Price of Vengeance July 21 to July 28

I want to thank Mark Bordner for inviting me to this Blog Tour/Hop. Mark is the author of the Might First series. We both share an interest in military science fiction.

1) What am I working on?

I am currently working on three projects. First, I am working on getting a draft from the third book in the Dreamscape Warriors Novels. The title of this book is the Gift of Peace. It takes place after twelve years after Promise of Mercy, which currently going to the publisher. It involves Liam and Celinia’s son, Aidan. He has helped his sisters on an unofficial raid on a Rebel installation. His sisters get the complete schematics of an ancient alien warship. A copy of this information is entrusted to Aidan to deliver to the Finnian Intelligence Service. He plans to drop it off on the way to a neutral world with his Great Aunt, Colonel Máire O’Connor and his twelve year old sister, Tetia. However, an old enemy wants that data back. I am currently writing a book that falls between Price of Vengeance and Promise of Mercy, entitled Legacy of Valor. It tells the story of one of the deployments Liam went on when Etrusci still fielded an expeditionary force to fight against the Rebellion. I am also working on another novel in the series that takes place six hundred years prior, called Mark of Courage. It tells the story of Liam’s illustrious ancestor, Aisling O’Connor, when she lead the Finnian in revolt against their creators.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

As far as I can tell, I am the only one who writes Paranormal, Military Science Fiction. The first science fiction author I truly became a fan of was the late Andre Norton. She wrote books such as the Witch World series, the Solar Queen series, and the Forerunner series. I especially enjoyed her Forerunner series, which deals with an ancient civilization that became extinct long before humanity lifted off. Many of her science fiction novels dealt with what we call, paranormal powers or ESP. People could receive impressions from ancient artifacts or communicate telepathically. Later I became a fan of military science fiction. I’ve recently read Philip Richards Union series, and of course Mark Bordner’s Mighty First Episode 1. I am also a huge fan of the Halo universe of video games on the XBox.

In the Dreamscape Warrior novels, I decided to combine these two favorites of mine. Liam and his children have telepathic and empathic abilities that allow them to seemingly move very quickly, communicate over vast distances, or even go some place while leaving their bodies behind. I realized that all these things would be of great value in a military setting. However, people on the other side had to be able to use these abilities as well, or there would be no point in writing the story. You also have to add in limiting factors.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I started writing Price of Vengeance in earnest after I graduated with my PhD and no jobs in archaeology were forth coming. I had the original idea when I was doing my master’s degree in Ireland: a young warrior trapped out side a city when monsters attack. I envisioned him not being native to the city and a group of people wouldn’t like him. This group was also ambitious and decided to betray their people for power. I also had the idea that a woman of some power would become his love interest. I went to Buffalo, NY in 2004 to start working and preparing to go to graduate school. I was staying with a colleague when I fist wrote down the initial outlines. Once graduate school started, I put the story aside to focus on a career. I eventually defended my dissertation and graduated with a PhD in Anthropology (archaeology focus) in 2010. In 2008 the economy had tanked, and things hadn’t gotten any better by the time I graduated. I spent a good while sending out my CV to various institutions.

I finally picked the story up again and began creating a more extensive outline and writing scenes. As I went along, the political discussion became more heated. That is where I got the idea to place Price of Vengeance against the backdrop of an interstellar civil war. In many respects, it is a warning to contemporary society. Regardless of political orientation, people have to learn to put their arguments in perspective. The consequences of not doing this are that people will lose faith in the political process. Words will be replace by weapons, and people will turn on each other. It happened once in the 1860s. We shouldn’t think it can’t happen again.

4) How does your writing process work?

I write plotted stories following the three act model. I begin with an idea. This gets written down in a one sentence statement. For instance “Warrior must save city from monsters.” After that I pick out the three principle key scenes: the first crisis, the midpoint, and the final crisis. Then I create more key scenes in groups of three. Three that lead up to the first crisis, three that lead up to the midpoint, three that lead up to the final crisis, and three scenes for the resolution. All during this process I am writing test scenes and key scenes to help me when I finally create my Scene Outline. This is where I outline all the scenes I plan to use in the book. Some of these scenes will be removed and new ones added, but it gives me an idea of what I want the book to look like. Once that is done, it’s a mater of writing the scenes. This process means I don’t have to write chronologically. The scenes can be written in any order. After the draft is done, edit, edit, edit. Then you edit some more. After it’s submitted to a publisher, it will go to there editor. The editing process is important. Many people lose patience with a book with lots of typos and grammatical errors.

My invitee to this blog tour/hop is Aoife Marie Sheridan, author of the Saskia Trilogy. Saskia is a world that parallels ours and is about a young woman named Sarajane. Her first two books of the series or Eden Forest and City of Secrets, with The Rise of the Queen coming soon. She has other novels in the works and we can expect Hunters soon. She also runs Saski Book Tours. Check out her author page at http://www.aoifemariesheridan.com/.

Crystal Collier Cover Reveal for Soulless

Hi all,

I am doing something new with my website. I agreed to host a cover reveal. To be accurate, I agreed to be one of the hosts to the afore mentioned cover reveal.

Crystal Collier did me the honor of asking to host the cover reveal of Soulless, part of her Maiden of Time series. The cover art is absolutely gorgeous. My brother, Gary, who administers my website for me (I'm hopeless with html.), did a wonderful job with her reveal page, in my humble opinion. We had to tweak it a little today after someone tweeted an announcement that attributed the book to me. It was an easy mistake. Gary rectified the situation. He undid the master page and put her picture and information at the top. Then we added her name prominently in the link from my home page.

Crystal Collier lives in Florida with her family. Her first book, Moonless, is available through Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, iBook, as well as other retailers.

The review I wrote back in December 2013 is as follows:

Crystal Collier's novel, Moonless, is set in 1768. Alexia is a girl who is different. Everything changes when she turns sixteen. She finds that she is more than human. Abilities start to manifest, starting with the ability to see the future. She is haunted by a man with deep blue eyes, creatures with red eyes, and a young, vicious girl.

It starts out a little confusing, but soon settles out and becomes a page turner as you get into it. Crystal Collier keeps the plot tight, though handling the subplots can be a little shaky at times.

I know I am anxiously waiting for October when the sequel, Soulless is released.

The Use of Swearing in Writing

There are things in life that stir up the passions of opposing points of view. Politics, social issues, religion, even flavors of ice cream. One of the biggest is what is or is not appropriate for what age of child.

One thing that seems to stir parents ire and get some writers talking about the First Amendment are the use of swear words. Before I go further, I will state now and for the record, I am a firm believer in the First Amendment. It is, perhaps, the most important amendment in the Bill of Rights. The dangers of restricting it greatly out weigh the dangers of its abuse. So a writer is perfectly free to use four letter words in their writing. Conversely, parents will object to things they don't like. Legally, all they can do is complain. They can also not allow the minor child under their care to read said publication. Often left out of the debate is that such speech must not infringe on the rights of others. I'd say that neatly ties up the constitutional part of this blog.

Now, what is the problem with swearing? People have been swearing since language was invented. Almost as long, mothers have been threatening to wash their children's mouthes out with soap. My mother had a swear jar. Anyone who used a bad word in the house contributed 25¢ to our household budget. As it became more acceptable to swear in popular culture, mothers found their efforts being undermined.

The explanation came in a St. Anselm College theology class, one day while sleep--, -err, sitting through Introduction to Theology. The words themselves weren't the actual problem. However, their original use had them reserved for when someone was upset. Early man bashing his thumb with a hammer stone, for instance. The language was different, but the words probably were pretty much the same as what one of us would use today. The problem arises when these words are used casually. The coarser the language used casually, the fewer emotional safety valves we leave ourselves for when we're really angry. Eventually, they lose their normal punch, and punching may be all that is left.

With this in mind, I made an effort to tone it down in my writing. In someways, it is actually liberating. I just say he swore. "The chitin had them surrounded. He swore." "'Sir, we've got a problem.' He muttered under his breath." My favorite. A Finnian soldier is told that their flank is being turned. She will "unleash a paint blistering Finnian oath." It leaves what is actually said to the imagination. In my case, it alleviates the problem of the fact that soldiers are notorious for harsh language.

Another factor is that words often have multiple meanings and no one quite agrees on what is or is not a swear. Take for example, the Judeo-Christian prohibition on "taking the Lord's name in vain." This one caught me off guard. I am a good Catholic and make a special effort in this regard. When a reviewer commented outside the review about taking "the Lord's name in vain." I was a little taken aback. I had not, at least intentionally, used the Lord's name in vain. I did a bit of research on Google. Agree or disagree, the following site will bring home the point that in the modern world, we don't agree on precisely what taking the Lord's name in vain really means: www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2007/06/what-does-it-really-mean-to-take-the-lords-name-in-vein/. Those of you who have read Price of Vengeance will note I use the term Creator. As such, it can be part of exclamations. It was the use of "Creator" in an exclamation that the reviewer was objecting to. Did I agree with the reviewer? Yes and no. I didn't feel that a blanket prohibition of using the Lord's name in an explanation was necessary. One often call upon God in distress, even people who aren't religious. One could make several arguments exclamations aren't disrespectful but a cry for help, call to witness, a plea to be present, even a request of patience. On the other hand, I will be looking closely at such exclamations in my next novels.

Will I ever use this reviewer again? Yes. I don't know whether she agrees with my reasoning, but she does understand that I do take such things seriously, and I have the utmost respect for her and her views.

As a person who does reviews, do I "take points off" for swearing? Not as such. I might if I think they are distracting, hence dragging the pace of the plot.

To my author friends, I am not saying that you must not swear. You are well within your rights just as people are free to either object or not buy your book. I am suggesting you keep in mind the reason's behind the objection.

Deus Ex Machina

Deus ex Machina, or the God out of the Machine. What is it precisely? It's original reference comes from Greek plays. It means the day is saved through an act of God. As a basic example, let us imagine we are in a Greek amphitheater watching a play. The end of the play is coming, and the protagonist is fighting with the antagonist. The antagonist is a better warrior and soon the protagonist is flat on his back with the antagonist's spear hovering over the protagonist's heart. And you think "Ah-ha! This is going to be a tragedy." Suddenly, Zeus appears and strikes down the antagonist, saving the day. If you were to see such a play, you would probably leave the amphitheater feeling unsatisfied.

So what happened? The playwright likely found that he had written himself into a corner and had a time crunch. Thus, he chose a simple resolution. However, the audience was asking themselves "Where did Zeus come from." Zeus appeared only at the end. There was no mention of Zeus anywhere. The protagonist now seems cheapened, since he had nothing to do with the antagonist's defeat.

The advent of author's self-publishing has been a double edged sword. Authors who might otherwise be ignored by swamped publishers because the authors didn't include vampires, zombies, or some other "in thing," have an outlet for their creativity that can provide them with at least some additional income. On the other hand, quite of few of these self published authors have made beginners mistakes. Some of these mistakes are worse than others.

I won't mention names, since  I don't want to embarrass anyone. I've read science fiction's novel that began brilliantly. It was exciting. The concept was intriguing and fresh. However, I got to the end, and these aliens came out of no where and saved the day. It was a disappointing ending. In some Christian science fiction novels I've read, an evil immortal enemy is about to win when angles appear and defeat them.

What is the problem? Usually, people expect the protagonist to do something in the end.

So how does the author save the story? One thing they could do is rewrite that part so the antagonist does the work. However, suppose the story is better served is he doesn't? As in the Christian example, it could be a morality tale about trust in something greater than yourself. It can be tricky, but the author's who get away with it best will set it up early. The antagonist could be told that he has to reach a certain spot and perform a certain ritual before the angles come. Perhaps he or she has to find certain relics to perform this ritual. That way, the audience is blindsided. Second, it is established that the protagonist can't do it alone but does need to do certain things himself before he can get help.

I have read many, otherwise excellent novels that fall apart at the end due to the author skipping important steps.

Kurt's Frontier: New Book Review Blog

Hi Folks,

As any who follow me may know, I do review books on Goodreads as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, depending on where I got the book.

I now also write reviews on Invincible Love of Reading under Kurt's Frontier. I am their Science Fiction/Fantasy guy. It's an exciting time for me. You can check it out athttp://melissamfrye.com/invinciblelov.... Thanks for that, Melissa.

How do I decide what to put up there. First, pretty much sci/fi and fantasy. Second, I take a mouth full and spit it into a fire. If it causes a potentially lethal explosion ... Okay, just kidding. I prepick the books from my TBR (to-be-read, for those who don't know). It's a combination of what looks interesting and a bit of "eeny meeny miny moe". That way I don't do too much cherry picking. This leaves open the possibility of a bad review.

I make that decision at the beginning of the month. When done, I write a review. If you see something along the lines of "Review to come" it means I want the review to appear on Kurt's Frontier first. That is usually the third Wednesday of the Month. That weekend I put it on goodreads with the stipulations that appeared on Invincible Love of Reading first. 

I will guarantee an honest opinion in any review I write. I will also say that (at least from this point on) I will post my reviews at least on goodreads. I will not guarantee it will appear on Kurt's Frontier, even if you ask.

I reserve to myself the right to refuse to review a book, as do most reviewers, professional, semi-professional, and amateur. So far, I don't turn many books away, but that could change, depending on my work load. Remember I write myself and I teach. It can also depend on the level of interest or how big my TBR pile is getting.

Thank you to those who follow my reviews. I hope you continue to find them useful.

On the Cutting Room Floor

Part of the reason this post is so late is that I really wasn't sure what to write about. Now I've got something.

I was once told that Mark Twain's wife use to edit his books for him. His biggest complaint was that she always made him take out his favorite parts. I don't know what was in those parts, but I can make some good guesses.

I had just such a moment myself recently while going over the sequel for Price of Vengeance, Promise of Mercy. Not to give too much away, but it takes place approximately 25 years after the events of Price of Vengeance. For those of you who may not have read the book, the hero, Liam, has married the girl he loved, Celinia. In the intervening years, they have had four children. The oldest are identical triplet girls, Deirdre, Aisling, and Bayvin. They also have a son named Aidan. The girls have just completed their advanced military training.

Okay, there's the background. The problem came up when one of the pivotal characters who was allied with the antagonist, was being uncooperative. He was basically threatened with castration. It was a great series of scenes that built one on top of the other. First, Deirdre's uncle hinted that she had made an enemy eat his own privates. (It was a bluff.) She later built on this to make him order his people to surrender. (She told him that if he did, he'd get to keep his lovely baritone voice.) There was one other part where this came into play, but I think that's enough.

Like Mark Twain, I have an editor. I call her Mom. She raised some objections to this sequence of scenes. Primarily, the first book was made to be readable by a younger crowd. I was stubborn. I put a lot of work into those scenes. I rationalized that kids no more about these things than adults want to believe. It shouldn't be a problem.

My warning signs should have been how much fun I had writing them. The person who taught me about plotting (see last blog) warned me that this could often be the case. He's also the one who told me about Mark Twain.

So what made me see the light? My brother gave a manuscript to my 11 year old niece. When she got to that part she went to her mother and said, "Should I be reading this?"

Don't you hate it when mom's right?

Moral of the story. There is no part of your prose that is so sacred that you might not have to sacrifice it. Remember (and I think I'm paraphrasing one of my teachers) you don't judge great writing by the quality of what you put in, but by the quality of what you take out. If great things have to go to make the story work as it should, then take it as a good sign.n

What kind of story do you write?

There are many ways to categorize stories. We often do it by genre (popular, romance, science fiction, etc.), length (short story, novelette, novella, novel, etc.), even by audience (children's, young adult, etc.) So one may ask, "What do you mean, 'what kind of story do I write?'"

I am talking about the story writing process. When I was first learning to write, the person teaching me told me there were three kinds of stories: plotted stories, episodic stories, and twist end stories. In this post, I decided to explore these story telling techniques, passing on, not only what I learned way back when I was learning, but what I've discovered since then.

Two terms that I will be throwing about are protagonist and antagonist. Typically, there is only one of each. In each corner, there may also be a cast of pivotal characters. However, the action mostly focuses on the protagonist and antagonist. It is tempting to think of them as the "hero" and "villain" but they need not be. In a romance novel, for instance, the protagonist can be the heroine and the antagonist is actually her love interest.

Plotted Stories

Plotting is a loaded term in story telling. Many people, regardless of which method they use to tell their story, "plot" their story. In other words, they outline the events as they occur in their stories. That means almost every story is "plotted." However, "plotted" is a very specific style of story telling.

Plotted stories have specific crisis points where certain things must happen to drive the story forward and must have a beginning, middle, and end. Yes, this is true for all types of stories. However, these points are absolutely critical to a plotted story. Before the first crisis is the set up. This is the protagonists normal, every day world. One can think of this as the First Act. The first crisis is where everything changes. Suddenly, the protagonist and antagonist are in collision.

As Act Two begins, the protagonist is usually trying to come to grips with what happened and bring him or herself to an "even keel." The second major crisis usually serves to turn the story around and send it off into a new direction. Perhaps the protagonist temporarily gains the upper hand. Perhaps the antagonist changes the game, forcing the protagonist to change directions. One way or another, things are now different. As I learned it back then, the second crisis came in the middle of Act Two. I typically think of it at Act IIa and Act IIb. Some people decided that it was really four acts rather than three. That is really up to the author.

At the end of Act IIb (or Act III if you prefer) comes the third crisis. Putting it in action adventure terms, the antagonist has the protagonist over a barrel and bad things are about to happen. This leads to the Final Act, or resolution. The protagonist does something to disrupt the antagonist’s plans. Then all the threads come together and bring the story to a conclusion.

Let's go over some other characteristics of a plotted story. Typically they only deal with a limited amount of time. Sometimes an author could using the time limit to place extra tension on the plot. The fact of the matter is that the more time goes on; the harder it is to keep a story tightly plotted. If the plot loosens too much, you could end up with an episodic story.

The advantage of using a plotted story is that it keeps the tensions screwed tight, which in turn keeps your audiences attention. It can be used for any length of story successfully. One disadvantage is that it isn't as easy as it sounds. Many a story starts out plotted and ends up episodic. Another danger is that even when the plotting is successfully executed, it could end up being formulaic. Some romance series are notorious for that. They have a series of bullet points that every author must follow, sometimes taking the character's out of the equation. As one friend put it, you can end up with two dimensional characters simply going through the motions. The best formula is a character driven plot with a plot driven story. Characters are always the key.

Episodic Stories

Episodic stories are stories that are only very loosely plotted if at all. In essence, it is more a series of shorter stories or adventures that combine to make a complete story. Back when I was learning, I was taught that episodic stories were weaker than plotted stories. Since those days, I've learned that this supposition is open to debate. Some of the most successful tales out there are very episodic. Some even get made into successful motion pictures.

Successful episodic stories should have good general outline that contains the underlying current of the conflict between protagonist and antagonist. The more like a plotted story it is, the greater its chance of success.

How else do Episodic Stories differ from plotted stories? Usually, the length of time they deal with is much longer, weeks, months, even years, whereas a plotted story usually deals with no more than a week. For instance, an episodic story can take place over a school year, or a lifetime.

In general, episodic stories are more successful as novels and epics, primarily because of the length of time. I've seen a few attempts at short stories, but they degrade into an outline of events. There is no time for details.

Twist End Stories

Twist end stories are different from both plotted stories and episodic stories. That is not to say that they shouldn't be very well planned out for successful execution. In general, the audience is led down a particular path, only to have their expectations stood on their head at the end of the story. These are most successful as short stories since they tend to break down if things go on for too long.

As a forinstance, a person must go to a certain place. They board a train and suddenly find it a struggle to stay on the train. When the train finally reaches its destination, the hero finds they were on the wrong train.

Summing Up

These are three basic ways stories can be told. That isn't to say that a story is all one thing or another. Plotted stories have had twist ends. Episodic stories have an underlying theme. Don't let the categories limit you. They are there to be tools, not masters.