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
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
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
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
Hey! I wrote a book.
Maybe highly experienced/published writers don’t get quite the same thrill as I’m experiencing right now. Pre-orders for my book just went live on Amazon, Square, and via the publisher, Inklings Publishing. Here’s the link to the Inklings market page: https://www.inklingspublishing.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Te_xsQ3V6yYlCWVeYrN3j3hUXJbPpjWcG_Mj9JYkC-JcJWWgGM19a2Ug If you want a hard copy, and I know that you do, best bet is…Read More
Hey! I’m on a podcast.
A while back, Angie Drymala of Creatrix Chats interviewed me for her podcast. It was not what I expected. I was anticipating some of the standard author questions (and got a few of those) but our conversation ended up being fairly wide ranging over the hour we talked. Here’s the link to the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50554875?fbclid=IwAR2RcttxPujvjvziKhOKcIZTOMsq-rBXfho0uKvpEyv9vpspfjFnc7L1UTw…Read More
Virtual Reality vs. Augmented Reality
Spark takes advantage of a technology referred to as Augmented Reality (AR). It’s similar, but different in important ways from Virtual Reality (VR). In VR, once you put on your headset, all of the real world is replaced in your vision by the fictional creation of the software. Orcs and dragons, damsels in distress, and…Read More