Fanatical Pupil

Neal Stephenson talks about new book Reamde

August 2nd, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

It took me a couple days after seeing it recommended on Amazon to realize that the title had the ‘m’ before the ‘d’. Whatever the case, it sounds like a good cyberthriller… though I’m a little put off by the subtitle “A Novel” which I thought was usually reserved for literary novels. I’m not trying to knock on Stephenson at all when say that because when I say “literary novels” I really mean “pretentious novels.” Because really, who had to say their book is a novel? People won’t know? They won’t be able to figure it out?

And the UK cover, which is not quite as “literary” and also probably a lot more informative:

Creating A Collectible

June 2nd, 2011 § 1 comment § permalink

So, I sell DVDs on Amazon after I watch them (unless I think I’m going to want to watch them again, but even then sometimes I sell them anyway since I’m paying for Netflix every month). I got Agent 5: A Night in the Last Life Of for Christmas (I think because it was recommended on Netflix and then taken off).

After watching it, I put it up on Amazon. It took a while but if finally sold. Why is this important? Well, it’s not so much important as interesting, because the buyer just happened to have the same name as the director. And lives in LA (where all movies are made). So, the conclusion I draw is that the buyer and the director are one and the same.

Then, the question becomes, why? Did The Director not keep a copy of the movie for himself? (Perhaps not a final release version?) This seems highly unlikely, though not impossible. Perhaps he wanted to buy a copy for a friend and decided that it was somehow better to buy a used copy than whatever he would have to pay to have a new one put into circulation. Or, my most unlikely but favorite theory, Mr. Desotell is trying to turn his work into a collectible item by buying up all the copies in existence and destroying them. He is driving up the value of his work by increasing it’s rarity. Perhaps Matthew Desotell has a Google Alert set up with his name or that of his film in it and will be informed of this post and leave his comments. Or if his plot is as devious as I imagine, then he will not.

Americanized Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

May 29th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

(Please note this is a red band trailer and should only be viewed by people who are allowed to view that sort of thing)

While it may seem simplistic or thick-headed to say “This preview looks awesome” when compared to the (perhaps) more high-brow Swedish version (I don’t know if it’s necessarily more high-brow since the book was not compelling enough to make me want to see the movie). But when I watch the preview I realize how much I could have liked The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo if it had filtered some of the historical back story while simultaneously sharpening the action and tension. Perhaps there is something to be said for drawing things out – I’m sure some people would refer to it as ‘pacing’ – and I probably don’t read enough mysteries to have a great feel for how long they take to build the requisite amount of tension. But, I usually grade a book in a series on whether or not it makes me want to read the next one in the series, and I wanted nothing to do with the other two books in the Millenium series after finishing The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. When the movie comes out (after building hype for another 7 months), I will judge it by the same criteria and see if I want to see the next movie. If it lives up to the promise of the trailer, I think I will.

The Athena Project by Brad Thor

April 21st, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Come on now. I was just reading this 7 Deadly Questions interview with Joanna Penn and while talking (or writing, I suppose) about kick-ass female protagonists, she mentions a book by Brad Thor called The Athena Project. All I can say is, it’s a good thing I published Episode 1 of the Valkyrie Project only 6 days after Thor’s release date for The Athena Project, because I will be the first to admit that the premises sound very similar. Although mine is clearly speculative near future fiction while Brad’s takes place in a contemporary setting.

Another key difference is that the first 4 episodes of The Valkyrie Project are currently available in all electronic formats for free on Smashwords, while Mr. Thor’s book will set you back $14.99 for an electronic version (though the hardcover version is somehow available from 3rd party sellers starting at only $5.82). The Athena Project is also available at The Chicago Public Library, which is probably where I’ll get it from because I’m not a fan of hardcover books (especially owning and storing them) and there is no way I’m going to pay $14.99 for an ebook.

And it looks like another key difference is that The Athena Project is being made into a movie. Since it sounds like a book I would probably like, it sounds like a movie I would like as well. I’m all about kick ass female protagonists: Buffy in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Sydney in Alias, Kate in LOST, Sarah Connor and Cameron in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Echo in The Dollhouse, Olivia in Fringe, Kate in Castle, even Nikita in Nikita. Also, from that list that I was able to come up with off the top of my head, it appears that I’m not the only one who likes a strong female presence in their sci-fi (or detective or spy comedramas). Also, it should be obvious from that list why I am writing an episodic sci-fi serial with a female protagonist. In fact, if Facebook still allowed free form text in their Favorites section, I could probably just put: Episodic Sci-fi Serials with Female Protagonists as my top favorite thing.

Final key difference (for now), Athena was the Goddess of War (among other things, of course, but mostly war) who sprung forth from Zeus’s head while the Valkyries decide who will die in battle and then select from among those who die the ones that will join Odin in Valhalla to prepare for Ragnarok (sort of making them eternal warriors, which is kind of awesome). I will be interested to see if Thor’s book uses the Athena aspect at all or if it just comes as a name for strong females that the government though sounded cool when they named the project. The Valkyries in The Valkyrie Project take on tasks that at least resemble those of their Norse predecessors, and I am trying to make the correlation as strong as possible within the context of the story.

Valkyrie Project Episode 4: More Immediate

April 11th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Download “Valkyrie Project Episode 4: More Immediate Now!

From the description:

Ana and Marisol are tasked with breaking up a weapons deal between the Continuum and a reclusive bioengineer.

Sounds like standard fare, but I assure you, this one is anything but standard. It is what some might consider my finest writing to date (at least I look at it that way).

Look at this quote that I would like someone to write about it:

Episode 4 is the best so far, with action that doesn’t stop and shocks and jolts that will make you jump like Kris Kross! Nels never lets up on the pace and I’m pretty sure I literally had a heart attack half way through!”

That would be pretty awesome if someone wrote that, right?

Episode Notes

Seriously, though, I really like this one. I went over and over the revisions and each time I reread something I’d revised I thought “Yeah, that really does make it even more awesomer [sic].”

I actually have some director-style commentary that I wrote while going through this episode, but I’m going to save that for some bonus material to add to the Amazon version that I will actually be charging people for. That version will be a collection of the first five episodes, and I’m going to make sure it gets distributed to not just Amazon, but the iTunes store as well. I had thought about making Episode 5 exclusive to that collection as a marketing ploy, but that just seems lame, or like I’m some sort of drug dealer (though a really bad one if I’m giving away the first four for free). So, instead I am thinking I’ll add the director’s commentary (and maybe some actor commentary, deleted scenes, or bloopers!) for the “pay” version.

Stat Updates

Seems like a good time to throw some numbers out there…

(All numbers represent free downloads)
Episode 1: 259
Episode 2: 270
Episode 3: 172
Episode 4: 31 (since 4/10/2011)

I did see another spike for the first three episodes when I put number 4 up there, but since it’s already dropped to the 33rd page of All Books on Smashwords, I’m not expecting a lot more indirect traffic until Smashwords decides to put up some “People who read this also read:” type widgets. Seeing as how they’re making money off every book that someone pays for on there, I’m not sure why they haven’t implemented that yet. They do at least list other books by the author when you look at a particular book page, and I’m sure that’s what accounts for the spikes in downloads for the other episodes when a new one goes up. But it would be nice to get some cross-author traffic going. I suppose I could review other people’s books (since I have read a couple), but when I see authors writing reviews it seems like they’re just trying to get more traffic back to their own page when people click on their name from the review. It just feel dirty, like a very transparent attempt to game the system… but I’m sure it does drive at least a bit of traffic back.

Other “charts”: Episode 4 is still on the 2nd page for most recently published General Sci Fi and #4 for MRP Free General Sci Fi, and I’m pretty sure that’s how anyone not following this blog will find it going forward.