One Writer’s Journey: A Guest Blog By Scott Gamboe May 11, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, contest, e-books, fantasy, sci-fi, science fiction, writing.1 comment so far
Almost six years ago, my first published novel hit the shelves of bookstores across the country. Several years had passed between the first day I put pen to paper, and the day that book was rolled out. Now, six years and five novels later, I find myself looking back at the path that brought me to where I am today.
A quick bio about me: I currently work as a police officer in central Illinois, where I serve as a crime scene investigator and traffic accident reconstructionist. I live in Peoria with my wife, Jill, and my daughter, Erica. I spent four years in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, where I participated in the parachute invasion of Panama in 1989, and the First Gulf War in 1990-91. I recently got involved in running. Last year, I ran my first marathon. This year, I have my sights set on a Half Ironman Triathlon: swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles. And from there . . . who knows!
I started writing The Killing Frost (science fiction) in 1995. Off and on, for the next several years, I wrote bits and pieces of what would become my first novel. Eventually, after a complete and very thorough rewrite, Medallion Press agreed to publish my book. We signed the contract in December of 2005, and the book was released nine months later. I attacked my second book much harder. After all, I was getting paid to do this now! In 2008, the result of my efforts was The Piaras Legacy, a medieval fantasy novel. Medallion Press picked this one up as well, and they secured the incredibly talented Dave Dorman to create the cover art. For those who don’t know him, Mr. Dorman has worked with George Lucas, creating artwork for Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. I followed this one up in 2009 with New Dawn Rising, the sequel to Frost.
This is where my publishing life took an unexpected turn. Medallion Press changed their format. They were no longer interested in what I was writing. In fact, they switched almost entirely to ebooks. We agreed to part ways, and we remain on friendly terms. I will always appreciate MP for giving me my first shot at publishing.
But this left me back where I started: no publisher, and no agent. Over the next few years, I searched for a new home for my work, all the while continuing to pump out novels: Archon’s Gate, the sequel to The Piaras Legacy. Martyr’s Inferno, a police thriller. A Matter Of Faith (unpublished), medieval fantasy. The First Gambit (unpublished, but under submission), from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And a science fiction vampire novel, 14 Days ‘Til Dawn. The plots for two more novels, a sequel to my thriller and a standalone contemporary adventure, are bouncing around in my head. But where would I publish these books?
Enter Amazon and the Kindle Store. Just as the iTunes Store revolutionized the music industry, Amazon has changed the way we buy books. But it also changed the way we publish. No longer are agents and editors the gatekeepers that can make or break an author’s chance at success. The main benefit to Amazon’s new system is that anyone can publish their novel. The main problem: anyone can publish their novel. With no gatekeeper, books that should never have seen the light of day end up side-by-side with literary masterpieces. This leaves authors struggling to get their work noticed.
I published three books on Amazon: Martyr’s Inferno, Archon’s Gate, and most recently, 14 Day’s Til Dawn. I have high hopes for this last one, and it has nothing to do with the current vampire craze. Actually, the idea came to me while listening to a Tom Petty song, “Freefalling.” The second verse provided me with my story: “And all the vampires walking through the valley; move west down Ventura Boulevard.” Why would vampires move west? To get away from the sun! The next thing I knew, I had a flying city filled with vampires, orbiting a moon in the Alpha Centauri system. The moon has a four-week rotation period, so the nights last for two weeks. Where could you find a better place for vampires?
I’d like to thank Bob Vardeman for graciously allowing me to post a few words on his blog. I’ve been reading his books since the early 1980′s, so it was quite a thrill for me when he agreed to write a blurb for The Piaras Legacy. He has offered me his help a number of times, most recently by promoting my Kindle Fire giveaway. My next contest: three winners will receive autographed copies of all six of my published novels. To enter, you need only post a review of 14 Days on Amazon, then notify me by email. The winner will be drawn on July 15.
Thank you, and keep reading! If you are interested in learning more about me, or my books, you can visit my website at http://www.scottgamboe.net.
Packing Up, Moving On Down the Road April 22, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, e-books, fantasy, sci-fi, science fiction, steampunk, writing.add a comment
I’ll be away from the blog posting for a while as I venture into Tornado Alley. I hope there are no “stories” to tell when I get back. I don’t want “adventures” or “thrills” due to dodging F5s or being pummeled with grapefruit-sized hailstones. If all goes as planned, I’ll be delivering a big screen TV and that’ll be as exciting as it gets.
Until then I’m leaving you with a bunch of links. While I’m gone, buy my books. Help me pay for $4/gal gasoline out on the road. My online store has lots of great stuff. Some free stories, a couple novels under $3 (in the case of Lord of Death and Life, only until I return) and super fantasy, sf and other genres. Sign up for the newsletter and be eligible for a promotion after I change hosts in a couple weeks.
You like sexy spy books? Hot Rail to Hell is what you’re looking for.
Steampunk? You can’t go wrong with the initial story in the Empires of Steam and Rust series.
Great fantasy? You can read the complete Accursed trilogy, which has never been published in the US before (only in the UK).
Or here is the entire 9-book series, Swords of Raemllyn.
SF? Space opera? Give the complete Weapons of Chaos a read.
Or the entire Biowarriors trilogy.
Check out the comprehensive catalog on the Kindle or the Nook
And I’ve done some editing. Want a sampler of some mighty fine writers? Try this one…
Career Guide to Your Job in Hell
Chasing Away the Dust Bunnies…For Now April 20, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, contest, e-books, End of the World, iPad, New Mexico, outlaws, sci-fi, science fiction, Second Life, VIPub, weather, westerns, Wild West, writing.add a comment
No specific theme today but a lot of tidbits that have accumulated during the past few days. It’s been a busy time for me. The last science fair judging of the year is past and, as before, the Manzano Day School kids had some great projects. This was the year when high tech really kicked in. One budding scientist had a video (taken underwater!) showing the effect of drag on swimmers. Another surveyed cooking pans to find which baked the best chocolate chip cookies (I told her bribing the judges with the cookies would have worked well–didn’t really matter. She did a good job. I didn’t know the high-end cooking pans were dual layer with air between. And yes, they seemed to cook the most evenly.) Analysis on the cookies included using a cellphone gizmo to evaluate color which correlated with even cooking. Amazing.
These were 4th and 5th graders.
A couple days ago I got a surprising call from my agent. Last year Berkley decided the Slocum Giant books weren’t selling and eliminated the annual book. My last royalty statement was extraordinary. And I have a new Slocum Giant to do ASAP for likely publication in November. Working title: Slocum and the Silver City Harlot. Others in Western Fictioneers have commented on improved royalties for their westerns. If you live long enough, the wheel always spins back to you. Do love those westerns.
I also love my sf. Check out this review of Moonlight in the Meg from Virgil Kelberwitz of Second Life fame. His reaction to the protagonist not being named until late in the book is interesting. Final Blackout used this technique to even better purpose, I think. Best use of the techniquye–ever–was in The Prisoner.
As you know by now, I didn’t win the $650m Megamillions lottery (I did win $2, though. BFD) However, someone who did win something of both worth and usefulness is Terri D, the winner of a Kindle Fire in Scott Gamboe’s contest. A great prize and I’ll try to get Scott to do a guest blog here on how the contest helped his numbers on Amazon.
Check out another Scott’s new blog. Scott Phillips is now doing a daily blog. Very funny stuff. And touches on a lot of nostalgia. If you remember 8-tracks and hate spiders and…well, read it for yourself. Rattle and Blast.
After 30 years I have stopped receiving a daily newspaper. The $200/yr was a factor but realizing I can get all the news and features on my iPad convinced me to save a tree and cancel the Abq Journal. Their national news is always 2 or 3 days late and local news tends more toward pet adoptions now. I will miss the Trever cartoon on Sundays, but he used to do more and is mostly retired. Having lunch with John on occasion will have to suffice.
I am not sure how many new blogs will be done in the next couple weeks since I am heading over into Tornado Alley. Trust me, I want nothing more than to get back to this keyboard in sunny, dry, twister-free Abq as soon as possible.
Not Just Another Dead Teenager Movie April 17, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, fantasy, movies, movies & TV, sci-fi, science fiction, sense of wonder.1 comment so far
Cabin in the Woods is certainly more than that. I saw the trailer and thought it had some small, itty-bitty twist. Wrongo. I’m not going to spoil anything here, so read on, stalwart souls.
Joss Whedon has taken a lot of ideas from his other series and mixed them together here. There’s some Dollhouse and definitely some Buffy tossed in with Cube and any number of dead teenager movies. By that I mean the predictable cast of characters being knocked off one by one. “We’re safer if we stay together, so let’s split up so the machete-wielding maniac in the hockey mask can kill us one by one.” That plot has been used repeatedly. Only Whedon tells us why in this movie, and it makes sense.
Other than the nifty ending which is not the one you’d expect anywhere along the way (and the scene where a guy is impaled by a unicorn–or maybe the flesh eating merman who has a blood blowhole in the middle of his back), Whedon makes use of every trope imaginable. But he explains them so they are reasonable and makes fun of them and has some nifty characters.
What impressed me was the technique in the movie. Every time you are sure the characters are out of danger or know what’s going on, Whedon ups the ante. More death, more blood, unexpected twists. But I sorta wish, along with a character in the movie, there’d been more of the flesh eating merman. That’s a critter not seen before. Whedon is a master of pacing and playing on the “shock factor” (which means you jump, even if you know the scare scene is coming up–for me, that was the way I went through Jaws. Predictable scare scenes and they were still enough to make me yelp.). What makes Cabin different is the mixing of genres. It’s a dead teenager movie with the blonde slut, jock, geek, stoner and virgin, but they fight back. They are meant to be pawns and rise above the chessboard. But it is also an sf movie. And a horror movie. And the final scene is something else entirely.
The movie was caught up in the MGM bankruptcy so spent two years on the shelf. Glad it escaped.
I am still leery about The Avengers. Too many heroes spoil the broth. After seeing this one, though, Whedon might surprise me pleasantly there, too.
Visit from a Bear January 10, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, sci-fi, science fiction, serial fiction, writing.1 comment so far
Greg Bear, that is. Last night he held a talk/autographing at Page One. In spite of a top of the article mention in the Arts section in the Sunday Journal using words such as “legend” and “master” the turnout was not all that great. Perhaps 30 people?
Anyone not there missed a pleasant, insightful presentation. I’d met Greg once about 20 years ago and was interested in hearing his adventures writing in the Halo universe. Comparing how God of War works viz a vis Halo was an eye-opener for me. Greg is pushing the 2nd novel in his trilogy of the Forerunners, Primoridum, with the third cleverly hinted at.
I was especially taken by his attitude toward writing. If it entertains, it’s worth doing. Crossovers (he mentioned vampire ranch romances, somewhat jokingly, but I am sure there are a lot out there) and tie-ins and sf and…it’s all worthwhile. He pointed out the immense popularity of video games, saying the industry revenue passed that of Hollywood movies back in the ‘90s. I can’t address that but the reports on the recent Call to Duty said it pulled in almost a billion dollars in 16 days. (Eat your heart out, Avatar).
Halo isn’t a series I follow, though I did read Eric Nylund’s First Strike back in the day. Halo sounds like an interesting idea, especially for novels.
In a day or two I’ll have a report on the Kindle promo for both A Career Guide to Your Job in Hell and Moonlight in the Meg.
Greg Bear
Are You Being Undercheesed? January 1, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, e-books, End of the World, movies & TV, sci-fi, serial fiction, steampunk, VIPub, westerns, writing.add a comment
That’s what an ad for a pizza joint asked me. I had never considered life in those terms, perhaps because I drop in on Cheese Magnet regularly. But “undercheesed?” If so, I need to watch more cheesy sf movies. (I did watch This Island Earth last night and no, it is not a cheesy movie. It’s pretty decent and one year Santa will bring me an interocitor.)
I doubt the world will end, but watching Dick Clark’s Rockin’ NY last night made me think it is possible. Poor ole Dick looked like a zombie. Any year that begins with Lady Gaga and Michael Bloomberg co-pressing the lever to drop the ball already has 2 strikes against it. My option was watching “Hair Removal at Home” on Ch 2. Or watching metaluna monsters menace Faith Domergue.
The year is already filling with projects. Have 2 westerns under contract, have agreed to take part in a Western Fictioneers project of a story collection set in Dogleg, Kansas and have lots of other projects begging to be done. No lack of work. Now all I need are sales, so pitch in, everyone, do your part, feed those e-readers you got for Christmas.
I have a small window of opportunity to work on the first of the Empires of Steam and Rust stories so will cut this short. Already up to 15k words in the “First Passage” and just getting into the plot after introducing the situation, the bad guy and the two good guys. And the compressed-air powered dog, Fulton.
Off to see if yet another brick and mortar bookstore has bitten the dust. I leave you with this snarky cartoon hope for 2012.
F-Minus by Tony Carrillo
Out With the Old December 31, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in End of the World, nostalgia.add a comment
And tomorrow it will be in with the new. Pessimist that I am, I don’t think it will be better, but it will be interesting.
In grad school my adviser never gave tests. He presented “opportunity sessions.” He thought they gave us the chance to show what we knew (and I suspect he learned what I didn’t). It might all be in the nomenclature. Control the language and you control the debate. So, consider 2011 one giant opportunity session.
I leave you with this wonderful Lio cartoon. Happy new year.
Lio cartoon by Mark Tatulli
Rollerball December 30, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in business, End of the World, gummint, movies, sci-fi, science fiction.add a comment
When I first saw the movie (the original) I didn’t much like it. A second viewing proved better. I’ve seen the movie a half dozen times and continue to find new things there I’d missed with earlier viewings. It’s borderline great solid science fiction social commentary. The basic idea is Roman bread and circuses, but with the corporations running everything because the nations have gone bankrupt. Seems to me in the real world the government and the big corporations have merged. It is a virtual revolving door between high government posts and Goldman-Sachs.
Part of Rollerball was the dumb game (ok, I admit it, I thought quiddiych was a dumb game, too–those movies increasingly relegated it to the dust bin which was a good move on their part). But James Caan and John Beck as Moonpie and the others got to wear nifty uniforms. This has come to pass in real life. Check out the Oregon Ducks uniforms for the Rose Bowl.
Inspired by the Illuminati
Click the link and scope out all the uniform pictures. The Illuminati vibe is blatant. Were these designed by the Trilateral Commission or the Bilderbergers–certainly it sounds as if Nike developed them for the military. Chaine Maille?
I have often wondered what would happen if an NFL player was killed during a game. What would happen? The cries for banning football drowning out those for more rollerball? I doubt that. We are in a society that wants no risk whatsoever and so need our outlet via football (or rollerball).
Horror and Horror Compounded November 13, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in End of the World, fantasy, ghost towns, writing.2 comments
Why my mind wanders (and why I so often join it) isn’t something that concerns me, even if it should. I just loose the dogs of war and woof my way through. Pacing and horror seem vitally intertwined, but there are different ways of achieving the end of scaring your audience silly.
The gothic style (not goth, gothic) is slow-moving, even glacial. Consider Peter Straub’s Ghost Story. Very slowly paced, but it builds like a mason puts together a wall. Each brick is careful located and when you realize the wall is almost done, Fortunato, it is too late to do anything but rush to the end. Slow build, immensely powerful, quick conclusion. It’s like watching a dam begin to leak. A drop here and there and then the unstoppable flood.
Modern horror relies on bringing out the menace immediately. Instant gratification (or mortification, depending). From here the pace is steady. How do you escalate when all your cards are face up on the table? The SyFy Channel monster movies are certainly in this vein. Monster in opening credits, go from there. I am tempted to say such things are less horror and more shock. Nothing they do these days has the pacing (or impact) of The Birds, if you want a nature turning against us plot. (OK, I admit it. I watched Rage of the Yeti last night. It was actually funny rather than horrific)
For me, horror lies in places not thought of as “horror.” About the scariest movie in decades was A Beautiful Mind. It’s got it all. Isolation. Events beyond the protagonist’s control. Ineffectual help arriving too late. And real horror melding fantasy and reality. This scares me. Lord of Illusions is merely a movie I watch, trying to figure out why I’m watching it again. House on Haunted Hill is a better “shock” movie, meaning it makes me jump–but does not horrify me, give me that brain itchy feeling of dread so I go turn on the lights. Just to be sure.
or maybe the Vincent Price title is more to your liking
If It Only Worked This Way September 26, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in End of the World, ideas, inventions, sci-fi, science, science fiction, sense of wonder, writing.1 comment so far
Scott D returned copies of John Campbell’s Arcot, Wade and Morey books I’d loaned him. Thinking about the stories (pulp super science plots) remained me of something I always realized about the Tom Swift books and other “science” books of the era. Tom or Richard Seaton or any of them could whip up a new stardrive in nothing flat. It wouldn’t work the first time but did after adjusting a valve. Or maybe realizing the theory was all wrong, so it was rejiggered to work right just after lunch. The universe had to be saved before dinner, after all.
This is outright ridiculous and I knew it even when I was an 8 year old reading about Tom’s marvelous inventions. Granted today’s zero tolerance “victory is not an option” makes any given experiment a lifetime project, I prefer the fiction to our new world reality. This only highlights how the pulp writers’ work reflected their world vs ours. Their heroes were super scientists who could come up with complex devices and theories off the cuff. (One exception in YA series of the ‘50s was the Rick Brant series. Rick’s inventions were ordinary in comparison to an ultrasonic cycloplane or inertialess drive and he often developed simple miniaturized radio transceivers over long months, lots of the work taking place “off screen” so the reader only got the result after always-mentioned long and arduous testing)
I wish science worked like the old pulps. Crank out that world-saving invention *now*. Maybe they used time machines to spend the long years of experiment and revision before returning a few hours later with their marvy devices. This would age Tom Swift terribly. He’d be a 90 yr old with a chronological age of 18. Bud would comment on how old Tom looks as he unveils his atomic earth blaster or electronic retroscope–for Bud it might be hours but for Tom it could be years. What price invention?” What price science?
Maybe science has to be done by committee now, overseen by bureaucrats to make sure nothing happens. The pulp era is still a potent wish-fulfillment for me when it comes to mad scientists and major inventions.
