Nicholas Forristal's Blog, page 10
March 22, 2014
Death Midgets and Hotdog Water
It's been a while (long while for me) since I did an update. So, let's get on with it.
Five Man Midget Death Squad: A Brief History of the Tungri Clan is on its 2nd draft. I want to do a couple more drafts to get the language and style the way I want it. I'm probably going overboard with the minor details, but I enjoy it and it seems to come off well. The review of Hitori prove that much.
I started doing some rewrites on Chronicles of M: Book 1. It's pretty minor and only changes the style of how Samuel thinks. I'm pretty content with the rest of the book, but an experiment I did with Samuel's inner thoughts didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Don't worry, you don't need to rebuy the book. Amazon and everyone else will notify you of the updated version and tell you to download, or auto-update itself. Win-win.
I'm in talks with a comic book artist (I believe I've mentioned this before) and once I can get a 8 page script to him, he'll start working on the art. I'll probably handle the lettering on it (it strangly sounds fun). To pay the starving artist I'll either go through Kickstarter, or Indiegogo. Rather than start with the Chronicles of M Series, I want to start with the Five Man Midget Death Squad. I mean, who doesn't love steam punk, biker dwarves in modern day Scotland, killing goblins and mythological meanies? I'm aiming for a 20-24 page comic.
By the way, hotdog water has nothing to do with this....and no hotdogs were harmed in the writing of this. I can't guarantee that won't be the case afterwards.
Five Man Midget Death Squad: A Brief History of the Tungri Clan is on its 2nd draft. I want to do a couple more drafts to get the language and style the way I want it. I'm probably going overboard with the minor details, but I enjoy it and it seems to come off well. The review of Hitori prove that much.
I started doing some rewrites on Chronicles of M: Book 1. It's pretty minor and only changes the style of how Samuel thinks. I'm pretty content with the rest of the book, but an experiment I did with Samuel's inner thoughts didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Don't worry, you don't need to rebuy the book. Amazon and everyone else will notify you of the updated version and tell you to download, or auto-update itself. Win-win.
I'm in talks with a comic book artist (I believe I've mentioned this before) and once I can get a 8 page script to him, he'll start working on the art. I'll probably handle the lettering on it (it strangly sounds fun). To pay the starving artist I'll either go through Kickstarter, or Indiegogo. Rather than start with the Chronicles of M Series, I want to start with the Five Man Midget Death Squad. I mean, who doesn't love steam punk, biker dwarves in modern day Scotland, killing goblins and mythological meanies? I'm aiming for a 20-24 page comic.
By the way, hotdog water has nothing to do with this....and no hotdogs were harmed in the writing of this. I can't guarantee that won't be the case afterwards.
February 15, 2014
Death Squad: Chapter List
So here it is. Some of it will give you a slight hint at what's to come, some of it...no so much. The ordering may change a little, but in no way will it matter for the content.
1. Preface
2. Characteristics
3. Religion and Society
4. Exodus
5. The Expedition
6. Journey's End
7. Goblins
8. Kaiden
9. Balor the Evil Eye
10. Humans
11. The Fifty Years Siege
12. The Death Squad
13. The Giants and the Elites
14. Tommy Rawhead and Bloody Bones
15. The Red Caps
16. Wulver
17. The Leperchaun
I may end up adding another chapter or two, but we'll see.
1. Preface
2. Characteristics
3. Religion and Society
4. Exodus
5. The Expedition
6. Journey's End
7. Goblins
8. Kaiden
9. Balor the Evil Eye
10. Humans
11. The Fifty Years Siege
12. The Death Squad
13. The Giants and the Elites
14. Tommy Rawhead and Bloody Bones
15. The Red Caps
16. Wulver
17. The Leperchaun
I may end up adding another chapter or two, but we'll see.
February 14, 2014
Death Squad vs Up Helly Aa
I've been hitting the writing a bit less than I like, but it's coming. Part of it is trying to research something properly. I couldn't tell you exactly how I came across Up Helly Aa, but after reading into it (and numerous youtube videos) I decided I'd use it as a backdrop to one of the stories. However, I want to get it right. Since I can't afford to fly to the Shetland Islands and experience the event personally, I'm doing the next best thing: I'm absorbing everything I can get a hold of on the subject.
http://www.uphellyaa.org/
This is a fantastic resource put together by the Up Helly Aa Committee. Check it out, it looks like a fun time to be had.
I'll find some pics of the event and post it on my Pinterest account as well. For those of you who don't know, the Pinterest account sort of teases at what is/will be in the books. I also have a "silly things" section that's completely unrelated.
I also started working on the next section which may or may not be the last chapter of the book. I suspect this book will end up around 50k words, which doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind what's being written here. This isn't some usual fantasy book. This is a series of short story/mythological tales that detail the history of an entire race. That means it's nothing except content. The second half of the book reads more like modern short stories (details, subplots, etc) but it's still just that, short stories. I'm hoping you'll agree with me that content supersedes length. If I wrote this well enough, you'll pick it up, read it and by the end you'll be satisfied. If I remember, I'll post the chapter names. Think of it as a teaser...idk. If it goes over well I'll probably do it with each book.
http://www.uphellyaa.org/
This is a fantastic resource put together by the Up Helly Aa Committee. Check it out, it looks like a fun time to be had.
I'll find some pics of the event and post it on my Pinterest account as well. For those of you who don't know, the Pinterest account sort of teases at what is/will be in the books. I also have a "silly things" section that's completely unrelated.
I also started working on the next section which may or may not be the last chapter of the book. I suspect this book will end up around 50k words, which doesn't sound like a lot, but keep in mind what's being written here. This isn't some usual fantasy book. This is a series of short story/mythological tales that detail the history of an entire race. That means it's nothing except content. The second half of the book reads more like modern short stories (details, subplots, etc) but it's still just that, short stories. I'm hoping you'll agree with me that content supersedes length. If I wrote this well enough, you'll pick it up, read it and by the end you'll be satisfied. If I remember, I'll post the chapter names. Think of it as a teaser...idk. If it goes over well I'll probably do it with each book.
February 9, 2014
Lord War Cover...maybe
So, this is the "working" cover for book #5. For the most part, I'm pretty happy with it. I wanted to keep with the wall art theme that I started with book #4. The only part I'm not real happy with is the "Chronicles of M" part. Where the rest blends into wall texture and looks like graffiti, CoM does not. I'll probably pull everything apart a bit (it seems a bit squished to me)....anyways, I thought I'd show what I've got so far.A friend of mine (Damont Jordan) is making a new cover for Hitori and for the Five Man Midget Death Squad. You can find examples of his work under "Artist's Corner".
February 7, 2014
Five Man Midget Death Squad and the website they loved
Okay, so they don't know jack about this website, but it does sound more interesting that "bla bla bla updates".
If you flip around the website, you'll see a number of changes have been made. It's all aesthetics at this point, but I think it's for the better. If you've never been here before (shame on you) then make sure to check out the pages. Artist Alley is a slowly growing section of artists that I know and have taken an interest in, as is the Other Authors section. Don't know anything about my books, check out the About section. Okay, on to the good stuff.
For the past couple days I've been cranking away at the Death Squad book. I believe the title will be "The Five Man Midget Death Squad: A partial history of the Tungri Clan". I decided to add another layer to the writing that I think will be very entertaining for fans of the CoM series, as well as newcomers.
Throughout the first third of the book, which is all pre-Death Squad stories: why the dwarves moved from ancient Germany, how they met Balor the Evil Eye... I have introductions written by the author of the book, Charles Uhler. These intros do a couple of things. They explain the slight changes in writing style from one story to the next (think of it as going from old folk tales to more historical accounts) and to also explain just how he got the information.
The rest of the book, where the Death Squad takes over, the introductions have been replaced with Q&A sessions with the Five Man Midget Death Squad. As far as the man CoM series goes, they will become important characters from book 5 on. Not simply because they help the main characters to deal with situations, but also their importance to the Tungri clan and their impact on human culture as well. These Q&A sessions also open something else.
To the reader who has never read the CoM series, this will seem simply like a documentary style concept. Think of World War Z (book), or Band of Brothers, where through the present day interviews the reader gets a better grasp of the past, which is really the meat of the story.
To those people who've read the series, this not only explains this book's stories a bit more, but it also hints at the direction the main series will be taking. We aren't talking spoilers here, but more of a...a light sketching of the background to the world canvas that is CoM.
So, what you have here is a book, written by a main character from CoM, about another set of main characters and their race, written from the future (for the CoM series as it stands), about situations that happened from pre-Germanic tribes to modern day (which is ~2025AD in the CoM series). It sounds far more confusing than it really is. Just think of it as a History Channel special about...idk...World War 2, with interviews from the people who lived through it.
If you flip around the website, you'll see a number of changes have been made. It's all aesthetics at this point, but I think it's for the better. If you've never been here before (shame on you) then make sure to check out the pages. Artist Alley is a slowly growing section of artists that I know and have taken an interest in, as is the Other Authors section. Don't know anything about my books, check out the About section. Okay, on to the good stuff.
For the past couple days I've been cranking away at the Death Squad book. I believe the title will be "The Five Man Midget Death Squad: A partial history of the Tungri Clan". I decided to add another layer to the writing that I think will be very entertaining for fans of the CoM series, as well as newcomers.
Throughout the first third of the book, which is all pre-Death Squad stories: why the dwarves moved from ancient Germany, how they met Balor the Evil Eye... I have introductions written by the author of the book, Charles Uhler. These intros do a couple of things. They explain the slight changes in writing style from one story to the next (think of it as going from old folk tales to more historical accounts) and to also explain just how he got the information.
The rest of the book, where the Death Squad takes over, the introductions have been replaced with Q&A sessions with the Five Man Midget Death Squad. As far as the man CoM series goes, they will become important characters from book 5 on. Not simply because they help the main characters to deal with situations, but also their importance to the Tungri clan and their impact on human culture as well. These Q&A sessions also open something else.
To the reader who has never read the CoM series, this will seem simply like a documentary style concept. Think of World War Z (book), or Band of Brothers, where through the present day interviews the reader gets a better grasp of the past, which is really the meat of the story.
To those people who've read the series, this not only explains this book's stories a bit more, but it also hints at the direction the main series will be taking. We aren't talking spoilers here, but more of a...a light sketching of the background to the world canvas that is CoM.
So, what you have here is a book, written by a main character from CoM, about another set of main characters and their race, written from the future (for the CoM series as it stands), about situations that happened from pre-Germanic tribes to modern day (which is ~2025AD in the CoM series). It sounds far more confusing than it really is. Just think of it as a History Channel special about...idk...World War 2, with interviews from the people who lived through it.
January 31, 2014
Lord War update
I've put aside the Midget Death Squad piece for the moment and have been concentrating on this book instead. There's a couple of minor reasons for it, but it's mostly finances. I try not to put these out too fast because then it's coming out of my already empty pocket. With book 4 and Hitori coming out within a couple months of each other and then only being a couple months since then, I need to slow it down. So, I continue the writing of the next book.
For clarification, not that anyone except a lone person brought this up: It's not Lords War because that looks like a typo - Lord's War. It's not Lord Wars because its technically one large scale/world war sort of deal. I could have called it the War on the Lords, and I still may, but Lord War looks better on the cover I created....which may get changed. So far, this has been an incredibly fun book to write. It's basically the same format as the last couple CoM books, but I wanted to do a bit more segmentation with parts of the story. Short chapters that serve the purpose of catching the reader up with the five years between books four and five, but without taking up too much time. I was hoping to have a specific name for this sort of technique (as it happens in movies a lot), but the best I can find is "disrupted narrative." It won't be as drastic as in movies, because I'd have to build and describe a scene for the cut away to be effective. Instead, I'll have a short chapter written years before that ends at some obvious point. Then the present time, disrupted chapter, with the short "disrupted narrative" piece linking back to the previous chapter and finally back to the meat of the present day chapter. Hopefully that makes sense to you, haha. It's not hugely different than the segmented, present time fight scenes, but enough to shift the flow. Don't worry, if it doesn't work and I can't fix it, it'll get tossed. :)
For clarification, not that anyone except a lone person brought this up: It's not Lords War because that looks like a typo - Lord's War. It's not Lord Wars because its technically one large scale/world war sort of deal. I could have called it the War on the Lords, and I still may, but Lord War looks better on the cover I created....which may get changed. So far, this has been an incredibly fun book to write. It's basically the same format as the last couple CoM books, but I wanted to do a bit more segmentation with parts of the story. Short chapters that serve the purpose of catching the reader up with the five years between books four and five, but without taking up too much time. I was hoping to have a specific name for this sort of technique (as it happens in movies a lot), but the best I can find is "disrupted narrative." It won't be as drastic as in movies, because I'd have to build and describe a scene for the cut away to be effective. Instead, I'll have a short chapter written years before that ends at some obvious point. Then the present time, disrupted chapter, with the short "disrupted narrative" piece linking back to the previous chapter and finally back to the meat of the present day chapter. Hopefully that makes sense to you, haha. It's not hugely different than the segmented, present time fight scenes, but enough to shift the flow. Don't worry, if it doesn't work and I can't fix it, it'll get tossed. :)
January 22, 2014
Death Midgets and Lord Wars
Hey look! It's one of those book updates. He still does these?
Yeah, it's been a while. For a number of reasons, mostly life getting the best of me elsewhere, I haven't had a lot to report on. Death Squad is going, slowly. Part of it is coming up with good mythology that I can work with that isn't highly grounded in fairy type stuff. I really don't want to add another dimensional layer to this already complicated world of aliens, magic, zombies, mutants, androids, pocket universes, etc. Maybe down the road when the CoM main story is coming to a close I'll bring in some new BIG ideas like that. For now, I think I have enough to run with. At any rate, Death Squad is progressing far slower than usual. I honestly should be done with this piece and moving on. As such, I am moving on.
I don't believe in writer's block. That's just fancy talk for being lazy. If I'm stuck on an idea and can't see a way past it, I don't pace my room, or stare at the screen for hours. I edit previous chapters, move on to the next substory, DO SOMETHING USEFUL. Doing those things gets the brain exercising.
Death Squad isn't being shelved, but I need to keep writing something. So, I'm starting in on Book #5 of CoM. At the moment I'm calling it the Lord Wars. Possibly Part 1, we'll see how the content comes out. I have pretty detailed notes on how I want the first 1/2 of this book to go, but what looks like 1/2 a book in notes could be 1/4, or 3/4, who knows. All I know is that it's going to be badassery of the highest order. No intro to the storyline and background info, no wasted time explaining who this person is and what their objectives are in life. No dancing around big ides by filling pages with details and short miniskirts....okay maybe some miniskirts. This book is straight into the action and the mystery. In fact, I need to get on it. Adios, amigos.
Yeah, it's been a while. For a number of reasons, mostly life getting the best of me elsewhere, I haven't had a lot to report on. Death Squad is going, slowly. Part of it is coming up with good mythology that I can work with that isn't highly grounded in fairy type stuff. I really don't want to add another dimensional layer to this already complicated world of aliens, magic, zombies, mutants, androids, pocket universes, etc. Maybe down the road when the CoM main story is coming to a close I'll bring in some new BIG ideas like that. For now, I think I have enough to run with. At any rate, Death Squad is progressing far slower than usual. I honestly should be done with this piece and moving on. As such, I am moving on.
I don't believe in writer's block. That's just fancy talk for being lazy. If I'm stuck on an idea and can't see a way past it, I don't pace my room, or stare at the screen for hours. I edit previous chapters, move on to the next substory, DO SOMETHING USEFUL. Doing those things gets the brain exercising.
Death Squad isn't being shelved, but I need to keep writing something. So, I'm starting in on Book #5 of CoM. At the moment I'm calling it the Lord Wars. Possibly Part 1, we'll see how the content comes out. I have pretty detailed notes on how I want the first 1/2 of this book to go, but what looks like 1/2 a book in notes could be 1/4, or 3/4, who knows. All I know is that it's going to be badassery of the highest order. No intro to the storyline and background info, no wasted time explaining who this person is and what their objectives are in life. No dancing around big ides by filling pages with details and short miniskirts....okay maybe some miniskirts. This book is straight into the action and the mystery. In fact, I need to get on it. Adios, amigos.
January 12, 2014
Life as a writer
Normally I would be posting a book update for the week and maybe hinting at this, or that. Instead, I thought I'd change it up a bit and do something a tad more personal. Call it sharing with the class, call it therapy, it matters not. It is what it is and very few people outside artists really get these things. From that, I hope that my words will be understood and I'll get through to someone. Even if it's only one person.
I really don't consider myself an artist, although I'm told I should. I look at what I do as a "glorified hobby" because it makes enough to pay for itself, for that I'm grateful. I write for two reasons and two reasons only: my handful of devoted fans, who converse with me on a daily basis and push me to keep going and I write for myself.
I realize from the outside this probably sounds incredibly self-centered. It is, it has to be. My day goes something like this:
1. 5am - Write, not the easiest task to do when you're just getting up.
2. 7am - get my family ready for the day: dress the kid, give him his medicine (allergies), pack my wife and I's lunches
3. 7:30-5 - Either at work, or driving there. If I'm lucky, I find a few minutes here and there to jot book notes down
4. 5-6:30 - the usual stuff: laundry, dishes, groceries, etc. My wife tends to work 12 hours days, so i try to keep up on as much house work as I can.
6:30ish-8 - Make/eat/clean up dinner.
8ish - try to do some more writing, advertising, book covers, SOMETHING book related. My wife tends to get our son ready for bed, as he tends to want her to read books to him, etc.
9:30 - maybe watch a show or two with my wife before she heads to bed.
12 - sleep.
This is a somewhat typical day. This is as easy as it gets and that's not an exaggeration. Anyone who is a working parent is just smiling and nodding right now. The single parents I applaud you.
Generally speaking, I'm also fixing this, moving that, or doing some other activity for someone else that comes with being in a family. This month has been go to my parents AND my sister's house to check their mail, start their cars up and make sure nothing is missing while they are out of town. There's also the home remodeling, computer repair, yard stuff...less of you are nodding, but you get it.
I'm not at all complaining....at the moment. (lol) This is life. It is what it is. What I'm pointing out, something that the general population doesn't really get is that art, whether it be highly sought after, or hardly sold at all (I'm in the middle, luckily) is a labor of love. We do this for the fans, but mostly we do it for ourselves. Even if I could stop myself from writing, I wouldn't. I'm just as excited, if not more, about where the story is going as the readers are. I love looking back at the 5 books I've written in this past year and 1/2 and seeing how the writing has improved, the characters have changed, the world has gotten bigger.
For the most part, I just wanted to share. I usually don't get personal on this site, but some things have come up in the past months that has compelled me to do so. Part of it is simply what I said before: I felt like sharing and it's somewhat therapeutic. There are days where I wonder why I'm still writing. The pay is barely enough to cover the costs of professional editing and the little advertising I do. If I didn't have good friends and a workaholic, DIY attitude, I'd have to pay for book covers, formatting and a slew of other things.
The pay I receive for the actual work of each book is purely enjoyment and the occasional reviews I get. It's not a OMG SOMEONE LOVES ME sort of feeling that I get from the reviews, but that it's nice to see people get what I'm trying to do with this series. That someone took the time to tell me their opinion: good, or bad. Thanks for your time.
I really don't consider myself an artist, although I'm told I should. I look at what I do as a "glorified hobby" because it makes enough to pay for itself, for that I'm grateful. I write for two reasons and two reasons only: my handful of devoted fans, who converse with me on a daily basis and push me to keep going and I write for myself.
I realize from the outside this probably sounds incredibly self-centered. It is, it has to be. My day goes something like this:
1. 5am - Write, not the easiest task to do when you're just getting up.
2. 7am - get my family ready for the day: dress the kid, give him his medicine (allergies), pack my wife and I's lunches
3. 7:30-5 - Either at work, or driving there. If I'm lucky, I find a few minutes here and there to jot book notes down
4. 5-6:30 - the usual stuff: laundry, dishes, groceries, etc. My wife tends to work 12 hours days, so i try to keep up on as much house work as I can.
6:30ish-8 - Make/eat/clean up dinner.
8ish - try to do some more writing, advertising, book covers, SOMETHING book related. My wife tends to get our son ready for bed, as he tends to want her to read books to him, etc.
9:30 - maybe watch a show or two with my wife before she heads to bed.
12 - sleep.
This is a somewhat typical day. This is as easy as it gets and that's not an exaggeration. Anyone who is a working parent is just smiling and nodding right now. The single parents I applaud you.
Generally speaking, I'm also fixing this, moving that, or doing some other activity for someone else that comes with being in a family. This month has been go to my parents AND my sister's house to check their mail, start their cars up and make sure nothing is missing while they are out of town. There's also the home remodeling, computer repair, yard stuff...less of you are nodding, but you get it.
I'm not at all complaining....at the moment. (lol) This is life. It is what it is. What I'm pointing out, something that the general population doesn't really get is that art, whether it be highly sought after, or hardly sold at all (I'm in the middle, luckily) is a labor of love. We do this for the fans, but mostly we do it for ourselves. Even if I could stop myself from writing, I wouldn't. I'm just as excited, if not more, about where the story is going as the readers are. I love looking back at the 5 books I've written in this past year and 1/2 and seeing how the writing has improved, the characters have changed, the world has gotten bigger.
For the most part, I just wanted to share. I usually don't get personal on this site, but some things have come up in the past months that has compelled me to do so. Part of it is simply what I said before: I felt like sharing and it's somewhat therapeutic. There are days where I wonder why I'm still writing. The pay is barely enough to cover the costs of professional editing and the little advertising I do. If I didn't have good friends and a workaholic, DIY attitude, I'd have to pay for book covers, formatting and a slew of other things.
The pay I receive for the actual work of each book is purely enjoyment and the occasional reviews I get. It's not a OMG SOMEONE LOVES ME sort of feeling that I get from the reviews, but that it's nice to see people get what I'm trying to do with this series. That someone took the time to tell me their opinion: good, or bad. Thanks for your time.
January 1, 2014
Death Squad Update - 1/1/14
Word Count: 28,000
So, it probably looks like the writing has stopped. It hasn't. It has slowed down a bit, but that's for a couple of reasons. One, I've been going back and doing a first edit of what I have. I'm also taking a little time off to relax. Since I am no longer doing the local convention, there's no reason for me to write this book as fast as possible. At most, this slower pace will add a month to the writing, but also gives me the free time to work out my thoughts on the next book(s).
I'm currently completely immersed in the exploits of the Death Squad. I'm glad that I decided to this book before #5 simply because it's giving me a chance to really explore this team of characters and how they operate. It's also been fun seeing how this team of steampunk biker dwarves would be seen by modern day humans, who have absolutely no idea that these dwarves are a seperate race, rather than another human.
I didn't want this piece to come off as "alternate history" but more like unknown/forgotten history. Something that could have happened, but no one was really aware of it. I'm hoping that if I do any more of these side stories that they will come off in the same way. I believe Hitori did and I think this will too....hopefully. :P
So, it probably looks like the writing has stopped. It hasn't. It has slowed down a bit, but that's for a couple of reasons. One, I've been going back and doing a first edit of what I have. I'm also taking a little time off to relax. Since I am no longer doing the local convention, there's no reason for me to write this book as fast as possible. At most, this slower pace will add a month to the writing, but also gives me the free time to work out my thoughts on the next book(s).
I'm currently completely immersed in the exploits of the Death Squad. I'm glad that I decided to this book before #5 simply because it's giving me a chance to really explore this team of characters and how they operate. It's also been fun seeing how this team of steampunk biker dwarves would be seen by modern day humans, who have absolutely no idea that these dwarves are a seperate race, rather than another human.
I didn't want this piece to come off as "alternate history" but more like unknown/forgotten history. Something that could have happened, but no one was really aware of it. I'm hoping that if I do any more of these side stories that they will come off in the same way. I believe Hitori did and I think this will too....hopefully. :P
2014: Plans and Possibilities
There are a great deal of things I'd like to get going and/or finish this year. Let's get to it.
To publish this year:
1. Five Man Midget Death Squad - The history of the Tungri Dwarves: how they were pushed out of Germany and back into Scotland, their on going battle with the greenskins, their alliance with Balor, the forming of Balor's Elites and then following the modern-day exploits of the Elites better known as the Five Man Midget Death Squad. It is a standalone book, but ties directly into the plotline of CoM, beginning at book 4 and heavily into 5. This should be out by Feb/March.
2. Chronicles of M Book 5: The Lord War - picking up directly after #4, M and company face off against the four remaining Lords for dominance over Earth. Now armed with the armies and slayers of the Exiles and the knowledge of how to win, it'll be a non-stop action thrill ride that's been hinted at since the beginning of the series. This should be out by June/July.
3. Chronicles of M Book 6: The Purge (this title may change) - No description as of yet, simply because what I have planned in my head and on paper will probably change after book 5 is finishing up. Let's just say that certain things (like the Purge) are hinted at in books 2,3,4, and 5 man midget death squad. This should be out Oct/Nov
On the Back Burner:
Domitianus - I'd like to do a book entirely on the life and times of Domitianus. He plays a...strange role in book 4 and will show up later on in a more instrumental way. I really don't want to say a lot on this character simply b/c book 4 came out less than a month ago and I'd rather not spoil it just yet. Let's just say he's a very strange, dark man who could use an entire book.
Book 1: Comics - this one is requires time and money. I cannot draw, I can barely handle photoshop at this point, so to make a comic series out of this I'll need help. Unfortunately, help requires money that I do not have. For that, I'll end up doing a kickstarter. I suspect we aren't talking a lot of money, but to do it right I'd like to have several artists working on it, each handling a different character's perspective, so that the art style follows the writing style (if you've read any of the books, you know what I mean by that).
Review Website - This is a project I've only begun to outline. Essentially, I started working on a website for it and a few reviews here and there out of boredom. The site would cover movies, games, books, comics, basically anything I get my hands on. The games would mostly be older titles, playing them now to see if they fare well against modern games. I also thought about having a drunken review as well, since many games are absolutely terrible sober, yet prove to be hilarious drunk. The site would have plenty of videos and audio commentary, all the usual stuff except that the review structure would be different. Personally, when I read a review, I don't want a rundown of what the game is about, I want to know how it plays, if it's buggy and if it was worth the money. That's what I will focus on. This is a rather large undertaking and with CoM and life taking up all my free time, it will probably be a while before I really get this site up and running.
Untitled Grindhouse Horror book - I started on this about six months ago and haven't given it a great deal of thought since. Not because I'm disinterested in it, but because I don't have time for it AND it's grindhouse....you just don't overthink the plotline to such a piece. It's about a group of typical college kids who go to an uncle's abandoned cabin for a summer vacation and s*it happens. Ghosts, midget bikers, a mass murderer, all that weirdness that makes a campy, low budget grindhouse flick worth watching.
That's it for now, but I'm sure something else will come up. Keep in mind that Domitianus, Hitori, nor Five Man Midget Death Squad were planned pieces. They simply happened because I saw an oppurtunity to branch the CoM world out into new genres and new stories. Chances are, there will be more to come of that.
So, there's my 2014 so far. :)
To publish this year:
1. Five Man Midget Death Squad - The history of the Tungri Dwarves: how they were pushed out of Germany and back into Scotland, their on going battle with the greenskins, their alliance with Balor, the forming of Balor's Elites and then following the modern-day exploits of the Elites better known as the Five Man Midget Death Squad. It is a standalone book, but ties directly into the plotline of CoM, beginning at book 4 and heavily into 5. This should be out by Feb/March.
2. Chronicles of M Book 5: The Lord War - picking up directly after #4, M and company face off against the four remaining Lords for dominance over Earth. Now armed with the armies and slayers of the Exiles and the knowledge of how to win, it'll be a non-stop action thrill ride that's been hinted at since the beginning of the series. This should be out by June/July.
3. Chronicles of M Book 6: The Purge (this title may change) - No description as of yet, simply because what I have planned in my head and on paper will probably change after book 5 is finishing up. Let's just say that certain things (like the Purge) are hinted at in books 2,3,4, and 5 man midget death squad. This should be out Oct/Nov
On the Back Burner:
Domitianus - I'd like to do a book entirely on the life and times of Domitianus. He plays a...strange role in book 4 and will show up later on in a more instrumental way. I really don't want to say a lot on this character simply b/c book 4 came out less than a month ago and I'd rather not spoil it just yet. Let's just say he's a very strange, dark man who could use an entire book.
Book 1: Comics - this one is requires time and money. I cannot draw, I can barely handle photoshop at this point, so to make a comic series out of this I'll need help. Unfortunately, help requires money that I do not have. For that, I'll end up doing a kickstarter. I suspect we aren't talking a lot of money, but to do it right I'd like to have several artists working on it, each handling a different character's perspective, so that the art style follows the writing style (if you've read any of the books, you know what I mean by that).
Review Website - This is a project I've only begun to outline. Essentially, I started working on a website for it and a few reviews here and there out of boredom. The site would cover movies, games, books, comics, basically anything I get my hands on. The games would mostly be older titles, playing them now to see if they fare well against modern games. I also thought about having a drunken review as well, since many games are absolutely terrible sober, yet prove to be hilarious drunk. The site would have plenty of videos and audio commentary, all the usual stuff except that the review structure would be different. Personally, when I read a review, I don't want a rundown of what the game is about, I want to know how it plays, if it's buggy and if it was worth the money. That's what I will focus on. This is a rather large undertaking and with CoM and life taking up all my free time, it will probably be a while before I really get this site up and running.
Untitled Grindhouse Horror book - I started on this about six months ago and haven't given it a great deal of thought since. Not because I'm disinterested in it, but because I don't have time for it AND it's grindhouse....you just don't overthink the plotline to such a piece. It's about a group of typical college kids who go to an uncle's abandoned cabin for a summer vacation and s*it happens. Ghosts, midget bikers, a mass murderer, all that weirdness that makes a campy, low budget grindhouse flick worth watching.
That's it for now, but I'm sure something else will come up. Keep in mind that Domitianus, Hitori, nor Five Man Midget Death Squad were planned pieces. They simply happened because I saw an oppurtunity to branch the CoM world out into new genres and new stories. Chances are, there will be more to come of that.
So, there's my 2014 so far. :)
