Justin Bell's Blog, page 8

The Fog of Dreams – 2nd Edition bargain priced at only 99 cents!

My next book is coming!  Loose Strands is on the verge of release, so to get everyone ready, I’ve discounted the 2nd Edition of my first novel The Fog of Dreams down to just 99 cents!

That’s 400 pages of military thriller for a bargain basement price!  Read it and brace yourself for the Operation: Harvest trilogy which will be continuing this month with the release of Book Two: Loose Strands!  Get on the train now.

The post The Fog of Dreams – 2nd Edition bargain priced at only 99 cents! appeared first on Justin Bell .

Latest G.I. Joe: Kindle Worlds novella has been published!

I first got my start as an author writing G.I. Joe novels and novellas for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds platform, a great licensing agreement which allows writers to write stories based in licensed universes, including G.I. Joe!

I’ve got three novels and a novella published already, and today my second novella has been published as well!

Part of the ongoing G.I. Joe: Legacy series, Book 3, starring my own character Whisper, is live on the Kindle Worlds store!

Check it out below.

Don’t forget, you can pick up Books 1 and 2 now as well, to get all caught up with the story, only .99 apiece! You can’t beat it!

G.I. Joe: Legacy Book 1 – Adventure Team Marcus
G.I. Joe: Legacy Book 2 – Stiletto

The post Latest G.I. Joe: Kindle Worlds novella has been published! appeared first on Justin Bell .

Netflix’s Daredevil Season One – One Year Later

I guess you could say I discovered comic books somewhat late in life, if you

can consider around 10 years old as being “late”. I had moved to a new town,

and my new best friend Patrick was an avid comic book fan. I went to his

house for a sleep over and immediately consumed the Hawkeye 4-issue limited

series as my very first introduction to super hero comics (not counting G.I.

Joe comics, which I’d been injesting previously) and never really looked back.

I was fortunate enough to get into comics in what many consider a renaissance

of comic book history, especially on the Marvel side. Frank Miller brought an

edginess to Daredevil, and while the Punisher first appeared in the 70s, he

really struck out on his own in the 80s, and Wolverine’s coming of age (in

many ways thanks to a 4 issue limited series also courtesy of Frank Miller)

transcended his peers by a wide margin.

Mostly thanks to these three characters, my love of comics quadrupled in the

span of a couple of years, and by the late 80s I was a full-on comic book

fanatic. At the core of my comics love, however, remained Daredevil.

I saved up for weeks to buy a beat up copy of Daredevil #1 at my local comic

store (and it’s one of the few comics I still own today), and the first back

issue of Spider-Man I purchased was #16 (his first run in with old hornhead,

still in his yellow and brown uniform). So folks can understand how much I

was looking forward to the Netflix debut of Daredevil last year.

At the time, I think I probably more “consumed” it than really “watched” it.

I voraciously gobbled it down, ingesting it by the hour in whatever tiny

windows I could, totally not taking the time to absorb or appreciate it.

Throughout every episode, I eagerly awaited the debut of his signature costume

and lamented various super villains who got only tiny cameos or didn’t appear

at all. It was a binge, plain and simple, and as usual when you binge, you

typically don’t take the time to taste what you’re eating.

So as Daredevil Season Two grows near, I decided I needed to revisit Season

One, and over the past two weeks, I did. Not blind, rabid consumption like

last year, but piece by piece, watching each episode as its own entity,

completely focused on the show.

God help me, it was spectacular.

I’m so glad I took the time to go back and watch it the way it was probably

meant to be watched. Stepping back and seeing the character development of

Wilson Fisk, the various twists and turns, the surprising deaths, all

intermixed with this coming of age story for my favorite Marvel hero was just

an incredible experience to go through again.

I found myself not even caring that he wasn’t wearing his trademark red, and

found myself much more invested in the relationship between Matt, Karen, and Foggy than I was in Daredevil vs. Kingpin. I was just as happy watching the three of them sitting around the table as I was watching the Devil of Hell’s

Kitchen busting heads. Being able to watch the story progress in days rather

than hastily absorbed hours went a long way towards the world making a lot

more sense and events having a much larger impact.

In short, Netflix’s Daredevil Season One was nearly perfect. It contained

just enough of his backstory with Stick, Urich, and the Kingpin, and managed

to be emotionally impactful, even though certain characters came and went

within a handful of episodes. Pure excellence.

Now we have Season Two on the way, and I couldn’t be more excited. Punisher

was a huge part of my comic book childhood, and I haven’t felt thrilled about

any of his movie appearances, so this is like a whole new world opening up for

me.

The real trick will be to see if I can hold back and enjoy it, or if I have to

dive in head first, mouth and mind open wide. Somehow, even though I know it

would be better to fully appreciate it, I suspect I won’t be able to hold

back. We’ll find out how I do March 18th.

The post Netflix’s Daredevil Season One – One Year Later appeared first on Justin Bell .

It’s official – King Shark is my spirit animal

For way too many years, TV and movies have tried to capitalize on the mythos and characters of super hero comics, but seemed to be ashamed that they were super hero comics, trying so damned hard to contort these crazy stories into a more “realistic” setting. Even Arrow feels like it has to explain every damn thing.

Then there came the Flash, and last night I watched an hour of a crazy man-shark chasing the fastest man alive around Central City and it was awesome.

King Shark is the best.

I mean look at this dude!

When it comes to the movies and media, I’m an unabashed Marvel Studios fanboy, but dammit, I just can’t help but get a goofy grin on my face when I see how enthusiastically The Flash embraces the ridiculous lore of its comic book roots. Multiple Earths, crazy metahumans, time travel, and A FRIGGING TEN FOOT SHARK WALKING ON TWO LEGS.

Keep rocking, King Shark.

The post It’s official – King Shark is my spirit animal appeared first on Justin Bell .

G.I. Joe: Legacy Book 3 – Whisper is on the way!

My latest Amazon Kindle Worlds G.I. Joe project has been completed!  Part 3 of the G.I. Joe: Legacy joint project with fellow writers Jim Beard, Bill Nedrow, and Troy Osgood will hit Kindle Worlds on March 1st.

It was a blast to write, and I can’t wait to get it out there.

You can check out all my work on my Amazon Author Page (including my Kindle Worlds novels and novellas!)

The post G.I. Joe: Legacy Book 3 – Whisper is on the way! appeared first on Justin Bell .

Operation: Harvest Book Three is officially in progress

In truth, I’ve been working on book three of the Operation: Harvest trilogy off and on for nearly a year, but there feels like a distinct difference between collecting all of my thoughts into a handful of disjointed Google Docs files, and actually laying those ideas down on paper, in a certain sequence in order to craft an actual story.

That transition happened over the past week, and I’ve gone from a very vague outline and a bunch of jumbled words, to over 25,000 words, in sequence, making up the majority of the first three chapters.  If writing a novel is the birth of something, I’m firmly at the end of the first trimester, which is typically when parents to be consider it “safe” to tell friends and family they’re expecting.

Well, I’m expecting my third “child” and so far, so good, though if my progress to date is any indication, 25,000 isn’t a trimester, and this novel could end up being a stretch longer than book two (though perhaps not quite as long as my revised book one).

More info as it comes, I’m just excited to be making some sensible progress!

The post Operation: Harvest Book Three is officially in progress appeared first on Justin Bell .

Daredevil Season 2 Trailer leaves no good deed unpunished

Yes, I’m a shameless comic book superhero fan, and I believe that my love in comics at an early age is what drove me to be the voracious reader and writer that I am today. Two of the biggest influences to me as a kid were Frank Miller’s run on Daredevil and the explosive entrance of The Punisher as the infamous anti-hero of the 1980’s.

These two characters seemed like the perfect marraige, both relatively gritty, “real” heroes the complete antithesis of the sparkling blue and red DC universe, and even the more outlandish Marvel heroes at the time. While Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, and the Hulk were off fighting aliens and cosmic beings, Daredevil and The Punisher were on the streets getting their hands dirty. This really appealed to me.

For that reason I was obviously excited when I heard that Marvel was using the Netflix Daredevil series as a jumping off point for their latest iteration of The Punisher, a character who has managed to survive three separate subpar forays into cinematic glory. Apparently Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, and Ray Stevenson are being collectively retconned away and making way for Jon Bernthal (of Walking Dead fame).

I can still remember being in high school and being so excited about The Punisher movie with Lundgren, only to find out that he basically sits around naked in a sewer and DOESN’T EVEN WEAR A SHIRT SKULL. Sigh.

Time will tell of Bernthal dons a skull-themed shirt, but if this new trailer is any indication, he certainly brings the right level of bad ass to the role. I recently selected the Daredevil Netflix series as one of my main writing inspirations for 2015, we’ll have to see if Season 2 continues that mantle. It’s certainly off to a positive start.

Check out the latest trailer below!

The post Daredevil Season 2 Trailer leaves no good deed unpunished appeared first on Justin Bell .

Deadpool is not your father’s superhero movie

Actually, scratch that. It IS your father’s superhero movie. But it’s defintely not your kid’s superhero movie.

Littered with blood, four letter words, and even some nakedness, Deadpool is 20th Century Fox’s latest film in their dubiously connected X-Men Cinematic Universe, and it delivers on almost every level, as long as you have a sense of humor and aren’t easily offended.

I like to consider myself a pretty sophisticated movie goer, attending cinematic performances with one pinky slightly elevated, looking down over by rectangular spectacles at the unwashed masses waiting in line for the next Paul Blart movie. Yet, even I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when Deadpool got shot directly in his ass, grabbing his backside and muttering “right down Main Street”. How don’t care how sophisticated you are, that shit’s funny.

The crass humor and overwrought bloodshed is intermixed nicely with some actual well-choreographed action sequences which is what really ties everything together. The film is obviously built as a raunchy, blood-soaked comedy, but there’s just enough high octane action to engage a movie watcher who likes going to movies for other reasons than to just laugh.

It’s place within the X-Men film continuity is dubious, especially when Deadpool when referring to Professor X remarks ‘Stewart or McAvoy, these timelines are so confusing! (yeah I LOL’ed). There’s enough tying them all together to extend the Fox Marvel universe in interesting ways. Colossus is handled to near perfection and even a character I have no clue about Negasonic Teenage Warhead manages to be likable and relateable.

Hell, even the taxi driver was a great supporting character.

I don’t go to the theaters often, but I’m extremely satisfied with my nine dollar ticket purchase on Valentine’s Day, even if the lacy red was blood soaked.

The post Deadpool is not your father’s superhero movie appeared first on Justin Bell .

Adventures in Self Publishing – Six Months later

It was November, 2014 when I actually got semi-serious about self publishing, deciding to participate in NanoWriMo 2014, and managing to spew out my entire 110,000 word novel during that short four week span.

Then, for the next nine months I began this strange twisted journey towards the world of self publishing, learning a lot on the way…mostly learning what not to do again.  When I finally launched my first self-published novel in August, 2015, I felt like I’d made this great accomplishment.

That no one would apparently ever read.

My friends and family were absolutely awesome and supported me whole hog.  I had days when I came dreadfully close to actually breaking a certain Amazon rank, but far more days where that KDP report bar remained depressingly flat.

So here we are, six months from the day I first published, and I’m on the verge of publishing again (a second edition as well as book two).  So what have I learned?

1) Adjust your expectations

This may sound harsh, but don’t click that “publish” button on your Amazon page and just assume you’re going to be an overnight success. Sure, there are success stories all over the place, but more often than not, it comes from very hard work, not just writing, but marketing, networking, and developing your “brand”. If you’ve done none of those things, there’s a good chance your book won’t get read, even if its the best book ever written.

2) Fiverr is your friend, just not your best friend

If folks aren’t aware of Fiverr, it’s a great job networking site that

connects folks looking for services to folks who offer those services,

generally at a very affordable rate. I used Fiverr quite a bit throughout my

initial publishing push. However, the old axiom “you get what you pay for”

needs to be considered, and at the end of the day, especially if you’re

writing a full blown 75K word novel, Fiverr isn’t necessarily any cheaper than other services. I’d recommend dipping your toes in first at some low paying gigs before going whole hog and gauge your satisfaction from there.

3) Network, network, network, then network some more

Interact with the community. Make friends. Read others work then ask them to do the same. Learn and absorb as much as you possibly can, and not just through pseudo superficial social media interaction. I’d recommend checking out the Amazon Write-On forums, Reddit’s Self Publishing subreddit, NanoWriMo, or any other countless places where struggling authors get together to commiserate. Without the glories of Reddit or NanoWriMo I wouldn’t have the fantastic editor and cover designer that I do now (plugging KAEditing and J Caleb Design here!).

4) Invest wisely

One thing I learned quickly is that, like it or not, it’s going to cost money

to get your book published, at least if you want to do it right. You need to

learn where to invest your money to get the most bang for your buck. It may be tempting to shoot over $50 to a few different marketing websites who promise a huge return, but I’ve found investing in editing and cover design is a much better use of your hard earned money. And if you’re self publishing through CreateSpace, I highly recommend leveraging their “Custom ISBN’s” rather than paying through the nose through Bowker directly. They give you just the right amount of flexibility at 10% of the cost.

Now don’t take all that to mean marketing isn’t important, it definitely is,

but I’d say the best kind of marketing is the stuff you do yourself. Folks

are much more likely to latch on to a quality blog post or a genuine person on Social Media rather than a barrage of paid out Tweets and ReTweets that lack the heart and soul of the person who wrote the work. I think those certainly have their place, but not when your first starting out.

5) KEEP WRITING

This is the most important thing. It’s easy to get discouraged when you spend over a year working very hard on a book that’s a part of your soul, only to see it languish with no purchases for weeks on end. It can feel like a personal failure. I speak from experience as I look at my sales rate for The Fog of Dreams and try not to think about how much I spent to get it made versus how much income its generating.  Thankfully I have terrific family and friends who have been exceptionally supportive, but beyond that small circle, I haven’t gotten much traction.

You know what, though? I’m willing to bet you didn’t write that novel just to make money on it. I bet you wrote it because you enjoyed it. So keep doing it. KEEP WRITING. DO NOT STOP. As long as it brings you joy, do it, and you never know, something might catch on. If nothing else, developing a large library of your work will catch interest on Amazon or in other places, and the more you write, the better chance you have of getting noticed.

As I sit here typing, I’m on the precipice of publishing a second edition for

The Fog of Dreams as well as the second novel in my Operation: Harvest

trilogy, Loose Strands. I’ve received at least two dozen agent rejections,

and spent six months frowning at my KDP sales report, but every single day I continue to sit down and keep writing, because it brings me joy. I’ll likely never be rolling in cash doing this, and heck I’ll be lucky if I start

breaking even, but as long as I love doing it, I’ll keep at it. Any financial

gain will just be gravy.

The post Adventures in Self Publishing – Six Months later appeared first on Justin Bell .

Forget Batman vs. Superman … Flash and Supergirl is where it’s at

I like to consider myself a comic book geek even though I don’t buy many comics anymore.  These days I get my superhero fix through TV and film.  My love of comics goes back a long ways to a time when heroes and villains weren’t afraid to run around in bright outfits, quip one-liners and every hero wasn’t some angry pseudo-villain.

For this reason I am exceptionally excited to see the recently announced Flash and Supergirl crossover coming to CBS March 28th.

Yes, Supergirl has a healthy helping of 20-something girl appeal, as Kara struggles with relationships, wonders what to wear, and sits on the couch with her sister eating ice cream right out of the pint.  But it also manages to balance some kick ass real super hero action, with fantastic effects and really cool scenes of the heroine screaming through the air, punching baddies through walls.  Plus Martian friggen Manhunter.

Over on CW, The Flash manages the same thing (though Barry has been uncomfortably ‘woe is me’ this season).  Red and yellow streaks burning Central City streets as he fights genius level apes, other super speeders, and a MAN SHARK for crying out loud.  True comic book joy.

Seeing these two colorful fun characters slammed together into a crossover story promises a level of unbridled, immature, comic booky greatness that I fear the Batman vs. Superman Hollywood monstrosity won’t come close to accomplishing.  Flash and Supergirl may be tier 2 characters, but they’ve been the highlight of a somewhat dreary television season.

While many DC comics fanboys are counting down the days until March 25th, I’m adding a few more days to that.  Make mine March 28th.

The post Forget Batman vs. Superman … Flash and Supergirl is where it’s at appeared first on Justin Bell .