Dyego Alehandro's Blog

A story before a vacation

This coming week I will be relaxing and letting my brain rest from writing. In the meantime, however, I am pleased to announce Part Two of the Emergence short story prequels. You can read Part Two: The Discovery by clicking on this link right here. Enjoy!

The Celestial Shadow Series

Last week I talked about doing something different. This week I reveal what I’m working on: the Celestial Shadow series!

This year, The Deeping Call will be released. It’s the first book in my Celestial Shadow steampunk series. (yay, alliteration!) This series is a marked change from my usual writing style and genre so I thought I’d discuss a few thoughts about it.

The most common question I get asked about this series is: ‘what is steampunk?’  My usual answer: ‘it’s complicated.’ Steampunk is a genre with few set rules, but one thing they tend to have in common is anachronism. In this instance, I like how Wikipedia defined something: An anachronism is a chronological inconsistency. Steampunk stories are generally set in the late 19th century and feature steam-powered versions of technology far past what was available to citizens of the 19th century. Cars, lighter-than-air air ships, Tesla-like inventions, etc., etc.

Celestial Shadow is actually closer to proto-steampunk: it’s set in the late 1700s, a hundred years before most steampunk stories. I definitely keep the anachronism theme going. The Deeping Call and its sequels contain many examples of late 18th century technology but there’s a budding advancement that speaks to a steampunk future coming down the line. There’s even more lurking beneath the surface but sorry, no spoilers here!

A second feature of the Celestial Shadow series is horror. That is very much a deviance for me because I’ve never written horror and it’s not something I generally read. The horror of Celestial Shadow is less ‘slasher’ and more ‘atmospheric.’ It’s inspired heavily by Edgar Allan Poe and the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. There are forces at work in the universe of The Deeping Call that are beyond the characters’ understanding, e.g. powerful creatures and phenomena that cause insanity more often than not.

But don’t let that scare you off. My intent is not to frighten but rather to infuse the world with a brooding presence that hangs over everyone’s lives. This is a harsh world that breaks strong men and women down, but still there are a handful who will fight for the good of others.

That is something The Deeping Call shares with my other stories. No matter how bleak and horrible the world I create, there will always be characters who strive to do better, to be better. And just to make sure that the horror doesn’t take over too much, I’ve filled it with plenty of the off-beat humor I always sprinkle in my stories. Some of the humor is a little darker, but it fits the tone.

Celestial Shadow involved a lot of world-building and a complex back story that I’ve been working on for over a year. To make some of that back story and world-building available to my readers, I’ve decided to make a prequel short-story series entitled Emergence and release a new episode every month. And just to make this blog post extra-special, part one is now available! You can read Emergence Part One: The Mistake right here.

Why I’m doing something different

 

 

I’m working on a new story series for 2015. From a marketing standpoint this is a bad idea. Everybody knows that people only buy series, and I’ve already got a sci-fi series started. So why am I not finishing up Avarice Dynasty: Illusion? Why am I putting aside the second book of Avarice Dynasty in favor of something new?

It has to do with neighbors.

Yes, you read that right. You see, I was born and raised in southern California. The culture where I lived was markedly different from the Midwest and East Coast: in my part of southern California, neighbors are those annoying people who prevent you from having more land around your house. You waved to them occasionally, but for the most part you ignored your neighbors and they ignored you. You did not inquire about their children and they didn’t ask you about your ancestors. Life was uncluttered with people. It was simple and happy because you weren’t bugged every day by overly intrusive neighbors. I very much enjoyed that way of dealing with neighbors, and still do.

What does this have to do with stories? Over the course of 2014, when I wasn’t working on The Golden Scepter, I was working on Illusion. In fact, I’ve been working on Illusion for a long time. I finished writing the first three books of the Avarice Dynasty series almost eight years ago. I’ve spent the time since then trying to refine the stories, adding what needs to be added, but more importantly, removing that which needs to be cut. That means I’ve been working, on and off, on the Avarice Dynasty series for eight years. It’s my own fault that they haven’t been released yet: too much perfectionism, not enough efforts to learn the ropes of indie publishing. But still, eight long years explains why I want to switch tracks for a bit; why I need to switch tracks. Avarice Dynasty and its characters are starting to feel like an annoying neighbor who keeps showing up several times a day and expects me to chat with them. It feels oppressive, restrictive, and is getting to the point of being stressful.

So, to carry this metaphor farther, I am moving out of the neighborhood for awhile. I’m going to work on something fresh and new in an effort to recharge my mental batteries. What am I working on? Well, that’s what next week’s blog is for.

 

Why My Life Ended When My Second Monitor Died

The Trouble With Techies: a tongue-in-cheek look at the endless perils of Geekdom

I didn’t notice the symptoms until too late. The soft, warm glow started to fade. The colors seemed a little ‘off.’ Soon it would take me two or three tries to turn it on. Before I even really knew it, my second monitor had died. I tried to revive it, even resorting to the black art of soldering. Nothing could bring back my love.

For many people, a second monitor is an unheard-of luxury. They don’t even consider having more than one; and why should they? For most people, one monitor is just fine. But not to me. In the world of the Techies, I am an oddball: I only had a second monitor, and never a third. Or more.

Why do we crave more than one monitor? More importantly, why do we need them? I’m going to give a few demonstrations in this article that I hope will explain to the non-techies just why I felt like my life ended when my second monitor left me. I had to borrow my wife’s monitor for these pictures, and the lighting in my office currently stinks, so please forgive the relatively low quality of the images.

Graphic Arts

This is the big one. I’ve done graphics for over a decade now and continue to do my own book covers. A second monitor allows me to quickly and easily compare two full-size images. It allows me to use my second monitor as a base image from which to work. In this example image, I have a picture of fall beauty on the right, and my re-creation of it in Vue Infinite on the left.

Reference Work

This can be related to Graphic Arts, as I’ll usually be using an image on one monitor as a reference point for whatever I’m working on. In this example, I’m using a map of the original 13 colonies to help me design the various land-holdings of Celestial Shadows, my steampunk series.

Multitasking

This subject doesn’t get an image because those I have include far too many personal details, but the idea goes like this: having two or three email clients open on the second monitor, having Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon up on the main one, and a chat client or two open wherever it feels like fitting. This is for days when I’m in mega-marketing mode and have to juggle all sorts of things at once. Having extra screen real-estate makes this process run much smoother and with fewer mistakes.

Gaming

There are some games, usually MMOs, where you can play more than one character at once, known as dual-boxing. I use this most notably for the Star Wars Galaxies Emulator, and I can have a character up per monitor. This allows me to role-play much easier, because I can keep track of who’s talking and doing what just by looking between monitors.

 

Multitask Entertainment

Last and certainly not least, there’s the gaming-while-I-watch-a-movie syndrome. A lot of games require my complete attention, or I like to concentrate on them for immersion-value, but not all games are like that. 4X games don’t require as much of my attention, so I’ll watch a movie or a TV show on the side. In this example, I’m playing Clockwork Empires by Gaslamp Games, on my main monitor, while I watch Marvel’s The Avengers.

There are other ways that multiple monitors come in handy, but these are the primary ones.

A Clean Book Sale

I always knew that I wanted to write clean books. I firmly believe that sex, swearing and gore act as crutches for stories, crutches that I don’t want or need. A great story doesn’t need to pander to the lowest common denominator in order to make sales or to be a good book. That’s one of the primary reasons I refuse to work with the Big Publishers.

I also knew that I wasn’t the only one writing clean books. Timothy Zahn inspired me to try it out for myself. Now, to be honest, his stories do have very minor swearing and occasional references to sex, but for the vast majority of his work he doesn’t need those things to write the best sci-fi I’ve ever read. If he could do it, even with the Big Publishers, then I knew I could too.

One thing I never knew, though, was just how many fellow Indie authors I would find that also strive to write clean books. We’re organizing a Fall Sale that starts on October 5th and the sheer number of books that will be available is mind-boggling to me. It helps to reaffirm my stand for clean books to see so many others who are doing the same thing.

I hope you’ll browse the sale of “Flinch-Free Fiction” and try something new. I know I will.

The Clean Indie Reads Fall Sale can be found right here.

 

My Muses: Music

My co-author, Alex Zabala, requires absolute silence when he writes. I know there are many authors like that, but I am not one of them. Music has proven to be so influential to my writing process that I thought it would be appropriate to finally discuss it. A lot of people wouldn’t dream of working out without music, and that’s how I am about writing.

When listening to music just for pleasure I have very eclectic taste, and that goes double for when I’m writing. I listen to pop, rock, heavy metal, blues, instrumental, classical, jazz, even some ‘light rap’ and country music, which are two genres I tend to avoid. Hey, to each his own, right? I have so many writing playlists I tend to lose track of them, but here’s how I usually break them down.

Kickstart: These are my favorite songs for kickstarting my writing mood. I used this name a looong time before the famous crowdfunding website came into existence. These songs tend to have strong beats that can get my heart pumping and get me ready to write something awesome.

General: This is my huge, multi-gigabyte playlist that contains bits and pieces of everything else. Nothing really special.
Classical: Classical music is good for the brainwaves, and there are times when I just can’t listen to singing. This has everything from Bach to Vivaldi, from Beethoven to Wagner.
Instrumental Power: There are a lot of classical songs that are more ‘mellow,’ and then there are classical songs that are full of grandeur. This list has the latter songs, and other non-classical instrumental songs that are full of emotion and, as the name implies, power.
Action: This is where I usually put my heavy metal and hard rock songs, but also some pop songs with great beats. Anything that can keep my pulse high while I write an intense action scene.
Emotional: These are the songs that pull my heartstrings, deeply emotional songs that help when I need to write a character’s death or something that needs to hit the reader in the gut. If I don’t feel like I was hurting when I wrote it, how can the reader feel that?
Humor: This is a playlist I don’t use very often, because I tend to fit humor into all parts of my books, but every now and then I want a scene to be really funny. When that happens, what else to listen to except Weird Al?

There are also some songs that I turn to again and again, because they just seem to hit the right notes for me. They are my Greatest Hits. Here are a few in no particular order, and why they help me. Please remember that everybody has different taste in music, so if you hate any of these songs or bands, just relax

Metallica – Unforgiven

I listened to this song more than anything else when I wrote the first few drafts of Avarice Dynasty. I found the subject to be a pretty good reflection of Drevin Cantrim’s journey. I still find the melody to be a quietly haunting sound. It’s a slower song (especially for Metallica) but the steady beat, dour subject, and overall feel of the song was a beautiful companion to Avarice Dynasty. I find it helps in a lot of other books, too.

Evanescence – Imaginary

Confession: There are a lot of Evanescence songs I like. I think Amy Lee has an amazing voice for singing strong emotions, which is why Evanescence shows up on my Emotional playlist more than any other three bands combined. It’s hard for me to pick a single song from them that hits me the most, but Imaginary is always at the top of that list. From the opening to the end it grabs me, and I’ll often sit with the volume high up and put this song on repeat. The rock bridge at 2:48 or so is also great for action scenes in the middle of strong emotion.

Phantom of the Opera Movie Soundtrack – Overture

I will confess that I have yet to see the entire movie or play (it’s on my to-do list), but this song is one of my go-getters for both emotional and action scenes and it’s also a great kickstart song. I listen to it often.

Journey – Separate Ways

I grew up listening to 70s and 80s rock, and I still remember this song from my youth. The powerful beat finds a great use in my Kickstart and Action playlists, but it also shows up in my Emotional list. It’s another song I find myself listening to for a lot of scenes.

I use many more songs to help me get into the proper mindset for certain scenes. Most of the time I’ll just have the music playing in the background, but when I know I need extra oomph for a particular scene, I turn to my special playlists and turn the volume up.

Today is a Huge Day

My fingers are trembling as I type this. The nervous tick running through my limbs is a combination of things, really, but it’s mostly a mixture of hope and fear. You see, I’ve been unemployed for six months and the job search is absolutely fruitless where I live. So today is the day that I turn my back on Corporate America and dedicate myself fully to the arts and crafts of being an Indie Author/Publisher.

What’s next for Arcani Arts and me? A lot, actually. Audiobooks are first on the list. I invested in a microphone setup and have been increasing the soundproofing of my office area. I’ll be working on the audio versions of my free short stories first. The audio versions might be free as well; not decided yet. I’ll be doing Treasure of the Mayan King and Avarice Dynasty: Evasion after that.

Then there’s the books. Yeah, those things I started out with. I’m feverishly updating and editing The Golden Scepter this month and next. It’s the semi-sequel to our best-selling Treasure of the Mayan King, just with bigger stakes. Chauncy Rollock thought that South American drug lords were bad news…in the words of a rather famous song, he “ain’t seen nothing yet”. An ancient power has been unleashed!

Avarice Dynasty will be getting books 2 and 3 of the series next year. Illusion and Dissension are going to be awesome. I’m biased when I say that, of course, but I think it’s true. Evasion was the ‘pilot,’ where I had to introduce the world and the characters. I think it’s an excellent book, or I wouldn’t have published it, but it’s just the beginning. The misadventures of Drevin Cantrim and Co are going to take some sharp turns for the worse.

Then there’s the Steam Sphere. I’ve had The Deeping Call (book one) in my mind for a long time now, but last year I struck upon the idea of setting it in a proto-Steampunk horror genre and it took off. I wrote 40k words in the first three months I worked on it, while still doing other projects. That means I like it. Don’t worry about the “horror” tag, though. It’s still going to be a clean book and it’s more darkly humorous than horrifying. But that doesn’t mean it’s wimpy, either. Horrors from beyond the stars are descending upon our poor little world and it’s looking like there isn’t much our heroes can do about.

What else? Boardgames. My wife and I are avid boardgamers. We do everything from simple “AmeriTrash” to the most complex Euro games to huge, sprawling wargames. We’re going to be turning Treasure of the Mayan King into a boardgame first, and then looking at our other books for ideas and inspiration. Steam Sphere alone is going to account for three different boardgames, each a different type.

Videogames, too. I’ve been making mods and designing videogames since 1999. I have notebooks full of designs and ideas that are just waiting to see the light of day. I’ve been learning programming, modeling, texturing, and rigging lately. I just need to get it all working together.

Six months of unemployment and have taught my wife and me about being frugal. We don’t have a mansion on Beverly Hills and six gas-guzzlers in the garage. In fact, I don’t even own a car since mine was totaled in an accident last year…and I live in a town that doesn’t know what ‘Public Transportation’ means. If you wish to help out, please feel free to visit the Arcani Arts Please Help! Page and see what you can do to assist me and Arcani Arts in this journey.

In short, this next year is going to be the most fun and frightening of my life. I’m going to have to rely on the generosity and goodwill of the friends I’ve made doing this indie gig. It’s going to be awesome. Will you join me?

Take a little trip to New Mercury with me…

A fellow Clean Indie Reads author has started a series about other worlds and what they are like. New Mercury, from the Avarice Dynasty series, is the first to be Explored. Come along and find out about one of the iconic locations of Evasion!

Realm Explorers Part I: Visit New Mercury

Thanks!

A big thanks to everyone who helped promote Treasure of the Mayan King when it was free! The promotion is over, sadly, but keep an eye out for The Golden Scepter, coming out this winter!

The 6000 Minutes start a little early!

Treasure of the Mayan King is now free until Thursday. Enjoy, and tell everybody about it!

Here’s the coupon code: HL47P

Here’s the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...