Heading into the Break & Possible Debut

This week happened . . . I did stuff . . . I’m still getting over a cold.

Really nothing else going on beyond that.  I do more work on a future story and I wrote up a bunch of guest posts.  I can’t send them out until The Mercenary Prince goes live and I’m really hoping that’s tomorrow.  Don’t hold me to this because some delays have appeared, so it’ll be cutting things close.  This makes me wonder if I should attempt a Christmas Day release.  Not sure how effective that would be.  In the past, I’d assume everyone is off-line with their family.  Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if people were on-line to escape family or indulge in new toys.

Beyond that, I’m still scratching my head in terms of marketing.  I’m doing the same stuff I always do, but I can’t find anything new.  Seems a lot of stuff requires that I have more free time than I actually do.  Guest posts and promo sites are great, but there has to be something else.  Damned if I know what it is though.  At least stuff where I don’t have to sacrifice my dignity and self-respect.  Removing those from the equation means one could do anything to sell books.  Not my style.  Though going by my numbers it seems my style is to fall into oblivion.  :/

Seeing ‘Star Wars’ on Monday in the morning and then Wednesday is the first day of the kid’s 2 week break.  I don’t know how often I’ll be around during that time because health and weather are factors.  I will be trying to edit Crossing Bedlam at night and get the promo posts for it ready for the later half of January.  I might be getting a day or two solely for editing, which will be nice.  Some days I’ll be the lone parent while the wife takes on-line skill modules to up her resume.  Small chance I can edit during those periods if the kid decides to play on his own.  I’ll carve out my author time when I can.

Sorry this isn’t more interesting.  Then again, WordPress has been quiet this week and I simply am not an exciting person.  Since I stopped revealing future ideas, I haven’t had much excitement to report.  I don’t do much during the week besides writing and parenting either.  Those don’t scream blog hits and I don’t want to use my son as clickbait or whatever.  He makes an appearance from time to time, but that’s really it.  Next month will see more insight into what I’m writing and the creation of the next two releases.  I hope that garners more attention even though I’m doing a week of ‘interviews’ that might flop into the mud.

One thing I need to figure out is my next project once the kid goes back to school.  I have Book 13 of Legends of Windemere, the next Ichabod Brooks short story, and the sequel to Raven’s Hold.  The 2nd option won’t take very long and the last one isn’t needed until October.  Though I really want to get into the big series and see if I can writ the last 3 books before the end of the year.  Could always edit Book 12 too.  Maybe Ichabod and Book 12 to keep the workload low as I prepare for Crossing Bedlam to get released.  Then get the paranormal thriller out of the way and give myself a clear push for Legends of Windemere and I’m just rambling now.

What are the goals for the week?

  1. See ‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’.  Never speak about it in public.
  2. Edit Crossing Bedlam.  Little by little.
  3. Release The Mercenary Prince as soon as possible.  Connect to marketing sites and send posts out to others.  I will be doing it in HTML like usual, but feel free to mention if you need it another way.
  4. Prepare January posts.
  5. Entertain son during his break.
  6. Figure out what movie to take him to on Christmas.
  7. Get over this cold.
  8. Drink tea out of ‘Squirrel Whisperer’ mug from Ionia.  Love this thing.  🙂

A preemptive thank you to everyone who has offered to help promote the new book when it comes out.  I really appreciate it.

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New Book Promotion 2016 – A celebration of Short Stories, Novellas and Anthologies

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Night of the Ghost Dance

Starry skies are set abuzz
Killing all but a lonely echo

Evil rises in moonlight dim
Leaving their shadowy tomb

Ears of vapor listen for the concert
To tell them when to dance

Once it starts, the dance is endless
No ghost will resist the magic

Summoning all without flesh
A night of fun in the spectral gala

Making the world of death idyllic
Before the sun begins its daily arch
And ends the ghosts’ euphoria

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Progress! *hack cough wheeze*

So we’re getting close to completion, but still not 100% certain it will be ready to go by the weekend or Christmas.  Fingers are crossed though.  At least when I’m not sneezing or coughing.  I caught a really bad cold, which may cause a few issues.  Mostly me being able to stay awake or function properly.  Writing has taken a slight back seat while I try to get my head together.

That’s really it.  Wanted to keep the teasers coming even though WordPress has been extremely quiet.  At least on my end.

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Questions 3: The Common Man Among Superhumans

Han Solo has nothing to do with this topic

Han Solo has nothing to do with this topic

The topic works off the idea that Delvin is a normal warrior among a group of superhumans.  You see it very often, but the characters in this role don’t typically rise beyond sidekick or fodder.  Rarely do they become a full-fledged hero unless they’re in a comic book.  That medium has a tradition of the ‘weaker’ heroes either growing in power somehow like Bucky Barnes becoming Winter Soldier.  So let’s play around with the idea of a protagonist who isn’t more than human:

  1. Who is your favorite powerless hero? (And you can’t say Batman.)
  2. When writing or reading about a hero without special abilities, what do you do or look for to make them stand out?
  3. What do you think is the appeal of having a hero without powers in a world of superhumans?
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Spectrum is green! My #NewRelease Escape From B-Movie Hell is Go!

M T McGuire's avatarM T McGuire Authorholic

Yes, it’s here, that book launch that I’ve been incredibly quite about (not). But at least you can console yourself with the fact that it’s launch day so that means I might finally shut up about it.

Escape From B-Movie Hell is … AVAILABLE! Phnark. Grab it from your vendor of choice using the luscious links on this page:

http://hamgee.co.uk/books/escape-from-b-movie-hell/

9781907809262_FullcoverLowRes

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STAGES OF CHAOS: Denial, Fear, Survival…(Guest Post)…

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

STAGES OF CHAOS: Denial, Fear, Survival

Have you asked yourself, “Is this really happening to me?” That feeling is part of my Stages of Chaos theory. When something happens to us that is just too terrible to wrap our mind around, we deny it. We simply can’t process such a trauma. In fact, our brain is hardwired to block out trauma, but on the flip side, we carry those memories deep within and they impact our behavior.

When we realize that the situation is real and we need to either face it or bury it, we are faced with an unbridled fear; almost a choking fear that takes away every ounce of happiness. That is when things begin to dim and get quite dark.

Faced with these two emotions, survival eventually breaks through and we realize that we cannot give up. We have to keep going. No matter how hopeless…

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Something Really Cool!

A big rafflecopter for the holiday season.

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

My dear friend Sue Coletta put together a Rafflecopter event that you can take part in. She organized 30 of her favorite authors in one huge giveaway.

These are mostly crime authors, and if you know Sue that makes sense. She saw fit to include a couple of paranormal tales, one of which is my own Will O’ the Wisp.

Logic dictates: 30 of her favorite authors, I am one of those authors = I have a fan. (No takebacks)

There are some pretty heavy hitters on this promotion, and I’m honored to stand among them.

Some of you will be inclined to go right to the entry, and so here is the link: Rafflecopter

Others will want to see what’s up for grabs. I’m going to let Sue tell you about it herself. Take it away, Sue.

 ***

In keeping with the holiday spirit I have the best surprise…

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Thinking of 2016 Guest Posts

Yahoo Image Search

Yahoo Image Search

I’d mentioned I would write this up in a day or two, so here it is.  As of now, I don’t have the cover art or sale link for The Mercenary Prince.  That means I can’t do any guest blogs to help promote it until I have them.  Yet I can still see if anyone following me is willing to host a post.

I did have a list of sites offering guest posts, but I kinda sorta lost it.  Wasn’t keeping too tight a hold since I had no idea when I would have a new book coming out.  I still have an issue in regards to figuring out a topic too.

Anyway, if you have a question for me to use for a guest post or have a ‘series’ on your blog for such a thing then please let me know in the comments.  I’ll get the post to you along with cover art for the new book and whatever else you require as soon as I can.  Thanks and enjoy the rest of your week.

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Post Revisited- If you have Magic Healers, why are there still diseases?

This was posted on August 19th, 2014 and was part of a ‘series’ where people asked questions about Windemere.  Not the characters, but the world itself.  This was fun because not everything can be tossed into the books without an info deep and small details can be missed.

White Mage from Final Fantasy

White Mage from Final Fantasy

This is a fair question since magic can do so much, especially when you have healing potions and magic doctors.  So many people get confused when people are dying of diseases and injuries.  It gets even more baffling when you have priests who heal people for free.  That removes the concept that people can’t afford a healer, which happens a lot in an attempt to either explain the existence of diseases or make all priests in the world come off like greedy bastards.

Windemere has a few reasons why diseases still exist.  The smaller reason is that priests are not everywhere.  You get sick in the wilderness, at sea, or in a town without a healer then you can die.  Priests are also not stationed everywhere so there are areas where you need to send for one or pray to the gods that one happens by.  Even then, there is no guarantee that the disease can be cured.  That brings me to the main reason people still die from getting sick.

I’ve mentioned a few times that everything in Windemere has a magical aura.  I mean EVERYTHING!  For example, inanimate objects have them even though they rarely put up a form of defense against magic.  So it isn’t too hard to believe that disease possess their own aura and magical resistance.  This means that a priest needs to get his or her aura to override the disease, which factors in the following:

  • Experience of the priest.  Younger followers will be weaker and only get stronger through experience.  Old priests with a high cure rate rarely travel too because of their age.
  • Severity and duration of the disease.  The longer and more severe, the harder to cure.
  • Resistance of the disease much like how we have Antibiotic Resistant Viruses.
  • God of the priest.  Neberith the Goddess of Healing would give more oomph than Skragor the God of Disaster.
  • Overall health of patient’s aura.  A priest can boost their own success by utilizing their patient’s inner magic, but you have a problem if that has been weakened.

So you can see how curing a disease in Windemere isn’t as easy as hurling a fireball at a goblin.  This is why priests don’t charge for the service because they can never guarantee success.  There are a few potions that can do it, but those take a long time to make and cost a lot.  Potions, scrolls, and other items like that are how temples make money beyond donations.  Even then, there’s always a chance that the disease might react poorly to the potion and the situation gets worse.

Guess now everyone can see why Aedyn Karwyn spends so much time praying.

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