Greg Strandberg's Blog, page 8

I Hope Salem’s Lot Wins

I hope Salem’s Lot wins the Book Addicts poll this month for the book that we’ll read. Here’s the poll:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

There are some good books there, and I don’t think this one will win. It’s a shame – I bought it used on Amazon.

I was a little disappointed because I ordered an old ‘80s-cover copy but got a newer one instead. My 3-year-old son does like the scary cover though, so I guess it worked out.

The message of the story? Read.

Fire is Now Burning Up the Amazon Charts!

I’m happy to announce that my second Sanders McGee Adventure is now available. Here’s what both books look like, as well as the upcoming third:






I really think this is a fun series for people that like action, that like suspense, and that like a good laugh. We’ve got punchy dialogue, improbable situations that, eh…could really happen, and death scenes that might leave you cringing – after you read all the pages as fast as you could because let’s face it, they’re so damn good.

Yep, that’s Sanders McGee, and I think you should check this series out pretty soon.

Add the first book to you “to-read” list, because I think next month something electrifying is going to happen…stay tuned!

September is Here!

September is a new month and as an author I’m pretty excited.

I’ve got plans to release 3 eBooks and one print book and an eBook box-set.

I sure hope that some of you are interested, and if you want to learn more, check out the monthly report on my website:

http://www.bigskywords.com/writing-bl...

I managed to write more than 135,000 words in August, so if you’re an author you might pick up a few tips from my site.

Big Sky Words gets about 2,000 hits a day now, many going to the writing advice blog, although the Montana political blog is quickly gaining in popularity.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

New Series

I’ve got a new series up on Goodreads, my 9th. (See All My Series https://www.goodreads.com/series/list...)

This one’s called The Sanders McGee Adventures, and right now it’s just two books: Lightning and Fire.

Well, it’s one book…with the second due out next week – hopefully.

After that I’ll put out Mud/Mudslide (haven’t decided on the title yet) followed by Locusts.

As soon as I get the third book out I’m bundling them into a box-set and…well schucks, I probably shouldn’t say this…but I’ll make the first book perma-free.

After that I’ll write a few more books, probably make Books 4-6 (Locusts, Drought, Earthquake) into a box-set.

Maybe I’ll take a rest after that. These are short books, just 11,000 words on average, but they’re fun.

If you like detective novels that are off-beat and have a main character with more problems than you can shake a stick at, then check out The Sanders McGee Adventures!




Lightning Fire

New Montana History Book

I’ll have the fourth volume of my Montana History Series out next month. This book is called Hustlers and Homesteaders and covers 30 years, like the other books.




Hustlers and Homesteaders

Here we explore 1900 to 1930.

Now, what do you know about this period in American history…what can you name?

Maybe WWI, right? That’s an easy one. How about…the sinking of the Titanic, 1912, right?

What else?

Nothing?

Well, you’re an average American – one who doesn’t know their own history or what happened just 100 to 75 years ago.

That’s sad – I feel sorry for you. I feel no pity, however, as that’s a choice you’ve made. Hey, if I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry; if I made you angry, screw you.

The reason America is such a shitty country is because so few people know anything about our nation’s past. This dooms us to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

No?

Well, gosh, you don’t know anything about these things, remember:

- The Spanish-American War
- The Philippine-American War
- The Panic of 1907
- Homesteading in the West
- Early American Automobiles
- The Creation of the National Forests
- Building America’s Dams
- The Alien and Sedition Crisis

Those are just a few things that I cover in this book, which will be more than 300 pages.

I’ve got 157 pages now, without pictures, and 45,000 words.

This will be the largest book and I hope you add it to your To-Read list.

Or if you’d like to continue living in ignorance about your past, don’t.

Lightning

I’ve got a new book coming out soon, oh…in the next couple of days.

It’s called Lightning, and it’s the first part in the Sanders McGee Adventures.

Sanders McGee is a low-ranking officer in the San Diego PD. He’s got problems with cocaine, a wife that hates him, and kids he never sees. He gets busted down in rank frequently.

You can read the first part on my site’s Free Fiction Friday section:

http://www.bigskywords.com/writing-bl...

It’s a short novel and if you like disaster adventures with a sick sense of humor and some untimely deaths, this is for you.

Lightning

Authors Hating Authors (Boot and Ant)

I think one of the main things you have to realize when you’re an author is that you’re going to piss of a lot of people.

Often this will be done through what you do and say. But the more “successful” you get the more other authors will become envious and spiteful. That should be their “success” after all, and anything they can do to belittle your “accomplishments” will be done so that they can justify their own failures.

You see this in all walks of life. If someone decided to put the nose to the grindstone and do the work then there’ll always be a lot of lazier people looking on and lambasting them because they now look bad as a result.

I’m not sure if there are underlying psychological problems that bring these things about, but a case could be made.

What it really comes down to, however, is whether the boot feels the ant. Does that boot feel the ant when it steps on it, and is it hurt by this?

Another example is the rhino, and whether it feels the flies that always cling to it. Do the sharks notice the lamprey eels that follow it everywhere?

I think not, mainly because it probably never sees them. To the boot, the ant is so small and inconsequential that it really doesn’t even register. There’s no way the boot can even comprehend the existence of the ant, or what life it may lead. It’s totally off the radar and doesn’t even know it “angers” the ant.

But boots walk about and sometimes they step on things they can’t see. Sometimes the colony of ants mobilizes and tries to go after that boot, however silly it may seem to you and I. Maybe the ants even catch up with the boot and crawl up it and try to swarm it en masse.

But the boot just walks away, for it’s on its own road to its own destination and even if there were a million ants in the way or on the top it wouldn’t really matter.

Does the boot feel the ant? Not really, for the boot just can’t be stopped.

Goodreads Author Groups are Silly

Today I left what I’m just going to come out and call a stupid group. This is The Firequill Book Group and it’s mainly for authors that want to get reviews or have their blogs get more traffic.

Alright, it might be about something else, but from all the threads I ever saw it was authors asking for reviews and some of the absolute worst – I mean these sites were pure shit! – sites that they wanted you to vote on.

Now, some people might like author sites where they talk about the same book each week for months or they talk about their friends books or write reviews for other books.

We’ve all seen these sites – the ones with about 28 likes on Facebook and an annoying neon green, pink, or purple background.

That’s about what I think of this silly Firequill Book Group.

It all started when an author began asking for reviews. I made a comment that soliciting reviews will in no way help you long-term. I guess if you think a book with all 5-star reviews interests readers, then yeah, maybe that’s for you.

But if you’re more interested in organic growth, readers finding your books without bribes, and making it as an author long-term, then that’s just not for you.

And that’s why I left the Firequill Book Group today, in case anyone cares, which I think you don’t.

Writing Montana History

I’ve really enjoyed getting back into writing Montana history again. I got going this past weekend writing biographies of the three leading women candidates for the nomination this Saturday.

That spurred me to get back to 1900 to 1930 in the state, and I was able to find a lot.

For instance, the Spanish-American War. Hardly any of the secondary sources mention this period, yet Montana sent twelve companies of men in three battalions, which totaled around 1,000 men. About 100 died over there in the Philippines and not much was mentioned after that.

I found a great old source book called Campaigning in the Philippines, which was written in 1899. Each state had to add the history of its own units, and Alexander Laird did a great job for Montana.

I’ve already got 28,000 words on this book, or 100 pages. With pictures (each book has 100 or more) the total will go up even further.

Volume 3, Braves and Businessmen, was more than 300 pages and I think this next volume will be close to 400 if not over. Already today writing about the Panic of 1907 took up a lot of space.




Braves and Businessmen: A History of Montana, Volume Three

In a Reading Funk

I’m in a bit of a reading funk this week. Well, let’s face it – I’ve come to a bitter standstill.

It all started on Tuesday when I picked up Rama II. I was excited to get into it after finishing the first again, but then perhaps the vile influence of Gentry Lee’s characterizations got the better of me.

I put the book down and have not picked it up again in three days.

I suppose I should get back to The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, which I started reading again a few months ago.

I also have Joyland coming in the mail in a week…well, I can’t wait that long.

Like I said, I’m in a bit of a funk and I’ve got to break myself out of it here. Maybe just force-reading a chapter of Rama will do it.

Stay tuned for updates to this breaking story!