Chris Jags's Blog, page 3
January 13, 2015
Tourniquet: Head Hunter
...How did that title NOT come to mind before publication? Ah well, best not to title a series with a silly pun, I suppose.
So I hope the first wave of people who picked Tales of Tourniquet Volume 1 up liked it (I'll probably never know - I've learned from the dead silence following Hate Ghost that I'm not exactly a review magnet, and I flat-out refuse to get them dishonestly). It's free for two more days, so if you want to try it, it's now or never (or later, but that's less dramatic).
Still, I like to imagine it struck a cord with some people, maybe gave you a chuckle or two. Perhaps there was a character you felt you might eventually bond with. If you are one of these people from my imagination - in which case you'll be surprised to learn that you look like Doris Yeh or Cortney Palm - good news! There will be five total volumes of headless bounty hunting - or at least that's the plan. So do the charitable thing and let me know what you thought of it, and I promise I'll quit redesigning you according to my whims!
And now, to celebrate the fact that I shifted a few copies, I'm going to go watch Dead Snow 2. I don't know how that's relevant, except maybe that the undead are my people.
Over and out!
So I hope the first wave of people who picked Tales of Tourniquet Volume 1 up liked it (I'll probably never know - I've learned from the dead silence following Hate Ghost that I'm not exactly a review magnet, and I flat-out refuse to get them dishonestly). It's free for two more days, so if you want to try it, it's now or never (or later, but that's less dramatic).
Still, I like to imagine it struck a cord with some people, maybe gave you a chuckle or two. Perhaps there was a character you felt you might eventually bond with. If you are one of these people from my imagination - in which case you'll be surprised to learn that you look like Doris Yeh or Cortney Palm - good news! There will be five total volumes of headless bounty hunting - or at least that's the plan. So do the charitable thing and let me know what you thought of it, and I promise I'll quit redesigning you according to my whims!
And now, to celebrate the fact that I shifted a few copies, I'm going to go watch Dead Snow 2. I don't know how that's relevant, except maybe that the undead are my people.
Over and out!
January 12, 2015
Headless Fun for Everyone!
Hey all. Thanks so much to those people who bought Tales of Tourniquet Vol 1 straight out of the gate! As I hope to lay groundwork to really establish the series over the five volumes I'm planning to write (gotta get that full TV-esque season in!) I am going to be putting ToT up free for Kindle for just three days starting January 13th.
So what, you say? You're drowning in free kindle books, you say? Okay, how can I convince you to pick up a copy of a smart-ass dark fantasy serial with a cold-blooded, head-slinging, bounty-hunting heroine?
If that didn't do it, well, keep in mind that she hangs out with:
-a noble barbarian with a penchant for trashy novels;
-a sleazy, obsessive merchant who keeps a dead fairy in a box;
-an air-headed stripper with a whimsical worldview and the ability to see through supernatural disguise.
So, there's someone for just about everyone to relate to!
And if none of that worked, there are a multitude of blood-sucking and/or soul-sucking fiends for our 'heroes' to cross swords and fangs with, some of which are even less socially acceptable than our heroine!
So check it out... again, it's free from the 13th to the 15th. In case words like "sleazy" and "stripper" didn't clue you in, there's some mature material involved, so if you like your fantasy squeaky clean, it may not be for you.
I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you have a lot of fun reading it, let me know!
Chris
So what, you say? You're drowning in free kindle books, you say? Okay, how can I convince you to pick up a copy of a smart-ass dark fantasy serial with a cold-blooded, head-slinging, bounty-hunting heroine?
If that didn't do it, well, keep in mind that she hangs out with:
-a noble barbarian with a penchant for trashy novels;
-a sleazy, obsessive merchant who keeps a dead fairy in a box;
-an air-headed stripper with a whimsical worldview and the ability to see through supernatural disguise.
So, there's someone for just about everyone to relate to!
And if none of that worked, there are a multitude of blood-sucking and/or soul-sucking fiends for our 'heroes' to cross swords and fangs with, some of which are even less socially acceptable than our heroine!
So check it out... again, it's free from the 13th to the 15th. In case words like "sleazy" and "stripper" didn't clue you in, there's some mature material involved, so if you like your fantasy squeaky clean, it may not be for you.
I had a lot of fun writing it, I hope you have a lot of fun reading it, let me know!
Chris
December 18, 2014
Tales of Tourniquet
One of my favorite books - I've read the cover clean off it - is the compiled Sherlock Holmes collection. Holmes was my introduction to serials in general, and in recent years, I've developed a taste for TV shows as well. It was only a matter of time before I wanted to try my hand at a serial myself.
After getting the deathly serious Hate Ghost out of my system, I decided I wanted to try a "lighter" dark fantasy - keeping the horror elements, but wrapping them around a framework of adventure, drama, and humor - and Tales of Tourniquet is the result.
Speaking of TV, there are several intelligent, intricately plotted, award-winning shows running. Even taking different mediums into account, Tales of Tourniquet doesn't aspire to their company. Meant to be fast, fun, and pulpy, ToT chronicles the ongoing journeys of an undead bounty hunter pursuing targets ranging from vampires to soul-sucking demons.
Tourniquet herself is a leyak - a creature which detaches its head to hunt - in disguise as a human to avoid persecution. She's a woman with a very fluid morality; her own companions can't always figure out how she makes her decisions. She needs human blood to survive - or is presumed to - and doesn't much care who provides it.
Her most stalwart companion is the Northlands barbarian Ajin, a man of honor whose noble convictions are somewhat undermined by his loyalty to a killer as vicious as Tourniquet. It is currently unknown as to why he remains so devoted to someone who, by his own values, would be considered a monster.
Darius Zenn, failed merchant, sleazy and unscrupulous, is looking to make a profit from his travels with Tourniquet, who has a way of amassing priceless, powerful artifacts. Self-serving and immature, Zenn values himself above all others, which occasionally manifests in vindictive, ill-considered actions.
The newest addition to Tourniquet's crew is the quirky stripper Red. She's a little air-headed and awkward, but she does have a rare skill which Tourniquet values: her ability to see through mystical disguises. Her infatuation with Ajin has gone, so far, unreciprocated.
This motley crew represent the core of Tales of Tourniquet, and I hope readers will come to enjoy their continuing misadventures. Theirs is a world bursting with supernatural horrors just waiting to be confronted and I'm excited to continue building the series' mythology. Volume 1 releases on January 6 2015. I'm already working on volume 2!
After getting the deathly serious Hate Ghost out of my system, I decided I wanted to try a "lighter" dark fantasy - keeping the horror elements, but wrapping them around a framework of adventure, drama, and humor - and Tales of Tourniquet is the result.
Speaking of TV, there are several intelligent, intricately plotted, award-winning shows running. Even taking different mediums into account, Tales of Tourniquet doesn't aspire to their company. Meant to be fast, fun, and pulpy, ToT chronicles the ongoing journeys of an undead bounty hunter pursuing targets ranging from vampires to soul-sucking demons.
Tourniquet herself is a leyak - a creature which detaches its head to hunt - in disguise as a human to avoid persecution. She's a woman with a very fluid morality; her own companions can't always figure out how she makes her decisions. She needs human blood to survive - or is presumed to - and doesn't much care who provides it.
Her most stalwart companion is the Northlands barbarian Ajin, a man of honor whose noble convictions are somewhat undermined by his loyalty to a killer as vicious as Tourniquet. It is currently unknown as to why he remains so devoted to someone who, by his own values, would be considered a monster.
Darius Zenn, failed merchant, sleazy and unscrupulous, is looking to make a profit from his travels with Tourniquet, who has a way of amassing priceless, powerful artifacts. Self-serving and immature, Zenn values himself above all others, which occasionally manifests in vindictive, ill-considered actions.
The newest addition to Tourniquet's crew is the quirky stripper Red. She's a little air-headed and awkward, but she does have a rare skill which Tourniquet values: her ability to see through mystical disguises. Her infatuation with Ajin has gone, so far, unreciprocated.
This motley crew represent the core of Tales of Tourniquet, and I hope readers will come to enjoy their continuing misadventures. Theirs is a world bursting with supernatural horrors just waiting to be confronted and I'm excited to continue building the series' mythology. Volume 1 releases on January 6 2015. I'm already working on volume 2!
December 15, 2014
Myths and Monsters: the challenge
Rusalki. Naiads and fossegrim. A leyak. These four mythical beings figure heavily in my three works, beginning with the short story Rusalki, moving on to my first novel Hate Ghost, and continuing in my new serial Tales of Tourniquet. What do they have in common? They aren't vampires, werewolves, or zombies.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the VWZ horde (except maybe that they completely hog the tail end of the alphabet). They're as synonymous with horror as dragons, elves, and dwarves are with fantasy; they're not going anywhere. But man, the world of mythology is vast and rich, and there are so many creatures lurking in the outer reaches of folklore, just waiting to be dragged - kicking and screaming if necessary - into the public eye.
Yeah, some of them are insane; inarguably tough to work with. Let's take the A Bao A Qu, for example, a shapeless, translucent mass locked into a perpetual cycle of climbing and falling down staircases. No matter how you look at it, poor old Qu just doesn't have the raw, primal sex appeal of a vampire (if you're into the undead, I won't judge). It's not gonna be expanding The Big Three anytime soon.
But man, there are a ton of mythological entities out there which could easily take the limelight, it's just that no one outside of their home countries will give them the chance. They're like that bright-eyed starlet who no one in Hollywood can find room for because their leading lady quota is all full up, so she winds up squandering her potential in obscure porn. Case in point: rusalki, naiads, fossegrim, and leyak.
And here's the thing: these guys don't have to be slavishly re-created. In what I call Oh-Yeah?-MY-Vampire-Eats-Garlic-And-Wears-A-Cross-Syndrome, they can evolve to suit the times. Hell, even the A Bao A Qu could at least take the elevator if it showed up in a modern story.
When I settled on a leyak for my newest character, Tourniquet, I was ecstatic. Seriously, I thought, Why aren't these things everywhere? They're a vampiric creature whose head goes hunting at night, trailing their innards! Gross, sure, but come on! Creatures like that are a dark fantasy goldmine. And like I said above, you don't have to recreate these demons exactly. Mess around with them. I gave my leyak the bat wings of the similar Philippine Manananggal, removed the ability to turn into a pig (and the single-minded desire to attack pregnant women) and voila, updated!
So, my challenge to my fellow authors is, the next time you want to have a mythical creature starring in your tale - and I mean in a major role, either lead or support, not just some monster raging around in the background - crack open an encyclopedia of mythology and bring us something fresh. Or at least something which needs to have a layer of dust brushed off.
And then, I dunno, make them sparkle.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the VWZ horde (except maybe that they completely hog the tail end of the alphabet). They're as synonymous with horror as dragons, elves, and dwarves are with fantasy; they're not going anywhere. But man, the world of mythology is vast and rich, and there are so many creatures lurking in the outer reaches of folklore, just waiting to be dragged - kicking and screaming if necessary - into the public eye.
Yeah, some of them are insane; inarguably tough to work with. Let's take the A Bao A Qu, for example, a shapeless, translucent mass locked into a perpetual cycle of climbing and falling down staircases. No matter how you look at it, poor old Qu just doesn't have the raw, primal sex appeal of a vampire (if you're into the undead, I won't judge). It's not gonna be expanding The Big Three anytime soon.
But man, there are a ton of mythological entities out there which could easily take the limelight, it's just that no one outside of their home countries will give them the chance. They're like that bright-eyed starlet who no one in Hollywood can find room for because their leading lady quota is all full up, so she winds up squandering her potential in obscure porn. Case in point: rusalki, naiads, fossegrim, and leyak.
And here's the thing: these guys don't have to be slavishly re-created. In what I call Oh-Yeah?-MY-Vampire-Eats-Garlic-And-Wears-A-Cross-Syndrome, they can evolve to suit the times. Hell, even the A Bao A Qu could at least take the elevator if it showed up in a modern story.
When I settled on a leyak for my newest character, Tourniquet, I was ecstatic. Seriously, I thought, Why aren't these things everywhere? They're a vampiric creature whose head goes hunting at night, trailing their innards! Gross, sure, but come on! Creatures like that are a dark fantasy goldmine. And like I said above, you don't have to recreate these demons exactly. Mess around with them. I gave my leyak the bat wings of the similar Philippine Manananggal, removed the ability to turn into a pig (and the single-minded desire to attack pregnant women) and voila, updated!
So, my challenge to my fellow authors is, the next time you want to have a mythical creature starring in your tale - and I mean in a major role, either lead or support, not just some monster raging around in the background - crack open an encyclopedia of mythology and bring us something fresh. Or at least something which needs to have a layer of dust brushed off.
And then, I dunno, make them sparkle.
November 13, 2014
Hate Ghost: An Excerpt
My first novel, Hate Ghost, is a twisted dark fantasy about several strangers at an inn who are engulfed by a powerful vortex and deposited in an ancient and dying necropolis. They must determine why they have been summoned - and by whom - if they hope to survive the desolation around them, one another, and the horrifying spectral entities which stalk the streets. The guilty among them will be judged, and maybe the innocent too.
I like to say it's a horror tale in fantasy pants, or a fantasy wearing horror skin. Here is a short excerpt from Chapter 3:
Erinn hurt everywhere. Whirling debris had dealt her a blow to the skull; nails jutting from a flying board had gouged her cheek; and a spinning cask of Old Plenty's Single Malt had glanced off her left shoulder, nearly dislocating it. As the terrifying vortex had dwindled above her, she'd landed hard on her back, driving the breath from her lungs; and to top it all off, as she lay stunned, a teetering door had appeared at the fringed of her vision and toppled directly across her, pinning her legs to the cold sand beneath her.
For an endless moment, Erinn's head spun as wildly as the vanished maelstrom. Performing a swift mental self-evaluation, she decided she most likely wasn't dying, nor had she sustained any notably serious injuries. Despite being unable to move her legs, she could wriggle her toes, so she wasn't paralyzed, either.
Tentatively tracing trembling fingers across her scalp, she discovered two patches of stickiness which unsurprisingly turned out to be blood, but the damage wasn't severe. Deeply relieved but still too dazed to sit up, she stared blankly at the oppressively low, grey clouds above her and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Surprise! You lived, she thought weakly. As she'd been swept into the mouth of the funnel, soft and breakable amid a storm of flying beams, bottles, and barrels, she'd been fully convinced of her own imminent demise. Yet here she was, aching but alive. She supposed she should have placed more faith in the Goddess Neth's protection.
Wherever she'd landed wasn't her home town of Wintershare, impossible though that might seem. The air tasted peculiarly stale and sour in her mouth - or was that a side-effect of hitting her head? - and the silence was deafening. Erinn would have expected to hear the clatter of hooves on cobbles, the distant barking of dogs and lowing of cows, to say nothing of the clamor and commotion which the inn's collapse would undoubtedly have caused among the villagers. Instead, there was only unnerving, unnatural stillness... at least until someone nearby began to sob, high and thin.
Groaning with the effort, Erinn managed to turn her head, fighting to focus on the shaking lump huddled among the stones to her right. It took her a moment to recognize his threadbare, hooded traveling cape: the robed stranger from the inn. He was quaking with fright or sorrow. Erinn tried to speak, and while she only managed an incoherent rasp, she did succeed in attracting the man's attention.
Lifting his head, he clumsily pulled the hood back. His face was pinched and pale, wild-eyed; stubble discolored his receding chin. He was of middle age - Erinn had pictured a younger man - and his eyes drooped like those of a basset hound. She tried to recollect all that she might know about him, what gossip old Thom, the innkeeper, might have offered up, but she came up blank. All she really knew - beyond his surpassing oddness - was that he'd paid up front and caused no trouble, and she'd had no cause to pay him much mind.
But the vortex, she reminded herself, had opened at his table.
You can also read Chapter 1 on my website.
I like to say it's a horror tale in fantasy pants, or a fantasy wearing horror skin. Here is a short excerpt from Chapter 3:
Erinn hurt everywhere. Whirling debris had dealt her a blow to the skull; nails jutting from a flying board had gouged her cheek; and a spinning cask of Old Plenty's Single Malt had glanced off her left shoulder, nearly dislocating it. As the terrifying vortex had dwindled above her, she'd landed hard on her back, driving the breath from her lungs; and to top it all off, as she lay stunned, a teetering door had appeared at the fringed of her vision and toppled directly across her, pinning her legs to the cold sand beneath her.
For an endless moment, Erinn's head spun as wildly as the vanished maelstrom. Performing a swift mental self-evaluation, she decided she most likely wasn't dying, nor had she sustained any notably serious injuries. Despite being unable to move her legs, she could wriggle her toes, so she wasn't paralyzed, either.
Tentatively tracing trembling fingers across her scalp, she discovered two patches of stickiness which unsurprisingly turned out to be blood, but the damage wasn't severe. Deeply relieved but still too dazed to sit up, she stared blankly at the oppressively low, grey clouds above her and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Surprise! You lived, she thought weakly. As she'd been swept into the mouth of the funnel, soft and breakable amid a storm of flying beams, bottles, and barrels, she'd been fully convinced of her own imminent demise. Yet here she was, aching but alive. She supposed she should have placed more faith in the Goddess Neth's protection.
Wherever she'd landed wasn't her home town of Wintershare, impossible though that might seem. The air tasted peculiarly stale and sour in her mouth - or was that a side-effect of hitting her head? - and the silence was deafening. Erinn would have expected to hear the clatter of hooves on cobbles, the distant barking of dogs and lowing of cows, to say nothing of the clamor and commotion which the inn's collapse would undoubtedly have caused among the villagers. Instead, there was only unnerving, unnatural stillness... at least until someone nearby began to sob, high and thin.
Groaning with the effort, Erinn managed to turn her head, fighting to focus on the shaking lump huddled among the stones to her right. It took her a moment to recognize his threadbare, hooded traveling cape: the robed stranger from the inn. He was quaking with fright or sorrow. Erinn tried to speak, and while she only managed an incoherent rasp, she did succeed in attracting the man's attention.
Lifting his head, he clumsily pulled the hood back. His face was pinched and pale, wild-eyed; stubble discolored his receding chin. He was of middle age - Erinn had pictured a younger man - and his eyes drooped like those of a basset hound. She tried to recollect all that she might know about him, what gossip old Thom, the innkeeper, might have offered up, but she came up blank. All she really knew - beyond his surpassing oddness - was that he'd paid up front and caused no trouble, and she'd had no cause to pay him much mind.
But the vortex, she reminded herself, had opened at his table.
You can also read Chapter 1 on my website.
November 11, 2014
My Self-Publishing Experience So Far: The Limerick
An author who wrote a new book
Just couldn't people to look
He decided instead
To build up some cred
With a poem if that's what it took.
Just couldn't people to look
He decided instead
To build up some cred
With a poem if that's what it took.
October 19, 2014
New In Town
So I recently made my dark fantasy novel, Hate Ghost, available for Amazon/Kindle. This is my first novel - or at least, the first novel I have been pleased with and confident enough to release publicly. So now that it's out, my next move, of course, is to make as many rookie mistakes as I can while publicizing it.
That's right! I'm probably about to become that guy, the guy who bumbles into the saloon, causing the music to stop and all the locals to go dead quiet.
I have at least avoided waving my book around where it's entirely unwelcome, and better yet I've somehow managed to resist the urge to review it myself (saw that done a couple of times yesterday while looking for advertising ideas and was sort of... blown away? Ballsy, I suppose?) All the same I'm sure I am about to make a wealth of silly "new guy" blunders, hopefully the kind where I can look back in five years and laugh, gently and without too much derision.
In case you're curious about my book, it tells the tale of... well, I'll just copy-paste what I wrote for Amazon:
"When a sudden, inexplicable vortex violently tears them from the routine of their everyday lives, the staff and clientele of a small backwater inn wake amidst the bones of a city lost to time. Here, they must piece together the circumstances leading to their abduction - and determine who among them is responsible - if they hope to survive the desolate necropolis, one another, and above all, the horrifying vengeful entities which hunt them."
In short, it's a bleak, disturbing horror-fantasy, where if I have done my job, I have cross-bred the two genres with some success, and if I haven't, well, I can only hope that it has some merit which I can build on. I will hopefully continue to learn and grow as a writer, planning, as I am, to continue to hybridize my favorite escapist genres.
And hopefully, to muscle past "rookie" as quickly and painlessly as I can.
That's right! I'm probably about to become that guy, the guy who bumbles into the saloon, causing the music to stop and all the locals to go dead quiet.
I have at least avoided waving my book around where it's entirely unwelcome, and better yet I've somehow managed to resist the urge to review it myself (saw that done a couple of times yesterday while looking for advertising ideas and was sort of... blown away? Ballsy, I suppose?) All the same I'm sure I am about to make a wealth of silly "new guy" blunders, hopefully the kind where I can look back in five years and laugh, gently and without too much derision.
In case you're curious about my book, it tells the tale of... well, I'll just copy-paste what I wrote for Amazon:
"When a sudden, inexplicable vortex violently tears them from the routine of their everyday lives, the staff and clientele of a small backwater inn wake amidst the bones of a city lost to time. Here, they must piece together the circumstances leading to their abduction - and determine who among them is responsible - if they hope to survive the desolate necropolis, one another, and above all, the horrifying vengeful entities which hunt them."
In short, it's a bleak, disturbing horror-fantasy, where if I have done my job, I have cross-bred the two genres with some success, and if I haven't, well, I can only hope that it has some merit which I can build on. I will hopefully continue to learn and grow as a writer, planning, as I am, to continue to hybridize my favorite escapist genres.
And hopefully, to muscle past "rookie" as quickly and painlessly as I can.
