Lightning Spliced- copies are selling!!!

Hi everyone. It's shorter Jen/Madeline again. I wanted to write to inform you some happy news in the midst of all of this sadness. 

1) I wrote to JC Hutchins who kindly emailed me back. Not only did he have wonderful things to say about our beloved Zellie. He also blogged about her. He promoted her book. Savannah Writing Group Friends- you know her and her love for JC Hutchins and her love for writing more than anybody else. I hope you enjoy this post by him! I hope EVERYONE enjoys this post. 

Click here

2) I logged into her LuLu page to see how things were going. So far she has 5 eBook orders and 22 paperback copies sold! No! Wait! I just checked again- 23 books sold now! 

We still have a lot of work to do to double, maybe triple this number. Zellie ordered 20 copies when it was first published (this is not counted in the 28 sold), and once those arrive, we can 'approve' it so it can be sold on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. With enough pestering, we could get it into brick and mortar stores. You will all be posted on the book's progress.

In other news, just to update you, Zellie's body will be cremated and her ashes will be spread somewhere beautiful since she liked to travel. A bunch of us Zellie fans will be planning her memorial. The date for that is TBD. You will be updated.

I am sorry I am not as good a writer/blogger as Zellie. But please know I have every tiny ounce of her interest in my heart and I am doing everything i can to keep her dreams alive. 

So many people have stepped up- many of you are responsible for these book sales. You have made her smile, laugh and continue to dream. You have given her good memories. You have supported her during her worst time. She appreciated all of you, and as her JenTwin, I appreciate all of you too.

A book on the shelf is not a guarantee nor is rejection the end

The news that 7th Son:  Deceit won't be in book stores hit me hard.  I've spent years of writing and hard revision on Lightning Spliced.  I know many authors don't get their first book published, or even their second.  I've come to accept that challenge–feed off it, even.  But the thought of being a published author with two books under my belt, with the name recognition that comes from articles in the NY Times and Publisher's weekly….then being denied anyway?  That has me staring at Mt. Everest with broken gear.

I understand the financial rationale and that  makes me all the more grateful for e-books and podcasting.  7th Son: Descent was more set up than anything, the story takes off with Deceit.  I'm thankful that this story was not buried under the bed, that I got to enjoy it and so did thousands of other people.  

I'm the kind of person that hopes for the best but prepares for the worst.  Of course, I'm determined to find an agent and then publisher for Lightning Spliced.  I'm confident that it's a marketable novel that avoids the mistakes of Heroes' later convoluted seasons.  But I know there's a possibility that industry professionals won't agree.  I will refuse that death knell.  I've worked too hard to accept that.  One way or another, my novel will find its audience.  

Transmedia storytelling: Do you want blood with that battlescene?

I geek out over stories that cross the boundary between fiction and reality.  It's one thing for words to make you see a piece of artwork, a step further to actually see it.  I had an unintentional moment like this with CHAINFIRE by Terry Goodkind.  When my plane got stuck on the runway for two hours in the snowstorm, I had plenty of time to get deep into this book.  So I'm visualizing Nicci as she sobs to Richard that she failed him, it's all her fault…. "I don't want to live anymore.  It hurts too much.  Please, use your knife and end it."  Out of the corner of my eye, I see red-brown blood pour down.  My heart stopped, then I realized….it wasn't blood.  It was dirt washing down the windows as attendants de-iced the plane.

But that feeling stayed with me and I wonder about the future of books given technology like the Kindle, Wii, and iphone.  Right now, we can pull a finger across the screen to turn a page but that just scratches the surface of the tactile opportunities available.  What if you turn a page of a mystery, a the killer takes another victim, and blood pours over the pages?  A fantasy novel that sets the tone of a chapter with an interactive image?  What about a puzzle in a thriller that allows you to press the screen like a minigame to find the answer?  

Children's books utilize the medium more than adult books do.  I've got a graphic novel draft of a supernatural murder mystery told exclusively through primary evidence.  I'd love for the pages to have the texture of post-its, photographs, and plastic, as appropriate.  At the scene of the crime, I want copper imbedded in the page like a scratch-n-sniff so it smells like blood. 

It's an ambitious project and I realize that publishers might be hesitant to invest in it because it would be more expensive to produce.  So I keep on the lookout for the limitations and opportunities arising with multimedia and new technology by absorbing everything that is J.C. Hutchins.  He recently got the opportunity to interview two members of the publishing industry about the possibilities of deepening the reader's experience.

Top 5 villains who haunt my nightmares

Writing books tell me I'm supposed to like the three-dimensional antagonist who is just a reflection of myself, who is justified, blah, blah, blah.  And I do enjoy the depth of those like Zach's father in Personal Effects:  Dark Art.

But my very favorite villains are psychos all the way!  I love quirky bad guys with a method to their madness that makes sense to them if not to anyone else.  I want them to be passionately motivated \with varying levels of emotion.  I like a villain with sense of humor, that bit of humanity wrapped in evil chills me.

Sylar - from Heroes.  omg this guy puts a face to the bogeyman under my bed.  All he wants to do is figure out how things work….an innocent enough pursuit for a nice enough guy.  Until he graduates from dissecting watches to dissecting brains.  Aside from ripping abilities out of people's minds, he has no interest in hurting anyone.  It's just an unfortunate side effect of the process.  Unless they get in his way, which of course they do, and then he has no choice.  I like this idea of a villain 'forced' into his villainous actions.

Dread - from Otherland by Tad Williams.  This guy constantly has a song in his head, usually classical music.  There's something very disturbing about a man who kills not out of anger, but with serenity.  He's specific about his violence, not one of those bad guys who tries to make it into the Guinness Book of Law-Breaking.  He has zero interest in being a sexual deviant, finds it disgusting.

The Joker - primarily the incarnation from The Dark Knight.  He's dedicated to the challenge of anarchy.  He's gleeful about destruction and his stories about his past contradict each other so you don't really know why he is the way he is…maybe there's a hint of truth in all of them, or maybe he had a perfectly well-adjusted childhood and is just rationalising why he is how he is.  One of the most interesting moments with him is when he says that he would never want to kill Batman, despite how much he seems to try.  Batman is his companion in freakdom and the challenge that keeps him stimulated.

The Dark Man - from Personal Effects:  Dark Art.  I've never been terrified by an elusive 'dark presense' before but wow.  I love the hints of madness and how the protag fails to maintain his sanity in the face of the abnormal.  

Zcythe - from Lightning Spliced.  Okay, okay, she's my own villain but I had to get a female up here.  This girl loves killing people because she thinks it's fashionable from her custom knives to the skull clips in her pigtails. She's so happy-go-lucky I can't help but want to hang out with her.

One thing these villains all have in common is that they are far stronger than the protags that fight them.  Just when the protag thinks they've got the antag cornered (Joker's in jail), all hell breaks loose.  The antags push the protags to the edge–off it–buildings explode, people die, drama ensues!

Trust your cookies, buy some books

I don't have the numbers to compare the cost of samples vs. revenue generated but I can tell you that if I taste a good cookie, I buy a good cookie!  That goes for everything from kitchenware to books.  I'm wary of false advertising.  I've been burned by photoshopping and other tricks.  The results of that flat iron are always perfect on the model, but what happens when I bring it home?  

If I can't test something, I don't buy it.  I hate shrinkwrapped comics and magazines that deny me the opportunity to find out if the product lives up to the hype.  The sale is lost.  

There's a great place here in Savannah called Byrd Cookie Company.  I've tasted enough bad cookies to be biased and believe that fresh cookies are always better.  But Byrd has a huge Cookie Shanty in their store with samples of all their cookies–key lime to red velvet cake and everything in between.  In the times I've visited, I've probably eaten a $12 box worth of cookies.  But that opportunity to taste-test instantly killed all bias I had against boxed cookies.  They trusted their product and it was deliciously well-earned trust (:  Now I buy cookies as Christmas presents, going away presents, 'just because' presents…. The Cookie Shanty also makes a fun tourist stop that I recommend frequently to guests at the B&B I work at and I make sure to bring any of my own visiting friends there as well.  I probably don't want to know how much me and my friends have spent there but it's far, far more than the $12 worth of free samples that convinced me to start spending.

J.C. Hutchins is a master of leveraging free content and his latest project will either give you some last minute gift ideas or get your brain churning on what you want to spend that Barnes and Noble gift card on.  He's gotten twelve samples together from a  variety of great authors spanning from sci-fi to business, all in a convenient pdf.

Happy holidays (:

Cocoa, cookies and clones: a kil[LROY2.0 IS HERE!!! ] combination

As much as I'm dying to re-read PERSONAL EFFECTS, I must step up to a higher drug of choice.  7TH SON:  Descent, originally launched into the stratosphere as a free podcast, just dropped on the same day B&N ran a free cocoa and cookie promotion (they just think it's unrelated).  If that wasn't enough to sell you, check out this first line:  "The president of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a fo>>>  [ WARNING ::: DATABASE ERROR ::: CONTENT OVERRIDE ::: SOURCE: EXTERNAL ] <<<

> source terminal location: UNKNOWN

> source terminal identity: UNAVAILABLE

> source login information: ENCRYPTED

> message begins

 the post you are now reading is designed to dull your senses to THE TRUTH.  do not live the life of the worker bee, the cog, the well-oiled piston in the MACHINE OF DECEIT!

there is a grand CONSPIRACY afoot.  you have been taught to believe that you are UNIQUE, one of a kind. THIS IS NOT TRUE. long ago, a cabal of scientists created technologies to ensure that ANYONE'S MIND AND BODY can be duplicated.

human cloning isn't NEAR. it's already HERE. discover the truth at http://JCHutchins.net

you are being DECEIVED. break free from the cogs, flee the hive, become A PROPHET OF THE TRUTH!

>>> [ CONTENT OVERRIDE CEASES ::: DATABASE STATUS: RECOVERING ] <<<ance of tech research or you could read the first ten chapters.  Once you've been inducted into the Beta Clone Army, you should know that the withdrawl is deadly.  Given Hutchins' constant stream of content, all is not lost.  You're welcome to join my daily exercise routine — bellydancing to the second book in the series currently available as audio:  7TH SON:  Deceit.  Even John Alpha needs a good hip drop (or forty) once in a while!

Personal Effects: Dark Art Review

I've read many a back cover that claims a book is "gripping," "pulse-pounding," and a "fast-paced thrill ride." PERSONAL EFFECTS by JC Hutchins actually delivers. (ha, you see? I'm capitalizing now like a Real Writer! ^_~ ) The concept alone sold me (partly because I drafted something similar but didn't have the means to see it through). It's a book that crosses the boundary between fiction and reality by including pieces of evidence from a murder case. There are phone numbers you can call, birth certificates, and more. I enjoyed translating the braille but most chilling was the piece of artwork. Reading along, I took the paper and did as the the characters did, folded it to match up two symbols…. BAM, message smacked me in the face and I loved it.

I didn't expect the writing to be anything special because concepts often sell weak writing.  But this is some of the best I've ever read. My heart raced through the majority of the book — if it wasn't so damn scary I would have finished it in a night. I was dying to get to the end just so I could read it all over again.

There are some spots that could have had less backstory although it's so quirky and fun that I'd hate to see it go even for the sake of pacing.  At first, I thought I had everything figured out but the line between reality and fiction is even thinner than I realized.

If the characters don't do it for you then you may find parts overwrought, but I was right there with them every breath. It's freaking brilliant. Hutchins layers the fear and builds quirky, unique characters… I mean, Lucas the parkour expert? But the traits aren't just throwaways, they relate to the plot.  Even their affectionate " 'dore you" slang is an integral clue.

I don't usually like metaphors and similes because they're often cheesy, ridiculous or overly poetic at the cost of the story but I was drinking up those in PERSONAL EFFECTS. The protagonist describes his hyperactive brother as "pop rocks for the soul" and you hear that "the sound-scape of the city played kick-drum backbeat to our high, ragged breathing." The unique specifics he chooses make the story leap off the page.

I also just plain loved the characters. I'm a geek and not just a geek but a weird geek. I often have a hard time finding characters I relate to. Pretty much Jaenelle from THE BLACK JEWELS trilogy by Anne Bishop and Stargirl in STARGIRL by Jerry Spinelli. That's it. But Zach, Rachel and Lucas had me from square one. I love Zach's relationship with Rachel, it's geek romance perfection yet still conflicted enough to stay interesting. Sometimes authors fall back on manufactured conflicts, miscommunication mainly. But the moment Zach and Rachel's relationship is tested was heart-wrenching because it was so real.  They each had very valid reasons for their opposing choices.

In conclusion, I have a new favorite author.