Daniel Sherrier's Blog, page 54

RIP excerpt #4 of 4

Today I uploaded RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death to Amazon and Smashwords. Why yes, I will share the links tomorrow.

While we’re waiting, here’s an excerpt from the fourth novelette, “Point B.” It was tough to choose a snippet from this one without giving anything away, but I persevered.

*****

Rip’s lungs burned up their last reserves and broke his sprint. He skidded to a stop while the neurologist stepped through a brick wall.

“There you are! I had this thought. I still have all my professional expertise. I just lack the means to communicate with, well, anyone, except you, and I guess those other six. But what are the odds I’m going to meet any of them? I’m lucky I ran into you. So here’s what I’m thinking. I can still help my patients. I just have to do it through you. I’ll tell you exactly what to do and what to tell them. You can even use my office and all the equipment. I only died a few weeks ago. Everything’s still there. You can be my—what’s that term? Medium! Yes, you can be my medium.”

Rip backed up. “Um, no thanks. I have my own—”

“Your own what? Your own life? Again with that tone…”

“—my own things I need to—”

“And you think your ‘things’ are more important than my work? Do you understand what neurological damage can do to a person?”

“I’m not doubting you, uh, sir. I just—I’m not a doctor, so how—”

“I have an old colleague who can forge credentials. You and I could be quite a team.”

“That’s flattering, but I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

The neurologist extended a shaky pointer finger. “Maybe I’m not being clear enough. We will be a team, or I will make you experience firsthand the dangers of neurotmesis.”

Serissa patted Rip on the back. “So yeah, buddy, you ran into an alley where there are no people, so there’s no chance of me being able to help you. Smart move, Light-Bright.”

*****

Ghosts are people, too, but not all ghosts choose to be good people.

Rip Cooper must overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. This young loner learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he’s just as solid to them — pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

 

RIP excerpt #3 of 4

Another day, another RIP excerpt.

Here’s one from the third novelette, “The Crazy Line.”

*****

“So what do you think is wrong with those other ghosts?” Mac asked. “The ‘evil’ ones?”

Serissa looked forward. “Gluttony.”

“But they don’t have…Ghosts don’t eat.”

“They don’t ‘nom nom nom’ eat, no, but they make their own feasts.”

“Um, okay.” Mac touched his tongue and studied the lack of sensation. “I haven’t eaten since—two whole weeks, and I’m not hungry. Do you ever feel hunger?”

“No. I get phantom hunger. It’s special. Just wait. You’ll get it, too.”

“But if I get hungry and I can’t eat anything…That sounds awfully unpleasant.”

“Eh.” Serissa rocked her head back and forth in search of an example. “Take chocolate. I really loved chocolate. It was soooo good. Sometimes, I’ll lose myself fantasizing about that taste. I got my memories, so I taste the memories. And taste and taste and taste…”

“That kind of sounds like gluttony.”

She didn’t hear him. Sensory memories consumed her, and she let them—but only for a moment.

“Ah, chocolate. So yeah. I hunger for things. Whoa, that sounded creepy. Hunger just does not work as a verb. Anyway, I indulge in delicious memories here and there, but I’m careful to restrain myself. Too much fantasy, not good.”

“And the bad ghosts…?”

“No restraint. They give in to every single whim that crosses their whacked-out minds. Like, they see someone hurting and they think, ‘Hey, maybe I can make that worse.’ And they do, as if it’ll somehow relieve their own pain. They can’t get enough of it. Gluttons. All a bunch of psychotic gluttons.”

*****

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death is coming soon!

Ghosts are people, too. What kind of people, however, is up to each one to decide.

Rip Cooper learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he’s just as solid to them — pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. This young loner has to overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

RIP excerpt #2 of 4

Please enjoy this excerpt from the second RIP novelette, “Alone.”

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death will be here before you know it! The wondrous process of proofreading continues!

*****

“You got a glow about you,” Serissa said. ”Where’d you get the glow?”

“Nothing. I don’t—”

“Awfully quick nothing coming out of your mouth there.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Even quicker.” She tapped Rip’s forehead. “Let it out, boy. I know of only one force on this planet that makes you not miserable, and Kalli was with me. Or is it Kalli? What day is it?”

“Can you please stop playing Spider-Woman with my ceiling?”

“Maybe I’ll return your precious ceiling if maybe you give me some answers.”

Rip stared up at the white plane, and he shrugged.

She pressed her finger on his nose. “Talk.”

He figured he’d lose eventually anyway, so he got on with it. “I met a ghost who was haunting the library, and I think I might actually be able to help her instead of—”

Serissa hung her head. “Her? Oh, Ripley, you poor stupid boy.”

“What? If I can help a ghost become less creepy and more like…” Upon spotting Serissa crouched on the ceiling and repeatedly banging her head through it, he found cause to adjust his statement. “If I can save a ghost’s soul, isn’t that better than outright condemning her to Hell?”

Serissa flung herself to the floor to address him from a more conventional perspective. “In theory, yeah.”

“Oh, you’ve decided to be right-side up?”

“I do that sometimes. But you see, theory and the real world tend to duke it out real often—and you know what, buddy? Theory doesn’t always win the championship.”

“Maybe that particular theory of yours won’t, not this time.”

“A-ha! You just made my point.”

“I really don’t think I did.”

“Yes, you said a theory wouldn’t work in the real world.”

“Your theory.”

“About your theory.”

“I think you lost your point somewhere along the way.”

Serissa placed both hands on his shoulders to make a firm, serious point. “Rip, your clouded is judgment.”

“My what?”

“Your judgment is clouded! Stupid tongue! You fell for a pretty face, complete with gigantically sad eyes—I’m just guessing—and now you think you can do something that odds are you really can’t.”

*****

Once again, I’ll leave you with the book description, and come back tomorrow for another excerpt!

Ghosts are people, too. What kind of people, however, is up to each one to decide.

Rip Cooper learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he’s just as solid to them — pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. This young loner has to overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

RIP excerpt #1 of 4

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death is in its final proofreading stages. Those four novelettes are coming to an e-reader near you soon. In the meantime, I’ll be posting an excerpt from each novelette.

The beginning seems like a very good place to start, so below is a scene from the first episode, “Touch.” More than five-hundred of you downloaded “Touch” during its Amazon Kindle Select free days.

Have you read it yet?

*****

Rip leaned against another tree and slid into a sitting position. He noticed the grass sticking through Serissa’s bare feet. “So I have to decide, basically, the course of my life from here on out—assuming, of course, I’m not simply losing my mind.”

Serissa stood her ground, summoning Rip with her finger. “Give me your hand.”

Rip climbed to his feet and stepped forward, hesitant. He reached out, unsure what to expect from a dead, intangible girl.

Nor did the dead, intangible girl know what to expect. She had no idea if this would work, but her lips curled up in the anticipation that it might. Serissa slowly interlocked her fingers with his, and they both squeezed.

Contact. Solid contact.

“You’re warm,” Rip said, feeling a soft human hand, indistinguishable from any living person’s.

“Only to you,” Serissa said, smiling at her first physical sensation since…in a long time.

*****

I’ll leave you with the book description. Stay tuned for more excerpts!

Ghosts are people, too. What kind of people, however, is up to each one to decide.

Rip Cooper learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he’s just as solid to them — pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. This young loner has to overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

Go see Gravity

Most movies I see in the theater these days are based on pre-existing properties, and that’s sad. Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed The Avengers and the Iron Man movies, and I’m looking forward to the next X-Men, but I’d love to see Hollywood tell more good, original stories that are uniquely suited for the medium — stories that aren’t crafted by committee by-the-numbers fashion to appeal to the greatest number of people.

I’d love to see more films like Gravity, a new film by Alfonso Cuaron starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney (and basically no one else).

Gravity is an amazing movie, and you need to see it. If you’re a filmmaker or a writer of any medium, study it.

The story is simple. An accident in space sends a medical engineer and astronaut adrift, and they need to get to safety.

That’s all you need for a compelling story. The journey home is one of the most reliable plots. But the filmmakers add plenty of humanity to the proceedings. Gravity isn’t just about getting home — it’s about finding the will to persevere when it seems like you have no reason to go on.

Pay attention to the execution. The pacing, the dialogue, the obstacles — it’s all as close to perfect as we can reasonably expect. Once the action starts, the struggling never stops. Nothing is easy. No moment is wasted. The filmmakers cut out all the fat, and the audience remains tense throughout this entire experience.

The performances are superb, Bullock’s especially. I don’t care if she already won an Oscar a few years ago. She earned another with this.

And the effects deserve the big screen. Everything feels real.

Go see this. Support a smart, original work, and immerse yourself in an amazing experience.

I was hoping for a good movie. Instead, I found a new favorite.

That’s a Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman’s a tough character to get right, but Rainfall Films has produced an impressive short film starring the world’s most recognizable super-heroine:

I’d be interested in learning more about that Wonder Woman.

In any case, this film is a great of example of letting images tell the story. Presenting a clear picture often beats long passages of flowery prose discussing what the character is feeling. Sometimes introspection works great, but other times a character’s actions show us much more about the person.

Help me help the Red Cross

I feel like doing something nice this weekend. So, let’s help out the American Red Cross.

For each copy of Earths in Space sold 9/27, 9/28, and 9/29/13, I will give my cut to the Red Cross. The e-book costs $1.99, and I usually get $0.70 from each download. This weekend only, I’ll give that $0.70 to the Red Cross, multiplied by the number of copies sold, plus whatever I need to add to round up to the next $5 increment.

There is one flaw in this plan, though. My distributor, Bookbaby, has a two-month delay in reporting sales. But we can get around this. Please send me a FB message, tweet to @DanielSherrier, email to daniel@sherrierbooks.com, or comment letting me know about your purchase. That way, I can go ahead and make the donation on Monday. I promise not to collect any email addresses. We’re all on the Honor System here.

I have not been in touch with the Red Cross about this. I simply plan on making an online donation first thing Monday morning.

Am I hoping this will bump up my sales ranking? Of course, but I will also enjoy being able to toss a few bucks to a charitable organization, and I hope you‘ll enjoy Earths in Space. Everyone wins.

The sales links are compiled here. (No retailer is associated with this event. It’s all just me.)

And you can read about the Red Cross here.

Editing discount

Writers need editors. Even the best writers do. If you’re an author, you know this. You probably have a little voice in your head telling you to hire a professional editor to take your manuscript to the next level.

Another voice, however, is probably nagging you about how expensive editing services can run. So here’s a potential solution. For the next week, through Oct. 3, I’m dropping my editing fee down to $5 per 1,000 words. (It’s normally $6 per 1,000 — still relatively low.)

How will you know I’m the right person for the job? Just send me the first five pages, and I’ll edit them for free. You’ll see firsthand how I work. Even if your project isn’t quite ready for editing, I can do those five pages now and lock you in at the discounted rate.

As an indie author myself, I have a vested interest in helping improve the quality of all books, indie and traditional, so I’m already rooting for your book to be the best it can be. The book market isn’t a zero-sum game. The more good books that exist, the more books people will buy. And if more “unknown” authors are producing books of exceptional quality, then the probability of discovery increases for more “unknown” authors.

I want to help you.

You can read more about my editing services here.

Any questions? Please contact me at daniel@sherrierbooks.com or my Facebook page.

Cover reveal: Choices After Death

Introducing…The cover to RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death, coming next month! The text is in the final editing stages, so you’ll have some ghostly fun in time for Halloween.

Cover design by Mike Messina.

And here’s the book blurb:

Ghosts are people, too. What kind of people, however, is up to each one to decide.

Rip Cooper learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood, and he’s just as solid to them — pretty much the only solid thing, in fact. This young loner has to overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. He works alongside an impure “angel” and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can lead to strength.

RIP vol. 1: Choices After Death features the first four novelettes in this coming-of-age and redemption story: “Touch,” “Alone,” “The Crazy Line,” and “Point B,” plus the short story “Strength.”

Stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, the series pilot, “Touch,” is already available for your reading pleasure.

Graphic novels kids can read

I recently lamented that fewer super-hero comic books are appropriate for YA audiences these days. The older I get, the more I want the classic super-heroes to remain available for current and future generations of 10-year-old boys and girls. Kids need role models, and even fictional ones can bring tremendous value.

To help out you parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and teachers, I’ve compiled a list of good super-hero graphic novels that I feel are appropriate for ages 10 and up. This list is merely a sampling, a relative handful. Some might be out of print, but you can probably track them down at comic shops and shows. I also encourage you to do your own research. There are lots more out there.

Here we go:

Batman: Strange Apparitions: Some of these stories were adapted into Batman: The Animated Series episodes (which also holds up wonderfully). There are a lot of great interpretations of Batman out there, in print and in film, but this is the type of Batman I prefer. He’s heroic, smart, strong, and not crazy. This Batman is capable of warmth and healthy relationships while still being driven and utterly devoted to his mission. His adventures here can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. These issues came out in the 70s, but they don’t feel dated.

Superman: Up, Up, and Away: This is how you do Superman. The book uses the simple gimmick of taking away his powers for a whole year so that when he finally returns, Superman feels special and grand — as he should. Skip this year’s movie and read this book instead. It’s a shame there aren’t more Superman books that are this good.

Superman: Panic in the Sky: Admittedly, I haven’t read this one in many years, but when I was nine, this was amazing. It brings together a whole bunch of DC Comics characters in one epic adventure. It’s no work of literary art, but it’s a fun time.

Flash: The Return of Barry Allen: Barry Allen was the previous Flash who had died saving the universe, and the former Kid Flash has grown up and since carried on his uncle’s heroic work…and then Barry Allen “comes back.” I originally read these issues back when they were new and I was nine, not long after I started reading comics in the first place. This storyline probably made the difference between comics being a passing fad and something I’d still be reading twenty years later. This isn’t some basic good vs. evil struggle. It’s about the balance between idolizing your hero and becoming your own person, about the importance of protecting a legacy, and about how it feels when your role model doesn’t live up to your expectations. With these issues, I learned that comic books could be so much stronger than Saturday morning cartoons.

The Essential X-Men vol. 1 & 2: These are the comics that made the X-Men such a phenomenal hit. The stories move along at a brisk, energetic pace while developing melodramatic soap opera subplots. Colorful, flawed, diverse characters grow over the course of dozens of issues worth of exciting adventures. Plus, the X-Men series has the wonderful theme that you shouldn’t judge others for being different.

Robin: Year One and Batgirl: Year One: Two excellent miniseries about young heroes who are just starting out. Fun and action-packed with strong characterization. Both are written and drawn in a similar style, so they’re great to read together.

Daredevil by Mark Waid vol. 1: There aren’t many new books that are safe for kids, but this Daredevil is excellent swashbuckling fun, great for middle schoolers and adults. It’s something of a reboot after a prolonged grim-and-gritty era, and it’s nice to see the sunnier side of Daredevil for a change.

Early 80s Justice League of America: I don’t think there’s a single collection of these out yet, but when I first started reading comics in the early 90s, I visited a flea market and found some JLA comics dated about ten years earlier and I loved them. They’re all about heroes being heroic and working together to save the day. You can find individual issues at comic shops and conventions, and you’ll probably pay less per issue than you would on new comics.

Those are just some books off the top of my head. I know I’ve missed lots of great ones. Feel free to mention them in the comments.