Jeffrey Allen Davis's Blog, page 16

Review of Guardian of Maradon by L.J. Capehart

Having read Capehart’s Cube of Trevalia, I was pretty excited to read her second book. It didn’t disappoint.

Tristan is a pizza boy who keeps dreaming about this beautiful princess. But is it just a dream? When one of his dreams turns out to be real, he finds himself thrust into a war as the Chosen One who will bond with the sword, Guardian. His destiny? To defend his new world against a usurper and a witch, befriend a dragon and, maybe, get the girl.

Capehart has an easy to read style. I also appreciate just how clean her stories are. The romatic characters are chaste and respectful of one another. The violence is detailed, but not grotesque. I’d definitely be comfortable with my kids reading this.

Five stars.

Some Updates . . ..

Well, I talked with my editor today and, considering some of the things that she’s wanting me to change, December 13 is a bit unrealistic for a deadline for having the book in print. So, I’ll shoot for the second Friday in January. I’ll miss the Christmas season, but I’d rather it come out later and be a better book.

I’m still going to be shooting for a March release of BOOK THREE. I want to have all three ready for the Cape Girardeau comicon. I’ll probably officially release the book that weekend.

As my sales of BOOK ONE have been lackluster on bn.com, I’ve thought about taking it down and using Smashwords to load it back up there. However, the Smashwords edition has been loaded under a different Jeffrey Davis. You can see that version, and the other dude’s smiling visage, here. Strangely, B&N was quick to fix the author’s name on my free short story as soon as Smashwords pointed it out to them. I’ll give it another week and, if it hasn’t been fixed on Invasion, I’ll pull the Smashwords version back down. It’s not worth the headache.

The Fussy Librarian is going to be featuring Lily’s Redemption in their emails on 11-26. Since their emails are targeted to people who have specified interest in specific genres, I’m interested to see if it makes an increase in traffic.

Next week, we’ll be having a guest post by A.P. Fuchs, the creator of Axiom-man. Don’t miss it!

Guest Post by TW Johnson, Creator of Metaegus

The second guest post in my “Superhero” month comes from TW Johnson. Tim and I have known each other just over ten years, having both published our first books through the same publisher. And we had the same results.

Never heard of Metaegus, you say? You will. Two short stories are coming up in two anthologies (I’m not at liberty to discuss the details) and I’ve had the pleasure of beta reading both stories and, as always, Johnson is an incredible storyteller. Aside from writing, he is a skilled graphic designer, having put together the layout for the ebook version of LILY’S REDEMPTION for me and the layout for all versions of INVASION OF THE NINJA.

And did I mention that he’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do? Tim’s hurt his back and has taken the time out of his therapy to write this guest post for me.

Thanks, Tim.

Thanks for inviting me, Jeff.

Well, I have much to say, so… where to start? I suppose the beginning, because people are probably going to wonder who I am, especially since I haven’t graced the Internet with fiction (other than dabbling here and there) since 2003. However, before I digress too much…

…I’ve read where many writers discovered the passion to write when they were children—not so with me. Nonetheless, I was probably very young when the seed began germinating within me. During the early 70s/80s, I lived in a country setting. Except for one friend (whom I didn’t get to see much) kids were scarce, so I had to rely on my imagination for entertainment, and flourished as though affected by gamma radiation. TV played a big part back then, too, even though only a few stations existed. That was the good ‘ole days of well-made shows, and cartoons, which often mixed fantasy and science fiction seamlessly. I had no idea just how much of an impact those programs would prove to be until years later.

Flash-forward a little bit and music is a huge part of my life. Percussion came first (actually, I began drumming on church hymnals when I was about three years old), then piano/keyboard, singing… even the trombone for a little while. As a teen, I was writing song lyrics (a form of creative writing methinks?) and composing music while studying martial arts on the side. Okay, so all this seems too hard to believe, but it’s true. Don’t hold your breath, though, there’s more.

On to my late teens, the year is 1992; I’m working a part-time nightshift job as a staff member at a rehabilitation institute. Now I’m reading and collecting superhero comics. I never saw that one coming (still have the collection to this day).

Let’s skip ahead to my early twenties. The year is 1995, I’m married now, working full-time at the phosphate mines; and I’m actually, for the first time in my life, an avid book reader. What brought it on I’m not sure. One day that same year, my wife is going through some of her high school material and comes across an English assignment, which happens to be a short horror story she’d written. It intrigued me, I read it, liked it, I wanted to try writing my own, and that’s how I became a writer. That was my start.

Okay, we’re getting into the juicy stuff, now. It’s still 1995; I’ve written a small collection of short stories and set them aside to work on a much larger, action/dark fantasy/horror/mystery piece, which originally started as several separate stories, but later merged, becoming one ginormous epic that I divided in two due to size. I would end up spending the next seven years researching for/writing that book until finally getting part one published in 2003 via an online company. Like many, I became prey to a vanity press that didn’t care about anything except holding one’s dreams hostage.

Alas, a hostage I remained, under a seven-year contract. It didn’t really matter, though, because the following year served up a string of hurricanes (primarily Charlie), which literally devastated my hometown. My book… my writing was the least of my concerns. Years of recovery passed. Down the road, after some fruitful investing—a little pun intended (for a reason I’ll not divulge at the moment. Nothing bad, I assure.)—I was able to leave the phosphate mines. I went back to college, took it slow, finishing several years later… and here I am… writing once again.

Now it’s time for the juicier stuff. These days I’ve been reworking all of my original short stories and novel into one, continuous superhero saga of sorts. This may come as a surprise, but I honestly never intended to create a superhero. I unintentionally forced myself to do it. You see, I ended up creating a villain too powerful for any normal human character. I couldn’t bring myself to alter the villain’s powers in any way, either, so that left me with only one option: create an equally powerful hero. I went all-out, too, and I’m very happy with the final product.

Now some can’t relate to the all-powerful archetype, and that’s understandable. Batman is a good example of the down-to-earth, Byronic hero, and that’s just one of many reasons why so many love him, and his kind. He’s very relatable, even plausibly realistic, to a degree. However, if comics were real-life and Batman were to go “mono y mono” with the likes of, say, The Presence (D.C.’s version of God), are you really going to say, “Batman wins?” I think not. I mean, I like Batman, too, but please, that’s taking it to the farthest reaches of impossible. God is all-powerful with no weaknesses. Batman cannot, will not, ever beat God—end of story. That would be like saying a single, plain ant could fell a wooly mammoth.

Anyway, my creative endeavor has only just begun. I have a hero named Metaegus, a villain named Melfaxus, and a world they occupy called Ziragoth. I’ve recently written two short stories, which involve those characters and locale. If all goes as I hope, they’ll be in some soon-to-be released anthologies. Jeff, maybe you’ll allow me to explain how I came up with those names in another blog entry at another time, along with more info concerning the publications.

On that note, I suppose I’ll go ahead and stop my rambling. Firstly, though, a big thanks to God (and I don’t mean “The Presence” from D.C., even though God is a presence), for bestowing many creative abilities upon me. Next, thanks to my wife, because she inspired me to begin this journey, and journeys with me. I also want to thank my parents for instilling in me the highest of Biblical values, which also, in one way or another, shines through in my writing. I want to thank Pat Carbajal for creating amazingly beautiful, artistic renditions of my characters. Finally (and definitely not in any way the least), I want to thank my very good friend, and eternal brother in Christ, for letting me gobble up his blog with words upon words of my, insane, never-ending banter. Thanks, Jeff.

You’re welcome, Bro. Tim is currently putting together his website here. But, as I’d mentioned earlier, he’s down from an injured back. Let’s keep him in our prayers.

Review of HOPE & SHINY THINGS by Celesta Thiessen

Hope & Shiny Things was Celesta Thiessen’s first book. Of the things I’ve read by her, this is arguably the weakest of them. That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad story, by any means.

Overall, the story is good. As with her excellent Prince Jade, we see how the simple, pure love of a woman and God can turn the blackest heart to good. Actually, we see this more than once here. The story plays like a serial. I actually found myself imagining where one episode would end with a “To Be Continued” and where the next would begin. We see the remnants of humanity coming together over their differences to keep the race alive.

Thiessen did change POV some in the middle of scenes. Just a mark (like “* * *”) to separate the sections would do some good. Also, we never find out the motives for the aliens’ attack on humanity, although she could always write a sequel to explain this. This story could easily lead to a series. I’d read it.

Four out of Five stars.

Guest Post by J.L. MacDonald, Creator of Nightcat

Starting off my month dedicated to Superhero fiction, I have a guest post by the very talented J.L. MacDonald. A gifted artist and author, her Nightcat has become one of my favorite characters. Jen is also a Star Trek fan. LOL!

My character Nightcat is pretty new to the indie scene, having first been published in “Metahumans vs the Undead” by Coscom Entertainment back in 2011. She has since appeared in several short stories and a stand-alone novel since then.

“The Darkness of Shadows” recounts her origin story of how Nightcat was created to be the ultimate spy by having her DNA combined with those of various wild cats. The microscopic computers (nanites) in her bloodstream allow her to morph back into her human alter ego, Dana Harker. In her feline form, she possesses heightened agility, senses, reflexes and a healing factor. That being said, she’s not invulnerable. Her regenerative abilities are largely dependant on adrenaline and has limits.

It’s hard for even me to believe, but the first idea of Nightcat came to me about 20 years ago, roughly the same time I was getting into comics. While I liked the genre, I always felt that most female superheroes were basically the female version of an already existing popular male character. Like Superman/Supergirl, Batman/Batgirl, Spider-Man/Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman and so on. I was far better at drawing than writing back then so I decided to make a just-for-fun comic with a strong original female character.

I did up a couple of concept sketches and named her “Black Cat”. Once I discovered a character with that name existed already I renamed her to “Nightcat”. (Which I found out years later existed as a one shot Marvel comic) My Nightcat’s origin was similar in fashion to Weapon X or the Super Soldier: some secret organization was attempting to create the perfect spy.

Nightcat was originally a regular human in a costume, but when Disney’s Gargoyles came on the air, I was inspired to make her a hybrid instead. I decided to make her physically different to set her apart from other superheroes. Once I changed the basic design of the character, I tried to figure out what her costume would look like and took a very realistic approach in doing so. Nightcat was covered in fur, so she wouldn’t have any real need for a full spandex outfit. And since her secret identity was human, there wouldn’t be any need for her to wear a mask. I remember grappling with that decision because as far as I was concerned, a superhero (save Superman) NEEDED a mask. Looking back, I’m glad I did away with it. I find it allows her face to be more expressive when I draw her.

Unfortunately, back then I didn’t possess the necessary skills or patience to see through making my own comic so the idea was stagnant for quite a few years. It wasn’t until I met an aspiring screenwriter at a company retreat that I even thought such a thing would be possible for me to do. I can honestly say that without his encouragement, I never would have even tried to write the novel.

It was still daunting however. English wasn’t my best subject in school, and sitting at my computer having that blank Microsoft Word document mockingly stare at me, I continually asked myself what I was doing. Many times, I simply closed the file without writing anything. I can’t remember how long it was before I actually started putting words on a page.

All I really had in the beginning was one character and a very loose story outline so I made some guidelines for the universe I was creating: everything had to be scientifically plausible. This helped me out quite a lot and set the tone for that and future stories. It was still challenging to write, but I sat back and thought what it would be like for someone who is THE only superhero in town. How would she react to certain situations, how would she feel, what would she do after she mutated? If I couldn’t come up with an answer, I asked myself how I would react in that situation. I think most of the characters I created have some part of me in them, but Nightcat/Dana happens to have more of my personality traits than the others.

In keeping with the pseudo-realism of the series, I also wanted the characters to be thoroughly fleshed out. Physical descriptions and dialogue were easy for me to write, but I wanted to take it farther and give them ages, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, the works. I sprinkled those little tidbits in here and there to add depth to the characters.

Once my manuscript was finished and edited numerous times I started submitting it to publishers. Getting published is a challenge in and of itself, but I also wrote in a genre that not many publishers look for. Back then I (erroneously) assumed that only good books got published traditionally, and if you didn’t get published, that meant you weren’t a good writer. I’ve learned over the years that that isn’t the case. Publishers publish what they figure will sell. “Well written” and “marketable” aren’t always the same thing.

When I was talking about it to a good friend of mine about the publishing challenges I was facing, she introduced me to A.P. Fuchs of Coscom Entertainment. He encouraged me to go indie, and while I was dubious at first, the more I thought about it, the more I realised that was the way to go. I would retain complete control over the characters and be able to tell the stories I wanted to tell. I could also market the characters any way I wanted. I love drawing and my skill level improved since my high-school days, so I could even create my own Nightcat posters, book covers and whatever else I could think of.

There is a bit of a misnomer that self publishing is incredibly easy, and yes it can be. But the reality is you’re not likely to list an ebook on Amazon, sit back and retire in 6 months. Self publishing takes time and dedication but among all that hard work, there is a lot of fun involved too.

I created Lion’s Share Press and on May 23rd, 2013, Nightcat’s debut novel was released to coincide with Dana’s birthday (I’m sentimental like that). The short stories “Marked for Death” and the latest “Burden of Proof” followed a few months later. Nightcat also has stories featured in Coscom Entertainment’s “Metahumans vs” anthology series. I currently have a second and third novel in the works and it’s my hope that “Where the Devil Dwells” will be available in the summer or fall of 2014. So long as I’m able to come up with entertaining Nightcat stories, I plan to keep writing them. The characters are almost like family to me, and even though I’m the writer of the series, I find myself wanting to learn more about the characters as well.

Before I sign off, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Jeffrey Allen Davis for asking me to be a guest blogger on his site. It was fun taking a trip down memory lane.

You’re welcome, Jen! And thank you for the honor of hosting your post.

For more info on the Nightcat series, including links to her books, visit her website. You can also purchase the latest short story here.

I Looked at My Smashwords Account Today . . .

Today, I signed up for Expanded Distribution through Createspace. I was going to do it soon, anyway. Today, however, I discovered that Createspace has dropped the cost of EDC so that it is free to sign up. I’m happy with their response to Ingram Spark. LOL.

On the ebook front, I logged into my Smashwords account today and went back over the past two years. I’ve really paid a great deal of attention to my Kindle sales and Nook sales, but I’ve paid little attention to what is going on at the site that puts my books up on the other ebook sites. So I decided to look into it.

And here’s what I discovered:

2012

I “sold” 28 copies of Lily’s Redemption on the Smashwords website.

I “sold” 187 copies on Sony.

I “sold” 1 copy on the Kobo (in Canada).

2013

I added Invasion of the Ninja to my list this year.

I “sold” 2 copies of each book on the Smashwords site.

I “sold” 51 copies of Lily’s Redemption and 10 copies of Invasion of the Ninja on Sony.

I “sold” 2 copies of Lily’s Redemption and 86 copies of Invasion of the Ninja on Apple.

I used the term “sold” loosely, as the majority of these so-called sales were taken during free times. I have, to date, not reached the minimum amount of royalties to get a single payout. But it does show that Smashwords has potential. I’ve resolved to remove Invasion from Nook Press and put it up on Smashwords, hopefully to bring my royalties up a little there. It’s not selling so well directly on BN. I would never move Lily’s Redemption, though. It’s sales have always been steady and I don’t want to risk losing that momentum.

I also realized that, through Smashwords, I have reached readers in Canada, Brazil, Guatemala, Sweden, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, the Czech Republic, Spain, Greece, Venezuela Denmark, and Mexico. And that’s more exciting than I could have ever hoped for.

Superheroes

Since I got my Kindle, I’ve been reading a good mixture of fiction. From horror to science fiction and everything in between, I’ve read some true gems . . . and a few rocks. One genre that I’ve picked up on this year that has been consistently good has been superhero fiction. Until this year, I’d read one Axiom-man novel, one Spider-man anthology and one Gen 13 novel. After the way that Marvel Comics had treated Spider-man, whose comic books I’d been reading since I was nine, I had pretty much given up on them in general.

And then I downloaded a couple of the Axiom-man short stories. Then an Axiom-man novella. Like some of my old comic books, I read them out of order but it was somewhat fun to fill in the blanks. Finally, I downloaded Metahumans v.s. the Undead. And I was introduced to a list of awesome new characters. From J.L. MacDonald’s Nightcat to Frank Dirscherl’s The Wraith, I have thoroughly enjoyed these creator-owned superheroes.

I’ve found myself wondering how my own characters would fit in with such an ensemble. As I’ve mentioned before, I took great care to make the first two books as realistic as possible. But then BOOK THREE comes along, and realism flies out the window. I’d actually love to see my characters deal with a super-powered person. Indeed, they will be fighting a dark wizard in BOOK THREE. And, after that, they probably wouldn’t bat an eye at a woman who was genetically altered to be part cat or a man who could fly and shoot blue blasts out of his eyes. It kind of reminds me of how Casey Jones reacted to seeing Splinter for the first time in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, after having spent so much time with the four turtles, themselves.

I’m going to be declaring this month my “Superheroes” month. Along with my typical updates about my books and some book reviews, I’m going to have some guest posts by some of these amazing indie authors. I’m looking forward to reading what they have to say.

Why I’m Not Participating in Nanowrimo

Each November is National Novel Writing Month. During this time, thousands of people from all over the world sign up to compete to finish fifty thousand words by the end of the month. Well, it’s not really a competition . . . except against oneself.

It’s a noble endeavor. And a number of the authors I follow online, such as Lindsay Buroker, Yesenia Vargas, and Joel Friedlander discuss it on their blogs. Many authors have written a novel that was, at least after some overhauls, published.

I’m not participating. I had seriously thought about it. But it just didn’t seem like the time. I just sent BOOK TWO to my editor and finished the initial draft of BOOK THREE. I’m going back through the latter, doing my first self-edit. I have a horror novel in the works that I piddle with here and there. I’m dealing with a larger workload at my day job. I’m keeping up with this blog, along with the book reviews. I, quite frankly, don’t have the time to participate in Nanowrimo. But I wish all who ARE participating the best of luck.