All posts in category the Human being

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


The classic editor comes and goes from this dashboard, so some learning curve will be involved in the coming days. Now I might need a couple of weeks to get used to the new thingy, but hopefully it won’t be too messy. Slowly getting the hang of it, so to speak.

Anyhow, Newsletter #1 is ready to roll with a full novel as free download. It goes out tomorrow and you still have time to subscribe, get the free story immediately and wait for the novel tomorrow. Still can’t figure out how to put sign up forms elsewhere, so please hop off to the publisher’s site and dump your email in the newsletter sign-up, thank you! 🙂

Also, last days for the sci-fi bundle… grab it now if you haven’t already! Do you like space opera? How about military science fiction? Do you love the old masters and especially the book club, where you bought one book and received ten more? This is way better. https://20bookpacks.com/IASFA-Sci-Fi-Book-Bundle

The International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors (IASFA) is a professional organization focused on aligning readers with authors. We are building the organization that currently numbers over 600 authors published within the SFF genres and growing. Stay tuned as each month we’ll offer full book samplers for free along with less frequent paid book bundle promotions. Help yourself to find your next favorite author by joining the IASFA newsletter. https://iasfa.org/book-promotion-calendar/

My friend Francesco Verso published his first collection of short stories in English. If you’d like to try some Italian sci-fi, here’s what he has to say:

Writing short stories – contrary to popular belief – is very hard. You can’t procrastinate, you can’t hide behind turns of phrase, you have to know where you are going and which buttons to press to reach the point in as few words as possible. Paradoxically the short story is the narrative form most suitable for the accelerated times in which we all find ourselves: brief, dense, and compact, the short story is a precious and agile interface for understanding the future we will be living in for the rest of our days. These are my first eleven short stories written between 2008 and 2020, inside you will find a kaleidoscope of visions of the future, ranging from augmented reality to artificial intelligence, from gamification to #solarpunk, all the way to biotechnology and post-humanism.

You can find his book on Amazon.IT (and probably the other marketplaces as well, but this is the link he gives).

And for a different kind of sci-fi, Cygnus Rising by Craig Martelle, the first book in the Cygnus Space Opera series, is on sale for 99 cents from tomorrow. “From the ashes of their past, Cygnus was rising. From space they came, to space they returned, humanity searching for a way home.” Grab it from your favorite retaile fromr April 1. Limited time and no, not an April Fools’! 😉

Now back to regular programming! Last week I wrote 13K (more or less like the previous week) on my urban/contemporary fantasy Duology, hoping to finish a fist draft by Easter. There’s still some way to go in world-building and other stuff, so I don’t think this will come out anytime soon, but well… I’m on it! 😉

Now that Holi came and went, I had to rewrite a couple of scenes in the Duology… but I’m keeping everything in the “deleted scenes” file, just in case. The Duology ends in October, hence I won’t be able to publish before then. It will soon be dated, even if I don’t mention it’s 2020-2021, but I thought the now would be a good time to mix some magic into the hell we’re going through all over the world.

Last weekend I did most of the fun publishing stuff, i.e. covers! I like choosing the stock images and possibly get the background from my own pictures to save credits, but some places I’ve never been to, so I must use stock images. You can already see some results in the Books of the Immortals cover variants that will be available to Newsletter subscribers throughout the year: Books of the Immortals – Fire has a stock image of Timbuktu, Books of the Immortals – Ether has Junagarh Fort of Bikaner in the background, taken by yours truly back in 2016 during my tour of Rajasthan.

So I prepared all the covers for the books coming out in the next few months, and now I’m left with the boring part – editing and formatting. This morning I’ll be busy helping my friend and cover artist Cristina (who did the original Books of the Immortals covers) with her own stuff as well and no new titles will come out this weekend because it’s Easter. Most people will celebrate it – or Passover – so I won’t bother publishing anything.

Then it will be box sets and collections, and the new titles should arrive in June. It’s novellas and short stories. I have a bunch of short story collections to publish as well, and possibly another curated anthology or two. We’ll see.

paperbacks of Books of the Immortals - Air

And let’s not forget tomorrow it’s the Bookversary of Books of the Immortals – Air! Here you can read that first announcement… ten years already… where did time go? Anyhow, get the ebook for free by subscribing to the newsletter above! 🙂 With a variant cover, but it’s still the same book… or wait a couple of weeks for an even better deal… stay tuned!

A last suggested article/book in case you’re a buddying writer – For Independent Authors: The Ultimate Guide to Publishing Wide. I’m notoriously wide, although I don’t go direct to Nook and Apple, but I use both Smashwords and Draft2Digital as distributors. I have only one short story in KU, Lisa’s Odyssey, at least in English. Now I shall go back to my writing and editing and formatting paperbacks… have a great week! 🙂

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by Barb on 31/03/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 31/03/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/wednesday-weekly-roundup-77/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And here’s the last book of Before Future Earth Chronicles! 🙂 On the cover Ram and Zarina, which makes my friend Shafali cringe because I put a Hindu boy with a Muslim girl, but that’s the point of the story! Romeo and Juliet with religion instead of feuding families! 😉

This is a revision of Mumbai Dreams with a slightly different ending and pushed in the future. Here’s the full blurb of yhe ebook:

Two novellas at the time of the apocalypse and beyond.

“Mumbai, 2060CE” tells the love story between Ram and Zarina – a completely revised edition of Mumbai Dreams.

“Inheritor” tells the story of David, son of Daniel the vampire and Donna the alien human, kicked out of the alien facility where his parents live and exiled in the Himalayan Rainbow Town.

BONUS:

Excerpts from Rainbow Towns Journals

1. Claude Mancini, Rainbow Town Mont Blanc

2. Nour Shah, Rainbow Town Sahand

3. Jacob Davies, Rainbow Town Mount Mitchell

These three things will probably mixed with the other two books in the Omnibus that will come out in a couple of weeks. I realized I haven’t formatted that one yet because I probably haven’t decided the order in which to put the stories, since they sometimes overlap, LOL!

I mean, “Mumbai, 2060CE” is at the same time of part three of “Lockdown Begins” – same story from another point of view, should they be next to each other? Maybe I’ll put the journals first, since all three are mentioned in part one? I’ll think about it next weekend…

Last week I wrote my 10K although I spent most of the weekend cleaning up publishing stuff. I tried to change a few things on the publisher’s page and somehow screwed up, so I had to ask for help to Mighty Webmaster Admin who solved everything remotely. But I had to re-add the newsletter sign-up and when I tried to change the header picture, I couldn’t.

I did follow his instructions, but things changed in the WordPress dashboard and despite my attempts I couldn’t change the image. I won’t bother Mighty Webmaster Admin again – until the next problem. Already last week I had an email alert that something was wrong with the site, then I made a mess myself… Asking help 3 times in one week is way too much, I shall leave him alone for now! 😀

A business musing by Kris Rusch that reminded me why I’m in this still, ten years later. Yes, the world is changing, every norm has been shattered, it’s hard to predict where we’re going – and I didn’t see a rise in sales, but what she says about old traditional system and new indie publishing is still true.

And it breaks my heart that there are still young writers looking for agents. I guess I was lucky to be alive in the age of the typewriter. And in a country that didn’t have creative writing courses at the time (they started in the new millennium in case you’re wondering). And that Mom helped me understand that vanity publishers weren’t publishers and money flows to the writer and all that stuff.

I dreamed of being a writer in my teens too. But it was the 20th century, and already back then what felt awesome as soon as I wrote it became stale when I read it again two or five years later.

We change throughout our lives – I think I mentioned the various “stages” of my writing – and I’m still at a point where I hate everything I write, but I keep writing anyway because that’s what I do.

I’m a writer, I write. I’m the worst judge of my work, so I shall let readers and editors decide with their wallets. It’s a long term thing, a career, not an overnight, unsustainable success, and I will get there.

I discovered this article on Aphantasia, which actually matches my lack of setting, although probably for different reasons from the author of the article.

When I was younger I didn’t put a setting because I was too lazy, but I did see a movie in my head. Talking heads in white rooms mostly. Now I have trouble visualizing scenes, and sometimes I start thinking how I’d write it, instead of trying to visualize it.

What I mean is we change also in the way we express ourselves. I used to write down the movies in my head, dialog-heavy with a camera always on extreme close-up.

Now I’m more wordy and less visual, but the transition isn’t smooth. I still have trouble every now and then, and I try to visualize the scene, and then think how I could write it down – with the setting and everything.

Another thing that changed through the decades is going from real people in my stories (during my teens) to virtual casts of celebrities (from movies and music videos) to finding inspiration from stock images or DazStudio 3D rendering characters (although I still thow in Da Muses and other celebrities every now and then)

That’s probably why sometimes I cringe when I read older titles, but I’m not going to rewrite them They are the best stories I could write at the time, and I moved on since.

I don’t think I’m completely changing my voice now, at 50+ and after 15 years of switching to writing primarily in English! 🙂

If I ever write something that doesn’t sound like me, I have another super sikrit pen name ready! 😀

Oh, and remember that contest for Cupid flash fiction/poems? I posted a flash fiction, but Tori, who posted after me, won the contest! So glad I sent her their way! Congrats, Tori! And you guys can go check that page and enjoy those valentine stories! 🙂

Last but not least: more free books at IASFA! Go check the Alien SciFi free books page! The promotion runs from March 9-13!

Next week, the International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers (IASFA) will announce a science fiction book bonanza that is out of this world.

And if you’re anti-Zon (most IASFA autors are Kindle Unlimited), there’s also a BookFunnel giveaway with 150+ (!) SFF books! Ends at the end of the month…

And that’s all for today… have a great week!

by Barb on 10/03/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 10/03/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/03/10/wednesday-weekly-roundup-74/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


I’m going to start with the wordcount because it was low (the lowest of the year) but in the grander scheme of these past 10 years I’m doing just great, LOL! So, last week I wrote only 6.5K words and took the weekend off to ponder what I should do to celebrate these past ten years.

A quick recap is as follows:

2011-2014 I didn’t keep track of yearly wordcounts, so I can only count the published works: 1263600words (1.2million words)

2015: 402700words

2016: 468700words

2017: 347100words

2018: 535300words

2019: 533100words

2020: 588800words

2021: 74595words so far

Grand total: 2850295words (almost 3 million words, which I’ll hit sometime this year for sure) for 2015-2021, with the most written during the pandemic year (when I couldn’t travel and the only thing I could do was writing, a good way of traveling with my imagination, since the body was stuck, LOL!)

So, instead on concentrating about hitting that goal of wordcount again, I’m going to concentrate on revamping the first titles for this year – while still writing new stuff, of course. I need to find new readers for those 4 million words, LOL!

I’ll probably restart the newsletter soon (you can already subscribe on the publisher’s page) and I’m pondering what to give you, the reader, to entice you to subscribe! 😉

It will still be bi-montly, like it used to be between 2015 and 2019, but no more on MailChimp. I’m trying the WordPress Newsletter plug-in, and I’m currently studying it. Stay tuned for news!

Monday I checked the file that I got back from the editor and then yesterday I went back to the novel I had interrupted to write a few assignments. Hopefully the wordcount will rise again this week! More good news coming this month, but I can’t say much just yet. Again, stay tuned.

Back to writing and creating! Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 03/03/2021  •  Permalink
Posted in real world inspiration, struggles to get through, the Human being
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Posted by Barb on 03/03/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/03/03/wednesday-weekly-roundup-73/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Soooo… already back to the old template, LOL! Last week I wrote almost 12K, which brought the yearly total to almost 60K – so 440K to go for my yearly goal! 😀 I wrote two short stories and started on a third that I will finished on Monday. Next week I have Mighty Editor booked, so she’s getting some work! 😉

I have two more shorts I’d like to write before going back to the Novel That Had Been Shelved (that was put in a drawer for the past couple of weeks because… deadlines on short stories).  Hopefully in March I’ll get back to it, which is good, since it’s happening now, LOL!

I took it easy during the weekend (again, between projects procrastination…) and watched a couple of movies. Birds of Prey was mostly funny and not bad. I probably prefer watching villains than super heroes with super problems, haha! I might not have girls’ nights (especially since lockdown, but even before that I was a grumpy old spinster), but I liked the dynamics of the unwilling team.

And then there was Mine, directed by two Italians but shot in English (except the DVD was dubbed, sigh). Considering that I don’t like war or soldier movies, I was kind of intrigued and amused by this one. They guy had anger issues, but listening to the extras and the directors explaining how it’s a metaphor of his life, I guess it’s not bad at all.

So, enjoying a movie about a guy stuck on a mine is really interesting! I had both on my ToWatch list for months, and I’m glad I finally got to see them! Now, if I could get to those Roman movies… but the Roman vampire is temporarily shelved, so I might as well wait another year or three (those two movies have been on the ToWatch pile for years, not months)! 😀

If you follow me on Bookbub, you’ll have seen I recommended Space 1975, now available everywhere – I mean, besides the Kickstarter. Can’t publish each and every Amazon link, so I guess I’ll put the Goodreads link. Sigh.

If you’re looking for pre-made covers, Juan Padròn is having a sale until the end of the month. He does mostly horror or thriller covers, but there are a few fantasy and sci-fi covers. If I didn’t have my plate full, I’d buy a couple just to write the story based on the cover, LOL! Make sure to check the pre-mades on page 1, page 2 and page 3! Only 55$ each, highly recommended! 🙂

I guess that’s all for today! Have a great week! 🙂

by Barb on 17/02/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 17/02/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/02/17/wednesday-weekly-roundup-71/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


And since I got four rejections in one day, I can now announce that Before Future Earth will come out in February and March, so one month earlier than originally programmed! The prequels are short books and the last will be an omnibus that contains all three – a very short trilogy! 😉

And last week I dived into the Shelved Novel That Couldn’t Be Written last year, so I’m on a roll. I wrote 12K and finally have a plan and a form of worldbuilding and a story to sustain it. It’s slightly different from the original idea, but I’m quite happy with how it’s shaping up. It’s intercontinental urban fantasy – if such a thing exists! 🙂 If not, I’m inventing it, LOL!

I’m not sure when it will be ready for public consumption, possibly in the second half of the year. I was stuck because I started working on it right before Covid hit us and wasn’t sure if I should set it before the pandemic or in the near future. I ended up chosing the present for reasons that will be clear when I publish it – I can always add prequels and sequels like I did with Future Earth Chronicles! 😉

The Love and Magic bundle was entered in the following promo for tomorrow, Feb. 4:

Calling all romance readers! It’s more than candy hearts, chocolates and flowers at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Love and Romance Book Festival. 46 romance books featured plus a chance to win one of the following: Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card Enter to win a $25 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card Enter to win a $15 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card Enter to win a $10 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. You won’t want to miss it. Bookmark this festival and tell your friends: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/love-and-romance-book-festival

Interesting articles I read on the internets: why middle-aged men have trouble sustaining friendships. I’m not a middle-agen man, so why did I found it interesting? Because unlike the journalist’s wife, I hate the phone. So I’m very bad at sustaining in-person friendships. If I don’t do stuff with my friends, I tend to drift away.

I miss the creative weekends with Cristina. I miss going to workshops and conventions, even the crowded comicons that allowed me to be sociable for maybe one hour a day (I’m still 100% introvert and still hate crowded places). I don’t like the phone, even though video-calls were kind of a life-saver during lockdown (but my parents hate them, and I can’t blame them).

I’m good at keeping in touch with social media or email, but a complete disaster with the phone. I know people are busy, and always feel I’m intruding, especially on the phone. Because they all have families and/or pets, or a busy working life or whatever. I feel I’m the one who isn’t very busy compared to them, and I don’t want to disturb them, especially by phone.

In-person it’s different, they had taken the time to meet me, so we can talk! 🙂 One at a time, or I’d get confused and end up listening in a corner. That’s why I’m not too fond of gatherings. But if it’s coffee with just one friend, I’m very happy. And I hope I’ll be able to do some of this later this year, when we’ll be able to travel again and possibly to hug again. I’m not a hugger, but every now and then I need a hug! 😉

Some daydreaming to conclude the post. When I’ll be able to travel again, I want to visit my friends in Milan and Turin first, hopefully attend a wedding in Lucca and then I want to get out of Italy, again to visit friends and explore Europe. I don’t think I’ll make it across the Atlantic this year, still aiming for 2023 for that.

Like Abhay Deol said, 2021 better be better! So here’s to a quiet 2021, since January seems to have been quite hectic, especially in the US! 😀 May things calm down, the virus be defeated and all of us able to visit each other soon! Have a great week!

by Barb on 03/02/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 03/02/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/02/03/wednesday-weekly-roundup-69/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Happy New Year! And no, I’m not going to talk about my goals for 2021 – only that I hope to hit those 500K words again for the fourth year in a row, LOL! And by the way, the grand total at the end of the year 2020 was as follow (580500 words for the visually impaired):

So, last week I wrote those 3600 words between Wednesday and Thursday plus another 8300 during the weekend (Sunday was the most prolific with almost 6K) for a grand total of 11900 words (that go in that Week 52 spot above,  next week will be Week 1 of 2021).

Two stories, one already submitted, the other will probably come out in February (and I might add something to it when I’m done with the last assignment). It’s a Silvery Earth story based on an image I found on DepositPhoto that will be on the cover, so you’ll see it next month! 🙂 Now I have a last assignment to submit, then I’ll probably go back to those vampires awaiting for their stories to be written.

My first expense of the year was buying a collection workshop that I’ll be doing with my friend Fulvio, so by the end of June you should expect two collections of portal stories from both of us, yay! By the way, you still have one day to take advantage of the discount – I bought those two workshops for the price of one (and yes, I gifted one to him)! 🙂

I went through a couple of old Silvery Earth books for the story I wrote last weekend and sort of cringed every now and then. Now, I’m not going to rewrite them, or even remake all 40 covers (some of them are alreay new), but maybe I’ll go through all of them once again. I kinda miss reading my own books, LOL!

I also plan on finishing reading all the stuff I still have on K.K. so I can load the new, still-unnamed Kindle and keep going. I have more bundles to read (and some are still in draft form, but I got the requests, so you’ll see some new ones soon, I’m sure) and books to dowload for which I loved the sample.

Speaking of bundles, this is the last week to grab the Nightly Bites bundle! The anthologies will still be there, but this bundle will be gone soon, so grab it now!

If you want to become more prolific, follow Dean’s math – I know I can hit that wordcount I set up for myself above. I have already made it 3 years in a row (after 2 false starts). Should I raise the bar? Not this year, no. I might be busy revamping all the titles after 10 years out there. Just in case.

I also have quite a few online workshops to check, although I haven’t worked them into my schedule just yet. What can I say, the Holiday Season ends today in Italy, and we’re still in half-lockdown until at least Jan.15, so… we’ll see. Here’s to hoping I’ll be able to travel again later this year! 🙂

Don’t get used to having so many images in one post, LOL! And ending with some words of wisdom – something I’ve always done and always will do, this year more than ever. Have a great week!

'Write what satisfies you, no matter what. Be your writer. Be the writer you want to be. Write what you want to read. Write what excites you. Write what thrills you. Write what delights you. Write what makes you angry. Write what makes you cry. Write what makes you laugh like crazy. Do not try to be anybody else's writer. Be the writer you want to be. -David Gerrold'

by Barb on 06/01/2021  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 06/01/2021

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/wednesday-weekly-roundup-65/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last post of the year, so time for doing the maths, right? I managed to spend less than 2K this year, but the earnings are still under 500. BUT I did publish quite a few titles in spite of Covid, not to mention all the words written (which I can post next week, since there’s still tomorrow to count)! :)

Last week I wrote under 3K, but, like a mentioned, it was mostly an editing week, so I’ll have those books ready for publication soon. I even did quite a few covers, although some are still in mock-up state! 🙂

What plans do I have for 2021? Wellll… do you have another question? No? Okay, I’ll try, but I probably won’t stick to this plan. Except for the first three months, that is. The program for those is as follows:

January: Future Earth Chronicles Book 11 and 12 – the sequels.

February: A couple of Silvery Earth titles that are still unpublished at this time.

March: Before Future Earth Chronicles – two prequels.

Then I might continue with more Vampires Through the Centuries (like I hinted in the latest Sunday Surprise) or start a collaboration with someone and explore other genres. Or I might come up with an urban fantasy setting and write that shelved project. Or I might write a few more Silvery Earth books (4 Quests and 5 Heroines are more or less outlined). Or I’ll improvise and be content with it! 🙂

I should probably celebrate on April 1 – not an April’s Fool, but the first novel’s Bookversary. Can’t believe Books of the Immortals – Air is already 10 years old! Not going to celebrate all the others, or it would be an endless party from April on, but you got the point! 😉

I might start studying how to market a book, but the 2020 pandemic edition might soon have to change – although some things never change. When I’m done with the current online workshops (still a couple pending), I might enroll in David Gaughran’s Starting From Zero.

 

by Barb on 30/12/2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Barb on 30/12/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/wednesday-weekly-roundup-64/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I wrote less than 7K, but again, I’m between projects. Haden’t figured out what to write next. I had a couple of ideas, but I wasn’t sure they’d work. Besides, most of Saturday was spent formatting the two box sets of the Star Minds Universe for D2D (and I even sent a “help!” request, then managed to fix the issue by tinkering again and again with the manuscript).

So now you have them! Star Minds is 530K and Star Minds Lone Wolves is 320K. All in one nice box set (each, of course)! Kol-ian and the Falstelo on the first cover, Kaori on the second. Check them out! 🙂

The latest writing is now with Mighty Editor. I feel blessed I found her, because she’s both a first reader and a copy editor. That’s what I’d offer if anyone is interested. And yes, I pay her, so I’d do it for money too. Because that’s all you need to make your prose shine, a reader and a copyeditor. And no, I’m not giving you her name because she’s already over-booked, but I can do her job for you if you want! 😉

Since I sent out my last submission for the year, I can make a summary. This year I submitted 28 stories to paying markets and made two sales to be paid and published next year. And I had two acceptances from last year published this year – The Phantom Games and Breathe (paperback and eBook). I was also in two collaboration anthologies (royalty share): Blaze Ward Presents #3 a Blaze Ward Presents #4 and one curated anthology, Nightly Bites Volume 3.

And now another touting horn. I met both of these writers in Edinburg last summer, and look what they came up with!

Just released! Leveled Up Love – a Gamelit Romantic Comedy of epic proportions (150k words!)!

Dating Evolution is the next generation of relationship gaming with a real world twist! Did you ever wish your online skills translated into the real world? Now they can! Follow our quests to level up your love life and earn real life rewards!
Life was good for Zack Moore until his trustee managed to con him into signing up for DaEvo. Now, the buggy app has taken over his life, forcing him to leave his condo, interact with people in the real world and eat healthy to gain any gaming time.

Problem is, Zack has the biggest tournament of his life coming up. The Star Fury tournament is Zack and his team’s chance of going pro and making a name for themselves.

Now, Zack’s swapping women around like the components of his starship; trying to find the balance between love and DaEvo. Good thing Zack’s a pro at gaming.

But somethings can’t be quantified.

Like love.

Leveled Up Love! is a Gamelit comedy romance written by Tao Wong, author of the bestselling System Apocalypse LitRPG and A Thousand Li series, and A.G. Marshall, author of the Fairy Tale Adventures series of books.

This is a fully co-authored book. Both wrote parts of this work, combining their humour. It is very much a romance. So, yes, there’s a happily ever after ending. Meanwhile you can check it out at https://readerlinks.com/l/1566449! I read the sample and it’s a blast! 🙂

Also check out the two authors separately (although I’m told the final results isn’t like any of the single styles):

TAO WONG

Facebook

Website

A.G. MARSHALL

Instagram

Facebook

And now, some hope from this K-Shaped times!

We writers write out of our subconscious, and what’s infecting us all the most right now is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear caused by the uncertainty of our future, fear of catching the virus, fear of losing our jobs or our family or what we consider to be our own personal world.

That fear translates into the writing—whether it shows up as fear of a project (I can’t do that. It’s too hard) or fear of self-publishing (No one is reading right now, so why should I publish?) or fear of putting out an expensive product or fear of offending readers or fear of…well, insert your own personal negative tape right here.

We can’t really control the outside world right now. We can control our own behavior in it. On the virus level, that’s masking up and staying inside and getting the vaccine (yay!) whenever it becomes available in your area.

We can control how we handle our writing.

So anything you do is fine at this time. Publish a lot? Good. Publish very little? That’s fine too. Write a lot? Great. Can’t write for whatever reason this traumatic times are throwing at you? Don’t worry.

Help where you can. Do what you need to for yourself. And ask for help if you need it.

We’re going to get through this.

I promise.

And if Krish Rusch says so, I believe she’s going to be totally right. We’ll be fine. Even if I don’t know what my next project will be or if I’ll ever manage that collaboration with someone, even if 2023 seems so far away and I grow impatient by the minute because I’m sick of adulting. But this too shall pass, and we can only keep moving forward in the new world coming up.

A world where there might be a new copyrigth law and blockchain for authors and publishers in an age of artificial intelligence, when I no longer will see my older books with the ugly covers pop up on pirate sites and might even be able to sell from my own site. Not next year, no, but it’s coming.

Another article on GPT-3, that has evolved since the previous article I posted (referred to in this article)… It has learned to code (and blog and argue). But I’m not afraid it’s going to steal my writer’s job – or even my translator’s job, if I ever start one! 😉

And that’s all for today. Have a great week! 🙂

 

by Barb on 09/12/2020  •  Permalink
Posted in real world inspiration, struggles to get through, the Human being
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Posted by Barb on 09/12/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/12/09/wednesday-weekly-roundup-61/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I wrote 14K+ which means I’m past the previous years’ wordcount by now. I might actually make it to 600K this year, LOL! After all, there’s still almost a month, definitely three weeks, if I keep going like this, I might! 😉 I will have to wrap FEC 11 tonight so I can print it out tomorrow and have a last pass before sending it out to Mighty Editor.

And the Series Pages on Amazon are now live, albeit only on Amazon.com! Aren’t they neat? You can even purchase the series in bulk (I presume under 40 books, since the option is not there for Silvery Earth). I think it’s a nice accomplishment for my ten years of indie publishing, what say you? 😉

And the last book of this short trilogy about the vampires going into the future is out! Vampire War shows the Future Earth Chronicles from the vampires’ point of view. On the cover, Lihua, the “Chinese Menka” who showed up in Future Earth Chronicles already. Note that she’s not a point of view character, though, since it’s still Rajveer’s story. And Miyako and Claire.

Rajveer has been around the Mediterranean with Kaylyn for four hundred years, trying to find a way inside the Rainbow Town where Kris, Alain, Shashank and Juhi vanished during the invasion of the Romanian horde. Until their maker shows up in Istanbul with Kris and Alain to update them.

Miyako feels the Asian vampires on the move and thinks she owes it to her maker to keep an eye on them. After two covens converge on Beijing, she and Ingolf take it upon themselves to figure out what the Asian vampires are up to.

Claire was safe in Rainbow Town until she found out the truth behind the underground settlements. Her symbiosis would bring a new treaty and an army of robots to confront the united Asian vampires, ready to attempt what the Romanians couldn’t way back when.

I’m also rambling on Joleene’s blog, about this whole trilogy and other stuff… check out my interview, she does ask some very neat questions! 🙂

It was definitely a release week, because you can now purchase also Blaze Ward Presents Issue #4: Cloak and Dagger!

Cloak And Dagger. These words were the inspiration, the dare I put to the writers out there. Create for me art on that theme. They responded with music, words, and excitement. Science fiction, urban fantasy, or sword and sorcery fantasy. Come explore the many places that twenty-odd visionaries went when they heard those words and enjoy all the bright and dark places you might go. Part of the Blaze Ward Presents anthology series, be sure to get them all wherever you get your books: An Interpretation of Moles, I Like My Science…MAD!, and Nuns With Guns.

My story in this anthology is a short sequel to Joint Operations, my one and only spy story. I didn’t have time to check the other stories yet, but I know many of those writers and they’re all awesome, so go check it out and grab it, in ebook or paperback! 🙂

And now I’m going to tout a couple of friends’ horns! 🙂 The book I beta-read and loved is now out! Check out Drinking Heavy Water by Michael W. Lucas, a great sci-fi romp on a weird planet. I wish I was a faster reader to be able to check all the other Montague Portal novels!

And this is from the awesome editor of Halloween Harvest, Mark Leslie Lefebvre:

This is a tough post to share.
It’s about a book that was tough for me to read.
Especially from the privilege of the warmth, comfort, and security of a home…
…where I’m surrounded by books, surrounded by so many of those objects we take comfort in because they can perhaps, allow us to momentarily forget our mortality.
Allow us to forget there’s not that much separating us from our having, and not having. From having warmth, security and comfort, to having nothing but the clothes on our backs.
This was also a tough book for me to publish. But I wanted to do something. I wanted to share the story of my friend Peter.
It’s not easy to read about something like this happening to someone I love.
It’s a story that the charities don’t want you to read.
It’s about a fate that can strike any of us, at any time, that we don’t want to think about.
I met Peter C. Mitchell in the mid 1990s when we were both working as booksellers at the Chapters in Ancaster, Ontario.
He was one of the most well-read, intellectual, and witty book nerds I’ve ever had the honor of working alongside.
Though he kicked my butt at chess and book trivia board games, I loved hanging out with him, because he challenged me. He made me think. He made me laugh.
We worked together over the years, he was a trusted friend who babysat my only son, he was also a first reader and wonderful editor for plenty of my fiction and non-fiction stories.
It has been several years since I’ve seen him in person.
He returned to London in 2017 to complete his research on a book entitled “A Knight in the Slums” a self-confessed vanity project about his great, great grandfather, Sir John Kirk, and the man’s dedication to bettering the lives of the disabled and the working poor in Victoria-era London.
A perfect storm of calamities ironically left Peter penniless and sleeping rough, falling victim to the very same ailments John Kirk fought.
That nightmare inadvertently gave Peter an inside look at the very systems put in place over a century earlier by his great, great grandfather and those who, like him, were trying to help.
That experience frightened him more than the horrors of homelessness itself.
And that is the story of Rude Awakenings from Sleeping Rough.
This is a book being published independently by my own Stark Publishing imprint in a stealth manner and on a shoestring budget and is being used to help earn Peter his way out of his situation.
Unlike most traditional publishing deals, the author is earning 80% of the net profits on sales of the book. (It’s typical for a first-time author to earn 8% – and, if they’re well established, as much as 20%)
Because I’m not publishing this book to make money. I’m using it to help drive funds towards a friend who does not want charity. He wants to earn his way out of the hole he is in. And he wants his story to be shared.
Below is a link to the book at the various retailers where it is available.
It can, of course, be special ordered in paperback or hardcover via any local bookshop, as it is distributed via Ingram. (And I encourage folks to consider ordering books via local bookstores whenever and wherever they can. Local businesses serve the local community and culture and allow the revenue to stay local).
If you know someone in the media or a book reviewer who might be interested in a review copy of the book, please have them contact me – mark@markleslie.ca
A new online platform has created a centralized online shopping platform for independent bookstores around the country. And when I clicked on the link, it told me it’s coming to the UK as well, so it’s not just for the US. In case you’re Amazon-averse, you can get your books from an independent bookstore through Bookshop.
Yesterday I sent out the last batch of short stories on submission after receiving the umpteenth rejection. So I sent out 25 stories, sold one that will come out next year, but saw two published that I submitted last year. We’ll see what happens with the last five still out there! 😉 And that’s all for today! Have a great week!
by Barb on 02/12/2020  •  Permalink
Posted in reading, struggles to get through, the Human being, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 02/12/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/12/02/wednesday-weekly-roundup-60/

Wednesday Weekly Roundup


Last week I wrote 15K in five days, and spent the weekend setting up another bundle, uploading another title, and setting up my series pages on Amazon. So this week I can announce TWO new titles! 🙂

The first is the “middle book” of the Vampires Through the Centuries meets Future Earth Chronicles “trilogy”. On the cover is Ishaq, although he’s described as looking like Oded Fehr in The Mummy, but unfortunately I couldn’t put that on the cover! 😀 But the guy has a beard and is not too bloody. Ishaq is a fledgling of Arianrhod, Bran’s sister-in-darkness.

Ishaq ibn Tariq is an 8th-century Berber warrior under the Umayyad Caliphate. After his latest pilgrimage around the Mediterranean, he meets an old mortal acquaintance who introduces him to Rainbow Towns, the perfect places for a vampire to spend the years of the mortals apocalypse. Hidden underground settlements with 21st century smart-homes can allow vampires to spend a decade or three in comfort. Until they become prisons.
Alain is a 20th-century hacker with Asperger syndrome. With his girlfriend, he goes through the end of the Technological Revolution of the 21st century by finding refuge in Rainbow Town, where time seems to stop. They can’t go out, unless Alain remembers his way to the Darknet.
Bonus story: One Who Cannot Be Destroyed. Achyutam tries to get his wife back through the centuries, if only the damn western bloodsuckers didn’t always ruin his plans.

Now, that bonus story is also included in Nightly Bites Volume 3, that you should definitely check out, because 1) it’s longer than the previous two and 2) it has flash fiction and novellas and short stories, so a much wider variety compared to the first two! 🙂 So check it out and give some love to my fellow authors who wrote great stories!

I am also setting up a limited time bundle on BundleRabbit after a long time. I was spurred by another curator who took out my book from his bundle because “could not find an email on your website to communicate with you” (which prompted me to modify the Contact Me page) when he had already received my acceptance.

You see, there’s a forum on BundleRabbit, where curators can communicate with whoever is in their bundle or collaboration. I had to withdraw a request for my latest bundle (it’s the 4th, in case your wondering) because that author indeed had no way to contact him by email to prod him into accepting the request.

His contact page said to leave a public comment and had no link to send him a private email – which is what I did with another author who promptly wrote back with questions. That other curator? He could have made a post in his bundle’s section and asked we sent him an email for private communications off site. Sigh.

Anyhow, still working out a couple of things for that bundle, so I’m not announcing it yet. Do check the above books, though. November is definitely the vampires month! 🙂 As for December, I’ll publish the Star Minds Universe box sets and that’s it for this year.

The new titles in the Future Earth Chronicles (or Before) will come out next year. Writing the last sequel right now, I should be done by the end of the month, so I can send it over to the editor in December.

Sunday was mostly housekeeping, setting up those series on Amazon and working on Da Strip with the umpteenth change that might push us older users out of social media for good, LOL!

The only good thing about the new Author Central is that they took off the unpublished books, so those ugly old covers finally vanished. I did compire the survey, though, since when you add another book, it shows up ten times, and not just when it’s a multi-authors title. Even Through the Centuries showed up 10 times. If enough people tell them how dumb it has become, maybe they’ll revert, won’t they?

Wishful thinking, I know. On Sunday I went to upload the strip and SURPRISE! Instagram changed stuff around too! To add a MARKETPLACE! Gee, I know everybody buys online with lockdown and coronavirus and everything, but damn it, if all social media become virtual stores, I’m out of here!

Also the fonts are so tiny to be unreadable (for my ageing eyes) on the phone, and you can’t post stuff from laptop. End rant of a Gen-Xers who is sick of those subtle changes for you youngsters who still have good eyes (but you’ll ruind them faster than I ever did if this trend continues)!

Sunday night I rewatched Kites because it was “movies where the protag dies at the end” weekend. I hadn’t watched for more than 2 years, since before the WMG workshops moved from Lincoln City to Vegas.

I have seen Las Vegas in 1994 (the Strip only) and 2009 (our guide took us to the Freemont Experience), but it was touristic one-night stays during group tours. So it was fun rewatching the movie while being familiar with Freemont Street – and I even spent one night at the Plaza last February! 🙂

So it was lika a déjà vu, like when I watch Ocean’s 11 (even though I never slept at the Bellagio), and so NOT like 1994! 🙂 Speaking of which, a lovely penfriend (remember those?) whom I met quite often through the years, just sent me old pictures of Mark Slaughter (the reason for my expedition in Vegas back in 1994), which, along with rewatching their first home video from 1990 or 1991 makes for another wonderful throwback! 🙂

Ending with this throwback picture of a former Muse and hoping we all get to travel again in the near future, I wish you a wonderful week! 🙂

 

by Barb on 18/11/2020  •  Permalink
Posted in struggles to get through, the Human being, writing projects
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Posted by Barb on 18/11/2020

https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/2020/11/18/wednesday-weekly-roundup-58/

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