I will be at The Book Rack in Mesa, Arizona this Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm signing copies of The Travelers’ Club and the Ghost Ship and Twisted History. Please come out and stop by. Thanks to Patti Hulstrand for setting up this event, and thanks to The Book Rack for supporting local authors!
The Book Rack
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Filed under Writing
There are two things that a novelist hates the most. First, the editing process. Second, and the worst, is a negative review of your book, which I have not faced yet, thank God. Since the first of May, I have had my hip and part of my leg replaced due to an adverse drug reaction, then rehab, physical therapy, and so forth. After that, I developed an infection and fluid in my lungs which has left me breathless for over five weeks because they can’t give me what they used to, because it caused the bone death. All of this has set me back from my original planned release date of The Travelers’ Club – Flame and Ash (Book 2 of 5 in the Travelers’ Club series). It is written, and has been for awhile, but now I face the editing…sigh.
The book as it stands is about 430 pages long in 6″ x 9″ trade paperback format. I have four sets of edits, which means basically rewriting the around 1,700 pages. I pay a professional editor, Jacob Shaver to provide edits. I find from him, that like some coffee is decaffeinated, apparently my writing is de-hyphenated. I have to add around 100 missing hyphens. Along with that, he speaks four languages and corrects my poor French and Spanish. (I get the conjugations and gender messed up as I speak only English and German). He points out my use of collective language that I need to squelch, those times I leave out setting during action or dialogue, and many other things. He is nice enough to put little exclamation marks on the parts that are good, which keeps me going through all the mark-ups.
The second editor is my wife. She owns half of everything, including being a 50% partner in my S-Corporation through which my book sales flow. She was once my “silent partner” but now that I am semi-retired and a full time novelist, she is a very vocal partner. She tells me all my spelling mistakes and areas where characters are “out of character.”
The third editor(s) is my weekly fellow authors at the Central Phoenix Writer’s Workshop. I must credit them with teaching me 90% of what I know about writing. I thought I knew writing until my first piece was critiqued. I’ve learned a lot. About half of my chapters have been reviewed by this august body of boon companions. They give me not only writer hints, but also reader hints. The most helpful to me is if there is any scene where they do not know what is happening. I write in a visual style, and I don’t want the reader to ever be confused or skip over parts.
The fourth editor is the toughest – me. I can’t help but go back while making the first three edits and find myself adding and altering. Perhaps the first three edits are symbiotic in my creative portion of my mind and form new ways to express the story. Or, maybe you can always change things in your book, every time you edit it. My first book, I was a rookie, and had my editors and edits finish in three days. As a result, the first edition had errors. I put out a second edition with a better cover after going back and re-editing it again. This time, as with the second book which was an anthology with lots of help, I will be thorough in the edits.
My health improved, events and book signings scheduled, there is nothing for it but to slog through and get it done. My fourth book is due out in December, the fifth next Spring, and this baby needs to be put to bed.
Filed under Writing
The folks at IronQuill have posted a review of The Travelers’ Club and The Ghost Ship. The League of the IronQuill can be found at http://www.ironquill.net.
Here is their review post:
http://www.ironquill.net/ghost-ship-sets-sail-with-steampunk-adventure/
Filed under Writing
The Steampunk Book Club met on Wednesday night at Lux and invited me as their speaker/guest. They also selected my book, The Travelers’s Club and the Ghost Ship for their book of the month. Thanks to all you wonderful fellow Steampunk fans! I hope you love the book.
Filed under Writing
Last time I posted this I messed up and you had to download it. Here it is on YouTube – thanks Christopher Wilke at the Iron Quill!
Filed under Writing
LepreCon 38 starts TOMORROW, it goes Thursday through Sunday!
The event is held at the Tempe Mission Palms in Tempe, Arizona. For a link to find out more, go to:
http://www.leprecon.org/lep38/index.php
I will be appearing in seven panels, a book signing, and a book reading, as well as selling autographed copies of my first two books in the Dealer Room. Hope to see you there.
My personal schedule:
Friday
LIT-Good, Bad & Ugly of Genre Fiction 1-2pm Palm E
Whether it’s made into a movie and television show, some of these genre fiction stories are good or bad for their fans. We will discuss when such stories get ugly for the general population. What’s good and bad about Twilight, True Blood, and other genre fiction works.
SCI – Laboratory went Boom 6-7pm Joshua Tree
A discussion on laboratory mistakes and how they lead to discoveries and/or spectacular failures.
Saturday
SOC-Here comes the Apocalypse 2-3pm Xavier
The Noah story and other end of days’ theories – facts or stuff for the fiction books? Why are the apocalyptic story lines so prevalent in today’s television, movies and books?
Autograph session in dealer’s room 3-4pm
SCI-The Stem Cell Hamburger Drive-Thru 4-5pm Xavier
Stem Cell Hamburgers, would you eat them? A discussion on the current state of genetically engineered food and animal cloning in general.
LIT – Independent Publishing Update 5:00-6:30pm Palm F
What’s new on the horizon for the Indie authors and publishers? There is so much changing that it’s hard to keep up with the technology used to support the pros and entertain the masses.
LIT/MED – Why is Steampunk picking up steam 7-8 pm Palm E
Sherlock Holmes, Wild Wild West, The Three Musketeers have all shared a new major element in their story lines and that is adding steampunk. Why has the turn of the century historical costumes, gadgets and ideas become so popular today?
Sunday
Michael Bradley Reading 11-11:30am Boardroom
Excerpts from Two Books – The Travelers’ Club and The Ghost Ship and Twisted History
SCI/LIT – Science research for book writing 3-4pm Xavier
Questions that will be discussed: Will guns rust in space? If we use super hot water for propulsion, how will the engines hold up or work, long term? Can we recycle the space junk left behind by the Apollo teams when we live on the Moon? Can we make a multiple planetary lander today or can we even expect this in the future?
Click on the video link below to hear and see the new clip advertising my novel – The Travelers’ Club and The Ghost Ship.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21227970/TravelersClub.wmv
Chris is a fellow author but also a graphics art designer and marketer extraordinaire. He will be launching his own new site soon to help aspiring writers – The Iron Quill. I will let you all know when IQ goes live.
Filed under Writing
My wife wanted to get out of Phoenix for a bit so first we went to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday in Apache Junction. Then our son, on spring break from college at ASU, was nice enough to watch our ferocious hounds for us for three days for us to go to Christopher Creek, a small cutout in the Mogollon Rim Pine Country just past Payson Arizona. It was 85 when we left Phoenix and so we were unprepared. My wife got me to bring a coat, which I never do, and it was a good thing. On the way, just past Fountain Hills on the Beeline Freeway, we saw all the mountains ahead of us covered in snow. Hmmm.
I had a call earlier that day I had ignored with a 928 area code – from the place we were going. I had thought it was just the usual confirmation. I listen to the message and they say we might need a four wheel drive or chains. Hmmm. We of course had neither. I call them and they say no problem, it is clear now. We go to Payson, pick up some food, and head up the snowy road to Christopher Creek, only to be stopped ten miles short and told the road was closed. I told the Sheriff we were told we could make it. After some negotiations, he told us we could try, but if we got stuck, no one would come help us until the morning. My wife and I chose to take our chances, and were the last normal car through.
Here is the entrance the day we left, after the snow had melted. At first I could not get my car inside:
After we parked outside the cabin, it got really cold again. They estimated they might get another 6 to 8 inches. Here is what my car looked like in the morning:
Here are some pictures of the area, including my wife, me, the picnic areas, and the Mogollon Monster, who looks just like he is cold more than menacing:
That last picture is literally the view from our porch. Our cabin was right on the creek itself, but no one was walking the path too much lol. We had a great time even though we were snowed in for the whole time. Gave us a chance to unwind. The cabins had no cell phone reception, no wi-fi unless you wanted to sit in 30 degree weather in the snow outside, and only four TV channels. One was the channel for the lodge, one was all informercials (living hell), one was Ion Channel, and the other was HNL. We did not do much TV. They had books and games. My wife and I played Scrabble, but first she had to sort the letters because someone had supplied about 1.6 times the right number.
When we were driving back we were Jonesing for some good coffee. At home we brew our own fresh and the cabins had horrible stuff in a bag they told us was coffee, but we weren’t that sure after trying it. Anyway, we stopped at a cool place called the Mountain High Coffee Works, which had a variety of brews and wi-fi! We caught up on my smart phone and her Kindle Fire and drank some real coffee.
The new owners there were pretty awesome, Phil and Roxanne. We talked awhile and my wife noticed they had the latest copy of ConNotations NewZine on display, which has two of my stories in it. Patti Hulstrand had dropped them off there. That led to one thing after another and I gave them an autographed copy of my first novel, The Travelers’ Club and the Ghost Ship. Here they are, the proud new owners – of the book of course!
We had a great time, but it’s good to be back home where I can play with the hounds and update my blog. Have to get back to finishing the next two books tomorrow…
Filed under Humor and Observations, Uncategorized
Just started a Facebook advertisement for The Travelers’ Club and The Ghost Ship that will run until the end of March. Let me know here if you see it pop up on the right of your Facebook page! Wish me luck.
Filed under Writing
Thank you so much Bob Leeper for mentioning me in your article about local digital publishers. Here is a link to the story:
Many of you may know Bob Leeper as the owner of Evermore Nevermore or the organizer of Second Friday’s in Mesa. He is a great guy and was nice enough to include me and some of my fellow authors in the story. Thanks Bob!
Filed under Writing
Michael Bradley - Time Traveler 