Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 30
August 29, 2019
Game Time
Another summer has come to an end, and we are close to the final convention of the year for my appearances. What a ride it has been. From the beginning of the year with DeadbyCon, to the launch of The White Hand, and to When Words Collide, it has been a hustle of a year. With the fall right around the corner, it is game time. Starting September I’ll be working on the first draft of Rutherford Manor II. Once that is complete, it is onto editing Mental Damnation IV’s first draft. Two books for next year is the goal. It’s a big challenge, and it’ll be one hell of a reward completing it. Good thing I’m learning to work faster and not harder as we chatted about in the last Unprocessed Thoughts.
Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts
August was a strange month. As enjoyable as it was to go to
a music festival, present at a writing convention, juggle contract work in
between, and write chapter outlines to enable writing a manuscript in September,
was heavy work. I got sick.
Physically sick with a nasty fusion of a fever and infection
all rolled into one grotesque two weeks of gloom. Mental exhaustion was a whole
other ballgame too. I’ll admit at the beginning of this Unprocessed Thoughts, I
mentioned that I was learning to work faster and not harder. You can still work
too much. Learning to work smark also includes taking breaks when you
need them, short ones and long ones.
So, unintentionally August was spent on cruise mode, doing only
required work, and that was all. The hiatus is why this month’s flash fiction
was later than usual, and my online activity has been kept low. Taking time
away is highly important.
The Break is Over. Game Time!
Now that summer is at a close, and I had time to rest, I am excited
to get back into the world of Rutherford Manor. Edmonton Comic Expo is the last
convention I am at this year, and it is in my city, so there is far less
pressure. The fall and winter are when I get most of my work done because the
weather is a drag, not travelling helps too. There is also something about the
dark, cold, misery that gets me jazzed up to create stuff.
Unprocessed Projects
Here’s a fun spin on the Unprocessed Thoughts category –
Unprocessed Projects! Tackling large projects like novels (in this case, Mental
Damnation IV and Rutherford Manor II) takes dedication. Sometimes you want to
chase something shiny and new. In the spirit of vagueness, I’ve been doing that
with a sci-fi-horror series in the monthly flash fiction and a super-secret
non-writing project for next year. More on that to come. For now, it’s game
time.
Beer Note: Anarchist Amber Ale by Cannery Brewing Company
For this month I had Anarchist Amber Ale by Cannery Brewing
Company. This red beer is a little heavier than what I would expect for an
amber, but it is delicious. It comes in a 355ml bottle, so it’s enjoyable to sip
on with no hurry to get onto the next drink.
The post Game Time appeared first on Konn Lavery.
August 28, 2019
Scrappers
Humanity experienced a life-altering split. The details of how are long lost. All humanity knows is that some went for the stars while the rest were left to rot on a dying Earth. Those left behind hide and salvage what they can from the old world, staying hidden from the star-beings, commonly known as Harvesters.
Scrappers is August’s flash fiction that brings readers into a continuation of last month’s sci-fi horror universe. Enjoy the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.
Scrappers
Big Picture
We try to stay hidden by staying underground. People like me
have to go to the surface, though. When we do, we do our best to keep noise
levels down and stay light-footed. You’d be amazed at how well satellites can
pick up the alteration of landscape from the skylines. Even the smallest detail
– like a footprint – can be detected by their drones. Stealth is all we can do
until we find a better way to fend them off. There are probably a dozen names
given to them. Everyone has a grudge for something they did or someone that
they took. The Godly, Gene Freaks, Anti-Sapien, or whatever your choice of
phrase is, we all know them as the Harvesters. The Harvesters always return to Earth.
They come for us. They find us. No matter how well we hide.
“Angie, get with it,” came a croaky voice.
My eyes shot up to the sound, seeing a man looking over at
me, the orange hue from the setting sun casting sharp shadows on his
leathery-skin. The neon green LED lights from his goggles shined right at me.
Ruggy, my partner. We had a mission. Gather scraps.
“Sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t really here.” My thoughts were
being dragged off into the big picture of the world. The Harvesters. Our
attempts to survive. Stuff that Ruggy wouldn’t really care about hearing.
“Keep your mind on our why we’re on the surface. I don’t
want to be here like you, but there aren’t any options.” He shifted his rifle
under his arm, holding the gun at a forty-five-degree angle, gaze forward. “Magnify
your map and stay on course. The operator said there is an amplitude of metal
not far from here.”
The Lost
I adjusted the interface that displayed within my goggles. With
a twitch of my eyelid, the goggles changed the glass to project night vision.
Another subtle eyelid movement caused the UI to zoom in on the map that displayed
at the corner of my eye. It brought up a detailed landscape of the rubble that
we walked through. Well, a map of what everything used to look like.
“These maps aren’t helpful,” I said. “They’re well over a
century outdated.” I looked at the top-down view of the geographical location
of the map. It showcased skyscrapers, roads, and complete pathways. In reality,
all I could see was a charcoal skyline, rubble ground, and nature attempting to
grow new green life in between the concrete cracks.
“It’s the best that we have to work with,” said Ruggy. “Us Scrappers
always get the low-tech stuff.”
“Yep,” I said. There wasn’t much of a point in discussing
the topic. He was right. Scrappers were a low rank. That’s why we stick
together. Plus, I knew what Ruggy was thinking: shut up and do your job. It was
tough to do just that. We were in the middle of a long-forgotten civilization
trying to find old metal scraps, praying that we wouldn’t be detected by the
Harvesters – not exactly motivating.
“This seems like a waste of time for us,” I said. “We’ve
never gone this far out into the Lost.”
“Yeah, well,” Ruggy said. “When we’ve raided all of the
other closer past cities, we don’t have much of a choice but to go further in.”
I scanned the ground in front of me, holding the rifle
tight. There were washed-out yellow painted rocks mixed in with grey rocks. These
were once roads, at least what is left of them. I’ve seen complete streets in
the archive photos before. Never had I seen such large chunks of remnants in
person.
“All of this seems so surreal,” I said. “These people used
to live in peace before it all went south.”
“They didn’t think so,” Ruggy said, taking a turn down an
archway. “Down this way,” he said.
I followed behind him looking at the massive archway. It was
large enough to house a twelve-man transport shuttle. “What makes you say
that?” I asked.
“They weren’t happy and tried to change the world which got
us into this mess,” Ruggy said.
“I suppose.” Ruggy had a point, the past civilization were
the ones that brought humanity into a technological revolution. I just liked to
imagine there was a better world at some point in time. “They only wanted to do
what was good for us,” I said.
“Are you really that naïve? Come on, kid.” Ruggy said. “The
history books always look as good as they can, even if they are on the losing
side. I am sure that Harvesters paint a pretty glorified image of their past,
justifying why they do what they do. Good is relative.”
“If you don’t trust the history books, what do you trust?” I
asked.
“Well,” Ruggy said. “I don’t trust much. I do know not to
trust one stupid book. That’s been the issue with humanity for centuries. We
put our trust in a book. Now, we’re living the greatest downfall from this
repetition of history.”
My pace slowed down as we came across a massive semi-complete
structure. It was about one-third of a sculpted head. A bearded man with a long
nose and long hair, although it was difficult to tell from the missing pieces.
Amazing, I thought while looking up to the mountain in the near distance. Remnants of a sculpture’s base could be seen around a pile of rubble. An educated guess would be the head had tumbled down the mountainside during an explosion. That was my best guess. I really had no idea.
Gods on Repeat
I picked up my pace, realizing Ruggy had continued on
without me. Once I caught up beside him, I said, “It really isn’t all from one
book though. There’s bureaucracy, corruption, and human greed to take into
account.”
“True, but they shroud it in justification from their holy
books.”
“Yeah, it is tragic we kept repeating the past.”
“Its ridiculous. We used to believe in super beings, gods,
in the sky that judged our lives. Our ‘holy book’ was science and it was just
as bad as the rest.”
“The science era wasn’t much different from religion,” I
said looking at Ruggy’s leathery face.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“Because the Harvesters turned themselves into gods in the
sky, judging us.”
Ruggy chuckled. “How poetic.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being his typical unenthusiastic
self, or if he was actually impressed with what I challenged him with. It was
hard to know with Ruggy, he always had the same mood with anything that he did.
The two of us continued down the uneven path, hopping over
large clumps of city remains and plants that had grown over the past world. Looking
at it all made a part of me want to just go back to the cruiser and give up.
Gathering scraps was tedious. The Lost was depressive to look at. It wasn’t
like I had much choice. Scrapping was all I was good at. I didn’t have any
other skills that could help humanity survive. There were no educational
systems for me to go to. People that possessed knowledge from the past carefully
chose who they passed knowledge onto. We have to operate this way. There is no
time for everyone to learn everything. We had to learn one skill fast and stick
to it.
The Harvesters were technologically advanced, mentally
superior, and physically herculean. There was no time for anyone to wish about
what they wanted to do. The higher commands run us through rigorous tests,
analyze what we are best at, and that is what we do until the day we die. It’s
that simple.
“Here’s food for thought,” Ruggy said as he reached the top
of a steep rock. “Playing off of what you said, about The Harvesters being
living gods and such…” he extended his hand for me.
“Yeah?” I asked as I took his hand, letting him pull me up.
“You ever fathom that humanity has just repeated itself?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, panting looking down at my
health-cuff. The screen lit up with a flick of my wrist. It stated we were just
over fifty kilometres from our cruiser. I thought that was a lot, but seeing that
Ruggy hadn’t even broken a sweat, made me feel like a goof. Looks like I’d have
to get on a tighter exercise routine when we got back to base.
“The Harvesters,” Ruggy said. “They were us at one point.
Gods are only projections of what we wish to be. They had access to become one,
and that is what they did. Perhaps humanity has gone through similar routes in
the past, and religious books are just history books about them.”
“You mean like what the Babblers are doing?” I raised my
eyebrow with a smirk. The idea was humorous. “You know Babblers are just
desperate to find meaning to all this chaos by speaking about it like some
prophecy.”
“Exactly my point. The Babblers are no different than any
prophet. I take it you never got familiar with some of the archive’s religious
texts?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” I said. “I’m a Scrapper, I
rarely have time to read.”
“Yeah, you’re also in your twenties. Ah, don’t worry about
it. I was a baboon at that age, too, chasing all the fucks I could get.”
My nostrils flared. Who did Ruggy think he was summing me up
as some young horny uneducated kid? He had a way of belittling people. Unfortunately,
I had to work with him. Scrappers stick together once they were chosen.
Scrapper’s code.
“Anyways…” Ruggy said after my prolonged rage-silence. “Perhaps
the past religions like Christianity, Hellenism, Hinduism, you name it, all had
holy men who saw things for what they were.” Ruggy brought out his hand. “I’m
not saying this is the kind of stuff that I believe in, but just playing off
your idea.”
I smirked. “Really? You know a damn lot more than I do about
religion. You sure you’re not becoming a Babbler?”
“Zip it. Just throwing the idea out there that maybe this
isn’t the first time humanity has surpassed itself and went for the stars,
leaving the rest of us down here.”
“It’s a wild theory.”
I wasn’t sure what else to say. Ruggy knew a lot more about
humanity’s past than I did, and it wasn’t worth challenging him. As he put it
so delicately, I was just a young horny kid. His statement had me wondering
though – was humanity just repeating itself? Did the past civilizations turn
men into gods, like the Harvesters? It’s a crazy idea, and no one truly knows.
History was distorted. The details of how they went for the cosmos and left us
here was a convoluted – and confusing – rabbit hole that isn’t worth going
down. Trust me. I’ve tried. Every ‘fact’ contradicts itself as to how
humanity’s split started.
Retrieval
I followed behind Ruggy as we continued down the mapped-out
path projected on the goggle-screens. Of course, the goggles could only
estimate roughly where we went. It’s not like we had any satellites to work
with. That’s a giant flag to attract Harvesters. The chips processors are
attached to our health-cuffs, they do some weird science-algorithm-tech thing
that I could never understand. All I know is the map talks to the cuff, and
they can estimate my steps with the city’s map’s size.
“Looks like we’re almost there,” Ruggy said.
“So, the operator found some jackpot from their A.I.
algorithms or what? I still don’t get why we had to come out this far.” I
asked.
“I don’t know Angie. That isn’t my department, nor yours.
They tell us where to go, and we got the scraps. That’s all.”
“Right,” I said while tightening the grip of my rifle. We
had never gone this far out into The Lost before. The fact we left our cruiser
made me uncomfortable. If a Harvester were to show up, we were on our own. We
couldn’t outrun them – that’s pointless. We had no transportation – we were
sitting ducks on foot.
Ruggy brought his rifle up as we turned the corner. The
smell of burning metal began to pick up. This was abnormal. Burning smells
meant something recent was around. Nothing burns in The Lost. Those fires and
explosions happened long before our time.
I used my eyelids to navigate through the goggle’s
interface. The screen projected a keyboard and message thread between Ruggy and
I. My eyelids twitched in swift movements, stringing together alphabetic
characters into words.
DO YOU SMELL THAT? I typed out in the chat.
YEAH, KEEP YOUR GUARD UP, Ruggy typed back as he
descended down a rocky, narrow, path.
I felt the sweat build up on my pits and palms. Whatever
this was wasn’t part of our standard protocol. The operators typically had us
find piles of rubble we had to dig through to snag metal. This was something
different.
We continued down the path, creeping slowly to avoid loose rocks.
The last thing we needed was to make noise. Ruggy reached the end of the steep decline
to where the path opened up. Smoke rose from the open charcoaled ground. Even
with the goggle’s enhanced vision, Ruggy nor I could make out what was in front
of us.
I raised my rifle as I reached Ruggy’s side, stopping right
in front of the opening.
My eyelids moved, typing, I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING.
NOR CAN I, Ruggy wrote.
YOU SURE THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE? I asked.
YEAH, CHECK THE MAP YOURSELF.
The map was pretty accurate when it synched with the health-cuffs.
Plus, there was only rubble all around us. There was nothing of value here
other than this mysterious smoke and burning smell.
WHAT DO WE DO? I asked.
WE’RE SCRAPPERS, WE SCRAP WHATEVER IT IS.
Ruggy tightened his grip on his rifle and stepped forward.
He didn’t look back, expecting me to follow. I had to. Ruggy was right, we were
Scrappers. With that in mind, I took a deep breath and marched alongside Ruggy
into the smoke.
The closer we got, the smell heightened into strange stinging
sensation. It overpowered my senses and couldn’t smell anything else. God, I
wanted to have a mask at this point in time. Scrappers always got the leftover
supplies and never the ones we needed. At least we had the goggles, it kept our
eyes clear as we moved through the unknown.
I stayed slightly behind Ruggy, making sure nothing came
from his sides or behind us. We entered the thick of the haze. Nothing was
visible beyond a few feet. The further we stepped in, the smoke changed into an
orange-red hue.
FIRE, Ruggy typed.
IT’S A CRASH? I responded.
A roar erupted from the brighter flames further ahead. We
raised our rifles. A humanoid silhouette rose from the flaming ground, deformed
from the light. Large limbs reached up for the sky. Too large to be human. The
roar morphed into a howling groan. A sound of agony.
HARVESTER, Ruggy typed.
YOU SURE? I replied
POSITIVE. WHAT ELSE CRASH-LANDS ON EARTH?
HARVESTERS NEVER CRASH-LAND.
MAYBE. BUT THERE’S NOTHING ELSE IN SPACE.
WHAT ABOUT THAT THEORY YOU JUST CAME UP WITH? PAST
CIVILIZATIONS GOING FOR THE STARS?
SHUT IT, KID. DO AS I SAY.
WHAT?
SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER.
I exhaled slowly. A part of me was annoyed. There were so
many questions that we hadn’t answered. We were making choices that were beyond
our rank. Whatever we were witnessing was not a Scrapper’s role. Harvester or
not, this was something we had to report. There was also the fact we could end
up getting killed. Scrappers were about stealth and retrieval, not killing
things.
WE SHOULD CALL IT IN, I typed.
WE CAN’T, REMEMBER? Ruggy replied. WE’RE ON A
LOCAL CHANNEL. HELPS WITH STEALTH.
LET’S GET BACK TO THE CRUISER THEN. THE OPERATORS WILL
WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THIS.
WALK 50K? THIS THING WILL BE GONE BY THEN. WE SHOOT IT,
CALL IT IN.
I wasn’t sure what else to say to Ruggy. We wouldn’t be able to make it back to the cruiser, report the finding, and expect to find whatever we found to still be here. Action was needed. Besides, Ruggy had his mindset regardless of any protocol. He wanted to find out what this was. I had no other choice. I couldn’t leave him behind. Scrapper’s code.
The post Scrappers appeared first on Konn Lavery.
August 15, 2019
Craig DiLouie discusses his new Dystopian Thriller, Our War, Available August 20, 2019
This month we welcome back author Craig DiLouie who joined us at the beginning of 2019. He has written in a range of genres such as thrillers, apocalyptic horror, sci-fi and fantasy. His new novel showcases a tribalization of America and a distressing example of what might happen if its cultural cold war ever ramps up. Let’s welcome Craig DiLouie back to the blog!
Welcome back Craig Dilouie and congratulations on the release of Our War!
Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself for those who don’t know you?
Thanks for having me back!
I’m an author of speculative fiction including sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. My books have been published by big houses like Simon & Schuster (Gallery imprint) and Hachette (Orbit) as well as small presses (Permuted, Salvo) and self-published.
Last interview you were releasing your dark fantasy novel, One of Us,
now you have a dystopian thriller, Our War. Tell us about the new novel.
Published by Orbit, Our
War offers a brutal, unflinching, realistic look at what a second American
civil war might really look like.
The story of this war is told through a brother and sister forced to fight as child soldiers on opposite sides in a besieged Indianapolis. Their lives also touch a UNICEF worker who wants to end the use of child soldiers, a journalist who wants to expose it, and a militia commander who begins to see the humanity among those he hates. We experience the war through their eyes.
What drove you to want to tell the story of Our War?
The novel started with Donald Trump’s polarizing rhetoric
and America’s increasing political violence. My question was, what if he was
impeached and convicted but refused to leave office, triggering a national
armed protest among the Right?
Novels speculating about a second civil war tend to imagine
it as a North/South or Blue/Red interstate conflict. I believe a civil war in
today’s America would look far more like Bosnia in the 1990s than the U.S. in
the 1860s. If you look at voting records on a county rather than a state level,
you see islands of blue, which are the metropolitan areas, in oceans of red,
which are the rural areas. In a second civil war, this is how the battle lines
might be drawn, rural versus urban. The military would likely remain largely on
the sidelines, protecting vital infrastructure and other safe zones, and demanding
a political solution while police and civilian militias did most of the
fighting.
The war’s first major casualty, therefore, would be American
exceptionalism. The horrible things we’re used to seeing in broken countries
like Syria could easily happen here under the right circumstances—disruption,
refugees, surviving on UN aid, atrocities, and even child soldiers
supplementing militias. And very quickly too. In such a war, everybody would
fight, and nobody would win.
Out of all the works you have done, what makes Our War stand out?
Readers who like my fiction tend to praise it for characters
they care about facing extreme struggle in a world that feels gritty and real. Our War is no exception.
What makes it really stand out is ideological neutrality and
originality of approach. Second civil war novels tend to favor one side and
demonize the other, offering a wish fulfillment story for readers of a certain
ideological stripe. Which is fine, but hardly realistic.
Our War takes an
even-handed approach, allowing the characters to advocate for their political
views, but without me as the author openly injecting or favoring my own. This
is one of the reasons I chose child soldiers as two of the protagonists; all
the politics mean nothing to them, at least at first. When they do become
radicalized, it is around very simple narratives, not difference in policies.
The second thing that makes Our War stand out is in its approach, as I pointed in my answer to
your previous question.
What do you hope readers will get out of the novel?
Our War is a
dystopian world in which the insane has become normalized. As with all good
dystopian fiction from 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale, it provides a
warning. In this case, the warning is America’s tribalization around different
narratives and realities could break the country. Without a single, unifying
idea of what America is, it is just another multiethnic empire capable of
fracturing.
What’s next on your writing agenda now that Our War and One of Us
are complete?
I am currently under contract with Orbit to produce a novel
with horror elements. Tentatively titled Mysterion,
the novel is about a group of people who grew up in an apocalyptic cult and
survived its horrific last days, who must now reunite to confront their past
and the entity that appeared on the final night. If you liked IT and Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, you’ll love this.
Let’s thank Craig DiLouie for joining us to talk about his new novel Our
War!
Thanks again for having me back!
Novels
http://craigdilouie.com/book/our-war
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/craig.dilouie
https://twitter.com/CraigDiLouie
Craig DiLouie’s Biography
Craig DiLouie is an acclaimed American-Canadian author of literary dark fantasy and other fiction. Formerly a magazine editor and advertising executive, he also works as a journalist and educator covering the North American lighting industry. His fiction has been nominated for major awards, optioned for screen, and published in multiple languages. He is a member of the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, and the Horror Writers Association. He lives in Calgary, Canada with his two wonderful children.
The post Craig DiLouie discusses his new Dystopian Thriller, Our War, Available August 20, 2019 appeared first on Konn Lavery.
August 14, 2019
Halloween Book Signing
I’ll be heading over to Chapters Strathcona (Whyte Ave) for a signing of my novels. Drop in for a meet & greet the author, artwork, and of course, the books themselves.
When and Where:
Saturday, October 12 from 11:00am – 4:00pm
Chapters Strathcona
10504 82nd Avenue,
Edmonton, AlbertaT6E 2A4
The post Halloween Book Signing appeared first on Konn Lavery.
Edmonton Comic Expo 2019
Next, I’ll be at the Edmonton Comic Expo with The White Hand.
Location within the expo TBA
When and Where:
20 – 22 September 2019
Edmonton EXPO Centre
Fri: 4:00PM – 9:00PM
Sat: 10:00AM – 7:00PM
Sun: 10:00AM – 5:00PM
The post Edmonton Comic Expo 2019 appeared first on Konn Lavery.
August 4, 2019
Working Smarter
We’re into summer now. Unprocessed Thoughts
was a little later than usual. Same old reasons –crunch time and juggling many
projects. Working smarter has been a big of a learning curve. Still working
lots. However, this month I was able to spend some time away from any work, which
is always a positive thing. You can work too much and not even know it.
Welcome to Another Edition of Unprocessed Thoughts
In June’s Unprocessed Thoughts, I chatted about the launch of The White Hand and learning to work smarter and not harder. That has been a continual learning process over the years while being a freelance graphic designer/web developer and growing an author career. Oh, then there is the attempt of juggling a social life, a relationship and being human. At some point, something is going to give.
Spinning your wheels by working hard isn’t healthy
for you or anyone around you. Your quality of work will go down too. There are
many ways you can adjust your life to make things easier. Leveraging tools and
cutting back on certain activities has given me more time to appreciate the free
moments that I do have. Letting your brain rest is an essential part of the
creative process.
Mental Damnation IV
Fantasy was a big theme for July. I attended the first RPG-a-Thon and finished the first draft of Mental Damnation IV. The dark fantasy series naturally have a higher word count per book than my more recent works, and the chapters are longer. Writing the original three books took years. How would I be able to work on the fourth novel while prepping for the follow up to The White Hand? I had to manage my time better.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Konn Lavery (@_konnartist) on Jul 11, 2019 at 3:17pm PDT
Working Smarter
The initial chapter outlines, premise, and
character sheets for Mental Damnation IV were drafted using the usual method I
use. Writing the first draft can be done faster. Author
Chris Fox can write 5,000 words an hour. Mind-boggling. There had to be a
way for me to improve my words per hour. The answer was text to speech. This
allowed me to write the first draft of Mental Damnation IV (110,000 words) in 5
weeks. I’ll be sure to write a more detailed blog post about speech to text
technology.
Getaway: Terminus Override!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Konn Lavery (@_konnartist) on Jul 29, 2019 at 7:47pm PDT
Much like previous years, I attended the
goth/industrial music festival Terminus.
Including the preparty, it is four days of intense, harsh electronics and percussions.
I got to meet Steven Seibold of Standalone/Hate Dept. and see CHANT live. HEALTH
was the big headliner for the festival. This will most likely be the only getaway
I have this year. Again, working smarter and not harder. Taking time off to see
Tricky/A Perfect Circle last year meant I had to hustle big time to get work
done.
I prefer to take the easier route this
year. You can only go so fast before you burn out.
Beer Note: T Verzet Oud Bruin Crasp Berry
Berry beers are generally a good go-to for
me unless they are too sweet. Boy, this one is not. Don’t judge a beer by its
label. I thought this one might have been sweet but gave it a shot and it was
not. This raspberry beer is super sour upon the first sip and has a slight
berry after taste. The first sip is a shock if you don’t know what you’re going
for but quite enjoyable after.
The post Working Smarter appeared first on Konn Lavery.
July 24, 2019
Harvesters
Technological advancements has allowed humanity to join the
stars under a single civilization known as The Society. We left out violent
nature behind, continuing to deepen our understanding of ourselves and the
universe. The Society’s bold progression fails to identify the ghosts of our
past.
Harvesters is July’s flash fiction that brings readers into a sci-fi horror where readers are joining a
worker in The Society. Enjoy the story in written word, audio, artwork and
soundscape.
Harvesters
Duty
We were on the trawler vessel heading to the harvest world.
Just like any other job. I managed the equipment in the docking bay while we
were on route. Two others in our unit joined me. We herded the cattle once they
had been harvested from the ground squad. I never thought much about the job.
My father did this before me, and now this was my role in The Society. That’s
all there was to it. The Society keeps things structured. They ensure humanity’s
survival by improving our wellbeing. So why mess with a good thing?
The trawler vessel rocked side to side as the ceiling lights
flashed – a sign we were entering the atmosphere. I held onto the emergency
handlebar with my right hand, awaiting the oncoming catch. My two other
comrades did as well. The adrenaline. Every time it hit me. I knew what was
coming. The ground squad would bring the cattle here. They always acted up. Our
unit had to be extremely focused on coordinating the safety of everyone on the
ship.
The ship stabilized its motion. My grip relaxed on the
handle as we entered the atmosphere of the planet. I eyed six head-to-toed
armoured units –the ground squad – marching into the shuttlecraft, holding
their pulse cannons. The craft’s door closed up once the last of the units
entered. The ship lifted off the ground as the trawler vessel opened the docking
door.
A question entered my mind – what was the ground like? The
ground squad knew. From my knowledge in school, I knew it was infested with
disease, rubble, and pollution. Wildlife doesn’t survive there, except for the
cattle. They seem to flourish, luckily for us. The cattle were vital to The Society.
Their biological makeup is a crucial component of our scientific progression.
Their genetics help us understand ours and improve our own DNA.
The shuttlecraft roared as it zoomed out of the trawler
vessel and exited into the grey-cloud covered atmosphere, disappearing into the
distance. The harvest had begun. Other than the foggy sky, once I did get
another view of the plant. I knew it was blue and brown when I saw it from the
cockpit. That is all I’ve seen. I had to return to my station shortly after as
we were entering the orbit. It was probably for the better.
Anticipation
Now, I waited for the ground squad to return. My left hand
clutched the black electro-spear I held, waiting to shock any cattle that acted
out in the cages. It made my heart race thinking about the potential action.
They had hands. They could operate basic tools. As much as my curiosity about
the planet torments the back of my mind, I know I wouldn’t want to be in the
ground squad, gathering the beasts. They’re dangerous if not harvested carefully.
I’ve seen the footage in school. The paintings. The portrayal in media. Their hair
is riddled with filth and their nature violent. As much as I’d like to be a
part of the ground squad and partake in harvesting some of the cattle, I can
accept my duty in The Society.
The ground squad didn’t take long to come back to the trawler
vessel. The docking station remained open for the duration of the departure.
The intercom erupted, with the pilot’s distorted voice coming through the
speakers saying, “ground squad arrival. Shepherds initiate.”
The lights above turned blue. The other two shepherds
marched forward. I followed directly after them as the shuttlecraft came into
view. The craft carefully landed itself back into the trawler vessel as the
docking door moved upward to its closed position.
“Positions!” shouted the shepherd to my left – our squad
leader.
Shepherds
I held my spear with both hands as the shuttle landed down.
The engines underneath the craft turned off, leaving us in a moment of silence.
The back of the ship hissed, and the hatch moved upward. Three ground squad
members were on each side of the interior with a large steel crate in the
center. It levitated off the ground. Small holes wrapped around the middle of
the cage, underneath the semi-translucent forcefield surrounding the container.
The ground squad marched forward, and the cage hovered ahead with the unit. Groaning
echoed from inside the cage. Snarls and roars. They were in there. Angry.
Hateful.
A dark silhouette appeared from behind the last ground squad
member. The motion was too fast for me to know what it was. The black blob was
crouching. It moved closer. There wasn’t supposed to be a seventh squad member.
That was cattle.
“Free run!” I shouted while rushing forward.
“Free run!” shouted the other shepherds, joining me in the
pursuit.
The ground squad spun around, raising their pulse cannons. The
three on the opposite side hurried around the cage to face the threat. The
other three fired, missing the silhouette by a fraction. The plasmablasts soared
past the being, highlighting a humanoid creature standing upright wearing
pants. Muscular arms ended in five-fingered hands, holding a pistol. The being fired
the weapon at the closest ground squad unit. The scene lit up as the bullet
ripped through the gun’s chamber and into the chest of our comrade.
Time slowed down as I ran. My motion was in autopilot. My
mind was left in disarray, seeing the scowling face of the cattle in full light.
The beige dirt-covered skin. Two eyes. Blue irises. Long black hair. It was human.
The cattle fired again, missing the next ground squad in
front of him. They fired back. One of the pulse cannons’ plasma blasts hit him in
the chest, throwing him back. The two shepherds and I arrived directly in front
of the cattle. Our squad leader lunged his electro-spear at the being’s chest, causing
his entire system to jolt and fall down lifeless.
I stared down at the cattle. At least I thought it was. No. It couldn’t be. I was looking down at a fellow human. Sure, the physique was less toned, and he was slightly smaller. That aside, it was undoubtfully human. An unmodified version.
The post Harvesters appeared first on Konn Lavery.
July 17, 2019
International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson Releases the First Installment of Dystopian Sci-Fi Series, Sleepwater Beat
This month’s guest author is Kathrin Hutson. She has been
writing fantasy and sci-fi since 2000 because she cannot get enough of tainted
heroes, excruciating circumstances, impossible decisions, and Happy Never
Afters. She also works as a ghost writer in almost all genres and as an editor
through KLH CreateWorks. She lives with her husband, daughter and their two
dogs. Let’s learn more about her writing by welcoming Kathrin Hutson to the
blog!
Thank you for joining us Kathrin Hutson, congratulations on the release! Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?
Yes! As far as general stuff about my writing is concerned, I go dark. Some people might ask, “When there’s already so much craziness in the world, why would you add more to it?” To this, my answer is pretty simple (and still so easy to forget within all that craziness): It’s not only about the darkness. More importantly, it’s also about how my characters (and people in general) grow and shift (or not) from within that darkness. Or in spite of it. I don’t write happy endings, and for one unsuspecting reader who took a chance on one of my books, “It wasn’t happy enough.” And I wear that like a badge of honor. But I do write hopeful endings, transformative endings, self-aware and self-empowered endings. For me, the fun isn’t in wrapping everything up in a little bow and calling it “happy”. It’s about reaching the darkest places, exploring them with painful clarity, and illuminating all the possibilities that arise from within.
Now that we went down that road… people seem constantly surprised in meeting me or speaking with me that I am a smiley, laughing, super approachable, ridiculously optimistic person. I wasn’t always that way, that’s for sure. Every person has their darkness and their light. Somehow, I think I’ve managed to siphon all my darkness into my career as an author, and everything that’s left fills my real life with joy and peace and excitement for where I am now and where I’m going in the future. That’s not always easy to maintain, either, with a two-year-old who’s smarter and more stubborn than both of her parents combined (and my husband and I can be a real handful). A few people have also called me a hippie, which is cool too. I’m pretty sure if I’d been born 45 years earlier, I would’ve rocked the 70s! And I do very much enjoy a well-aged bourbon.
Tell us about your new novel, Sleepwater Beat, and how you came
about creating this series?
Sleepwater Beat was my first attempt at two things:
1) Dystopian Sci-Fi (or really anything not Dark Fantasy); and 2) an
experimental writing style for a long short story of 35,000 words. #2 was a
complete failure. I had this crazy idea for “the beat”, which is what these
characters call this series’ brand of superpowers—eliciting physical responses
in those who hear a very special kind of speaking. Then I thought I
could recreate the effect of storytelling-by-vignette a la Memento, only
why go backward in time chronologically? Let’s try mixing up the timeline so it
makes no sense! That’s what I did. I literally listed each scene on one line,
cut them up into little strips, and rearranged them so that no two scenes were
placed chronologically together (either backward or forward) with no
discernible pattern. It was… interesting. My writing workshop at the time,
Charleston Writers Group in Charleston, SC, said pretty much the same. Great
writing, interesting concept, wtf is going on with the order of these scenes,
and oh, hey! You should turn this into a novel!
Their enthusiasm was so contagious, I did exactly that. I
didn’t think I had it in me to turn this awkward short story into a novel.
There was so much literary surgery that it took me two years. And a lot
of self-doubt, frustration, terror, and pretty much all the emotions I had never
felt about any other work I’ve ever written. I did keep most of the “flashback”
scenes from Leo’s past and a bit of an unconventional story method in Part 1
(alternating between the present storyline, those flashbacks of her life, and
short interludes of dystopian world-building revealed through news-report transcripts.
So far, I’ve heard that I captured the “fake news” vibe perfectly. I’ll let
readers speculate who that was modeled after…) When I’d included all
those and strung them together into the narrative of Leo’s present, I hit a bit
of a wall with continuing. Because I realized that Sleepwater Beat as a
novel was actually a form of me telling my own story.
That was where the terror really came from. I have never put
as much of myself into a main character as I put into Leo Tieffler. I’m
definitely not as brooding and anti-social (thank goodness), and I really do
care what people think of me personally despite having developed a thick skin
necessary for any author. Of course, the details are different, but the
parallels were really astounding. Many of the characters from Leo’s past were
inspired by real people in my life. So many of those flashback scenes were
inspired by real events I did actually experience. And many, many
relationships throughout the book reflect in a staggering way a select few
relationships I’ve had myself during my relatively short life. At one point, I
thought I was writing myself and was terrified that it would seriously
detract from the story. At another point, I struggled desperately to write all
the social and economic commentary touched upon through this book as subtly as
possible… before agonizing over the possibility that it just wasn’t screaming
loud enough.
Now that it’s out, now that I’ve gotten feedback from
readers and fans (and not just my alpha and beta readers, whose opinions I
value quite a lot), I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of mixing it all up
to let Sleepwater Beat be its own story. And it very much is.
How many books can readers expect to find in your new sci-fi series? Or is
this a secret?
Well, this is Book 1 of the Blue Helix series, so of course
there will be more. I already have Book 2 brewing in the primordial ooze of
creativity that is my writing mind. All I can say for sure is that there will
be at least three books. Most likely more. And as a pantser, I can’t really say
more than that, because I won’t have any clue myself until I sit down and put
it all to paper. When it feels finished and the characters quit begging for
their stories to be exposed, then I guess it’ll be done.
You have a love of writing wild characters, and your new series features an
LGBT component, how did come to be?
The first answer for that is that it felt right for the
story. Leo isn’t a “wild character”, by any means. The fact that I wrote an
LGBT main character isn’t particularly wild either. But she encounters other
wild characters, and she gets flung into some pretty wild circumstances. I also
wanted her to be real—existing within that gray area encompassing where she
belongs, where her loyalties lie, who she trusts, what she’s willing to do, how
far she’s willing to go… and, yes, who she’s attracted to. I also wanted to
give her a little bit of a break within all her struggles by adding something
like a love interest. It’s not very romantic (romance exists in all of my work,
but none of it is particularly “romantic”. That’s the one genre I just can’t
pin down, and I’m totally okay with that). In the original failed short-story
experiment, Leo and her “mentor” Karl (for lack of a better term) with the
organization called Sleepwater had a bit of a fling. Honestly, it felt like
shoving two strangers’ heads together and saying, “Great, now kiss each other.
And enjoy it!” So I dropped that in the novel.
Leo’s romantic relationship with Alex, a character from her
past, was there to show the side of this main character that wanted to be a
protector—someone who’d never been cared for herself and who knew the
consequences of being abandoned by those who were supposed to look after her.
She wanted to be that for Alex so badly that she took it a little too far, and
then her fear of losing Alex became the self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming
just like the people in her life who’d dropped Leo without a second thought.
Leo’s “romantic” relationship with Kaylee, another character
with the beat who’s a part of Sleepwater, is definitely not as easily defined.
Mostly, Kaylee is the first person who’s ever wanted something very specific
from Leo for an incredibly vague reason. At first. And Leo comes to recognize
that a part of her likes being told what to do (by Kaylee) when there doesn’t
seem to be any ulterior motives. Ulterior motives are all Leo has really ever
known, so the brutal honesty and the unapologetic requests are refreshing for
her.
Putting all these things into the story with Leo as a
heterosexual, cisgender woman would have detracted from her character in so
many ways, especially when it comes down to the fact that nothing about her
existence—not even where she’s from and who her parents were—is black and
white. And in a way, it would have felt like devaluing her character growth and
putting through more than a few rounds of sexual objectification. Neither of
those are my cup of tea.
Short answer? I wrote more of myself into Leo than I’ve
written into any of my other characters to date.
Tell us about Leo, the hero of the story.
Well, now that I answered most of this question in my last
diatribe…
Leo is independent and self-reliant by necessity. What’s her
ability? When she spins a beat, she can make anyone who hears her believe
absolutely whatever she says, even if it’s wildly impossible (and some of it
is). She’s put up so many walls around herself in so many different layers as
nothing more than a defense mechanism for her own survival. Her mother left
when she was three. Her father was one of the greatest minds in technological
advancement who became addicted to the same new drug that propelled his career
into fame. And it killed him.
She wants everyone to think that she doesn’t give a crap
what they think. When she meets Karl and Sleepwater, that “tough girl” façade
grows harder and harder to maintain. Even when she’s forced into gunfights and
runs from government agencies and gets kidnapped. This woman definitely has a
conscience, but she grew up with the repetitious misfortune of finding nothing
but pain whenever she followed it. She does the wrong things with the right
intentions and has to learn to reconcile them. And in the end, all she really
wants is to be accepted, respected, and understood for who she is. Not
for her beat. Not for what she’s done or the seemingly unforgiveable mistakes
she’s made. Not for who her parents were. And most of the time, she doesn’t
even know who she herself really is. So she has to figure it out.
Honestly, she was inspired by Stieg Larsson’s character
Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium series (who I fell head-over-heels in love
with when I saw the Swedish version of the film and Noomi Rapace as the star).
So if we took away Lisbeth Salander’s goth exterior and traded her hacking
superpowers for the ability to make people believe whatever she says, we
get Leo. Without the solving-murders part.
You mention you’ve been creating worlds since your 10th
birthday, has any of the older world building work its way into your published
work?
I actually created the world for The Unclaimed trilogy (and
my upcoming Vessel Broken series) far before that trilogy became what it is. I
think I’d written the first two chapters somewhere in high school, then dropped
it because it just didn’t make sense. When I picked it back up again in 2017, I
was so ready to re-explore what I’d created and finally write Kherron’s
story. I also had to completely rewrite those first two chapters, but it was so
worth it.
The majority of the worlds from my amateur writing days
(which will never see the light of day) will remain buried in a dusty box in my
basement. I took what I needed from them when I created The Unclaimed trilogy,
and I get to further explore that world with the Vessel Broken series. But for
everything else, my highly sophisticated, painstakingly perfected method of
“writing by the seat of my pants” and figuring it out as I go along means that
all the new worlds are just that—brand new. And I don’t create them unless I’m
going to write and publish the stories that take place there.
What comes first for you, world building or character creation? Or is it a
mishmash of both?
Mishmash of everything! The only thing that comes first for
me is the first word, then the first sentence. Including something like the
first page, that is the hardest part of writing for me. The blank slate.
Even when I have all the ideas in my head ready to be unloaded onto paper (or
my computer).
So I guess what actually comes first is the “idea”. It’s
only ever a theme, or one character in one scene because I like the way they
laughed in the face of it, or a setting because it just feels like the right
amount of mystically creepy. I usually let those things percolate in my head
for anywhere from six months to two years, and when they feel fully brewed (and
I have an opening in my timeline for writing new projects), I’ll sit down to
begin. Outlining, plotting, character sketches, and world-building before
sitting down to write the actual story is an incredibly boring process for me.
Every writer has their own method, and those things just aren’t a part of mine.
Believe me, I’ve tried. I know it’s because the thing I love most about writing
fiction is the act of discovering these characters and these worlds for the
first time myself during the writing of them. I get to learn who they
are as the ideas just kind of pour through my head and onto the page, and tying
together all the woven threads I leave for myself along the way is like playing
my own scavenger hunt. More often than not, the characters turn out to do, say,
and be completely different things than I originally intended, so an outline or
a sketch would have been pointless anyway.
In the case of the Sleepwater Beat series, do you do a lot of
research for your world building?
Oh, man. Do I do a lot of research…
Research is something I absolutely loathe. It sucks
away the energetic brilliance of building worlds and being in “the zone” of
writing and working with magic (for me, that magic is crafting story). I’ve
adopted the use of placeholders for this, which means I can keep up my writing
momentum to get to the next part of the story already, and I don’t have to tear
myself out of the process to go Google something. But I still have to go back
after the first draft for that research.
Sleepwater Beat is the first book I ever wrote that
actually required any amount of research at all. Obviously, with my Dark
Fantasy books, there really wasn’t any research necessary (okay, except for
forges and blacksmithing and something about the ingredients of the very first
gunpowder). Those worlds are magical and mystical and do not adhere to the
physical laws of our world. Sleepwater Beat, as a very near-future
Dystopian Sci-Fi, is set in our world. So there was lots and lots
of research. It was awful.
I think at one point, I’d spent an hour looking up
electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) to use as a plot device in this book. Then when I
actually got to the place where I’d intended to use it, the story had changed
so much that there isn’t even an odor of EMPs between the front cover and the
back. Which is why I now do my research after the writing’s complete.
Let’s thank Kathrin
Hutson for joining us again to the blog!
You can find her new novel on her website, amazon, and the
various links below:
Website: kathrinhutsonfiction.comAmazon: amazon.com/Kathrin-Hutson/e/B016N498BSTwitter: twitter.com/KLHCreateWorksGoodreads:
goodreads.com/author/show/14541725.Ka...Facebook:
facebook.com/KathrinHutsonFictionInstagram: instagram.com/kathrinhutsonfiction
Thank you so much for having me! I’ve really enjoyed getting
to answer these questions (could you tell?).
The post International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson Releases the First Installment of Dystopian Sci-Fi Series, Sleepwater Beat appeared first on Konn Lavery.
July 15, 2019
Just Joshing Episode 275: Konn Lavery
I am pleased to have returned to Just Joshing’s podcast to talk about writing, transmedia storytelling, the big picture of life, human evolution and of course The White Hand.
The post Just Joshing Episode 275: Konn Lavery appeared first on Konn Lavery.
Time to Go Indie Now Episode 40
Welcome to Time to Go Indie Now, Episode 40. We have some great reviews, new releases, a great marketing tip, a flashback interview to celebrate a new release, and an incredible featured filmmaker segment. So we hope you enjoy.
My reading shows up at about 11:40 mark. Give it a watch below!
The post Time to Go Indie Now Episode 40 appeared first on Konn Lavery.
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