Nicholas Forristal's Blog, page 11

This Year in Stuff

I've been noticing a lot of people saying what they are grateful for, what they are regretting and their resolution(s) for the upcoming year. Personally, I regret nothing. Good, or bad, I try to walk away from a situation with knowledge that I didn't have prior to the event, this way I can either (hopefully) prevent it from happening again, or better my chances of repeating it. That's just me.

I was thinking of simply doing a "here's what I did do" post. I'll keep it book related so there's nothing silly like I GOT NEW SHOES, although I did get new shoes an they are black with yellow across the bottom....nevermind.

This year I had 3 publications:

Chronicles of M 3: A'loc  - http://www.chroniclesofm.com/chronicles-of-m-aloc-book-3.html
Chronicles of M 4: Consequences - http://www.chroniclesofm.com/com-consequences-book-4.html
Hitori (A CoM Standalone) - http://www.chroniclesofm.com/hitori.html

Both CoM 3 and Hitori have bounced in an out of the bestseller list on Amazon (US and UK) and so far have been well received, which is nice to see.

I did a couple local events: Free comic book day and Comic book day of the dead via Elite Comics and met a number of fantastic artists (many found here: http://www.chroniclesofm.com/artists-corner.html) whom I will probably work with in the near future to start turning Book 1 into a comic form..providing a kickstarter is successful to pay them first. Damont Jordan is working on making me a cover for Hitori and The Five Man Midget Death Squad.

I was going to do the big comic convention here in KC - Planet Comicon, but through a series of happy accidents I will not be attending. Essentially, I gave the owner a CC that was going to expire next month. As soon as I realized the error, I messaged him about it and never got a reply, a couple weeks later the new cards showed up and my wife activated them (thus deactivating the old cards early). By this time I realized that, it wasn't financially worth the time to do the Con anyways.

Between the cost of the Con and the insane cost of printing books to sell, I'd be lucky to break even after such an event. To me these Cons, big or small, are about two things: getting my name out there and selling books. Every day I talk to people all across the world. Right now there are people reading this that live outside the US, much less this state. So, local exposure isn't that big of a deal with what I do, especially when it is going to cost me money. Because I tend to operate globally, it's much easier and cheaper for me to sell digitally. By keeping my costs down (avoiding costly Cons and printing books) I can concentrate my funds on editing and the occasional book cover.

Strangely, a lot people seem to think writers make fists full of cash off their creations. This is highly untrue. Even bouncing in and out of the bestseller lists I essentially break even on these stories. The biggest reasons for this are that I publish a book every 2-4 months and I haven't done any real advertising. What you see on the net from me on facebook, twitter, the occasional website was by and large free, or dirt cheap. I am not complaining at all about this. I am extremely happy that this glorified hobby generates enough cash to maintain itself. It means someone out there is reading/enjoying this stuff. So, thank you for that.  

So, there we are: 2013 in a nutshell. Later today I'll probably post something about hopes and goals of 2014, then an update on my current project: Five Man Midget Death Squad.

A little holiday cheer for you.

I thought it would be fun to post a little holiday related piece I did last year. It's technically the epilogue for Book 3, but it's pretty self-contained. Enjoy.
"All right, Thomas. I'm gonna need you to explain this to me one more time."

"The elves are on strike. Their list of grievances is posted online, all very reasonable."

"That I get, no one likes to be treated like garbage. What are they doing here and where the hell is the fat man?"

"I suppose after they destroyed the factory they realized they needed to deal with me next. I'm betting they don't know about you, M."

"You? Why you?"

"I'm Nicholas's only living friend."

"What? How do you know Santa?"

"I helped him build the first factory and set up relations with the elves, back when he was St. Nicholas."

"And now they want out?"

"They don't want out, they want what everyone else wants: hourly pay, vacation time, benefits."

M snorts. "Since when did Santa start turning a profit?"

"Since he started selling the rights to his name and image to everyone and anyone."

"Where is he anyways? This is his problem not ours."

"Vacationing in Florida. The moment the elves came to town, they became our problem."

"What about Mrs. Claus, where is she?"

"Divorced. The last I heard, she was living south of Los Angeles and married to a plastic surgeon."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she goes by Gloria now, looks completely different after the liposuction and facial augmentations."

"She hot?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I've known her forever. I introduced her to Nicholas."

"How did you meet him?"

"First counsel of Nicea."

M looks at me blankly and then shrugs. "Okay. So why are we eating here? Shouldn't we hunt the elves down and end this?"

"They wanted to meet."

"To meet? They flew all the way here to talk? That makes no sense. It's not like you have anything to do with their problems."

"I know."

"Then you think it's an ambush? Is that why all the roads are closed?"

"You got it."

M smiles. "Kill, or capture?"

"Capture if you can. Kill if you must."

M pounds his fist on the table. "Added challenge, awesome. So, what do they look like?"

The ground trembles and I point over M's shoulder. "I'll give you one guess."

In the empty intersection a block away stand two gigantic, metal, domed feet. Dirtied and scratched from use, they have left giant craters in the street where they landed. I follow the feet up the ridged legs and over a blocky, broad chest, to a boxy head and oversized eyes.

"That is a big ass robot. I'd be a lot more concerned if this thing didn't look like it was from the 50s. Where's the guns, lasers, rockets? It's nothing more than a giant toy," M says.

We stand up and start walking towards it. It's here for me, not to destroy town. We don't have to hurry.

He points upward. "What the heck is that and what's up with the hat?"

On top of the robot's head rests a red cone-shaped hat, but where the white ball should be is a long, metal pole.

"Probably an antenna. I bet it's controlled remotely. The hat is the symbol of the Northern Elves."

"Oh, the cowards didn't even show up to fight, they sent in a ringer?"

"Northern Elves are exactly what the stories make them out to be: short little people that are good with their hands, but have little access to technology."

"Fair enough." M cracks his neck. "All right, let's do this."

"You take top, I take bottom."

"I'll see you in the middle."

I take off at a jog, checking the runes on my fingers and loosening each of them like a pianist. From my fingertips, I pop off a couple lightning bolts at the robot’s legs. They connect, but only leave scorch marks behind. Hoping the attack did more than I can see, I send off a couple more in rapid procession. Each one ends with the same result.

The robot steps towards me and I hear a loud boom that has me look up just in time see a very large, metallic hand sail through the air and crash into the building next to me. So much for the elves not destroying the city.

I finish the last dozen feet in a sprint and use the robot's leg to shield me from the building and office debris. The robot makes no indication that it knows I'm here. M is doing a fantastic job of distracting it. Seeing as I have an opportunity to do some real damage, I set my hands in position and torch the robot's leg in fire. Maybe I can melt the damned thing. I watch the skin on my fake hand melt away: there goes that plan.

*                      *                      *

"I'll see you in the middle," is all I have time to say before Thomas advances on Santa's Little Slayer.

Waiting for the perfect moment, I watch the combatants with complete focus. Distractions and ambushes are in need of precision, of perfection. Without both, it all ends in failure and for naught. Waiting, waiting, waiting, now. With but a thought, I launch into the clear skies at the head of the metallic monster, like a bolt from William Tell.

The robotic giant takes notice and lifts its arm against me. Boom! The hand explodes through the air, but my speed is misjudged. The five-fingered death shot ends its journey with a three-story explosion of chairs, desks, stone and mortar that rains down on the city street like a bad day.

My partner makes it through unharmed and unnoticed. He goes to work on the legs of this towering toy of terror as I slam into and through its head like a bullet. Electronic innards explode out of its new cranial cavity behind me. I twist, spin and plant myself feet first into the building behind the Meccano-man. Exploding into the air once again, my push shatters the shatterproof office window as I set forth for its back.

*                      *                      *

The flames turn the metal leg red-hot and it’s dripping with molten iron. The spell begins to drain me mentally and physically as the heat draws sweat from my head; the stench of burning metal doesn't help either. On the bright side, my new heart is taking the stress without complaint. As M explodes through the robot's head, it teeters slightly from the impact, but remains on its feet. I turn the heat up and begin to melt holes into the robot's hollow leg. Exposed wires begin to liquefy and sever their connections with the foot. I cut off the flames and shoot electricity up the wires of the leg. Maybe I can short it out.

I never find out if it will work. M slams into the back of the robot and sends it face down in the street, barely missing the buildings on either side. The force of its landing bounces a car up in the air.

M lands lightly next to me and grabs the partially melted, partially torn foot and rips it off the rest of the way. Hopping on its back, he bashes it with his bare fists over and over, leaving the robot's body looking more like Swiss cheese and less like a robot. He hops off the back of the robot and smiles.

"Kick it while it's down."

"Nice to see you finally learned that." I look back at what's left of the robot. "Although I think it might have been overkill this time."

"Excuse me!" a voice says.

Running out of a building adjacent to the smoking robot are a reporter and his cameraman. They stop in front of us, catching their breath and facing each other.

"Okay, phew. Let's go, Bart on 3... 2..." The reporter takes a deep breath. "A fantastic battle has ended today here on Troost and Arland between two unknown men and a giant robot." The reporter turns towards me and asks, "Sir, what is your name?" He puts the microphone to my mouth.

"Thomas."

The reporter shoves the mic in M's face. M looks at me and back at the reporter. "Um, M."

The reporter looks at us, puzzled, and continues on without missing a step. "Thomas, can you tell us what has happened here? Was the robot going to destroy the city, or was it here for you?"

"It was here for me."

"Why would someone send a robot to murder you?"

"Santa's elves are on strike. They thought I could be a threat."

The reporter stares at us for a moment. "Are you saying that Santa Claus is real?"

"Yes, sir."

He turns to M. "That was a spectacular fight, good work taking down the giant robot."

M scratches the back of his head. "Thanks, I guess."

"How did you learn to fly? Have you always been able to?"

"Um, I just, sorta... jump really well."

"How did you manage to fly through the robot? Are you super strong?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything you would like to tell the public?"

M looks at me and I shrug. "Kids, don't do drugs."

M and I walk away from the reporter and towards our car before the reporter can say anything else. I can't help but laugh.

"What?" M asks.

"Don't do drugs?"

"Isn't that what you're supposed to say?"

I think about it. "I honestly don't know."

"Why did we even talk to that guy?"

"It's time we went public. We're going to need help with what's coming. This seemed like a good time to do it."

"Yeah, shit's about to get real!"

Death Squad Update 12/13/13

Words: 19289

I am now stepping out of the long history of the Tungri dwarves and introducing Aeneas, Wynda, Lorna, Tavin and Tavon: The Five Man Midget Death Squad. It's kind of nice to be able to write in a modern tone, but it was equally interesting to go through the journey that got me there.

Early on I wanted to present the dwarven world as they saw it. Since that equated to spoken word (a trait we humans held as well) that meant that I was (re)telling these stories as fables. If you go back far enough in any culture, fables/lore are what make up their history. It might not have always been the most accurate, but it def had its own way of going about things. For example, there was little to no dialogue, descriptions were brief, or nonexistent and it was typically kept short. There are exceptions to these trends and that can be seen in this book as well. Most of these stories run 500-2500 (2-10 pages), with the occasional important story hitting the 5000 (25 pages) mark. Right now, I've got about 10 completed, first draft, chapters.

The Death Squad chapters will def make up the bulk of this title and I think we will all be glad for this. It's hard to get behind and enjoy the characters in fables. They are rarely described well, lack depth and tend to be there just to make a point. I tried to not do this too much, as I still want it to be enjoyable, but I thought it would be fun to have a progression in the story telling style, as well as developing a history and culture for an entire race. In a way, I'm building an entire world (the Tungri) within a world (Chronicles of M), which also lives within a world extremely similar to our own, albeit hidden and mysterious.

Hopefully, that made sense to someone besides myself. I tend to write these blog posts not to simply say BUY MY BOOK, but to give some strange insights on what I'm trying to accomplish. Is this knowledge needed to enjoy the book(s)? Absolutely not. Think of it as a behind the scenes. At most, this is here to entertain and maybe bring to light things you might not have noticed in the stories. After all, who would really read this book and notice the slight changes in story telling until it had long since past?

I may be getting a little to artsy with this book, but hopefully the steam punk adventures of the Death Squad will round that out for everyone.   :)

Five Man Midget Death Squad Update 12/5/13

Word Count 10,200. 

I don't know what has drove me to do this, but at the beginning of the month I decided to see if I could write this entire book by the end of the month. So far, so good. Do I really think it's going to happen? No, but I'll def give it a shot! It's been a fun writing experience so far, one that I can talk about at length without giving any sort of spoilers....which is an oddity for me. 

Something I feel I should clarify is that it won't be entirely about the Death Squad. It's technically a historical piece on the Dwarven Tungri clan. Google "Tungri" and you'll get an idea where their story begins. I'm guessing about 1/2 the book will be historical pieces, initially written as fables that eventually develop into a modern story telling technique and carrying on about the Death Squad, up to the point of meeting M for the first time in book 4 "Consequences." So, it's a standalone that enhances the CoM world, as I have stated before.

Rather than have a simple series of folk tales/lore with no real continuity, I decided to use the author of the document (Uhler, of CoM fame) as a narrator between the stories to fill in the gaps. I also plan on using some Scottish folktales to build stories around, in the same way I did with Mai's past in "Hitori." I will not outright steal an existing piece and claim it as my own, but re-use their idea of something (let's say, what the Scots consider a vampire) and develop a story around that idea. It's just one of my little ways of making the book more believable. I've always liked the idea of a piece of fiction that seems plausible, so I try to whenever I get a chance.

On a side note, I'm really enjoying the writing process of this book. As much as I enjoy character development and dialogue in CoM, it's really interesting to write entire pieces with absolutely no dialogue (so far) and to not only build a series of characters, but to build an entire history for a people. A history that, if I do this properly, will grow and develop with each passing generation/chunk of story.

Book 4 update and Death Squad Midgets

Let's get the good stuff rolling first. Book 4: Consequences was sent off to the editor about an hour ago. So, that book should be out by the end of the month, providing something terrible doesn't happen between now and then. In total, book 4 is sitting at 68k words so I was close in my 70k estimation. It'll be priced around the same price as the rest of the series and will be available everywhere the others are: amazon, itunes, kobo, nook, smashwords, etc.

Because of a 4 day head cold that kicked me around, nothing was accomplished as far as writing is concerned. Not a huge problem, but it does mean I have to buck up and kick some arse for a few days to compensate. The plan is to get the Five Man Midget Death Squad book done by Feb, writing here and there on book 5 of the main series, which I'd like out around March, maybe April. It's all pretty up in the air at this point, but at least you know I'm doing something!

The mockup down below is roughly what the cover of book 5 will look like. Initially I was going to revamp the covers of books 1-3 with something more consistent with book 4, but I've changed my mind. Book 1 is selling, people seem to be cool with the cover and according to my absurdly detailed stats, about half of the paying customers who pick up book 1 continue on to book 2. So, the story is keeping people interested.

At the moment I'm playing with the idea of Book 5 being called "The Lord Wars: Part 1" but I haven't decided. I do know that book 5 and 6 will have nearly identical covers, with some very obvious differences that allude to the story itself. I'll just leave it at that for now.

Give me your thoughts on the cover, it's all done on the computer, so I'm happy to toy with it.

Discounts, edits and midgets

A bit more on the plate this week than usual, so here we go.

Until the end of the month, CoM: Book 1 is 99 cents (or equivalent) on Amazon. If you're new to the site and you're thinking "what the bloody hell is CoM?" there's a link to the right of this post that goes to amazon. You can also go to the top of this page and mouse over/click on "about the books" I have a nice little page that will also tell you about it and where you can purchase it.

The writing of book 4, "Consequences" is complete. I'm about 1/3 of the way done with the first wave of edits. I'm going to pass the book along to my editor at the beginning of December, with a release date sometime that same month. Once I pass it on I'll start work on Book 5 - still working on a title for that one.

As for the standalone "5 Man Midget Death Squad" I have been writing here and there for the past few days on this one. So far, I'm really enjoying it. For the most part it'll be told in a series of short stories, with the occasional short chapter tieing up the previous story, or starting off the next. I suppose the easiest way to describe it is to think of a show where they re-enact an event and then the host/narrator comes on ending/introducing the next piece. I'm hoping this will make the book more cohesive. Plus, I'm writing it from Uhler's point of view, which I don't get to do very often. Remember, this is a standalone book, but it wraps into the main series. Think the Hobbit, or Silmarillion to the Lord of the Rings.

The thought that's been boggling my mind is how to categorize this book. I don't think there's a Historical, steampunk, fantasy documentary genre. Then again, CoM doesn't really fit into any particular fantasy genre either, so what else is new.

5 Man Midget Death Squad: First Update

Well, I'm not as far as I'd like to be on this one, but I've got a ton of notes and ideas drawn out which will make the writing that much smoother and faster. However, I have the preface completed, which not only ties it into the CoM world, but eludes to some upcoming concepts in the main series. Does this affect the book as a standalone? Absolutely not. A preface just serves to explain how the author came to write the book, it just so happens to be written by Uhler.

As I have stated before, all the standalones will be in different styles and genres (somewhat) from the main series. Partially, so that I can step away from the series and take a slight breather and partially because it's always good to try new things. Where Hitori is a historical, Japanese fantasy piece, this one is almost a historical documentary about dwarven society. If I had to compare it to something, I would go with Band of Brothers, or even World War Z. That's the book, not the movie.

The idea is to share a bit of background on dwarves: how they were ran out of their lands by Germanic tribes, forced into the Scottish mountains, their struggles there, their meet/greet with the Lord residing over that territory and their willingness to help the Lord defend the land, in the form of a 5 (wo)man team. So, lots of background information that I'll splice up with stories about their greatest squad: The Five Man Midget Death Squad. The Death Squad happens to be the group who play a large role in the next few books, so that should all tie together nicely without killing the standalone concept.

Sometime in the days ahead I'll write up a piece on the death squad members. It's not exactly a spoiler and the idea of describing a group of steampunk dwarves from Scotland makes me giggle a little.

Book 4: Consequences - update 11/15/13

Here we are again with updates and such. The book is currently at 61k words and I have probably 2 and 1/2 good sized chapters to go. I'd like to think I'll be done with the first draft by this Sunday, giving me 2 solid weeks to edit the crud out of it, but I highly doubt it. My life tends to be rather busy with adult type things that take priority, or fit into quadrant 1, if you are a fan of the Stephen Covey's 7 habits. 

It also comes down to how I decide to end this. Keep in mind that the next book will be either be directly after this book, in the timeline, or very shortly after. It all depends on what I decide works best as an ending. At the moment, I'm deciding between two points.

On a related note, I WILL be starting book 5 directly after this one. However, I'm also going to work on the Five Man Midget Death Squad book as well. Yes, that will be the name of it. I've already started work on it. Normally, I don't like working on two things at once, because I feel like nothing is getting done. In this case, the majority of my efforts will go towards book 5 and the rest to the Death Squad. If I keep up the pace I've been going I should be able to complete Death Squad before Planet Comicon as well as Book 5. If I don't keep the pace, I'll def finish book 5 first. As much as I'd like to have another book to sell at the convention, I'd rather put the fans first. I don't like long gaps between books, especially when it's because the author decided to go off and work on something else. Yes, it's related, but it's not important to the main series. It will be a standalone.

That being said, writing the Death Squad book (thus far) is giving me a chance to really get to know these characters and the dynamics of the team. As oddly important to the next few books as the Death Squad will be, it'll ultimately make for a better read if I develop them completely. From that, I'm glad I decided to start working on it. I won't get into details on that story, I'll probably put up a blog post on that tomorrow under a Death Squad update.

Gearing up for Planet Comicon

This post is being made simply because I'd like some feedback. I have a few routes to go and, to me either is acceptable. As such, I go to you, the public opinion.

Planet Comicon is the big comic convention here in Kansas City. Thousands of people show up for this and it's a great opportunity to "whore myself out"...as far as books go. Here's the issue: at a convention, series don't sell. I can't say I blame the average consumer. I wouldn't buy the entire series from some unknown author that I spoke to for 10 minutes. Sure, I'd buy the first book, but unless it sounded like the most amazing thing ever, I'd probably save my cash for someone else's wares.

Currently, I have CoM book 1-3 in paperback, ready to go. For obvious reasons, I have about 3 times more copies of book 1 than the others. I figured I could do some sort of buy the set and save money sort of deal. Either way, I only have 1 real seller here and that is book 1.

Hitori, being a standalone, makes for a perfect addition. It's just a matter of getting in paperback and getting some copies. No biggie. So, I have 2 real sellers.

IF I manage to get a kickstarter going and IF an artist and I can push out a first issue of the CoM series before then, I may have that as well. Planet Comicon is in March and the earliest I can hope to have an artist lined up would be Jan, so it's highly unlikely that's going to happen.

Book 4, "Consequences" will be done by Decemeber, might not be published, but it'll be to the point that I can start on the next book, giving me just enough time to finish it, publish it and get it out in paperback, so long as there aren't too many hurdles along the way. "Consequences" begins the next set of books 10 yrs after the previous set, so technically a new reader could pick up this book and use it as a starting point if they really wanted to. That is also a possible seller.


So, after that long explanation, here's the situation: I have 3 options here for the next book I work on. I can either continue on with Book #5 as I originally planned, giving me nothing new for the Con. I also have two, potentially three other ideas for standalone books that I could easily sell at a con, but would force the main story to come to a halt (again).

1. A CoM standalone of what I've been calling the Five Man Midget Death Squad. It's a team of steampunk, Scottish dwarves (fantasy dwarves) who work for a Lord (No spoiler here) in the same sense as Mai/Hitori does for Bishamon - defend the lands, fight off nasty stuff, etc. It would be part historical piece, explaining why the dwarves live in the Scottish mountains and why no one knows about them except in myth, eventually leading up to their introduction in book 4. it would also explain a few other silly ideas to give it a more realistic ring.

2. A CoM standalone about very old, very insane, sociopathic, mass murdering zombie named Dom. He's introduced in book 4 and I won't say anymore than that, other than he is basically the worst case scenario for a evolved zombie, vs Uhler who is probably as good as it gets. So, a first person story about a mass murderer who gives zero f's.

3. Something I started working on, but put to the side a while back. A few of you may remember some blog posts about it. A grindhouse/horro sort of story with dumb college kids, ghosts, midget bikers and a whole slew of crazy characters that end like any good grindhouse movie should. With a big ass, ridiculous battle.

There we are, 4 options to choose from. Personally, it's all the same to me. I'll eventually write each of them regardless of this decision. I just felt that it should be up to the people following the books, or whoever cares to voice an opinion. On one hand, I feel kind of bad leaving the main series for a seperate book when I just came back from that with Hitori. On the other hand, doing so might garner some new readers at this convention. Either way, there will be new content to read. So....what do you think? Drop a comment below and thanks in advance.

Book 4: Consequences - update 11/5/13

So, as you can see we not only have a name for the story, but a cover as well! 
Currently, I'm sitting at about 52k words and I'm guessing I have about ~20k to go on this story. It's coming along nicely and as long as life doesn't toss a few dozen hurdles in my way, I should have this completed by the end of Nov, getting it to the editor on Dec 1st. I'd like to see it published around Christmas, if possible.

Right now I'm finishing up a section where M is doing a solo investigation - the first for him. Usually Thomas would be right at his side, but he's been forced to split away to handle his own situation. There's also a third story going on involving Uhler, Albert and a deranged nutcase that I don't want to discuss because he's far too fun to spoil.

As that is the end of the update for the week, I'll leave you with a couple samples of writing from a chapter. It contains no spoilers, but shows how M is thinking these days. I've barely given them a second glance, so please excuse the grammatical issues. Enjoy :)



Sample 1: I explain to the manager why I’ve come by and she happily takes me to her office to discuss the situation. Luckily, she recognizes me from my time on TV, so there’s no resistance when I ask if the suspect, a twenty year old named Spencer, had the day off. If Spencer didn’t have the day off, did he at least enough to time to run to the library? The all rainbows manager assures me that the suspect hardly had a break that day because of the big sale at the time. I thank her for her time and get out of there, doing my damnedest to ignore the poptastic music, filling the store with horrors. It's a modern triumph of auto-tunes, drum machines and overly-direct lyrics about having sex. It makes me want to jam a pencil in my ears.


Sample 2: I don’t even bother going home. Instead, I stretch out in the back of Jenny and chow down on some fast food goodness. By goodness, I mean a greasy sweat burger that doesn’t require chewing before effortlessly sliding down my throat. For now, my hunger is sated. In a few hours I’ll probably have to fire one off and then toss in a heal spell for good measure.


Oh, I almost forgot, I revamped the front page of the site and the pages that detail each book. So, check that out when you get a chance. I also added a section for book 4 - http://www.chroniclesofm.com/com-consequences-book-4.html

It's been a busy day.