Broaden my exposure

I had a very interesting conversation with Nigel, the fllow behind the success story that is Black Donald. We talked about his recent successes with publishing his debut via Amazon and Smashword, and of course getting it printed via CreateSpace. The fact that he had done it independent of some major publishing label was of no surprise, even though his work is in the same league as Orson Scott Card and Stephen King. Yes, he's that good. Incidently, he had pulled away from where he had started with; e-Quill Publishing.

While I've got no intention of pulling out of there, as it's there that you will find Iron Falls: The Enemy Within and its sequels Iron Falls: Puppets on a String, Iron Falls: Collateral and many more planned titles (of course, I plan to create an omnibus or two featuring three or four stories each within this particular universe that features Gene Bukowski and his friends). Besides, Vesta Central is there too. And no, I'm not going to pull them out. It doesn't make sense to pull out . . .


Not now . . .

Not ever.

I like e-Quill Publishing, and know it's early days before it would become a household name. Besides, there is a neat little clause in the terms and conditions section that indicates that I can my works elsewhere. I intend to do that with the as yet hypothetical Iron Falls omnibus edition while serialising the stories in novellas and short novels.

Having said that, I will be getting out of my comfort zone and try my hand in Amazon and Smashword with future titles. After all, I've got nothing to loose.

Right . . . ?

A muse on Research

The other day I put up information on my fictional United Nations Marshals Service, the protagonist agency that Gene Bukowski ends up in my Iron Falls series. I did so to ensure that the background was authentic and pluasible, despite the fact that the series was set in 2101 onwards. Despite this, I really never thought about how I attack the other important component of story writing: research.

My friend Nigel's response that I can get overzealous and anal in forming background information for any given story threw me. Never had I considered that.

Until my collaborated effort, which had been one learning curve after another, I haven't really researched anything for my stories and generally made stuff up nillywilly. My story, ON THE BEATEN PATH, had started life as set on Mars in the near future or thereabouts. While most liked it on the Authonomy site, a couple got anal about the unrealistic nature of this and that. Put me off the story, and it went wayward. My collaborative effort with another writer friend had been an eye opener about the amount of detail of research that was done for each scene and, while it grated on my nerves to no end (as all I wanted to do was write and get the story over and done with), I now see value in it.

I have currently finished a draft run of the sequel to IRON FALLS: THE ENEMY WITHIN and an attempt in writing a historical fantasy.

Research is very much involved for me now, scene by scene, chapter by chapter.

But when is too much research, well... too much?

Writing update as of June, 2011

This morning I was updating the Highways Writing Group, that I moderate on behalf of e-Quill Publishing, on writing projects and thought to shake them here.

They are:

• IRON FALLS: THE ENEMY WITHIN, completed at 49,240 words. It's been edited by several, and polished by me. Admittedly, am a tad paranoid and thinking if my editing isn't up to scratch, so am looking at professional editors but alas my limited budget would be stretched beyond breaking point and the idea of being in debt again is scaring me more. That's one of the disadvantage of writing, return can be slow.
• IRON FALLS: PUPPETS ON A STRING, only a week old and sitting at 9,700 words. It's a direct sequel to the above.
• IRON FALLS: REBIRTH, early draft mode at 920 words. Hoping this one will be focusing on Kevin Yamakawa and Emilio Heerdan.
• IRON FALLS: NOBLE ACT, yet another draft at 1,700 words, hopefully end the whole Bukowski and Yamakawa angle.
• IRON FALLS: TRANSFER POINT, a draft at 24,900 words. Set some time after, maybe a year or two after the above.
• THIRTEENTH'S LUCK, an absolute draft at 54,100 words. It's something I've been doodling on and off for ages now. Want this to be a full on military science fiction, space opera.
• RUMOURS, BARGAINS AND LIES, is at 18,100 and semi complete. 
  

Eeek.

And they're the ones I actually know about.

UPDATE - Iron Falls: The Enemy Within

I'm not going to reveal the cover just yet, though there are subtle clues present on my blog title and on my own website. But, the closer we get to the publishing date I'll let you all know. As to what the story's about, here's a clue: Random attacks against authorities occur throughout southern Africa, from Cohara Bassa to the safety zones in South Africa. Thrust into it all are two men; one the son of a Marine Corps general, and the other an uncle who is part of a movement to restore Afrikaner supremacy over a nation nearing confederation into a continental union. Both are manipulated by those behind the scenes, on a direct path to Iron Falls. November, 2100. Shock waves follow in the announced intentions of South Africa becoming incorporated into a neighboring continental union. Amid a media frenzy and general panic, as the country has managed to gain more displaced persons due to never recovering from the Third World War, the Afrikaner Freedom Front is determined to put a stop to this, and sends Emilio Heerdan out to test the resilience of emergency services throughout South Africa and neighboring Mozambique. Sergeant First Class Gene Bukowski, a U.S. Army Special Warfare operator, and his team are uprooted from a mission in Mali when Heerdan's group kidnap the daughter of the United Nations Energy Secretary. Yet his mission proves more dangerous than his team can handle. Bukowski is therefore forced to seek aid against the Afrikaner's sinister plot. Aid that comes at a steep price. It has a little of everything, and a lot of action.   I would also like to add however that the story isn't for the faint of heart, as I have some real racist and revengeful characters as some of the support cast. Please note that their views are not my views. More once I know more.

An Iron Falls update

I have just completed yet another editing run of my upcoming novella, titled Iron Falls: The Enemy Within. Hopefully by next week it'll be going for a final edit via means of a professional, as there is a high possibility of a few typos and grammatical snafus slipping through my attention. The story is a predominantly plot driven narrative, which I thought was better suited for what I wanted to show.

As to what next?

Good question.

When I first started on the Iron Falls journey, I have envisaged something akin to the Atlantis DSV series by James Ward and Star Trek Liberty by J. Manno. Both are fan fictions, with Atlantis done in homage to seaQuest and Liberty obviously based on the Star Trek franchise. The only difference being that mine is set up in a completely made up universe, in a futuristic setting dreamed up by me. But why emulate a couple of writers who write fan fiction? The answer to that, it's well written and the style of narrative is something I enjoyed in my younger days, and in my humblest opinion were on par with my favourite authors - such as Dayton Ward and Ben Bova.