Deleted Scenes
Sometimes a scene is fun to write and gives the author a chance to vent his spleen, cry out against the injustice of the world. It just doesn’t make it to the final version of the book for the sake of word count or “do you really want to piss off this demographic?” By popular…Read More
Top. Seller.
Just got my first royalty check along with a note from my publisher: “You are our top seller.” I unseated the author who has held that spot for the past eight years – JK Rowling @Meg Hafdahl. She’s a great author (check her out at: https://www.meghafdahl.com/ ) and it’s an honor to take the top spot. Woo…Read More
Tales from Comicpalooza
It’s been a while since I blogged, but I have lots of excuses: We moved. We’re back in Houston. All our stuff is in a warehouse in Pasco, WA, waiting for two things – a driver (estimated delay 4-6 weeks), and a delivery address. 2. We’re currently staying with our daughter. All of us. Me,…Read More
28 Errors
Peeved. Vexed. Disgruntled. Upset. Miffed. Angry. Embarrassed. Piqued. Irked. Irritated. Riled. That’s me. I finished my review of the first printing of the novel. I found lots of errors. Others found more. 28 in total. That seems like a lot. I did a little research and found that almost all books have typos – even…Read More
Dramatis Personae Part 4: SPARK Security
At the top of the SPARK Security food chain sits Jeffrey Hodgins. He’s most commonly called “Hodge” by those close to him. HVH needed personal protection, so he went headhunting at the US Secret Service – those charged with protecting the President. He found Hodgins and managed to lure him away. Hodgins originally was the…Read More
Dramatis Personae Part 3: What’s in a Janne?
Janne is a homophone of Jane and Jayne and rhymes with cane and pain. It’s a name that started out as an acronym: Just Another Neural Network Experiment. After developing Black Grass, Hecker Van Horne and his team needed to figure out a way to control the blades so that they would maintain optimum orientation for absorption of radiation. It’s…Read More
Dramatis Personae Part Deux: ShaChri “Feral Daughter” Patel
Of all the characters in the book, Feral is the most fun to write. She’s American born of Indian parents. Parents who have become very Americanized, but still hold to some of their Hindu traditions and still speak with a bit of an accent. ShaChri’s mother, Puja, wanted very much for her daughter to grow…Read More
Dramatis Personae Part 1: Will “WonderBoy” Kwan
Arnav Gupta, over at his Bookworm blog, has started a thread on characters and their development. He picked Hercule Poirot to start it out. That got me thinking about my characters. I had someone draw my two protagonists a while back. The drawings came out okay, but missed the mark. Probably my poor description of…Read More
English as a second language
I read an interesting blog last night by Beyza Çitak about struggling to learn English (blog link). I can relate. I don’t speak English. I speak American. The “English” speaking world tries to make everyone think that the language spoken by English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, Indians, Singaporans, Kenyans, Bermudans, and Americans…Read More
Cupboard under the stairs
You should know this already. Prior to attending Hogwarts, when the Dursley’s punished Harry Potter, they made him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. We’re moving. Long tale of woe involving program issues and long delays and innumerable other problems familiar to anyone who has worked on a failed/failing project. So be it. Hey,…Read More