Casey Calouette's Blog, page 11

Ping and Pop

I spent the morning icefishing. The wind was straight out of the North and hammering down at about 30 MPH. With each gust the wall of my ice shack would bow inwards before slacking off.

As the ice shifted and moved it would ping and pop. This is actually a good thing. It mean it hasn’t broke up, strong ice carries sound. Bad ice just breaks apart.

Today I had igloo snow. The sort of stuff you could cut with a knife into a perfect block. The wind packed it just right. The Inuit have two hundred words for snow. It’s probably not enough.

62,200 Words – 1,500 Words since last post

Fiz Brewery Management Game

Yes, that is a Lumberjack, a man in a tiger suit, and a ninja brewing beer. I used to homebrew my own beer, I guess I still do. I just haven’t in a few years. There’s a batch of some tasty pale ale sitting my garage awaiting the brewing setup.

When I first saw Fiz I thought it would be another rather boring iOS game that was high on charm and low on detail. Oh man, how I was wrong. As I write this I’ve just finished satisfying an extraordinarily picky German Beer Store that follows a rigorous schedule. This while dealing with a clogged drain pipe that cut my yield in half. In half until I could find a sea captain who, in Mody Dick like style, took care of the problem. But only after I brewed him the right kind of beer.

The game is detailed, entertaining, and rich. I wish more developers put this sort of attention to detail into a game.

Check it out at http://brewfiz.com/

In writing news I broke the 60,000 word mark. Yay! I’m currently trying to avoid the “bigger-badder-earth shattering-escalation”. This is where every book ratchets up the action until you can’t save the galaxy again so you save more galaxies. Instead I’m setting the stage for other events that will enrichen the atmosphere. It should be exciting without getting too unrealistic.

60,300 Words – 1,150 Words Today

Mawson’s Hut – Cold as Hell

One of those truly amazing places in Polar history. Mawsons Hut. If you enjoy stories of polar survival check out the book Mawson’s Will. This dude was tough.

For weeks in Antarctica, Douglas Mawson faced some of the most daunting conditions ever known to man: blistering wind, snow, and cold; loss of his companion, his dogs and supplies, the skin on his hands and the soles of his feet; thirst, starvation, disease, snowblindness – and he survived.

Sir Douglas Mawson is remembered as the young Australian who would not go to the South Pole with Robert Scott in 1911, choosing instead to lead his own expedition on the less glamorous mission of charting nearly 1,500 miles of Antarctic coastline and claiming its resources for the British Crown. His party of three set out through the mountains across glaciers in 60-mile-per-hour winds. Six weeks and 320 miles out, one man fell into a crevasse, along with the tent, most of the equipment, all of the dogs’ food, and all except a week’s supply of the men’s provisions.

After this it only got worse for Mawson. His only companion died from eating husky livers. When he finally made it back to basecamp the boat home had left just hours before. He waited another couple of years for another ride home.

They don’t make them like Mawson anymore, at least not outside of fiction.

Had a productive day of writing. A good friend might have a Finnish cover artist lined up. If that falls through I’m posting on CGhub for a freelancer.

59,150 Words – 1,850 Words Today

One of those truly amazing places in Polar history. Maws...

One of those truly amazing places in Polar history. Mawsons Hut. If you enjoy stories of polar survival check out the book Mawson’s Will. This dude was tough.

For weeks in Antarctica, Douglas Mawson faced some of the most daunting conditions ever known to man: blistering wind, snow, and cold; loss of his companion, his dogs and supplies, the skin on his hands and the soles of his feet; thirst, starvation, disease, snowblindness – and he survived.

Sir Douglas Mawson is remembered as the young Australian who would not go to the South Pole with Robert Scott in 1911, choosing instead to lead his own expedition on the less glamorous mission of charting nearly 1,500 miles of Antarctic coastline and claiming its resources for the British Crown. His party of three set out through the mountains across glaciers in 60-mile-per-hour winds. Six weeks and 320 miles out, one man fell into a crevasse, along with the tent, most of the equipment, all of the dogs’ food, and all except a week’s supply of the men’s provisions.

After this it only got worse for Mawson. His only companion died from eating husky livers. When he finally made it back to basecamp the boat home had left just hours before. He waited another couple of years for another ride home.

They don’t make them like Mawson anymore, at least not outside of fiction.

Had a productive day of writing. A good friend might have a Finnish cover artist lined up. If that falls through I’m posting on CGhub for a freelancer.

59,150 Words – 1,850 Words Today

Language and Science Fiction

Common. High Gothic. English.

Languages are tough in Science Fiction. You want to add that spice of the unknown, the unusual, the exotic. Instead you find yourself Googling this phrase and that trying to translate. It never sounds right, and always sounds fake. I’ve recently been learning a bit of Aramaic for some characters in my story. I’m keeping it simple and beyond a few phrases adding little in dialogue.

It doesn’t sound good if I add things you don’t know. If I was Jim Harrison I could do it with Spanish, but I’m not, and you couldn’t piece together ay Aramaic.

One example that does language well is the Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison. He adds Esperanto. It works fairly well given the setting. For now I’ll only invoke it when it makes sense, otherwise it’ll get paraphrased.

57,300 Words, 1600 words since last post.

Cover Artist – Debating

I’m in need of some covers. Not just the kind that keeps the chill away.

My only experience with hiring an artist is a single robot. That was from fiverr.com and a very talented dude from the Philippines did it. It’s nice, but I don’t like the business model. Instead I’m canvasing sites like deviantart and cghub. I particularly like cghub. Some of the work there is so amazing.

So far I’m browsing and emailing people who have work I like. I’m not getting many replies back. The one reply I have back quoted me at $600. A bit higher than I hoped, but in the ballpark. I’ve seen what a good cover can do for a good book and it is amazing. Plus I would love, and I mean love, to commission a work that was amazing.

Some people I’m browsing :

Raytoh

John Staub

Fausto De Martini

Brandon Liao

OXAN

Joe Peterson

Michal Kus

What do you people think? I’m definitely open to ideas.

55,700 Words – 2000 Words Today

Snow snow!

The above photo was taken a few years ago while snowshoeing on the Gunflint Trail. It was the only time I was able to feel -40 Fahrenheit.At that cold steel behaves differently, brittle, angry. Even my jacket was starting to get crunchy.

As I write this the snow if flying in little crystals. It’s said the Inuit have two hundred words for snow, I think that vocabulary might be light. Snow is pretty amazing, it can feel totally different at varying points of the day and how deeply you stand in it.

But at -40 F it all feels the same. The snow is squeaky, clinical, delightful. Your brain knows it’s cold. Like really cold. You start to become conscious of little details. How your elbows are beginning to chill through your coat. Or how one boot seems colder than the other. Your body knows it is dangerously cold even if the mind is too dumb to do anything but enjoy it.

53,700 Words

Holiday Sale – 25% Off

Holiday Sale!

Trial by Ice is on sale for 25% off, depending on your locale that may be $2.99 or less. Now instead of listening to your Uncle Eddie espouse his political views over a double strength EggNog you can read some wicked good Science Fiction.

Thoughts on Rank

My story, being that of a military unit, has a structure of rank. Though to assume it is the same structure we see today is false. Just as our rank structure differs in purpose and intent from the war of 1812, so does that in my story.

In the prequel this will be detailed. However since you are here and I’m thinking of it I’ll jot it down.

My basis for the military in the story isn’t our modern US Army/Navy/Marines but an amalgamation of nations.

A midshipman today is little more than a cadet, a college student, while in my book they are junior officers in the chain of command. Why? They have to be. Being on a starship 30 light years away means you need to be prepared for every risk. Having a glorified college student who can’t take command is not acceptable.

The ground troops are also a mish-mash. The Army is multi-national. The Marines are as well, plus some are corporate sponsored. Sailors followed a model close to that of 18th century England. They are basically contractors.  There are civilians as well for more specialized tasks. The sailors, if they so chose, can remain in the service of the Navy and progress through the ranks. But only at the need of the Navy. If the Navy needs more, they can, and will, impress qualified spacers.

The Navy manages the ship. The sailors and civilians are signed on to a ship for a term. Many civilians and sailors see that when a ship is down they are no longer bound to it. Or when the term ends. An Officer however, even a lowly midshipman, may find himself in command if things turn to the worst.

The United Colonies tries to retain trained sailors, so there are bonuses and rewards, but it can still be tough. The biggest demand is for an experienced spacer. This is the Second Golden Age of Colonization after all.

Ground troops are different in that they have a contract and a term. Normally the term sets the duration, unless deployed and then until the end of the deployment. They are stuck. No one wants a soldier to walk off the battlefield when his date is up. Not so much of a problem with a sailor who’s stuck on a ship.

 51,600 words – 2,400 words today

On the Nose

Spent more time plotting out the prequel and working on the sequel. Thankfully not all that confusing.

I’ve found a few things that require some explanation. I’ll be using the prequel to get that across. Thanks to my latest reviewer on Amazon for pointing out a few things that need expanding.

There are a few things that were clear in my head that I didn’t get across in the story. My mistake, and to you the reader, I apologize. In the prequel I will show a bit more of the world, military, and back story.

But not too much! Some of that world still has yet to be resolved.

49,200 Words – 1,650 Today