether or not something is canon, or any of the myriad other nit-picky things that haters latch on to. “I will entertain you if you let me” is the kind of social contract that is more difficult than ever to properly execute. 

Whether it’s Star Wars, Marvel, or any other fandom it’s important that fans understand the people involved are doing everything they’ve been hired to do. If you haven’t accomplished something comparable to what you’re critiquing, be very careful about trying to sound like an expert. There are myriad challenges to making art and if you haven’t done it, you don’t know. It’s really that simple. 

If you aren’t entertained, it’s okay. Not every story is for every fan. That can feel pretty awful if you’re thoroughly engaged with the universe. Tempering that engagement is key, my friends. It’s one thing to be a fan. It’s something else entirely to be a fanatic.

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THIS IS NOT AN ARGUMENT

Here is a list of some of my favorite comicbook films. Note I don’t say these are “the best” or anything like that. This list is not in any order and is subjective to my tastes and not based on anything but what I like. So, not an argument.

Superman, the movie and Superman 2Spider-Man 2The Dark KnightWonder WomanA History of ViolenceRoad to PerditionCaptain America Winter SoldierWould You Like to Get These Updates Delivered to Your Inbox?

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AT CAPACITY

I’m overwhelmed and I’m missing some relationships that once were important to me. Work has been a lot this month and I’ve had successes I’d have loved to have shared with some folks but they aren’t in my life any more. Which is more than okay. I’m not interested in sympathy or empathy or pity. What I am interested in is staying upbeat, working on positive things, and making myself better than I was yesterday. Anyone who’s along for that ride, who wants to be with me as I do this, is absolutely welcome. I will, in turn, cheer you on with your successes and support your growth and burgeoning self-awareness.

The capacity to love is boundless if you embrace it. That’s the theme of my life, I suppose. I want to love as much as I can in all the appropriate ways I can. It feels right, though it’s weird to say it out loud or even write this way. Celebrate the good stuff, acknowledge the difficulties and work through them, then share what’s been learned with others in an effort to minimize their missteps. That’s storytelling, isn’t it?

I love you all. Stay well. I’ll see you when I see you.

Systems Update: Drafting

The constructor fleet moves off, having completed their task. The new bypass will be completed by another fleet later on, and that team will have to deal with the lack of planning of the whole project. Yes, the papers were filed but by a solitary clerk who no one listened to and who had a penchant for making small changes. Looked at in aggregate, the changes will spell out their name. A small joke that results in the inconvenience of billions over time. That one, they’ll say when their joke is discovered, that one is a piece of work. Wish I’d thought of it.

Hello from the hills of Eastern Kansas. I’m Jason and I write stories you might like to read.

ORGAN OF RECORD: MASQUE

I’m deep into the third draft/revision of MASQUE and this book keeps getting stronger. I’ve changed my process here a bit (which I think I’ve written about before) and at the end of each draft I’ve reread the work and summarized each section of each chapter so I can see the plot more clearly. In the case of first to second it not only helpful, but essential that I’d done this. Rereading and summarizing the second draft showed where the plot still dragged, where things had been mentioned and then forgotten, and the overall arcs of the main and supporting characters. As I’m typing this, I’m thinking about leaving this and getting back to building on the book. 

And it’s become a novel. This story is based off a short story in my A MAP OF THE PROBLEM (which was once two short stories but combined for that publication) which I intended as a novella. Draft 1 was around 44,000 words. Draft 2 came in at 65,000 words and I suspect the third draft will be slightly more than that, possibly 70,000 words or more. So now it’s a novel.

The other thing that I’m doing with this is leaving myself big notes that I realize are big notes and not an attempt at overexpositioning (not sure that’s a word but what the hell) since the story is told first person. In this draft I’m breaking those notes down into scenes or sentences to get the ideas across. This stems from feedback I got on an early draft of THE ENVOY and which the reader debated whether or not to tell me they checked out when I ran a way-too-long bit of exposition in the middle. I’d rather hear what makes you check out of one of my stories at that stage than you trying to save my feelings. Even if I think you’re wrong (they weren’t) I still want to know what affects you about the story.

So this book is taking longer than I wanted but it’s happening and will be released I hope in the fall. I’ll also include pronunciation guides because that’s feedback I’ve gotten now, too.

Oh, and I should mention here that all my self-pubbed books will be available more widely once I get to the beta-reading process where I can focus on other things. Right now I’m so into telling this story the best I can that I’m not working on anything else. The day job is taking too much brainspace.

THE VOICE IN THE BOX

It’s been a while now since broadcaster Bob Edwards passed. It’s been longer that his wonderful hour-long interview program The Bob Edwards Show was on XM and I got to hear terrific conversations with really interesting people, some who I’d heard of and many I hadn’t.

But it was his NPR tenure that I miss the most. I listened to Bob on NPR every morning for years and years. His warm baritone was comforting and his easy manner with guests was so different even from his heroes like Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, or Walter Cronkite. I trusted that he was telling me the truth, that he was asking questions I needed answers to. His was the voice that gave me hope on 9/11 that this wasn’t the beginning of World War III.

His book, The Voice in the Box, is the memoir that we get where he leans into being summarily dismissed from NPR but doesn’t seem to want to tell us what all he’d heard as to why. It’s strange to read this kind of book from a journalist who doesn’t explore a topic fully but it kind of makes sense in retrospect. He was obviously hurt by the firing though he went on to make even better radio elsewhere. Until the suits again decided it wasn’t worth it.

The lesson, as I take it, is to keep as much control for yourself and do the job as you understand it. When someone asks for an explanation, don’t hold back as to the importance of what you’re doing, but don’t beg for their understanding, either. Money does what money does because money wants to make more money.

Tributes from colleague Scott Simon, and this appreciation from the Morning Edition team capture some of what I felt for someone I knew only a little. Did I mention that he and I corresponded briefly via email back in the day? He was on the radio in an issue of Fantastic Four that Chris Claremont wrote decades ago now. He told the story of how Neal Conan and other NPR staffers ended up in various issues of things Claremont wrote and asked if I could send him a copy of the FF issue in question, which I did.

Bob was a cool guy.

A Very Brief Aside

Do you like to hear people read things? I’ve started an online store that’ll have various things and other stuff. Thanks for looking.

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TOWEL DAY

Every year on May 25th, we celebrate the publication of Douglas Adams’ seminal comedic science fiction by knowing where our towels are. I’ve listened to, read, and watched as many version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as I can and it never fails to make laugh and think at the same time.

It was Maria, the punk girl with spiky black hair, a pierced nose, and pink eye shadow, who told Mom that I would love the book. I don’t remember where I got a copy from but I know I read it in paperback and absolutely fell in love with it. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe might have been out at that point, too, and I devoured it as soon as I could get a copy. Hearing the radio play was a joy and when it gets to the part where the two books combined in the narrative, I was never not going to love Douglas Adams’s work. Maria, here’s to you. Thank you for turning me on to some really great art.

Since I don’t write comedy, I greatly appreciate it in others. I was already a hardcore Monty Python fan and Robin Williams’ standup bits had been memorized so that I could amuse myself and others at the drop of a hat. But the terribly mislabeled Hitchhiker’s trilogy will always be a staple in my life. I missed getting this post up on Towel Day, but that’s because my calendar was not turned to the proper month and obviously my notifications on my phone had been tampered with somehow. 

AT CAPACITY

I mentioned above that the day job was taking up a lot of brainspace. It’s true that I have more work on my plate than at almost any other point in my career, and I’m writing a novel and planning two follow-ups but I’ve never been happier. There’s very little stress around any of this because there’s a ton of support at work and at home. Having people who give a damn makes a great deal of difference when you’re approaching a mountainous to-do list.

I hope you have that in your life, too. It seems to be true that success comes from never quite giving up, never quitting, but also remaining true to the vision and mission of what you’re working toward. Keep being creative, friends, keep making the little changes that allow you the freedom you need to actually feel free to do what you want. Ever onward, always forward. Never give up, never surrender.

I’ll see you when I see you.

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Systems Update: Water

Here we are gathered ‘round the fire again on a dark, cool spring evening, ready for stories. The old man listens to what the youngsters think are stories but which are really the ideas of outlines for stories. They amuse each other, but nothing is illuminated and he decides it is best to keep quiet until it’s his turn. There is no understanding of the events that are described, only incredulity at the fact they can’t get what they wanted. When it’s his turn, they roll their eyes and sip their drinks. One plays with the fire. When he is done, the youngsters sit in silence, digesting what they’ve heard. Then they decide it means nothing to their current state and go to bed having missed the point. The old man smiles. This is the way of the world. Tomorrow he will seek another audience.

Hi, I’m Jason. I tell stories you might like to read. Welcome.

ORGAN OF RECORD: Masque

The Envoy is continuing its run of sales every month since its release while I’m working on the re-write of its follow-up, MASQUE, Second of All the Devils Are Here. I’ve reached the point where I can add some scenes back in from the revised first draft and go ahead and apply select revisions so it all fits together seamlessly. I mentioned last time that this book has changed my process in any number of ways and that’s also continuing.

So at this point, two-thirds of the way into the story, I’m accomplishing everything I want to. The pace is good, I’m proud of the characters I’m developing (though there’s only one truly good person in the cast), and the world building is, well, I’m happy I don’t live in that world because it feels real to me. The test of all this is whether or not readers enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to finding out what you all think this summer.

All writers want to know if readers like their work. We tend to crave validation of some kind, especially in the form of money, but praise is an acceptable coin of the realm when readers offer it. So never hesitate to toss a rating or a couple of kind words out for us. Think of it as cookies and milk for Santa Claus: the more nice things we get, the more we keep doing what makes you happy.

If you want to keep up with my progress more often , you can follow along on my social media.

I’ve been posting a photo every week to let you know how many words I’ve been writing on the new draft of Masque. The links to Threads, Instagram, and Bluesky are at the top of the page, along with a link to my Tumblr which doesn’t get updated very often. It’s kinda sad, actually.Subscribe

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Creative Tension

It’s the time of year when I break out my copy of XTC’s Skylarking which is one of my all-time favorite records. I first heard about the band from a friend and co-worker of my Mom’s, Maria. She was a punk girl with spiky black hair, a pierced nose, and pink eye shadow who told me one day that she thought I’d really like them because I was super into the Beatles and PInk Floyd. I was a kid, early teens, and my life was such that I didn’t have access (or didn’t know I didn’t have access) to a way to hear them. It wasn’t until Dear God hit on MTV that I knew she was right. By then, I’d lost track of her and there was no way to find her. I never knew her last name. (Maria also turned me on to Douglas Adams, but that’s another story.)

So, Dear God speaks to me and my anger and frustration with religion and I have my own money at that point and I go to the only record store I know, a local shop called Kief’s, and bought the album. When I got home I played it through and then played it again and again. My roommates were pretty tired of it but The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul and Season Cycle and That’s Really Super, Supergirl were hitting me and as a whole, the album just made sense. I could see a shape that I’d never seen before and I wanted more.

(Another Satellite is terribly appropriate for the eclipse tomorrow, too.)

That’s the public side, the consumption of a creative piece of work. The other side, technically private but which sometimes spills out into the public, is that there are people making these things for me to consume. I mean, I have some difficult relationships in my daily life but I work through them to accomplish the goals. Same thing happens in creative work. You can look up more details now simply by checking in at Wikipedia, but in summary, the band and the producer had a very difficult relationship in making Skylarking. There were battles over what instruments should be where, which song should be cut to make room for a potential hit. And there were battles within the band, too. It’s a fascinating story about a terrific album and worth your time if any of those things pique your interest. XTC is terribly underrated and if you get the chance to see the documentary about them, yeah, do that.

1986 original release cover2010 reissue cover

As a writer, I can attest to internal struggles when writing. My Zero Drafts are filled with more honest dialogue (read: LOTS of swearing) that has to get revised in the later drafts. I’d prefer to leave it but I do consider the audience who may not want all the f*bombs and creative combinations that I hear in everyday life so I revise. It’s not censorship in any way at all, so don’t get confused about that. It’s acknowledgement of the wider potential audience. So if you ever thought there were too many curse words in something I wrote, rest assured there were a great deal more, once upon a time.

It’s a resolution of the tension that most of us writers feel. What we want to say versus what we think will be heard. It’s about getting the point of our work across.

Ephemera: Writers Helping Writers

Because I’m in revisions and I’m constantly looking for how other writers do the same thing I’m trying to do. It’s the quest for improvement as I see it. So, here are two links that I’ve found useful of late.

N.K. Jemisin is a force. I’ve expressed my love for her Far Sector series and I actively seek more of her Green Lantern, Jo Mullein. Jemisin’s award-winning fiction is engrossing in a way I hope to be able to achieve one day, so I went looking to see if she’d ever talked about her process, and sure enough she has. I love that she calls revisions “Book Renovation” because that really clicks with me. Check it and see if there’s anything there useful to you.

Book Renovation

I met Jonathan Maberry at a comic convention in Kansas City and hosted a panel for him, then met him again in KC at a science fiction convention the next year. He’s a terribly open and supportive writer who also conducts popular (and affordable!) master classes on things like writing fight/action scenes. His Joe Ledger books are some of the most crisp, divinely inspired action writing I’ve read. I sit in on his Facebook AMAs every so often and he’s talked about his revision process (it’s very detailed) and how he outlines his novels in addition to answering fan questions. Fortunately, he’s compiled all his advice and resources into one page on his website.

Free Stuff For Writers

Do with these what you will.

At Capacity

I had a health incident a couple of weeks back due to a nasty stomach virus that came on very quickly. I’m okay, but I learned what syncope is as a result. As the virus ran through me, and boy did it RUN, I got severely dehydrated which I’d made worse by not drinking any water at all that day. Presaged by sweating, chills, and lightheadedness, vasalvago syncope happened followed by my first-ever ambulance ride to the Emergency Room.

My wife was terrified. I was out of it. It was the middle of the night and we didn’t know if I’d had a heart attack, a stroke, or a recurrence of blood clots. Fortunately, it was just dehydration. And I didn’t do any damage to my head when I passed out, which was also lucky.

So learn from me, friends. Drink lots of water every day. Watch your intake of fluids that dehydrate you. And make sure you communicate clearly with the folks who love you. Tell them how you feel, physically and mentally. Don’t be afraid to be you, even if you have to revise the words you use.

Oh, and don’t stare directly at the sun. Seems like that needs to be repeated every so often.

See you when I see you.

SYSTEMS UPDATE: Sprung

Winter, such as it was, has passed through and is now on vacation somewhere else. Spring is already warmer here than it should be by at least 10 degrees every night and day and that’s worrisome. Robert Heinlein said:

I think that science fiction, even the corniest of it, even the most outlandish of it, no matter how badly it’s written, has a therapeutic value because all of it has as its primary postulate: THAT THE WORLD DOES CHANGE.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of that idea.

“The Discovery of the Future,” Guest of Honor Speech, 3rd World Science Fiction Convention, Denver, Colorado (4 July 1941)

I hope he’s right. Because it’s changed a couple of times and not enough of us seems interested in getting the world back to a state that’ll be liveable for more than a couple generations.

Hi, I’m Jason. Your bright ray of sunshine.

Organ of Record

So let me give you some good news, eh? My third self-published book, The Envoy, dropped in July and has, to date, sold in every single month since its release. I’m overjoyed at this! It’s not a bestseller and it’s not nearly enough to encourage me to quit my day job but it’s a good sign. Plus just yesterday I heard from a reader who’s nearly done reading it that their palms were sweaty after reading one of the big action scenes. That’s a really nice compliment.

I also heard again from someone over the weekend that they were anxiously awaiting the follow-up. I’m still looking at early summer to release MASQUE, the Second of All the Devils Are Here despite having to do a page one rewrite. I found that, in revisions, I was doing more work to fix things that I’d pantsed in the drafting than it would be to just start over. So.

I’ve gone back and done all the outlining, plotting, world-building, and character sketches I should have done in the first place and am knee-deep in rewriting. Not be all braggy about it but I think it’s already miles ahead of the initial draft and you all are going to be pleased. This is a biography of the enigmatic leader of the Kashone people imprisoned on Earth. It details his struggles to keep agents of the Sah Empire from scuttling his plans to get his people home as well as his own trials and tribulations. I’m pretty sure if you liked The Envoy, you’re going to like this one. Watch for a cover reveal in May.

This book is changing my process quite a bit as I’m already doing the work ahead for the third book in the series. So, if I’m doing this writer thing correctly, you might see the next installment after Masque in six or seven months instead of nearly a year. Stay tuned.

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Planet Comicon 2024

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Planet Comicon this year was a real blast. I’d made the difficult decision not to table on my own but was offered the opportunity to guest star with my friends Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward which I took advantage of on Saturday. The show was overwhelming (and there were numerous problems because of it) with ALL the people in attendance but my experiences with the con staff and volunteers were amazing and the patience by the staff in the hall was exemplary. I hope Bartle Hall works out the plumbing issues and collaborates with cellular providers to provide better service inside which is affected by so many being there. Vendors and their customers will be so appreciative of those efforts. 

It was so busy I heard tales of people spending nearly an entire day in line to meet celebrities if they got to them at all. The restrooms were overrun and there were reports of insanely long lines and non-working toilets on the ladies’ side and just getting in took some folks three or more hours, we heard. Not everything that went wrong was the show’s fault (see: parking and plumbing problems) and if one is frustrated and/or angry and looking for things to be angry about there was plenty for them to chew on. But overall, it was a HUGE show the likes of which we’ve never seen in KC.

I got to hang out with friends I’ve been tabling next to for nearly a decade, and I am so grateful to Kevin and Dayton for hosting me for the day. Being a part of the show as an exhibitor trying to turn people on to my books is one of the highlights of my year. And every year I get to meet and connect with readers and fellow creators and I feel more and more a part of the community of creatives in KC. This year, I got a message from Stephanie Hansen at Metamorphosis Literary Agency asking if I would be available to moderate a panel of authors and that is ALWAYS a terrific experience. Not only do I get to meet new people, but I get to be part of the conversation about how books get made. I’m still jazzed that Stephanie thought enough of me to ask if I could help. 

My con was a great experience. I wish I’d been able to be there on Sunday but hey, there’s always next year. Congratulations to everyone involved and I hope you all get a well-deserved rest. Looking forward to 2025!

At Capacity

One of the things that gets overlooked when giving advice on how to break in as a creative is making connections. Meeting people doesn’t always have to be about ‘what can you do for me?’ things and it shouldn’t be. You want to connect with like-minded folks who get invested in your success over time because they like you and your work. I am not nearly the raconteur I’d like to be and I’m often not very clever. I joke that my first drafts of comments are almost always a wreck and in person that translates into awkwardness. I never want anyone in a conversation to be uncomfortable, including me, so that imposter syndrome hangs on.

But recently I’ve felt like, with the relative success of The Envoy, I’m more confident than I’ve been in years. I feel like I’m a pretty good writer and every once in a while I land a particularly good section of writing and that’s something I wouldn’t have said ten years ago. This doesn’t mean anything is going to my head and I’m not looking to keep improving, it only means that I know that I’m capable. Once I find my audience, they’ll know it, too.

Be good to one another, friends. It’s going to be a weird year with a repeat election scrum that’ll be just as important as the last three were. As bad as it may get, it’s not new and we know how to deal with it now. Take care of yourself first before caring for others, and don’t engage with trolls whose only goal is to make your day worse. Find escape or solace in your favorite things and come back rejuvenated.

Until next time. I’ll see you when I see you.

SYSTEMS UPDATE: The Clang

As 2023 winds down (internal designation Year of Great Expense), it’s useful to look back and see what was accomplished. Here are the headlines:

Three novellas were drafted and one was published.A short story went out on submission but didn’t get any bites.Four other short stories have been reworked for different formats.THE ENVOY earned a really nice review by a reader.I had my first-ever solo appearance which by all accounts went very well.I sold more physical copies of my entire catalog than I ever have in a single year. December was surprisingly brisk, at least for me.

What’s ahead is a new short story, more exploration of the new format, finishing the Zero draft of one novella and revising the second while plotting then writing the Third of All the Devils Are Here and then plotting The Fourth. There might be more in the short story department, too, because my brain can’t shut off and the idea I had in July just won’t let me go.

Posted to Instagram in ‘23. The immediate aftermath of my cataract surgeries. It’s wonderful to see 20/20 for the first time in my life.

I joined Threads (@ajasont) and Bluesky (also @ajasont) and am finding a community of writers that reminds me a great deal of the community I first found on Twitter back only twelve years ago.

And in my day job, I went to three conferences that helped shape how I think about that work and how I think about my writing. I’ve always known that success on both sides of the equation are intertwined and this year was yet another confirmation of that.

So all things considered, it was a good (if sometimes terribly stressful) year. The closing bells chime the mix of cheer and fear, hope and groping for the year to come to be somewhat less about money and more about dreaming and creating.

A PITCH

If you like what I’m doing here, please subscribe to get these irregular updates sent directly to your inbox. You can find a link to do that at the bottom of the WELCOME page. Thanks.

You can find all my books on the BOOKS page. I am revising the next in this series and hope it’ll be out in the spring of ‘24.AT CAPACITY

It was tempting to write a big year-end list of the things I liked in 2023 like most folks do. Instead, my closing here is a reiteration to like what you like and don’t be ashamed of it. For instance, I like nearly every rockin’ Bryan Adams song there is but the sappy stuff leaves me cold. And there’s no reason on Earth I should like Crime Scene Kitchen but I am fascinated with that dumb show. 

The more we talk about the things we love, the things we like, the things that made us smile for a second, the better the world will be. I’m resolving to spend less time on negative things, including people, than I did this year. I’m resolving to give in less to my fears and take more chances creatively. I have space in my life to do that so I’m going to.

Superman gets it. Be like Superman.

Whatever works for you, resolve to do that more. I hope you’ll find some happiness in working positively toward your goals.

When we get right down to it, being kind to yourself allows you to be kind to others and we definitely need that energy in the world. 

Cheers to 2023 and here’s to a positive 2024. I’ll see you when I see you.

Aerial Antennae

It’s cornbread season here. Cooler temps mean I’m more likely to dash off a quick round of cornbread so I can throw butter on it and watch it melt into the flour, cornmeal, egg, milk, oil, salt, and just a dash of sugar. (Cornbread and corncake are two very different things, friends.)

Hi. I’m Jason and I write things I hope you’ll like.

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Into the Light

I’ve done some messing around here in an effort to make the place a bit more hospitable. My lack of attention here has maybe cost me some sales, some fans, some credibility so the least I can do is make it a bit more – eh, professional, yeah?

So I’ve cleaned up the Books page, making it easier to read though I’m thinking about changing the order of the books to have my most recent on top. There’s a significant update to the About page, too, that has a new photo and (maybe) new information for you. I’ve also updated the Appearances page so you’ll know that I don’t have anything planned for the rest of the year. Next year’s schedule will update with announcements as they happen. Right now I don’t have anything on my radar prior to fall.

Speaking of appearances, I did my first ever solo meet and greet recently and it was, by all measures, a success. People came to hear me talk, listen to a short reading from The Envoy, and then bought books which I got to sign. It was a nice reminder that these things all need to be cherished in the moment but that you should never let them go to your head, even if the audience is very friendly.

Systems Update

Since I’m still adjusting to my new visual paradigm, I hadn’t spent much time at home on a screen up close until this week. Reading was something I did casually every day of my life and now I have to be more deliberate and find my reading glasses to write and read. it doesn’t suck, but it’s new and will take some time. So when I felt good and sat down to get back to rewriting this short story, I made real progress and wrote nearly three thousand words this week. I’ll finish it later today and then I’ll see how I want to release it.

And MASQUE is ready to be revised, so now that I’m comfortable again and the holidays are approaching with less day job required work, I’ll get to that in a day or two.

There’s a new Murakami book in Japan that doesn’t have a translation announced here yet. The City and It’s Uncertain Walls is “a story that’s long been sealed” so I’m anxious to get this it ASAP.Depth Charge

This week we got the first two episodes of the Apple TV+ series Monarch Legacy of Monsters featuring our returning champion Godzilla. If you saw the trailers and the first scene that was released ahead of the debut you got a good sense of what’s happening in the first tranche of episodes. It’s got a feature quality to it that just blows me away like every Apple science fiction show seems to have. The studio seems to be fully invested in making high-quality sci-fi and I’m here for it. (Foundation was great, SILO was also great, and I’m getting into Invasion and For All Mankind, too.) And hey, the soundtrack for Legacy of Monsters by Leopold Ross is some good writing music, too.

I liked DC’s new Outsiders comic this week.

Music in rotation includes Curtis Mayfield’s SuperFly soundtrack, a selection of work from UNKLE who I didn’t know had a new album out last year, and Siouxie and the Banshees. I’ve also been revisiting Kate Bush’s catalog and am blown away every time I hear the work as a whole. She comes from a time when albums meant more than singles and she is invested in making the sounds connect throughout.

During the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction of her, there were artists covering her work and while the music was perfect, and there was nothing wrong with the vocal performances, it lacked something. There’s a power in Kate Bush’s voice that isn’t maybe readily apparent and must be difficult to emulate without imitating her. Listen closely to “Running Up That Hill” and then listen to anyone else singing it. The punch she delivers in the chorus is something others can’t quite match.

That’s not a criticism of other performers. As I said above there was nothing technically wrong with the covers, there was just something missing. Anyway, you can’t go wrong with any of her albums but if you’d like to hear a brilliant live performance of her work you should buy Before the Dawn.

The cover of Kate Bush’s live album Before the Dawn.Chemistry

I don’t produce content for you, friends. I share my thoughts here when I have something to say. Over on Threads there’s a thriving community of book people (readers and authors) that feels an awful lot like the early days of what the other microblogging site whose name shan’t be mentioned was. There’s support, there’s discussion, and there’s a sense of capital-C Community. It surprises me that there are writers who are horrified to find out they won’t get rich by writing, nor will they become famous. I hope they have the drive to keep writing when they get discouraged, to keep writing when their latest book sells only a handful of copies, to keep writing in the face of overwhelming numbers of books released daily.

I think what it takes to stand out is doing quality work, being unafraid to show your growth, and sheer determination to continue. That’s the spirit of all my advice. Don’t worry about “monetizing your content” because you may make some money that way but you won’t be authentic. It’s better if you don’t try to impress others but do try to impress yourself. Celebrate your accomplishments and those of others. Don’t worry about who’s engaging with you, but who you are engaging with. Sometimes you mix with one person and not the other, that’s okay. Just don’t give up.

Be good to yourself and tell the folks you love that you love them. It matters.

See you when I see you.

The Autumn Leaves Have Fallen

A couple of decades back I was trying to blog often for the few who were interested. It was a thing. Then I stopped for awhile and came back here with far fewer and much farther between updates. I try to keep them relevant to writing which includes life things and consumption of various media that could be influential at some point later on (or maybe it’s just escapist). I wouldn’t expect a lot more updates like this one, but there’s stuff I want to get out into the world here.

Hi, I’m Jason and I write things I hope you’ll like. Glad you’re here.

SOME STRANGE KIND OF EUPHORIA

The way I’m seeing now is taking some time to actually adjust to. You’d think that it would be easy, right? I can see like never before in my life except for up close. Needing readers for computers and books/comics is kind of a pain. For instance, working on the tablet while watching TV requires me either looking over the lenses or taking the glasses off. I said it’s a pain, but it’s just a new paradigm. Takes adjustment. 

So does driving without glasses. I was at an event yesterday and kept feeling my glasses on my nose even though they weren’t there. Driving at night is a VERY different experience, too. There are some ‘lens flares’ from all the lights, but they are nothing like they were before.

Yeah, this is weird for me too.

Astigmatism is measured in diopters. Extreme astigmatism is 3 diopters or more. I had 7 diopters in my left eye with 5 diopters in my right. As of last week, I’m at 1.25 diopters in my left eye and .75 in my right. There’s still some healing going on and maybe a bit of adjustment but it’ll settle with 80 to 90% of my astigmatism GONE. It’s a dramatic change. I was seeing, for the first time in my life – literally – 20/25 at the optometrist three days ago. Maybe dramatic change doesn’t quite cover it, you know?

I’m anxious to get back to my writing routine, but I haven’t been spending too much time at the computer outside of work the last month and that’s going to continue the next couple of weeks while I heal. Headaches are less and farther between and I’m done with surgeries, so I’m looking at the end of November to be really productive. Stay tuned if you’re looking for updates on the follow-up to The Envoy.

RAY OF SUNLIGHT

If you haven’t started watching SCAVENGERS REIGN on HBOMax, you might consider doing so sooner than later. I am SO enamored with this science fiction piece that reminds me of Fantastic Planet, Moebius and 80s Heavy Metal magazine, Miyazaki, and all the best otherworldly, weird science fiction like China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station. If there is an opportunity to write a novelization of what I’ve seen so far of this series, I will put myself out there to try for it. There’s so much in the world building that I can’t get over it. I love that this show, like Genndy Tartakovsky’s PRIMAL, demand you actually watch and not just put it on in the background.

We’ve been revisiting the old Frasier series following the launch of the new Frasier series on Paramount+. There’s a lot of witty writing there and despite the inherent meanness of most of the humor, and the fact that it’s an awfully white show even for its time, we’re finding things to enjoy about it. It’s thirty years old (or so) and I haven’t seen much of the last six of its eleven seasons. There’s something about Frasier’s character, the fish out of water, that lets the show tell its man vs himself story both old and new. With the new series, finding that the character has grown only a little in the interim is less interesting than the characters around him. Overall, I’m enjoying both series, but the older out of a sense of comfort and familiarity and the latter to see how an update would be different. I do love the fact that the bar they hang out in is called Mahoney’s, though, because Fredrick isn’t quite the cold bucket of water Martin was.

RESTRUCTURE REALITY

I’m doing a meet and greet this week (and maybe a reading? I don’t know) in support of THE ENVOY. It’s my first time doing this sort of thing so it’s kind of exciting and a bit daunting. I’m a writer and so by nature a solitary, perhaps more inverted than I care to admit creature. I am able to be extroverted but I need to recharge after doing so. If you’re the same way, we are all in this together yeah?

It’s true.

All this to say, hang in there no matter what you’re going through. Give yourself room to breathe, time to think, and don’t worry about taking that space you need. Drink water. Lots. And know that you control more than you think in terms of what you do and don’t do. You are loved by people that matter to you, even if they don’t know how to show it. Get some sun, too. Stare off at the horizon and imagine something wonderful then do not apologize for it. You’re beautiful and have a lot to contribute. Keep doing that.

I’ll see you when I see you.

Systems Update

Fall is always busier than I ever anticipate due to my day job being in colleges and universities. (I only work for one College, but that’s the industry.) So I’m way overdue for an update here. Hi, I’m Jason and I write things that I hope you will like and tell your friends about. Strap in, there’s more than a bit to cover.

ENDLESS CONSTRUCTION

NaNoWriMo is coming up in a couple of days. I”m a NaNoWriMo veteran but haven’t participated in several years. I ‘won’ every year I did it, and got one great story from it which I’ve rewritten from page one twice now and will have to do again if it’s going to be released into the wild someday. The lessons I learned each year were invaluable to how I approach my writing now. Your mileage may vary, but here’s what I got out of it:

NaNo Lesson 1: Approach my writing as if it were a job. That meant getting to the manuscript every day and making progress. The stated daily goal is the MINIMUM to get to the 50K words. If I went over, then great but I had to hit the minimum the next day, at least, in order to stay on track. This was good training for me.

NaNo Lesson 2: During November it’s all about word count. Don’t worry about quality, don’t bog yourself down in “is this a clever turn of phrase” type critique, and don’t get too crazed about if the story is making any sense. (It likely won’t unless you’ve done a lot of pre-writing/plotting ahead of November 1.)

NaNo Lesson 3: Take advantage of write-ins with your local group. I was part of a TERRIFIC group for several years that continued throughout the year as a writing group. (Eventually we started a website to feature a bunch of us. It was a lot of fun.) Participating helped me feel a part of a community that that enabled me to channel that energy into my work. After a couple of years, I got that REALLY good story. (After a few years, I drifted away from that group but get misty about it sometimes…)

Finally, NaNoWriMo taught me that it was okay to blast out that initial draft and then get to the real work of writing in revision. Having a complete draft is an accomplishment that can’t be taken from you but it’s not the end and neither is NaNo. 

If you manage your expectations it can be valuable to writing in the future. If you think you’re going to write a complete novel, and it’s going to be publishable with only a little work, you’ll probably be disappointed.

IMPLANT

I’ve worn glasses since I was 5. My optometrist has done all she can to correct my vision but I’m saddled with much, much more astigmatism than the average bear. So much that I’ve never seen 20/20 in my life. When my cataracts got bad enough this year, we saw an opportunity to fix the problem.

So, I upgraded from the standard lens implant (that insurance pays for) to Toric lens implants that we hoped would correct a significant chunk of that astigmatism. Boy, were we surprised.

After both eyes were done, my vision has improved about 90% and I no longer need to wear glasses to walk around or drive. I need readers to do computer work and reading, but that’s part-time, specific task stuff. To say that this is life-changing is not an understatement. 

I’m happy to share the whole story with you in person some time. Hope you all have as good a weekend as I’m going to.

AUTONOMOUS ZONE

Happily, I write for myself in the hope that my stories will eventually find readers. I publish my work myself (through Amazon) rather than pursue a traditional publishing contract because I think there’s value in putting the work out and moving on to the next piece rather than sitting on it and wondering if I know the password to get by the gatekeepers. It’s like being in a band and booking an open mic night in order to play in front of people and gauge how the songs you’ve written are working.

There’s been some static regarding an author of note punching down at those of us who are writing independently of a publisher this week, seemingly extolling the virtues of gatekeeping. Well, you know how that goes. My thoughts on such things are that writers of all stripes supporting each other is a good thing. Unless, that is, a big name writer decides to say something reprehensible or just plain wrong. Then they’re a big enough name to be on their own. I will leave it at that.

I’ll be doing a local meet and greet in support of THE ENVOY in the next couple of weeks and still put the word out about it on various social media including my pretty active account on Threads (@ajasont if you want to follow along there). Since that book is the first of a tetralogy, you might be wondering what’s next. If so, fear not. I’ve completed a draft of MASQUE, the Second of All the Devils Are Here, and am beginning revisions this week. I’m hopeful it will be out in late February. 

TIME TO RECLINE

That’s all for this update, don’t you think? If you’ve read this far, thank you. If you’ve read any of my books, THANK YOU. I’m so grateful for everyone who leaves a rating or review and they really do help get the books in front of more potential readers. That’s the kind of support every single indie writer needs and it cost only a little bit of time.

Until we meet again, take care of yourself. Do something fun, take a nap, watch a mindless show, listen to music, drink lots of water. If you’re pondering a major decision, talk to someone who has no investment whatsoever about it and think on their thoughts before deciding. Naps are really good for this.

I’ll see you when I see you.

Expectations of Writers

I’m on Threads and the writing community that’s building up there is very much akin to the early days of the old Twitter. It’s supportive and positive, so if you’re a writer don’t hesitate to take the plunge if you haven’t already. (I’m @ajasont over there like I am on most social media.)

One of the questions that popped up this week was whether or not slow writing equaled bad writing. (It doesn’t.) The question itself is kind of ludicrous. Everyone writes at their own speed and their own level. Don’t hang onto the old stories of pulp writers banging out word after word, page after page during the Great Depression. Your motivations are likely pretty different than theirs and for sure the markets are VERY different. 

Focus on what you do and do it the best you can. You’re only competing with yourself. 

Unless you’re doing work for someone else and you have a deadline, take your work at your pace. If you agree to the deadline, do your best to make it because you want to be a professional. That’s the only caveat I have to offer you in that regard.

Remember there’s no one path to success and you get to define what success looks like for you. Don’t let anyone question whether you’re serious about being a writer according to their expectations. Everything is different from 10, 20, 40 years ago and if anyone is trying to shame you into being something THEY are not, then the best advice I can give is to ignore them. You do your thing the way you can do it.

This is my opportunity to remind you that if you’re in my area this weekend, I’ll be appearing at Free State Con, promoting The Envoy and trying to be charming. Stop by if you’re around. If not, I’ll remind you, too, that you can read The Envoy through Kindle Unlimited or if you’d like you can order a physical copy.

The Struggle is Beautiful

On my daily commute there is often some sort of construction going on. Without it, people, at their best, do a shitty job of merging coming in either way too fast or way too slow for the traffic already on the highway. I suspect it’s because they don’t look ahead like they should and try to match the speed thinking that “someone will be nice and let me in.” They’re right, someone will let them in, but it’ll almost cause a wreck. The world would be better if we weren’t trying to do so much all at once and could follow simple directions like “Use Both Lanes” and “Merge Here” don’t you think?

Hi, I’m Jason and I write science fictional things.

Push It In

So, August has been pretty much a loss for actual writing. Oh, I’ve achieved a few thousand words here and there, but mostly it’s been thinking. Which is part of writing. Actually, it’s the larger part of writing because the more thinking you do about what you want to write the easier it is to write and you spend less time (and it’s more enjoyable!) doing the actual writing. It’s part of the job to stare off into the distance, you know?

Life gets in the way and that’s part of writing, too. The experiences you have, the drama, trauma, and associated emotions all inform what you’re working on, especially if you’re thinking about it. In July I traveled and was worried about the mess with the broken water main. In August, it was the damned heat wave that was cooking everything for a week here, running up the electric bill and testing the new compressor on my home’s AC. At the day job, the start of a new school year is always stressful and so with all that on my mind, about all I could manage for writing was thinking about what to write when I could put the time together.

I justified it a little by saying “I just put out a book, too, and the promotion of that took a lot of effort. I can relax.” Well, brother, relax I did when I wasn’t working. Um, I tried to relax. I wasn’t very successful at it but I did finally come to the conclusion that these problems I had were first world problems and I shouldn’t let them consume me the way I was and so relaxing came a little easier. Not much, but some. Writers like me, in the lowest echelon, don’t make the kind of money that would make a difference on the bills for new siding on the house or toward paying off school loans or credit cards. The money people in my strata make is maybe enough for a decent bottle of whiskey three or four times a year. So I should work on my promotion, yeah? Or do I spend the time on craft and build better stories?

I leave the solution as an exercise for the student.

Capable of Evil

In 2022 I fell in love with the adaptation of William Gibson’s THE PERIPHERAL that Amazon produced. I thought the characters were well drawn, the situations were wonderfully complex but easy to keep up with, and the overall arc of the first season was not only logical, but inevitable given the actions of the bad guys.

In February of ‘23, it was renewed for a second season and there was much rejoicing! We were going to learn what was next! I bought the book and the related book, AGENCY, in anticipation of season 2. (I haven’t read either, yet, but I will before the end of the year. I’ve gotta finish Michael Moorcock’s latest, THE WOODS OF ARCADY, first.)

And here in August of ‘23, Amazon announces the cancellation of the renewal. They blame it on the striking writers and actors, but it’s a calculation of the bottom line more than anything. Even if the strike ended tomorrow (it won’t), the second series wouldn’t be available until (likely) some time in 2025. Most of us who enjoyed this series would have been willing to wait but I’m betting there’s a tax reason to axe it. See Warner’s decision to shelve Batgirl for context.

But to blame it on the strike? Not necessarily evil, but definitely not cool. The studios, including Amazon, could end this strike by simply agreeing to pay everyone a living wage. It’s really that simple.

At Capacity

Not much this time, friends, except to say that if you’re around The Amazing Free State Comicon in September, I’ll be there. If you won’t be, that’s fine. Please buy my books and tell your friends, too. If I could make one payment on my student loans with sales from books, that’d be a big win.

Take good care of yourself. Talk to one another however you can to hear each other’s voice. Don’t text. It’s too easy to misinterpret and wind up in an unwinnable argument. Be willing to give a little if you’re in disagreement but don’t compromise your integrity. Respect yourself at least as much as you say you respect the other person. Hang in there.