Cody Toye's Blog, page 4

Intangible: Revelations Excerpt

The expression on the bald man's face twisted from smirk to agony as his clothes turned into a murder of crows, ripping and tearing at his flesh. When the birds flew, only a former shell of a human remained. Flesh and bone of a tattered corpse lay upon the cold ground, a testament to the raw power of the new found gods.
"Bow…" started Bryan.
"…to us!" Finished Ryan
The crowd dropped to their knees and placed their heads between their hands, tears swelling in their eyes. They intently listened for their next command. Daggers rained upon the ground, making a terrifying sound echo in the silence. No one dared look up from their holy position.
"Faithful servants, prove yourselves in the eyes of your gods."
"We need thirteen of you. Only thirteen."
"Thrust the blade of redemption…"
"…into the flesh of the nonbelievers," finished Bryan. The crowd scrambled to their feet and dove for the nearest blade, driving it repeatedly into the bodies of their long-time loved ones.
Check it out now!
Revelations

Operation Blackmail Excerpt

A cold piercing stare is all he could manage. The letter addressed to him had over two hundred signatures and spanned four departments. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of it all. Mr. Quinten straightened his tie and took one more swig from his magic elixir in the frosted glass. Once more he focused on the words.
Mr.Quinten,
We are unsure if you are aware of the changes that have taken place this week in your company. The work environment we endure is highly unacceptable! We have no coffee, we have no office supplies, and the rolling blackouts are making our work space increasingly hot. On top off all of that, we have no 'Enter' keys on our keyboards. Many rodents wearing what appears to be a diaper will not let us open the cabinets or icebox in the break room. We have seen two supervisors leave, a toupee dangle, and a horrible stench is coming from the fern in the lobby. We cannot take it anymore. You have until Monday to fix it or we will be on strike.
He slammed the paper down on the table and slumped in his chair. A mix between anger and sadness drained him of any energy he had left. He knew what they were talking about. The blackouts affected him as well, and he had to send his receptionist to a coffee shop every morning this week. Another day or two like this and his company may never recover. The losses were astronomical, the worst they have ever been in his company and he may not see another million dollar month.
Dribbles the Squirrel; Operation BlackmailSoon to be released on:AmazonBarnes and NobleSmashwords

1st Author Interviews: Interview with Cody Toye Author of 'The Propositio...

1st Author Interviews: Interview with Cody Toye Author of 'The Propositio...: "Book Title: The Proposition: Intangibles Publisher: Trestle Press Author: Cody Toye Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy Kindle: The-Proposition: Intangib..."

Guest Post by Artist Danielle Thomas

Danielle was nice enough to take time away from her work on our graphic novel to come up with a great post for me to share. I am thrilled to introduce you to her, and show you this wonderful sample of her talent. I expect big things, but until then see even more artwork of hers at her website.


Hello, everyone. Is that how you start a blog?  I'm no good at these things, I suppose.  But, I will do my best!
A little bit about me as a person.  I am a fun loving person, who enjoys video games, anime, manga, writing, drawing, and a whole bunch of other things.  I tend to spend most of my time at home playing games, and hanging out with my fiance and my animals.  Honestly, that's probably all you want to know about me. 
As an artist... I love to draw, and I love to write.  I love to Forum RP, which is where I get my creativity from.  Most of my art is based off of some of my RP characters.  I love to draw them, because I feel like I need to give them even more life.  I do also draw random things just from bursts of inspiration.  I like to challenge myself when I draw, and new genres and ideas are really fun to me.  I've been drawing since I was young, and found that drawing anime type pictures came naturally to me.  I began drawing more frequently since the ninth grade, and slowly progressed into the artist I am now.
I am very excited and looking forward to working on this new project with Cody Toye, in making the Intangible Series a great graphic novel.

Guest Post by Author H.R. Toye

Giovanni Gelati, blog talk radio star and co-collaborator once asked my husband, fellow author Cody Toye, if he lived in fear of waking up with me standing over him with a butcher knife in my hand.  While I can indeed shoot razor sharp darts at him with the look that is perfected over time with every married woman, I'm sure Mrs. Gelati can vouch for this; I have never caused him physical harm.  I have ways of making him attest to this point, mwahaha.How is it then that I can delve into the darker side of human nature without myself having murderous intent?  The answer does not necessarily come easily.  I have a vast interest in human psychology, and have done extensive research on the matter.  I have also delved into several different religions and have studied the link between good and evil.That alone does not allow me to create the scenes of murder and mayhem that sometimes make an appearance into my stories.  I also suffer from severe insomnia.  It is sometimes in this insomniac state that I have vivid daydreams.  I also have nightmares that sometimes translate into good story ideas.  Now the reader may wonder if I suffer from some sort of psychosis.  I will answer that with…nothing that can be proved.While writing however, nothing is as it seems.  The characters quickly develop a life of their own.  I then become as a silent observer, merely documenting what the characters are doing.  When the story unfolds, I am often surprised at how it turns out.  I do not revise the story for more than grammar or if it seems I may have missed a vital piece of information.  Sometimes I write for several hours and go to bed, just to have one of the characters tell me I'm not done yet.Thank you for taking time out to visit with me, and learn a bit more about how I write.  The last thing I would like to add is that of the three Debtor's Chip digital shorts that I have out, Aurora is by far the darkest of them.  I hope you enjoy her.
Check out her work!DevinFrederickBring us your living...now!

Artist Danielle Thomas, The Secret Revealed.

   Who is Danielle Thomas? She is the very talented artist hand chosen to carry out a, until recently, secret project. She has the talent, she has the drive, and she has a fantastic storyline. What is this project you may ask? I have spent some time searching the virtual world to find the perfect match to create a graphic novel from my digital short story series Intangible.
   She is the one. She sent me an amazing rough draft and that was it...the magic has started. Ladies and Gentlemen, I release the news that Intangible will be both a digital short and a graphic novel. How exciting! Do you want to see what to expect? check out her portfolio and leave comments. Let her know what you think.
Artist Danielle Thomas

Guestpost by Author Benjamin Sobieck

Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs. Benjamin Sobieck What happens when you have a cranky old guy with intestinal issues, an RV, spray paint, Walmart and The ATF. Why you have the first, hopefully of many, adventures of Maynard Soloman. The thing about it is not the hijinks that Maynard gets into, but the prose. It is so rich and amazing that that is what makes it for me. The comedy of the situation, you fruit bat, is just a side bar to the whole thing. I defy you in today's modern digital short story universe to find something like it, that evens comes close to comparing to it. My experience with Maynard is different than others I got to watch him being born on the digital page during "Who Whacked The Blogger" , the Author's Lab/Collaboration I did with Benjamin Sobieck. I told him right away, once I read his part, "You need to run with character, he is amazing" or something along those lines.  Old gumshoes have been done before and will be done again, but Maynard Soloman has a wit, a charm, and a way with words. The originality, the direction and the narrative are just too great to pass this read up. Dropping the $.99 on both "Who Whacked The Blogger" and "Maynard Soloman Solves The War On Drugs" is an investment in laughs, smiles and fun. Hop into Maynard's  'bago and go for a ride, have some fun, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.Here is a little something more on Maynard:"It takes a cranky ol' badger like the semi-retired PI Maynard Soloman to solve something as lofty as the War on Drugs. But the cantankerous detective does just that in "Maynard Soloman Solves the War on Drugs." It all starts with a case of indigestion late one night. This short story is part of the Maynard Soloman series from Trestle Press, dedicated to bringing readers the crustiest in satirical humor.Benjamin Sobieck is the author of "Cleansing Eden" and The Author's Lab/Colaboration "Who Whacked The Blogger" in addition to the new Maynard Soloman series of digital short stories. His professional journalism career spans newspapers, magazines, television, websites and books. Sobieck is currently an online editor for a group of national outdoors magazines and one television show. He has a degree in journalism and a minor in creative writing from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. He and his wife reside in Minnesota. "

Paranormal musings: Ghost Inside and Out

Paranormal musings: Ghost Inside and Out: "I'm gearing up to release Tawny's Ghost, last year's Utah RWA Golden Pen winner. Along with that I'm looking for other people to share real..."

Guest Post by Author Chantel Boudreau

 This is one incredible author. If you haven't had time...drop what you are doing and read one of her books now! How about The Ghost in the Mirror? Hell Hath No Fury? or Fervor? Do any of these ring any bells? If they don't buy them now to see what the fuss is all about. Chantel was nice enough to lend a few words about her writing, and I was lucky enough to post on it. Thank you Chantel and I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did!

The Ghost in The Mirror

Hell Hath No Fury

Fervor

 
Narrative-ly Speaking
By Chantal Boudreau
Choosing what voice you are going to use is an important part of the planning process in fiction writing.  Normally, I hate writing in first person.  I don't think I'm very good at it, and I don't think that I necessarily do the narrator proper justice, but sometimes the stories demand it, so I grit my teeth and go.  I have a much easier time approaching a tale as observer.  I've heard several writing peers suggest that writing for them is a matter of recording the movie going on in their head, and it is a similar experience for me.  When writing in first person you are no longer observing but have to immerse yourself into the character completely, and I don't like trying to present a story from inside of someone else's skin.
When voice does give me trouble, aside from the narrative, part of the problem is language.  I can usually (although not always – I've had my dismal failures) capture the nature of the characters in the dialogue.  My novel, Fervor, was a test of skill, because the characters were very unusual children and it takes some careful explaining as to why an 8-year old speaks like a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, but the 13-year-olds he's with sound more like (although not exactly like) typical teens.  In most cases, though, it's just a matter of making sure their personality shows through their word selection.
Accents can be difficult to master too, and sometimes I skip trying to reflect the accent in the dialogue and just note it in the description, like with my wandering barbarian, Traveller.  As one of my test readers pointed out though, it's best to try and find a way in tone or expression to really distinguish your characters in a story, so that there's never any question as to who is speaking if you have no dialogue tags (my dialogue tags are an overused guilty pleasure, but it is not a habit I'm willing to discard.)
Returning to first person narrative – the hard part for me is not just the perspective, or capturing the voice, but the fact that the voice is coming from inside the character's head.  You actually have to think like that character.  That might come easily to some writers, but my brain fights the idea of regressing to the mind-set of a precocious 7-year-old child trapped in a very traumatic situation, like in my short story, "Little Sister," or even worse, a particularly repulsive, villainous character who is bemoaning a well-deserved, but pretty horrific fate, like in my Arabian moralistic fable, "Dry Heat."  It is a struggle to go against your better nature when it wants you to keep a character like that at arm's length, and in a way, it comes as no surprise to me that such a story elicited very mixed responses from my test readers, some glowingly positive and others filled with revulsion.  Seeing things from that character's point of view can be horribly unsettling.
There is also the second person option, an obscure form commonly used in select-an-ending YA tales, but I haven't dabbled in that narrative style yet.  I'm not one to shy from challenge, but I think my stories will remain, for the most part, third person.  That still leaves me with whether I want the story to be directed – from a single character perspective using the third person narrative – or omniscient which allows for a broader point of view.  Once again, it really depends on what the story demands.  In Fervor, my digital short story, "The Ghost in the Mirror," and in my current work-in-progress, When You Whisper, the story really is from one character's perspective, just not from inside their head, so third person directed was fitting.  The majority of my novels, however, cover varying scenes with multiple characters and don't just follow one protagonist in particular.  With these ensemble tales, third person omniscient seems to be more appropriate.
I'm sure there are those who disagree with my approach (especially my use of dialogue tags,) but as an artist, I have to present things in a way that leaves me satisfied with the results, and that I would enjoy if I were the reader and not the writer.  It's good to have knowledge of technique and style, but maintain that awareness that the voice you choose should match your vision and should not adhere to someone else's absolutes.

Chantal Boudreau, author of The Ghost in the Mirror, gives Dribbles a five star rating

Just how far would a disgruntled ex-employee go to take revenge for losing his job after many years of service? The protagonist comes up with a creative plan, the likes of which would be difficult to imagine. On the surface this story appears quite comical, but there is a sad and cynical undertone resonant of the feelings of a man lost. The main character is in the desperate downward spiral resulting from having his sense of security ripped away and his hold on the future destroyed. While I laughed in places, I still found it very moving. Also, even though the reader may root for Bob and want to cheer him on, especially since his primary target is rather heinous and heartless, you'll also find yourself feeling sorry for him.
Dribbles Review