Monday, November 30, 2015

The Fifth Di... December 2015

The December issue of The Fifth Di... is now available...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/597019
The Fifth Di..., one of the longest running on-line zines continues on with four new stories. This month we feature fantasy and science fiction stories from Kate Runnels, James Van Pelt, Matthew Spence, and Robert J. Mendenhall.
Read a sample at http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/tfdsample.htm.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Amazon author's page

While doing some "housecleaning" on a variety of websites yesterday, I realized that I hadn't updated my Amazon author's page in a very long time.  The page said that we have one cat, when we now have three, and it also only had 12 titles listed, which is a long way from being true.
So, I went through and updated everything.  Now most of the books I've been involved with should be on there...this includes my novels, short story collections (including the new one), Ephemeris supplements, books and magazines I've edited, and all of my individual short stories that I've released for Kindle, which now brings the title count to 99.  I guess I should put another short story up, just so that I'll have 100 titles.
Feel free to check it out at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0035AMA0A

Are you ready to play?

From the Nomadic Delirium Press blog:
The Ephemeris Science Fiction Role Playing Game has been around for a while, but there are still more supplements coming out in the future, and we have BIG plans for the game in the years to come...
http://www.nomadicdeliriumpress.com/ephemeris/main.htm
The year is 2185. The human race has gone to the stars, and found that they’re not alone. Local space is teeming with civilizations, some hostile, some friendly, and some indifferent. This is the universe of Ephemeris.
Ephemeris is a game of galactic trade and galactic conquest; of inter-species conflict and cooperation. Ephemeris is a science fiction role playing game. Here you will be able to take on the role of your favorite alien species and your favorite class. You will be able to trade, fight, negotiate, conquer, whatever you’d like to do with your fellow players. You can play the role of an Althani Trader, or maybe an Arbonix Cyber Wizard, or maybe even a Human Nanist. You can create a party made up entirely of one species and set out to upset the trade routes of a rival species. Or maybe you want to create a party with a variety of races that preys upon the trading routes of the various civilizations. Or maybe you want to explore the ancient ruins on long dead planets, ruins that clearly show that there were other species roaming the spaceways in the past…but where are they now? You can fight in great wars, negotiate grand peace treaties, and explore sections of the galaxy that no sentient has ever explored. Or maybe your party has joined with one of the interplanetary corporations; corporations whose motives are never entirely clear. These are just some of the possibilities open to you. The universe of Ephemeris is yours to do with as you please. What you now hold in your hands are the basic guidelines for the games. Here you’ll find the races, classes, abilities, skills, weapons, and ships that allow you to create your own Ephemeris universe.
Now, step inside for the greatest science fiction adventure you’ve ever been on…

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Ephemeris Black Friday weekend sale

Taken from the Nomadic Delirium Press blog:
Starting today, and going through Cyber Monday, you can get all Ephemeris titles for 25% off at DriveThruRPG at http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2805/Nomadic-Delirium-Press.  It's time to stock up on the products you need to complete your game, or if you've ever wanted to start playing...now's the time!

Friday, November 20, 2015

My thoughts on NaNoWriMo

As an author, I've always thought that NaNoWriMo would be an interesting challenge.  I'd love to write a novel in a month, but the simple truth is that I just don't have enough writing time in my life now to really take on such a challenge.  I don't get to write every day like I would like to because of responsibility or overwhelming noise.  It's my hope that when the little one starts school next year, I'll have more opportunities to write, but that's still a long way off.
As an editor, I dread NaNoWriMo.  Many authors seem to believe that writing the novel is all they have to do.  A lot of authors don't realize that writing is as much about rewriting as it is about writing.  When I've written a novel, I've spent about the same amount of time rewriting the book as I did writing it in the first place.  Many novice authors finish their NaNoWriMo project and then immediately begin to submit it.  There aren't many authors that can pull off a masterpiece with their rough draft, but come December, January, and February, I start seeing a lot of submissions that are obviously rough drafts.  Even worse, many authors self-publish these rough drafts, watering down the market with works that don't deserve publication...yet...
So, basically I have very mixed feelings about NaNoWriMo, but I think I would like to try it some year...

Saturday, November 14, 2015

A reminder about Disharmony of the Spheres

This is a project that's very important to me for a number of reasons, and I'd love to see submissions from a lot of the writers I know...
Nomadic Delirium Press is pleased to announce that we are reading for a new anthology...
Disharmony of the Spheres
Disharmony of the Spheres will be a science fiction anthology in which the main character must be battling some type of mental illness.  While we will consider stories where the character is dealing with an illness like schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder, what we really want to see is characters that are battling an illness like depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, PTSD, etc.  This is meant to be an uplifting collection of stories, so the characters must overcome their illness to defeat whatever they’re up against.  They don’t necessarily have to overcome their illness completely, but they must show that even when suffering from a mental illness, a person can still achieve great things.
Story particulars: We want stories that are 2,000 words or longer.  All stories must be science fiction, and they must fit into the guidelines as outlined above.
What we’re paying: We will pay $5 per story for one time rights, and we will also pay two contributor copies.  This is less than we would normally pay for an anthology, but half of all of the profits from this book will be going to the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention organization, which helps to battle teen suicide.  We will consider reprints for this anthology.
Where to send your stories: All stories should be sent to editor (at) nomadicdeliriumpress (dot) com.  The subject line should include “Disharmony submission.”
Response times: We will respond to all submissions within two months.
Other questions: If you have any other questions, please feel free to send them to the address above.

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Happy 5th birthday

It's hard to believe, but today is Alexis' 5th birthday.  It seems like only yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital, and now here she is, a young lady.  Time goes by far too fast when it comes to kids.  Eryn's only a few years away from graduating from high school, Jul's about to start middle school, and if Lex had been born a few weeks earlier, she'd already be in school.  I really don't know where the time goes.
She's become such a unique little girl.  She loves her dresses, but at the same time she loves her Ninja Turtles.  When she's playing with dolls, they might be having a tea party, or they might be getting eaten by her big T-rex, you can never be too sure.  She has enough energy to power the sun, and she wears us all down just watching her, but she loves to sit and learn at the same time.
It's hard to say what she will be as she gets older, but something tells me it will be a unique adventure...

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

A new short story

I finished the rough draft for a new short story today.  Several years ago, this wouldn't have been that big of a deal, as I was writing stories all the time, but now I don't write anywhere near as much as I'd like to.  The simple reason for this is that editing and game design pay better, and they pay in a more timely manner, and simply put, we always need the money, so now finishing a story is a big deal.
I've really missed writing, and even though mounting medical and legal bills are sucking us deeper into our hole, the simple truth is that I'm a writer first, and an editor and a game designer second.  As such, I need to write.  As human beings, we can't deny the passions in our life.  If we do, what's the point of living, and writing is one of my greatest passions, so I will be doing more in the months and years to come.
Is this story going to make us rich?  Of course not.  My skills are rusty, and it clearly shows in the story, but with some work, I'm confident it will sell.  It may only make me enough to buy myself lunch somewhere, but in many ways, it feels like I'm starting over in my career, and that's ok.  I love writing, and I'm still confident that it will all pay off sometime in the future...