Marc Johnson's Blog, page 7

The Emperor is Dead. Long Live the Emperor!

Recently, there was huge news in the board game/card game world. A world I’m a bit too deep in, but a guy has to have a hobby. Fantasy Flight Games bought the rights of Legend of the Five Rings from Alderac Entertaintment Group.

A New Emperor Rises

Now, L5R was one of oldest collectible card games. It lasted for 20 years. CCGs are a rare breed today. Most games are being turned into living card games, which is what L5R will be.

What is a Living Card Game?

I played L5R from about 1998 to 2013 with a few breaks in between. It was a big part of my life. Thinking about it, I was surprised by how I became a part of the community and met some really good friends. When I eventually got good at the game, we’d do road trips, competing in the various regionals. Those were some excellent times in my 20s.

At least half, if not more of my friends on Facebook, I met through L5R. Meeting people once you get out of school is hard. There’s work, which I never really socialize with people from work. Now, having hobbies, on the other hand, is a great way to make friends.

With the death of L5R, I love how everyone’s posting their story and there’s even a mention or two of how we met. There seems to be a running theme about me playing a weird Dragon deck or doing a crazy play, or sometimes both! I may never win a major tournament in any game because I never play top tier decks, but I will have fun and be remembered for what I do play.

Those memories I have of people will always be with me: the 10+ hour car trips, sleeping in the closet, packed house with way too many people, a cat jumping on my chest at 2 am (I’m allergic), friends climbing on my seats to play suicide L5R while I drove, the costumes, the shouting, the close victories, and the tough defeats.

Well, I’m curious as to where FFG is going to take L5R. The game under AEG’s watch has been slowly dying for awhile now. For the past 4- years, it has taken a sharp nose dive. Everything has gone down hill from the story, the promises of AEG, the rules, and the mechanics. I think those last two have been the most important. Every arc, which lasted approximately two years, fundamentally changed the rules of the game. It grew tiresome to keep learning new rules, and more often than not, worse rules. It also made it very confusing to those that took a break and would try to come back. I took a long break from Magic. I had no problem picking it back up a couple of years ago.

L5R just wasn’t the same game anymore. People knew it and became tired of all the rule changes, balancing issues, broken promises, lies, and story line victories that never amounted to anything. While I think two years is a bit too much, I believe L5R needs some distancing. FFG needs to decide what they’re going to do with the game. I have no doubt they’re going to completely overhaul the game, but into what? There’s a lot of different directions they can take the game. And whatever it ends up being, will the core of it be the same game I once loved?

Even if I don’t get into Legend of the Five Rings: the Card Game, the new incarnation can’t take away my memories or the great friends I’ve made over the years.

“Two hands, two swords.”

-Marc Johnson

The Misconceptions of Advertising

Advertising is a tricky thing. And if there’s one thing I’ve noticed is that indie authors have it completely wrong.

When indie authors advertise, they expect to get their money back 100% of the time. For some reason, they expect their book sales or click-throughs to equal or exceed the amount of money they spent on that day! That’s insane.

Advertising isn’t something that’s guaranteed. It’s not sales. In the simplest terms, advertising is just a way to let the potential customer to know the product is available or coming soon. Those methods of advertising can vary greatly.

If you look at our lives, everyday we’re inundated with advertising. Whether it’s from websites, apps, Facebook ads, Netflix, TV, etc., we see them all the time. They’re not as intrusive as Minority Report…yet, but they are there and they’re not going away any time soon.

What I don’t understand is why authors think they just because someone sees an ad, they’re going to immediately buy their book. Out of all the things I listed, I rarely buy ads. Think about how often you buy a product or service because of an ad you see one time. It’s rare, right? However, ads do have their uses.

Just because I don’t immediately go out and buy something, doesn’t mean I won’t later. If I’m interested, the more I see the ad, the more I’m inclined. Maybe I don’t have the money, maybe the price is too high, maybe the item I had just broke. There are a myriad of reasons to not buy something immediately after seeing an ad.

For this month, I’m going to be advertising Reawakening. I made a mistake when I advertised Catalyst because I only had the one book. Now I have three and a few short stories. I have no idea what to expect. The only thing I know is that more people will be exposed to me and my works and a few might even buy my books.

Marc Johnson

Reawakening Now Available for Pre-order!

Reawakening is up for pre-order. It’ll be out August 7th while I’m out of town.

You can pre-order it at these fine retailers:

Where Did the Time Go?

As life drifts by, I ask myself that question a lot. When it comes to my upcoming third book, Reawakening, I’ve been asking myself that more and more.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I had already written the first four books of this planned six book series. Sure, I knew there would be changes, but I thought after Catalyst, that the stuff I had written was good enough. Well, the general outline of them were anyway. Turns out, they weren’t acceptable by my–no, by any standards.

I had planned to release a book in the series every year–two years at the most. It has taken me nearly three years to release Reawakening. To me, that’s unacceptable. People have been constantly asking me where my third book is. In my head, it hasn’t been that long but when I looked at the dates I realized it was a lot longer than I thought. For keeping my…fans(?) waiting, I apologize.

Yet despite it taking so long to release, I wasn’t going to rush it. My goal has always been to put out something that I’m happy with and to put out the best work possible. If there’s one mistake I believe indie authors make it’s that they sacrifice quality for quantity, money for writing something no one will remember. But that’s a topic for another time.

Time is a funny thing. You never notice it while in the present. Only when you look into the future or past do you ever realize it. Time sneaks up on you and stalks you like a predator, whereas death tends to surprise you. When I think about all that’s happened–all that I’ve done these past few years, I realize it wasn’t enough. I should have done more especially when it came to releasing Reawakening.

But that’s all in the past now. Sometime next month, I will release Reawakening. After that, a short story or two, and then the next chapter in The Passage of Hellsfire series, Eternal Darkness. Hopefully, this time a little sooner.

Marc Johnson

Reawakening (The Passage of Hellsfire, Book 3)

Coming in August/September 2015…

The Boiling Point

As the time passes, the closer I get to releasing my third book, Reawakening. I’m nervous, but not for the reasons that usually come when releasing a work of mine.

Unlike every other indie author, I’ve never been concerned with sales. They (whomever they are) say that they average author sells around 100-300 copies of their book. Now while I’ve sold far more than that I haven’t sold enough to quit my day job. I’ve never put much stock into it because to me, the writing always came first. And it will always come first. The story and getting it out of my head means more than anything. And I’ve never been the one to sacrifice quality for quantity. Yet in the back of my mind, I’ve always wondered what would happen when I released my third book.

There have been people, including myself, that have waited until an author releases the third book in the series. By then, you generally think they’re going to finish it. Although people seem to think that The Passage of Hellsfire is only a trilogy, I’ve never said that. Also, with more books with your name on it, people will be reminded of you more. And while I have released short stories (that no one has really read), it’s not the same as having novels out.

I shall probably do some advertising and promotion when Reawakening drops, which I haven’t done since Catalyst. In hindsight, spending advertising dollars on Catalyst was a bad idea. Sure, I made some sales, but I only had one book out. So even if people were interested enough in me and my work, they couldn’t buy anything else. By now, I’m sure they’ve forgotten about me. Perhaps it’s time for a little reminder.

There is also another question lingering in the back of my mind. What if I release Reawakening and it doesn’t perform well or increase sales of my other works like I thought (hoped?) it would? What then? Should I stop writing The Passage of Hellsfire? Should I do a larger work based on my short story, The Living Remnants like people have said is far more interesting and that would probably sell more?

Nah.

The only thing I do know is that I will continue The Passage of Hellsfire until it’s finished. After that, who knows? I have a ton of other, stand alone books that I also want to get out.

If I don’t reach the boiling point, I admit, I’ll be a little disappointed and saddened. That said, I won’t worry about it much. People that know me now all seem to say how mellow I am. I wasn’t always this way. I was once very emotional. I learned along the way that I shouldn’t worry about the things I can’t control, and this includes book sales. While I can influence them to a certain extent, I can’t control them. It’s up to the people that buy my books to spread the word if they like it, and of course, up to the Book Gods.

Marc Johnson

The Seven Problems with Star Trek Voyager

I’ve just recently finished watching Voyager. It’s a coincidence that it also happens to be the show’s 20th anniversary. I’m exhausted watching this terrible show and it has taken me months (over a year?) to reach this point. I went back and started watching all of Star Trek in chronological order. I blazed through shows, movies, and even The Animated Series, but when I finally got to VOY, it all went to a screeching halt.

VOY is the worst Star Trek show of all. It doesn’t have one major problem with it that you could ignore or hope later seasons fix it. It’s got small to medium problems that add up to one mess of a show. Here are seven of them.

7. THEY’RE AWAY FROM THE FEDERATION

In theory, this should be an excellent idea. It’s what got me to watch at first. One ship by itself in hostile space, trying to make it home. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? However, it never quite worked out that well. We never quite got to see them interacting with different alien cultures and what impact they had on them. When they did, they came out like pompous asses who were always right. They Federation isn’t infallible, but for some reason, Voyager always seemed to be.

6. DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

Adding to that is the fact that they’re always constantly on the go. They do from time to time, encounter interesting aliens and cultures but most of the time you never hear from them again. I never understood whether it was because that alien’s space was so small or that the writers only had one story to tell. Voyager never felt like the Enterprise D or even the Defiant. It never felt like a home or a character like those two did even though a lot of show took place on the ship. Of course, maybe the writers didn’t want to tell another story with some of those alien races.

5. WEAK RACES

The Delta Quadrant is what I like to call the ghetto of Star Trek. Almost all the races are technologically weak. Even though Voyager is alone, she has no problem dealing with those ships. The Kazon were supposed to be the big baddie, but they need water and are jealous and memorized by Voyager’s transporters and food replicators. Much like how the Ferengi were in TNG S1, the Kazon became a joke. While there were a few strong races like the Hirogen or the dinosaurs, those were rare.

4. MADE THE BORG WEAK

Just by comparison, all the weak races in the Delta Quandrant made Voyager look strong just by standing next to them. However, the Borg were still a threat, and I must admit they built up the Borg quite well in those early seasons. Unfortunately, as the series limped along, they not only kept running into the Borg and defeated them every single time, but they sought out the Borg. I guess since the Borg weren’t any sort of threat to them since Voyager kept bitchslapping them.

3. THEY GOT STRONGER

A single ship alone in hostile space, it sounds like they should get fucked up, amirite? Yet as the seasons passed, not only did VOY always be right and defeat the Borg, by the end of it, they were a far stronger ship than when they started. They had all these upgrades and even built a little mini ship that was more powerful than most ships. It never made any sense.

There was an episode involving the Equinox, and that ship was what Voyager should have been. It was damaged and limping through space. Its crew had to make drastic comprises of the Federation moral code. Now THAT’S the show I wanted to watch! Instead of everything going perfectly and former enemies getting along, the Equinox had the drama and conflict to carry a show. Those characters I may not have liked, but at least I would have remembered them.

2. FORGETTABLE CHARACTERS

There have been so many memorable characters in the history of Star Trek that I suppose they were bound to mess up sooner or later. Enterprise was also casted terribly but that mainly had to do with the fact that they were all models and looked very similar and hot. In VOY, I couldn’t tell if it was the casting or the acting that messed things up.

There were only three characters that were any good: the Doctor, Seven of Nine, and Tuvok. It’s a shame they weren’t given more time in the show. Those three always shined when they were on screen. They explored their humanity and brought conflict or dry witticism. They were also fun at times. When it came to the other characters, they were so incredibly boring or whiny.

Yet as bad as watching Chakotay getting in touch with his “Indian” side or Paris being a man-child “playboy” were, they’re still only the number two problem with the show.

1. NOTHING MATTERS

This is by far the biggest problem with VOY. There are so many episodes where by the end of it, everything gets reset and it was like nothing happened. Whether it was the “Year of Hell,” the one where Harry Kim died, the one where Voyager crashed, and so on, nothing carried over and nothing changed. Now if you compare that with Deep Space Nine, where characters grew, died, or went crazy; ships were destroyed; and deals were made and alliances were broken. Every choice on that show mattered and you could see those effects ripple throughout seven seasons.

With VOY’s constant reset button, it made me wonder why did I bother watching those episodes anyway?

After 20 years VOY hasn’t aged well. However, while I don’t regret watching it, I’m not going to watch it again. Now if you’re interested in watching it, I would suggest watching it in order, that way you can bounce around between TNG and DS9. Here’s a site I wish I had known of earlier. http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/start... If I did, I would have finished watching all of Star Trek a lot sooner.

Now onward to greatest of all Star Trek shows, Deep Space Nine…

Marc Johnson

The Living Remnants

Esmeralda, one of the human survivors of an apocalyptic war, now lives a precarious life as a servant to a family of zombies. She knows she’s better off than many other humans, who are imprisoned in breeding camps and slaughtered for food. Her masters treat her well, and their young daughter reminds Esme of her own little girl, killed during the war. But Esme can’t forget everything she’s lost—or the knowledge that her masters could turn on her at any moment.

When rebels interrupt the zombies’ supply of human food, Esme’s position becomes even more dangerous. And this time, the price of survival may be more than she is prepared to pay.

The Living Remnants is available at these fine retailers:

AMAZON

APPLE

KOBO BOOKS

NOOK

SMASHWORDS

Calling It Quits

Over at one of the writer’s boards I frequent, there’s been a lot of threads about people quitting. Don’t worry, I’m not going to quit any time soon. Those that know me know that quitting’s not in my nature.

Reading their threads, I started to wonder why they wanted to quit? They all complained about the same thing–their lack of sales. I’m sure that depressed them.

There’s a reason why I don’t pay attention to other people’s sales or even talk about my own. There’s no point to it. If I sell a lot more books then you, you’re going to question why. You’re going to compare yourself to me and you may even try to do the things I did. Now, if that doesn’t work, you’re going to be jealous and angry.

Conversely, if I tell you my numbers and you sell more than me, you’re not even going to listen to any of the points I make. You’re going to question why should you listen to me? Obviously, I don’t know what I’m talking about since I’m not selling gangbusters.

For a guy who does little marketing and promotion and puts out books every two years and sporadic short stories, I think I sell all right. I think people who are envious of others tend to forget one important fact . People that do well, tend to share their numbers far more than people that don’t. It makes sense. People don’t tell other people how bad they’re doing in life when they ask, “How are you doing?”

I’ve never understood writers. Why do so many worry about the numbers? Because every successful author seems to say that it’s nothing that we have direct control over. Yet they’ll try to control it with everything from ads, freebies, covers, blurbs, etc.

However, my most poignant question is WHY do they care about sales? Because of that I question their motivations. Did they become authors because of the money? There’s nothing wrong with that but at least be honest to others if not yourself. When it comes to myself, I became a writer because I have all these ideas percolating in my head. Writing’s the “easiest” and cheapest way to get them out. If I could get them out by other means, I totally would. I don’t know if others feel that way.

The more successful authors seem to pump out books every other month. This part is what I believe separates a lot of writers. They seem to rush their work. I’ve read a lot of indie authors and I’m not impressed with a lot of their work. Sure, they sell way more than me, but is that the end all, be all of things? Numbers? Despite what they’ll tell, I believe they sacrifice quality for quantity. Of course, if money’s their goal then that’s perfectly acceptable.

I have entirely too much pride, but that pride does have its benefits. Because of it, I’ve always strive to put out the best possible work I could when it comes to something I deeply care about. Whether it takes 6 months, 1 year, or 15 years in the case of CATALYST, I don’t care how long it takes as long as I get it right. When I’m long gone, people aren’t going to remember a mediocre or terrible book I put out. I should put my best foot forward. I will keep working on it until I’M satisfied with it. That pride makes me have high standards so if I’m happy with it, it’s good. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it does have to be as close as I can get it and set out to do what I want it to do. I guess I just subscribe to the Jackie Chan way of thinking.



I don’t care what your reasoning and goals are. But you need to find and figure them out for yourself. In this lifetime, you don’t have to prove nothing to nobody except yourself. And after what you’ve gone through, if you haven’t done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen.



Marc Johnson

Top 5 New Shows of 2014-15

I had so much fun writing up this post http://www.marcanthonyjohnson.com/?p=... I thought I’d do another one. Sadly, a few of the shows I watched last season got canned. I’m sure that will happen this go around too.

HONORABLE MENTION:

SELFIE

If I had written this post before Selfie got cancelled, it probably would have made my top five. Since it did get cancelled, there’s not really a reason to talk about the actual show now.

Now, I only knew of Karen Gillan as that hot girl from Doctor Who I don’t watch or the angry, bald chick with nothing to do in Guardians of the Galaxy. So while I didn’t know much about her, I rather enjoyed her in Selfie. She’s not just a hot chick. She can act! She has personality! She has range! And I also hear there’s a good horror movie with her in it that I have to watch. I’m going to have to be on the look out for more of her work.

Sadly, John Cho has some kind of curse. First Off Centre, then Go On, and now Selfie. He should stick to movies because while I enjoy all his shows, they all go bye bye. Oh well. Better Luck Tomorrow.

5. AGENT CARTER

Agents of SHIELD is a terribly boring show with annoying, one dimensional characters. One of its biggest problems is that it has a good supporting character as a lead. I like Agent Coulson but he can’t carry a show.

Agent Carter has a damn good capable lead in Hayley Atwell. I do wish she hadn’t starred in Captain America because then she could have played Captain Marvel or Wasp, but that’s beside the point. Yes, Agent Carter does go over the top with the sexism, but it does an excellent job at being a period piece in the Marvel Universe. Also, where are the black people?

The major downside to this is that it’s essentially a prequel so there are no surprises. Not only do we know how it ends, but they don’t do a very good job.

Hail Hydra.

4. JANE THE VIRGIN

When I first heard of this premise, I thought this was the dumbest thing ever. Still, I gave it a shot because I tend to like CW shows. I was surprised that I did like it.

Like most CW shows these days, Jane the Virgin is charming. It’s that charm that hooked me. What I like most about it is that it involves a Hispanic cast without the show being about that. They’re just normal people, although one is a soap star and the other is super rich. But everyone else is normal.

Of course, there are a few minor nitpicks about it. While I like the narrator and his breaking of the third wall, the constant voice over and recap in the beginning is annoying. And as charming and light hearted as it is, there’s murder in it, which I find uneven and don’t care about. I’ll take a love triangle over murder any day.

3. FRESH OFF THE BOAT

When I had first heard of this show, I merely thought it was a show that would make fun of Asians. Sure, it would be nice to have an Asian sitcom as I don’t think there had been one since Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl, but I honestly thought it’d be bad, and that mainly had to do with the title. WE can say ‘fresh off the boat,’ but white executives can’t.

I had never heard of the book it was based upon until now, but I do want to read it. Of course, Fresh off the Boat has a fine line to walk. It’s a show that makes you think and shows you how racist the world was for Asians and how they had a hard time fitting it. But if it goes too much with that, it’ll turn serious and lose the humor in it. I think it does a good job at walking the line, but it can easily tip in one direction or another.

2. FOREVER

I didn’t hear of Forever until a week before it was debuted. Bad form, ABC. I thought it’d be cancelled but gave it a shot anyways. And I love it!

Forever is basically Highlander meets Sherlock, and it works. Unlike Elementary who’s Sherlock is unlikable, Henry aka Reed Richards, is quite likable. He solves crimes, usually murder cases, and tries to figure out how to kill himself. There are also flashbacks throughout Henry’s life that work here on so many levels instead of as an info dump like how everyone else does it. And the bromance between father and son is also good. Plus, Henry’s not the only one who’s immortal…

1. BLACKISH

Whereas Fresh Off the Boat represents one side of me, Blackish represents the other. Much like Fresh Off the Boat, it’s just a show about a non-white family show trying to fit in, not to mention deal with different generations. As you might suspect, hilarity ensures! Although I do find this one more funny, maybe because I’m able to relate to it more. Also, it has Lawrence Fishburne.

Of course, you don’t need to be black to watch the show as Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross have already proven how funny they are over the years. You know, if the Bill Cosby allegations weren’t going on right now, I would compare this to The Cosby Show. That’s how funny, clever, and good it is, but without the bad sweaters.

So what new shows are you watching? I could always use another show to watch because I don’t have much to do.

Marc Johnson