Jon Ray's Blog: The Writer's Tower

Gorp the Goblin series now has merch!

 

That’s right, 2 years have come and gone since my last update, but I return this month to let everyone know that Gorp the Goblin finally has his own line of merchandise. I myself got one of the t-shirts shown above. Each of the books has its own t-shirt that covers the entire trilogy. There are also more than just t-shirts at the shop below. You can buy clocks, notebooks, mousepads, coffee mugs, stickers, phone cases, and even pillows. Click the shop button above to check them out.

Aside from the merch, I’ll make a quick update here since I haven’t posted in over 2 years that I’m still working on the Agrobathe Anthology “Tales of Agrobathe – Vol. 1” and will be updating more often as I plan to start holding book signings in the United States, now that I’ve moved back. A lot has happened in the past 2 years.

Characters of Agrobathe

This week, I started a new short story for the 1st Anthology Volume of “Tales of Agrobathe” series. While prepping to write the story, I realized I have not been keen on all my characters nor do I have an easier way of creating new characters for my story. This led me to looking up a few quick commands and attempting to create an HTML5 character generator. Right away I had some issues with getting this to work properly on a local machine, as I do not want to host my generator anywhere but my local computer. Being an advanced user of Microsoft Excel from a previous life as a Manager, I decided to try a few formulas to see if I could get a theory to work and was quite surprised when it did. I created an Excel Fantasy Character Generator!

I was quite pleased with myself and am continuing to expand and improve it. My first test was to have the main ‘Character’ spreadsheet. This would be where all the stats were collected into one area and could be printed off or screen captured if need be. Next, I created a ‘Names’ spreadsheet where I put different columns for first male and female names and another for last names. If I wanted to later give additional middle names I could just do that myself on the fly to keep it a little simpler. I also created a formula where it would randomly choose male or female gender. When I coded it in there and entered the names and genders on the other sheet, I then pressed F9 to refresh the spreadsheet…and it worked the first time!

I couldn’t believe I had gotten it to work on the first go, but my theory of how the formulas and spreadsheets would react were correct. I then went on to add Race, Age, and other character statistics. And will continue to refine and improve those. I also need to spend many days of adding more fantasy-like names and race-related names. However, now if I need a character, I just pull up the random fantasy character generator in Excel and presto! I have a new character complete with stats and setup for my worldbuilding of Agrobathe.

Last night after getting about 2,000 words into the new short story set within Agrobathe, I realized I needed to update my Character Bible, which I have separate from the World Bible. I opened it up and realized it has been years since I last updated this document. So tonight, instead of continuing with my writing, I am taking a step back to go and read all the shorty stories I’ve written for the new anthology and am picking out all the Protagonists, Antagonists, Secondary Characters, and Minor Characters and adding a quick blip of details in the Character Bible. Not only will this help keep my stories unified across all of the short stories, but I even found a mistake in one of my stories where a character’s name changed towards the end of the story. Having this Character Bible will hopefully save me from such misfortunes in my future writing for Agrobathe.

I’ve not yet built a cohesive timeline for my world of Agrobathe yet as there is still a lot to flesh out, but if I get enough characters within the same timeframe I can have them mentioned or cross over into other stories. I’m looking forward to those types of possibilities as before each story was just a one-off and stand-alone only having the world of Agrobathe in common.

Agrobathe Interactive Map

I was in a Facebook group recently for worldbuilders and came across a question posted to from one of its members. They were looking for software that tied their maps together in some form or other. I thought about it and then, having previous experience in HTML scripting, suggested using an Image Map. Which basically allows you to map out clickable points on an image shown on a website. Back in the 90s, I created an online game/community that used Image Maps, but still being new to HTML 3 back then, I used software to create them.

The more I thought about my suggestion, the more I came to realize I should be taking my own advice for my worldbuilding on my fantasy world of Agrobathe. Up until a few weeks ago, I have just kept most of my world maps in folders on the PC. Seeing how this would greatly improve my research and tie the world together into an interactive map, I set to hardcoding web-browser based Interactive Map. I have the world map of Agrobathe as the main overlay map. Next, I have every landmass broken down into continents or areas. Once you click on one of those the page zooms in to just that map area. If another area gets included in that zoomed-in map, I’ve darkened that area out. So now I have a world map that is clickable to break it down into areas, from there I have all the major areas, locations, castles, cities, etc and you can click down into those to see a city map for example. I don’t have any building or interior maps created yet, but I plan to do so for all the major buildings/areas within the city maps. This will save time when I’m writing and want to zoom from the world map down to the details of what may be in a room or upon a table at the inn.

As of right now, I just have hyperlinks back to the main map at the top of my world map but think I will add relevant information regarding that area, building, and so on. Since I’m hardcoding everything in just HTML, I can access the HTML files from the browser on my local computer without the need for hosting or PHP/databases, etc. For now, it’s just for me and it’s igniting more creativity of places within my world I want to write about, which will appear in my first Agroathe Anthology book coming out soon I hope. Still staying busy with worldbuilding during this global pandemic.

Back from my Gamer’s Slumber

I was fairly active right before the Covid-19 outbreak swept the planet. I’ve also been mostly in isolation this how time. The stress of it all however killed my writing effort. To the point where not only did I not want to write anymore, I also neglected my business as a whole. Instead of getting a massive word count, which I’m sure many did, I maintained and still do a full-time job in addition to my writing and publishing business here in Australia. The photo of cookies you see there is my first batch after many years of not baking. They are sugar cookie with sprinkles, yes, I can both bake and cook when I want to. Done during my isolation.

Where have I been you might ask? I’ve been doing something that I put off for years just for my writing…Gaming. Long before I became an author, I was a gamer. In fact, I’ve been computer/video games longer than most or before many people had computers or game consoles in their homes. I also have developed and designed computer games. At one point, my major in college was Game Programming, to give you a bit more background on me. I’ve always loved telling a great story, be that on the silver screen, in a book, or on the computer.

To kick the isolation off right, I went out and bought an Xbox One. I’ve not had a gaming console since I left the US many years ago. For those PlayStation fans out there, I bought the very first PlayStation 1 while living in Japan, but haven’t gone back since getting the first Xbox and have just stuck with that console. But I have nothing against PS, just my flavor. I quickly dived back into my gaming life, which at one point in my life consumed me. It mostly did again after a backlash of not gaming all these years and just focusing on my writing. It was the break I needed from my intense creative focus and the book business. A few of the games I’ve been immersed in are Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (a personal favorite, had it on the 360 and bought it again for Xbox One), Red Dead Redemption 2, Mount & Blade: Warband, Pinball FX3 (I’m a huge pinball fan, prefer real, but digital will have to do insolation), Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Fallout 4, Sims 4, Conan: Exiles, 7 Days to Die, Stranded Deep, Subnautica(finished this one), Wreckfest and Farcry Primal. That gives you a good overview of the types of games I’m into and quite a few Role-Playing Games in there, which are my personal favorites.

Because of the massive Shut Downs, I’ve also missed out on having a Book Stalls this year and missed out on Ironfest in Lithgow, NSW, Australia, one of my personal favorite. There are still a few Cons and Medieval Festivals out there I could attend with my stall, but I’m not holding my breath on that one. I sure do miss getting out though and meeting old/new readers in person.

On the writing front, I’ve shifted focus a little away from my Dystopian Sci-Fi considering the world we are currently living in and instead, I’m going back to my first love of fantasy. There is a small Gorp project that I need to finish up and will be eventually announced here once it’s done, but as for the series itself, it is finished. I’m instead going back to the fantastical world of Agrobathe, an original fantasy world I’ve worked over 10 years on worldbuilding for. I will also be basing multiple future Intellectual Properties off of this world and will likely continue to grow it unto my death. It will surely be my lifelong project that I always return to no matter what ventures I explore. “Tales of Agrobathe: Volume 1” will be the first in a series of anthologies introducing most of the world of Agrobathe. It is made up of fantasy short stories all based within the world of Agrobathe. A few of them have already appeared in other publications, but this will be the collection with most of the stories never seen or published before. Once this is released, I will be choosing between an Agrobathe (Choose Your own Adventure) type gamebook series and going back to finish up my first Sci-Fi novel, which is almost complete.

Here’s to more writing and hoping I don’t return to my Gamer’s Isolation!

LJR Publishing launches on YouTube

A new channel has been launched on YouTube for LJR Publishing. At the moment, there are just the book trailers for the Gorp the Goblin series. The channel needs new subscribers as it’s just getting started and there are plans to have more content added this year. First up, will be book reviews for Fantasy & Sci-Fi books and media. These will not be LJR Publishing’s works, but works of other authors. Being that the branding of LJR Publishing is fantastical, you won’t see just another boring book review channel. There are plans to have a wacky character of fantasy origins to host the reviews. Also posted, will be moments from the different events attended by author Jon Ray and LJR Publishing.

LJR Publishing on YouTube (Please help and subscribe here.)

 

Ending 2019 with Two More Book Trailers

As 2019 draws to a close and I sit in a flat in Balmain overlooking the Sydney harbor in Australia, I’m happy to report that I was able to get the whole Gorp the Goblin trilogy book trailers completed. Having a video for marketing purposes is a valuable asset for a publisher/author. I’m looking forward to 2020 and hope to release two more books, the fantasy anthology “Tales of Agrobathe: Volume 1” and the first book in the new sci-fi series “Dark Dwellers”. I wish everyone a Happy New Year and good luck in the coming year.

Listed below are the new book trailers, first up is the one for “Gorp: Dungeon Overlord” and then “Gorp: Defender of the Realm”.

 

Gorp: Goblin Janitor has a Book Trailer

It is with great excitement that I’m happy to announce LJR Publishing has its first Book Trailer. They are much like movie trailers, but instead promote novels. This one is for the first book in the Gorp the Goblin trilogy, “Gorp: Goblin Janitor”. I plan to eventually have multiple book trailers for all of my books. There is also a Christmas Giveaway still going on until Christmas Day 2019 if anyone would like to try and win a free paperback copy of the Gorp: Goblin Janitor book, just click the link above to do so.

The Gorp: Goblin Janitor book trailer:

NaNoWriMo 2019 and New Sci-Fi Series

NaNoWriMo 2019 has come and gone and with it, I am happy to relay as the image above signifies, that I have won my 4th NaNoWriMo, this also being my 4th attempt to do NaNoWriMo. With this year’s event, I decided to kick-off a new series and not just a new series a Science Fiction series, which opens up my writing into a new genre. I plan to release both Fantasy and Sci-Fi under my author name of Jon Ray. If you see my name from this point forward, just note that I write in both the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genre.

The new Sci-Fi series is called “Dark Dwellers” and I have 7 books planned for this one so far with the possibility for more. It’s a post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi story that follows 6 protagonists from 6 different locations in the world when the world ends. Books 1 – 6 will each focus on one of these groups of protagonists. By book 7, everything from the previous 6 books will tie together into an epic Sci-Fi tale.

“Sacred Sky” by Lord Jon Ray November 2019

Early on during the first weekend, I took some time out from writing to paint this on canvas using acrylics, while drinking red wine and watching Bob Ross videos on Netflix. When I do graphical work or paint, I release under my persona name of Lord Jon Ray or LJR. I find that doing an alternative creative piece helps open up the creative mind and helps prevent writer’s block.

NaNoWriMo 2019 Great Train Write-In to Katoomba, NSW Australia.

Sydney’s NaNoWriMo has something different and special from all the places I’ve done NaNoWriMo before and that’s the Great Train Write-In. This is a Write-In unlike any others, everyone meets early in the morning at Central Station in Sydney. From there at a coordinated time everyone who shows up boards a train for a 2+ hour train ride to some distant location outside of Sydney. This year was in the beautiful Blue Mountains to the charming city of Katoomba. This year I was also joined by the artist Tasha Masters who worked on her own project for NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo 2019 – Katoomba, NSW Australia

While in Katoomba, I walked all the way from the train station at one end of the town to the other end to eat at one of my favorite spots, The Yellow Deli. They make some of the best homemade tasting food I’ve had the pleasure to eat here in Australia and their beef chili is no exception with a root beer to wash it down. The bread that comes with the chili is infused with Jalapenos, which I normally don’t care for, but when baked into this bread it’s a sure favorite. The desert you see there is absolutely delicious, strawberry cheesecake with honey drizzled on top. After a filling lunch, we popped into The Gingerbread House Cake Shop, lollies and gingerbread men were to be had while I added to my word count until it was time to catch the train back to Sydney.

I took my lunch breaks at work at my desk to write this year.

 

My huge Medieval Times Mug for when I need to do some serious writing. It always comes out at some point during NaNoWriMo.

 

During the final day of my NaNoWriMo writing, this was my awesome Balmain view from bed. Looking out onto the haunted Cockatoo Island.

I must say that to date, this is my most difficult NaNoWriMo. I started on Day 1 a few words over and was feeling good about it. Overall, I wrote 29 of the 30 days in November and could kick myself for not writing that one day. I was also extremely behind after Day 1 all the way up until the last day on November 30th. I finished Sydney, Australia time around 7 pm, so I had plenty of time but if you look at the graph below, you can see I was cutting it very close and wasn’t even sure I’d be able to win this year’s challenge of 50k words or more. But I did and I’m so stoked.

NaNoWriMo 2019 Word Count Progress. (Blue line is where I should have been to be on target.)

Although I exceeded the 50k words in the 30-days challenge, I still have about 10k – 20k more words to go before this novel is finished. Then I will start on the editing process and plan to have the first novel in the “Dark Dwellers” series published and released sometime in 2020.

 

St. Ives Medieval Faire 2019

Location: St. Ives Medieval Faire – St. Ives, NSW, Australia

This was my 2nd time at St. Ives Medieval Faire as a vendor and this time last year, it was my first time to be a vendor at a Medieval Faire. This event did not disappoint and my fanbase has grown larger. This event is tied with Winterfest as one of my best events for book signings. This also happened to be the first event where I finally had copies of the complete Gorp the Goblin trilogy. A few first-time readers bought the entire trilogy as books there at the faire.

I had my purple tent with event banner which drew the crowds.

For this event, I had the same setup as I did before at Winterfest with the same co-stall holders, Author Natasja Rose and Master Quilter Barbara Wood.

Lady Natasja, Lord Jon Ray, and Lady Barbara

Helping me sell my books and promoting my wares was my lovely assistance Lady Tasha Masters. She did a great job and even got a few readers to take photos with the author (me). It also was nice to be able to sit back a bit more and answer questions and sign the books, while she worked the crowds.

Artist Tasha Master and Author Jon Ray

 

The Tales, Tatters and Trinkets Tent at St. Ives Medieval Faire 2019.

Some of the highlights of this festival besides a good turnout of new readers were the funny Executioner that worked up the crowds across from our stall. There were plenty of medieval cosplays to be seen, jousting as always, Black Bear BBQ was there (they’ve become one of my favorite BBQ places in Sydney), and I got to hold a real owl for the first time as Lords of old used to. Like Ironfest and Winterfest, I’ll definitely make sure to attend this event again next year as I had a great time and good sales.

Funny executioner guy who was a riot.
Black Bear BBQ Stall at St. Ives Medieval Faire
I believe this is The Witcher and other medieval cosplayers.
Even the daggos got in on the cosplay, this is Tasha with Penny the Archer, complete with bow and quiver full of arrows.
Vikings!
Re-enactment tents
Re-enactment stall
Market Stalls at St. Ives Medieval Faire.
Market Stalls at St. Ives Medieval Faire.
Jousting Field
Re-enactment tents
Re-enactment tents
Lady Tasha and Lord Jon with the owl who appears to be bowing nobly towards us.

The video below will give you a taste of the sights to behold at St. Ives Medieval Faire just outside Sydney, Australia.

Winterfest 2019

Another weekend and another event at my bookstall. This time was Winterfest 2019 in Hawkesbury, NSW outside of Sydney, Australia. This was also my first time to have all my new banners and signs. From the results and number of people I saw make a beeline for my stall, I know they worked well. As you can see from the pic below, I had my colorful banner, which was designed by myself using the full book covers for all Gorp the Goblin books. Also, the Book Posters showed a bigger picture of the actual book covers so more people could see them.

As I didn’t have the 3rd book on hand, they arrived the day AFTER Winterfest, I put the book poster for that one on the back wall of the stall. People could still see it, but it wasn’t in front of the table. I then lined up the book posters on the front of the table with the book they represented on top. In the photo above, I had them switched and noticed after this pic was taken, I switched afterward.

Being my first year at Winterfest, I really had no idea what to expect. Also, the setup on Friday was in the rain, while it was raining. That was a new experience for me, but once we got the tent and cover up on the frame, it didn’t really matter. I also decided to place a tarp down on the ground to help keep things dry. Always a good thing when books are involved. The following day, I took some stall photos before the fair opened to the public and prepared for what would end up a great day for sales.

Some of the sights and sound as seen from my stall.

Something I appreciated at this fair, was the barkers/commentators from the Information booth. At first, I found them somewhat annoying and it didn’t help that the speaker system place very near my booth was turned way up loud. But as the event went on, they had good medieval jokes and kept things interesting throughout the day. They also encouraged the vendors to come up to the PA and speak about their wares, haven’t seen another event do that before. They also had one of my favorite from back home, American Texas BBQ and BigRed! On Day one I had the Beef Brisket, which was ok, but on Day 2 I went for a RenFaire traditional of a smoked Turkey leg and felt a bit at home like I was at a RenFaire back in the US. I almost never see turkey legs over here in Australia.

Day 1 Meal
Day 2 Meal

I also tried something new at this event, that was camping overnight inside my stall in the rain between Day 1 and Day 2. I awoke the next morning to heavy fog.

The weather eventually cleared up as the day got underway and the rain stopped. On Day 2, I ended up having one of my best book sale days ever. I want to thank everyone who stopped by to say ‘Hi’, which I always encourage. I also have a touching story from one of the younger visitors to my stall:

Today, at my Winterfest bookstall (Australian Medieval Fair), a young boy about 10 years old stopped briefly, looked at my books with a wide stare and continued on without a word. A second later, he returned and stood in front of me. He told me congratulations on becoming an author, well done. He then expressed to me how he wanted to become an author when he grew up. I offered him my card and told him I’d be happy to get him started, which he took and thanked me as he made his way. To me, the moment was innocent and brief, but I found it touching, as I was there hoping to sell a book and a future author found awe and inspiration.

At the end of Day 2, I was left with only 8 books in my entire stock. I had started with a full box on Day 1, so things went quite well and I have a lot of new readers out there discovering Gorp the Goblin for the first time. After everyone went home, it was time to pack and leave the vent a lot of books lighter. For those who missed me at Winterfest 2019, I will have another bookstall at St Ives Medieval Faire in September and will have the complete Gorp the Goblin trilogy on sale there.