Steve Umstead's Blog, page 8
July 18, 2012
Great article on what really happens when flushed out at airlock. Good scifi research here…
As a scifi writer, I love the idea of throwing the bad guy out of an airlock. It’s like the ultimate in poetic justice. Better than taking a lame blaster to the heart, or being eaten by a space slug, or falling into a star. But what really happens to the human body when suddenly [...]
July 13, 2012
More of my shorts available! Wait, stop…I mean short story. New scifi short released, INCURSION
You dirty minds… I’ve got a new scifi short story (not an actual pair of shorts) that just hit the various e-book platforms. It was a little idea I had rolling around in my mind for several weeks, finally sat down one day (taking up a valuable table at Barnes & Noble for many hours) [...]
July 10, 2012
Naming characters: The Upside of Creativity, and a Trap
A writer-centric post today on one of the most enjoyable parts of being a writer – the creativity it allows me. Specifically, in making up names. I’ve talked before about naming settings (cities, planets) and items (vehicles, weapons, ships), but this post is strictly about naming characters…and a trap one can fall into. A few [...]
July 6, 2012
Why an iPad Mini would shake up more than just the tablet world. Look out e-readers…
It almost seems like a foregone conclusion. According to most reports, Apple is gearing up to launch a smaller form factor iPad in the fall, likely October, and likely at the same time they announce the iPhone 5.* And while Steve Jobs adamantly decried the smaller size, because of what’s occurred over the past year-plus [...]
July 1, 2012
My podcast interview with fellow author Robert Swartwood. It’s cool, I promise.
A few days ago I had the pleasure of being ‘interviewed’ by Robert Swartwood, author of several novels, including The Calling, The Serial Killer’s Wife, Man of Wax, and No Shelter (one of my favorite reads of 2011, with a funny story behind the pseudonym – one which you’ll only know if you listen.) We [...]
June 27, 2012
I’m now syncing *sideloaded* books across multiple devices. Here’s how…
Just a little quickie tech-talk post today. Last week I picked up my first iPad* a few days after buying my son an iPad 1 and falling in love with it. * Why is this significant? Because I’ve been a Mac-head since 1986 (lugged a Mac SE-HD to college in 1988 as my portable computer [...]
June 18, 2012
A breakthrough, epiphany, lightning bolt, whatever… My plot will now continue.
About a month ago, I started a general outline for a new story, completely outside of the Gabriel arc. Got my main character, sketched him out, put together some secondaries, wrote a half dozen sentences outlining where I wanted it to go, and set up a Scrivener project with blank chapters and character cards. I [...]
June 12, 2012
Congrats to the two gift card winners for helping spread the Gabriel word while I was away
Big thanks to the following two random winners of a $10 Amazon Gift Card: Stefano Scaglione (@steve74it) and @pamplainandtall A couple of weeks ago I put out a little sale on Gabriel’s Journey, the complete trilogy (including the Zero Point sequel now, so yes…sort of a quadrilogy…), at $5.99* before I headed to Europe on [...]
May 27, 2012
Gabriel’s Journey, the complete trilogy with bonus Zero Point prequel, on sale 33% off while I’m away! Spread the word?
While I’m away, the price gremlins will play! Last week I ran some two-day sales on the individual books in the Gabriel series; starting today, the complete collection of Gabriel’s Journey (including the Gabriel: Zero Point prequel) will be on sale for 33% off. Hey, that’s almost one third! The regular price is $8.99 (which [...]
May 25, 2012
How about a little book trivia? Prizes, I promise…but no cash.
Just for funsies (yes, that is a word – squiggly red underlined notwithstanding), I thought I’d do a little first line matching challenge. I currently have seven published works out there (not including Gabriel’s Journey, which is the compilation of four books), and each obviously has an opening line. Some may be obvious, some obscure, [...]
