A third change in direction! This one is sticking though.

 

Another stand-in cover!  I do love making them.

 

Well, my next writing project is well underway, with a decent framework all planned out.  Clock is still ticking along (ho ho) but it's too far removed from reality for me to be able to dip in and out of (which is necessary as my writing time is usually only in twenty minute bursts), so I've moved on to a series of novellas under the working title of "Six Cuts of Flesh".

I was always going to write some short stories as I've had a few ideas bubbling away for a while now that weren't big enough for novels, so I've hit upon the idea of putting them in a series, with the same protagonist and a developing overarching narrative that will conclude in the last novella.

The series is yet again a set of horror stories, with the first one a mighty five percent done!

I'll post more updates as I get further in.

In other news, my first author interview (for those that don't follow my facebook) can be viewed at

http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/author-interview-book-promo-jake.html



A tentative release date for Split is around Halloween (if I can get a good chunk written in my holidays...)

Watch this space!  You know, if you want to.

So close...

So close!

 

After almost two and a half months of frenzied writing whenever jobs and family allowed, I'm finally on the home straight.  Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead is in it's final proofing and should be ready in about a week.  All that remains is the cover, which will I'm sure be considerably better than the one I have knocked up above. 

 

Minced Beats (whose music I nabbed for The Binary Man book trailer) has also offered to do the music for the Heal... book trailer, so it's in good hands!

 

To celebrate, from 23rd of August to the 27th of August inclusive, The Binary Man will be free on Kindle from amazon!

The wonders of gender-neutral pronouns!

Clock is beginning to take shape, although I am certainly finding it a lot harder to write than either The Binary Man or Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead.  There is not only the challenge of writing my first 100% science fiction book (The Binary Man had only some elements of the future tech, which always took a back seat to the other themes), but also I am finding out how writing something that is intentionally strange and otherworldly can at the same time may be alienating to the reader.  I'm trying to tread a tightrope between the fantastic and the mundane, to cement it as strongly as I can in known physics whilst still retaining it's oddness.  Yet the issue that is bothering me the most at the moment is what to do with my damn pronouns!
Gender is irrelevant in Clock, it doesn't even exist, but after using the term "it" to refer to my protagonist and everyone they meet about a hundred times(which is pretty much the only none gender specific pronoun in the English language), it seems to flood the page and dilute the story.  "It" has so many uses that I'm struggling to keep the narration focused.  The only other option seems to be an invented pronoun.  I was toying with the idea of (S)he, but there is only the cumbersome possessive pronouns attached "her/his" and don't even get me started on "herself/himself"! 
I could alternate between himself and herself, but I want to reduce confusion, not increase it.
There are a lot of invented pronouns that I could use, but none that any apart from linguists are likely to recognise, including "E, Ey, Hu, Per"... they're all on wikipedia, take a look!
It looks like I'm going to have to do a bit of experimenting... and I'm only 2000 words in.  This one will be a quest and a half!

The first bad review... what's the beef?

Well, my first bad review has arrived, and it's... odd.  Did they complain about the spelling mistakes (of which there were many, maybe still a few after my last couple of proof readings)?  No.  The overconvoluted plot (a valid point)?  Nope.  The cheesiness of the dialogue (definately a problem in places)?  No!  The only complaint seems to be the font size changing from place to place. 
I don't understand.
It's a kindle version.  You choose the font size yourself.  I've been through every copy I have of the book (word documents, PDFs) and the font has always stayed the same size in the text.  I did change it from 10 to 12 point when I brought out the print version, but I did it all at the same time.
Am I being... *gasp* trolled?
I thought about replying, offering the latest proof incase they had the old one, but the font was the same all the way through that aswell.  The only other review they have posted is two stars aswell, and is equally vague, simply saying "what is the point?" about a series of short stories, also science fiction.
Maybe I'm wrong though, maybe on an earlier version there were font changes that I somehow solved without even knowing it.
An open call then... did anyone else find that issue?

Sound and vision.

Here is the freshly created promotional video for The Binary Man, created with the help of Danny Rowe aka Minced Beats (http://soundcloud.com/minced-beats/sets/minced-tracks/) and Ethan Spier (www.ethanspier.com) whose idea I purloined for my own nefarious purposes.

Clock

Just a quick post...

Carnival is now on the back burner, I have a very nice idea that I hope will make a good novella\full blown novel.  Work starts immediately!  Here's something to whet your appetite...

Cover story.

Well, an eventful week!
The first draft of Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead has been finished and self proof read, given some serious tweaks and cast forth into the web of brave/foolish men and women who have said they will proof read and give valuable pre-publishing feedback.
I have also just got home from a sobering meeting with Jody Whittle of Hoax, (http://thisishoax.com) discussing my book cover that they will be producing for me.  For the last couple of months I've been stuck in a little bubble, furiously trying to write my book, trying not to judge my work too harshly (otherwise I would just stop writing out of despondency, as I have done in the past), but now the pressure is on.  I found it very hard to spell out the plot of the story without sounding like a pretentious second year english student, standing in the glare of this man's raw talent (award winning talent!  Everyone check out their site now...).  He's built up connections through hard work and chutzpah, puts 100% into everything (he was the same when I used to live with him), and is very, very good at wnat he does.  I now have to make sure the book is worthy of the amazing job I'm sure he's going to do with the cover.  I just laid a brick.
As usual, all feedback is appreciated so that I can get this book as good as it can be, given it's source.  I will love you all for it!

Oh yes, and in order to keep my hand in with writing before I get the criticism back I have started on my next book, Carnival, initially planned as a novella but it may grow, you never know!