Tour de France recap

I'm going to take a break from the postings about the tragic events, and my usual badgering about buying my books to talk about sports.

Recent followers of this blog are probably unsure of what I'm talking about, but long time followers probably know I'm a huge cycling fan, and there's nothing bigger in cycling than the Tour de France, which ended on Sunday.

This year was a good race, but not for the normal reasons.  This year the every day stages were very exciting, and the competition for some of the "lesser" jerseys was also quite exciting, but the competition for the overall yellow jersey was actually pretty boring.  I've been following cycling for almost 30 years, and I'd have to say that Bradley Wiggins was quite possibly the most boring winner I've ever seen.  Don't get me wrong, he deserved to win, and he and his team rode a great race, but there were none of the attacks of Hinault, LeMond, or Armstrong.  He just let his team do everything for him, and no one seemed to be able to do anything about it, which made the race for the yellow jersey kind of boring.  Even with his teammate challenging him from second place, we didn't get any of the drama that we saw from the LeMond, Hinault battles.  So, yeah, a boring, but well deserved victory for Wiggins.

It was nice to see Peter Sagan take the race by storm, and as Coloradoan, it was great to see Tejay Vangarderan win the white jersey as best young rider.  At 23, the guy showed a lot of class when he was asked what he'd be thinking about when they reached Paris, and instead of any of the pat answers most athletes would give, he responded by saying that he'd be thinking about the victims of the Colorado shooting.

So, another year is gone, and hopefully we know who really won the race.  I'm hoping that it was a clean race, but we might have to wait a year, or two, or ten...

The vigil

Rebecca and I have just returned from the vigil for the victims of the theater massacre.  It was the first time I'd ever attended something like this, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it did seem to have a healing effect, even if I'm not one for prayer.  One thing I did while I was there, was I took a lot of time to look at other people that were there.  It was a diverse group, cutting across all racial groups, all ages, and all religions.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only atheist there, but for me it wasn't about the prayer, it was about being with people that might be feeling some of the things I'm feeling.

I think the most touching moment happened even before the event began.  There were several naval members standing behind us, obviously friends of one of the victims.  A member of Aurora SWAT was walking down the sidewalk, and he cut across the grass, walking at least 40 feet to shake their hands and tell them he was sorry for their loss.  This was a guy who was probably on the scene at the theater, and he still felt like he had to say something.

When the families came out there was of course a huge round of applause to support them.  Several of them waved at the crowd to acknowledge the support, even as they cried.

Next to the military and the families, Gov. Hickenlooper got the biggest round of applause when he said he wouldn't refer to the shooter by name, but would call him Suspect A.  This is how it should be.  This guy doesn't need to be known.  His name needs to be erased from history, and we need to only remember the victims.

I have to admit that I'm not necessarily a big supporter of President Obama, but he was in town just before the vigil, and rather than going for the cheap political opportunity of showing up at the vigil, he instead chose not to.  He met with the families beforehand, and then left.  I think he deserves big props for that.  For those of you not in the area, you might not know that both candidates have pulled all of their political ads for a few days, seeing that it's not the right time for these things.

And so the healing begins...

Trying to make sense of it all

By now, just about everyone has added their comments to the web about what happened here in Aurora early Friday morning, but I feel I need to comment on it as well.
Colorado has seen it's share of tragedies, with school shootings and fires, but this one is so much more intense for us.  Part of it, I'm sure, is because Rebecca and I are both a lot more emotional about crimes committed with guns after she had one pulled on her earlier this year, but it's more than that.  This horrible tragedy happened at our theater.  Rebecca and I had our first date at this theater, and we've seen a lot of movies there...possibly even in the theater where this happened.  When I stand on our balcony and look up the hillside, I can see the sign for this theater.  This was almost literally in our backyard.
I majored in psychology in college, but I can't even begin to fathom what was going on in this guy's mind to think this was the "right" thing to do.  Understanding criminal insanity is often hard, but as a writer, I've learned to put myself into a criminal's mind and try to come up with reasons for why they do the things they do, but I'm stumped on this one.  I really just don't understand.
Worst of all, before bed last night, our seven year old started crying, saying that she was worried that someone was going to come in and kill us during the night.
This guy has hurt so many people, and I'm certainly hoping there will be justice.

The Battle for Turtle Island - The Kickstarter has begun

We've officially kicked off the fund raising for the new game The Battle for Turtle Island: Buffalo Wars through Kickstarter.  Simply go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1521750492/the-battle-for-turtle-island-buffalo-wars, and you can donate whatever amount you'd like.
There are certain donation levels that will get you PDF copies of the game, or print copies once it's released, and for the really big spenders, there are some really great rewards.
So, please help launch this new game.  I think, in my oh so humble opinion, that it will be a lot of fun for players, and I'd really like to make it as big of a debut as I can.
Plus, donations will help to pay artists and game testers...

Reviews-revisited

Since I've been on vacation, I haven't really had much to blog about, but I thought while I had a moment during my final hours of freedom, I'd re-post a blog entry that got a lot of feedback a couple of years ago.  So, here it is:

This entry is geared more towards readers than writers and editors, but I think most writers and editors would agree with what I have to say.

When a reader finishes a book, the most important thing they can do (especially if they liked it) is go to Amazon, or any other site, and review the book. Reader reviews do more to help a new book than any promotion, especially with small press titles. With large presses, a new book might have a couple of months to gain a following, but in the small press, the time is much shorter, and all small press writers are dependent upon people reviewing our work. Sometimes even a bad review can help, but obviously we prefer the good reviews. If a potential reader can read a well thought out review from an objective reader, they're much more likely to take a chance on a small press book. Most readers assume that if it's small press, the author must not be very good, but this isn't always the case, and a well thought out review can convince them to buy the book.

I think it's also important to actually review the book...not just rate it. Giving a book a star rating without saying anything about it doesn't really help...especially one and five star ratings because that just makes other readers think that someone was either being a prick (one star rating) or is a friend of the author (five star rating).

Those are just my thoughts on book reviews, so if you've read something that you liked recently, please go and review it. One review can do a lot for a small press author and several reviews can make a career...so help the small press writer out, even if it's not me...

The robbery, an update

Some of you have been following the story of Rebecca getting robbed at work, and all of the court visits we've been through since that horrible night.  Well, much of that came to an end yesterday.
The thug who did this agreed to a plea bargain yesterday.  He's going to be facing 20 years in jail, but at least we don't have to go to trial now.  While the judge was explaining everything to him yesterday, he broke down and started to cry...at times, even bawling his eyes out.  This was a radical change from the guy who used to stroll into the courtroom like he owned it, and it may sound horrible, but I was glad to see him cry.
The DA had said that one of the victims was in the courtroom, and the only people in the courtroom other than the legal people who had to be there were me and Rebecca, and he kept looking at me, and I just kept starting back at him.  Rebecca had herself hidden around a corner, so I'm not sure if he knew she was there or not.
When he was being led back to jail, still crying, he turned, not really looking at me, but rather in looking in my direction, and yelled, "I'm sorry."  He wasn't supposed to do that, but he did it anyway.
Formal sentencing will be in October, and it will be at that time that Rebecca will have the opportunity to actually say something to him...if she wants.  I think, no matter what, that she is going to write something, and even if she can't say it, she'll have the DA read it for her.

The deputy DA who has worked on this case and the victim advocate have been wonderful.  They've done everything they could to help Rebecca get through this, and I'm glad we've had them on our side.

Kickstarter approved

I received word yesterday that Kickstarter has approved The Battle for Turtle Island: Buffalo Wars.  This means that we will now be able to try to raise funds to produce the game.  I've been debating when I wanted to kick off the fund raising...I'd thought about doing it immediately, but Rebecca and I are both taking some time off from work this week to take a little mini-vacation.  I'm not sure what we're going to be doing, but I probably won't be on-line as much as I usually am, so I wouldn't be able to send out annoying posts asking people to donate...so I will probably have it go active on Tuesday, which is when I have to go back to the "real"job.....................

The Martian Wave 2012 - The e-book

The e-book version of the 2012 issue of The Martian Wave is now available.  You can find it in a wide variety of formats at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/180655.

The Martian Wave 2012 - a tease

I thought I'd give you a little tease of what you're missing if you haven't ordered your copy of the 2012 issue of The Martian Wave.  To order your copy, go to http://sdpbookstore.com/tmw.htm.

Here are the first paragraphs from each of the stories in this issue:

Absence of Evidence

By Robert J. Mendenhall

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." -  Dr. Carl Sagan

The storm chased them across the rock-strewn Martian surface. Relentlessly, as if to avenge some unprosecuted crime. This was the most powerful weather system Mars had experienced in nearly two centuries. It tore the rusty sand from the ground, marshaled it into an angry mass of iron oxide particles, then accelerated that mass to an insane velocity. And it was about to engulf them.

Newton's Window

By Scott Virtes

            "Welcome to the Newton Parts Exchange.  What's your pleasure?"

Moontide

By GC Rosenquist

Captain Gerald Hatcher stood alone in the darkness of the clear plasteel dome, high above the rest of Moonbase Alpha, staring into the dark sky above the crater lip…waiting.

The Blue Marble Signal

by Phil M. Berger

            Adrift amidst interstellar dust.  Seeking harbor across time incomprehensible.  Hope slowly withering.  Until...

The Geysers of Enceladus

By Glen R. Stripling

            Frank Cooper touched his finger to the heater on the cold steel wall of his office.  Frigid methane deep from the heart of the moon instantly ignited as it rushed in front of him, bathing his pale wrinkled face with warmth and light.  Enceladus was eternally subject to the combined gravities of Saturn, Mimas and Dione, which squeezed the moon like a sponge, crushing and heating the frozen gasses deep underground.  The pressurized slurry belched out of the moon at 1200 miles per hour, up to 500 kilometers and reflecting the powerful lamps of the mining camp.  Their beauty reminded him of the tall white columns of renovated southern mansions back home.  He looked over his shoulder at Nathan Ward who just walked in the room.  “Have you heard anything from Mars about the injunction?”

Last Word from Kismet

By Ross Gresham

Thom lifted his head from the pillow and regarded his new body with distaste. The chest and stomach were a washboard of carefully-shaped little muscles, which, in the grip of transfer nausea, resembled nothing so much as a field of tumors.

 

A Hole

By Robert N. Stephenson

I’m back… I’m back and there’s nothing I can do…

The first words of Captain Abrams Hanzer

on leaving the Long-Jump IV

The return of the fourth ship to head out to the edge of the galaxy was meant to be a celebration of two decades of achievement, but like the three previous ships to make the journey the return was not the joyous success the international space program had expected. The General had read all the brief during the construction of the ship, he didn’t understand the science but accepted the expert’s positions on the hyper drive and the gravity engine, he had signed off on the final test after all systems were passed, he had even congratulated each crew member personally before they departed. Now before him was the mess of failure. He’d written his resignation that morning and was ready to deliver it by hand to the President should he not find an answer to what had happened. All members of the crew were unconscious and the data on the ship’s computer systems was fast degrading.

Sparks

By H. David Blalock

The Seastorm was still over 400 million miles out of Titan when the life support unit began to sputter.

The Battle for Turtle Island: Buffalo Wars cover

As promised, here is the cover art for the new game, The Battle for Turtle Island: Buffalo Wars...

June recap

The Martian Wave Volume 3
To politic, or not to politic
An important message for writers
We've lost another one
Charlie Chases Crows
Book signing
A June update on the game
It's a secret
Some people really suck
I love three day weekends
The rough draft is done
Cover art

Cover art

It looks like there is now a cover for The Battle for Turtle Island, and it is AWESOME!  Hopefully you'll all get to see it some time next month...

The rough draft is done

I just completed the writing of the rough draft of the new game, which will be titled The Battle for Turtle Island: Buffalo Wars.  The first part of the title is the actual name of the game, while this edition will feature rules for the Buffalo Wars supplement.  Sounds confusing...it's not.

The initial draft has come in at just over 40,000 words, and I know it will grow dramatically when I revise it, as there needs to be more detail added in several sections, and I left the pricing of the goods section basically blank, since I haven't figured out such things as how much a tent cost in the mid to late 19th century.

I actually started writing the game on April 10th, and it's now June 24th.  So, in about two and a half months, I managed to crank out over 40,000 words...and it is over that because I erased a big chunk and then re-did it.  That's not a bad bit of productivity considering that I couldn't work on the game every day.

Just imagine what I might accomplish if I didn't have to have a "real" job.

Now I'm going to let it sit for about a week, and then it will be into the revisions.

I love three day weekends

For each of the last two weekends, I've had Monday off as well as Saturday and Sunday.  Last week it was because of Rebecca's birthday, and this week it was because of how I was scheduled.

And I'd have to say that I absolutely love having three day weekends.  It's amazing how much work I can get done with some extra rest, and some extra time away from the "real" job.  Each of the last two weekends, I've put almost 10,000 words into the game.  With productivity like that, I wonder what I could accomplish if I didn't have to have the day job.

Oh, to dream to dream....

Some people really suck

We've been trying to track down our tax refund for a while now, and we just got word yesterday that someone had cashed our refund check.  The IRS sent us a bunch of documents to fill out, and with those documents was a copy of the check with the "signatures."  The thing is, however, that whoever stole the check actually printed our names on the back of the check, and it was painfully obvious that the same person wrote both names.

First of all, to steal someone's tax refund is beyond a crappy thing to do to someone.  That's money that we actually need, and we earned from our hard work.  As Rebecca said, this is the second time she's been robbed this year, and it's really pissing her off!

Second of all, since when is it considered legal to not sign a check?  Who the hell cashed this check?  Our guess is that they went through a check cashing agency, or something similar, but why would they cash a check that wasn't signed?  And for that matter, aren't people supposed to supply identification of some kind?

It almost sounds like whoever stole the check knew someone that would cash it for them, but I've got news for them, we've filed everything we need the government, and they will be coming after your ass!!!

It's a secret

When I got home from work today, I found an invitation in my e-mail to write a story for what sounds like a really cool anthology.  But, it's not something I can really talk about...so forget I said anything...

A June update on the game

The game is coming along quite nicely now.  I'm just a few hundred words short of 30,000 now.  I'm expecting the initial draft to be around 50,000 words, so this is good progress.  The final game will certainly be much longer, as there is still a lot of historical stuff that I have to go back and put in, but I'm hoping to have the initial draft done in the next couple of months.

After it's done, it will be time to rework it some, and then send it off to play-testers, who will hopefully help fine tune it.  Hoping for a December 1st release, but we'll see.  And as many of you might expect, Laura Givens will be doing the cover art.

Once it's closer to being ready, we'll be setting up a kickstarter for it, so there will be a chance that you can get some stuff at a good price...once it's done.

Stay tuned to this blog for more info as it becomes available.

Book signing

It was a pretty successful book signing. Although I'm absolutely sure that the majority of the people were there to see Warren Hammond, close to half of the attendees walked out with a copy of my book, so I certainly can't complain about that! My thanks to everyone who showed up, and I hope you all enjoy the book! And of course thanks to Ron and Nina of The Broadway Book Mall for always supporting local authors.

Charlie Chases Crows

My publisher recently sent me a new review of Red Moon Rising (I'll post a link when I have it.) In the review, the reader really liked the book, but what he liked most was the character Charlie Chases Crows. Pretty much every review or comment I've seen on this book has included some mention of how much the reader liked Charlie, and how they'd like to read more about him. This doesn't really surprise me, because Charlie is, in my humble opinion, the best character I've ever created...so maybe I should think about doing more with him. At least that's what the readers seem to want. And on a completely hypothetical note, if a movie is ever made out of the book, I want Graham Greene to play Charlie. I think he'd do a great job in the roll. I'm just saying...

We've lost another one

I went to lunch today at the dreaded "real" job, and was quite surprised to read the news that Ray Bradbury had passed away. Just about every speculative fiction author out there is writing about this in their blog today, so I don't know what I can really add...but I'll try any way. The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 are two of my favorite books ever. Fahrenheit is of course a classic dystopic novel, and I'm sure it had a big influence on my writing of The Opium of the People. I've read The Martian Chronicles a few different times, and I remember last year I was watching the cheesy 80's mini-series based on the book, and it gave me an idea for a series of short stories that I'd love to write. I, of course, haven't had time to write them yet...but I will...one of these years. Ray Bradbury will definitely be missed. He was one of the giants of speculative fiction, and his voice will be heard forever.