Moving

Just to let all of my loyal readers know that my primary site is now at www.overlordmpress.com

See you on the other side (site)!

Melange and Morsels are Available !

Melange and Morsels are now currently available via Amazon, for Kindle. I'll be making them available through other channels soon. Check out www.overlordmpress.com for details!

Taking Longer Than Expected

So, if anyone out there is still reading the blog (I hear crickets...)

Ok, one of you. Thanks for standing by.

I planned to have the writing out a few months ago, but Limbo persists. Sometimes, its a fun (and/or sadistic) dance that leaves your joints cracking for all the world to hear. At least then you get a laugh out of the ordeal. Some situations give us a Limbo that is essentially clamping down on all available choices...

For example: signing a year-long lease in a new geographical when you're not sure how long your job is going to keep you there. Staying with family is only friendly for so long, but luckily the conflict is only minor. Thank God it's nothing like what I've written for my characters! I would not want to be them or have their families. But signing a lease for a year only to find out I'm getting transferred again would be financial suicide. So... I'm stuck in Limbo.

And I bring up the lack of Internet again because that lack of permanent digs is really what is creating the holdup for the Internet, which in turn holds up the rest of my livelihood. Believe it or not, I'm actually laughing now, because I find myself thinking that a few years ago I would have gone completely nuts without it, I was so addicted to those online games (when you're neglected, lonely and depressed, you can pick up a quick group of "friends" to play with for a little while, who "need" you (need a tank, a dps or healer) and you feel included. Now I use it as an excuse to hit the sewing machine, or the workbench, or the treadmill.  Funny how that works.

So: I have a few things I am planning to publish for peanuts. One is a collection of micro fiction (Melange), the second is a collection of flash fiction (Morsels) and the third is a fantasy novella that I had been brooding on how to write for several years called The Falconer and the Wolf. Okay, eight years actually, since the last time I went to the Ren Faire and watched the falconry exhibition and was inspired to write something about them.  I didn't know what at the time, except that it would be about a wolf who fell in love with the falconer (heavy Kij Johnson/Neil Gaiman references here in my brain). I didnt think I has enough meat to make the story interesting or different. So I sat on it, until the ideas popped into my head through some random connections and voila! The story was born. I'll let you know when it's available. 

I'm hoping very very very very soon.

Life is Strange...

... When you have little access to the Internet.  One doesn't realize how much of their livelihood depends on it, especially when that new aspect of livelihood is rooted in reaching people through the way they find most comfortable.  A lot can --and has-- happened since my last post.  Settling into a new job, spending more time with my family, friends from my hometown all consume the bulk of experiences, and its been wonderful.

 I've also been into MMA in general and UFC in particular. There's a lesson here, watching these guys pummel the crap out of each other then shake hands or hug and congratulate one another:

It's nothing personal.  When life throws crap at you and it knocks you down, you can learn from the experience and move on.  The fighters that turn into jerks and hold grudges don't survive long.  The guys with the better attitudes do. Thank them for each punch and kick then move on to the next fight having learned something valuable.

50 Gallon Bucket of Ideas

Coming up with 50 story ideas isn't so easy, even when the fiction surrounding it is only 55 words long. Some days are just flooded with ideas, and then for a stretch I'm crawling across the wastelands looking for water. Instead of trying to stick to one genre, I just jotted down whatever came to mind. Here's how I battled it out to fill the "50 Gallon Drum":

Randomly picking one of Georges Polti's dramatic situations (check the search engines and you'll find a lot of information on this)

Randomly opening the dictionary (yes, an actual hard copy dictionary. Will be useful in case of an apocalypse, if we can still read)

Randomly opening the yellow pages (yes, we still have a few of those, too)

Pulling books from my shelf and randomly opening them

Let me explain a little more about the last one, in case I give the impression that I am plagiarizing. I am distinctly not using anything about the core of the story or any specific parts thereof.  What happens here is that I open a book, and I'll use one of my Sherlock Holmes mystery collections.

I randomly picked "The Adventure of the Empty House," and I read a line about Holmes checking for anyone following him.

That gives me the idea of someone walking home, with the dread of being followed. Now, I can take it the typical route of horror or drama or I can give it a comic twist. I don't try to play too long with something that doesn't interest me at all, but I try not to go through too many rounds before trying to work am idea up. Then it stops becoming random.

To continue with the last tip, if something I read is interesting but I can't necessarily find a conflict in it, instead of discarding it altogether, I do a second random opening. Same book, but this time I get "The Greek Interpreter" and a line about giggling in a venomous way. I love it, because now I have the idea of someone being stalked through the darkness, followed by a creepy giggler. 

And of course, now comes the barrage of questions, letting me know I've got something intriguing: Why is he giggling? Why is he following this particular person? Where is the 'victim' going? 

Those are only a few of the tools I use and I certainly don't use them for entire novel or novella story arcs, but for individual scenes or the very short fiction I've been writing lately, these work just fine.

Here's to your own bucket filling quickly.

For those ready for my first attempts at self-publishing Melange should be available by the middle of next month, barring any major catastrophes. 

After some thought and experimentation, I discovered this essentially works on Kindle too (I don't have Nook to test it there), but if you open a book and randomly slide the marker ball thingie, you get essentially the same result. Just don't do it to a book you haven't read unless you like spoilers.

Gone but not forgotten

I know its been a while since I posted anything, but life has an annoying habit of getting in the way.  I recently moved to another state and am trying to get life back in order.  Luckily I have such an amazing and supportive family and a great crew of friends too. 

So the writing is back on track and I  hoping to have Morsels out by the end of the month (living with limited Internet access is practically insane nowadays, but it can be a blessing).  I also have a shorter project planned - Melange.  A series of microfiction inspired by the enthusiasm I witnessed during a Google search. 

Melange describes it - science fiction, horror, post-apoc (of course!), modern "lit" fiction. Different moods too - I go for everything from serious and dark to silly.  I will post again here when it's available for Kindle and Nook.

Here's hoping you pick up a copy and enjoy it!

Flash Fiction is not just Fiction Written in a Flash

...as I am discovering.

But what an exercise! Flash fiction truly forces the author to pick the meatiest words and the central punch in order to realize the entire story in the crunch of word counts. I worked on the flash fiction anthology, Morsels, and looking for alternative markets, stumbled across this gem of a contest:

Be Brilliant in 55 Words or Less

So, I entered. I won't post my story, "Mourning Chorus," here.  If you visit the site and read the story, let me know.

It's listed under the name Victoria Burke, not T. R. Neff. And it should be easily recognizable by the image of a "familiar mushroom cloud" (which is a cheesy graphic I did years ago when I was first learning Bryce. Nifty program, by the way, if you are into 3D graphics).
 

Update: As of 18 JUN 2013, the story still has not been published. The folks who vouched for the sites validity are now scrambling with "ahhhhs" and "uuummmmms."

Since the site seems unwilling to publish it, I will.


"Mourning Chorus"

Fallout rains from a sickly morning sky.  Sour winds carry howls of dying victims. I tuck us into a bathroom without windows.  Ignoring my own pain, I wrap my arms around my sons’ shoulders. To stay strong, I sing a hymn. Soon, my boys join in.  Four of us, as a chorus, thwart mortality, unafraid.

Edit: This entry was finally added, but too late to qualify for May's prompt. I still got some reactions, which are greatly appreciated and even more valuable than the cash at this point in my burgeoning career.

Also, my non-apoc story "Rictus" is published there as well. That graphic isn't mine, however.