Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 23

Automating Ourselves Out of Humanity

The work world is becoming ever-more connected with technology as almost every industry in the world has an IT contractor/department or is utilizing software to enhance their work. Tech has allowed us all to be more efficient and faster. Automating has streamlined basic tasks. Wonderful! One would think that with these powerful tools clearing up mundane and repetitive tasks, we would have more free time to spend with family and loved ones. Even crazier, maybe we wouldn’t be slaving away at the grind and could pursue more meaningful ambitions. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Specifically, in North America, we’re all working more. Customers, clients, and consumers are all wanting more, and they are snippy about it. Why?

Automation

We could point fingers at the fearful rise of star-rating platforms, or the global market of competitors that are creating a cut-throat environment, or we could pull back further and see the more significant issue that encompasses all of this: tech. Technology is ruining our mental stability.

People’s minds are short-circuiting in the consumer-based world and the business workforce (take a look at this fascinating Harvard Business Review article), and are becoming less tolerant. Our expectations have grown out of control as we become joined with our digital world from having mini-computers in our pocket and 24-hour availability to our coworkers with texting. The bombardment of communication through multiple streams, bosses using Big Brother spy software, project management platforms, and data analytics are causing people to tense up with the uncertainty of every move they make. All this bottled up stress is making people lash out like wild animals. Sometimes people are directly aggressive or, more often than not, they act like passive aggressive jerks. This new behaviour is supercharged as we shift into the start of a new decade.

Old World

Pre-2020, we’ve seen a gradual incline in automated services through telephones and plenty of self-service devices online and in person. Then the AI and deep learning started to make an appearance in the decade of 2010. These deep learning machines are supposed to make our lives easier as with every new technological advancement. The ten-year development saw a massive change in workflow found in the business workforce and the consumer world. Capitalism found a new way to optimize and synergize!

New World

Now, post-2019, this gradual incline of convenience rapidly mutated into a sudden mandatory spike. Web optimization. Chatbots. Self-service dashboards. Auto-approval processes. Banks not holding mobile cheque deposits. Project management software. Video conferencing. Faster. Better. Now. The list of adjustments goes on. Even your boss can see that little away icon next to your avatar if you aren’t at your desk.

Automating is Now

Everyone who has been in this game over the past decade is familiar with playing ball in the new digital arena. Those that aren’t, well, they’re in for one hell of a steep learning curve. Learning makes people grumpy, especially since they did all that in high school. There’s clearly no need for personal development anymore. Automation is supposed to do all the heavy lifting for us.

Whether you like it or not, we are all now a part of the digital age. The global pandemic has forced us to sit at home and drop all the corporate culture team development, watercooler conversations, grossly overused boardroom meetings, and the endless pile of make-work projects through casual conversations. With everyone at home, that meant people could only do one thing: work. More often than not, this made people more efficient. Are people happier? That’s a tough question to answer as we experience a once-in-a-lifetime world-altering event (hopefully). Here’s the flip side to the lockdown though, every customer and consumer is at home too.

The death of the office lifestyle and the grazing mall shopper came to a swift and mighty end at the start of the global COVID-19 crisis, and everyone was online. Not everyone is tech-savvy. Some people have trouble managing computers and navigating their interfaces. Other people don’t fit into the streamlined automatic sales funnel These, among others, need to reach out to support.

Automation to the Rescue!

No one can keep up with the rainfall of emails and phone calls. Thus, the increase in mental breakdowns, depression, and anxiety attacks run rampant. How can individuals let alone companies, keep up with the massive increase in customer support? The simple answer: chatbots. They’re not a new concept either; this article from SalesForce gets into the details of chatbots from 2019. The blog shows how many companies were already looking at integrating chatbots before the pandemic. Businesses knew they needed a solution to communicate more as their futile human workers are failing to keep up the increasingly rude demand. Unfortunately, these chatbots aren’t quite there yet. Sure, a number of them have passed the famous Turing Test, but they’re still ridged and script-like. Ultimately these bots are stripping away the personalized professional touch of a human being, and people don’t like them. Clients, customers, and consumers want the human-to-human connection that is increasingly disappearing both in the corporate and consumer world. Automated processes are destroying our humanity towards each other, and we’ve decided to hop on the ride because these companies offer too many conveniences for us to give them up.

Though, it’s not like corporations did an outstanding job and making their employees happy and want to provide top-notch work and service. A lot of jobs are low pay and heavy work. Many people fall under the essential worker category and make minimum wage. If they’re so crucial, why do they make next to nothing? Or for jobs requiring post-secondary education, companies will pay you less and chalk it up to ‘adding onto your portfolio’ or ‘internship.’ These aren’t good justifications.

The system has eaten itself. People aren’t that passionate about their work, and companies are replacing them with machines. Machines don’t need an HR department either. The ever-increase of industries melding with technology is going to continue to morph into one gluttonous blob of cold, inhuman, automated nonsense. The fusion has been happening way before 2010, and now we’re living in it. The repercussions of this are brain-dead workers who are so mentally exhausted by the constant flow of data, emails, conference calls, project milestones, management systems, and the usage of fluffy business lingo, causing people to shut down. Frustrated customers want to talk to people. By the time they jump through the chatbot hoops, or the help article labyrinths, or drill into the automated phone menu, the customer is so pissed off that they treat the human being on the other side with little to no respect. Then there are many examples of mental health directly linked to our time spent on social media.

Automating Out of Here

Tech isn’t going anywhere. The new pandemic-spiced decade jolted our entanglement – not in the Jada Pinkett-Smith way – with technology years into the future. We would have gotten here eventually, just at a slower and maybe more controlled approach. We’re here now, and it’s up to us to keep our humanity as we interact less and less with people. There will come a time where every deep learning machine and AI passes the Turing test, and we might not even know if we are ever talking to a human being. If machines happen to evolve in this wishful this way, maybe they can re-teach us how to be loving and compassionate once more, and give our fellow human beings the time to listen to one another, as we want our voices heard.

Until then, remember that you are human, and the people that you finally interact with past the layers of automation, are also human.

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Online For Authors Featured Guest Interview with Author Konn Lavery

I am pleased to have been interviewed by Online for Authors regarding my writing, the Mental Damnation series, my Graphic Design & Web Development business, and what is next in my writing career.

This is the first interview this year where I’ve shared what is next on the release schedule for books. Check it out below!

Konn Lavery is a Canadian Dark Fantasy, Horror and Thriller writer known for his Mental Damnation series.

Reality: Part 1 of Mental Damnation Dream: Part 2 of Mental Damnation Purity: Part 3 of Mental Damnation Mortal: Part 4 of Mental Damnation

Mental Damnation was 14 years in the making. He started writing fantasy stories at a very young age while being home schooled. It wasn’t until graduating college that he began professionally pursuing his work with his first release, Reality. Since then he has continued to write works of fiction ranging from fantasy to horror.

Konn has formed a discipline of writing daily, first thing. We look forward to the anthology of short stories he’s compiling.

Konn also does graphic design and website development business under the title Reveal Design (www.revealdesign.ca).

You can find Konn at the When Words Collide Online Festival* Aug 14-16th See the Quick Guide for more details about his Sunday appearances (Jim Jackson Social at noon and the Bring on the Goths panel at 2pm (MST))

https://www.whenwordscollide.org/docu…

https://konnlavery.com/

*Jennifer made an error in the interview about the date of the When Words Collide Online Festival, it is Aug 14-16th, 2020 https://www.whenwordscollide.org for more details.

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Keep on Writing

We’re just over halfway done the year and what a weird one it has been. 2020 is the end of a decade (as each decade starts on the 1st). 2021 will launch us into a new era for our time. A paradigm shift, if you will. All of us wish for our lives to get back to some form of normality. We’re experiencing isolation burnout, video call exhaustion, and economic frustrations. The list goes on. The wide array of problems is just demotivating. Well, let me say, I have been no exception, but as authors, we need to keep on writing.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

In July 2020’s Unprocessed Thoughts, I’ll recap some of the exciting things that have been going on, and we’ll swing back into the statement to keep on writing.

July – Book Launch, Book Award, Anthology

A triple whammy for this month! First off, Mortal’s launch has been an exciting relief. The 14-year journey has been elaborated on, and the book is currently on a blog tour. Oh, and Reality: Part I of Mental Damnation is free on Kindle finally. Kobo and Google Play have been for a while. So, if you haven’t read it, enjoy the book.

Fire, Pain, & Ruin won a finalist award for the International Book Awards, and my short story Summer Giver will appear in the Prairie Gothic anthology. Next month I will be on some panels related to the short story and participating in the digital When Words Collide.

Back to Keep on Writing

Okay, that’s a quick summary of what has been going on. Now to the intro about keep on writing. 2020 is an exceptional year for our generation. Truthfully I didn’t think anything would have topped the birth of the internet, but here we are. Online and in my city, there have been plenty of examples of people going a bit crazy because of world events. Justifiably so. People react and behave differently under pressure, and we are all under pressure.

I have relaxed my militant writing habits this year. Unknowing of the pandemic at the end of 2019, I was writing a lot. The juggle of writing engagements, conventions, contract design work, and hammering out two books made me want a break for a year. Little did I know that break would become a reality, in the form of a pandemic.

Before 2020, I had been writing or revising, consistently every morning as part of a religious routine. The process works, and my writing has drastically improved over 2019. I also explored the speech to text technology for the first time. Improving the writing craft is essential as authors, which is why we need to keep on writing.

Time Away Brings Newfound Passion

I’ll admit, I haven’t been writing as much since the lockdown began here in Alberta. Once Mortal was wrapped up, I stopped everything writing that wasn’t related to the blog. Of course, I did up some of the marketing approaches and award submissions.

What did I do with this spare time? Well, I spent time reflecting, reading, and I was absorbed in a massive increase in web design/development contracts. I have also been returning to practicing speed painting daily, which has been a fun exploration back into the world of visual arts. I’ve also composed a lot of music, completing a whole album that will accompany the next book to be released.

The time away has given me new insight into the craft of writing. The parts of the day I would usually write, I’ve split into other art practices and reading, giving fresh perspectives. My interest in the blog has grown too, seen in the monthly blog posts that are more essay driven than tip-based posts.

Keep on writing. The craft evolves, and our interests shift over time. Writing is exciting because of the new, fresh, and unknown territories it throws us in. Many writers know it, and it is perfectly normal for us to take time away.

You might be wondering….

What’s Next?

The speed painting and musical interests all do tie back into the writing. They’re directly related to the next book—more on that to come. The shift in the monthly tip-based blog post into an essay style is challenging me as a writer. Quite frankly, the posts are far more interesting to write than a “Step 1, Step 2” format. These new blog posts are also giving me time to reflect on ideas and articulate them cohesively and intellectually.

So, still expect the same four main blog posts, trickled with some smaller announcements, and more writing. There is a new book in the works. Some of you may already know what it is from the hints I’ve given. It also has a few new surprises as well. So until then, enjoy the blog, enjoy the free ebook of Reality, and to my fellow authors: keep on writing.

Beer Note: Relic of the past!

I would love to try this beer as it has been sitting in my fridge for years (now it is probably expired). If you’re in Alberta, you may recognize it as part of a series that a brewery did relate to movie characters. All of the cans were recalled. Let’s say I got my hands on one beforehand. This can is relatable because of the apparent character seen in the photo. I should have just tasted the beer, but I didn’t. To this day, the can sits as a relic of all the joy that could have been had.

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Fire, Pain, & Ruin a Finalist in the International Book Awards 2020

I am pleased to announce that Fire, Pain, & Ruin: A Rutherford Manor Novel is an awarded finalist in the cross-genre section of the 2020 International Book Awards!

All winners can be found from here.

Also congratulations to Tosca Lee, Neil Chase, and Kathrin Hutson

Fellow authors Tosca Lee (who has been on the blog), Neil Chase, and Kathrin Hutson (Also on the blog) have also been awarded on the list.

Tosca Lee

Tosca Lee’s duology, The Line Between and A Single Light  were each a winner in the International Book Awards for 2020.  The Line Between won the suspense / thriller category and A Single Light won for Science Fiction.

Lee is the multi award-winning, New York Times, and CBA bestselling author of 11 novels including The Progeny, Firstborn, Iscariot, The Legend of Sheba, and The Books of Mortals series with New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker. Her books have been translated into 17 languages and been optioned for TV and film.

Tosca received her B.A. in English from Smith College. A lifelong world adventure traveler, she lives south of Fremont, Nebraska with her husband and three of four children still at home. To learn more about Tosca, please visit ToscaLee.com.

Neil Chase

Neil Chase is an Alberta-based actor and writer. His novel Iron Dogs is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo, and other platforms.

Iron Dogs Novel







Kathrin Hutson

Author Kathrin Hutson has joined us to discuss her LGBTQ Dystopian sci-fi series, Blue Helix with book 1, Sleepwater Beat. Now, the sequel Sleepwater Static, was awarded a finalist in the sci-fi category.

International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson has been writing Dark Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and LGBTQ Speculative Fiction since 2000. With her wildly messed-up heroes, excruciating circumstances, impossible decisions, and Happily Never Afters, she’s a firm believer in piling on the intense action, showing a little character skin, and never skimping on violent means to bloody ends. 
In addition to writing her own dark and enchanting fiction, Kathrin spends the other half of her time as a fiction ghostwriter of almost every genre, as Fiction Co-Editor for Burlington’s Mud Season Review, as Director of TopShelf Interviews for TopShelf Magazine, and is an active member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Horror Writers Association. 
Kathrin lives in Vermont with her husband, their young daughter, and their two dogs, Sadie and Brucewillis. 

Thank you again for Fire, Pain, & Ruin being a finalist and congratulations to all the winners!

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Natural Cosmos

The audio log of a spaceship’s crew member is discovered, recording the last session that they had while floating through space, soaking in the aftermath of an attack from the gene-editing harvesters. Now, he can only hope his dying words will offer insight and serve as a warning into what happened.

Natural Cosmos is July’s short story that brings readers into the expanding Harvesters / Scrappers sci-fi horror universe. This one is directly related to the Transmit short story from February.

Natural Cosmos

—

.

…

…..thing on?…..

….wait…

…hello?…

There we go, it’s….

…..

…

-orking now. I think. The red light is seeming to stabilize. Okay. Our ship collided wit-……

…

.

…Shit, this recorder is busted. Not to mention, there’s no telling how long my air tank is going to last. Damnit, Lorne, you’ve got yourself into a real mess this time. Look, the dashboard is shot. I can only guess the seconds from my breathing. And smart move, talking out loud here, wasting air. It’s not like time matters anymore. I’m done for.

Wait, the light is dim, it is still recording. Damn right. Apologies for these ramblings. That little red blinking dot better stay on and keep my sanity in check. I can’t believe I survived the explosion of the shuttle. If this thing is going to record, I hope that when my corpse is discovered, this audio log will make it to someone, somehow. Ideally, not in the hands of a harvester.

Well, seeing as these are my last words, to whomever, I’ve gotta tell you that floating through space gives you a lot of time to think about life, what you did, and why you ended up here. Looking at the planets, stars, and ship debris floating around, makes you realize we’re such a small spec in the larger painting. Nature’s canvas, spanning across the universe. Biology, physics, chemistry – all of it is intertwined in the cosmos. The universe that doesn’t care about our needs, as is the law of nature. To our knowledge, we were born from the planet Earth and surpassed many filters of evolution to bring us here. We’re attempting to escape our homeworld and head for the stars, away from our own created predators.

.

…

.

What am I even saying? These thoughts are probably the result of a lack of oxygen, or maybe I am reflecting on everything I should have when I had the chance. After all, I am a little spec of an evolution offshoot soaring through a vacuum. We’re not meant to be up here, and we’re not meant to modify our genes. Humanity has truly reached some fantastic feats.

Yet, here I am, gradually rotating on an angular axis, watching the aftermath of the harvesters’ attack on our escort mission. Damn organ-pickers, so persistent on making sure we don’t escape Earth. We know that they were once human. How long ago remains unclear. The Lost doesn’t have any answers. Whatever conflict that took place eradicated the old world and its history. Only the gene-freaks have any record of what went on. They kept the tech. They were genetically superior, so who could argue? We can only piece together parts of our past from excavating the Lost. At the same time, the harvesters continue to edit their genes, perfecting themselves. Their tinkering ways are what drove them so far from humanity, changing their forms and their minds, eventually seeing us like animals.

Maybe their modifications are a part of nature. There is no good or evil, according to the cosmos. It doesn’t play by any rules. Just look at that sun of ours; it shines so brightly. That is it. Let me tell you, it sure is a beauty from out here, beyond the planet’s smug. Earth isn’t anything to look at. It is just a giant grey ball of clouds. From what archives we have salvaged from the Lost, photographs and paintings portray Earth as a vibrant green and blue. I can’t even imagine what the surface must have been like.

.

…

.

I’m not sure what else to tell you, whoever you are, listening. Oh, right, I still have a duty to serve. What happened here? Shit. Well, our cruiser made sure that the EX – 7006 made it out of the solar system. I honestly didn’t think that it would. Our distraction helped them initiate the gravity engines. The harvesters won’t be able to track the ship at that speed. Pricks. Score one for humanity.

Let me back up, in case my body isn’t found by another human or even in my lifetime. The EX – 7006 is unique to our previous launches into space. The crew is on a one way trip to a new world. The brave souls on that ship are on the most vital mission of all – recreating humanity. In case this is found by harvesters, fuck you. You’re never going to know where the EX – 7006 went.

The plan is a longshot. What other options do we have? The harvesters are superior in every way. We can’t outgun them, nor can we reason with them. Our only chance of survival as a species is to get away as far as we can. That leaves the rest of us on Earth to perish unless we manage to send out more colonization ships to new worlds without being detected.

Maybe we will defy nature. My pal Alan McLeod believes we can. He told me, “we’re humans. Defying nature is what we do.” That stubborn bastard was so eager to make it onto the EX – 7006. He’s safe now, thanks to my crew, the harvesters won’t get him. I hope he is right about the human spirit. Hell, with his logic it explains the harvesters and their gene editing. Human beings who defied nature, now preying on what they once were. Let them. They’ll starve. EX – 7006 made it out. Unfortunately, some of humanity has to be sacrificed – or in biological terms, naturally selected. That’s the short version of what happened. I could go into the details of what occurred, why our captain decided to propel the shuttle straight into the harvesters’ ship, and why I seem to be the only one who survived, but what is the point? I don’t think I will be making it out of here alive. My crew members’ sacrifice is enough duty to humanity.

If you don’t mind, I’d like some silence while enjoying what is the last view I will ever see, until the recording log or air tank runs out. I’ll just stare at the great neutral cosmos, who cares not of who lives. It is both beautiful and sickening to watch. Seeing beings like the harvesters just makes me think there is nothing out there for us but death and misery. As individuals, our desires serve no purpose. As a collective, humanity has to find a way to survive, procreate, resist, as we always do.

Hold on, wait… I see something. It’s not one of ours. Definitely no asteroid. Oh shit, that’s a harve-………………………..

…..the red dot is flick-….

……this is it…

…they’re coming for me. Those pri-….

…

.

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Ghost Stories and Virtual Campfire

I am pleased to be joining the Ghost Stories and Virtual Campfire hosted by Prairie Soul Press in August. Myself and other authors will be sharing our ghost stories.

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There’s nothing like the shiver you get from a well-told ghost story. The talented authors of Prairie Gothic share their favourite ghost stories and talk about what makes a good ghost story. A must for any horror, supernatural or thriller writer!

When? Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 7 PM – 9 PM (GMT-6)

Where? Zoom

Facebook Even + Zoom Link

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Mortal on the Silver Dagger Book Tour

In celebration of Mortal, the concluding novel to the Mental Damnation series release, the book is going on a blog tour hosted by the Silver Dagger Book Tour!

This includes a giveaway sign up, interview questions, behind the scenes, excerpts from Mortal, and more! Follow the dates below:

Full Blog Tour




Mental Damnation: Mortal
Book 4



Damnation ends. The Afterlife is at war. Krista must fend for herself.
Mortal is the concluding novel of the dark fantasy series Mental Damnation. Follow Krista as she descends further into Dreadweave Pass and fulfilling the path of a warrior set by her father, reinforced by her allies. Will Krista manage to escape the land of the damned? She fights to return to Darkwing in the mortal realm, as he struggles to rescue her. Home is no safe haven either, for her people and the humans are on the brink of an all-out-war.

Add to Goodreads
Amazon * Google * Kobo







Konn Lavery is a Canadian author whose work has been recognized by Edmonton’s top five bestseller charts and by reviewers such as Readers’ Favorite, and Literary Titan.

He started writing stories at a young age while being homeschooled. After graduating from graphic design college, he began professionally pursuing his writing with his first release, Reality. He continues to write in the thriller, horror, and fantasy genres.

He balances his literary work along with his own graphic design and website development business, titled Reveal Design (www.revealdesign.ca). His visual communication skills have been transcribed into the formatting and artwork found within his publications supporting his fascination of transmedia storytelling.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads





$20 Amazon giftcard, ebook set of Mental Damnation books 1-3 (1 winner each)

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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V. S. Holmes Award-Winning Fantasy & Sci-Fi Author’s new novel Blood and Mercy

For July, we welcome international bestselling author V. S. Holmes to discuss their range of writing and the new novel Blood and Mercy. V. S. Holmes has written the REFORGED fantasy series where the first book, Smoke and Rain, won the New Apple Literary’s Excellence in Independent Publishing Award. They have also penned several anthologies and written the Nel Bently – STARSEDGE science fiction series.

V. S. Holmes is also a contract archaeologist throughout the northeastern U.S. and lives in a Tiny Home with their spouse. Let’s welcome V. S. Holmes to the blog!

Hi V. S. Holmes, thanks for joining us. Can you give us a brief intro about yourself?

Sure thing! Firstly, thanks so much for letting me drop by. I’m a life-long science nerd and avid reader, so I’ve spent most of my life bouncing between creative endeavors like writing and hard science, like biology and archaeology. In the past few years as my disability progresses, I’ve switched gears to focus on smaller projects, but I’m always busy. My spouse will tell you the one thing I can never do is relax! In my reading and writing I’m a fan of anti-heroes, and morally gray characters.

Your website expands on the fantasy world of REFORGED, how has archiving the world-building process been?

I always have to know how things work, which makes for deep world building (and as my beta readers and editors can attest, rather chonky word counts). My brain is highly disorganized, so my external world has to be tidy, and part of that is keeping detailed maps and tables of my world. There’s incredible freedom in crafting a world from the ground up, but that can lead to entertaining and frustrating inconsistencies if we’re not careful. Luckily, readers love these behind-the-scenes glimpses, so I get to share the world with them on an even deeper level. There are several more maps to come, especially as one character strikes out into the northern ocean reaches to explore.

The REFORGED series had the fourth novel, Blood and Mercy, released June 27th, 2020, is there more to come in the series? Or perhaps a new series in the world?

Blood and Mercy marks the end of this particular arc in the Blood of Titans world, but I’ll be returning soon! I’ve outlined a prequel series within the world to explore the beginnings of the Gods’ War that we witness in Reforged. First, however, we will follow two of the smaller characters from Blood and Mercy a few years afterward, starting with Dagger’s Dance (2022). The world is changing and becoming ever more industrial, making these next books closer to the flintlock fantasy subgenre, so get ready for steam engines, firearms, and a deinonychus cavalry. Yeah, you read that right: here there be dinos!

Blood and Mercy Reforged Series by V. S. Holmes



On your site, you mention REFORGED has been with you since a teen, did you intended it to be a series or did it evolve?

In its original iteration, the series was a single book encompassing the events of Smoke and Rain and Lightning and Flames. Half-way through my long stint at university, however, a new character surfaced, navigating the aftermath of the events of the first book twenty years later and I realized there was more to the story. By the time I started the querying and publishing process, both tomes were ultimately split in two. I’ve since learned that, with one notable exception (so far), I’m incapable of writing stand-alone works!

Excellent covers! Who is the illustrator that you work with, and how is the creative process like with them?

Thank you! I’ve been very lucky finding cover artists. The Reforged covers were done by Ben R. Donahue, a SFF digital fine artist who I met at a comic con in 2013. The next few covers for Blood of Titans will be by Aaron Buldoc, who I also met at a con! It’s an interesting process taking hundreds of thousands of words and boiling them down to a single scene that encapsulates the tone and character. For my briefs, I usually describe a scene or moment, include any reference photos for the character’s look, fashion or weapons, and the color palette and then go from there! It’s key to find someone who has the range for diverse characters and is willing to send you in-progress screen-caps.

Smoke Rain Reforged Series by V. S. Holmes





Lightning and Flames Reforged Series by V. S. Holmes





Madness and Gods Reforged Series by V. S. Holmes

The Nel Bently – STARSEDGE science fiction universe is a shared world with author Cameron J. Quinn. How did a shared universe come to be?

It started out as just trading Easter eggs with my CP–our characters would read each other’s books on-page, or reference a side character from the other’s work. Then Nel, rake that she is, wound up being the ex of one of Cameron’s characters and it just went from there. Nel appears in the second season of Cameron’s Starsboro Chronicles and Tabby, Nel’s ex, makes a life-saving appearance in my second Nel book, Drifters.

How do you and Cameron J. Quinn keep consistency across multiple novels?

It’s tricky! We discuss our work throughout the process and have a running timeline in a Google Doc where we put all world-changing events including–but not limited to–zombie testing facilities, huge explosions, alien invasion, and so forth. Whenever anything big is going to happen we jump on a video-chat and hash it out with the existing canon. Reading the other books in the world isn’t necessary to understand either of our series, and her subgenres are urban fantasy vs. my hard sci-fi, but it certainly adds to the world.

You happen to hit two big checkmarks for me – archeology and Tiny Homes. How has your archeology background reflected your writing?

I love it when I find a fellow arch nerd! Unlike Nel, I do contract archaeology, which is a strange hybrid between a migrant cowpoke lifestyle and field science. Archaeology affords me the ability to travel to more obscure, rural places. Many of the anecdotes in Nel Bently are directly inspired by the places and people I encounter. Additionally, archaeology is the study of how people lived and related to one another and their environment in the past. Writing, for me, is essentially the same search for the how and why of characters–ultimately searching for the truth of the story. The only difference is the first requires steel-toes and shovels and the latter a mental machete and the arguably more dangerous wilderness of my mind.

What is it like living in a Tiny Home?

An adventure! I built it myself over several years while staying with my parents to help care for my father. As far as size goes, both my spouse and I are used to small quarters, since I married a fellow archaeologist. The tiny house is larger and better designed than the vast majority of the motels we wind up in, and we’re used to giving each other space without actually physically having “space.” A lot of the tiny house depictions romanticize it an uncomfortable way, but tiny living was a way to pay for housing out of pocket (which is why it took 5 years to build 272 sq feet!), but finding places to park isn’t easy, and we were privileged to have a space to stay while we built. In this country it’s the only way we can afford to have a place of our own, though, and we’re happy to make a few sacrifices for that.

Any advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors?

The publishing industry is daunting and full of gatekeepers–stick to your guns, and when you’re uncertain or pulled from your moorings, look within. Writing is a marathon, so don’t quit your day job right away! This work is hard, but so worth it.

Let’s thank V. S. Holmes for joining us again to the blog!

Thank you so much for having me by–what great questions!

You can find their latest work on their website, amazon, and the various links below:

www.vsholmes.com

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Goodreads

Bookbub

Amazon

The post V. S. Holmes Award-Winning Fantasy & Sci-Fi Author’s new novel Blood and Mercy appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Living With 14 Years of The Doubt Demon

A decade is a long time to be picking away at something. A decade and a half show serious commitment, or maybe it sprouts from something foul. Perhaps you’ve clung onto the years because of the dark whispers you hear in the back of your mind. I know I have. The Doubt Demon. His grasp can be firm and the struggle begins. He’d win some, and I’d win others.

I didn’t quite spend 15 years when it came to writing Mental Damnation. I completed a year before – take that Doubt Demon! Fourteen years later, the fourth and final novel in the Mental Damnation series is here. The journey has been one hell of a process. I’ll share with you how it all started and how I got into writing. The process involved the all-too-familiar Doubt Demon that all artists endure. In the case of writing, the old saying of “just keep writing,” said by many great writers, is too true.

The tale of Damnation’s creation that I will share with you is about persistence and just plain old stubbornness – for better or worse. It should help you avoid some of the mistakes that I made and encourage you to not fall victim to your Doubt Demon’s words. The Mental Damnation tetralogy is a long, non-linear process that I hope will be reassuring with your writing. I also don’t wish for you to take 14 years – or more – to complete the story. If you do, know that you’re not alone. We all fall victim to the Doubt Demon. So, to get to the origins of all of this, we need to go back many years.

Let’s jump into the Time Machine and Go Way… Way… Back to 1998

Mental Damnation is the story that made me want to pursue a writing career, starting professionally in 2012 with the first release, Reality. Eight years later, here we are with the fourth and final book. However, like most writers, my interest in writing did not start with the first book release. I’ve been writing for most of my life and the essence of Mental Damnation has been there. The story has encased my thoughts, ideas, and ultimately dictating what I did with my writing. The pros? It made me persistent. The cons? It caused me to act hastily and fueled the Doubt Demon’s power.

The Evil Seed

Since I was a kid, I have been writing stories and created a fantasy world in 1998, when I was eight years old. It started as a board game that I called The New Island of War, which had backstories to the game and characters. Eventually, the manual mutated into a full novel that I wrote at the age of 12. The book is precisely the type of terrible writing you’d expect from a 12-year-old. Because of that, it will never see the light of day. That novel did teach me about writing and world-building, and ultimately The New Island of War was the mother of Mental Damnation. Vazeleads, paladins, the Kingdom of Zingalg, and many other details originate from the story. For some reason, I held onto these concepts throughout my childhood. It was the initial flame for my writing. The same fire (or muse) that we all have when it comes to our craft. The power that makes the Doubt Demon quiver.

The New Island of War world began to evolve and change as I entered my teens. In these years, I wrote another horrendous manuscript– even worse than the first – and started to develop the character of Malpherities. Krista and Darkwing were established in The New Island of War world. The primary actors in the Mental Damnation storyline were born, fueling the flame.

The Doubt Demon hadn’t cast his net yet. During my childhood, I did the wise thing unknowingly and kept writing, no matter what. Being young and not published, I had the freedom to explore new ideas. Good concepts and terrible ones were all sprouting from my fingers. I didn’t look at it with a critical eye – a double-edged sword that polishes your work and feeds the Doubt Demon. If you haven’t published a book, embrace this time to write wild and write free.

Hopping back into the Time Machine and Going Forward

In 2006 the first manuscript of Mental Damnation was made. I’d written it during high school after sketching out a pencil illustration of Krista split between the real world and hell. She was part of this massive multi-story world I was forging, and I thought it would be interesting to create an origin story for her. The name Mental Damnation sketched above her, and it stuck.

While in math class, I continued to sketch out illustrations and plot the story. During evenings and weekends, I worked on the manuscript. The original story had about 193,000 words and took the characters on a completely different trajectory from where the story is today. The ever-burning flame kept the story and characters alive.

The Original Damnation

The first draft of Mental Damnation was going to be called A Plagued Heart and would be part of a trilogy. A Plagued Heart only had two copies printed at home and hand bound. They still exist today.

The second book, Sovereign Lust, was fully outlined chapter by chapter. Complimentary illustrations were ready to go. Thankfully, I never did complete that plot. The essence of the original three-part story did make it into the tetralogy of Mental Damnation seen in the conclusion and the subplots. I believed I had a golden story. A publisher would surely take this masterpiece. I’d start my writing career after graduating high school and be set for life. The world couldn’t touch me. Like all teenagers, I was invincible.

Thrown from the Throne

The dream-like fantasy was short-lived. I had shelved the concept of being a writer for years. The classic “I’m not good enough” or “I’ll never make it, why bother?” began to fill my mind. There was an ever-present whispering skepticism in my actions. The Doubt Demon made himself known. He cast two spells:

I was a teenage boy and began to concern myself about being cool, thinking about what other kids thought, so I didn’t take it seriously.I had submitted the original manuscript to some publishers. I heard back from one and it was rightfully so rejected. As an emotional teen, I took this way more to heart that I should have.

The Doubt Demon made his first attack. I decided the work wasn’t worth it, and I didn’t have what it took to be a writer. Near the end of high school, I wondered what the hell I was going to do with my life. I didn’t want to keep working retail, and I certainly wasn’t going to be a writer. After all, I got rejected, which was the end of everything. The Doubt Demon was victorious.

Resurrecting the Damned: Fast Forwarding to 2011

A year after I graduated from college, I was brought into the faculty and was teaching full-time at the school. Self-publishing was beginning to become a legitimate way of getting your work out there without dishing out thousands of dollars. The school was also a positive environment. A co-worker and good friend, and I were chatting about hobbies during a break. Naturally, writing came up. She was curious about what I wrote. I hadn’t touched writing since 2006. For some reason, I decided to share the book. Maybe it was that flame still going, even though I thought I had smothered it with the help of doubt. My friend happened to be the first person outside of my immediate family to read any of my writing. Slap that with the destructive thoughts of teenage me being rejected resulted in a poten potion of nervousness. Despite the Doubt Demon whispering those same old words, I sent the original A Plagued Heart manuscript to my friend. What did I have to lose? I was now a graphic designer. Writing was a silly thing in my past.

The next day, she said she found the book quite terrifying and was unable to finish reading it. She put her laptop in the freezer. I didn’t believe her. For context, Mental Damnation is heavily supernatural and demonic. My friend has a background in Wiccan. She told me she thought I had a story worth pursuing. These were encouraging words. Who knew talking about and sharing your work would be useful? Damn right it is. Share your work and talk about it. No one else is going to.

First Editions: 2012 to 2014

In the more recent history, Reality was the first book I ever released. The self-published manuscript had substantial revisions from the A Plagued Heart storyline. My editor was quite patient with me. I was so eager to get the book out there. I didn’t understand the number of errors it had, and I don’t think I wanted to.

Still, Reality came out in 2012. It happened to be one-third of the A Plagued Heart manuscript. The book was justifiably criticized for falling into narrative clichés and clearly showed the immaturity in my abilities to tell a story. The design and formatting screamed self-published (in the wrong way that gives self-publishing the stipulation it still has today).

I marched on and applied what readers told me with the release of Dream in early 2014. The new book was intended to be read without having prior knowledge of that first book Reality. The second installment of Mental Damnation was well received and reached the bestsellers list in Edmonton.

The third book, Fusion, followed in the fall if 2014. These three books made up only two-thirds of the original A Plagued Heart manuscript. The inner flame was burning for the story of Mental Damnation which was incomplete. With three years on my belt, I knew that the last third of A Plagued Heart was not right for the storyline anymore. I had grown wiser as a writer, writing and revising the manuscript every day. The persistent grind of the craft had proven justified.

The Break: 2015 to 2016

After the release of Fusion, I took a break from Mental Damnation. Three years of revising that old A Plagued Heart manuscript burnt me out. I needed to step away from the story. I was growing as a writer and began to conjure new stories I wanted to explore. Mental Damnation was shelved… again. Unlike last time, I continued to write. For NaNoWriMo of 2015, I wrote the horror novel Seed Me and, in 2016, the thriller YEGman.

After the release of Seed Me in the summer of 2016, I still felt that flame burning. Seed Me was my most successful launch to date. It won an award. The Doubt Demon’s power was dwindling. With my newfound writing knowledge, I decided to revisit Mental Damnation and finish the series once and for all. Boy, was I wrong.

I was sitting in a café with all three books of Mental Damnation with me, ready to work on the next novel in the series. I skimmed through the pages of each book, thinking I’d brush up on the storyline and the world. Instantly I started to identify the cliché narrative mistakes, plot holes, and a lot of redundant sentences. How did I not see these before? There is no way I could continue the series as is. At the café, I decided if I ever wanted to finish Mental Damnation, I had to go back and revise the story AGAIN.

Second Editions and the Finale: 2017 to 2020

Here I was, revising Mental Damnation again. I couldn’t help but think it was a waste of my time. I wasn’t sure if existing fans would be supportive. I was beginning to think I was just recycling old work. Maybe I was destined to re-release Mental Damnation forever, like some literary mutant offspring of the never-ending new Star Wars release editions. The Doubt Demon’s strength had risen.

I was wrong on all accounts. Fans were supportive and excited. My editors thought this was something new and fresh. During the revisions of Reality in 2016, the story came to life. I could clearly see the ending, and the narrator’s voice was bright. The years of constant writing were paying off. The loose ends, unclear subplots, and the central arch were all coming together. The conclusion was near. The Doubt Demon cried.

The second edition of Reality came out in the spring of 2017, followed by Dream in the fall. Fans loved the new story. The new branding also attracted new readers because the design of the books looked professional. Purity (renamed from Fusion) came out in the fall of 2018. Mental Damnation was on its way to being complete.

Yet, I took another detour in the spring of 2018. An opportunity came up that I couldn’t pass down. I met the creators of the Rutherford Manor universe at the Calgary Horror Con. Our conversation evolved into having me contribute to their world with a new novel. Wow. There was no way I could turn that down. I took a detour, and Mental Damnation sat shelved for the third time.

Unlike the previous two setbacks, this came from a place of positivity. There was no Doubt Demon. I wasn’t moping around, nor was I burnt out. I was driven. In 2018 NaNoWriMo, I wrote my contribution to the Rutherford Manor universe with the summer of 2019 release, The White Hand. The sequel Fire, Pain, & Ruin followed a year later.

During the two years of writing the Rutherford Manor books, I did not forget about Mental Damnation. The fire was there. The Doubt Demon was panicking to find new ways of attacking. I had grown as a writer, and fans wanted to know how the fantasy series ended. The incomplete plot burned in the back of my soul and was too much for the Doubt Demon. Mental Damnation was the story that got me started into writing as a kid, and it never had a conclusion. The story needed justice. The Doubt Demon was unsuccessful.

The Holy Words of Damnation

In January of 2019, once again, I took all three books of the Mental Damnation series and read them to make sure I understood every detail of this 13-year-old story. While reading the three books, I was outlining for book four. Then, I spotted a stylistic mistake. Passable, but it could be better. Then a room for improvement, and another. I thought, “imagine if I added some more foreshadowing in book 1”. I wanted to make revisions. The thought about third editions entered my mind. The second editions weren’t good enough. The Doubt Demon had found a new spell to cast.

I entered a new battle with the wicked Doubt Demon. His powers were multiplying. I felt helpless, forever trapped in this dance going back and forth. This manuscript would continue to mutate and evolve as I grew as a writer. I would forever see mistakes and room for improvement. Until the wise words of my college instructor returned. He said, “a project is never done. It is just due.”. Echos of similar quotes followed from Shawn Coyne in his book The Story Grid. He said you can either continue to work on the next great literary fiction, treating it like a lottery ticket, or you can keep writing and move on.

Yes. Of course. They were right. Mental Damnation was never going to end if I kept coming back to it. Self-publishing gave me the power to do so. The Doubt Demon was using that against me. That couldn’t happen. Mental Damnation needed to be finished so I could move on with my life and give readers the ending they deserve.

I locked the second editions in place, concluding that the first three books were written in stone as the holy words of Damnation. I needed to work with what these books had to offer and find a way to bring the story to a satisfying end. That was my job as a writer. It was time to put this old boy to rest. The Doubt Demon wailed in the agony of his defeat. He had no more tricks.

14 Years Later: Mortal

In the summer of 2019, I completed the first draft of Mortal while juggling Fire, Pain, & Ruin. I worked longer hours than I ever have. The flame was bright, casting out all shadows that the Doubt Demon would cower in, leaving him exposed in the light.

Now in 2020, the Mental Damnation storyline ends. I am beyond excited to get the story out into the world and share it with everyone who supported me over the 14-year journey. I hope that my tale of success, failure, and the many years of battling the Doubt Demon, will offer encouragement to you. Be persistent. Be stubborn.

As writers, our job is to keep writing stories. We all experience our form of a Doubt Demon. All artists do. They never go away. We come out victorious, and they will return with new whispering words and new spells. We must defeat them after every new trial they put us through, as is the natural life of a creative.

There’s no point in fixating on a single manuscript for years on end, listening to the Doubt Demon to the point where you’re unsatisfied with it and, even worse, quit writing entirely. Writers write. Everyone in the industry will tell you this, and I am here to tell you again. Don’t give up. Keep the flame alive and finish that story. If you need a break or need to take a detour, go for it. Just keep writing.

The post Living With 14 Years of The Doubt Demon appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Going Digital

My marketing has primarily been in person through book signings, conventions, and public speaking events. Of course, in 2020, all that changed and going digital is key. Yes, I am a graphic designer and web developer by trade. People mistake me as either an I.T. guy or a marketing guru. Graphic design and web development (on their own, let alone together) are entirely separate skills from traditional or online marketing. Promoting in the digital space has some crossover in the real world in terms of theory, which helps. In the end, online and traditional are different arenas—time to buckle up and learn something new by going digital.

Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

Everyone has had the pandemic affect them, and I won’t dig into that too far. But let me say again, I have completed a LOT of projects in the past few months. Many of them haven’t seen the light of day yet. Their time will come.

There is a mammoth-of-a-task looming at hand, for I find myself in silence. There is nothing but dead air. The strengths I once had while interacting with fans and engaging new ones have fizzled out. In-person events are a thing of the past! Now the world has been shot into the digital realm, and like many other authors, its time to find out how going digital works.

Going Digital A Little Late

Over the past decade, there has been a massive increase in online noise. I am directly involved by building websites for people over these ten years. The ever-increasing digital smothering static is from tech accessibility, access to the web, social media, and distribution companies. These platforms make it easier than ever for each person to have their unique voice. Hashtags, search engines, and categories help people have their voices heard. All of it will make or break your ability to find and maintain your audience.

Like many authors whose strengths were in person, I am going digital going digital and trying to manoeuvre through the vast sea of online noise. Some authors have been learning this over the past decade and have been quite successful. I suppose it is better late than never. The irony of being a writer is I find my voice does not come across well online. My personality and the emotion that I can express is lost digitally. Thankfully, I am not the only one.

Pushing the silly sorrow aside, I have read some interesting articles on Bookbub and booknetcanada.ca that both show a large group of people in the world are reading as of today. These readers are familiar with the e-book world and are hungry for content. Just like everyone else, readers have more time, and they choose their time reading.

Am I Lazy? Or no Time?

Between completing Fire, Pain, & Ruin, and Mortal: Part IV of Mental Damnation, I have not had a ton of time during the pandemic. Plus, the graphic design and web development work keeps me on ridged time to complete urgent projects. So, I have not had a lot of flex space to let me go digital.

Then in the back of my mind, I know I’m procrastinating, and the hard to swallow truth pill is I do not enjoy online marketing. I cannot say I know any authors who enjoy marketing. As a whole, we would much rather be working on the next book. It’s like having dessert before dinner. It’s way better. However, we authors have to promote ourselves, whether you’re traditional, indie or hybrid. Especially now more than ever since online marketing has become a key to make a book sale.

Live and Let Live

Now that the fourth and concluding novel of Mental Damnation is soon-to-be-released, it’s time to find a way to reach new audiences and share the books with people. I do have a couple of manuscripts on the go, and a plethora of half-baked ideas written down or floating in the vast chamber of my head, but I shouldn’t chase the next shiny thing. I should eat dinner first by going digital and surfing the web like a digital book signing.

I also have other interests like music. That sounds like more fun than marketing. There’s that procrastinating devil again. Marketing is work, and I have a lot of graphic design/web development work right now. So, I would prefer some fun. Plus, the good thing about books is they never lose their value. As writers, time away from the keyboard is just as crucial as the typing. Taking time off is a classic way to jolt new life into your creativity and even energize yourself to do the work you don’t like.

Beer Note: Beau’s Full Time I.P.A

For this month, I have tried several new beers. I picked this one because it was the most recent in my memory. The unfiltered organic beer comes in 4-pack 473ml cans and is truly unfiltered. It’s a strong taste with a tropical flavour. I can see how it won an award, but my tastes would prefer only one before switching to something more filtered.

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