Stephen Kozeniewski's Blog, page 75

July 9, 2014

Koz & Effect Episode 1: The Amazon Keyword Menace

Hey, everybody, I haven't done a whole lot of videos since The 2013 Hundie Challenge ended, but I've been hankering to do this video about Amazon keywords for the benefit of my author friends so I figured, why not start a new video series?  So I've decided to call this the first episode of Koz & Effect, where I'll be delving into some of the wonkier bits of internet minutia for the benefit of authors, readers, and perhaps just the average user.


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Published on July 09, 2014 09:00

July 6, 2014

Release Announcement: BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS


Hey, everybody, I'm very happy to announce the release of my third novel, BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS, by Severed Press.  It's now available for purchase in paperback and Kindle e-book formats.

Just a quick reminder: authors live or die by word-of-mouth.  If you'd be so kind as to share or tweet my release on social media, or even just tell your friends about it in person, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks so much to all my friends, family, and fans for making this release and my entire writing career possible!
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Published on July 06, 2014 21:00

July 2, 2014

Corns Have Holes (Interview with Warren Fielding, Author of GREAT BITTEN: OUTBREAK)

Welcome, bloganiacs!  I'm sure you all thought that after March's Tribute to the UK no one from Old Blighty would ever talk to me again.  Well, not so!  We're very fortunate to have with us on the blog today straight from Jolly Old post-apocalyptic England, the charming and talented Warren Fielding!  How did I convince him to visit with us?  Well, we have a special relationship, you see.  (Get it?  GET IT?)

Warren is a journalist and author of the brand spanking new novel GREAT BITTEN: OUTBREAK and he has consented to an interview with us today.  So, let's jump right in!


Interview
Stephen Kozeniewski: Hello, Warren, and welcome to the blog! Thanks for joining us today.

Warren Fielding: Hi Stephen, thanks for having me! In the most platonic sense.

SK: First question: if you ever met The Governor from The Walking Dead, what would you say to him?

WF: That guy should have lightened up a little. I'm not sure I could be polite to him. But I'd definitely give him a pat on the shoulder for giving it a try shooting that gun. He had the accuracy of stormtrooper, but with one eye your depth perception really does go up the swanny. He was always going to do a little better in hand-to-hand and with melee weapons.

SK: No, I'm sorry, the correct answer was, "Hello, Governor." Get it?

WF: Ah. I see what you did there! You get it?

SK: I do!  Well played.  Moving on.  I understand you're a journalist. What sort of training do you have, both formal and informal?

WF: Well aside from my degree, which I mainly obtained through an unco-ordinated attack of creative drunkenness and sporadic adrenalin-induced focus, my experience is primarily on the job. Academia can never prepare you for what the real world will be like. It's not like the shows; it's not as sexy, not as angry, and definitely not as glamorous as you think. I spent a lot of my time holding my arm out in the bloody rain with a dictation machine hoping to get a drab snippet of bollocks from some politician or another, to discover when I got home all I'd won for my efforts was some faint sneezing, and aggressive pins and needles.

SK: Ah...ha.  Next question: if you could be any ice cream flavor, what would you be?

WF:  Black coffee flavour. Well, dark. You know, chocolate coloured. So people would point and ask for me, thinking I'm one thing; they'd find out then I was something entirely different, and probably unwanted. Despite this fact, due to the strong desire for an ice cream no matter what the flavour, they'd eat me anyway. This statement for me epitomises both the British 'stiff upper lip' with our refusal to complain no matter what the situation, and neatly sums up the reaction of most women I've ever been on a date with.

SK: Intriguing. Tell us a little bit about what you're up to these days. Any interesting bylines coming down the pike?

WF: I'm trying to get the brain out of zombie-dodging at the moment. After everything I've described doing with a hammer in the last couple of books, I don't think I'll be doing home improvements any time soon. I'd say something soothing and quiet, but I've been having some fantastic nightmares recently, and as a result you can expect some short stories (or even novellas) about shadow people, soul-stealing, and some other downright nasty things hopefully by the end of the year.

SK: I'll be on pins and needles!  Do you think it's really possible to play all of the pinball machines from Soho down to Brighton?

WF: That's a crazy question, and I'm not sure The Who ever gave me a satisfactory answer. If I gave Cthulu some speed and had him along for the party then I might just manage it, though there may be some casualties along the way (and I don't mean the occasional flipper).

SK: I see. One last question. I understand you know famous horror author Dawn Peers personally. Can you dish us any dirt?

WF: Ah Dawn.  She makes a mean cocktail, and has an odd obsession with zombies, though I'm yet to witness her watching a zombie film in its entirety. Bit sarcastic though. And that's by my standards.

SK: Well, thanks for being with us today, Warren! And remember to watch out for your cornhole, bud.

WF:  Corns have holes?

About Warren Fielding
Artist's conception.  Seriously.  This is the picture he sent me.When the end of the world comes, humanity will finally realise that good guys generally will finish last.

I'm not a bad guy, but the GREAT BITTEN world explores the side of an anti-hero that you can't help but end up rooting for. Warren doesn't want people to die, but he accepts that they will and that to survive, you have to evolve past this base human fear and carry on.

It's a journey I've wanted to take since I was first introduced to apocalyptic fiction all those years ago. The genre is full of winners and good guys coming to the fore and winning the day, but life just isn't like that.

The people that would run back in to burning buildings for beloved keepsakes or will climb trees for kittens are invariably the first ones that will bite the dust in a world-ending event. Still, people need a hero they can relate to with the goodness in themselves. I'm not yet sure why.

GREAT BITTEN is the antithesis of those stories, and I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it.

You can follow Warren on FacebookTwitterBook Twitter, or his website.

About GREAT BITTEN: OUTBREAK

You’re walking down the street in the early hours of the morning, in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, when you see something that makes the rational side of your brain itch. It has mortal wounds and shouldn’t be walking, but it is, and if you hang around for too long, it will be heading towards you. How would you react?

You survive the initial throes of civil unrest and the collapse of law and order. The world has become your playground. What kind of person do you become?

You have never lived for anyone else except yourself. You are selfish. You like being alive. But you do have a conscience, and a soul. Who do you save first?

Warren is not a likeable man. Warren doesn’t even like himself. But he does like existing, and he wants to continue doing it, no matter what hell is emerging around him. Being pragmatic and a bit of a git to boot, he doesn’t find making the hard decisions difficult. What he does find out, is that the hard decisions are not necessarily the right ones. And being a bastard in life does not prepare you for the clashes that will ensue once the edges of society begin to blur and fade out.

It isn’t just the infected and the resurrected that Warren needs to be wary of, as he negotiates his way around the post-infection south coast in a haphazard attempt to keep himself and his family survive.

Buy it in the US or UK!  And tell your friends about it on Goodreads!
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Published on July 02, 2014 19:01

June 30, 2014

Big News on the BJ Cartoon Front!

Good news, everyone!  Zee Risek, our animator for the BRAINEATER JONES animated series, has been invited to the Ottawa International Animation Festival this year!  Apparently this is a big deal, where all of the animation heavyweights like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney, and so on go to hear pitches.  (Think speed dating, but with TV networks instead of potential love interests.)

An example of Zee's work
Zee has told me that we have a real advantage having an existing property with so much critical acclaim.  So I've decided to embark on a big round of requesting professional reviews for the next few months, which, if I haven't told you already, is grueling work.  Getting Amazon reviews, even from friends and family, is like pulling teeth. 

The good news is, you personally right now can help make the BRAINEATER JONES cartoon a reality.  If you've read the book, you can leave an honest review on Amazon.  Your purchase doesn't need to be from Amazon to leave a review, and reviews only need to be 20 words long.  (For perspective, this paragraph alone is already 60 words, more than 3 times what you would have to write.)

So, if you've ever wanted to help us bring the BRAINEATER JONES cartoon to your television screen, here is your big chance!  Thanks everybody!
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Published on June 30, 2014 09:00

June 22, 2014

The Zombie Allure (Guest Post by Chris Tucker, Author of THE 5280 DIARIES)

Hey, there, blogketeers!  It's June and you know what that means:



After getting to interview Shawn Chesser two weeks ago I've been very lucky to be asked to feature a second guest for the tour! Today I'm very pleased to introduce fellow zombie author Chris Tucker, author of THE 5280 DIARIES.  First, let's get to know Chris and then jump right into his guest post.

About Chris Tucker:

Chris Tucker grew up in New England and has lived throughout the country. From an early age, he acquired a love for reading and always wanted to write his own book.

That opportunity came when he was living in Hawaii and he decided to start writing what would become his first novel - LOST VOYAGE.

After his son was born, the writing was put on hold and it would be more than a decade before the book would finally be published. It was a long road to finish up that first novel, but the resulting product is something he is extremely proud to have written, and even prouder to share with his readers.

When not writing, Chris spends his time raising his son, playing guitar, taking his pup to the park and hiking through the Rocky Mountains.

Chris currently resides in Denver.

The Zombie Allure

When I initially decided to write a short story zombie series, I wasn’t quite sure where it would take me. I’ve always love a good zombie story, whether it’s a book or a movie, (or of course – The Walking Dead), but I didn’t know how I would incorporate my love for the genre into an actual product to share with everyone else. My inspiration to finally write it came from the most unlikely of places…a short story series about local Florida businesses called THE FLAGLER BEACH FICTION SERIES (Let’s all take a minute to allow Armand Rosamilia’s head and ego to deflate here…).

The stories themselves had nothing to do with zombies or anything horror related, but it was the premise for which the stories were based on…they were about real people in fictitious situations. I read a posting about how Armand was getting all sorts of requests from people to have them or their business featured in the next series and a light went on in my head.
I thought it would be fun to use real people and locations during my zombie apocalypse – something that would make my readers connect more with the story. I found the perfect main character, Payden, who is a good friend of mine, and I couldn’t think of a better place to host the beginning of the zombie apocalypse than the town I live in – Denver.
THE 5280 DIARIES series was born.
I like the “real” feel to it in the sense that I can write about people I know and make the visual aspect even more authentic since I live here and can diagram the city on paper for a virtual zombie tour as the books are read. Everybody loves zombies (in that cute, cuddly way) and I often find myself writing about how I would handle the arrival of the undead. That’s my inspiration for writing the series and hopefully everyone will get a good laugh, cry, or whatever emotion I can pull from them.
We have all thought about the zombie apocalypse and if it could ever happen (or when it will happen). My books are my perspective into the event and how it would be handled. The undead may or may not end up taking over the world, but it sure is fun to think about. After all…wouldn’t that just be too cool if it did happen?
You can find the first two stories in THE 5280 DIARIES series here or by going to my website.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Reading.
You can follow Chris on his website, Amazon page, Twitter, and Facebook.

Make sure to buy your own copy of ONE SHOT ONE KILL and SANITY'S EDGE


The stench of rotting flesh is in the air! Welcome to the Summer of Zombie Blog Tour 2014, with over 30 of the best zombie authors spreading the disease in the month of June.

Stop by the event page on Facebook so you don’t miss an interview, guest post or teaser… and pick up some great swag as well! Giveaways galore from most of the authors as well as interaction with them!  AND so you don't miss any of the posts in June, here's the complete list, updated daily: 

And don't forget you can enter my  #SummerZombie giveaway all month long!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Published on June 22, 2014 09:00

June 20, 2014

The 2013 Hundie Challenge: Wrapup Show




I'm sure it's impossible to read in the video.
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Published on June 20, 2014 11:48

June 18, 2014

BRAINEATER JONES Cartoon (Second Batch of Sketches)

Hey all!  This past weekend our incredible animator Zee Risek sent voicover artist Steve Rimpici and I some more sketches for the BRAINEATER JONES animated series so I thought I'd share them with you now.  (If you never saw the first batch of sketches, check them out here.)

Jones holds his flask with a stylized shadow, I'm guessing from the Venetian blinds in his office
Jones holds Alcibé's birdcage.  (I love the way Jones has his hand in his pocket.  It shows so much of his character without a word.)
The Old Man!  There's so much going on here.  Awesome.
The Big Gorilla with his best friend the dishcloth.
Here's Alcibé, Jones, and the bartender.  I love the size comparison.  Doesn't the barkeep look like he could just wreck up your world?
Jones and a barfly at Hallowed Grounds.  Look at the expression on Jones's face!  Could he look any more like a miserable drunk?  And compare it to the smile on the other guy!  
Jones, the head, and the barfly.
In this one Jones is wearing a hat.  I find it really hard to pick which I like better.
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Published on June 18, 2014 09:00

June 16, 2014

Verse Vs. Prose (Guest Post by Michael Meyerhofer, Author of WYTCHFIRE)

Today I'm delighted to host fellow Red Adept Publishing author Michael Meyerhofer, who has recently released his debut novel, high fantasy WYTCHFIRE!  Be sure to hang around until the end because our mutual publisher is generously hosting a giveaway for this blog tour.
Lookit that bitchin' cover!
In addition to being a novelist, Michael is also an award-winning poet and editor of poetry anthologies, which is why I asked him this question:

How is writing verse different from long-form prose?  Do the skills you've developed as a poet come into play at all when you put on your novelist's hat?
Stephen, thanks for having me!  Today, I thought I’d talk a little about how being a contemporary poet has influenced my long-form prose (in this case, my epic/dark fantasy book, WYTCHFIRE, first in the Dragonkin Trilogy).  For starters, my love of epic fantasy goes back to Tolkien.  Probably a lot of other writers can say this, too, but my first actual book (besides DICK AND JANE and those passages from the Bible that I was supposed to be reading while I was grounded) was THE HOBBIT.  Even as a kid, I was amazed by the richness of Tolkien’s words, the raw beauty of his language.  I’m reminded of the ending of an absolutely fantastic short story by Tobias Wolff called "Bullet in the Brain", in which a dying book critic’s last memory is just what got him in the business in the first place: a simple, almost primal love of language.  That’s how it started.

For me, Tolkien was poetry, and still is.  Even though my own poetry is unapologetically contemporary, with pop culture jokes and nerdy references to the History Channel, and of course a lot of narrative, at the end of the day, it’s all about language—about sound.  Writing poetry helped me improve my prose a great deal, probably especially in terms of my descriptions and my willingness to take bigger, creative leaps.  I’d also add that a lot of my favorite poets are fiction writers, and vice versa.  Stephen Dobyns and Raymond Carver come to mind.

As for my process in one genre versus another, they’re surprisingly similar.  My poems usually start with an image or a memory and go from there—as does my fiction.  Both forms take a lot of work, though I think it’s probably easier to have a kind of Zen-like wrap-up in poetry than it is in fiction.  Put another way, I’ve never written an outline for a poem, but especially these days, I write complex outlines for my novels.  Nevertheless, the novels themselves start with a raw image of a character, something that just kind of drops out of the sky, perches as the base of my skull, and knocks on the back of my head until I let him in.  That goes along with my belief that writing is half deliberate (especially in terms of revision) and half autopilot.

There’s big differences, though, too.  Both require revision, sure, but poems are generally short little things.  Mine in particular tend to never go over a page and a half, whereas my fantasy manuscripts tend to be four hundred pages or longer.  Poetry has a wonderful immediacy that I love, but I also have a soft spot for the kind of narrative weaving and the big, page-by-page polishing that comes with long form fiction.

One final thing I’d say, if you’ll permit me, is to advise writers (established and aspiring, alike) to put as many tools in the toolbox as they can.  Find writers you like in all genres.  Read them often.  Just as poetry can add music to stories, a working knowledge of prose can add a wonderful accessibility to poetry.  And of course, other art forms—from other genres of writing to different forms of expression like music, photography, and painting—can be part of the process, too.  I hope this doesn’t sound pretentious (feel free to kick me if it does) but in a sense, I think writers should see themselves less as writers and more as artists, using whatever medium suits the purpose of the day.  

About the Author:  "Ladies, please.  You can BOTH marry me."
Michael Meyerhofer grew up in Iowa where he learned to cope with the unbridled excitement of the Midwest by reading books and not getting his hopes up, Probably due to his father’s influence, he developed a fondness for Star Trek, weight lifting, and collecting medieval weapons. He is also addicted to caffeine and the History Channel.

Michael Meyerhofer’s third poetry book, DAMNATIO MEMORIAE, won the Brick Road Poetry Book Contest.  His previous books of poetry are BLUE COLLAR EULOGIES (Steel Toe Books, finalist for the Grub Street Book Prize) and LEAVING IOWA (winner of the Liam Rector First Book Award).

He has also published five chapbooks: PURE ELYSIUM (winner of the Palettes and Quills Chapbook Contest), THE CLAY-SHAPER'S HUSBAND (winner of the Codhill Press Chapbook Award), REAL COURAGE (winner of the Terminus Magazine and Jeanne Duval Editions Poetry Chapbook Prize), THE RIGHT MADNESS OF BEGGARS (winner of the Uccelli Press 3rd Annual Chapbook Competition), and CARDBOARD URN (winner of the Copperdome Chapbook Contest).

Individual poems won the Marjorie J. Wilson Best Poem Contest, the Laureate Prize for Poetry, the James Wright Poetry Award, and the Annie Finch Prize for Poetry.  He is the Poetry Editor of Atticus Review.  His work has appeared in a number of journals including Ploughshares, Hayden’s Ferry Review, North American Review, River Styx, and Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Visit Michael’s Blog: Trouble with Hammers
Or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Synopsis of WYTCHFIRE:
In a land haunted by the legacy of dead dragons, Rowen Locke has been many things: orphan, gravedigger, mercenary. All he ever wanted was to become a Knight of Crane and wield a kingsteel sword against the kind of grown horrors his childhood knows all too well.

But that dream crumbled—replaced by a new nightmare.

War is overrunning the realms, an unprecedented duel of desire and revenge, steel and sorcery. And for one disgraced man who would be a knight, in a world where no one is blameless, the time has come to decide which side he’s on.
Excerpt from WYTCHFIRE
Be sure to purchase WYTCHFIRE at:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

And don't forget to review it and tell your friends about it on:
Goodreads

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Published on June 16, 2014 09:00

June 9, 2014

Mailing List

I'm going to level with you.  Not that I don't normally, but sometimes I'm less blunt than this.  Actually, that's probably not true either.  All right, fuck it, I'm just going to say what I was going to say.


So, I hate mailing lists.  Seriously.  Don't send me a newsletter.  I fucking hate newsletters.  If you e-mail me a newsletter I will immediately click "unsubscribe."  Which is annoying, because as far as I know the "unsubscribe" link is just a virus, but that's a discussion for another blogpost.


But anyway long story short because of my personal aversion for mailing lists I have been loathe to create one for my fans.  But I have finally done so, and I will tell you why.


First of all, I should preface this by saying that I have heard numerous places in my wanderings that a direct mailing list is THE best method for authors to get info to their fans.  To which I scoffed, because I feel like people prefer social media.  Sure, some people don't do social media, but that never seemed to me like a compelling reason to make a mailing list.  But I kept hearing this axiom enough times that I started to put some stock into it.


Finally, one of my publishers put it into perspective for me.  He said, basically, think about MySpace.  If, in 2006, you had 8 million MySpace followers that was probably a big deal.  It probably meant YOU were a big deal.  Now, if I put information out on MySpace how many of those 8 million followers will see it?  None, most likely.


Point being: e-mail is enduring.  Everyone has an e-mail address and usually it doesn't change (or they get it forwarded) for their whole lives.  Social media is ephemeral.  In fact, Facebook is making changes to their algorithms now such that authors have to pay for their posts to be seen even by their own fans.  Who knows if all the Facebook followers I rack up will even be reachable in a few years?  Or if Facebook will even still exist then?


So, okay, I get it, being able to e-mail people is important.  So I have created a mailing list which I hope you'll join.  And since, as I said before, I DESPISE getting newsletters, here is my solemn vow to you:


I will only e-mail you when I have a new book release.


That's it.  A personal e-mail from me, saying "Hey, I have a new book out, here's the purchase link, hope you check it out."  Not a newsletter every quarter or (God forbid) week.  Not impersonal spam from some 3rd party platform.  An e-mail from my address to yours, BCCed so no one else can see your address, telling you I've got a new book.


And that's it.  That's my feeling on the subject.  So feel free to join, I hope you do, and I promise not to spam you or share your address with third parties.  And thanks for even being my fan.  :)
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Published on June 09, 2014 09:13

June 6, 2014