Craig Schaefer's Blog, page 24

The Long Way Down: Audiobook Version!

So people keep telling me about these "audio book" things. I guess they're like books, but audio? They seem popular, so I took a break from telling kids to get off my damn lawn (and yelling at clouds) to investigate more closely.

As a result, I'm pleased to announce that my first audiobook, an adaptation of The Long Way Down, is now live! You can grab it at Amazon, Audible, and iTunes (by searching via your iTunes application).

The book is narrated by Adam Verner, an audiobook and broadcasting veteran who, I think, knocked it out of the park. Check the free sample and see if you agree. 

In other news, A Plain-Dealing Villain is in the final stages of editing; I should have news on a hard release date for you soon, early next week at the latest!

Inspirations Thursday: Bookshop Heroes

So, a few weeks back I posted a Redemption Song playlist, which seemed to get quite a lot of attention on 8tracks. I’ve put together a second list, this one for Bentley and Corman. The two of them are simply adorable to write. I didn’t go into the books with an intent to make them a feature of representation. They just fit as father figures to Daniel.

Once upon a time, I had written a different story in a different setting (unpublished) with a lot of these characters. I found in this iteration that I settled on, Bentley and Corman were fuller, more awesome characters for their closeness to Daniel. His history, the places he came from before they saved him from himself (and a lot of dark magic and demons) all introduced an angle I’m so glad I explored.

Bentley and Corman are an adorable couple. The sort anyone wants to grow old to be with a spouse. I can’t imagine a sweeter pair, and the mix I’ve put together for them reflects that. I realized, with all my mixes for various books and character writing, they have the most love songs, and also, more oldies than any other mix. Which makes sense, given their relative age to the other characters.

Of the regulars in that series, I think only Caitlin is older. Which… Yeah. That’s a whole other thing. So, here’s the mix tracks:

In the Dark - Nina Simone

Brothers in Arms - Dire Straits

The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

All the Myths Are True - Abney Park

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

Caislean Oir - Clannad

Down on the Corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival

I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Home - Depeche Mode

Pretty Good Year - Tori Amos

Livelong - The Cure

Mad World - Gary Jules (Donnie Darko soundtrack) 

Rags and Bones - Thea Gilmore

My Heart is Lost to You - Brooks and Dunn

Bring on the Wonder - Sarah McLachlan

(And… uh… A bonus bit. I’m not saying what it is.)

I hope readers will check out the mix. It’s by far one of the ones I’m proudest of, and have the most affection for. See you all next week for more writing challenges and inspirations.

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Bringing a Knife to a Gunfight

So in honor of the new year, and also being a bit of a sadist to all the characters I write, I thought I’d talk about failure. (Justine and Juliette would like to point out that I am entirely their bitch. I have decided to refrain from comment.)

Anyway, failure is a big part of what I love about writing. It’s a series of curveballs, with one chance to hit it out of the park at the end. And the concept of bringing a knife to a gun fight is pretty central for me as an author, since Daniel is perpetually in that situation. He’s fought demons, demigods, crazed witches, eldritch horrors, and so on. Very rarely has he fought anyone who he can actually match in combat. And quite often, he gets his ass kicked.

For this particular challenge, I wanted to offer up an idea: Imagine your protagonist has brought the proverbial knife to the gun fight. Who are they fighting? Why are they outstripped? Is it a matter of different talents they don’t possess (parkour, marksmanship, backgammon) or is it simply a matter of being up against someone far more powerful? For Faust, some of his most inspired work happens when his back is against the wall. I’m hoping that by exploring more of the concepts behind failure and what can tip the scales, I can make the story more fun. No one likes it when the hero gets his butt thoroughly kicked around novel after novel with no letup, but I have to admit, the triumphs seem all the more, well… Triumphant, when they have the potential for getting their ass handed to them. I think back to the times my protagonists have fled from their villains, and some of the best moments of those stories have been in failure.

Alternately, you can turn the tables. Lampshade the idea that your hero is outmatched, and then prove that he can muster the necessary tools to turn the tide. Faust has done that too, though never alone. He rarely functions as a standalone hero. On the few occasions he tries, it tends to be uncomfortable for him. He has this unfortunate tendency to accrue injuries that way. Felix is little better, and probably could’ve had a very pleasant life if he’d stayed home, but then, no one writes about pleasant stay-at-home lives.

Join me on Thursday for another inspiration post -- which hopefully now that the holidays stop landing on Thursdays, I’ll actually do.

2015: Looking Back, Looking Forward

I don't do a lot of reflection over the new year. For me, the time for that is in February, right around my birthday. I like to take a couple of days, get away from it all, and do a postmortem of the year gone by while setting goals for the next. Still, it's hard not to feel thoughtful and a little sad, looking back at 2014.

It was a painful year for so many, and we said goodbye to so many lives that never should have been lost. I don't have to go into a recap of tragedies: you lived it, too. Sometimes it feels like the whole of civilization is one big ongoing quest to find new and innovative ways to be shitty to one another.

But it's not all bad. For every sorrow, for every abuse, a groundswell of outrage rises to meet it. People saying "no, that's wrong, it shouldn't happen, and that's not the world I want to live in". Sometimes even that feels hopeless, like it's just screaming into the wind, but you know what? At least we're not screaming alone.

I'm an entertainer, first and foremost. My job is to write books that hopefully give you a little thrill, maybe a laugh or a shiver, and pull you away from the troubles of the world for a while. I don't write "message fiction," that is, stories that exist for the sole purpose of trumpeting a social issue or political platform, because "message fiction" inevitably fails at being a good story (and a good story is what you pay your five bucks to get).

Of course, I try to talk about things I care about. Things that make me angry, things that make me worried, things I think you should be angry and worried about, too. That's the tricky divide that every storyteller faces: a good book has to be written from a place of passion. It just has to be. If I don't care, I can't make you care. At the same time, the story has to come first, and it has to be rooted in theme. I'd much rather show how a real-world problem impacts my characters' lives, and what they do about the conflict that results, than write you a polemic.

And believe me, I wrestle with this shit constantly, I think most writers do. Like I said Tuesday, I plan to spend more time thinking about issues of representation and voice -- not as some stupid "here's a list of minorities, better make sure we have them all in every book" checklist, see the point about "message fiction" above -- but because authentic voices and authentic lives make for kick-ass stories. As Chuck Wendig says, art harder, motherfuckers.

Wanna know a secret? A recurring character in the Daniel Faust series is transgendered. Why has it never come up? Because it's not important to the plot. Every time I've tried to write it in, it feels either arbitrary or check-list-y, so I cut the dialogue. In the wake of Leelah Alcorn's suicide, and seeing just how much shit transgendered teens have to endure, now I'm wondering if that's the right choice. Maybe fiction needs more cool transgendered people doing cool action-hero stuff, so maybe some kid going through hell can pick up a book and say "Hey, here's somebody like me, and they're doing okay."

(I mean, as okay as anybody ever gets in Faust's world. C'mon. These are not healthy people.)

So these are things I think about, in the vain hope of finding a right answer. My driving goal, though, is the same in 2015 as it was in 2014: to keep upping my game, writing good books, and keeping you smiling. Or cringing. Or shivering. Sometimes? All three at once. There's nothing like a laugh-cringe-shiver trifecta.

I'll have news on Faust book four, A Plain-Dealing Villain, very soon: it'll be in your hands by the end of the month. Then we can look ahead to the Winter's Reach followup, the second Revanche Cycle novel, which I'm hammering away at right now.

But tonight is New Year's Eve, so I'm going to cook a steak, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy a quiet night away from the madness of the world. Be good or be wicked, as your preference dictates, and if you go out tonight please have a designated driver. Let's not start 2015 off with any more bad news.

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Writing Challenge Tuesday: Representation

So, for a small departure from my standard writing challenges, I wanted to pose one of a more broad quality. I talk usually about specifics - Doppelgängers or mirror universes, failure and success, that sort of thing for an established protagonist.

Last night, though, I got to talking about representation in writing with a fellow author friend. We were chatting about what makes good representation, what one has to do to achieve it, and how you make that leap. I know from my own experience that it’s easy to fall down (as I mentioned before with my ill-step concerning sex workers) but it matters how you approach it from there. It also matters how you go into a situation, and if you can see when you don’t have the perspective to be ultimately aware of how best to handle something.

So how do you handle representing something you yourself don’t identify as? Beta readers, research, talking to people? Those all sound good to me, but again, I don’t have all the answers. So for this week’s, I want you to answer my question: How would you go about writing something you aren’t? If you’re straight, how would you make sure to portray a gay character well? If you’re white, how would you check your work on portraying a POC character? I’m honestly interested to know, because there’s a lot of tips and hints on the internet for how to actually do it, but less on how to check yourself.

(Mind you, they exist, I just would prefer to engage with my own people and get feedback rather than rattle off a list. Trust me, I’m reading those too.)

So let me know. How do you make sure you’re portraying something you personally aren’t without being disrespectful, or feeding stereotypes, or giving a bad name? Who do you ask for help, and how do you ask them in a healthy and respectful way?

In case it’s not clear, this is more about the conversation than about ‘right’ answers. If this isn’t something you want to get into, I take no umbrage. See you all on Thursday for another Inspirations post!

Writing Challenge Tuesday: The Road Less Traveled

Hey all! This week has been quite a doozy. I considered not writing since it’s Christmas and all, but that just seemed like a cop out so that I could drink more eggnog and binge watch Babylon 5. (I got myself on a kick after writing that Tuesday challenge from it.) But, my Christmas shopping is done, my lack of tree is safe from my excess of cats, and I’m busy working on the next Winter’s Reach book. Don’t worry. Faust book four is already at my editor. I would rather not be killed by my readers. Or the demon twins.

This week’s writing challenge took me a while to put into words. I was thinking of the Robert Frost poem, and how best to use the concept, and I realized, the road less traveled is what all characters are based on. If it was the road always traveled, it wouldn’t be a fantastic story, it would just be “Main Character is Completely Average.”

So instead of writing that challenge, since that way lies madness, I had another thought. Who would your protagonist be without their road less traveled? Would they be an average tax attorney? A lawyer? A hairdresser? A professor? What would their life be like if they hadn’t taken exceptional steps to become who they are?

I can’t even imagine Faust as ‘normal’, but I can see him ending up as a Gomer who never became anything extraordinary. He hardly thinks of himself as extraordinary now. Thinking of him as missing the road less traveled gives me a lot of ideas. Maybe his life after leaving home was better. Maybe he never had the rough road he's walked. Maybe he never met Bentley and Corman. Perish the thought.

So for this week’s writing challenge, write a scene where your protagonist discovered what they could have been, and how they could’ve ended up had fate not intervened. What is their road more traveled? How would they be if they were “normal”? Would they still have magic, or super powers, or amazing abilities, or is that their defining quality that led to their unconventional path?

In the case of magic users, what if they’d never gotten into that world? More importantly, how are they seeing what they could’ve been? A curse? A Dickensian dream? What leads them to see who their own unlived life?

See you all on Thursday for another Inspirations post.

Inspirations Thursday: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

Spoilers! So, I know that movies aren’t usually something I talk about, but wanted to take a moment to mention this one. Why? Because it’s hella inspiring. I mean, to be fair, Faust is not a blond good boy from Brooklyn out to save the world. He’s not even a good boy, in a lot of ways. But the moment that inspires me about this movie, more than anything, happens toward the end.

Warning: Spoilers.

Captain America, as those of you who have kept reading know, gives a speech. He talks about what’s going wrong in SHIELD, how they’ve been lied to, tricked, deceived into making the wrong choice for the right reasons. How HYDRA has festered inside shield and caused them no end of problems just by existing and waiting for the right moment to rise up. And you know, I don’t think Faust would ever make that speech if only because it would mean letting his enemies know he’s coming.

While that speech is going on, if he wasn’t in the thick of things already, Faust would be planting some Rube Goldbergian scheme and setting it into action. It’s just how he thinks. But when I think of him stuck in the midst of that situation, you know who I think of?

I think of the tech sitting at the computer. Daniel may have a lot more skills, but I built him to be an average guy in a lot of ways. The big thing he has going for him is that he doesn’t have phenomenal cosmic power. He doesn’t have super soldier skills. He has the ability (and the imperative) to say, “I can’t launch those ships. Captain’s orders.”

If there’s one thing I want for my protagonist, it’s not to be the fastest, the bravest, the strongest and the smartest. I want a protagonist that makes the right call in the clutch. I want a protagonist who will close his eyes tight and make the moral choice even when he knows the inside of his skull is about to decorate his computer monitor if he refuses to comply.

That moment, more than any other, is an inspiration to me in that movie, because I want my protagonists to be the ones who can fall down. I want them to be flawed, to have weaknesses, and generally, to be relatable. Captain America is many things, but he’s not an average Joe. So what I take away from that movie is that any person can be moved to stand up for what they believe in. That’s not just a good inspiration for my books. It’s a good inspiration for me.

With everything happening in the news right now, from the ridiculous Gamergate politics to the extremely serious issues surrounding racism in America… I want to think I’d make the right call in the clutch, and be the one to speak up. I want to think I wouldn’t just be a bystander. If writing Daniel to be the man who steps up helps me do that… Well, then that’s worth everything, I think.

Writing Challenge Tuesday: Doppelganger!

The holidays can be killer, and I’ve already plumbed that particular idea for a writing challenge. But I admit, holidays stress me out. Gift buying makes me a hair anxious because I never know what to get, and asking for a list just seems to be copping out. Some of my best friends know just to give me the link to the thing they want. Amazon is my dearest holiday shopping companion.

Now and then, I admit, I wish for the ability to just disappear in a social situation that’s over my head. I think everyone does, though. It’s easy for anyone to feel like they’re drowning over the holidays. I’m blessed with a fantastic family and a great family of choice on top of that. Like Faust, only I still have birth relatives. That being said, now and then it’s a fantasy of mine to send a clone in my stead to a big social event. That way I can stay home and write, and no one gives me that side-eye for spending more time with my keyboard and cats than they think is entirely healthy.

I get out plenty, but I like to do it on my own terms. Hm. I’m rather like a cat, I guess. I got to thinking today about the concept of a double. Stunt doubles, Evil Willow, body doubles with goatees from Community… And my holiday stress became this week’s challenge!

Imagine that your protagonist walks into their house, where their family or lover is waiting - and discover they’re already there. The very idea fills me with all sorts of notions for what Faust would do. Magic to prove it? Research with his contacts to figure out how someone replaced him? Convincing Bentley and Corman or Caitlin that he’s really who he says he is?

It’s hard to say. I just know it would be a fascinating new challenge he’s never faced before and therein lies the fun. Nothing says a fantastic romp through Faustverse like Daniel in a panic on the run. OH, HELL. Faust anxious and jealous about a certain doppelgänger making time with his family and his girlfriend. That’s a terrible thought.

See, the thing is, even when a character’s life is threatened or their family is under attack, they’re still who they are. I hate to think what sort of things Faust would do in desperation if he thought he could truly lose who he is. He’s had to make enough hard choices as it is, and most of those were all from a place of having support, a base, a life. Even when his apartment was up in flames, he had his magic, his moral code (…dented though it is) and his family.

If those things are under threat, what happens then? So my writing challenge is, write that story. Figure out what they’d do to get their life back. Would they give in to temporary despair and worry the doppelgänger would live their life better than they do? Would they fight to reclaim everything? Would they become desperate, unhinged, and doubt their reality?

See you on Thursday, for more inspirations!

Inspirations Thursday: 8-Track List!

So as I mentioned on Tuesday’s blog, I’m going to be changing things up in the Thursday section. Not because I don’t like doing the author spotlights, mind you. I do, but I came to realize that the necessity for keeping the subjects as authors was a little binding. I take inspiration from a lot of places. Music. Art I see on the web. My utterly insane cats. People I’ve met who might need professional help. I won’t be writing about them.

For this week’s I wanted to go into some detail on the playlist I posted last week, and talk about some of the music on there. I might feature a specific band or artist another time, but this week some follow up seemed like a fun idea.

As you can see, I have this tendency toward the eclectic. Most of that is because I listen to every kind of music, and because homogenized sound tends to wash over me in a blur after a while. This particular list is culled from various parts of Faust’s life and personality. Kid Fears plays a large part in the first book, but returns in force for Redemption Song. Fair to Midland is a band with a great sound, and they reference imagery I love for a Vegas based story.

VNV Nation and NIN are both fan favorites, particularly amongst my more fanatical industrial loving friends. I’m not too secretly obsessed with the awesome tone of Roman’s voice when he sings the sadder songs, but this one is more upbeat, more kickass, because really, this book was a crucible for Daniel.

I should level with you, though, lists don’t spring forth fully formed any more than books do. Friends send them to me. I hear them on the radio and zone out going, “Oh, that’s perfect…” …but not while driving. I see songs in a news story or hear them on someone else’s list and I find myself writing around that sort of feeling. Sometimes, the egg really does come before the chicken, in that regard.

This is only a tiny fraction of the Faust music I’ve gathered in the last few years of writing. I’m not sure 8tracks would let me have a list that long. That being said, I’m always taking suggestions on music I’d love. Feel free to chime in on Facebook, or in the comments below.

The Shadow Box

Happy Tuesday night, you wonderful people. I've got something cool to share: it's my great honor to be included as one of the authors in The Shadow Box, a limited-time super-affordable e-book boxed set. Here's the scoop:

Ride the cutting edge of dark fantasy in this unique collection of fast-paced, gritty, suspenseful thrillers. Filled with black magic, vampire trailer trash, werewolves, sorcerers, assassins, clairvoyants, zombie draggers, and old-school gothic horror, a sure bet for fans of paranormal suspense.

DARKER THINGS by Rob Cornell

Fifteen years have passed since Craig Lockman worked for a shadowy agency fighting monsters most think exist only in nightmares. A mysterious teen girl arrives at his door with his fiercest enemy on her tail. Now he must protect the daughter he never knew from the dark world he thought he left behind.

MOTH by Sean Poindexter

Social worker Max Hollingsworth is no stranger to monsters. Supernatural or human, he's faced all kinds. But when he's called upon to investigate a missing child, he may have met his match.

THE SHEPHERD by Travis Luedke

After saving a mysterious girl from a hit and run, 16 yr. old Mike Evans soon finds his life spiraling out of control. Facing clairvoyant visions of grisly death, Mike struggles to avert disaster and make his way through the chaos.

COUNCIL OF PEACOCKS by M. Joseph Murphy

A band of misfit, half-demon teenagers join the ruthless, immortal Wisdom, to stop The Council of Peacocks. The Council, a secret society of sorcerers, has plotted for centuries, and now the time has come for Activation – a hostile takeover of Earth.

A DEATH DISPLACED by Andrew Butcher

When Nicolas Crystan unexpectedly sees the future, he acts fast to save Juliet Maystone from a fatal accident, unintentionally "displacing" her–giving her the power to see ghosts. Together, they must use their newfound abilities to unravel a mystery more connected to Nicolas than he ever imagined ...

BOUND BY BLOOD by Shane KP O’Neill

Vlad Dracula: ruler, tyrant, warlord, and champion of the Catholic faith, is seized by Lucifer in his moment of death and becomes a monster, born of Darkness. Vlad is charged with destroying the institution of the Catholic Church, to help turn man against God so that Lucifer may finally return to Heaven and end all of mankind.

LUNA SANGUIS by Simon Okill

A mysterious woman awakes in an asylum in France, 1925, with amnesia. As her memory is restored she reveals her true vampiric nature and unleashes a bloody nightmare that might destroy all humanity.

TELL ME WHEN I’M DEAD by Steven Ramirez

When a contagion decimates the town of Tres Marias, recovering alcoholic Dave Pulaski, his wife, Holly, and a group of armed soldiers and civilians must find a way to survive.

THE LONG WAY DOWN by Craig Schaefer

The death of a porn star leads sorcerer Daniel Faust down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and madness. For the first time, black magic and bullets might not be enough to save him from the brink of damnation.

BLACKJACK by Kristopher Norris

When Vincent Black, a gun for hire, is told vampires are all too real, he thinks it’s a joke. But soon he learns that he is not the most dangerous brand of hunter out there...

...now how much would you pay for a set of ten, count 'em, ten great books? Ninety-nine dollars? Eighty-nine dollars? ...Okay, I hope not, but if the answer to either of those questions was "yes," I'm your biggest fan. Nope, as it happens, you can have the whole set for ninety-nine cents. That's cents, as in pocket change. You can literally have ten cool books for the price of a Hershey bar. And have you seen those things lately? Calling them "chocolate" is a generous stretch.

You can't have it just yet, though, because it comes out on January 6th. What you CAN do, if you're so inclined, is pre-order that sucker over at http://goo.gl/tf76q2. Also, this set is only around for one month, so if you snooze, you lose. Specifically, you lose ten books for ninety-nine cents. That's a formidable loss. Don't snooze.