C.J. Carella's Blog: C.J. Carella's Casa Del Geek, page 6

RPGnet/Bad Vibes

Two announcements. First, my short story Bad Vibes will be free to download at Amazon.com for the next five days, Here is the URL:

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Vibes-C-J-C...

The story is set in the same world (and shares one character) with my new novel, Shadowfall: Las Vegas. So if you wanted to check out my new writing universe, this is your chance.

I'll also be doing a livechat on March 12 at 8 pm E.T., promoting Shadowfall: Las Vegas and answering any questions you might have about past, present and future endeavors. To join the chat, use the URL below:

http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetchat

Hope to see you there!

Shadowfall: Las Vegas

A couple days ago, I published my fourth novel. It's a departure from my previous work, a blend of action and horror with a dash of film noir, darker and more violent than my superhero series.

http://www.amazon.com/Shadowfall-Las-...

Now that it's done - it took longer to write than I expected, and turned out to be a longer book than expected - I'm currently working on an RPG project to be announced later. After that, I'm going to try my hand at a Kindle Worlds project using characters from the Shadowfall universe and a popular series of crime thrillers. Hopefully I'll then try a direct sequel to Shadowfall towards the end of the spring.

And I haven't forgotten about the fans of the New Olympus Saga - the next book I write will be in that setting (either a prequel featuring Face-Off or a new trilogy featuring Christine Dark - please write me with opinions of which book you'd prefer to see first). The next book after will depend on overall sales; I'm also doing research for a historical-alt-hist-horror combo, though that'll probably won't come out until the end of 2015 or early 2016.

Busy year ahead.

Armageddon Girl Free Until Friday

The book will be available for free download until Friday.

So if you were on the fence about getting it, here's your risk-free chance to try it

http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Girl...

Apocalypse Dance Is Out

The third (and final) volume of the New Olympus Saga, Apocalypse Dance, is available for the Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Girl...

This marks a few milestones for me: first trilogy, my first year as a fiction writer, first time I've laid out a good 400,000+ words on paper.

Next month will be a year since the release of Armageddon Girl. In November will delve on what I've accomplished, the lessons I've learned, and the mistakes I make, as well as what the future will bring.

Apocalypse Dance Sample Chapters

The book is done, awaiting final edits, which should take a few days. I was thinking of using Amazon's preorder system, but I've heard a number of horror stories about it, so rather than risking publishing an unedited manuscript by accident, I'll just upload the finished product when it's ready. Shooting for an October 8 or 9 release.

Meanwhile, you can enjoy the first four chapters at the link below. Be warned, if you haven't read Armageddon Girl or Doomsday Duet you'll find a number of spoilers therein.

http://www.cjcarella.com/fiction/apoc...

New Short Story Out For Kindle

Well, it's a case of bad news/goods news. Bad news: I didn't win the Baen Fantasy Award (not wholly unexpected, of course). Good news: I'm posting my submission on Amazon, so my effort will earn me a few bucks and start laying the groundwork for my next series of novels.

It's been a pretty good year so far. As of the end of July, I've earned enough between the Kickstarter and Kindle sales to match a typical book advance from mainstream publishing. Given that if Armageddon Girl had been traditionally published the book would still not be out yet (and thus I'd have only gotten about 2/3 of the advance at best), I'm actually ahead earnings wise. I'm no J.A. Konrath but self-pub so far has been much better to me than legacy publishing is ever likely to be.

tl;dr: I'm happy doing what I love, and if you want to read a horror/adventure yarn, check out my story at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MAYJCVM

On Cliffhangers and Cabbage and Kings

A long time ago, when I was a wee lad, my parents gave me a very nice birthday present: a Spanish translation of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (at the time I couldn't speak or read English). That was my first encounter with a fantasy book, and I fell in love, hard, both with the genre and Tolkien's tale (it was a very-well done translation, which held well even when I finally read the book in the Queen's tongue).
As I turned to the last page, I desperately needed to know what happened next. I demanded to get the next two volumes, and that weekend we went to the nearest bookstore - only to find out the other two volumes of The Lord of the Rings hadn't been published yet. Once a month, we showed up at the bookstore (the only one in Venezuela that carried that kind of book) to see if the books were there, only to be told (with increasing annoyance on the part of the clerk) "Not yet."
This went on for three years.
I re-read The Fellowship a good twenty times during that period. I spent days (and not a few sleepless nights) wondering about what would happen next - would Aragorn kill Boromir for his treachery? What would happen to the broken Fellowship?
I also worked like crazy to learn English, because my father had three perfectly functional English copies of LotR in his library, mocking me for my inability to access them. By the fourth year, I picked up the English version of The Two Towers (you might say my interest in re-reading Fellowship had waned over the years) and finally got to the end of the story.
So, as a general rule, I'm not too crazy about books that end in cliffhangers. Even when I write them.
(Note: this entry in no way should be interpreted as a comparison between the New Olympus Saga and LotR - that would be like comparing a first grader's drawing of the week with the Mona Lisa).
I've been getting moderate amounts of flak over the ending of Doomsday Duet. I totally understand, and if you're the kind of reader who doesn't like cliffhanger endings and you'd rather wait until Apocalypse Dance (the third and final volume of the New Olympus Saga), I don't blame you one bit. Luckily, work on the third installment is going well and I am fairly certain the book will come out this Fall (I'm shooting for an October release), so either way you won't have to wait long.
And on that note, I've got to get back to work.
I really want to find out what happens next.

Doomsday Duet Is Out!

The sequel to Armageddon Girl, Doomsday Duet, is out for the Kindle (the print version should be released early next week). You can find the book at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Duet-O...

To celebrate the book launch, Armageddon Girl will be on sale for $0.99 all through this week.

http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Girl...

Two books down, one left for the first trilogy set in this setting. Hope you enjoy the book, and if you do that you will leave a review, here on Goodreads and on Amazon :)

Doomsday Duet Sample Chapters

The Prologue and first four chapters of Doomsday Duet, the sequel to Armageddon Girl, are up at my website (http://cjcarella.com/fiction/doomsday... ).

The manuscript is going through its final edit and proofreading, and should be out later this month. After that, I'll go to work on The Apocalypse Dance, which concludes the initial story arc in the setting.

I also have a few ideas for two different novels (contemporary dark fantasy/horror and steampunk/fantasy) which I may submit to mainstream publishers first, just in case.

Back to work.

The Future of The New Olympus Saga

Okay - the books are shipped, the Kickstarter pledges have all been fulfilled, and this part of the story is happily concluded. I learned a lot along the way (most importantly: however much time you thought you had to get something done, chances are you should have allotted more time to avoid being late). Armageddon Girl, Book One of the New Olympus Saga, has been in stores since November. New Olympus, The Companion book, made it out in March. The sales have been good so far, especially for Armageddon Girl. Not "I'm gonna be rich" good, but enough that I'm happy about continuing writing (I was going to continue writing anyway, even if the book only sold a dozen copies - writers don't write for the money; they usually write because they can't help themselves).

Earlier today I typed the happy words "The End" on the manuscript for Doomsday Duet, Book Two of the New Olympus Saga. That doesn't mean the book is finished: there are plot holes to be filled, sections that must be rewritten, and of course editing, proof-reading and layout after that. I'm shooting for a May release; given my track record so far, it may be overoptimistic, but that's what I'm going for. The second book ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, but the main story arc will be concluded in The Apocalypse Dance: Book Three of the New Olympus Saga, which will be finished and published later this year. The best thing about indie publishing is that, unlike mainstream publishing, you don't have to wait a year to get the next book in a series.

I debated about doing a second Kickstarter for Doomsday Duet, but in the end I decided against it. It's mostly about time - I'd rather spend the time I would have to put into the Kickstarter campaign (promoting, working on fulfillment, and so on) writing the darn book. I may not be able to afford to put art in the sequel(s), but I figure most people will be happy with just the writing. You will be able to get both electronic and dead-tree copies of the book thanks to Amazon's Kindle and CreateSpace programs.

Looking forward to what this year will bring. 2012 was when I finally finished a novel. 2013 was my fiction publishing debut. Hoping 2014 will be as productive and rewarding.