Robert L. Slater's Blog, page 8

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August Smorgasblog

Tomorrow, Monday, August 15th at 7pm, I will be hanging out with the Village BooksSpeculative Fiction Book Club and talking about ALL IS SILENCE. This will be my second book club appearance, though I hope this one is better attended [Thanks for hosting me, Jimmy. You were the 1st!] I’m a little nervous as they don’t usually have the author attend. But hopefully it will be fun for all. And if nothing else I get to go see my friends at Village Books . If you are signed up for my newsletter list...

Big Brother’s Book…

My brothers were always my heroes. The fact that werefive and seven years older helped. The fact that they’re both pretty awesome human beings didn’t hurt either. Although torturing me with The OvergrownPin Cushion, and kissing Catherine Kolkworf on the bus… Well, they are older brothers.

Both helped me musically, inspiring me to take up guitar, which I have now played about three decades longer than I am good. I followed Michael into marching band and enjoyed it passionately.

Michael’s plan...

New Standalone Short Story

The good news is I’m writing again. 7000 plus words in the last three days. Unfortunately, they are mostly not part of Deserted Lands Book III – No Man’s Land.
Instead I’ve written a short story.

Working Title: To Tell The Truth.

Features a young girl, born African American, adopted by white parents who worked for the U.S. state department. Raised overseas, sailing, traveling. Returning to the U.S. after her parents divorce, she’s about to start high school.When she comes back from her Back t...

QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WRITING MACHINE… PART III

If you missed PART I & II, here they are:QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WRITING MACHINE… Part I, Part II.

And the surprise winner is… NEO2 by Alphasmart.Was I surprised? Hell yes! The cheapest of the units I tested is the biggest winner. BUt why is it the best?

It’s a quarter pound lighter than the Dana byAlphasmart. So slipping it into my backpack in exchange for the tent I didn’t need this time was less painful. I brought unnecessary extra batteries. The only disadvantage was that it does not have a...

QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WRITING MACHINE… PART II

If you missed PART I, here it is QUEST FOR THE PERFECT WRITING MACHINE…

I got my Freewrite and have been taking turns comparing the 3.3 functional ‘distraction-free’ writing units: Freewrite by Astrohaus, my Acer Aspire V5 with no wifi, and my Alphasmarts: Dana ‘wireless’ and a couple NEO2s. I also got my Lenovo Thinkpad [More info on this one and its previous resurrection here.] back up and running from it’s $4.97 fantasrophe. Fixing it was cheap, but taking the time to do it and ordering th...

July 16, 2016: Capital Indie Book Convergence of Authors

This Saturday, July 16,2016 I will be selling copies of my Deserted Lands novels: All Is Silence and Straight Into Darkness. Capital Indie Book Convergenceof Authors. TheLonghouse at Evergreen State College. 11am-7pm. It’s sponsored by Clockwork Dragon Books.

Many of my Indie Author friends from Western Washington will be there:Jeffrey Cook,LeeFrench,Raven Oak, Jesikah Sundin,Rachel Barnard,
AJ Downey,Thomas Gondolfi,Lindsay Schopfer,Shannon L Reagan,Sheri J Kennedy,Jennifer Brozek.

I’ll have...

July Smorgasblog: Experiments and Progress…

So. Been a bit quiet. Only have a bit of time. So here’s a random catch-up post.

Kobo: Finally hit #1 in a category.Thought it’s a bit of a weird category. Not TEEN, but KIDS Science Fiction. I wouldn’t give the Lizzie Deserted Lands series to kids. When I write the Charley and Grace books, then, I will have stories to give to kids. wattpad: Had all four Wattpad stories in the Science Fiction top 1000. AiS at #7 and Toils and Snares at #999, SiD and JatB [Jack and the Beanstalk, my first tru...

Quest for the perfect writing machine… Part I

As I await the arrival of my Kickstarter Freewrite, the word processor formerly known as the Hemingwrite, I consider the many machines I have used in an attempt to find the perfect writing device for me. I’ve spent much time and much money. And that time I said I wasn’t a hoarder, but rather a stockpiler? Well, in the spirit of the Deserted Lands, I think I am a simple Collector. [I’m writing a blog post for the personal blog at www.robslater.com on my familial history of collecting.]

My firs...

Post-Apocalyptic Young Adult Review: Immurement by Norma Hinkens

Book Review of Immurement (The Undergrounders #1)by Norma Hinkens

Actually, I’d give it more than 4 stars, but not 5. Really great debut novel. I don’t usually like reading in present tense, but like Suzanne Collin’s of Hunger Games fame, Hinkens does it so well, that I didn’t notice.

It’s currently priced at $0.99 on Amazon, so if you have a Kindle app or a Kindle reader, you can get it here.

Sixteen-year-old Derry rocks the strong female protagonist role without being unbelieveable in this...