The Yak Guy Project – Guest Post by Lisa Burton…

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Hi again, Chris. It’s so nice to get away from the writing cabin this time of year. I really appreciate you inviting me over today.

Obviously, this is a promotional tour, and my job is to talk about Craig’s newest book, The Yak Guy Project. This book is based around the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The Yak Guy himself is the fool who is about to go on a journey.

Universal link

The first person the Fool meets is the Magician. Yak Guy meets the yak. He serves much the same position as the Magician, in that he’s a mentor. This was also part of the research that went into this story. The Magician is a bridge between the spirit world and our world. The yak is a bridge between our world, and the new world this story takes place in.

On top of it all, I found…

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Signature Weapons: Almost as Important as a Name?

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Simon Belmont

Simon Belmont and his whip.  King Arthur and Excalibur.  Doom and the BFG 9000.  Samus Aran and the Power Suit.  All of these are characters that can be identified by their weapons.  You see them holding it or not even their whole body, but you just know who is holding it.  I’m sure everyone can think of one right away even they don’t watch or read a lot of action stories.

I think the concept of a weapon or item that identifies a character has been around longer than fiction.  Mythology is filled with it like Zeus’s lightning bolt and Perseus’s shield.  If I mentioned the jawbone of an ass, you would think of Samson.  Although, I guess it doesn’t work if you don’t know the story.  So, the exposure of these objects don’t come immediately, but they do become universal among fans and as the story itself becomes more popular.  This is also why you might see people use ancient weapons in newer stories.  Pull out Excalibur or Gungnir and you get some attention right away.  Readers will expect great things from whoever holds these famous weapons.  They will even expect those characters to reveal themselves to be connected to the original owners, which is a downside to using an established signature weapon.

As a fantasy author, I think a lot about the weapons that my characters wield because it’s a core part of their existence.  Even the lack of a weapon can be an identifier like with Dariana and Gregorio.  One fights with her fists and the other doesn’t fight at all.  Yet, most of my characters do have the signature weapon.  I didn’t even realize I did this until I wrote Clyde, which I’ll admit is a bit silly.  Considering I had Luke Callindor with his sabers since Beginning of a Hero, one would assume I’d already thought long and hard about this subject.  A reason I didn’t is because this felt like a natural part of character creation.  As I said, these weapons are a part of their core, so it was on the same level as eye and hair color.

The reason I began thinking about this is because I ran into a big problem with Clyde’s signature weapon.  Originally, this was a chainsaw that had various incarnations.  One was enchanted by a mage to have a fire blade and fit in his pocket.  Another connected to his wrist and was powered by his blood.  Then there was the regular one that he had strapped to his hip like a sword.  All these were fun to think about when it came to fight scenes, but I had a problem once I moved Clyde to Windemere.  That would be the existence of a chainsaw making absolutely no sense.  Gnomes could have made it, but technology hadn’t come far enough along for the time period I put War of Nytefall in.  The idea that anyone would make this thing for a single vampire was ridiculous too and I didn’t see the species carrying them around.  For one thing, why wouldn’t you see chainsaws in other societies since a mortal would have found one at some point?  Sadly, this meant things were looking bleak for the signature weapon.

The answer was one of these babies:

Tooth Sword

I forgot how I stumbled onto these weapons, but they’re swords and clubs that are edged with shark teeth.  This gave me the idea of a metal sword that had teeth and I mimicked the chainsaw motion with a vibration spell.  To make it more unique, I attached it to a gauntlet that has needles inside.  They drink Clyde’s blood to power the magic and he wields it similar to a gauntlet dagger.  Given his strength, I could make it fairly large and storage ended up by an enchanted pocket that can only hold the weapon.  This is why I consider this the toughest signature weapon that I’ve had to make so far.

In comparison, Ichabod Brooks using a longbow came out of nowhere.  I gave him one in his first story along with daggers, but it wasn’t going to be his main weapon until I gave him a second adventure.  I noticed how often he used the longbow and it just stuck, but would have a variety of ammunition and enchantments.  Too bad they can’t all be that easy.

So, what are some of your favorite signature weapons?  Have you ever made one in your stories?

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New Release: The Yak Guy Project by C.S. Boyack #asmsg #dystopian #bookboost

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Sean Harrington

(Let’s have a round of applause and comments for special guest, C.S. Boyack!)

Thanks for having me over today, Charles. You usually get a visit from Lisa, my assistant and spokesmodel, but today it’s me. There is a bit of a personal story behind this book, at least as far as inspiration goes.

One of the common topics for a blog tour is what inspired this book. I’m going to address this here, but it isn’t easy for me to talk about. My own son helped inspire this story, and not in a good way.

There is a whole generation of young people who appear to be lost. We coddled them when they were young, and protected them from anything distressing. This includes the use of participation trophies, defending them to school administrations, and making sure they had the latest and best technological devices growing up. This generation has never been told no.

My son is one of these people. I admit my role in all of this, and my wife’s role too. He is one of the people hooked on opioid painkillers, and lacks any ambition or desires whatsoever.

It’s possible The Yak Guy Project was my attempt to reach a happy ending here. Somewhere along the line my son, and the Yak Guy, never got life’s lessons the first time. Yak Guy was given a second chance, but he has to learn many of these lessons the hard way.

At the beginning of the story, Yak Guy is a parasite upon his friends. He has been sleeping on their couches, eating their food, and not providing one iota of assistance back in return.

The story takes place in an alternate world, and Yak Guy has to learn the basics like food, water, shelter, he has to learn to take care of his personal possessions. There is a scene where he learns to interact and show a bit of gratitude to someone who helped him.

This may sound kind of mundane, but it takes place in a harsh environment. Learning these things is one way to survive heat stroke, abandonment, predation by animals, and starvation. His actions have consequences, and some of them are life and death consequences.

When he is deemed worthy by his mentor, a talking yak, he rejoins society and starts learning even bigger lessons. Things like brotherhood, friendship, sufficiency, and even love.

The Yak Guy goes from a parasitic lifestyle to someone worthy of respect and becomes a valid leader. He learns how to value those less fortunate than himself, and to help them survive the harsh realities of this world.

It’s also one of my stories, so it has some warfare, a few swords, and the occasional lighthearted moment. I hope you’ll join The Yak Guy on his journey.

Add it to your Goodreads ‘To Read’ List!

Blurb

Imagine waking up in the desert with no idea what happened to you. You have clear memories of situations and places, but a complete loss in personal matters… like your own name. This situation is bad, and you have no idea how to get home.

When you’re rescued by a talking yak, the situation gets exponentially worse. You’ve obviously lost your mind. The immediate needs of a ride off the salt pan and searing heat, along with a drink of water, outweigh the concerns about your mental state.

This is exactly what happened to the Yak Guy. In fact he’s been placed in an alternate world and given a chance to start over in life.

Can this selfish, almost parasitic, young man learn to start over in a world where charity is hard to find? Life is brutal and short here, but he’s going to have to adapt or perish.

The Yak Guy project is loosely based around The Fool’s Journey from the Tarot. Those with experience in Tarot will spot people and situations from the Major Arcana.

Pick up your copy by CLICKING HERE!

I was born in a town called Elko, Nevada. I like to tell everyone I was born in a small town in the 1940s. I’m not quite that old, but Elko has always been a little behind the times. This gives me a unique perspective of earlier times, and other ways of getting by. Some of this bleeds through into my fiction.

I moved to Idaho right after the turn of the century, and never looked back. My writing career was born here, with access to other writers and critique groups I jumped in with both feet.

I like to write about things that have something unusual. My works are in the realm of science fiction, paranormal, and fantasy. The goal is to entertain you for a few hours. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Social Media

Blog My Novels  Twitter Goodreads Facebook Pinterest

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Think I’m Wearing Down Near the Finish Line

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

This post is coming right after I had a strange lucid dream about not finishing the second War of Nytefall book even though I was going to start the third.  No idea where that came from since I finished editing Lost on Thursday. That took longer than expected because of errands and other events, but I got it done.  I have a cover artist for Quest of the Broken-Hearted too, so I’m really looking forward to that.  I thought I was hiding who the main character would be until a post in late June, but I just realized I’ve talked about this before.  So, I’m looking forward to a fun reveal.  That’s really it on the writing/publishing front for this week.

Non-author life is going to be taking a bigger chunk of my time.  My son learned how to ride a bike last weekend and then earned his purple belt in martial arts, so that took up a lot of time.  Now, he wants to ride whenever he can, but the weather and schedule hasn’t been his friend.  This week is going to have a lot of stuff for him.  Doctor appointment, the usual martial arts classes, the Invention Convention on Tuesday that I’m going to, and then his big recorder concert.  This leads into a weekend with a comic convention (He’s donning his Green Lantern costume again) and a birthday party.  Needless to say, we’re going to have a lot on our plate and I’m just hoping he doesn’t get too tired by the end of it all.  That’s when things get more difficult, but not in the same way people are probably thinking.

With everything going on, I’m not even going to try and tackle War of Nytefall: Temptation.  My plan is still to get it done before my son finishes school in late June, but I’d have to be an idiot to start it on a week that’s so clogged with events.  Best to focus on preparing the July blog posts and finding other small projects.  Otherwise, I’ll stress myself too much and the book will suffer.  Much like Lost, it involves another new vampire turning up to cause trouble for Clyde, but this one is much more malicious.  It’s going to require a truce between the warring factions and have a focus on Mab whose past is rearing up.  That’s not good for someone who has been a thief for a couple centuries, so it should be fun.  That’s the strange thing with War of Nytefall.  As much as they’re having their war, the old-world vampires and the Dawn Fangs are in a stalemate for most of the time.  It’s other figures turning up that break the pause and begin a scramble to either gain more power or prevent a third entity from turning up.  I find this more interesting than every book being a specific battlefield.  Considering I like having my stories more character than event driven, I guess this makes sense.  This is also why I need to make sure I can dive into this at a full click.

Beyond that, I’m trying to figure out what I’ll be putting on the TV for background. I’m watching an anime called ‘Amagi Brilliant Park’, but that’s a short one.  Really strange and silly at times, but it’s fun.  I have Amazon Prime and Netflix, so those give me possibilities.  Except that my wife usually wants to watch them too and that means I can’t touch things like Gurren Lagan, The New Legends of Monkey, and whatever else is on the list.  Not unless I want to watch them again right after I finish.  At least, I have some time today and tomorrow to look over the lists.  I considered Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but I wouldn’t be able to finish that in the time I have.  Not writing this week gives me 5 weeks to write War of Nytefall: Temptation and that’s not a strong window.  At 3 sections a day, I could do it in 19, but I typically don’t get weekends.  That’s 25 days and I rarely get a full week of 3 section days.  I’d be coming down to the wire on this one.  This is going to do wonders for my anxiety.

So, what are the goals of the week?

  1. Parenthood
  2. July blog posts
  3. List of August topics (suggestions always welcome)
  4. Watch something on TV
  5. Cook dinners
  6. Finish writing this post and get a shower
  7. Possibly watch first Pokemon movie with son
  8. Tinker with another Sin book/outline
  9. Rest
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Testing the Waters: Future Heroes Visiting Current Ones

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

When I wrote The Mercenary Prince, I didn’t know exactly what I was doing.  It was one of two books that I added at the last minute because I realized Delvin Cunningham never had a chance to shine on his own.  Somewhere during the outlining stage, I decided to have him go toe-to-toe with Dawn Fangs.  This would be the first time I used them in more than a background or hired enemy way.  It didn’t sit well with me since it turned them into standard monsters or villains, which I realized would do harm to the War of Nytefall series.  What was I to do?

Well, I remember seeing a trick with television shows when the creators wanted to make a spin-off.  In a later season, they would make an episode that focuses on the new characters and stories.  Believe this is called a backdoor pilot.  If it’s popular then it becomes a series . . . Although, I guess it could happen it if wasn’t popular too.  The point of this might be to get a feel for how the new idea will be taken by the audience.  You can adjust between this debut and the new series as well.  If things don’t work out then you can just mark it down as a bad episode.  Needless to say, I wasn’t considering that last part an option because I wanted to make sure this worked to give a big introduction to the Dawn Fangs.

The answer was to introduce one character from War of Nytefall and have them give more information about Dawn Fang culture.  This could be seen as a spoiler since you’ll know this one survives the series, but it also adds a new question.  How did the Dawn Fangs go from Clyde and his gang to this vast global society that lives in both the shadows and the light?  Of course, I could only think of one person to use that would make any sense.  The other characters would be massive spoilers or they wouldn’t bother getting involved with Delvin.  As it stood, the one who did make an appearance wasn’t too interested in the champions.  She was there on business that simply crossed over with what he was doing.  Hence, Mab made her debut before all the others.

I enjoyed getting a feel for Mab because I felt that she would be the character right behind Clyde in terms of importance.  He definitely stands atop the pack, but there are times I think the story is more about her.  Anyway, I used The Mercenary Prince as a way to see how she would come out.  Keep in mind that I made her more jagged around the edges because she’s been through some things in her own series.  Still, it was a fairly successful outing in my opinion because I accomplished the following:

  1. Clearing up how you can kill a Dawn Fang.
  2. Establishing how deadly they are while still making them human.
  3. Explaining how Dawn Fangs function within the rest of Windemere society.
  4. Show how their powers work and how they are varied by the individual.
  5. Successfully introduce Mab.

The one thing I didn’t do, which I admit was a mistake, was show that Dawn Fangs could eat more than blood.  This had already been put into their design, but I never bothered having Mab drink anything more than blood.  So, I had a problem of continuity between the two series.  Why would this happen?  Well, I plan on fixing it soon by establishing that the Dawn Fangs have spent a lot of time pretending to be other species.  Some hid among traditional vampires while others among mortals, which determined the type of diet they would eat in the open.  Also, they will drink blood around those who smell of power in order to keep their own energy high and as an act of intimidation.  Delvin being a champion fit the bill and the older Mab is more into intimidation than the stealthier younger version.  This is all stuff that I have to slip into War of Nytefall, which is another demonstration of continuity.

Thankfully, this introduction went smoothly and it did get some people interested in the Dawn Fangs.  With it only being Mab showing up, the chance of continuity issues is reduced.  The worst that could happen is that I screw up her younger self, but I was repeatedly going back to my notes on her to make sure I stuck the landing.  The shadow traveling was different, but that’s because she’s much older and other things happened in that realm.  You can’t have everything the same, but at least I only have to explain how things got there.  Sometimes having the ending is better than having the beginning.

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How Creative Writing Can Boost Your Intelligence

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

We authors are smart because we write the words that make people go ‘ooooh’. 😛

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

This is a guest post by Sally Keys. You may remember her from her guest post, Creating The Time And Space You Need To Write Your Best Work. Sally is a professional freelance writer with many years experience across many different areas. She made the move to freelancing from a stressful corporate job and loves the work-life balance it offers her. When not at work, she enjoys reading, hiking, spending time with her family, and traveling as much as possible.

How Creative Writing Can Boost Your Intelligence

How Creative Writing Can Boost Your Intelligence | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's book Photo by Dustin Lee on Unsplash

Globally, the average IQ has increased by 20 points over the last 100 years. Many reasons are given for this and all, no doubt, play a part. The fact is that we live in a very different world to the one of 100 years ago. By examining these differences and comparing them to research into…

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The 2018 Author Interview Series Fring Joleene Naylor

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

This gallery contains 7 photos.

Don Massenzio It’s time for the next subject for my 2018 author interview series. Author interviews are posted every Friday throughout the year. I am honored to continue this series with author Joleene Naylor You can catch up with all … Continue reading →

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Incursion, on #LisaBurtonRadio

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Lisa Burton

Hey there all you space marines, special ops, and saboteurs. You’ve landed on Lisa Burton Radio. The only show that brings you the characters from the books you love.

I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl, and my special guest today is Irene Sol Vianini. “Welcome to the show, Irene.”

“Thanks for having me. So many interesting people have been here before. It’s a true honor to be one of them now.”

“Your story is a bit different than many people we get on the show. To set the stage a bit, aliens are about to invade Earth. A special unit is assembled to wreak havoc upon them, prior to them reaching the outer Earth colonies. You are part of this special unit. What can you tell us about that.”

“I’m a scientist on the factory ship Lapland. Our part of the mission is to build any parts the…

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7 Tips to Writing Prequels and Not Hurting the Originals

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Age of Apocalypse

As I said, prequels are a risky endeavor because you can easily slip up and make a mess of both series.  Continuity becomes very fragile since you’re basically traveling back in time and we all know how often that turns sour.  Many authors might think of this as nothing more than writing any other series and assuming their own memories will guide them to safety.  Unfortunately, we are creatures of improvement and dabbling, which means we always have a chance of getting hooked on a bad idea because it’s cool for this specific story.  So, what are some tips to writing prequels?

  1. Make an outline or note system that focuses on areas that the two series can or may crossover.  Mark down where you go into descriptions for cities and creatures in the original to make sure you don’t redesign them.  Note your systems like magic, currency, politics, and religion to keep them either the same or at an earlier stage.  As strange as it sounds, you can’t always trust your memory here, especially since you have two series at risk.
  2. Not every cameo has to be indulged.  Sure, I’d love to have Nyx or Luke Callindor meet with Clyde, but there’s a small problem.  They haven’t been born yet.  Even a hint at their future existence is difficult.  You can try to give a nod to future events, but it’s more difficult with characters.  If they don’t exist or haven’t done anything to garner even a speck of attention then you have to work extra hard to get them involved.  I guess some match ups have to stay in fan-fiction.
  3. There are ways to make cities differ from series to series.  Things change over time, so you can make them smaller and still growing.  Still, you need to keep it the same to some extent to make sure people don’t think you made two cities with the same name.  For example, Gaia will be smaller in War of Nytefall, but it will still have the arena and griffin mountain.  Landmarks can really help here.
  4. Because I said so is not a way to get out of creating a paradox.  Either work a way to fix it or admit you made a mistake.  Preferably, you catch everything before publishing though, so this tip might be one that comes too late.
  5. If you know you’re going to write this series before finishing the first one then put in a few foundation points.  This will help establish a link and put you in the right mindset to keep them in the same world.  By already having created part of the new story in the old one, you forge a mental link that will carry over.  It can be as simple as mentioning old adventurers in passing or showing a creature that will play a prominent role in the next story.  It doesn’t have to be blatant, but it should be memorable for you.
  6. Never be afraid to go back to your original work and notes if you feel like you’ve made a mistake.  Our instincts can be pretty strong here, so it doesn’t hurt to take a few minutes to indulge them.  This goes for first drafts and editing stages.  In fact, you can simply make a note to check later if you’re scared of losing the flow.  Although, I would assume that the flow is broken by your own worry and doubt.
  7. Talk to those who read the original to learnwhat they think about a prequel.  You can get an idea of what people expect to see, but remember that you have the final decision here.  So, don’t go about adding characters that shouldn’t be there because everyone wanted to see them.  This will also give you an idea of what readers remember the most from the original, which will be in their heads when they read the new series.
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Who Should You Listen to – Reviewers, Peers or Readers?

Posted on May 9, 2018 by Charles Yallowitz

Excellent post on taking advice. This is a part of being an author that tends to fly under the radar, but is as much a part of the journey as editing.

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Lily Kaligian | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's bookThis is a guest post by Lily Kaligian. Lily is an editor at Businesscheck.co.nz and Canadabiz.net. She creates a variety of articles about careers, entrepreneurship, technology, business, education, as well as travel and personal development.

Who Should You Listen to – Reviewers, Peers or Readers?

Having your writing work read and appraised by others can be a very emotional experience. When you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating a novel, a short story, a poem or even just a blog post, you need to know that it’s not just you who sees your creation as valuable.

But writing and reading are incredibly subjective. One person’s prize winner could be another’s trashy holiday read. It can be hard working out who to trust when it comes to feedback and critique. Whose opinion should you take into account when reviewers, peers, and readers all have something to say?

Reviewers

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