Book Review: El Camino Blue by Joseph D. Newcomer
I follow Newcomer’s blog. That’s what led me to this book. Check him out at josephdnewcomer.com His website tells us that El Camino Blue is “loosely based” on a journal he kept during the last four months of high school. I survived my teen years and don’t want to go back. El Camino Blue drug…Read More
A nice review
SPARK was reviewed by onlinebookclub.org. Here’s what they had to say: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=200256 Reading through the comments below the review, it seemed that some readers of the review came away thinking that it was a “sad” book. Yes, some sad things happen, but is that what those of you who read it thought?
A boy and his dog
In Draft 2, Will spent a lot of time being homeless in Barstow. 40 days, actually. Yes, that was an allusion to another great hero who spent 40 days in the desert. The instigating event was the same as it is in the published version – an uncomfortable run in with Feral and an anonymous…Read More
Recursion (@Blake Crouch) Review
I was trolling for something to listen to as I commute between Houston and San Marcos. I was done for the moment with non-fiction, having just finished the truly excellent Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin ( @aglafley https://www.linkedin.com/in/ag-lafley-2381b3201/ and @rogerlmartin https://rogerlmartin.com – seriously, if you’re a business person, read this…Read More
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
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 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
Cool Promo Stuff
I continue to be amazed at the high quality, highly creative people that my publisher, Inklings Publishing, is calling in to work on my book. Today’s shout-out goes to the graphic artist who did all of the promo material. Karina Winbigler is a wizard at this stuff. Check her out on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinawinbigler/ She’s…Read More