Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 11

Recording Your Own Audiobook: A One Year Journey

Recording your own audiobook is filled with highs and lows – kind of like the writing process. This post we’ll chat about the pos and cons of taking that journey. Audiobooks were gradually growing in popularity over the years, and then, the audience grew a lot. There has been an increase in subscription plans seen through Audible, Kobo, and Scribd, giving listeners various choices. From the creation standpoint, more platforms and services are available for authors to connect with narrators and audio engineers, making deals easy to obtain and sign off on. This all leads to more books transcending into the audio spectrum and into new listeners’ ears.

It is all quite exciting. As a writer, you can reach new audiences. Some readers may prefer to never touch audiobooks, and others swear by them. Some listeners enjoy the fact that they can perform multiple tasks while listening. Some also like both. The book’s subject or story will determine if they will listen to it or if they will read it.

What If You Are Interested in Recording Your Own Audiobook?

Yes, that is what we are here to discuss. Deals with narrators is a widespread way of approaching the audio realm, and for a good reason. These people are professionals, and they understand how to best execute their voice. You may even split it a third way with an audio engineer to make the sound quality superb. All of that is dandy. But we’re here to chat about the interest in recording your own audiobook and what I gathered from a year of recording them.

What We’ll Look at In This Post

Deciding to record your own audiobook is a daunting task. First, there’s writing the story. This is a big objective, and congratulations to you if you’re at this stage. Following the writing, you must have a home studio set up to record your book. Or you need access to professional equipment by other means.

Having the equipment is one thing, then you must master how to use them. Oh, let’s not forget the narration itself. This must be as engaging as the first word in your book. Just like writing, narrating has to capture the audience’s attention right away, or you’ll lose them. Some listeners will put an audiobook down because they can’t stand the voice.

These are a lot of skills to ask from someone whose job is to tell good stories. With all aspects of the writing industry in the modern world, writers wear many, MANY hats. This isn’t to discourage you, as you’ve probably already learned new skills from having a book published.

So, for this blog post, I’ll share my own personal experience recording audiobooks over the past year. We’ll look at the pros and cons from a high-level perspective. You can find plenty of articles online covering the nitty-gritty details of technical requirements and software. Narration performance is another topic entirely, but we’ll note it.

Why One Year?

Before we jump into the pros and cons of recording an audiobook, let me explain a bit of my background and why I chose one year to record audiobooks.

My Background

As an author, for years, people have asked if I had my works in audio format. Due to the lack of time, I did not, and my efforts were better spent writing a new book. In 2020, I started exploring audiobooks and offered the stories in a new medium for people to enjoy.

Starting in October 2020, I have recorded five audiobooks. Seed Me, Into the Macrocosm, Fire, Pain, & Ruin, Cultivate: Seed Me Relapse Edition, and Rave. Each of them took an astronomical amount of time to complete, from initial recording to publication. Of course, each audiobook got easier as I became more confident as a narrator and more knowledgeable in the production phase.

Thankfully, because this was during covid, we had a lot of time to spare due to lockdowns, social isolation, and nasty Alberta winters. So, it was the perfect storm to finally stop making excuses and try recording audiobooks.

To my advantage, I have done plenty of live readings over the years and previously posted YouTube videos of me reading short stories. I am also a music hobbyist, which gives me some basic understanding of acoustics and sound recording. The musical components have also slithered their way into the scores found within the audiobooks.

The software I used isn’t a standard. However, I have the software, and I made use of it. It’s intentionally designed for soft synth electronic music, but I used it purely for recording my musical equipment and audiobooks. All in all, I wanted to record audiobooks without investing a dime into anything new other than my time.

After releasing them consistently, it helped give me a sense if I wanted to continue recording them or take a break. These pros and cons are things I considered and notes that will come in handy to you.

Pros of Recording Your Own Audiobook

To start, let’s look at the positive aspects of recording your own audiobook and why it might be something that you should consider.

New Audiences

Audiobooks take a long time from beginning to end, and they require the same level of commitment as writing and finishing a book. Gradual and consistent progress every day will eventually take you to the end of the project. If you’ve written books before, audiobooks are no different. Of course, there’s the learning curve that comes with them.

The perk of recording audiobooks is you give your audience another method of discovering your story. They can hear your voice, as the author, deliver the story directly. You can also tap into the new and growing avenue of audiobook listeners who may never pick up and read one of your books.

Royalties and Project Management

If you record your own audiobook, you keep all of the royalties. In addition, you avoid any contract details or potentially paying narrators upfront. It’s all yours, you own the rights, and nothing else gets in the way.

Then there’s the project management of other people. Many writers don’t mind it, but if it’s not your jam, recording your own puts it all on your plate, and you can do it at your own pace.

Narrative Performance

Narration is an exciting part of the recording. You get to emphasize the words, characters, and scenes that happen throughout the story. This gives you a fantastic opportunity to bring the world to life through your own voice, the creator of the story. You can express fear, excitement, anger, and suspense all through pacing and tone.

You have already mastered the craft of the written word and have painted beautiful prose. Now you can take those words one step further and subdue them into people’s ear canals where they can absorb the passion of your storytelling. It can be a fascinating aspect of recording audiobooks. Then again . . .

Cons of Recording Your Own Audiobook

. . . recording your own voice can be pretty frightful if you’re not confident. Let’s talk about the negative aspects of recording your own audiobook. Even though there are plenty of good things, there’s a dark side to it.

Time

Audiobooks still take time to record. If you are recording them yourself, you are looking at spending many hours, many weeks, and months recording one book. This amount of time starts to sound very familiar to writing the first draft of a brand-new novel for your existing and potentially new readers.

An extensive critical piece of advice I wish I had read before I started this recording journey was, “audiobooks are worth recording if the book has consistent sales.” Don’t ask me where I read this from, for I can���t remember. However, it is an excellent piece of advice. There���s some books I probably would have skipped if I knew or thought this through. There���s some I would have recorded instead too.

If you have a book that is selling well and consistently, it means the audiobook will reach more people. It’s those clever Amazon AI algorithms doing their job. If your book isn’t selling well, the audiobook will likely be dead in the water.

Budget

Here’s a brief one: money. Notice I mentioned “not spending a dime” in my reasoning? Buying the software and equipment can cost if you want to record high-quality audio.

Learning Curve

As mentioned in the pros, there are a lot of moving parts in it. If you don’t understand audio recording or acoustics, you’re going to have a steep learning curve. There are a lot of technical requirements under the submission standards from each of the platforms.

Regarding acoustics, you don’t want noise where you are recording. It can be tough to find a quiet room and dampen the environment to have a crystal-clear audio signal without any distractions. That car that drove by, or that pet that made a noise? Well, now you got to re-record that sentence.

Exporting your files and making sure they reach the technical requirements is a whole other ballgame. You can spend a long time tweaking your files, submitting them, getting them rejected, tweaking again, and submitting until you finally understand sound mixing.

Narrative Performance

In contrast to the subsection under pros, we are going to talk about narrative performance again. A lot of people are not comfortable hearing their own voice in everyday situations. Then you add the component of entertainment on top of that! Narrations take skill, which is why there are professionals who do it full-time. Recording yourself can be daunting, especially if you don’t have anyone to coach you to improve your voice.

It can be intimidating to record yourself and sometimes feel outright ridiculous, emphasizing words in ways that you may never have done before. You may not be comfortable with it, and it might be a dealbreaker for you. You may even take personal offence reading criticism of your own voice from reviewers and listeners. The performance may even cause listeners to give your audiobook a bad review, so be wary of recording your own books. Get friends and colleagues to listen before you submit the book.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide if you want to record your own audiobook. If you have some technical background and are comfortable with performance, you’re off to a fantastic start. Otherwise, it may be a steep incline. The pros and cons listed here are not to tell you what to do, and they are to help you weigh the options.

In short, decide if you have the time and effort to commit to such a heavy task. Perhaps you are better off hiring a professional narrator and sound engineer to record the audiobook, and you don’t mind the project management.

Here’s a third option, maybe none of this is worth your time at all, and you are better off writing the next book for existing readers and drumming up new ones. In the end, we’re writers, and there is a large pool of readers out there in the global market.

Have anything else to add about recording your own audiobook? Share in the comments, and we can discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly with recording audiobooks.

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Observe Through New Lenses.

We are two months away from 2021 being over! I am ready to observe through new lenses. For the past year, the view has been through cracked glasses. This is metaphorically speaking, of course, because I had laser eye surgery and no longer need glasses. It���s not all down and out. I finished massive milestones that I haven���t even had time to reflect upon or take a breath from ��� onto the next thing. One objective was a massive web project, hence the delay in the blog. In addition, I finished a year-round exploration of recording audiobooks. More on that the come in a future blog post where I���ll dive into what I���ve learned and the pros and cons.

To summarise: I am glad to be moving forward and closing this chapter of my life. Now, I���ll be working on new stories. We���ve been during times since last March, and 2021 has been a bumpy road for me compared to 2020. The light at the end of the tunnel is proving fruitful in terms of workload and life goals. Right now, I reside in a state of bliss where nothing new is happening, and the old is sealed. In fact, I���m kind of enjoying this strange thing known as ���nothing.��� Maybe I could get used to this . . . as long as I tread lightly, for a body in motion stays in motion.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Time travel! I swear everything is moving at lightspeed. Technically, yes, we are travelling into the future every millisecond, bringing us into a new moment of now. Realistically though, it is just my perception due to project crunch time. It���s like a space rocket sending you into hyperspeed and blasting you into a new realm, one of cold Alberta winters looming.

New Reads. New Lenses.

Yes, the writing has lessened over the audiobook and web project sessions. But, I have been absorbing a couple of interesting books. I got a subscription to Scribd back in September to understand listening to audiobooks, because you know, I was recording audiobooks. Perhaps it would be a good idea to know about other audiobooks. Duh.

This month, I listened to Chuck Klosterman���s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto while reading On Equilibrium by John Ralston Saul. Both writers have a dry sense of humour, which is right up my alley. They paint obscure and often accurate outlooks of our society and the human condition. While reading John Ralston Saul���s work, you can���t help but feel a sense of absurdity about the current state of society and how we see ourselves. It���s heavy philosophical stuff. Chuck Klosterman is also an entertaining character, filled with jabs at himself and other people in cynical expression. He covers strange topics such as The Sims and what it means to be rockstar ���cool.���

Smashing these two books together and jamming them right into my brain creates a blast of new perspectives. They���re letting me see the world through a fresh lens, one that I haven���t been able to articulate. One that was desperately needed. One that I knew was required to grow, but I felt stuck for most of this year. It���s healthy to get new perspectives on the world. Otherwise, we fail to understand the ever-changing state that we and the planet are in. Whether we like it or not, the world is in motion, and a body in motion should stay in motion.

Not that I���m criticizing the act of being still. In act, being still is healthy if you remember to be within the moment and not let your mind wander in pointless directions and waste your energy, ultimately destroying a good mood. Being in the moment can allow you to see things with a fresh eye. These two books are currently simmering in my subconscious, letting me appreciate a newfound view of my own existence.

Okay! New Lenses, Got it.

Enough with the serious talks. That���s what I���ve been up to while wrapping up these big projects. October is the month of spooky, thematically fit for everything that I write. The fall season is filled with a lot of noise and, truthfully, not a good time for me to toot my own horn (market the books) with limited resources. I do far better in off-publishing seasons, like February or May. With that, I will use this time to write.

What���s Next?

Such is the struggle of writing ��� which idea do you birth into the world? There are dozens, if not hundreds, of premise ideas that will never see the light of day. They���re fated to swirl around aimlessly in the mind until they fizzle into nothingness. The ones that manage to cling to the neurons of your brain and escape destruction are a clear indicator that it���s an idea worth exploring. The three drafts I have on the go are all promising, and I���m equally excited about them.

Thankfully, I am not in any rush to head for the next convention. For me, 2021 was too soon. 2022 I���m making some significant life alterations, making conventions challenging to be a part of. 2022 will reveal itself when it does. For now, I will be working on that next draft.

I wish I could partake in NaNoWriMo with everyone this year. Unfortunately, I will wait on the sidelines and cheer all of you to write that first draft. I am on a slightly different path this year. As I rambled on in this post about philosophical ideas and stillness, it gives me new observations and ultimately new views that���ll channel into the writing craft.

Beer Note: Collective Arts Creativity Good Monster NE DIPA

For this month, I tried one of the Collective Arts beers featuring different artists on their cans. The gnarly wolf-man on this can is by Dan Dippel from Liverpool, New York, United States of America. I took a risk, and I must admit I knew better than to embrace the hoppy nature of IPAs. However, the artwork was pretty cool, and this is a strong beer containing 8% alcohol. Strong beers are pure satisfactory while writing these monthly posts. The beer has a citrusy heavyweight to it. I could see my younger years enjoying this more. All in all, it is good for one beer to start the night off with, or just have a single drink and pass out.

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Before the Fables – Making the Macrocosm

Behind the scenes of how the Into the Macrocosm short story collection came to be. This episode also elaborates on the superverse that all of my stories fall under, why it exists, and why I love transmedia storytelling.

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Audiobook: Into the Macrocosm Episode 10

The Nameless One observes an unsettling apocalyptic future for humanity. This world is seen through the eyes of Angie after Humanity experienced a life-altering split. Now, the survivors are hoping they don’t get caught by the Harvesters for organ extraction.

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Audiobook: Into the Macrocosm Episode 09

Another observation occurs for the Nameless One. They are unable to find any concrete clues as to who they are. Malpherities takes them to a land he held dear – Zingalg. The same world where the Mental Damnation storyline takes place, letting us see another region of the land filled with monstrous bird-like beings.

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Cybergast: Bioringer III

Bioringer Ether Chain’s story continues with part III, Cybergast. She must infiltrate a government transport to earn the remaining SCs she rightfully deserves from the previous gig. This is her first time attempting to make DNA Shifts, which can cause permanent damage if they’re not mixed right. Add that to the pile of risks related to this mission. Ether’s in for one hell of a ride.

Enjoy the story in written form, the artwork, and audio through the podcast with improv music.

Cybergast

Ether Chain’s hands shake slightly, holding the glass vial. There’s a stutter in her exhale which are are signs of nervousness and frustration. She can’t push the new setup with her employer out of her mind. The bastard strongarmed her into doing another bioring gig before giving her the damn social credits she earned. This is all her former partner���s fault.

Yes, she misses Var, and her gut twists at the thought of what she did to him to save her own skin. It turns out his ghost is now haunting her, for he had never explained their relationship with Blockchain. All Ether did was work her ass off bioringing and got paid. Now that Var is gone ��� no thanks to Ether Chain’s merciless choice ��� she’s learning how complicated bioringing really is. For example, right now, she’s attempting to prepare a DNA Shift to infiltrate a transport device and steal a valuable package for Blockchain. Her last two DNA Shift samples failed, so she’s off to a good start.

Bioringing isn’t for everyone. It requires plenty of stamina within the mind and body. Quite literally, you are rearranging your DNA on a molecular level. The Genetic Injection Dose, or GID, is the crucial element that mutates a body from one physical makeup to another. Of course, there are plenty of other usages for GID. The Society transcended humanity by entering the infamous CHIT era due to it. It’s old news, and no one needs to overthink the past because this is now the real world, and there is no going back. The amusing part is if you asked any historian about life before the CHIT era a century ago, they would have all told you the world was crumbling and a solution was needed. Now, look at humanity. No one presumed bioengineering would become so influential, effortless to produce, and end with deadly results of separating humans from post-humans.

So as mentioned, bioringing isn’t for everyone. For Ether Chain, one of the many rejects whose DNA simply doesn’t work with the transhumanism solution, you have to make SCs from somewhere. Bioringing is her skill, end of the story.

Ether Chain is cutting off a small sample of the hair strand Blockchain gave her with a surgical knife. She needs to create the right formula that will temporarily convert her into the sample’s individual. If you don’t get the right mixture of DNA and GID, you will permanently shift into the person, damage your own DNA, or nothing will happen at all. All would have severe consequences on Ether Chain’s life and this mission. Var was the one who prepared the DNA Shift injections, and now she feels like a fool for not watching him more closely over the years. Oh well, just like the pre-CHIT era, there is no going back.

She curses under her breath, sitting in the dingy small studio apartment that she rents from some pimp who sells cyborgs to lonely Johns. Injecting swine with GID solutions, mixed with cyber parts can create compelling toys. None of that matters to Ether, for this is just a cheap place to rent where no one will look for her in the underbelly of the Society.

Var’s familiar hov-box is here, serving as a haunting reminder of how she fed him to the Society���s biomechs. Thankfully, she won’t be needing the hov-box for this mission. So, the storage bot rests, turned off, at the dark corner under a desk full of weapons and ammo. Two of the arms she’ll be bringing: a laser-tipped blade and her pistol.

How did Var make the DNA Shifts so accurately? She has equipment here. She has the DNA sample, the GID solution, and the nano builders. All three are the holy grail to becoming an effective bioringer. Yet, she is clueless as she uses a tweezer to drop the hair strand sample into one vial filled with protease to destroy the cell walls. Then comes the removal of the proteins. The hair dissolves into an orange-brown liquid within the vial, letting her mixing it with the transparent GID solution in another. Instantly, the two liquids clash and create a neon blue. Still, she has little knowledge of what is happening.

The bright digital interface projects from her wrist cuff, rendering documents provided by Blockchain when they met at the bar. It’s a profile of a man about Ether’s age, the source of the hair strand. She’ll be bioringing as him. She’s never had to swap her birth gender. Apparently, it hurts like hell. Looks like there’s a first time for anything.

The document appears to be an internal staff profiling from the government. Specifically, their transportation and shipment facilities that are located in the underbelly. The man’s name is Robby Cord, he lives with his wife and two kids. His facial features are imperfect, the eyes aren’t balanced, and his chin is weak. Clearly, he has a genetic disposition towards the Society’s transhumanism solution. Noteworthy, for it explains why this transport device functions in the underbelly. Turns out you can still make SCs by working for the Society and not be part of their paradise. You’re just a bottom feeder, no different than Ether.

Good. Ether will bioring as Robby Cord and navigate through the transport device and . . . she swipes the projected hologram moving Robby Cord’s profile out of view and showing the following file. It’s a photograph of an encased glass pod within a metal shipping crate within a storage area. There���s a naked woman in the specimen pod. The Society commonly uses these pods to move their experimental subjects around to further understand the human genetic makeup.

Based on the floor plans of the transport vehicle, the pod will be in the back storage of the vehicle. The sleeping woman in the pod has had her hair shaven like most specimens. The photo has a title below it, saying: Emi Array. Handwritten words beside the photo from Blockchain say: HANDLE WITH CARE.

Interesting, Ether Chain thinks. Blockchain mentioned nothing about a person. It was just a device to steal. A specimen pod is a large item to sneak out of a transport unit. Blockchain sure is going through a lot of trouble to have Ether Chain infiltrate the transport unit and obtain this person. Is Emi his partner? Relative? Impossible to know. Blockchain isn’t even his real name, believe it or not.

Regardless, this is her mission. She’ll get the specimen pod out of the transport unit and get the rest of those SCs she rightfully deserves. Blockchain is a damn dirty businessman. What can she do, though? She has no other option other than to obey. She doesn’t even know where to find more work. Besides, she must learn how to bioring on her own at some point. Now is as good as any time, starting with making DNA Shifts.

“Here we go,” Ether whispers under her breath while adding a couple of droplets of the light grey nano builder liquid from a syringe into the vial. The little biobots behave as glue, so the DNA Shift sticks to the target DNA. Fingers crossed that this third mixture works.

She takes the completed vial and an empty syringe and carefully fills it, finds her vein, and takes a deep breath. On the exhale, she injects the needle and pushes the solution into her system. She keeps exhaling until there���s no more air, feeling the adrenaline move through the body due to the uncertainty of what she has created. Making DNA Shifts is kind of like cooking, easy to add elements, but you can never take it away. Hence her previous two were duds.

Several moments go by with deep, steady breathing. Her heartbeat is the timer, keeping track of when she injected herself with the DNA Shift solution. Her muscles twitch, the heart rate picks up on her cuff screen. Sweat beads on her skin. Yes, the solution is working. Unlike previous shifts, now she feels the muscles grow far larger, her bones are aching, her legs tremble, and she seizes up, sliding off the stool. Her body slams onto the floor and enters a fetal position.

She lets out an agonizing groan, knowing there was indeed enough DNA in this dose. There’s no going back now. Ether exhales in deep heavy breaths, spewing saliva with each puff out, enduring the shift from Ether Chain into Robby Cord. The heart punches inside her chest. Blood visually pulses throughout her whole system underneath the skin. The muscles grow and the bones extend, shrink, and mutate ever so slightly. They adjust her jaw, hips, legs, creating growing pains she hasn’t felt since she was a kid.

Hair. Lots of hair. Whiskers cover her upper and lower lip and most of her neck. The hair shifts into a coppery tinge. Her stomach twists around as her innards burn . . . hot like she���s ignited from within. Slowly the mutations ease their intensity, and she can breathe at a steady pace. The DNA Shift is complete, and she uses her shaky, sweaty arm to push herself up. She’s weak and oddly hungry.

Ether Chain stumbles to the bathroom, almost crashing into her weapons table, to see herself in the mirror. Only she is no longer there, and she is looking at Robby Cord, the transport device employee. Well, mostly him. There’s a few small traces of Ether left, such as the lips are narrower than Robby’s and the fingers are more delicate. Still, the resemblance to the real Robby Cord is uncanny. And no, her junk didn���t reform for the dosage wasn���t strong enough ��� she checked. Relief rushes through Ether; she did it! Ether made a DNA Shift and will be ready for the bioring gig tomorrow morning.

A third time the charm is accurate, and the solution reverts after several hours as Ether reviews the documents Blockchain gave her. The shift back is more gradual and takes about half an hour. Like the initial transformation, it���s an awful experience. DNA Shifts shouldn’t last longer than three hours. If they do, you’ll create permanent damage to the DNA and never return to your original self. Her last mission with Var, as Lia Catcher, made her fearful. This DNA Shift made her . . . angry. It must be the man’s metabolism. It made her think faster, flooding her brain with useless mind chatter. She has far more vigour too. If only she could keep some of this energy. It certainly would give her an upper hand bioringing. But she can’t stay like him forever. Eventually, she has to go back to being Ether Chain because she doesn’t need this man’s family to find her, thinking she’s Robby Cord. Nor does she want to kill the real Robby Cord and take his identity. Killing is the last option, kind of like what happened with Var. It was her or him.

Ether has prepared a good three additional DNA Shift syringes for the mission. With any luck, she won’t have to be on the transport device for that long. It’s better to overprepare as missions can go south. She memorizes the floorplans of the transport device to know precisely where Emi Array’s specimen pod is and deems herself ready. It’s game time.

She leaves the apartment complex in the morning to catch the transport unit before it leaves. Ether heads down the dark streets lit by the radiant glow of the ceiling tunnels dividing the underbelly and the Society. Vertical highways are leading to and from the utopia. Vehicles come and go past the dividing gate, watched by biomech guards. None of that is of interest, for the pickup location is located on the far end of the underbelly.

Ether got up early to prepare for the long hike towards the station through narrow alleyways and streets lit with dim blue and yellow neon signs of stores at the base of skyscraper buildings connecting to the ceiling. The pillar-like buildings form a maze of endless grunge, poverty, and shady dealings at every corner. People are just trying to survive down here, no different than Ether.

It would be unwise of her to use a cab or personal vehicle to get to the location. They can easily be tracked. The escape will be a different story. She’s kept her cuff on a closed network, disconnecting it from the leading web of the Society and the underbelly. She can’t risk being traced by any means.

The station is obvious to spot a vertical level down and a few blocks away. The gunmetal transport vehicle, the size of her entire apartment complex, is currently being loaded with metal crates. Each crate has its own interface with thumbprint activation. That makes this DNA Shift quite handy, presuming the fingerprints are fully converted. Her fingers . . . they were still too close to her own. That’s a detail she can worry about later. The only thing Ether is missing is the uniform. She has to find Robby Cord. His shift should be starting soon.

Ether rolls up her sleeve and injects the DNA Shift. She’s prepared for the hideously uncomfortable mutation, and the rush of chemicals runs through her veins. The bones ache like before. Her limbs tremble, and she falls to her knees. Eventually, the agony ends, and she can get up, covered in sweat. She looks in the reflection from her cuff to see she has entirely transformed into the ginger man. Now for that uniform.

The newly formed Robby Cord sets a timer on his cuff, keeping track of the estimated DNA Shift expiry. He exits the street and heads down a flight of stairs leading to the lower level. He crosses a bridge, moving over a steep fall into blackness. If anyone was stupid enough to jump over, they’d learn how many levels there are in the underbelly, and Ether isn’t going to find out.

Across the bridge, she makes it to the station. She walks calmly, heading for the first glass doors leading into the building. The doors automatically slide away, letting the bioringer into the chrome lobby, complete with dim yellow lighting. Robby Cord should be in the back room preparing to start his day. If only he knew what was coming.

No one bats an eye as Ether confidently moves through the lobby, heading for the back room. It’s past the black etched steel counter where two lobbyists work, and she passes them, placing her thumb against the DNA check to unlock the back door.

Come on . . .  she thinks. That fingerprint better work.

The DNA Shift wasn���t fully accurate. They���re going to know. I have my gun. I���ll fuck these fuckers up. There���s no way they���re taking me hostage.

Ether is sweating.

Come on. Don���t overthink this. It���s just mind chatter. It isn���t me.

The green light beams from the scanner run along the thumb, identifying her. Another second passes, and the door beeps. Success. Robby Cord has officially entered the station.

Go. Go. Go.

She navigates down the bright white hall and passes a middle-aged man dressed in the blue conductor uniform buttoned from neck to trouser. He smiles, clearly recognizing her. “Morning Robby,” he says in a bold voice.

“Morning,” Ether says, voice deeper. The harsh change of testosterone in her system is working.

Keep going.

Ether makes it to the break room where the lockers are kept. Voices are heard further in the room. One feminine, the others masculine. There must be three or four of them back there. Ether cautiously approaches, knowing that she may run into the real Robby Cord. She takes each step slowly, reaching the locker room and keeping her head low as a couple more employees walk by.

Around the corner, the first row of lockers is clear. There’s a door at the far end, presumably a supply closet. She creeps up to the second row, where two men and a woman change, getting ready for their workday. One of the men is Ether’s height with coppery red hair, bingo, Robby Cord. Their chat is all small talk and laughs as if nothing is abnormal. Little do they know that around the corner is a second Robby Cord, looking right at the real one buttoning up his blue uniform.

Robby Cord finishes dressing by putting on the military-styled deep blue coat and buttoning it up. He says, “see you on the transport device.” His pitch is eerily identical to Ether���s.

He heads for the exit, towards Ether. She reaches for the leather handle of the laser-tipped blade under her armpit. Unsheathing the weapon activates the light red laser highlighting the chrome metal���s edge. She presses her back against the locker as the footsteps reverb louder and louder from the approaching man.

One step, two steps, three steps. Now! Robby appears around the corner, coming face to face with an exact copy of himself. He freezes, mouth dangling open at the mirror in front of him. Ether lunges forward, snagging the man by the collar and pulling him over to the first row of lockers. She presses the tip of the blade on his neck, causing the skin to sizzle. His eyes are wide, but he says nothing. He may have no knowledge of what a bioringer is by the look on his face. Either way, he is spooked and is now breathing heavily.

Ether slowly brings the knife back and places her index finger on her lip, indicating he should keep quiet. He remains submissive as she drags him to the far end of the room. Wonderful. She raises the blade and slams the butt end of the weapon against his head, knocking him hard. He goes limp as blood begins to seep from his nose. Shit, Ether underestimated this man���s strength.

She grabs Robby with both arms, carefully dragging him to the closed door. He���s not nearly as heavy as she expected, this new strength is handy. Ether opens the door to find a storage room and pulls him into it, closes the door, and drops the man.

Wasting no time, she unbuttons the man’s uniform until he is left in his boxers. She ditches her tattered clothes and dresses into Robby’s, dropping hers onto the man’s face. She checks her cuff to see that she still has plenty of time with the DNA Shift. Only fifteen minutes have gone by.

Fully changed, Ether exits the storage room and checks the knob to see if she can lock it. Unfortunately no, it can���t be. She goes back into the storage and uses her scraps of clothes to tie the man���s wrists up. Next is his mouth so he doesn���t cry for help. Ether tears her shirt, stuffing the scraps in his mouth and ties him up. That���s as good as it���ll get.

Ether casually leaves the storage room and marches down the hall heading for the hangar bay. A group of five other employees are also heading in this direction, letting her blend in with the workers. They move to the end of the winding hall and are met with a set of automatic doors. They slide clear, letting the employees exit the building and out into the open space of the hangar.

The view makes Ether almost miss the group of employees dissipating, marching towards their own tasks. She can’t stand aimlessly out in the open. It���s time to blend in with the other employees. Some are directing, while others are cleaning the dark gunmetal exterior of the transport unit. Based on those tasks, there’s plenty of time before the vehicle leaves. She starts casually walking towards the transport unit, knowing the back room is where Emi Array is presumed to be.

Along the bay are twelve of those wretched biomech guards. They’re everywhere with that iconic neutral blue and grey steel as if the passive colouring scheme reduces the hideousness of their naked torsos fused to circuitry. The plated deep blue digitigrade legs make them look like some kind of chimera terror. Then there’s the pulse cannon arms, all in all, they’re a pure menace to anyone who opposes them. The mere sight of the twelve patrolling the perimeter sends a shiver down Ether’s back, reminding her of the last bioringing gig. No time to reflect on the past.

I fed Var to them, she thinks. It���s my fault. No. Keep focused.

One of the biomechs marches towards her as she approaches the transport unit. They���re crossing paths, causing Ether’s muscles to tense up. The mechanical legs slam onto the concrete with each step, ending with a hiss as the hydraulics adjust. Its lifeless blue irises look forward, utterly unfazed by Ether Chain ��� Robby Cord ��� who keeps walking at a steady pace.

Don’t act unusual. Blend in . . . blend in, she thinks. Those pieces of shit took Var. No. It���s my fault. I fed him. No. Stop thinking and just go. Wait, those eyes . . .

Ether turns to face the biomech as it passes by. The lean, pale white torso is well-formed, and portions of the skin are red due to the irritation against the circuits and metal bolts along the waist and shoulders. Further up, the worn grizzly face gazes ahead, not blinking.

“No,” Ether mutters, recognizing the biomech. The blue irises and the rough face are clear reminders to her. It’s her former partner Var. His long hair is gone, completely shaven and replaced with a metal dome, just like all the other biomechs.

Ether’s skin goes cold, and she stops, watching the biomech walk away. The sweat along her back and arms add to the chill. She was sure the Society mangles caught criminals for organ harvesting. Clearly not, for they have converted Var into one of their obedient units.

How much of Var is even in there? His face is so dead. He’s a biomech, not Var. It shifts her blood hot as she clenches her fists. No. She can���t get emotional. Ether needs to keep rational thinking. Var is more machine than man now. The questions and anger are not Ether Chain. That comes from Robby Cord, the employee of the Society. She is Ether Chain who must blend in and not be captured by the Society. If she is, she���ll suffer the same fate as her former partner.

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Typical Books Interview with Konn Lavery Part 2 of 2

Following the first part of the Typical Books podcast interview. I am excited to share part 2! We dive into music, transmedia storytelling, and about my latest release, Rave.

About Typical Books

Typicalbooks talks about horror fiction each week. You can tune in to this as a booktube series on YouTube, or here in audio. From new releases to classics, Lydia pulls from being a #horror author and reader to bring you a digest of horror happenings.

More Typical BooksAbout This Episode

Konn Lavery is the author of 38 short stories and 10 novels including Rave, Seed Me, and the Mental Damnation series. He also designs cover art and beyond his own books has worked with authors Eddie Generous, Jessa Forest, and Leslie Hodgins.

Alongside writing, Konn is an accomplished web designer, graphic designer, and multi-instrumentalist. You can hear his music projects W.O.K.E. and Konnartist on Bandcamp and accompanying his many audiobooks and transmedia productions.

https://konnlavery.com/
https://www.patreon.com/konnlavery

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Audiobook: Into the Macrocosm Episode 08

The Nameless One’s next observation takes them closer to death itself.

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Breaks Are Healthy

I’m alive! As you may have noticed, there were no Unprocessed Thoughts during August, and September’s is a little late. This is because breaks are healthy. Of course, if you don’t manage the time away correctly, it’ll get sucked up by other activities that may cause stress and don’t provide the mental freedom that you are looking for. Yes, that is a statement about me over the past couple of months. But I’m alive, back in the ring, and writing away.

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts.

The blog has been empty due to the shift in focus on audiobooks and the Patreon. If you follow the newsletter or the Patreon, you’ll see that things are still moving and grooving, just at a slower pace. There are the monthly short stories and the soft launch of Cultivate: Seed Me Relapse Edition.

I planned to publish this blog post on October 4th, but the Facebook DNS downtime was an odd surprise to me and many others. So, why the time off and late post? I have intentionally taken a break from writing to make room for some of the heavy-duty graphic design and website contracts I have on the go. I’m also figuring out life over the next year. The world has woken up, summer was fun, and people are ready to get back at it. At least my clients have.

The free time during the summer allowed me to write Cultivate: Seed Me Relapse Edition and record its audiobook, along with the narration for Rave‘s Audiobook. Now, as always with the fall, there is a craze of urgency with client work. It’s the “the world is falling apart if it’s not done NOW” type of thing. The NOW has passed, and we are in October where I can return to writing. This will be seen in this month’s short story on the Patreon. And maybe, just maybe, I can return to some of the half-baked manuscripts I have on the go. Oh, there’s also finishing up the Rave audiobook, updating this website . . . And the list goes on.

Remember, Breaks Are Healthy

The months away from the blog wasn’t all work, work, work. I took a real break and went to Vancouver in British Columbia, west of Alberta. During the road trip, my girlfriend and I listened to The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History while driving through the aftermath of forest fires. Let me tell you, that book and the drive painted a grim image of what our future looks like. I like to remain on the optimistic side and believe we can make the world better. The drive certainly put things into perspective, especially when you stack on the past couple of years.

Remember What’s Important

The social isolation we experienced during 2020 gave us plenty of time to remember what’s important in life and why we are alive. So quickly, a lot of that self-reflection and understanding was thrown out the window once the vaccines started rolling in and life returned to a semi-normal state.

It is unfortunate to see the vengeful return of economics and capitalism being number one in a lot of people���s lives once again. There is hope. People’s attitudes have changed about their work and life balance. We’re seeing it in the lack of workers in the workforce. It tells us that people want to live their life. They’re seeing what is essential. Our time is limited on this planet, and we may not leave much left for future generations. Enjoy it while you can. Still, I’m optimistic we’ll get out of this rut for the better. Humans are innovative creatures, and no one wants the world to burn ��� even the big bad corporations don’t.

The Irony of the High Ground

There is an irony in me working like a horse and talking about time away from work. Unfortunately, I face a very real situation. Like many others, you still need food on the table and a roof on your head.

Balancing your work with the essential values of life is why breaks are healthy. For this reason, the writing has taken a step down over the past couple of months, and it let me focus on these big contracts and start planning some significant life changes over the next year.

Downtime is critical to our well-being, and we’re not designed to work all the time. Plus, as mentioned in other blog posts, downtime is all part of the creative process. The time away lets you spring back and get into the ring with a fresh mindset, energized to rock! Listening to the slightly depressive audiobook of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History and driving through the aftermath of burned forests put a lot into perspective. Experiencing another city, Vancouver, provided plenty of time to decompress from the writing.

Alberta had its open for summer, and now we’re done. We’re in the fall, and winter is around the corner. I’m certainly looking forward to staying inside more and cranking out some words now that this healthy break is over.

Beer Note: Apex Predator Brewing ��� Dead Woodsman Pale Ale

For this month, I tried the Apex Predator Brewing ��� Dead Woodsman Pale Ale. It is an unfiltered beer, which I am not too fond of. There are countless hazy beers out there. However, this beer lives up to the pale ale name and isn’t too hoppy. As time has gone by, my happy tastebuds have diminished. I prefer to taste the beer as opposed to an overbearing amount of hops assaulting my tastebuds. Dead Woodsman Pale Ale is easy to drink, making multiples a lovely time. I quite enjoyed this beer, and it is one I will pick it up again.

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A Chat with Thriller Author Lauri Schoenfeld About Her Novel Little Owl

For September we welcome Utah-based author Lauri Schoenfeld. Lauri is a well sought-after speaker and frequent guest with writing groups, podcasts, and business, talking about art, embracing fears, and learning to love yourself after abuse.

She���s the owner of Inner Enlightenment and is a child abuse advocate. Her business helps people connect with their inner light and child within. Believe it or not . . . she is part cyborg.

Let���s welcome Lauri Schoenfeld to the blog.

Thank you, Lauri Schoenfeld, for joining us! Can you give us an introduction to yourself and what got you into writing?

Hello. Thank you for the lovely introduction. Glad to be here. I���m a lover of people, art, and mystery. Yes, I���m the girl who likes to figure things out and ask a lot of questions, but I���m often the quiet girl in the back observing everything around her, too. I got into a writing when I was eight. I made investigator journals about my family, and their different moods and such to help me understand what the problem might be Growing up in an abusive home, I feel this was my way of finding a solution and something tangible that I felt I could do. The journals led to writing songs and poetry, then later to stories where I could be any character and go on adventures with them instead of being where I was. Writing has supported me many times over in.

Your psychological thriller novel, Little Owl, Launched August 31, 2021, can you give us a summary of the book?

Absolutely. It���s about an unstable woman, Adaline Rushner, who���s trying to establish a sense of home and certainty for herself and her family. She struggles with how to do that with the PTSD and anxiety attacks that keep plaguing her. When her daughters are kidnapped from her front yard and pronounced dead, she���s determined to find answers to what happened to her girls. Adaline opens up a web of childhood trauma and secrets that makes her question all she thought she knew about her life, herself, and the people she cares for the most.

Part cyborg? Please share with us!

When I was thirteen, I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. I had to wear a huge Boston brace for 22 hours a day for a year. It was this hard plastic piece that hugged you tight like a girdle, except not cute or appealing. After that year passed, my back continued to get extensively worse and I was told I���d need to have back surgery or I���d be crippled by thirty. We went with having surgery and I���m now the proud of owner of two titanium rods on each side of spine, holding it in place. I���m a fantastic weather detector

You���re a child abuse advocate and run your own business related to the issues. Has this influenced your writing?

Absolutely. What got me through the hardest moments of my life was writing out honestly how I was feeling and validating my voice. In an upbringing where my voice was often muffled or discounted to keep things quiet, writing gave me a place to be Lauri and to hear my truth on paper. To remind myself that what was happening to me wasn���t my fault and that I wasn���t crazy. Overtime, that truth led to being brave and reaching out for help. Often times, our voices are taken from us at a young age. I���m passionate about helping others to be able to express their truth in creative ways that helps them to feel safe, heard, seen, and validated.

What���s next for your writing career?

I���m currently writing the second book of Little Owl. I also have a realistic fiction story called Voiceless about a girl named Lyra whose dream to be on Broadway is shattered the day she loses her voice. She���s faced with letting go of her dreams for good or adapting to unfamiliar territory to stay on stage even if its��� not what she planned.

For aspiring and new writers, what���s one piece of advice you would give?

Enjoy the journey. There will be ups and downs along the way, just like life. Write down all your milestones and pull it out often. It will help remind you of all that you���ve done and how far you���ve come, especially on your down days. Write from your heart and be open to learning. Don���t take everyone���s feedback. If there are multiple people giving you the same advice, then take a look at it, but don���t change your story with every piece someone tells you. At the end of the day, you know your story better than anyone else.

Let���s thank Lauri Schoenfeld for joining us to talk about her work!Lauri Schoenfeld���s Novels

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