Jason Arnett's Blog, page 6

The Actionopolis Books: Agent of DANGER & Evolver

Today I got my physical copies of the second and third Agent of D.A.N.G.E.R. books, Extraordinary Arrays and Weird Circles. Take a look at them, aren’t they cool?

Weird Circles, Extraordinary Arrays, and Strange Polarity. Covers by Phil Hester and Shannon Eric Denton. Published by Actionopolis. Available at Amazon.com.

Alongside the first book, Strange Polarity, I now have a novel published in three parts. 373 pages in total (plus the front- and back-matter) of the adventures of Ezekiel Wolfe and his cadre of disavowed secret agents as they battle mythological and magical figures for the fate of the Earth.

They’re aimed at 5th or 6th grade me, hungry for something that was out of the ordinary for its time but full of Weird Things and Cool People. When I started writing AoD:SP in 2012, I wanted to emulate the kinds of books I was buying from the Scholastic paper that came about once a month. That kind of feel was important to me as I crafted this tale, and I knew it was going to be three books so I laid out some ideas to pursue in the other two. Like I said, I wanted to have fun with them, so I did.

There was a long time between the release of AoD:SP in 2013 and AoD:EA and AoD:WC here in 2021. A lot of things contributed to the delays not the least of which was my own slow production on them. The original document that Shannon Denton, Rob Worley, Phil Hester, and Jon S. Lewis worked on was a great spine, but it needed muscle and sinew to show off. Demigods and alternate mythologies don’t just create themselves, you know? (Or maybe they do…)

The other title I wrote for Actionopolis is Evolver, which also is a novel in three parts: Apex Predator, Cell Structure, and Acceleration. (These books add up to 307 story pages if you’re keeping count!) Look at these covers, willya?

Apex Predator, Cell Structure, and Acceleration by Hester and Denton (with McCorkindale on Apex Predator). Published by Actionopolis. Available on Amazon.com.

E:AP dropped in 2011 with E:CS and E:A following 2015 and 2016, respectively. Which means I’ve been working on these two novels for about ten years. That’s not too bad, is it?

My influences may be slightly more obvious in Evolver with nods to Michael Moorcock and Ray Bradbury, and even a couple of British science fiction shows in there, too. But I took the same approach as I did on Agent of DANGER: have fun and tell a rollicking good story. I’m so happy with how both have come out, though I would like to go back and tell younger Jason just where he needed to pay more attention and up his game more than slightly.

The great thing about these six books is that they’re a chronicle of about ten years of my writing life, warts and all. Yes, there are mistakes there and many things I would do different if I was doing a page one rewrite, but that’s not the point. These objects exist as they are because of who I was when I wrote them. By the time they were available to anyone else, I had moved on. That’s the case with any writer, I suspect, given publishing schedules.

I am proud of what I’ve done here, as any writer should be of their own work. If you’ve read them, I hope you liked what you got. If you haven’t read them, I hope you’ll find what I’ve described above: fun adventures.

While this kind of reads like a eulogy, it’s not. I’m happy in my relationship with Actionopolis and I actually have plans to write more Evolver and there’s been some casual talk of continuing with Agent of DANGER, too. I’ve also been playing around with a third title, even wrote about 7,000 words of it. But I don’t know when I’ll get back to play in these particular sandboxes. I’m hopeful for maybe 2023, but we’ll see. When inspiration strikes, you got to go to it.

I love these characters, I love these books. I hope you’ll find it in your heart to love them, too. Take care! I’ll see you at Planet Comicon August 20 – 22, 2021. Be safe, stay healthy, wash your hands, and cover your cough.

Rudow Can’t Fail

A couple years ago, after the first day of Planet Comicon, Rob Schamberger and I went to dinner as we usually do. Early on in the evening, he asked me if I’d want to collaborate with him on a novel he had in mind.

“Fuck yeah,” I said without hesitation.

Over the next couple of hours he laid out what he was thinking and we had some back forth with me asking questions so that I understood the concept he was going for. As he kept talking, I kept nodding and getting more and more into the concept. It felt like he was drawing the plans for a house, well, more like a universe, with lots of room to play around in and explore a lot of things.

The rest of the weekend I started making notes about what we’d talked over, started writing down questions that would have to be answered, and building the framework of a world we could set this in. My excitement built and kept building. It’d been awhile since that had happened. (We don’t need to get into why, just roll with it.)

Over the course of the next year we traded links to pages of things we thought were relevant, met several times in person to flesh out characters and begin working on the plot. It was an interesting time because we both have day jobs and I was going back to school. We knew this was going to take a while, but there would be one helluva novel at the end of it with potential for more. Maybe a lot more.

Fast forward to March of 2020, where we were planning on having dinner after that first night of Planet and continuing the work we’d begun. Then COVID and lockdowns and an abundance of caution slowed everything down, but it didn’t stop it. We texted, messaged, and Zoomed to stay in touch. One day Rob said something about an idea he had for a side story, a novella.

You’ve had enough history to this point so I’m just going to show you what we worked up last year, in time for Planet Comicon 2021:

Original painting by Rob Schamberger. 2021.

Rob told you the story of the cover in his announcement. I’ll tell you that this is the most fun I’ve had writing a story in a long, long time. Rob wanted a “Mars noir” and I asked if he wanted James M. Cain, Jim Thompson, or Raymond Chandler-styled noir. “You had me at Jim Thompson,” he said and I was overjoyed. There were no chains on what we would do.

Here’s part of the opening, a preface from Rudow himself:

       Here’s my required disclaimer: We’re going to cover adult themes, adult situations, and a lot of adult language. If you don’t like that stuff, well, tough. That’s the way it played out, there is no ‘clean’ version. You wanted to know about the situation on Mars? This is how my whole world changed. It’s about sex, infidelity, cursing, and murder. Maybe you would’ve done something different, maybe you would’ve never done anything like I did. 

        

It’s going to be available through Amazon on or about August 3rd, in paperback and Kindle versions, and if you watch me on Twitter or Instagram you’ll see some stuff about it leading up to our appearances at Planet Comicon in Kansas City August 20 – 22. I’m looking forward to seeing you all there. It’s going to be one helluva show.

Agent(s) of D.A.N.G.E.R. Covers! For Real!

The cover for the second Agent of D.A.N.G.E.R. Book, EXTRAORDINARY ARRAYS. Art by Phil Hester and Shannon Eric Denton. 2021. Published by Actionopolis.

After several false starts, the writing got turned in and then waited for things to move around. I don’t remember exactly how it was since I turned it in the first time, but I got to tweak it last year and make it the best I could. I’m happy with how it came out and let me tell you, those hungry mouths are nightmare fuel if you look at them long enough. Here’s the back cover copy:

Ezekiel Wolfe now knows magic is real and mythology is history. But how does it all fit together?

The ancient demigod Homan escaped his thousand-year prison and has returned to Earth to fulfill his unnatural destiny. Wolfe and his agents race around the world to stamp out Homan’s evil and find a kindred spirit fighting the same battle. Is she friend or foe? And will it make any difference if Homan is as powerful as they fear?

And now…

The cover for the third Agent of D.A.N.G.E.R. Book, WEIRD CIRCLES. Art by Phil Hester and Shannon Eric Denton. 2021. Published by Actionopolis.

Weird Circles has been ready to go for a little bit, too, and I had the same opportunity to tweak things as I did with Extraordinary Arrays and caught some – well, not mistakes but things I was glad to be able to make better. This isn’t necessarily the final book in this series, or even my last book with Actionopolis, but it wraps up all the things I set up and lays out the possibility for more to come. Here’s the back cover copy:

Ezekiel Wolfe, Abramov, and Zheng anxiously search for their lost comrades, Cannon and Santiago only to be challenged by the Dusk Embassy, an agency of the demigod Homan.

Continuing their quest around the world through magic and mythology, the team will face their greatest test against a bizarre army of supernatural soldiers before facing Homan himself. Will the team be reunited or forever separated? Can they defeat the demigod again?

Both books will be available in the next couple of weeks and if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll be among the first to know when they go live. Thank you all for coming on this journey with me. Stay tuned, because there’s more to come.

CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

I'm done here, nothing left to say on this platform.

Find me, if you like, elsewhere, but for now be advised I've shuttered this blog. I'll leave it for a while longer for historical purposes but this is the last new content that will appear here.

Cheers, everyone.

It was fun while we were here.

Jason
February 26, 2020

A New Context

Well, it certainly is dusty around here. No wonder. I've been gone since March.
I'm dubious about being here, about poking my head back in to see if there's an audience to be built in this space or not because the last year has been difficult.
But maybe there are other reasons to be back. It might be worth exploring.
So why now? I don't know. Probably because I had a great day at a favorite small comicon yesterday. Probably because I know there's not enough interest in a newsletter and there have been things I've wanted to talk about at more length than just in a social media post. Probably because I want to get back in the game after taking some time away.
There won't be any regularity except that I hope it'll be once a month. Maybe. Probably.
Anyway, let's see what happens. Thanks for being here.

The Load Out

[blows the dust off the place]

Yeah, been a while.

It's probably time to shutter the blog and everything here. I've so overcommitted myself that I've dropped the ball on nearly everything. I've let down my friends who I value too much to have been such a jerk. To them, I am so sorry. I am trying to keep my self together and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I hope you'll bear with me.

I have a lot to say and the blog has been a certain kind of freedom to say nearly everything I've wanted to over these last years.

But, it's time to look at new ways to reach people.

I've hesitated pressing the button on a newsletter but that may be the thing to do. Once a month or so, anyway. Just to make sure that folks who're interested can get the news and developments about stories coming out. And maybe boost some signal for my friends who publish.

Speaking of which, check out Nick Forristal's website, then I want you to go check out the comic for Five Man Midget Death Squad written by Nick with very lush, clean art from Eric Wright. Recommended.

The other quick recommendation I have for you is to go buy a copy of Melissa Lytton's Echoes of a Dream. It's so, so good and I want you to buy it so that she'll keep writing because her voice is strong and she's got damn good ideas. You'll love it.

So, here we are coming to the end of this blog. I will be at Planet Comicon April 29 - 31 doing Velocity Stories and will have copies of the now complete Evolver trilogy. My publisher will be there and so will the cover artist, both of whom are wonderful people to have allowed me in to their universe to develop those characters. Come see all three of us.

For updates (for now - until I get the newsletter rolling) reach me on Facebook or on Twitter. Watch for an announcement about commissions going into Planet Comicon next week, too.

It's been grand, kids. This is where the sidewalk ends. Stay in touch.

Jason

Get Thee Behind Me 2016

What a year.

I don't need to revisit much of 2016, but I'm grateful for everyone who helped me help my folks this last fall. I'm grateful for everyone who read The Cold Distance. There's more to come this year. As well, there will be more Agent of DANGER in 2017 and the final (for now) installment of Evolver.

And I'm going to be trying some different stuff here, too. I'll focus on the things I enjoy reading, watching, and listening to. I want to make sure that we're as positive as possible but I will also comment on the state of politics in Kansas and the nation. My fear of what could happen has been overwhelming at times, barely balanced with the knowledge (really, hope) that it may not be as bad as I fear.

I'm coping with the loss of my mother by remembering all the cool stuff that happened. All the dinners with friends, the new friends, the stories I had the opportunity to write for absolute strangers. Good books, good music, and good films that all transported me away from the troubles of the day.

Definitely ready to move on.

For all that 2016 was awful, 2017 doesn't have to try hard to be better. Here's my wish that it will potentially be twice what this last year was. Here's my wish that we as a people will be more loving, tolerant and inclusive. Which is a mighty tall order given the rancorous tone the last few months, but it's what I hope for.

2017 doesn't have to be the greatest year ever. But it can be.

Separation Stages

Here we are nearing the end of the year and I'm glad. It's been rough but wonderful, terrible but enlightening, long and exhausting but fulfilling and invigorating.

Like every year, it's the mix of things that make it overall good or overall bad. 2016 has been a heady mix of extremes that I'm ready to leave behind me but which I've been improved by having experienced. Let me be clear, though: I'm as ready as anyone to leave 2016 in the dust.

But that means that I have to have a plan for next year. Regular readers may be aware, my plans for this year went up in a mushroom cloud at the end of July. I could whine and cry about my failures to achieve on a number of levels but what good does that do? No, I'd rather stand up, stretch, and renew my determination to be a writer. But plans have to be flexible and relevant.

The first thing I did was make a list of the projects that are in limbo at the moment but which need to be addressed. Here's the list:

Three parts of a four-part novel.A juvenile adventureAnother juvenile adventureThose are things that I had meant to have done and out in the world or almost out in the world by this point. I also have a list of things that have arisen over the last few weeks:A collaboration on a novelA short storyAnother short storyA novella Which really isn't a lot (maybe?) but it's the list of things on my mind currently. The collab novel has some some big ideas and a few notes to it and the novella is last on the list because it's the newest. The short stories are about half-written but need to be revised as I've seen a different ending for both. The juvenile adventures are plotted and have extensive notes and there's nothing really holding me back from writing them. AND there's another thing floating around out there but I'm not sure it's near ready enough, or that there would be enough interest in it to pursue to completion. We'll see.
And of course none of this accounts for anything new that presents itself. Nor does it include any of the stories I sent out for projects that for whatever reason failed to materialize. Maybe they'll see the light of day, maybe they won't. 
But I'm finding some enthusiasm again. What I've learned over the last six months is that I can't write effectively while grieving. And while the grief is still with me, I'm figuring out what I'm excited about with each of these projects. I'm realizing it's okay to be enthusiastic about my writing. It's confusing but kind of a relief, I suppose.
So - with all that in mind, setting goals for 2017 is foremost on my mind. That's seven projects up there. I started counting up the words I think would be needed to accomplish all this and if I can write 150,000 words in 2017 I will come very close to my goal of completing this list.

Depending on a few things moving behind the scenes this week, I'll set priorities and get started. After I'd written all of the above, I had to revise the outline for the juvenile adventures so those may rise to the top since they are fresh but I'm confident that I'm going to be able to juggle multiple projects. I need to get back to The Cold Distance and that collaboration is sneaking back into my head.

Finally, for those of you who don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, all my commissions going forward will support this charity, Catch A Break, which helps survivors of cancer. Because cancer doesn't just eat one's body, it eats all the money one has. All of it. These folks are pretty great and helped my parents a lot.

More later, less soon. 

What's Going On November 2016 edition

As expected, my political post didn't have many readers. We're all tired of the damned election and you don't come here anyway to read my political views. I get it.

So what am I up to? Hey, thanks for asking!

I'm NOT doing NaNoWriMo for the second year in a row. I've found it useful in the past to be around people who're writing away, who I interact with on the NaNo forums but this year I wasn't sure I could sustain the enthusiasm for continual writing. At least not for 1700 words a day or so. I just wasn't feeling it.

But I am cheerleading over on Twitter every day. Check there if you want someone who's done it a time or two (or five) to tell you it's going to be alright, that you should work hard but enjoy the work. In the end, NaNoWriMo is a satisfying experience if you immerse yourself in it fully. And in the end, you'll learn something about yourself and your writing.

I'll be opening up to do some Velocity Stories commissions soon. If you'd like to have a custom, hand-written story masquerading as a piece of art, stay tuned. I've been told they're "little slices of awesome" and the response to all the ones I did to help with my parents' medical bills was overwhelming. This round I want to limit the number of stories so that I can crank 'em out faster.

(Funny thing about a parent passing away: you don't feel much like doing the things that make you who you are for quite a while. I'm heading back to a point where writing makes me happy and I feel like it's okay to be happy for stretches of time now.)

I'll announce openings here in the next week so stay tuned. I'm playing with the idea of stories longer than 350 words, too. I think I've figured out how to make them a piece of art but I need to be sure I know what I'm doing before I get there. They may not be available for this round of commissions but look for them in the new year. (Damn, where has 2016 GONE?) Other stuff:

I'll get back to writing more of The Cold Distance. Dee has been very patient with me but she's anxious for you all to know where she's going next. I expect we'll start to see chapters around the end of the year. That may get pushed back depending on my critique group but it will happen sooner than later. I'm working a short story that I may not publish but it's cathartic in helping me deal with Mom's passing. It's something that I've had backburnered for a number of years but it's taking shape nicely. It fits in the world of The Cold Distance but you don't need to know anything about that world to read the story. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to get back to a collaboration that there are more than a few notes for. My co-writer is not waiting for me to be ready to write (because he shouldn't) so we'll have to work out scheduling but that book would be a fun thing for both of us, I think. List this one as tentative but with real possibility.I need to revisit the outlines for books 2 and 3 of the Agent of DANGER series, get them re-approved and start writing. I must get those done in the first quarter of the new year.  Finally, the third Evolver book is turned in. Haven't seen the cover yet but I've done all my bits for it. Hopefully it will hit the stands sooner than later, too.I was supposed to have been done with all this by now. Goes to show that making plans doesn't always mean they get followed. But scheduling things is actually good for me. Bumping deadlines  and rearranging workloads is something we all have to do. It might be easier if my only job was to be a writer but the day job gets the majority of my attention at the moment.

Please accept my wishes for a lovely weekend, some good rest, and a dump truck full of the right words at the right time. You're awesome, you, and don't forget it.

A Political Post

I wrote a looong political post that amounts to this:

I voted for Hillary Clinton because she's the most qualified candidate. Because she's NOT the villain that the opposition and especially the Republican nominee have painted her to be.

Let's be clear that Mrs. Clinton has some deficiencies but not like the Republican nominee. He is racist, misogynist, dangerous and appeals to the worst of human nature.

The Republican nominee is not who he claims he is, either. He has not been honest, has not released his taxes and has actually threatened to jail Mrs. Clinton if he is elected. He has declared that he will not respect the outcome of the election if he is not the winner. He has exhorted people to 'monitor' polling places in a way that's an overt threat. This man is the single worst candidate the Republican party has ever fielded in the Presidential election. He has been endorsed by the official newspaper of the KKK. He is accused of defrauding people just like you through his university. He is accused of raping a thirteen year-old girl. He has looked at a ten year-old and exclaimed "I'll be dating her in ten years." This man is reprehensible.

He will not look out for your friends who are LGBTQ. He will exclude as many people as he can from a legitimate pursuit of life, love, and happiness. He has, since the beginning of his campaign, shouted about building a wall. He represents the party of Ronald Reagan who told Mikhail Gorbachev to 'tear down' the Berlin Wall. Do you see what kind of man the Republican party has selected? He is against EVERYthing that makes America free and brave.

Don't do this, America. Don't give him any advantage. DO NOT ELECT him to be President. He is a thin-skinned child who will do nothing for you. You will never have his kind of wealth or live in the style he does. He will see to that. He will put his foot on your back and keep you down 'where you belong'. Remember, he loves 'the poorly educated'.

Hillary is not the same, not by a long shot. She is NOT Dr. Doom or Mephisto and we do not live in the Marvel Universe. Don't get fantasy and reality confused. Think about your future, the future of the generation behind you, the future of our great country.

Please, America, DO NOT vote for the Republican nominee. We're much, much better than that.