Matthew Alan Thyer's Blog, page 49

A Comparison

A most excellent comparison of historic athletes to those of today. David Epstein’s TED presentation pretty much knocked my socks off. Of course, my favorite part is his brief coverage of endurance sports. And I think it’s excellent commentary to see progress being made in these endeavors because of an expansion of mind.

Now, take this excellent presentation and project into the future. How will your favorite sport change. How much faster, stronger, more efficient, and better will the athletes...

First Day of Free

We’re nearing the end of the first day THE BIG RED BUCKLE has been on Amazon for free. As of this moment more people have down loaded the book in the last 24 hours (actually less) than everyone who has purchased the book, print or ebook, since I published it last December. Currently it is rated number 3 and 4 in its two primary categories.

First, this makes me feel pretty good. I mean, the fact that hundreds of strangers have taken the relatively risk free step of downloading my book while it...

Bow-Bow, Chica-Chica

I’ve been writing at Main Street Bagels, watching Aral and another little boy play in the phone booth, and sipping coffee this morning. Multitasking is well and good, but all I have left to write on UP SLOPE are the difficult bits and so it has been going slowly.

And so it goes, I took a break from UP SLOPE to check in on THE BIG RED BUCKLE. In case you hadn’t yet heard, I’ve reduced the first in the series to free in order to simultaneously motivate me to finish the second while I search for...

Author Interview Mel Hearse

Ladies and gentlemen, today I give you what may be the last in my series of author interviews for FROM THE INDIE SIDE. Let me say, before we get to the introduction, that this has been a lot of fun for me. An eye opening experience, but alas all good things must come to an end. Currently, I don’t have any more scheduled interviews. If you’re reading this and thinking “Hey, what about my story?” don’t fret. I would very much like to speak with you. Drop me a line and we’ll make it happen.

Now,...

The New Grand Strategy

As things so often do, change has come to my family’s doorstep. Tess and I have been adapting rapidly and re-prioritizing and as a result we’ve instituted The New Grand Strategy.

Movement

Colorado is my home state, and being here on the Western Slope has been enjoyable, however, the old saying “you can never go home” hits the nail on the head (to mix metaphors). That is to say, we’re planning on relocating. Soon. Tentatively, we imagine we’ll end up back on the West Coast and of the possible lo...

Mailing List … Finally

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the FeetForBrains email list. Yes, I’ve let this one slide for far too long. My laziness has probably stunted my growth as an author. And I certainly bitch about Facebook’s evil ways enough, which is why I’ve finally gone ahead and started an email list.

Specials on books, advanced reader copies, contests, appearances, signing, all the good stuff, will be made available to anyone who signs up. I promise not to sell your information (name and email address only)...

Eyes On: Writing About Surveillance

Often writers both give and get this little gem of advice: “Write what you know.” The sad truth, however, is that so many of us just don’t know enough about the state of automated surveillance to write compelling stories about its future. When I pick up books, speculative fiction or science fiction, with a crime element or that use surveillance technology of one sort or another to track the protagonist I usually feel let down and stuck back in the mid 20th Century.

And that’s not to say that I...

The Guardian Legend Self-Published Book of the Month

During the flurry of twitter announcements from Hugo enthusiasts today I got this breath of fresh air from Hugh. Seriously made my day. As an author with a growing bibliography, little to no outside support or promotion, and exactly zero potential for a Hugo this gives me an aspiration of much more realistic scope. And is an direction that is potentially much more helpful.

Mad props to The Guardian for announcing a monthly prize for self-published works. Change is happening! theguardian.com/b...

Contest Time – The Crimson Campign

Due to a minor oversight, I am no long eligible to enter Brian McClellan’s truly inspired contest. He is giving away a number of C-format copies of the soon to be classic THE CRIMSON CAMPAIGN. All you need to do to be eligible to win is write him a short (1500 characters or less) review of the last entertainment media you consumed. Movie, book, magazine, tv show. Doesn’t matter. The review can be as simple as “Bob thought good.” But the more creative or interesting or well-spoken you are, the...

Arches and Canyonlands

Utah in 4K – From the Air from Ian Cresswell on Vimeo.

Some very impressive drone video from just over the border. These are places in my back yard.