Arshad Ahsanuddin's Blog, page 3

Status Update – GRL, etc

I’ll be a Featured Author at the Gay Romance Literature (GRL) Retreat in Denver from Oct 18-22. Stop by and say hello if you’re in the neighborhood!

In other news, I’m retiring the charity project I set up a few months ago, and restoring the price of my books back to $2.99 (except for Sunset and Zenith, which remain free, and Cathedral of the Sky, which is now $0.99 because of its shorter length).

I am also enrolling all of the books other than Sunset and Zenith into Amazon KDP Select, to see whether that platform has improved with age since our last encounter. Therefore, electronic copies of my books will only be available at Amazon sites for the rest of the year, although print editions continue to have wider distribution.

No word as yet on when (or if) I will have a final release date for my stalled WIP’s Ascension and Lancet. Still trying to find that spark that drives me. Will let you know if I manage to get a lock on it.

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on October 17, 2017 16:09

Ascension (IP4) delay

I’m kicking the release date for Ascension (Interscission Project 4) back to December, at the earliest, because I don’t have the energy to write it. I have the book completely planned out, but I just can’t seem to get the words on paper. So I’m going to take a break for a bit and focus on other projects. With luck, hopefully, I will recapture my inspiration and finish the series. Sorry for the delay.

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on August 07, 2017 19:26

PA Omnibus 2nd Ed

Okay, so I swore up and down to myself that I was done with Pact Arcanum, that I would finally stop trying to polish away the flaws of my first book. But, after it was done, I continued to poke away in different directions, writing extra scenes, additional story fragments, but never enough to release another whole book.

Then came the Interscission Project, and I set the Pact Arcanum Saga aside. Now that I am halfway through the fourth and final book of the Interscission Project, I decided I needed to take a break and recharge with an alternate project. Consider it an author’s holiday.

I looked back through the additional stories I had crafted, I realized that some were worth sharing, if I had a larger work into which I could incorporate them. Still not enough for a complete book, but they could be supporting players.

So I incorporated them into the Omnibus, and republished it as a revised and expanded second edition. The ebook should hit Amazon in a day or so, and it’s a monster (427,354 words – about 1200 pages). I figure I added about 10,000 words, which isn’t much given the size of the text, but hey, why not?

I might also release it as a four-volume paperback set, but I want to see how the new illustrations reproduce on paper first. I figure it will make a good conversation piece at the occasional convention I go to, though the real importance is to see whether Audible will allow me to rerecord alternate versions of my existing audiobooks, using a voice actor that is better known in my genre. That would certainly expand my audience, and hopefully my name recognition.

Anyway, I spent the whole weekend on it, from beginning to end, and now, it’s done. Perhaps a futile exercise, but it may have actually put me in a better frame of mind to return to my existing projects.

Cheers,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on July 02, 2017 18:02

LGBT Fundraising Page

I have a serious proposition for you:

[image error]I am a hematopathologist by trade, a laboratory physician dealing with diagnosis of diseases of blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes, such as leukemia and lymphoma. I have tried to balance my work with creative endeavors, most recently by taking up creative writing since 2009. I self-published my first novel in 2011, and have continued to produce literary works relating to science fiction and fantasy with LGBT characters/protagonists.

I honestly don’t need the money. I just want to tell the stories that bubble up inside my heart, and share them with others of like mind. After much internal debate, I have decided to try an experiment: For the next six months (1 JUN 2017 – 31 DEC 2017), I am going to set the purchase price of my entire first series of books, the Pact Arcanum Saga (Sunset, Cathedral of the Sky, Sunrise, Moonlight, Starlight), to absolutely free.

Yes, free. (Author’s Note: Amazon moves at its own pace, so I can’t guarantee the price will go down there. As a compromise, I’ve dropped the Amazon prices on the PA books to $0.99 USD.)

But in lieu of payment, I have a favor to ask.

My father once told me that to truly belong to a country, you must either defend the borders, or cultivate the soil. The LGBT community is not a country with borders, but it does have enemies, sometimes among those closest to home and dearest to our hearts. I ask that you give back to the LGBT community, if not to me personally. Consider this my attempt to defend and cultivate this community in need, starting with my own backyard.

I have listed a number of Canadian LGBT charities on this page via CanadaHelps.org:

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/pact-arcanum-books-for-lgbt-fundraising/

Please donate the cost that you would have paid for these books to one or more of your choice, to pay it forward to the people of the LGBT community that need your assistance.

There is so much pain and suffering in this world. Take this one small step to help make it stop.

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin, M.D.

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Published on May 21, 2017 04:00

Concept Art Contest

I write space opera and space fantasy, with LGBT characters (mostly G and B, if I was being honest). I would like to make an offer to those of you who are Artists and Graphic designers, whether or not you’ve read my books: I desire to commission some cool concept art for my Interscission Project series, similar in theme to that created by Jayant Mall at JLabs for my Pact Arcanum series (More examples: https://www.zazzle.com/pactarcanum/poster?cg=196626862215700533. I have created a list of important story moments from the first three books, and I will attach the relevant text to act as an image prompt.

I would like to commission you as Artists to consider creating fantastic images that embody these moments and bring them to life. Preliminary work can be forwarded to me at pact.arcanum@gmail.com, or posted as comments to the story prompts, and I will make suggestions to bring it closer into my vision of the story. If revisions are satisfactory to both parties and you wish to sell the image, I will buy the image from you with credit given to you as the artist, and your copyright transferred to me by written agreement.

All images purchased by me through this contest will then be posted online and polled for a week to see which one is the ‘bestest’. The artist with the best final image will be invited to help design an original major character, whether based on themself or not, in the final book of the series, Ascension.

I was hoping artists would enjoy having a personal involvement in the book by becoming the basis for a major character in either physical appearance or personality traits. I’ve commissioned artwork before, and it ends up being a purely monetary transaction. I guess I thought this would increase engagement.

What do you think? Are you interested?

The first image prompts are listed on goodreads, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/339185

Good luck!

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on May 16, 2017 06:23

Chechen Rainbow Auction

Help support efforts to evacuate LGBT Chechens, who otherwise face incarceration, torture, and possible execution in their home country:

https://readersandwritersforlgbtchechens.wordpress.com/

Online Auction May 5-13:

https://readersandwritersforlgbtchechens.wordpress.com/online-auction/

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Published on May 06, 2017 13:09

WROTE Interview

I was recently interviewed for the WROTE (Written on the Edge) podcast, which focuses on queer storytelling in all media: http://www.wrotepodcast.com/arshad-ahsanuddin/

They also penned a review of my book Zenith, the first book of The Interscission Project: http://www.wrotepodcast.com/book-review-zenith-the-interscission-project-book-1-by-arshad-ahsanuddin/

Check them out, if you have a chance!

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on February 03, 2017 19:42

2016 Rainbow Awards

Yee-haw! Insurrection wins Best Gay Sci-Fi/Futuristic book in the 2016 Rainbow Awards, hosted by Elisa Rolle to benefit numerous LGBT charities!

Full details here: http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4929175.html

I am truly shocked and humbled by this expression of support, and thank you, Elisa, for your diligence in putting these awards together every year. You rock!

Respectfully,

Arshad Ahsanuddin

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Published on December 07, 2016 19:01