Christopher Stocking's Blog, page 12

Author Interview: Ron Schrader — Tri System’s Edge: Humble Beginnings

Today I’m excited to have an interview with Ron Schrader, author of the upcoming science-fiction novelTri System’s Edge: Humble Beginnings.

1. in 25 words or less, tell us the basic idea of Tri System’s Edge: Humble Beginnings.

Humble Beginnings is my unique twist on the vampire / reluctant hero genre where interplanetary travel is commonplace and monsters are real.

2. What inspired this work?

It’s hard to pinpoint what really inspired me. I just had a random thought several years ago and started...

Count it! That’s a New Record

At this current point, Black Powder Brigadeis the longest piece of fiction I’ve ever written.

Whoa.

Sure, compared to a lot of other books out there, it’s really notthat impressive. There are books that are hundreds of thousands of words long. For example, I’d love to know how long the books in the Game of Thrones series are. Because they are big. Huge, even.

However, this is a pretty cool achievement. And I’m quite excited.

Now… back to writing!

I’ve Declared my Love of Writing… With Another Tattoo!

I’m what you might call a tattoo enthusiast, not an addict (there’s a difference). I don’t crave ink. I don’t get off on the feeling of being tattooed. Honestly, it sucks. It really, really sucks. I don’t enjoy it, but I love the result, especially when you have an artist as awesome as mine (who also happens to be the drummer of my band, and was a groomsmen in my wedding). He never fails to create awesome artwork, and I can always give him a vague idea of what I want and trust him to draw up...

Black Powder Brigade: Excerpt #4

Here’s a short excerpt from my WIP, Black Powder Brigade. Victoria is experience a sea battle against pirates, and it appears things are not going well.

A barrage of cannonballs suddenly ripped through the hull, spraying splinters of wood through the gunnery. Victoria stumbled backward and fell, smashing her head on the floor. The ceiling spun and another barrage of cannonballs sank into the ship. The shouts and cries of the crew scrambling to get what cannons remained loaded and firing again...

Boxing and Writing: Go Knock out some Words

Here’s my first column over at Eat Your Serial, where it was originally published! Check out their review of HIS ONLY STAR, too!

As someone who wants to make a living off of making things up and writing them down (also see: author, writer, insane, crazy, delusional), it’s important that I stay both physically and mentally fit. I can’t afford to have my brain bogged down with globs of jiggling masses, blocking whatever connectors and receptors that control the flow of information from my brain...

I was a Different Person When I Wrote That

I’m convinced that I was a different person when I wrote His Only Star. I mean, I don’t know what was going on in my head, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a character’s head as much as I was in Oliver’s (the main character in His Only Star). Usually I’m in my character’s heads, but I don’t always fully know who they are until I reach the end of the book. But I knew Oliver inside and out, backward and forward, and… You know… now that I mention it, there’s a lot of myself in Oliver, which...

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King

Photo credit ecooper99 via WANACommons

This quote of King’s is one of my favorites. It’s not my all time favorite, which is:

“I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of. ”―Joss Whedon.

However, King’s quote is so very true. Without reading we can’t learn as much about our craft. Sure, we learn through writing. Practice practice practice. But that can only take us so far. That can only take us to the limits of our o...

KDP Gets a Best sellers List

We all know that both self-publishing and the Kindle revolution are in full swing. And, if they aren’t, they’re damn near close.

As an indie author, I’m always glad to see when self-publishers get a check in the win column. Especially when people have so many bad things to say about it. And they’re not entirely wrong, of course, as I’ve discussed several times. But I found an article this morning that I thought was really cool and exciting. It would appear that Amazon has added a best sellers...

Black Powder Brigade — At Sea

“The cannons erupted, the flashes chasing away the darkness for only a second. Moments later, a distant crack sounded, followed by a fiery explosion. Victoria stared—eyes wide—as the flames launched into the air, and the screams of the pirates lingered long after the echo of the explosion silenced.”

~Black Powder Brigade

Coming 2013

KINDLE SALE! All Books $0.99!

It has been quite some time since I’ve had any sort of sale for my books, so I figured why not do it for all of them? All the Kindle formats of my books are just $0.99, so don’t miss out!

London Darkness: Infernal Inventions (London Darkness #1)- “One of my first introductions to steampunk and I do believe it did the genre justice. Stocking has a knack for making the background characters as likeable as the main characters. Fast paced action and a mystery to be solved on every page. The ending...